The Monalog Collective is doing a yearlong project called “Visions of America”. Each member will capture images that evoke his or her personal vision of America during this pivotal and difficult time in which we all live.  The “official” start of the project was July 1^st, but we all had the opportunity to begin making pictures in January. The idea was to create new work.

I have been making photographs all year but I was particularly keen on getting out during the Fourth of July weekend to try my luck.  I had a lot of fun and hopefully made a few keepers.

I feel like I live in a country I don’t fully recognize anymore, yet I believe there still is plenty of good, humor and beauty to be found that will help form my vision of America.  How do you think? Do you have a vision of yourAmerica?  Surely you must! And guess what … you don’t need to travel for opportunities to find what you’re looking for. Street, landscape, portrait … you name it … it’s all around you … really … just see it!

How about doing your own year long “Vision of America” project?  Be creative … you just might create some very important and meaningful work!

Stay well,

Michael

Several weeks ago, tucked in the end of the nightly news just after all the feel bad stuff was a story about Michael Deering. It turns out he has made a photograph with his film camera every day for the past 26 years. That’s right! When he’s done, he drops of his roll of film at the drug store for processing, then comes back to pick up the pictures when they’re ready. Deering has made more 9,000 images of just about everything from the scenery around where he lives to major family events. His philosophy is to slow down and “notice the little things that life shows you every single day.”

Damn!

Ok this isn’t for everyone, but it should encourage all of us to use our cameras on a regular basis to slow down and “ notice the little things that life shows you every single day”.  And there are all sorts of benefits even if you don’t make a single photograph when you’re out there!

This could be a real a game changer if you haven’t been open to getting in tune with all that’s around you.  When I was instructing I’d take my students out for a walk around town. The idea was to help them focus on all the things they’d normally pass by without a thought and discover the many photographic opportunities and emotional connections being missed.  If they would open their hearts to the possibilities, their mind’s eye could follow, allowing them to make photographs they never thought about before.

Think about what Deering does, and what more we could do. There is so much in our daily lives and our surroundings that is photographically meaningful. Find it and capture it.

Stay well and happy Fourth of July,

Michael

It’s almost here!  That’s right! June 29^th is just around the corner and I know you have it marked on your calendar or in your iPhone or whatever you keep track of monumental events.

Yes, it’s National Waffle Day.  And yes, it’s also National Almond Butter Crunch Day.  Wow I’m getting hungry just thinking about it!  But wait, it’s so much more.

Drum roll please!

You’ve been counting the days with anticipation and just itching to use it. Yes, it’s also National Camera Day!!!!

No one seems to know for sure what the origin of this most important day is, but who cares! It exists to remind us to dust the cobwebs off our machines of choice and get out there and make photographs.

According to the NBC story, there are no official numbers of how many photos are made each day, but estimates are that more than 1 trillion are made yearly!  An average of 95 million photos are uploaded daily on Instagram and over 300 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every day.  The vast majority is shot with digital cameras or mobile phones and it’s mostly useless rubbish.

Look we all know that it takes a much greater effort to first make sure you have film, then to make sure you remember to load it into your camera. Ok, I get that, so here is what I suggest … you still have a couple of days to make sure you have some film. If not go get some and load your camera. Then on National Camera Day go and find a moment during lunch or whenever and make a photograph or two.  Better yet, make some more and don’t wait to Wednesday. Could be pictures of family or friends, or anything that captures your imagination. And for gosh sakes don’t travel to do it!  There’s more than enough exciting material right where you live. Concentrate on that … it might create a whole new creative phase!

So there you have it. June 29^th is National Camera Day.  Be there, or be square!

Stay well,

Michael

What can be said about Ansel Adams’ greatness that has not been said before?  Like Cartier-Bresson, Adams has inspired and launched the careers and aspirations of thousands who would seek to emulate his greatness. The great master of the grand landscape as well as much, much more! He also happened to be a great American. Adams was a terrific writer and technical expert. He was instrumental in helping to establish photography as a recognized art form and was a key player in the foundation of the Museum of Modern Art’s photography department, the Friends of Photography and the F64 Group. Adams was also a member of the Sierra Club board of directors and on and on.

Like many, I own his series of books on the craft of photography, The Print, The Negative, and The Camera.  It was this trio that started me on my own quest to make high quality photographs. Then there are his many monographs, all of which are something to behold.  But nothing can really prepare you to seeing the real thing.  I have been fortunate to see many Adams exhibits, and as much as I favor small intimate photographs, the large Adams prints are unbelievable and almost mythic in nature.

Early in my career and much younger I would occasionally walk down to the Wilderness Society headquarters in downtown DC from my offices in the State Department and the New Executive Office Building, where open to the public were some of Adams greatest images (I believe they were the so called “museum set”) and just hang out. I would gaze upon the majestic landscapes and dream. They transported me to an America that no longer exists and maybe never really did. But all of his work is great and inspiring, from the quiet and sublime to the truly heroic.

For my 30^th birthday my wife sent me on a workshop with with John Sexton, where I had the opportunity to visit Adams’ home. And yes, I became one with the holy temple and stood on the hallowed ground that was his darkroom. And no, I didn’t kneel down and kiss the floor, but it was most certainly a profound and mind-altering experience I have never forgotten!!!!

I don’t own an Adams print, but some of my most prized possessions are several autographed books and a large signed and framed special addition poster of Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico.

Ansel Adams, the man, the legend.

Stay well,

Michael

Would those that fought in WWII recognize what has become of our nation? They defended democracy and then two and half decades later they put a man on the moon. In 1962 John F. Kennedy said “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard”.  It seems so long ago. Were we or our nation perfect? Not be a long shot!  No one is, and certainly no nation is.

But look at us today? What would the “greatest generation” think of America today? Rampant racism, hatred, tribalism, political division of epic proportions and mass shootings and other violence happening on daily basis.  Things seem to be spinning out of control, with many becoming almost numb to it all. In a couple of weeks we have witnessed several mass shootings, the latest at a school in Texas. Nineteen innocent children and two teachers murdered. I heard someone say that perhaps children will not be victims of senseless gun violence when gun owners finally choose to love them more than their guns.

Ok, time for me to take a breath …

Then on Memorial Day I got up early, did my normal walking, took Sparky for his walk and then finally walked to the parade to enjoy and photograph it. Same thing I do every other year (except during the height of COVID).

But something strange happened. It turns out where I live things are split pretty evenly between Democrats and Republicans, but on this beautiful sunny day all those lining the parade route were smiling and friendly with one and other … just happy to be out enjoying themselves and commemorating those that gave the ultimate sacrifice.  Even when a float for one of the political parties drove by no one skipped a beat, clapping, smiling and being nice.

I ran into a few friends and someone even stopped to asked me about my Leica and where he could get his old Minolta fixed so he could start using film again – I was really feeling it!

I felt like I was an American again, like I did before our national nightmare began.  When the parade ended I walked over to the cemetery and attended the annual memorial ceremony put on by the United Veterans of Doylestown. I listened to the closing benediction and made my last exposure; then I spoke to an older veteran and thanked him for his service.  A fitting end to an enjoyable and moving experience!

I knew that the next day I would hear of or read something that would snap me back into the current reality, but on that fine day there was hope in my heart for our country and for all of us.

Stay well,

Michael

I feel like I am watching the last episode of American Idol with my wife. Yes I admit I’ve caught an occasional glimpse of the show here and there and sort of know the drill. After the voting there are just three left standing on the stage.  So here we go … This, America, Is Your Top 3!  Do I sound like Ryan Seacrest or not?  No matter, but we are down to the final three of my My Favorite Top 10 Black and White Analog Photographers!! And who is my number 3. That’s right, it is none other than Henri Cartier-Bresson!!

Henri Cartier-Bresson or HCB, is in my humble opinion the greatest street photographer of them all! Think The Decisive Moment. Not just a book, but a concept and a way of photographic life!!!

Every Cartier-Bresson photograph tells a story and is special. And there are just so many of them! His hit rate was simply astounding! So much so that he was and is the photographer that has inspired and launched the careers and aspirations of thousands who would seek to emulate his greatness.  Her are just a few of my favorites out of the many: Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare, 1932; Children Playing in the Ruins, 1933; Madrid, 1933, 1933; and Rue Mouffetard, Paris, 1954.

And now for something to ponder from the preface of The Decisive Moment … “To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression” — Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Damn!

I could never afford the original copy of The Decisive Moment published in 1952, but when a beautiful new addition came out several years ago I jumped on it. It soon went out of print and became very expensive like the original. It proudly sits on my bookcase shelf alongside a number of other wonderful HCB monographs.

Take a look at what passes as mainstream street photography and then look at The Decisive Moment or any of HCB’s other work … he also made marvelous environmental portraits (Tete a Tete) and even did cityscape and landscape work (Henri Cartier-Bresson: City and Landscapes)!  There is no comparison.

Please, if you’re not familiar with Henri Cartier-Bresson’s splendid work, check it out ASAP!  You might well have your own decisive moment!

Happy Memorial Day and stay well,

Michael

I’ve just about wrapped up my basement project and am about to reclaim my darkroom from the storage facility it became. All that terrible classic rock music I had to endure with my neighbor during the project has yet to fade from my memory … like a bad dream that won’t go away, or an adolescent zit that kept growing. As I wrote before this stuff has not aged well at all, and for good reason … it was weak, over wrought and/or bombastic to begin with and has certainly not improved with time!

I’m trying to move on, but while I was cleaning up the other day I started thinking about my recent entries regarding kitsch and photography and how not to be derivative.  Then when I was on my morning walk it all came together.

When something is good it will stand the time!

Duh.

Some things are a hit right off the bat and continue to stand the test of time because they are truly great. But often things that were not widely accepted when first introduced grow to be appreciated because of the fine work and originality they represent.  As with the case of bad classic rock, bad photography does not. Both hang around like a bad odor that just won’t go away.

So what does this mean? Not completely sure, other than people have questionable taste in everything from politicians to culture to art. Can’t help that. Ok, so what do we do as photographers trying to make work that will stand the test of time? I think the only thing we can do is to make well-seen pictures that are personal and come from the heart. They should clearly say something or tell a story, either individually or as part of a group. If not why bother?  I also think that carefully seen and well thought out pictures, not made as part of barrage of hundreds produced over an hour or so using the latest digital camera and later doctored by Photoshop have a much better chance for immediate and long-term greatness.

Think hard, see well, make it from the heart, and don’t worry about what others think … it’s your picture … and it will stand the test of time.

Stay well,

Michael