Photos
They taught us things like that inside the Art Students League. That art brings things into the world, and photography takes things from the world. I believe that.
My first camera was a Kodak 110 point and shoot. It was skinnier than a pack of smokes, and fit right in my jean pockets as a kid. For a thin black rectangle made of plastic, that little camera could capture nice images.
The camera seen above in its portrait, is my first real good camera. Well ... good at the time for a kid who had low money but lots of love for photography — my Olympus Stylus Zoom in 35 mm. What a work horse. That camera traveled in my pockets virtually around the world, and never let me down. It fell from my BMW motorcycle and bounced on the roadbed, and still worked. That Olympus slipped from my chest waders in Alaska, and sunk into the black silt of a beaver pond. But the silver box still took great photographs. I carried that friend for over thirty years.
My camera these days is a Mamiya 645 Pro, in medium format film. I never made the jump over to digital cameras, and perhaps never will. I live in the analog world. My much loved Mamiya fits my big hands, and those black boxes can freeze up some real nice images. The images seen in this gallery of photographs, were taken with that camera. My favorite portrait lens in the 150mm f/3.5 — all the portraits in my life’s body of works, were captured with that sharp lens.
When you shoot film, you need to know what film will work in certain situations. The film I trust for my big shoots is all made in the Kodak factory. Those film rolls include Portrta 160 and Ektar 100. For black and white compositions I shoot Kodak TX or the old standby of Ilford. The sharpest film I ever shot was Cine Still 50D, but you better have the right conditions and plan to spend time on that tripod. The feature composition of God’s World in this author’s page, was captured deep in the mountains on Cine Still film.
My favorite photographers are Robert Capa, Eliot Porter, Brassai, Don McCullin, and Sebastian Salgado. All of them have left their mark, which was to record history of the world. The most powerful image I’ve even seen and a true favorite of this photographer, is woman crying at funeral of twenty teenage partisans by Robert Capa.
Many people in this business are dreamers. They are caught in the false notions, that money can buy them fame. That an expensive camera will save them in a photo shoot. That somehow they can sidestep all the years of devotion in learning the art of photography, and overnight become a super star. They are sadly mistaken, and will never pan out in the dark room.
The camera is only a tool. What matters most is the skill to see the composition.
That was my gift. I was blessed even back as a little boy, to see what’s important in telling stories though art. I would bade all who are striving to become a great photographer, to start with a Pentax K-1000, and learn how to shoot in the manual modes of this profession. Save the purchase of an expensive camera, for when you have earned the rights to use that tool.
There are many photographs on my site. I hope you find some that you like. It’s been a true blessing to practice photography for so many years. I’m hoping when the days arrive I must hang up my camera, that the new bloods in photography will continue to capture great images. Not for money, but because they are driven to capture beautiful images from our world.
