Thomas Wolfe wrote a novel called You Can’t Go Home Again and famously said “You can’t go back home to your family, back home to your childhood, back home to romantic love, back home to a young man’s dreams of glory and of fame”. The full quote is a little longer, but this is the part that matters the most to me.

Last week I went home to where I spent much of my youth and grew up … Buffalo, New York. My parents and I moved there when I was five, bringing my mother back home where she grew up and lived until she took a train out of town to join the Coast Guard and serve her nation during World War II. I lived there until I left for graduate school and then I was gone, only to return with my wife to visit family and friends, then cemeteries.

To say I have fond memories of my youth and where I lived is an understatement.

I hadn’t been back home for a meaningful visit in over five years, not since we had the graveside memorial for my wife’s father. Then a few things came up and Covid happened. I had gone to my thirtieth and fortieth high school reunions but missed the forty fifth because it took place on the same day as my granddaughter’s birthday. Who does reunions in September!  So about a year ago I contacted the person who puts these things together and suggested the fiftieth be held during summer.  Six months or so ago I received an email saying it would be in August! Immediately I talked to my wife and called my daughter. The weekend of August 12^th was now on the calendar. Don’t schedule anything that involves me then because I won’t be around.  Thankfully they agreed and remembered!

The reunion was set for Saturday evening. Perfect!  I drove up on Thursday, met a business colleague from Canada for a couple of hours that afternoon, then spent most of the rest of my free time making photographs until leaving on Sunday. The rest of the visit was spent with friends eating more pizza, ice cream, curly q fries, donuts and other assorted junk food than anyone should during a concentrated period of time.

I had decided it would be fun to do a personal photographic project to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of my graduation, so before leaving Doylestown I compiled a list of places I would like to make pictures of. It wasn’t an exhaustive list; I knew from previous visits that some of my old hangouts were long gone, but I was hoping that there would still be a number of places left that had real meaning to me.

One great thing about Buffalo is wherever you want to go is not a long of a drive from where you are, and while I tried to do things logically, I still crisscrossed the city a few times.  But damn, I had a lot of fun going through all that gas!  As with the personal project I did during Covid, I wasn’t necessarily looking to make artistic statements. Rather, I was seeking out images that were purely important to me.  Most of the things on my list were still there in some fashion, but others like the department stored I worked as a teenager and the dock I rode my bike to go fishing on Saturday afternoons were gone. The department store on Hertel Avenue had been replaced by a large brown multi-occupant building and where the old dock on Niagara River once stood now a marina, a park or apartments were there. I couldn’t pinpoint the exact location so don’t know which one for sure. Nevertheless, it hurt. I went back two days in a row hoping to somehow find the spot, but struck out both times.

In the end it didn’t really matter as I saw … and remembered so much! The two houses I lived in, my elementary school and high school, the cemetery my parents are buried in, my favorite bowling alley, the old North Park movie theater, the zoo, Bocce Pizza, home of the best pizza in the world, Louie’s Foot Long Hotdogs, for the best curly Q french fries, and the camera store where I bought my first serious camera, an Argus C3. These were a few of the places I stopped to make a picture and on occasion have a nice chat. All told, I made six rolls worth of pictures with my Plaubel Makina 670.

When I walked inside Camera Mart to take a look around, the young man behind the counter got very excited. He had read about Plaubels, but had never seen one in the flesh, let alone had one right in front of him. We talked for awhile about film photography and the cameras he used. Finally, I had to let him hold it, look through the viewfinder and push the shutter release. I think it made is his day and it made me feel good.

Buffalo was home, where my family was, long passed but still there. My childhood was gone but my childhood friends were still there. My romantic love is still with me, fifty two years later, every time I look at my wife or think about her when I’m gone.  My young man dreams have been fulfilled … I’ve had a great and meaningful life!

I can’t wait to develop my film and look at the proof sheets!

Oh, and by the way, the reunion was a blast!

You can go home again. I did!

Stay well,

Michael

The short answer is I don’t know.

I recently purchased a few more monographs to fill some important holes concerning photographers I admire and I believe to be important including Bruce Davidson, Eugene Smith and George Krause. Currently I have nearly one hundred and sixty monographs and related books (e.g., Magnum Contact Sheets and several fine books containing the work of the great Life Magazine photographers). And these don’t include other photography books I have that cover craft and other technical areas. There are perhaps a few others I would like but they’re not mission critical. So I think I am closing in.

Some might think you can never have enough good books so I am sure that my home library may be small compared to others, but I have worked for many years to curate a group of books that gives me continued enjoyment, inspiration and teaches me new things.

I’m also running out of dedicated space, just as I am with my record collection. I have nine empty cubicles remaining in my IKEA Kallax shelves and I think 6,000+ LPs are probably enough!  But is one hundred and sixty books give or take enough?  I think so, with maybe a couple of gems to be added if stumbled upon, or I come up with the extra cash to by the nineteen volume The Portfolios of Brett Weston, published by Lodima Press. Currently the remaining hardbound copies go for a cool three grand and the softbound ones can be had for $895.

Oh well … but I don’t think about that very often as I have some other wonderful Brett Weston monographs.

So I am pretty happy. I have a great collection of books and a wonderful space to enjoy them in. What could be better?  A few things, but not too many. What could be worse? Not having a them!

What is enough for me may not be for you. But you do need some kind of a library of books by the photographers you admire, whatever amount is. And the number isn’t important at all. The only thing that’s important is that you have books. If you don’t you’re really missing out something truly important and in my opinion absolutely necessary!  In a perfect world I/we would own the many photographs we love, but that really isn’t feasible for most of us. Either because they’re not affordable or they’re pretty much unobtainium.  But books aren’t a bad alternative, and besides, they take up a lot less space!

I’m very happy with my library. If you don’t have a photographic library get started putting one together ASAP with whatever amount makes you happy.

Just do it!

Stay well,

Michael

Recently I wrote about meeting the great photographer George Krause and what a wonderful pleasure it was. We had a great conversation in person and several subsequent chats over the phone.

I don’t know if I will ever see George again … he lives in Texas and I live in Pennsylvania. Neither of us has any plans to visit each other’s state. That having been said, I did something very important. I mailed George a check for a signed copy of his wonderful book George Krause: A Retrospective.  I also found a signed copy of his first book, George Krause I.

I feel very lucky to have these fine books and would want them in my collection whether we had met or not … and whether they were signed or not.  But having met and spoken to George several times made getting these signed books all the more special and necessary to me! Why? Because George is not only a great photographer and educator, he’s truly a good guy. Something rare in today’s hyped up photo/art world.

I will always treasure these two marvelous signed books. Whenever I look at them and see his signature I will think of the connection I made with George and the connection I will always have with him.

Stay well,

Michael

Every year the Borough of Bristol here in Bucks County hosts an Annual Puerto Rican Day Festival.  This year was no different except it was the 50^th one! As the sponsors say “Join us for a trip to Puerto Rico without the airfare” and so I did! The festival gods must have been watching over Bristol because it was supposed to rain most of Saturday, but it didn’t. Instead we had the incredibly sweltering weather that has made July the hottest month on record. But things can always be worse … instead of 97 degrees it could have been 100.

I attended the event several years ago and had a good time. Even got a nice picture out of the deal.  Things were pretty much the same this time around. Interesting people, good food, great music and plenty of kitsch to buy.

One of the first things that happened was literally bumping into someone with a large Nikon digital camera and an even larger zoom lens while about to make a picture.  That led to a lengthy and somewhat painful conversation about his amusement at seeing my Plaubel Makina film camera and how he used to have a darkroom. He gave it up when the first digital cameras came out and has never looked back … all those chemicals and other inconveniences. I found a nice way to end the conversation and was able to move on.

One of the things I do is try to keep up with things going on nearby. Bristol is on the Delaware River, about a 25 mile drive from home, so that works out nicely. But wait, there’s more action coming up soon! In August I have the Grange Fair I always go to and new this year is the Philly Naked Bike Ride. Should be interesting! Of course I don’t limit myself to photographing at local events and neither should you. But they do provide photographic and other entertaining opportunities. I particularly enjoy going to ones that have potential for the somewhat weird and out there. Asbury Park’s annual Zombie Walk comes to mind. And I’m determined to get to Coney Island’s annual Mermaid Parade. I was supposed to go this year but something I thought was important came up that I couldn’t get out of … I wish I had gone to the Mermaid Parade.

So I had a good time at the Puerto Rican Day Festival. An hour or so of meandering around and roll of 120 film was just about right. 6X7 yields ten frames which was all I needed, although I had three more rolls with in my camera bag just to be on the safe side. NOTE: While there’s something to be said about the discipline of restricting yourself to one roll of film for an outing (although 10 pictures may not be very much), there’s nothing worse than missing a great picture because you ran out of film! So don’t be a bozo and be prepared.

Summer is a great time for outdoor events that can yield some great photographic opportunities. Check some out … you might have some fun and get a few keepers along the way.

Stay well,

Michael

“I photograph to find out what the world looks like in a photograph.”  Gary Winogrand

I’ve highlighted this quote before.  It resonates with me quite a bit, especially, in the last month or so. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been spending a significant amount of time in my darkroom catching up on printing. I have an October milestone of ten prints to be ready for review as part of Monalog’s Visions of America project and wanted to stay ahead of the power curve. Going through proof sheets of the past several years, to select images I have not printed before, I’ve had to be pretty selective, even with a project so potentially large in scope.

And though I had yet to make prints of these images, they were by no means also rans. It turns out I was pretty behind in my printing! Of course my situation wasn’t and will never be remotely like what they found after Winogrand passed away, when more than 2,500 roles of his exposed film were discovered that hadn’t been developed.  But this recent experience made me think about how much my thinking is consistent with what he said. As much I cherish the “journey” aspect of what I do, there is something about finding that picture that gets isolated in the viewfinder of my camera for the briefest moment of time. This is especially true for me when using a rangefinder.  It’s very much like looking through a window onto the world … my world. If fortune is on my side and I’m lucky to get a keeper or two from an outing I can make a print(s) that captures what I saw in my mind’s eye for the real prize!

Falling behind in one’s work is never a good thing and I’m going to try to be much better about this going forward. But I have to say that I have enjoyed all the catching up! During the coming year I will have a lot of photographic opportunities to find out what the world looks like in a photograph that hopefully will yield some exciting results. Of course all of the work I produce will be curated by someone else who may not see the world as I do, let alone value what I am trying to recreate. But I’m not thinking about that at all. And why should I … I’m enjoying myself too much!

Stay well,

Michael

Since its introduction I’ve been using Photographer’s Formulary Liquidol print developer. Before that I used the sadly departed Zone VI print developer from the time it was introduced. Both were designed to be an improvement over Kodak Dektol, yielding better shadow detail.

This past week I ran out of Liquidol and called B&H to order some more. Sorry, not in stock and when it comes back I have to pick it up in New York. OK, I’ll call Photographer’s Formulary. Small problem … they only have two one pint bottles in stock and won’t have any more for at least three weeks due to supplier issues. Oh, and when they get it the price will be going up … but it won’t be available any longer in the largest and most economical size because … you guessed it … the black plastic containers are no longer available #@$%^$%^!!

So now in a mini panic I call Freestyle Photo and yes they have seven one liter bottles left in stock. Great … I’ll take them all! Unfortunately they won’t arrive until early this week.  That’s a problem because I’ve been working on a project with a bit of deadline and have been on a bit of a roll over the past several weeks. My plans were to spend much of this past Friday and the weekend in my darkroom. So what to do?  See if anyone within reasonable driving distance has some Dektol or anything like it. After a few calls I hit paydirt. A camera store about thirty minutes from where I live has three recently expired bags. No problem, it’s powder and there shouldn’t be any issues.

Picked it up on Friday morning, ate lunch then went into the darkroom to mix it.

NO, NO, a thousand times NO!  The color was that of icky black coffee! The fact that the powder was a milk chocolate brown was probably not a good sign, but I hadn’t used the stuff in almost 40 years so I didn’t give it much thought.

Ran upstairs and went on the Internet to see what I could find out. Turns out this is a well-documented problem that eventually Kodak had to recognize and address. Apparently while frightening to see, the color doesn’t prevent its use. Still …

Well, I can report that I used it over the weekend and although it was a little disconcerting to be developing paper in what looked to be bad coffee, the results were thankfully just fine.  One problem … when I woke up on Saturday morning I noticed my finger nails had become somewhat brown. I almost had a Brett Weston Amidol moment! Thankfully I had some gloves and used them for the remainder of the weekend.

My guess is that the Dektol now being made is no longer brown. However, my concern is that Kodak’s chemicals are made in China or at least the ingredients are, so there is the potential for quality control issues.

I’ve been worried about Kodak’s chemicals ever since they changed the formulation of HC-110. It’s no longer the syrupy consistency we all loved to hate, and who knows about its shelf life. Recently I’ve been able to score three bottles of the old stuff which should keep me going for a while. The only other Kodak chemical I use is Rapid Selenium Toner and I’ll probably look to replace that as well.

Now I am worried about Tri-X’s future.

So, what does this all mean? Not sure, but I can say this … when it comes to chemicals we all need to support those companies that continue to make good quality products such as Ilford and Photographer’s Formulary, and/or buy raw ingredients from reputable sources to mix your own. The formulas are out there in books like Steve Anchell’s The Darkroom Cookbook and on the Internet.

In the meantime, I anxiously await the arrival of a large and heavy box from Freestyle!

Stay well,

Michael

Recently while looking for a copy of the book Dream Street: W. Eugene Smith’s Pittsburgh Project on eBay I stumbled across an ad entitled “W Eugene Smith Camera Equipment Minamata”. Mostly run of the mill Minolta and Canon cameras with their lenses and some third party lenses, some Olympus rangefinders and a cheapo beat-up camera bag. Nevertheless, it could all be yours for fifteen grand or best offer!  I have no idea what the collectible value of Smith’s gear is, but it was used to make truly outstanding and important work and is part of photographic history! In any case, I only point this out to show you that you don’t need to spend boatloads on equipment to make great photographs. Don’t get me wrong; this stuff wasn’t junk, but it wasn’t Nikon or Leica and it certainly didn’t cost what Nikon or Leica did either.

When the Minamata photographs were first published in Life Magazine, I was eighteen years old, but by that time I had a Nikon F2! And while it was and still is one of the great 35mm SLRs of all time it didn’t help me make monumental pictures like Gene Smith’s!

We all worry about our gear to a degree and many of us suffer from GAS thinking that owning the “best” camera or lens will somehow enable us to make the best photographs. It took me a long time to stop chasing that misguided dream, but when I stopped things were a lot better.  That doesn’t mean I don’t have good equipment, but I was finally able to understand that it was the seeing that really mattered.

Looking at what Smith used to make his tremendous work is truly a humbling experience and should be a lesson to us all.

Stay well,

Michael