Let’s get together! Yes, how about getting together to chat about our photographs and the stories behind them. What was your intent in making the photograph, what were you trying to say, was it a success? If you made your print, were there any particular challenges involved?

This is not a discussion focused on gear — the idea is to share insights, get constructive feedback, learn a few things, relax and make new friends!

Well, if this sounds interesting and fun, how about joining me in beautiful downtown Doylestown, PA, in the heart of scenic Bucks County, and we will get together over a cup of coffee.

Photographers of all levels are welcome.

I think a total of 3-4 people is the right size. Bring only a couple of prints to discuss. Obviously the prints should be Black and White and should be film based!

The get together will be on Sunday, June 5th, 10:00-11:30am at the Zen Den coffee shop, located on ‪20 Donaldson Street, Doylestown, PA 18901.

Email or call me at 215-348-9171 if you are interested. First come first serve!

I look forward to meeting you!

Ok, so I am sitting on the plane, which is sitting on the runway at Philly International Airport. Just told that there are more than fifteen planes in front of us, so take off will be delayed. Funny how even with the forty-minute delay we will still arrive on time.

Well, I have been avoiding flying for over three years now and with good reason … I truly dislike everything about the entire experience and only do it when there isn’t a reasonable alternative. Definitely not the same as it was in the Eighties when I was flying around world for my day job. I think anyone that says they enjoy it now has some real soul searching to do.

But now I couldn’t avoid flying as a family emergency came up from out of nowhere and so here I was sitting on the tarmac. It did give me an opportunity to do something that I often do when I have some spare time … that is to think about photography. It can really be about anything related to it and it sure beats thinking about things that are not interesting or depress you. Most importantly it helps you to keep your head in the game and contributes to living a photographic life.

Right, so the plane has finally taken off and I am still thinking, and in fact I have decided to write this entry, and think of some ideas for several others.

Well, I can’t be making pictures, but I can think, and in this case express some of my thoughts … and before I know it a couple of hours will have passed and I will be landing. The time will go by much faster and it will be a much more pleasant experience!

Often times I think about what and where I would like to photograph and what it would feel like to be doing it. I even think about the pictures I would be making. Some of them look like they are keepers! So now I am thinking about some plans I want to make for photographing near where I live in Bucks County and how I want to turn this into a photographic project.

I think it is a good idea to have a project, as long as it doesn’t stop you from thinking about other spontaneous and ad hoc opportunities. A project can keep you focused and enable you to produce something that has a coherent theme to it. But most importantly it can incentivize you to keep making pictures. In my case I want to document the diversity that exists in Bucks County, from it urban environments to its small towns and rural areas. I see it in some ways as a microcosm of America located in a relatively compact geographic area. I’m lucky to live in the middle of it! I suspect it will take some time to do this but that isn’t a bad thing either. The beauty of this is that I am focused on something that I am interested in and I believe is doable.

Much of the project will be conducted in a spontaneous fashion, but other parts will be based on research that I have been conducting. I think the research part is pretty important as you get to discover some really interesting information that will hopefully stoke the creative juices. You never know what you are going to find when you go to the library or the local Information Center. I learned that in 1934, one of my favorite photographers, Aaron Siskind, was commissioned to document Bucks County’s old homes and surrounding environs. In 1974, the Bucks County Historical Society published a book containing his work. Buck County, Photographs of Early Architecture is pretty obscure, but I was able to find a used copy on the Internet. So doing my research had an unexpected and happy benefit; it sits on my bookshelf and is an important and sentimental part of my photographic library.

So I encourage you to plan a meaningful project and of course take the steps necessary to do it. But I also encourage you to take advantage of the idle moments you have and use them to think about what you love about photography and what you want to do. That is what I have been doing on this dreadful flight and I have some new ideas about my project that I can’t wait to make happen when I return. Make sure you have something with you, like the notebook I carry, so you can capture important ideas that may come up … or just enjoy the moment. It sure beats staring at the top of the head in the airline seat in front of you!

Oh, I have to go now… we’re about ready to land!

Sounds like the title of a bad summer horror flick. Well not exactly.

So I decided to go to a camera club meeting, as I have never attended one and thought it might be an opportunity to meet other local photographers.

Everyone was friendly but it served as a reminder of some of reasons why I don’t connect to digital photography. The focus of a presentation was on High Dynamic Range Digital Photography or HDR. A number of terms were discussed, which included those found in the title of this entry, as well as Misalignment, Oversaturation, Raw and HDR Software.

In my opinion, what I heard was a methodology that tries to compensate for lack of dynamic range and is a sloppy non-thinking bracketing substitute for technique and understanding of exposure.

To be honest, in the end I am not sure what I sat through, as I felt it pertained more to the IT department or a PowerPoint presentation than photography!

It probably didn’t help when I introduced myself. I said that I was a Black and White film photographer and had absolutely no clue of what they were talking about!

Things crystalized for me after the break. One or two people brought color prints — almost everything I saw was in color – but everyone else who wanted to show or discuss their work to be judged for possible selection to an upcoming competition did so by displaying it on their laptop. #@$%^&*(){}*&^

I am not a color person as you may have gathered, but if you are going to make color photographs I think digital may be a reasonable way to go. Disclosure Alert: I have a good friend who produces marvelous color photographs made with his Canon and Leica digital cameras! He takes all the time necessary to ensure the desired outcome and prints and displays only those pictures that are meaningful to him.

This having been said, how the heck can anyone fully appreciate the true merits of a photograph on a laptop, viewed in questionable light?

The experience further highlighted what to me are some of the downsides of today’s digital scene. Letting the camera’s onboard computer attempt to solve exposure decisions for the many pictures taken in rapid fire, that are then compensated for and further adjusted by special software on your home computer, that are finally displayed for the photographer and viewers to seen on a computer screen. Argh!

A tiny percentage of the gazillions of digital photographs taken will never be printed, and perhaps it is best left that way. Is it possible that the digital “workflow” process utilized by the vast majority of people does not lend itself to the most “creative” process and the desired result?

I always carry a small notebook in my camera bag. I like it because I’m a visual kind of guy. Of course you could use a small recording device instead (do they still make those?), or that feature on your smartphone if it has one.

In the last year or so, I have started carrying a larger notebook with me when I am out and about, and always have it nearby at home. When I am traveling light with my camera, I’ll make a note on the smaller spiral job, then tear out the page and transfer it to my main rig back at home base.

My notes look like puzzles and you almost need to be a map reader to figure them out, with arrows pointing to phases and other cryptic fragments surrounded by circles or boxes with stars or exclamation points next to them. Then there are the tiny drawings that only a kindergarten teacher could appreciate!

One problem for me is that half the time I can’t read my own writing and certainly others couldn’t read my notes at all … sort of like deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics. But like I said, I’m a visual person, and besides I like writing with a pen! So much for my written records being saved for future generations to ponder!

I capture all kinds of thoughts at home or on the go. I never know if there is something I want to remember about a particular photograph I made or perhaps one that got away due to adverse conditions, the exact location of a photographic opportunity, thoughts about the time of year or the light, or just about anything that catches my fancy or I need to ruminate about when I am with my camera. Or maybe an idea that quickly flits through my consciousness or an outline for an entry on my website, a related darkroom issue, or a note concerning a neat looking drive in dive on the side of the road to come back to sometime. Sometimes it’s just for silly daydreams. I also use it to help me think through themes and plan projects. Right now I have about seven or eight project ideas I hope to work on this year so I’ll jot down thoughts based on my research, etc.

In other words, my notebook — in either small or large form — has become my constant companion and valuable assistant. To say it has fostered new ideas and improved my creativity would be a huge understatement!!

Now maybe you can remember every good idea that pops into your head, every place you want to visit, or everything you need to do differently or improve upon, but I seriously doubt it.

So get a notebook and fill it up with all sorts of stuff, then get another and do the same. I think you will be surprised by the new and creative outcomes that take place in your photographic life!

Towards the end of December I finally got around to seeing a wonderful exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art … Multitude, Solitude: The Photographs of Dave Heath.

I will admit it, I never had heard of Dave Heath before and that makes me sad. He made some remarkable black and white photographs, notably from the Forties through the Sixties, which this retrospective focuses on, and it closely tracks those images contained in his masterwork A Dialogue With Solitude published in 1965.

Somehow he seems to have been forgotten by many and unknown by many more (me obviously included!). Thankfully that injustice is now being remedied!

I won’t go into reviewing the show; there are plenty of reviews that can be found on the Internet, as well as discussions concerning the companion book by the same name, published to accompany the exhibit. Suffice to say I purchased the book and so should you!

What I do want to discuss are some things I took away from the exhibit that you might find of value for your own work.

First, I was struck by the size of the images. As best as I could tell, they were all around 8X10, some slightly larger, some slightly smaller. I was forced to get close and look into each photograph to discover all that it had to tell. Very similar to the size of photographs seen in the recent Strand and Weston shows. It’s the size I favor, as previously discussed in an earlier entry, and I’m becoming more and more convinced that the smaller size really works when the photographer truly has something to say.

While Heath chose to print his photographs somewhat dark, nothing is hidden. I think this too relates to the size of the final print and again forces us to look more closely.

There’s drama in Heath’s pictures of people going about their daily lives — simple, tightly framed and wonderfully composed. Mostly “quiet” images of small crowds, couples, or close ups. You’re viewing compelling moments in time captured with great compassion … so different than much of the street photography that is posted on the Web today. Perhaps I am a hopeless romantic (I have been told that a few times) but there is a beauty to be found when we slow do and take the time to truly see — and of course ruthlessly edit our work.

Most of the images were made at just several locations in New York City — Washington Square, Central Park and the Seven Arts Coffee Gallery. Each one continually mined for photographic gold! Knowledge of the environment and an obvious comfort level while being there definitely paid off with powerful and poetic images. There is something definitely to be said for this!

Many think it’s essential to continuously travel to new and distant places in order to make good photographs. Wrong! Look at Heath’s work, and that of many others who continued to concentrate on familiar places and subject matter. Adams came back so many times to the Yosemite wilderness, Edward Weston to the beaches of Point Lobos, and Milton Rogovin for decades to Buffalo’s Lower West Side to do his social documentary work, just to name a few. The results speak for themselves. This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t venture out and look for new opportunities and inspiration, but there are many great pictures for all of us to make wherever we are. Think about the opportunities and you will be rewarded.