People file out their negative holders so that the borders of the images show product codes, frame numbers, directional arrows, (even sprocket holes on 35mm film); the two little Hasselblad tick marks; and shadows of the hold-down strips on four by five film holders. People using Polaroid 55 P/N make sure that you can see… [Read More]

There are many movies portraying professional photographers. The characters in the movies make their living taking pictures, and you would expect them to be skilled in the use of a camera. It would be nice if the actors appeared to be similarly adept; but that doesn’t often happen. Here’s my analysis of a few films…. [Read More]

Last summer, I joined the ImageMakers of Monterey. Part of the application procedure was a photographic autobiography. Some of you may be interested in the early part. In 1951 or 1952, when I was eight or nine, my parents bought me a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera. It took 12 2 1/4 square pictures on a… [Read More]

I’ve been playing with a tilt/shift lens on a digital SLR. I’m hoping to get sharper landscapes by not having to stop down as far to get the foreground and background in focus. Thus, the tilting action of the lens is what’s of interest to me. The trick with a tilting lens, whether on a… [Read More]

In the mid eighties, I wandered into a dive shop looking for new fins. On the counter was a coffee table book of underwater photographs. The title was Within a Rainbowed Sea, and the photographer was somebody I’d never heard of named Chris Newbert. I picked it up and leafed through it, my jaw dropping… [Read More]