A Goal to Create Boring Photos

There's an annual gathering of people to look at old family movies called Home Movie Day. Because what was boring no longer is. Well, it may be, but we're not watching just for the content but the setting. The cars, the buildings, the businesses in towns no longer there. There is much to be gained...

Photographing Life’s Little Moments

I've always been a fan of the little moments in life. When I'm at a wedding, I often think about how the bride and groom will wake up on a regular Saturday morning together, and how a lifetime of those Saturday mornings cumulatively say more about them than their wedding day with all its pomp,...

We Need To Print Our Photos So We Have Something To Write On

I'm a fan of Duane Michals and how he creates art by conceiving of a photograph, then writing on it to give it more depth. To change its meaning into a story he created. Like this one, titled, "This Is My Proof". The subject of the photo is the photographer's sister and her husband, just...

Evolution of Photography: A Real-Time Glimpse Instead of a Memory

I'm very well read on the history and trends in photography starting with its discovery in 1839. (Really not that long ago in the grand scheme of things.) The original photographers were few in number, you had to be a scientist and tinkerer to make a photograph. The introduction of the Kodak Brownie camera by...

Liking a “Twelver” Over a 36-Exposure Roll

I like rolls of 12. For photography, a dozen frames is a manageable number these days when I'm shooting film. Because I tend to have film loaded in multiple cameras. (As William Eggleston says, "I take the camera I feel like using on any given day.") Just today I processed a roll of 36-exposure Tri-X...

2005: The Year Photography Changed

It's interesting to me to see how things change. When I was in school we had text books and notebooks. Students today have Macbooks and iPads. We learned penmanship and how to write and diagram sentences. Do they even learn that now? When was the last time anyone had to write a letter by hand...

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...

Making Family Photographs and Annie Leibovitz’s Way

There were many people online panning Annie Leibovitz's Master Class, saying she just talks a lot and doesn't give enough information about her process. I was gifted a year of Master Class from a friend and watched a few of the opening episodes and thought they were okay, but they didn't leave me wanting to...

My Own Found Film Project

Anyone recognize these folks? My friend is inspired by the 70-year-old found film story in the NY Times last week. So, he knows I have a box of undeveloped film I've found left in cameras in the past, so we're starting a project. I developed three 12-exposure rolls of black and white Kodak Verichrome Pan...

The Value of the Snapshot & Prints With Borders

I miss the snapshot, those small photos that would get printed with their scalloped white-edge border. I often order prints of my own and always add a white border to the print, but it's not the same as when it was done back in the 1950s, with the paper cut with a decorative edge. I...