ALL POSTS INDEX
A hyperlinked index of every ULTRAsomething post in descending chronological order
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More Poe than Van Gogh
The classification of photography as an “art” has done it a great disservice. Art demands that the viewer appreciate the technique behind it. It calls attention to its technical merits. A good photograph should never do this. Rather, it should just be. In 1951, Robert Frank told Life Magazine “When…
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(Finally) Facebooked
Facebook (noun): 1. a small book, splayed open and placed upon the face to block ambient light and improve napping efficiency. 2. a popular social networking website on which ULTRAsomething finally has a presence.
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Masochism? Anachronism!
Most anachronistic people were fashionable once. One day, they’re the epitome of style. The next day, they’re passé — victims of passive indifference to the fickle tastes of humanity. Me? I’ve been a photographic anachronism in every time. Twenty years ago, I jumped through flaming hoops to photograph digitally. Today,…
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The Pious Lens (Part 2)
This is the second half of a two-part article in which I moan extensively (but cathartically) about 135mm lenses. I’ve received a fair bit of mail since posting Part 1 on The Leica Blog — apparently misery loves company.
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The Pious Lens (Part 1)
This is the first of a two-part article about life, love, mourning, failure, blackouts, silliness and sin. Yes, you guessed right: it’s an article all about 135mm lenses.
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Don’t Feed the Ostrich
Short of taking photographs, few things excite a photographer more than planning their next major camera purchase. Conversely, short of a trip to the dentist, few things excite a photographer less than contemplating a backup camera strategy. But all it takes is a single camera failure to nullify the years…
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Saving Souls
Can a camera save your soul? My second “f/Egor” column, which I write for Leica Camera, makes a case for this absurd supposition.
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The Accidental Blogger
Fresh from the whoduthunkit files comes another newflash — I am now a guest columnist for The Leica Blog, and will occasionally hack out… oops… I mean “craft” a column for them, which is called “f/Egor.” Since Leica saw fit to give me my own aperture stop, I reciprocated by…
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The Soft Grey Line
When is a photograph no longer a photograph? At what point is an image so “pimped out” that it leaves the realm of photography, and enters the province of illustration? If you clone a crumpled beer can from of a landscape shot, is it still a photograph? If you merge…
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instinct
Instinct is traditionally abstract and intangible. Some people have a natural inclination to trust theirs. Others must cultivate the relationship. Many, instead, opt to borrow it from friends, family or colleagues. But Instinct now comes in a convenient and palpable new physical form — a book. Instinct is my new photography…
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Vacate Shun
I’m no etymologist, but personal experience would suggest that the word “vacation” derives from two sources — the words “vacate” and “shun.” Vacate means to leave, or to give up a place or position. Shun means to avoid or ignore something. For me, “vacation” means “to ignore my usual photographic…
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How To Ignore “How-To” Guides
The world is full of many things to see — big, small, chaotic, and quiet. Every person who looks out at this world sees it, feels it, and experiences it differently. The problem, for each of us, is to figure out how to craft a photograph that expresses exactly what…
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Rock ‘n’ Roll(ei)
Unless one’s soul is carved from stone, the Rollei 35 is the sort of camera that will infect both photographers and non-photographers with a powerful case of gear lust. I first saw this marvellous mini in the late 1970’s — before I had even the slightest hint of an interest in…
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Ruminations on a 50mm f/1.1 Nokton
I’m in love with the night. I enjoy the mysteries that lurk in the darkness, the enigmatic shapes, and the cavernous infinity of a bottomless shadow. In fact, I love the night so much that I want to photograph night itself — and not flood it with artificial daylight. As…
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And the Meaning of Life Is…
The internet is boiling over with pretty pictures. Galleries are stuffed full of pretty pictures. Pretty pictures fill the pages of a million different magazines. Photography is now about the medium, not the message. Today, it matters little what a photo contains, as long as it’s pretty. My pictures aren’t…
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To Whom It May Concern
Camera toters are a curious lot. I frequently witness fashion-conscious point-and-shooters eye each other’s stylish little cameras and ask each other questions like, “how big is that screen?”, “Is it high-def?”, “is that a touch screen?” and, of course, “does it come in blue?” Similarly, I’ve watched the eyes of…
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Click Clique
If you ever logged into iTunes in hopes of downloading some groovy new organistrum music, then you’ve run right smack into “it.” If you ever went to your local camera shop in hopes of trying out a new rangefinder camera, film camera, or even to buy some film, then you’ve…
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The Eternal Leica M6 TTL (Part 2)
With the bulk of Part 1 spent justifying the use of film cameras in today’s world, Part 2 dishes on all the good, bad, and curious attributes of the Leica M6 TTL and why, maybe, you should consider adding a film camera to your own bag o’ tricks.
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The Eternal Leica M6 TTL (Part 1)
To take a photo with the Leica M6 TTL is to take a trip 50 years into the historical glory days of photography — when men were men, women were women, and both could actually take photographs without aid of a computer. This, the first of a two-part article, discusses…
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Little Shop of Hurrahs
Photoshop CS5 has been on the market for only one month, but if you search Google for the phrase “Photoshop CS5 Review,” you’ll get 400,000 hits. Needless to say, I don’t see any compelling reason to add to that total. Instead, this article focuses on a single tiny feature amongst…