About

This site is an outgrowth of the Center for Photographic Art newsletter, “Focus.” For almost seven years, ending in September 2007, I edited that publication. I wrote a column called “The Last Word” that appeared on the last page of the newsletter. This blog contains those columns that haven’t become too dated, and adds my current photographic musings.

This blog is by and for photographers who are creating art, and are concerned with getting the most out of their tools. Much of what I have to say is about the nuts and bolts of (mostly digital) photography.  I used to shy away from the technical details, thinking that they were of little interest to most photographers, but I no longer do that. I find the technology of digital photography fascinating, and it seems that some of you share that interest.  While I personally use photography to make art, you won’t find any long discussions of aesthetics here, nor will you encounter any postmodern skepticism or deconstruction.

You also won’t find much about the struggle to be a 21st-Century artist in the industrialized Western World. That’s not because I don’t struggle, but because, from a distance, my problems are pretty standard, and I don’t have much to say about them that hasn’t been handled far better by people like David Bayles and Ted Orland.

I appreciate comments along the lines of, “Great site!” However, as I expect that I am nearly alone in that feeling, I read them, think warm thoughts, and hit delete. If you comments aren’t posted, don’t take it as a sign that I am rejecting them or you.

Starting in February of 2009, I started posting in a newly-created category called “The Bleeding Edge.” The entries are about my struggles with the computer technology involved with digital photography. It has become my most popular category, although it’s not clear that my audience is made up of photographers. Back in the 70s and early 80s, I used to enjoy Jerry Pournelle’s column in Byte Magazine, and The Bleeding Edge is my way of carrying on the thread. I realize that many photographers aren’t interested in computer and network minutia, and in April of 2012, I started making all Bleeding Edge posts at http://www.kasson.com/bleeding_edge/

Jim Kasson