Here I am on page 144 of this year's Photographer's Forum Best of Photography 2018 annual !

Again this year I'm only a 'finalist', so no big to-do. But as I say every year, simply fantastic to be recognized amongst so many outstanding photographs.

This particular image really benefits from being viewed large. There's a whole formula that describes the optimal viewing size and distance of an image based on the focal length of the lens used, etc. Long story short, this was taken with a 20mm wide angle lens, and needs to be viewed large and/or close to experience the full effect. The exact opposite of what you see here. Thankfully the judges were apparently viewing it correctly!

As seems to be so often the case with my work this was not the product of an international trek to foreign lands, nor an in depth study...it's a shot taken of my neighbor's back yard after a long hike in the local fields. As in writing, photograph what you know I guess. 

Like last post, again, serendipity if you will.

Back in 2007 we stumbled across this pop-up* concert somewhere around Gov't Center in Boston, and stayed for a few tunes reveling in the serendipity. I probably should know who the band was...they were clearly professional even though this tune was a cover. Anyone who recognizes them please post in the comments.

One thing that jumps out at me is that I'm almost the only one waving a recording device around, a pocket camera in this case. Today the audience would be a sea of cell phones instead of enthusiastic waving arms.

We'd been doing our usual...lunch, perhaps a couple of cocktails, and were making our way across town on foot as was our custom. My weekend visits with Bri [that's her in the pink] were always a bit of a celebration. She reminds me that this trip was actually to help her move out and down to DC.

Four years later we'd be married. Good times. :)

* I do have to admit here that while I thought it a serendipitous happenstance at the time, that this was probably a staged event being filmed for a movie or some-such, and hate to admit it, the soundtrack may have been piped in and lip-synced.

Pity. It was so pure and energetic at the time.  
​
But I for one 'won't be fooled again.' 

I'm not sure what to make of this kid o' mine. What a laid back little dude sometimes!

Hi. Just two quick notes today...

First, I've added a notification signup at the bottom of the 'About' page. If you'd like to receive an email when there's a new post or update on this site, just pop in your email. I'll never market to you, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Second, a recent comment reminded me that after changing website hosts, I'd never updated any pages on my history of sailing and boats. Funny, since that's really all I did back when this site started. 

​Guess I wanted to 'do it right' and never found the time. Rather than wait any longer for the time to be right, I've taken a first stab at some boat pages. They're under the 'Sea' tab...more to follow. 

Thanks, and if I don't see you soon, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and all the Best of the Season to all. :)

For a while now I've wished to offer you, dear viewer, a way to click on my blog images to see a larger view.

Pretty common functionality, wouldn't you agree?

Turns out the only way to accomplish this will be to post a 'gallery' rather that a single image, as is my usual habit. A gallery of one. Fair enough, but maybe I'll start posting 2- or 3-across since the initial images are smaller this way.

Apologies also that the enlarged image has a truly ugly white border around it, but apparently that can't be helped.

Today I've posted a gallery of three, as this seems to fit well. Recent woods walks have captured my historical fascination with beeches and birches. I'm so enthralled with the genre that I recently purchased a John Sexton on sale.

I started 'collecting' a very few years ago via Magnum. After six or so framed examples went up on the wall I called a halt. That was enough. My wife has gifted me with framed Onne van der Wal's a couple of times, and I simply had no more room. What a problem to have, no?

But John's beeches really spoke to me. And, unframed, the print was too good a deal to pass up.

So I'll break out the matting and framing tools once again, and look forward to another masterpiece on the office wall.

Some of you may know that I've been printing in both black & white and color, for myself and professionally, for many decades. I've also posted lately about my recent informal partnership with Pascal Jappy and the folks at dearsusan.net. 

Which brings up a potential new offering here on the site...printing services.

It has long been my contention that no photograph is complete until it's printed, and no print is complete until it is matted and framed. An unusual opinion in these days of content that is primarily delivered on the web and consumed on iPads, I know.

Doing my own printing, cutting my own mats, and assembling my own frames does not make me a renaissance man...it's simply what photography is to me...but I realize that this craft may not be taught widely anymore. There are plenty of tutorials available that will teach you how to cut mats, as well as local framers in most areas willing to help with final steps.

But what about print making? How many of you would like to have nice custom prints of your favorite images, but don't have the time or space to devote to actual printing? Would you like to work 1:1 with a master print maker?

Above is a sampling of the process you can expect...choosing both the paper and the tonality that best expresses your vision for an image. I typically send iPhone shots of various options back and forth until I understand what you're looking for, and then add in 1% of my own experience to arrive at a truly great print.

If this is something that interests you please send me a note. I generally print on 1/4, 1/2, or a full size sheets of 17"x25" paper, and prices start at around $10 for a 1/4 sheet. I'm printing on an Epson 3880 printer using factory K3 pigment inks. My favorite paper is a 310g Baryta gloss* which gives prints often mistaken for lab produced C-prints. I've also had very nice results with a 300g 100% rag paper from Moab, and a slightly smaller warm-tone rag paper from Ilford that comes 23" wide. I'm willing to set up for roll paper if a customer should request it, and speaking of rolls, I can ship either flat for smaller prints, or rolled in a tube.

In closing I'll speak a bit on black & white printing in particular, as it is a love of mine. I've often opined that in addition to the "it's only a photograph if it's printed" statement, that only b/w prints are truly classic photographs. Nonsense, of course, but that's how much I love the medium. When making such prints I use a carefully calibrated version of Epson's advanced b/w driver, and the results on the gloss baryta paper are truly lovely. I invite you to give it a try.

*It's important to note that 'gloss' in this case does not mean 'glossy' as in an RC plastic photo paper. The surface more resembles an 'F' surface paper air dried instead of ferrotyped. This one in particular is a very heavy paper-based paper that gives a wonderful D-Max and depth without glare or fingerprinting. My favorite look, especially for b/w.

Our annual Christmas party has past, and final holiday shopping has begun.

I love this time of year and all the attendant lists and 'best-of's. Naturally I gravitate to my hobbies, including cameras. Reading the reviews of these soon-to-be last year's models leaves me unimpressed. So many 'almost there' comments.

I for one look forward to a day when the question of which sensor size(s) will become standard is settled. For now, I'm very content that I have more than adequate gear, and that the only goal is to shoot more!

What are your plans? Shopping for a bargain?

You can read it here, and please comment if it resonates at all with you!

Beautiful light these days...when it isn't raining. It's hunting season out here, and I walked the land to post it. My main concern is that we are so far out, hunters may not even realize they are coming close to an occupied house. The recent loud booms nearby have become less frequent, so maybe it's working. 

I was told years ago that my images looked like 'calendar shots'. I took this to be a compliment...until I realized it wasn't. I had a very good customer, Paul Rezendes, who made a fine living shooting color landscape calendars with a 4x5 camera, thank you very much. But I do concede the point. Without a person or other conflicting element, landscapes can be just eye-candy for the wall to be glanced at and dismissed.

​Even the minor drama of the wonderful fall light makes this one work for me. Not fine art, but fun.

I've always owned one or more full-sized [and full featured] cameras, and at least one smaller camera for casual use. Actually for quite a while I had a 4x5 outfit, a 6x6 twin lens, a couple of 6x6 and 6x7 SLR kits, a full 35mm SLR outfit, and then a couple of pocket 35s. Wow.

These days I keep a couple favorite film cameras in the safe for sentimental reasons, but shoot with [much to my surprise] just one DSLR kit and a smaller compact zoom. I'll rent a second DSLR body for important jobs, but that's it. Wow again.

With all of the great advancements in technology we now have compact cameras with capabilities far surpassing their earlier film-era cousins. These advancements, along with my diminishing role in photography, has had me contemplating a day when one compact zoom camera would be all I need. Downsizing and having one camera fill all my needs just seems so efficient, right?

And I'm thinking forward to future photo opportunities...that long-planned trip to Paris for instance, now with the little guy tagging along. Back in the day I'd have schlepped along a full Hasselblad kit. Ridiculous I know, but I've seen me do it! Not anymore...when I think about that trip now all I'm weighted down with is a compact.

So is it time to fire up eBay and get rid of the heavy iron? Well, the photo above was taken with a 400mm lens and then cropped in closer to a 600mm effective angle of view. It was captured on a full-frame, 50mp sensor DSLR that allowed for both mounting a lens of that length, and cropping with no loss of image quality. The compact camera still doesn't exist that can do this. 

So, while I'll no doubt miss the big camera's capability a few times in exotic lands, it looks like both of my systems are safe. At least two systems do the trick...no more need for a third or fourth!