When we got our first cameras, whether it was a little Box Brownie in the 1950s or an iPhone 11 in the 2020s, there is no hesitation about what to photograph. We point it at our families, our pets, our friends, ourselves and click away. We photograph our vacations and special events. We capture moments of time that are bits...
“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” Mark Twain is reported to have said when told that a newspaper had run his obituary. The same may be said of the death of film. I am enough of a pragmatist to acknowledge that these days Digital is King. Yet, somehow, film usage not only hangs on but in recent years...
What Makes A Photographer? Many of us are convinced that if only we could get a newer camera we could make better photographs. That is understandable. It might even be true. That’s what camera manufacturers tell us, so it must be true. So, we live in an age in which we believe that if you buy a camera (or a...
How I got into photography… I was in community college—floundering. No direction. So, I took a Photo 101 course. I bought the textbook, and was thumbing through it, when fate intervened. I turned a page, and saw Moonrise, Hernandez New Mexico by Ansel Adams. I had never imagined such a photograph. It was haunting and beautiful in a way I...
Two things get me really excited to teach photography, and they have very little to do with the actual location of the workshop. The first is the level of hunger of the participant. The second is the participant's level of enthusiasm after the pictures have been taken. When photographers want their next great photograph like their next breath, I am highly motivated...
