Topic

Photography

A collection of 62 posts

I love this boring photo of a lamp

My wife bought an awful, kitschy plastic lamp and set it on one of the floor speakers. I, of course, balked. That was a week ago and somehow the lamp is still there. I hate the lamp, but I don’t mind the light that it throws against the wall,

Fiber-based silver gelatin prints are a wonderful PITA

I hate making fiber-based silver gelatin prints in the darkroom. But I love having them to hold and to hang. Fiber-based papers have this deep, magical sheen, and the surface is smooth yet has a distinct, subtle texture that is missing from resin-coated (RC) papers. Compared to RC papers, fiber-based

I enjoy processing film

There are things that I dislike about shooting film, but processing isn’t one of them. I actually enjoy it. I shoot a roll or two of film each week and process it in my bathroom darkroom. Developing black and white film is quite simple. I have gotten to a

The Kodak Retina IIIC

My dad called me from Florida and said that one of his neighbors had died and left a bunch of camera stuff to be given away or sold. He mentioned there was “some old Kodak” and wondered if I was interested in it. I said “Sure, why not” and he

Holding a Leica M camera

I’ve used many wonderful film cameras from many different systems: From Nikon F to Hasselblad V to Linhof, Olympus OM, etc. They are all great in their own ways, but none of them comes close to making me feel the way I feel when picking up a Leica M

Sold the Leica SL2-S and bought a Leica M10-R

The Leica SL series of cameras are special, but not unique. I had an original SL and then bought the SL2-S when it was released. It’s a capable, well-built, beautiful camera. But, if I’m being honest, it’s just another mirrorless camera system. And it was very expensive.

What makes a good family photograph?

The above photo is a good family photograph. Why? Because it doesn’t just capture members of the family, it captures a family moment. So many family photos are smiling selfies taken at arm’s length. Selfies say, “Here these people are.” but not much more. They’re fine, but

Studio self-portraits

I finished a roll in the MP today by taking a bunch of self-portraits in my basement “studio”. The shots in which you can see both my hands were triggered by stepping on the release bulb. Clever! 🙂 I really like the look of these. They were shot in my basement

The shitty camera with you

The best camera is the one you have with you. Unless it’s a shitty camera. In that case the best camera is the one you left at home. Idiot. – Jack Baty, Twitter 2010

Large Format: Challenges

There are too many things that can go wrong when shooting large format (4×5) film. I made four exposures of my friends Steve and Bryan this afternoon. Two of the four were ruined right off the bat: The first, because I’d left the shutter open when pulling the