The abyss of uncertainty A catalog of the differences in the way I see a scene compared to what is captured in a photograph.
Stephen Shore Video Stephen Shore managed an incredible success in fine-art photography at a very early age famously getting his photos into the hands of Edward Steichen, who was the curator of photography at the MoMA
The real color Although it's been years since I've loaded a roll of 35mm film into a camera, I still shoot some transparency and b&w film in large and medium formats. I like the options my 4x5 camera affords and the digital options in large format
June
Out of town again It turns out that summer makes for bad blogging and summer in Wyoming, where I'll be until the beginning of July, is simply incompatible with any enterprise of this sort.
Weekend Reading: Brassaï on Proust Proust would have known another case of "reconquest" by photography, that of the lovely Lady Evelyne Buchan, nicknamed "the Pocket Venus" by London society because of her diminutive stature. Like Misia, the Pocket Venus had been abandoned by her husband…
Photography Etudes Music school provided a great photography education; that's where I learned to practice. And you do learn to practice. Practice in itself is a skill. Yet photographers are generally not taught how to practice.
The Inevitable River Some old chestnuts from the legal archive addressing the problems of copyright and supernatural beings.
Le jour de gloire est arrivé! Ah, Bastille Day! An excuse to prop my feet on the table, crank some François Joseph Gossec (Perhaps the Grande Messe des morts) on the stereo, dig out my best-of collection of political pamphleteers
Performance Enhancing Photoshop Earlier this week the New York Times retracted a photo essay by Edgar Martins with the note: "A picture essay in The Times Magazine on Sunday and an expanded slide show on NYTimes.com entitled 'Ruins of the Second Gilded Age'"
Ambient Heaven I've been away again for several weeks in Wyoming pursuing some personal work which included among other things photographing behind the scenes at the Cody Stampede Rodeo. I'm back home for a while and will be editing photos and making blog postings here…
August
16th Century Strobists What is most interesting from the point of view of a photographer, however, is the way Barocci has lit his subjects. It looks surprisingly like electronic flash. For a photographer this is a common backlight situation; although somewhat obscured by clouds
Quietus est Rarely do photo editors have the opportunity to make explicit statements for themselves. Always in the shadows, struggling to support the ideas of others, the photo editor, like the film editor in cinema, is the unheralded voice and often the heart and so
September
Wrangling Digital Colors The above photo has been digitally altered with the intent of making is look more like the way I see. Camera manufacturers are in the hands of market forces and one of the unfortunate consequences is the difficulty in getting subtle colors from a digital…
Photography in Public Spaces Looking at this image it occurred to me that it might be considerably more difficult to shoot today. Although the laws haven't changed significantly regarding photography in public places, the public has been asked to vigilantly report suspicious behavior
Extended photo caption Nica's claim to fame is that of a patron. She housed, fed, and often rescued what at times seems to be the entire New York jazz scene of the 50s and 60s. Considering the artists she is associated with (Charlie Parker died in her apartment), she must have…
Paean to Summer With the passing of Labor Day we begin our long lament for summer's retreat. Summer in Alaska can be a vexing season of cool, wet weather punctuated with the precious, rare warm day. Being such a short season here, we make every attempt to savor the nice
Back in town I've been in Wyoming for the past two weeks, which is why things have been a little slow around here. I expect to be back on top of things next week. In the mean time I'll leave you with a few out takes of some amazing roping horses in digital conversions
October
Contemplating Benjamin's Aura This photograph of pianist Rudolph Ganz arrived in the mail last month. It belonged to my grandfather, then my parents, and now me. It has become an object of contemplation for me.
Fire your congressional representatives The story has everything it needs for mass appeal: puppies, death, sex, and the first amendment. Naturally it has enjoyed a lot of attention from the press.
Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman Julius Shulman, who died in earlier his year, is perhaps the premier architectural photographer of the 20th century. He is one of those artists whose work is so strong that it has supplanted our collective memory…
Genre Why do we categorize photographs the way we do? How did we settle on classifications like still-life and landscape photos rather than dark vs. light photos, or photos of man-made vs. natural things, or photos taken vertically vs. horizontally?