“We Want a Portrait, Not a Snapshot”

Some days are better than others as a professional photographer. Like today, for instance. A prospective client called looking for a portrait of her family members and mentioned her husband was a graduate of a prestigious art and photography school some years ago, and he's since retired his cameras, but she was looking for a...

Who is the Girl on the Stairs?

I don't know. She's not a relative of mine. You may be wondering why do I have this photograph and other precious memories of some families that appear to be (from clues in the photos) living in Kansas in the early to mid-1900s? Because a family lost them due to an unpaid storage locker. This...

The Art of the Snapshot (We’re Still Making Them Today!)

A couple of friends over for a BBQ bumping elbows. I have a love for old snapshots. There's something special about those photos that aren't meant for the gallery wall, that aren't going to win awards, but are just simply destined for the photo album--the "open-the-pages-and-reminisce book" that we used to create all the time...

Ah, The Difference a Print Makes

The photographic print defines today's photographer. That's it right there. Doesn't matter if you originate on film or a digital sensor, it's the print that defines the photographer. What have you made lately? Show me your work, let's see your photographs? I'd go so far as to say that those making photographic prints are the...

When the Audience Changes and We Have to Show Proof

A snapshot used to be a simple thing. We used a camera to save a moment from our lives to tuck it away under the bed in a shoebox or in a photo album, so that we could travel back in time at a future date and relive it. We even did it shortly after...