∞ Blog ∞
On Photography, Art, And The Creative Life
Welcome to the place affectionately known as my "writings on the walls", where you will find images, thoughts, and discussions on Photography, Art, and The Creative Life... or so I'm told.
To Upgrade, Or Not To Upgrade, That Is The Question
We've all been there. We know the drill. If you are doing your post-processing of images with a program that you bought and paid for outright, that is you own it instead of opted for a subscription model (don't get me started), then you are inevitably faced with the decision to upgrade when a new version comes out, or not. The price of upgrading is...
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"He Of The Darkroom Eyes" ~ On Mentors, Teachers, and Senseis
"Sensei: Portrait of Jerry Uelsmann"
"You can do that?!" That was a revelatory question a young photography student named Jerry Uelsmann asked his Photography teacher Ralph Hattersley. As Jerry tells it, he was showing his teacher a contact sheet from a roll of film and trying to decide which image to print. There where two very different images s...
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Got Film? ~ A Part Two Update
Almost five years back I wrote a blog post called "Got Film? Digital Photographers Now Have Choices" on the state of the art of digital film emulation at that time. A lot has changed for me since then. For one thing, Apple chose to deep-six their pro photography editing app Aperture which prompted many photographers to look at alternatives. I chose...
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I Was Dark Mode Before Dark Mode Was Cool... Or A Thing
Way back in November 2007 I started this site to showcase my work, and eventually find a home for my blog. My goal then was rather simple: I wanted to create a warm, comfortable place to view my photography as if you had walked in from the bright light of the day into a beautiful gallery space. As I looked at lots of other portfolio sites then (and...
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"Are You A Right-Eye Or A Left-Eye Photographer?"
Some time ago I posed that very question to about twenty of my students. Do you shoot with the camera to your left or right eye? The resulting poll fell evenly split. Funny thing is there seemed to be no correlation to anyone being right or left handed (or right or left footed for that matter.) It was just a preference.
But I had another reason...
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Going Forward After Aperture :: The Future Looks Bright
Some time ago, I wrote a post about the demise of Aperture being premature when the interwebs responded to the Aperture update to version 3.3. Now, it seems Apple has finally put future Aperture development aside in favor of a new photo paradigm that potentially promises to be a re-think in how we, as photographers, deal with our images and workflo...
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Aperture Closing :: Apple Stops Development On Aperture Photo Software
It's official: On Friday, June 27th 2014, Apple announced it would cease any further development on its professional photo application Aperture. The interwebs and social media sites lit up over the weekend with all sorts of "Told You Sos", and "The Sky Is Falling" doom and gloom, peppered with a few, well written pieces on what this big announcemen...
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Learning To Love Layers
Ok, I love layers! I'm not talking about the Photoshop Layers feature, although that is great and how most of us think of "layers", but I mean the visual layers that images can provide. Like music with many tones and chord changes, multiple instruments building a beautiful soundscape, images can give us a similar, visual experience.
I've often sai...
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On The Streets :: Notes From The Unknown Lens
You could blame it on Vivian Maier, or Jay Maisel, or Cartier-Bresson. French photographer Robert Doisneau would be another likely suspect. Influences abound in the world of photography, whichever genre you turn to, but really they only serve to inspire the urge to go out and create your own images. For want of a new direction, a new challenge, an...
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Tools :: On Why Gear Really Does Matter
So you think gear doesn't matter? Or maybe you are on the side of those who are all about the supremacy of gear at the expense of creative expression? So many folks side with one or the other, or split the difference for the sake of peace and tranquility. If gear does matter, then the arguments go to which gear matters more. It's always interesting...
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