Here's a thought…

HT2244 - Sharp vs Tack Sharp

Since my earliest days in photography, I've recognized that lenses are far more important than cameras. Lenses touch the light which makes the image; cameras are primarily light-tight boxes that allow us to control how much light gets in, but they don't actually touch the light. Knowing a lens thoroughly is important, especially if you're looking to make a tack sharp image.

HT2245 - A Fascination with Process

The other day, a photographer came by the house to show me some of his work. I always enjoy this opportunity to meet with people and learn about their creative process. This fellow had images made by using glass plates and hand coated gelatin silver materials. Clearly, he was a photographer who loved the process. In viewing his work, all of his comments are about the technical and chemical challenges of making his images, but virtually nothing was said about their artistic intent or the aesthetic created by his process.

HT2246 - Universal Excellence

If we look back in history as recently as 25 years, certainly as recently as 50 years, what separated the Masters from the rest of us was their incredible command of craft. They could create such stunning prints that the rest of us simply couldn't. The digital workflow has turned that separation into the ultimate democratic equity. Today, everyone can master the craft fairly easily. What are the consequences of this universal excellence?

HT2247 - Phases of a Career

If we work at something long enough, we will eventually recognize that we've been working our way through phases of a career. Without being conscious of my evolution, I can now look back and identify four distinct phases of my output: prints, folios, PDFs, and chapbooks. I wonder what's next?

HT2250 - Pick Your Compromise

When choosing which lens to take with me out photographing, it often boils down to a debate between two strategies. Do I use a two-lens strategy where both are the best lenses I own? This will require a lot lens swapping and invariably some dust on the sensor. The other option is a travel lens with a "super zoom," one with a 10 to 1 zoom ratio that requires no lens swapping in the field. It's a good lens, but not quite as sharp as the superior lenses. Since I can't have my cake and eat it too, I'm reduced to picking my compromise.

HT2251 - Framed Trilogies

In 2022, we published a book titled Trilogies. Each of these trilogies consisted of three images the photographers used to illustrate a story, an expanded view of a subject, or a guided and deeper involvement with a scene. In the book, these three images were presented on facing pages. As a layout, this got me thinking about printing three images on a single sheet of paper and matting and framing them as a sort of triptych.

HT2252 - Subtle Shadow Detail

I've always found that efforts to preserve subtle shadow details are important, particularly in landscape photography. This was always a challenge in the film days because the toe of the exposure curve was relatively flat and didn't provide much separation of tones. The best strategy was to increase exposure. But here in the digital age, I've found a combination that provides a simple method to help preserve subtle shadow detail.

HT2253 - Time at the Speed of Time

Every picture we make operates as a time capsule. It's a historic image, which becomes more historic with the passage of time. I like to think of it this way: With every click of the shutter, we launch another time capsule into the future. And at its essence, each time capsule says, "this moment was important."

HT2258 - An Anticipation Sport

I am not a sports or wildlife photographer. What I mean by that is that I'm not trained nor practiced at doing that kind of photography. Recently however, I set out to photograph my grandkids at their softball game. My respect for sports photographers has skyrocketed.

HT2259 - The Market for Used Photographs

I spent the day yesterday in one of my favorite used book stores, Robert's Books in Lincoln City, Oregon. This is a giant building filled to the brim with used books of every kind and age and interest you could possibly imagine. I picked up three volumes of short stories that I'd never heard of or seen before, treasures I am already enjoying here at the beach. And then it dawned on me, why is there no market for used photographs the way there is for used books?

HT2260 - Creativity Rejoices in Routine

Two creative individuals who I particularly admire are Anthony Trollope and Johannes Brahms. What these two have in common and have provided as examples for the creative life is the consistency of their creative output by the routines they religiously kept.

HT2264 - Why I Dislike Guidebooks

I understand that as tourists there are things we must see in order to have the full tourist experience. As artists, however, isn't our challenge to see, experience, and interpret the world with our own response? For me, the act of discovery is the core of the art life, not the successfully completed checklist of pre-digested aesthetic tautologies.

HT2265 - The Non-Exotic Location

Anyone can go to Yosemite and make an impressive photo because Yosemite itself is impressive. In fact, you have to work at it to make a bad photograph in Yosemite. I find that kind of photography fun and even rewarding — but not much of a challenge. As an artist who wants to progress in the creative life, I find it much more useful to challenge myself with images from non-exotic locations that require more effort to see creatively.

HT2266 - The Exotic Cliché

It's always an adventure to photograph in an iconic location. But let's be honest, how much of an accomplishment is it to make a photograph that looks like thousands of others? I remember being stunned by the number of people at the Zabriskie Point overlook, so many that they've paved the walkway to the overlook to accommodate the masses. I didn't walk up there, but I did use the Port-a-Pottie in the parking lot.

HT2267 - Cameras Don't Make Pictures, but They Do Make Pictures Possible

I've been photographing this week in eastern Oregon. I've been here so often, I shouldn't need to return. This time, however, I'm here with a digital camera and a long lens and the combination has allowed me to make images I've wanted to for decades but couldn't accomplish with a view camera. For example, so far I have at least a dozen long-form panoramas, the longest of which will print to 12-inches by 6-feet. Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to display them.

HT2271 - Working a Location for Its Subtleties

Every the time we stop our travels, get out of the car, and start looking for photographs, there will inevitably be a few that are easy, immediate, obvious, and likely cliché. I've come to accept the fact that I have to shoot those images — even though I will probably never use them — just to get them out of the way and move past them. It's only then that I can start working a location for its subtleties.

HT2272 - Black and White Is Almost Never Black and White

Nothing in a photographic is quite so bothersome as when the black are crushed or the whites are blown out. I can understand in certain occasions when this is a desired aesthetic, but those are rare occasions. When we see it in a picture, it almost always seems to be a processing mistake. I find it's most often the result of bad monitor calibration.

HT2273 - Why You Made the Photograph

Every image you finish was completed because of some purpose you had in mind. You have chosen to share something you feel is important enough to photograph and work into a finished project or framed image. Why? Doesn't it make sense that somehow that intent needs to be shared with viewers? We are all so bombarded with images these days that they are far too easily ignored unless we have a strong motivation for spending time with them. Why you made the photograph is more important now than ever.

HT2274 - A Means to Depth

She asked, "What is so special about photography?" I see photography as a means to explore the world, and that includes exploring our deeper self. I'm not sure photography is any better than any other expressive medium, but it's at least equal to any other artistic pursuit.