Month: June 2009

Kodachrome is dead, long live Kodachrome

With the announcement that Kodak is discontinuing its legendary color slide film, Kodachrome, I find myself frequently humming Paul Simon’s song about that film. Then I got to thinking about the film, which I once used in VERY large quantities. Finally, I came to consider the film’s successor(s.) Just like when the ruler of a country dies, he (or she) might be gone but the next leader is soon in place and most importantly, the institution lives on. That is how I see Kodachrome’s and photography’ continuing forward. Read More

Outsourcing and Cost-Benefit Analysis

Before you skip this entry or fall asleep trying to read it because those two economics terms, please read on. Both of these are things all of us do every day in our ordinary routines. When it comes to their businesses, serious photographers, whether established or aspiring professionals, definitely need to think clearly about outsourcing and cost-benefit analysis. Read More

What’s new: A few new resources….

What’s new? Actually, lots of stuff! This blog entry is a series of blurbs about new things I came across that I think would be of interest to most photographers. Every time I see something new and interesting I cut and paste the URL into an ever-growing list. When that list gets too big I gather the best stuff and share it. Read More

Frequent Flyer (Part Two:) Commuting for personal and creative purposes

I fly a lot for work, like most photographers. I initially commuted for personal reasons like most people do. I wanted to be with my family as much as possible, while I was working on projects that seemed to always be “somewhere else.” Eventually commuting became an integral part of my creative process as a photographer. This blog post is an argument for the idea that most photographers who work on long-term projects should consider building commuting into their creative processes. Read More

Editing and critiquing photographs of India (a video)

This podcast shows the process of editing and critiquing a set of photographs of India, which were created by workshop students from the Objectifs Center in Singapore. The goal was to get from approximately sixty images per person down to about twenty images. The final twenty images should tell the viewer something about the photographer as well as how they experienced India. Read More

Frequent Flyer (Part One:) Before and After Digital

Like most photojournalists, I fly a lot for work. My experiences flying (both good and bad) can be divided into two periods, pre-digital and post digital. “Going digital” has had obvious benefits technologically, but also unanticipated benefits socially, especially when I am traveling. Read More

The most important piece of free imaging software that exists

I helped a friend out recently with an imaging software issue she was having. At the end of our phone call I noted that I had introduced her to THE most important piece of free imaging software that exists. I ended our chat by saying “I think every photographer working digitally should have this software on his or her computer’s desktop.” This blog entry is a small step towards making that happen. Read More

Photographer’s Daily To Do List

I wish I could say I wrote the following photographer’s daily to do list, but I did NOT. The Ohio photographer, George Remington, whose work is at: www.georgeremington.com wrote this. Read the list carefully, to begin to get a better sense of all the things involved in being a professional photographer. Read More

Unraveling the “mystical and unapproachable” in photography

One of my more regular correspondents, Michael Colby, wrote me with a two-pronged query: “I’d be interested in reading a blog entry about what set you on the path of being a photographer?” He also asked “I still remember, when I was in high school trying to get into serious photography, visiting a camera store. It was almost a mystical and unapproachable place. I take it that serious camera stores were not “consumer friendly’ in the way that any retailer has to be today.” The answers to both his points are intertwined within my own experiences as a young photographer. Read More

“Working” a situation when photographing (a video)

This podcast explores the important process “working” a situation, making a variety of images of a given subject, by changing the photographer’s position, the camera’s orientation, the focal length of the lens, etc. Read More