ALL POSTS INDEX

A hyperlinked index of every ULTRAsomething post in descending chronological order

  • Whenevergram

    Whenevergram

    This article is for anyone whose obsessive need to update their social media outlets has forced them to post ill-considered crap. It introduces a conceptual new product called “Whenevergram,” which will force people to post carefully-considered crap instead.

  • Applied Relativity: The Leica M-A

    Applied Relativity: The Leica M-A

    Somewhere in this meandering tale of chance encounters and philosophical philosophizing, there’s a review of the new Leica M-A camera — a camera that just might be the closest any manufacturer has yet come to that elusive quality known as “perfection.”

  • A Measly Million

    A Measly Million

    The Fibonacci sequence might get all the glory, but it won’t help anyone predict which photo will be the first to surpass the $7 million mark at auction. For that, you’ll need the “Egor sequence.”

  • Season Seven

    Season Seven

    What if ULTRAsomething was a television series?

  • Thoughts From The Void

    Thoughts From The Void

    For the first time in a decade, I took a break from photography without existential angst being its impetus — but that’s not to say it didn’t nearly prevent my return.

  • Can Monkeys Fly?

    Can Monkeys Fly?

    Never say never.

  • Pi

    Pi

    By employing the world’s most circuitous path, this article predicts the impending return of a vibrant and burgeoning film camera market. Crazy? Or crazy like a fox?

  • The Are-Bure-Boke-Matic

    The Are-Bure-Boke-Matic

    Grainy. Blurry. Out-of-focus. To the average photographer, these are characteristics to avoid at all cost. Fortunately, I never claimed to be “the average photographer.” So for all you not-so-average photographers seeking to infuse some low-fidelity grunge into your high-fidelity world, I present the Olympus Pen EE-2 camera for your consideration.

  • Psycho Semantics

    Psycho Semantics

    You’d think, after a decade-and-a-half of widespread moaning, bragging, posturing, marketing and pontificating, that every conceivable angle of the film vs digital debate would have been covered ad nauseam by ten thousand bloggers and a hundred thousand forum participants. So how is it I managed to uncover a heretofore un-debated…

  • The Blacksmith’s Lot

    The Blacksmith’s Lot

    Like telegraphs, typewriters, turntables and anvils, the Voigtlander Vito III 35mm folding camera is a relic of an earlier time. To many, that makes it obsolete. But for those who truly enjoy the act of photography, its antediluvian origins do not equate to uselessness. Distilled of all bells and whistles, it…

  • Caffenolog 2: A Shot in the Dark

    Caffenolog 2: A Shot in the Dark

    Part 2 of the Caffenolog ostensibly discusses developing Acros 100 in Caffenol-C-M. But because this is an ULTRAsomething article, that whole caffenol angle might actually be an elaborate excuse to further hone my Hasselblad XPan skills (and the word “skills,” as used here, is infused with irony). Then again, it’s…

  • Cones of Silence

    Cones of Silence

    Everyone redesigns their website now and then. But only ULTRAsomething would use such a mundane task as justification for an observational post on the state of humanity.

  • Caffenolog 1: Enter the Dragon

    Caffenolog 1: Enter the Dragon

    Once upon a time, I believed instant coffee was one of the most insipid substances on earth — but that was before I started dunking my film in it.

  • Sigma vs. Nerd (Part 3: The DP3)

    Sigma vs. Nerd (Part 3: The DP3)

    In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, I spent a tremendous number of words discussing the merits of Sigma’s Foveon sensor for BW photography. In this article, I’ll look specifically at the DP3 Merrill as a camera, rather than as a box that holds a Foveon sensor.

  • Sigma vs. Nerd (Part 2: The BW Merrill)

    Sigma vs. Nerd (Part 2: The BW Merrill)

    After Part 1’s discussion of the theoretical advantages of Sigma’s Foveon sensor for BW photography, this next installment looks at the BW process in detail, making it even nerdier than Part 1. The article includes a discussion of the tonal differences between BW photos taken with Sigma cameras vs. BW…

  • National Biplane Lady Day

    National Biplane Lady Day

    Which of these two is more ridiculous: “Film Photography Day” or “National Biplane Lady Day?” In this article I present the arguments. You make the decision.

  • Sigma vs. Nerd (Part 1: Sensor School)

    Sigma vs. Nerd (Part 1: Sensor School)

    Many people love cameras because they love gizmos, gadgets and technology. My love for cameras is more of an adjunct to my true love — photography. But that doesn’t preclude me from occasionally going full-on camera nerd — particularly when it comes to something like Sigma’s Foveon sensor, which has the…

  • A Treatise on X and Z

    A Treatise on X and Z

    I’ve often said that photography’s closest art form is not painting, but poetry. So perhaps it’s not surprising that I’ve uncovered yet another link between photography and language.

  • The Fallacy of Saw

    The Fallacy of Saw

    What I see when I see what I saw is not the same fiction as most others divulge.

  • Fractured

    Fractured

    I can no longer deny my propensity for “fractured photography.” Now I just need to figure out what, exactly, that means.