I recently stumbled across a black and white film photographer with an interesting YouTube channel. He does good work and his videos are fairly entertaining. As I was digging into his video archive I noticed he had done something concerning the importance of focusing on a single photograph … quality vs. quantity. Fair enough. He essentially went through his entire process, all the way to mounting, matting and framing.  I was fine with everything except for one important thing. He scans his negatives so he can review them on his computer instead of making proof sheets.

You might say this isn’t a big deal, but I think it is. In fact, I think it’s a really BIG DEAL!!! Look, if you’re going to be an analog photographer, BE ONE ALL THE WAY and forget about viewing your negatives using Lightroom or whatever else is out there.

Yes, I know … it’s fast and yes it’s easy to do it that way. But that’s not the point is it. Art is hard, so why look for fast and easy when you can do things slow and steady and get much more out of it? Otherwise, I think you are just fooling yourself. Our photographer spent over six hours to get the final print he liked, then went to the trouble to expertly spot the print where necessary.  Great, but why take all this time and effort, only to replace one of the most important series of steps … making the proof sheet, then carefully studying it for size, composition, cropping, print tonality, etc. ON THE PAPER YOU’RE GOING TO PRINT ON … and replacing all of this by merely staring at the screen, looking at thumbnails?

My answer won’t make those looking for fast and easy happy. Sorry, but here it is.  Don’t shortchange yourself for the sake of speed and convenience. Art is hard … at least good art is.

Stay well,

Michael

Emmet Gowin had juried a show I had submitted to right before Covid went crazy. I was excited because I wanted to see how my work would fare with such an eminent photographer. He chose a photograph of mine as one of the best in show. That was the good news. The bad news was that the show was cancelled one week later. No opening and no meeting with Emmet Gowin.

Well all these years later I finally met Emmet and his lovely wife Edith, while at the opening of Bruce Katsiff’s career multi-media retrospective at the Michener Museum here in Doylestown. Katsiff is a photographic legend in Bucks County. Beyond his important body of work created over a lifetime, he led the Bucks County Community College’s storied photography department and the Michener Museum for over twenty years. I will be going back to take in this most interesting show in a much more leisurely way when it is a more quiet.

I had never met Bruce before so this was a great pleasure! And after a very nice conversation with him he introduced me to someone that seemed a little bit familiar. Damn, it was Emmet Gowin! Ended up talking with him and sharing a few stories together, like how I had hoped to meet him before. Then his lovely wife came over and introduced herself. I told her I was familiar with her, having seen many of Emmet’s sensitive pictures of her.

All in all a wonderful chance encounter with someone I admire greatly, but also a chance to meet not only the artist but his delightful supportive life partner and muse. Perhaps I will see them again sometime.

I certainly hope so.

Stay well,

Michael

I felt like I was at a Sixties protest, complete with signs, protest songs that would have made Woody Guthrie proud and plenty of fiery speeches.  As an aside it sure is funny what people say to you when they see a nearly 70 year old camera hanging from your neck. Talked to a fellow Leica user who had two new ones attached to some very fancy straps (one new M6 for film and one very fancy looking digital number), as well as a protestor who used Nikon F’s and Rollei’s. The latter had a darkroom, shot black and white and was actually familiar with the Monalog Collective! My guess is the former scanned his negatives and printed them on an inkjet printer. Sorry … I know … be nice!

I had intended to go to the protest in Philly that day, but having just got back from Buffalo I thought it best to stay local, and I’m really glad I did!  It doesn’t matter where you are protest … just get out there and be a part of it! It will make a difference! There were over 8 million who participated this time around and I suspect the next one in May will draw an even larger turnout.

I started going to these events primarily to photograph, but the more I’ve gone, the more I’ve become a full participant. Still making photographs but getting much more involved. The good thing is you can do both … participate and be a part of something truly historic and chronicle the history that is being made!

So there you have it … short and sweet … if you care about our democracy and our proper role in the world, and you happen to make photographs, then what are you waiting for?  Get out there!  It’s the perfect thing to do!

Make some plans for May and be sure to check out the other events that will certainly take place before it.  It will be worth it! And don’t worry if you’re characterized as a communist, radical leftest or worse by El Jefe and the regime’s sycophants and Vichy collaborators. That means you’re having a positive impact! Think of it as a badge of honor!

Stay well,

Michael

This past week, my wife’s mother passed away after many years of suffering with dementia. It really is the cruelest of diseases. It robs the mind of those who suffer with it and wreaks untold pain upon those who love and care for them … in this case my dear wife who selfishly stood by and cared for her mom for almost eleven years. Now it was over. We left for Buffalo and the next day she was transported there to be buried alongside my wife’s father. Our kids came too and we all met up the morning of the burial. No funeral; at 96 years of age she had outlived pretty much everyone that knew her. So just us to say some words, share some memories and bury her.

As we started our somber service the rain started, on cue, just as the weatherman said it would. I hate it when these guys are right! Nevertheless, while we all got wet and our shoes got muddy, the service was quite touching. We ate a nice lunch together on the way to the cemetery, but that didn’t stop us from having some major ice cream before my kids left to travel back to their homes (FYI, Anderson’s is not only a Buffalo institution, but the best soft serve ice cream on the planet!). Ice cream is truly delightful thing, possessing mysterious and great therapeutic powers to make those who are feeling down feel much better. Try it sometime when you need to. Works like a charm!

After everyone was on their way, we went back to the hotel to wind down and then headed out to diner, feeling better about things. The food was great so it only made sense  to check out the dessert menu, but within seconds it was obvious we needed one more Anderson’s fix. Twice in one day, was it crazy? Of course! Was it the right thing to do? Absolutely!!

That night I didn’t sleep very well. Perhaps it was the many chocolate covered coffee beans I had with my ice cream. In any case, I thought about the beautiful pictures of my family that I had made with my mind’s eye. After a while I meandered onto the pictures I hoped to make this year with my camera and some possible new directions that hadn’t crossed my mind before. I didn’t get much rest, but it was the best night of little or no sleep I’d had in a long time, and woke up strangely refreshed.

Stay well,

Michael

Yep, again.

The last time I did this exercise was in 2021. So I wanted to do it again … well because … you know … I never got around to doing anything, even though I picked out at least a hundred or more pictures I wanted to give a second chance to. As usual, life decided to get in the way! Anyway, this time I had the old list to compare to.

Time gives you new perspectives and I was curious how I would see things now vs. five years ago. As I sat down to get started … and I hate to admit this … I saw that I had gone through my proof sheets for the first time several years before the 2021 go round. I still had that list. Same outcome. No new prints were made.

Going through my proof sheets again, I noticed there were a number of pictures that made the cut in 2021, but not now.  And then there were some that I selected this time that weren’t included in the 2021 list.

Interesting.

Hopefully the third time will be the charm, and I won’t make same mistake I’ve made twice before and actually do something!

At least that’s the plan.

Here’s some of what I wrote a number of years ago and feel I the pretty much the same way … only twice as much I guess. “The question is why do so many images I recently peered at through the magnifying loupe somehow now look more appealing than they did at first glance?  To be honest, I’m not completely sure.  Perhaps a different perspective, a new point of view, or the fact that I am older and hopefully somewhat wiser.  Or maybe I was too hasty the first time around.

I’m sure this could be psychoanalyzed, but the bottom line is that I’m not sure it really matters.  What does matter is the fact that taking some time off and then going back to the sources can be illuminating.  Just as it makes sense to study your finished prints for a while to confirm they are what you envisioned, or determine they need some more work … or belong in the trash.

There’s no shame if you find out that the circular file is the end result when looking at your finished work.  In fact the trashcan, fireplace or whatever mechanism you use to dispose of the also-rans is one of the most important tools you have at your creative disposal!  So please do go back through your old proof sheets.  Maybe there won’t be anything there, or what you end up printing may be so-so … or maybe you might be surprised to find some overlooked keepers you somehow missed the first time around!”

Still sounds good to me and I look forward to getting started! This time I hope I follow my own advice!

Stay well,

Michael

Now you’re out there making pictures. Great! Just don’t miss out on important opportunities that may never exist again.

The other day I was talking to a colleague after our Monalog Zoom was over. He mentioned how much he loved reading Fred Picker’s newsletters. I told him I was a great fan too and recounted the many times I’ve read them all. That got me thinking about writing this next entry because I remembered reading how Fred missed an opportunity to make some wonderful photographs. In this case the lighting was not to his liking.

The following is his description of what happened and what didn’t happen.

“Wes Disney and I were teaching a workshop at the University of Vermont one summer. Because classes were in the morning we were able to spend our afternoons ‘cruisin’ fer snaps. One day, heading home at dusk we got turned around (Vermonters never get lost) somewhere along a dirt road near Underhill.

Meandering along, we cam upon an ancient house and barns. YES. The place looked as though it hadn’t had a tenant in a hundred years. There were no wires, no sign that it had ever known electricity. The barn contained a dozen hand-carved wooden stanchions. I’d never seen one outside of a museum. The shape of the structures and the silvery tones of the weathered boards reminded me of the exquisite barns and shed that Paul Strand had photographed in Quebec. Trough the winder I saw a white apron hanging on a nail. The material where it was sewed to the neck cord had sagged during the years and its weight had pulled it into lace. There was a cloth on a table and one corner of it had stretched to the floor.

The place was packed with that kind of detail. There was not a sign of vandalism. There was an enormous maple in the front yard that had to be older than the house … at least two hundred years old. We envisioned dozens of exciting and unique photographs … days of wonderful work.

The light was gone so we drove back, writing down every turn and landmark and the mileage between. We were enormously excited. How often do you find absolutely unique subject matter?

We didn’t wait for the next afternoon; to get in a few hours of photography before the morning class we drove out to the place before first light. The tree, which had stood for hundreds of years had for no reason that I can imagine chosen to fall on the house and barns and smashed them flat.”  Zone VI Newsletter 53, January, 1988. 

Damn!

I’ve suffered a few missed opportunities myself, but Fred’s description of his is such a good read that I will leave it at that.

I also read something very important by the great photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt in his book Eisenstaedt’s Guide To Photography. In the beginning of his introduction “Eisie” said “I suggest that whenever you see something interesting you should shoot immediately – get something on film, whether or not you have the right lens. Often there is little or no time to reflect, change lenses, or take a correct exposure reading. Where there is time, so much the better, of course.”

So perfect moments are great when they happen. The problem is they don’t happen that often. Being prepared helps and then there is luck and good fortune.  The point is this … make the shot! Film is not as cheap as it used to be, but unless you’re an ultra-large format shooter with the price per sheet more than it costs to go out to diner, make the shot!

Chances are good you can make a decent print, especially if you’re using Tri-X, you’re not hung up on cropping, and you know how dodge, burn and adjust contrast.

Life is short. Make the shot. It may never exist again or be there when you return! If you don’t you’ll be thinking about what might have been for a long, long time. Trust me, I know!

P.S. While driving to the great Princeton Record Exchange this weekend with my good friend who happens to read these entries … he’s not a photographer so I appreciate the time he takes to look at them … he asked me what this entry was going to be about. So I told him and he immediately said “the same thing applies to life”.

So right he is!

Never pass up the meaningful opportunities in your photographic life or in the rest of your life! Those lost opportunities will haunt you for sure.

Stay well,

Michael

Ok, if you’ve come this far and you’re still with me you’ve learned and accomplished a lot! So what’s next? Pretty simple … get out there and make photographs! Afterall, isn’t that what it’s all about?  You’ve developed the tools and the means to do good work. And I’m sure you have the gear. Now you need to find the time to execute the most basic of steps … make photographs!

The more you can be out there the better, especially if you’re just getting started. Yes, I know, finding the time can be a challenge. I face this problem myself. And it’s easy to get hung up thinking there isn’t much of interest nearby, but if you’ve followed along this far you know that’s just plain wrong. So just find the time and get out there! Make photographs wherever you see them. No need to plan at all.  Or start a project to work on.  Just keep at it to you finish saying what you wanted to say. Or do something in between … it doesn’t really matter. You can even keep a cheap camera in your car, loaded and ready for action if something pops up when you’re out and about. I have a really nice Olympus Stylus Zoom 140 a friend gave me that you can pick up for a song and it has more capability than you will ever need! “Cheap and cheerful” as my old Brit friend used to say!

Some people will tell you the only way to get better is to make as many pictures as possible? It certainly can’t hurt but I’m not sure I fully agree. I think the best thing is to develop a formula that allows you to get out there as much as you can without creating unnecessary stress in your life. The key is to enjoy yourself!  And while you’re out there, concentrate on becoming more aware of your surroundings. Learn to see what’s there of photographic interest to you. Trust me on this one. You won’t need to travel far to make meaningful photographs!

Stay well,

Michael