Film Advance

Sydney Opera House detail.
(Camera: Yashica-Mat TLR; Film: KodaK Ektar 100)

A good friend of mine is really into taking pictures with his iPhone. Like many people, he uses it for casual snaps, but he also tackles more ambitious photographic projects with it, including elaborate stitched panoramas and mosaics. I, on the other hand, do most all my picture taking with old film cameras. On the surface, you might not imagine we have much in common photographically, and yet, we’re really two sides of the same coin. Both of us have learned to exploit the power of limitations. Continue reading →

One man's dawn is another man's dusk. Guanacaste province, Costa Rica.
(Camera: Horizon 202; Film: Kodak Ektar 100)

These are interesting times, no question about it. A New World Order has emerged and continues to evolve as one technology eclipses another. Much of the analysis has been focused narrowly on the hardware, but in fact, it’s really only the “software” — the human component — that matters. A camera is just an inert hunk of plastic, metal, and glass, until someone picks it up and takes pictures with it. As always, it’s what we do with the machinery that determines its artistic utility and, ultimately, its value. Call it a vision thing. Continue reading →