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The Most Dangerous Game
In 1924, Richard Connell wrote “The Hounds of Zaroff,” better known as “The Most Dangerous Game.” It told the story of General Zaroff, who had become so bored with hunting traditional prey that he turned to hunting the most cunning and clever prey of all — man. In 1948, Eugen Herrigel published “Zen in the…
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The Contextual Lens
Every year, a new generation of neophyte photographers become victims of nomenclature — mistakenly assuming that wide angle lenses are an ideal choice for photographing wide, scenic vistas. As an obsessive neologist, I examine how wide angle lenses are actually used, and wrestle with what designers should have named them.
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That Golden Glow
On the afternoon of February 28th, in the final event of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, the Canadian men’s hockey team beat the USA in a nail-biting, overtime gold medal game. If this country was a living organism, hockey would be its heart. It’s a home grown sport that touches everyone who lives here. Canada is…
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“Winter” Olympics
With precipitation levels low and the temperatures high, Vancouver’s cherry trees welcomed February with a display of delicate pink blossoms that, in years past, remained hidden until April. In marked contrast to most of the Northern Hemisphere, winter never arrived here, and spring has already sprung. It’s a glorious time to be in Vancouver, save…
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Flame Frenzy
So much for professionalism. Rather than keeping a cool, detached “street shooter’s” eye, I joined the swarms of snappers and chased the Olympic flame around downtown Vancouver for 24 hours prior to the opening ceremonies. Sometimes you just need to be a tourist in your own town.
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This is Going to be Fun
Its inevitability has, for a decade now, been forced into my consciousness and my subconsciousness. It’s become a part of my Id, my Ego, and my Super-Ego. Its costs, benefits, politics and promise have permeated local news outlets since I first moved to Vancouver at the dawn of the 21st century. “It” is the XXI…
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DagNAMMit
This is an article about photographing the culture, chaos and cacophony that surrounds the NAMM music products show in Anaheim California. It includes several photos from the show, plus a link to a multimedia presentation about NAMM. The article also discusses the current state of photojournalism, and the difficulties facing those of us in this…
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The Megapixel Thief (Part 2)
Out there on the mean streets of photography, it’s a digital world. So what possible good can come from shooting with a 50 year old Yashica-Mat Twin Lens Reflex medium format camera? How about 50 megapixel scans, square negatives, and a classic “analog” look? Dive into this article to discover all the techniques, benefits and…
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The Megapixel Thief (Part 1)
Common wisdom tells us that “the bigger the sensor, the better the image.” Micro Four Thirds (MFT) cameras, though 3 times the price, have a sensor 9 times larger than a point-and-shoot. Great value! The sensor on a full-frame “35 mm” digital camera is 4 times larger than MFT and, coincidentally, costs approximately 4 times…
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Year One
This photo-laden article displays several previously unpublished photos from 2009 and invites the readers to tell me what they do with their own orphaned, unpublished images. It discusses the philosophy behind the ULTRAsomething photography blog, and why I try to achieve a balance between equipment reviews and articles designed to help photographer’s develop their own…
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The Self Portrait
Most people would define “self portrait” as a photograph in which the photographer, himself, is the subject. This article discusses how, over the last couple of years, I’ve come to define “self portraits” in an entirely different way. To me, a “self portrait” is a photograph that reveals something about the photographer’s true soul —…
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‘Tween the ‘Weens
Those of us who photograph the human experience spend 364 days a year trying to be ‘the invisible man.’ But for one glorious day each calendar year, we street photographers can drop our disguise, emerge from the shadows, and proudly hold our cameras aloft. All Hallows Eve is our night. Halloween is, quite frankly, the…
