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Littlefields
My readers are well-aware of how stubbornly I hold onto certain photographic convictions — particularly my belief that photos are best-enjoyed printed. In a time when many photographers have never seen even a single one of their photos in print (much less a collection of prints), it’s a delight to come across a world in…
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Multitasking
What’s a busy fellow to do? Faced with a backlog of photo-related correspondences to write plus another blog article to develop, I had but one choice: Multitask!
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The Other Half Frame
There’s more than one way to fill a negative. So when another attack of flat-back panoramic camera lust flared up recently, I chose to extinguish it not with a big bad Hasselblad Xpan, but with a diminutive little half-frame faux-panoramic camera, called the “Minolta Freedom Vista.”
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Pen Pal
Lately, it seems everyone I know is buying an Olympus PEN. Not wanting to be left out, I too jumped into the waters — only instead of getting one of those new-fangled digital PENs, I opted for a classic mid-1960’s PEN FT film camera.
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Roadkill
There are two types of street photographers — those who choose the label, and those whom the label chooses. Which are you? Which am I? And why?
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ULTRA U: History of the Film Camera
Welcome to “ULTRA U,” my new online university dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of photographic knowledge, as best I can manipulate it. Here, in Lesson 1, I’ll discuss the real history of film formats for still photographers. Give it a read — you’ll likely find it’s not nearly as dry as you might suspect,…
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Reject Intent
What makes one photograph better than another? Miraculously, I think I found the answer. And, as anyone who frequents this site might suspect, the answer has absolutely nothing to do with what we’ve previously read, learned or intuited. Read the article to see how I applied this new definition of ‘better’ to create the “Masquerade”…
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Masquerade
“Masquerade” is my second vBook of photographic stills produced under the “Necessarily Narcissistic” film production label. In contrast to the purely accidental creation of my previous vBook (“47 Photos of Rain”), this one’s creation is quite purposely accidental.
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Making Contact
One man’s toy is another man’s tool — at least that seems to be the case with my adaptation of the toy-like, budget-friendly Lomography Smartphone Scanner, which I’ve found to be the quickest way yet to create digital contact sheets from my 35mm negatives. What’s that? You say you don’t need no stinkin’ contact sheets…
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Get Y’ur Lurnin’
The inevitable has occurred — ULTRAsomething is now hosting workshops. OK, it’s only ONE workshop, and its being co-hosted with Quinton Gordon from Luz Studios, but it’s still a workshop. And it’s every bit as unique as its title: “Ferreting Mantras.”
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Jim’s Victory
Other than one’s spouse, few relationships are as important and influential as the one that exists between teacher and student. Any teacher can shovel knowledge on their pupils, but great teachers unlock their passions.
