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Lobotomy, Please!
Self-doubt is a bottomless quagmire from which escape is difficult. We are who we are. If we’re lucky enough to have a vision and to feel passionately about it, then we owe it to ourselves to persevere. Slavishly adapting my style to match current trends would likely bring me more admirers, but then they wouldn’t…
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A Long Look at a Widelux (Part 2)
In this, Part 2 of my lengthy look at the classic Widelux F7 panoramic swing lens camera, I discuss the anatomy of the camera, its various eccentricities, and my ultimate delight with its unique view of the world around it.
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A Long Look at a Widelux (Part 1)
The Widelux F7 takes WIDE photographs. It delivers DEEP focus. And, apparently, writing about it requires LONG articles. In this, Part 1 of my look at this classic camera, I discuss the various photographic needs that drove me to consider panoramic cameras, and my rationale for choosing this particular model.
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I Heart Rangefinders
I used to think concert photography went with SLR cameras like eggs went with ham. Well, cancel that side of ham and bring me some of that rangefinder bacon. In this article I confront life after SLRs, and schlep a couple of Leica rangefinder cameras to a Heart concert.
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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 people look at my pictures…
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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 of hard work you spent…
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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 granting them 30-day exclusive publication…
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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 monograph — a collection of…
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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 inclinations, and to give up…
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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 pretty. And the crazy thing…
