Starting a photo project can be a creative and fulfilling endeavor. Here are some steps to help you get started:
Define Your Idea: Decide on the theme or concept for your photo project. It could be anything that interests you, such as nature, street photography, portraits, or a specific location. Consider that your project might be an exploration into something you do not know well. One, often overlooked recommendation is to consider how you will share your work (see more on this below) as the method of sharing could have significant impact on the ideation process. You might want to consider what you hope to learn from the process. Think about what you want to convey through your project and what message or story you want to tell with your photos.
Research and Plan: Once you have a clear idea, do some research to gather inspiration and ideas. Look for other photographers who have done similar projects and study their work. Consider the equipment, settings, and techniques you will need to achieve your vision. Create a plan that outlines the goals, timeline, and logistics of your project, including locations, models (if applicable), and any necessary permits.
Gather Your Equipment: Make sure you have the necessary camera gear and accessories for your project. This may include a camera body, lenses, tripod, filters, and lighting equipment. Ensure that your equipment is in good condition and ready to use. Take a moment to consider your safety when executing the project. Will you be on the street with expensive equipment, will you work at heights, what can go wrong that might hurt you or someone else. No project is worth risking your life or someone else's. 
Scout Locations: If your project involves shooting on location, scout the locations beforehand to familiarize yourself with the environment and find the best angles and compositions. Take note of lighting conditions, weather patterns, and any potential challenges you may encounter.
Capture Your Images: Start shooting! Use your creative eye and technical skills to capture the images that align with your project's concept and vision. Experiment with different angles, compositions, and lighting to create visually compelling photos that tell your story.
Edit and Curate: Once you have captured a substantial number of images, review and select the best ones for your project. Edit your photos in the darkroom to create a repeatable aesthetic. Toning consistency, development consistency along with obvious paper and display consistency is important to enhance their visual impact. Consider the sequence and flow of the images to create a cohesive story or visual narrative. To quote William Faulkner "Kill your darlings".  This is the hardest part...an image can be perfect but it might not fit well with your project....kill it. The photo might have been very difficult to capture but does not represent the best you could do....kill it.  
Share Your Work: After completing your photo project, share your work with others. This can be done through exhibitions, galleries, online platforms, or social media. If you are looking at a film photography project, then the tangible feel of a print might be important to you. If so, consider how you will share this.  I have had some great success with a thin box to hold the images so long as you are consistent with the boarder of the image. It is a nice way to show the images, unbound but still held together so they won't become lost.
Reflect and Learn: Reflect on your experience and what you have learned throughout the process. Evaluate the success of your project based on your original goals and feedback from others. Use this knowledge to further refine your skills and plan future photo projects.
Remember, starting a photo project requires creativity, passion, and dedication. Embrace the process, be open to experimentation, and enjoy the journey as you bring your vision to life through your photographs.

This image that I captured on a Digital Leica M9 taught me a great deal about art. At the time I was living in Surry England and a few minutes drive from my home was the Windsor Great Park.  For a photographer, having such an amazing place a stone's throw from my front door was paradise. I loved living in England...hated the taxes but loved the place.

Back to my image....I went to Windsor Great Park one grey day (most days are indeed grey there) and managed to work my way to some ancient Roman ruins, originally from Libya that were gifted to England and ended up being placed in this park.  While looking for a new angle it began to rain.

As you can see in the picture below, there is a tunnel at one end of the ruins where I ducked into, so as to avoid the rain. Then I waiting with a group of like minded, rain avoiding, people.  You can see in the image above the soaked ground that surrounded us. Then I saw this lady walking with a bright red umbrella and I was amazed at what an amazing image it could make.

I grabbed my camera and began shooting.  The problem was that it was not perfect. You see the umbrella, while a wonderful red color, had some propaganda on it in bright white letters. The lady was not alone, she had her son with her.  So the moody picture that could have been was ruined by media print and with an even number of subjects. 

I quickly got home, and used Photoshop to create the image that I really wanted to have taken. I wanted color, I wanted the lady to be alone and I needed all that white lettering removed from the umbrella. So I manufactured the shot below.  It is a composite of two images that I took, I removed the kid, I removed the lettering and voila I had the image I had pictured in my mind....I had ART!

I hated the image.  Each time I looked at it I saw my Photoshop skills.  I remembered the frustration that I felt that day as the world would not give me what I wanted.  I spent a great deal of time thinking of this image.  I then realized that the image was far too perfect and became a poor imitation of the scene.  

As with most creative pursuits, we assume that we are traveling a unique journey but we are not. What we have learned has been learned and taught be others before us. We can learn allot by lifting our heads and asking the questions that bother us. Had I done this I would have learned allot more, allot faster.  But I had to pursue my own journey and it was only years later, that I heard of Wabi-sabi.  

Wikipedia: 
In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi (侘寂) is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of appreciating beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete" in nature. It is prevalent in many forms of Japanese art.

Since this shot, I have tried to limit my intervention in the image. I add contrast, I darken and lighten as needed, and will crop an image to improve composition.  I don't have a list of hard rules but have instead taken a moment, before editing, to ask why.  And take the time to see the image for the beauty that is there.

Below is an interesting example. The first image is the one I wanted to capture. You can see where the bike rider is, this is the first shot in the series. I cropped out some action that was happening on the right of the man with an umbrella.

This is the image I wanted to have. The man is looking straight at me, he is separated from the bike rider, and no one else is on the street.  He is caught in mid stride as he walks towards me. The classic house int he background, wet pavement and confident gait of a young man is what I wanted to capture.  Below is taken a second later without cropping...

Clearly he is no longer alone, his gait is now changed, the bike rider is farther along.  There is a story in either image. My search for what I wanted to capture is in the first. In the second I captured what was there.  

The understanding I have thus far come to is the following.  Edit as little as possible.  Find the beauty that is there instead of manufacturing your own. The world is an amazing place all you need to do is see it.  

Just uploaded a quick and dirty review of the Analyser Pro.  This is a wonderful little exposure computer for the modern darkroom.  It is built like a tank and saves me headache and paper!  Give it a read and let me know what you think!

If you want to see it go to the top of the menus and select "Darkroom Lessons" and select Analyser Pro (English spelling).  Or click HERE.

Photography projects used to be a bit intimidating. I always imaged a four year odyssey to be able to complete it. Something massive with a vitally important message....something only true artists should attempt.

But in the middle of the Pandemic, I took a virtual class that taught me that a project can be done in a month, week or even a day.  I was asked to make on and was given just 24 hours to do so.  My project, a day in my life during quarantine.  

Looking back on it I am so grateful to have done it.  It is one of the only photographic depictions of what my family and I went through.  We all have our stories, ours is much better than most but we still struggled in our own way.  There are 24 images to this project but I only selected a few to show here. 

The three lessons that I took away from this project....

1. A project can be as long or as short as you want it to be.
2. Keep to a theme.
3. Know when to stop.

That is it.  The quality of the project will vary but if you follow these simple steps a project you will complete.  

This vacation was a long time in coming.  Not just because it was the first airplane travel vacation since 2019 but because we had long talked about taking the kids to New York but wanted to wait until we were living back in the US.  Why travel to get to know the US when you are living in Asia? Or the Middle East?  Or Europe?

The plan was a simple one.  Spend seven days visiting the typical tourist locations throughout NYC.  Don't overdue it.  Just be sure we are seeing interesting things everyday. Enjoy wonderful food and forget that you are blowing a hole in your budget and enjoy.

The photography plan was a bit more complicated in that I wanted to take both digital and film photographs of the place.  As any reader of my website knows, I have plenty of cameras, in fact it is a bit of an obsession with me.  So the selection process of what cameras to take it complicated....it has more to do with what I want to photography than anything else. 

I tried to look up the experiences of other photographers looking to take film photographs of NYC but found no useful sources.  So I decided to write up a quick lessons learned section for those who come after me.  As people say, this is my experience and your mileage may vary...

Cameras:
I wanted to try a bit of street photography and who wouldn't.  It is NYC and screams to be photographed in all its charm.  I opted for my Leica M10 for digital shots and so I went with a Leica M6 for film.  The kept the lenses I was forced to carry to a minimum.  I also wanted some larger frame photographs of a few of the sites...something I could print big in the darkroom.  I opted for my Hasselblad 500 CM.  The Rolleiflex needs some CLA work done....it works well but why risk it.  

Being that I selected Leica equipment I automatically limited my lens length as all I have is 15mm, 28mm, 35mm and 50mm (my 90mm is showing its age with the new film of today).  So how was this?  I ended up doing just fine with this.  There was only two occasions I was left wishing for a longer lens...not worth carrying for just two shots.  But, and this is a big but, you must be happy with the wider shots of the city skyline (see top photograph).  

I also took a film point and shoot, something I could carry around at night with a small flash to catch some candid moments with the family at dinner.  I never took it out of the bag!  My iPhone did a great job and handled the night shots wonderfully.  In fact, this is the first trip where my iPhone carried a bit of the photography load.  

Film:
I kept it simple and stuck with HP5.  Not just that, but I made a decision to shoot it at the same Exposure Index (EI).  I kept it at box 400 EI this was as I develop I can do them all at the same time.  I took both 35mm and 120 HP5 to keep everything consistent.  Now that I am back I am thrilled I did.  There were a few occasions I would have liked to push the film a bit but this was only a handful of pictures and I did not want to lose the chance to continue photographing as I exited the darker buildings.  

This did leave me with only digital in some spots, such as subway shots.  If this is important for you to capture on film, I suggest dedicating a morning to running around the subway lines with a film camera set at 1600 or 3200 EI.  

Tripod:
I took a small desk top one from Manfrotto but never used it.  Most places won't allow you to shoot with a tripod anyway.

Bag:
I purchased a messenger type bag from (Retrospective 30) from ThinkTank.  This was small enough for me to carry into all the museums and big enough for me to carry all my gear.  If you have not looked at there bags have a gander....their quality is amazing!

Shot List:
I always make a shot list but this time I kept it simple.  Normally I walk into a vacation with 10-15 shots I want to take.  For NYC I wanted to be flexible and relaxed so I picked the following:

• Brooklyn Bridge
• DUMBO shot of Manhattan Bridge
• Street Shots 
• Statue of Liberty
• 30 Rock Skyline shot 
• Central Train Station

That is it.  Nice simple and successful on all counts.

Lessons Learned:

• Security at the airport were HAPPY to hand check my film.  No problem whatsoever.  I asked it as a favor and they were happy to help me out.  
• Security to get to Statue of Liberty again, happy to hand check film. This was the only place that had X-ray.  All other checks were done by hand.
• Tripods are not allowed in most places.  
• Street Photography....I never found a place more relaxed about taking pictures of people.  Everyone seemed to understand and while I used proper judgement...no shots of children, one picture and move one and I kept smiling at everyone.
• Safety was not an issue.  I kept an eye out and did not go down any dark alleys alone but never encountered any issue. Be smart but don't be driven by fear.
• If possible stay in the city and select a place close to Central Station. This makes it easy to take subways and trains everywhere you want to go.  
• Buy a subway week long pass...it is around 30 USD but saves you time and can save you money if you use it.  It also works for busses if needed.
• Food at restaurants is more expensive than in Houston.  We went to nice places (nothing out of this world as we wore jeans but nice) and we were spending about USD 50 / person for lunch and USD 85 /.person for dinner.  The difference was mostly the wine at dinner. 
• Tickets to any event will cost you allot.  To enter into a museum or to go up the Empire State Building and so forth is expensive...plan on 25-35 USD per person.  There are student discounts and discounts for people under the age of 16 in many places. 
• People are in a hurry but they are very nice and helpful.  
• For the Instagram famous spots...go early.  Get there before 9am and you should be fine.  If not you will not have a chance to shoot as everyone is there taking their instagram shot.  
• The iPhone 13 is GREAT to photograph with.  Honestly some of my best shots were taken with it.  And why the heck not...it is always with me! Take a look at the Radio City and Atlas shots below.  Both at night, in fog and all I had was my iPhone.  Some captures I am thrilled with!!

In short, NYC is film photographers paradise.  I will share some of the film photographs once processed and printed.  Go out and enjoy!!!!
 

If a picture says 1000 words, several pictures can say much, much more. Photographs that follow a theme, sometimes called a series, have always impressed me but they do present a new challenge.  Here is a series I made after a trip to a railroad museum.  All were shot on a Rolleiflex f2.8 on HP5 film over two rolls.  

I opted for an odd number of pictures, and selected some that would hint at the subject without being too obvious. I have a wonderful picture of the train engine, but for a theme to tell its story, you can't have a single image that tells 90% of the story.

The first picture, I call 555 due to the car number that was painted, and bled down the side of the car. The composition was the trick for this show as I wanted both wheels and still include the 555 in the image.  The fact that neither numbers or wheels are in the center of the image helps balance out the composition.  

In the Darkroom I opted for Ilford Fiber Based paper and a medium selenium toning after and archival wash (the same process for all three).  It was temperature dried for about 85% and then air dried for the remainder.  Finally dry mounted and framed.  It is a powerful image of industrialization and its capitulation to time. As we move to the digital age, the massive machines that pulled us into the modern age are now left to rot in the shade of the new vehicles of modernization.

The second image is of the connection between two railcars, I loved the heavy iron, the deep blacks and the power that the image shows. Almost as if the rail cars are holding on to each other for this, their final journey into oblivion. Perhaps too obvious of a personification!

​The third and final is of the bogies (the wheels of a train are called bogies).  Here I loved the silver reflection of the light and the deep black of the iron.  All of this broken up by the white paint.  Still, in the middle of its final trip to oblivion, the trains are still magnificent. 
​
The texture of these images is massive and there is almost a 3D effect of them which is a testament to the lens quality of the Rolleiflex.  The images are printed on 8x10 giving it a nice mix of size and intimacy with the viewer. 

Of all my purchases in cameras, lenses, darkroom equipment and film, nothing brings me the joy of a great photography book.  I have collected well over 70 books, some are good, others are absolutely mesmerizing.  One of my favorite pastimes is getting up early on a Sunday morning, making a hot cup of coffee and sitting back to look over one of the books in my collection.

For a few dollars you get untold hours of enjoyment, you are transported to amazing places and meet some of the most interesting people.  But most importantly, I cannot lift a great photography book and not feel inspired to pick up my camera and make something. 

Several years ago, I discovered the work of Lartigue and bought a few of his books.  Henri Lartigue was a master photographer, but unlike most of the photographers that inspire me, Lartigue was an amateur and was only discovered late in life, thanks largely to Richard Avedon.  After reading the book, "Lartigue The Boy and the Belle Époque" by Louise Baring (Thames & Hudson), I developed a deeper interest in his work and began hunting some more of his books.

I was eager to try to get one of his first published books which came out in 1970 and is one of the few written by him, in his own contemporary (at least for the 1970's) words.  The book is titled "Diary of a Century Jacques Henri Lartigue" and you see some of his favorite works. 

The problem was that I could not find this book for anything less than USD 300.  This surprised me as it is not a really sought after book but it got me looking at all photography books and I began to notice the prices of them have skyrocketed of late. When I began looking at books I recently purchased, what used to go for USD 50 or 70 is now twice that. The older the books the higher the price, almost irrespective of their quality or condition. 

After much searching I found a copy of my Diary book for USD 100 and purchased it right away.  The condition was better than I had thought so I am thrilled with the purchase but saddened that my ability to acquire more books has been so reduced.  What I can tell you is that there are still good bargains to be had, but you need to search much more than just a few months ago.  When you find one, look at the seller's other items as there are some hidden treasures out there...just really hard to find.  

George Eastman, a business man, not an artist, not a scientist but a true capitalist is the person who transformed photography.  Sure we can look at Louis Daguerre or Henry Fox Talbot as the scientist and hobbyists that were the fathers of photography to see an influence.  But if these two men were the fathers, Eastman was the neighborhood bully that transformed photography into what it is today.

As a photographer, one question continues to come up. Were the changes ushered in by Eastman good for photography?  Let me explain.

"You press the button; We do the rest" was the slogan that Eastman used to explain the amazing transformation that he brought to photography.  Imagine that prior to his industrialization of the dry plate process, photography was all wet plate, forcing the photographer to adapt tot he limitations of their tools, keeping them close to their darkroom (a wet plate dries in 10-15 minutes and must be exposed before it does). It was cumbersome and dirty.

Eastman changed that by finding a repeatable way to make consistent dry plates that could be sold.  This then took him to the advent of the film backed emulsion simplifying the process further.  So you could buy a camera, preloaded with film, shoot a bunch of pictures and then mail the camera back to be processed, printed and refilled with more film.

But this simplicity, democratized a process so that anyone with the spare income could take pictures of their very own.  The problem is that photographers were attempting to define this as an art form, and as all of us know, art should be hard, artists should be few and talented.  By reducing photography to the push of a button, eliminated any hope of these early photographers to define their art in the same way painting, sculptures and music composition was defined.  

Today, with the advent of Digital Photography (also a legacy Kodak the company that Eastman founded) we have been ushered into a new era where the photographic process has been simplified even further. Has this impacted the quality of art which is produced?  Well now we get into the subjective discussion, but in my view it has impacted the quality of art a great deal.  It has improved it.

And this is what makes my perspective of film and digital photography different than most I have seen.  Film photographers like myself, typically bemuse the artificial quality, speed over substance and convenience over art.  I see something very different.  What I  see is a tool, usually a cell phone these days, that is converting everyone into an artist.  This tool allows us to tap into our imagination and create new photographs.  

Is everyone who wields a smart phone with a camera an artist?  No, but they have the tools to leverage their imagination to make new work and some of this work challenges the way we see the world and this, at its very core, is art.  Does every photograph matter?  No, but they never did.  Are we dumbing down the artistic medium of photography?  No.  If you think making art with a camera phone is easy, try it yourself.  We are just giving everyone the opportunity to create and this is an essential part of art.  Create, something individual, challenge the way we see ourselves and the world around us.  

​

Oh how this picture (wonderfully taken by the way) creates such discussions.  The repurposing of old things for new applications is seldom without controversy, but few have seen such emotional reactions.  I myself, hate to see wonderful old cameras to be converted in such a way. As a collector of sorts, I would rather see this camera being used for its intended purpose.  On the other hand, I have cameras who are beyond repair and will never see film through them again.  Is it not ok to alter these to find a second life? Or would this create increased desire and a threat to other, functioning cameras.

​I tripped into one such discussion yesterday.  I will not name names, to protect the guilty, hey I might even be one of the guilty parties!  Here is the story within a story.

Here is my wonderful Nikon F.  She is an amazing beast of a camera that is much loved part of my useable collection of cameras.  I decided to take it out of a spin the other day and loaded batteries in it.  I al always keep my cameras without batteries to protect them.  When I loaded the batteries in it, I began to try to remember if it had been converted to the 1.5v battery standard of today (as compared to the 1.3v of the no discontinued mercury based batteries).  I tested it, and indeed found that it had not been converted.  Not only was it giving me odd readings, the needle was jumping all over the place.

So a quick search on YouTube and I. found one of my favorite repair channels had a video dedicated to this upgrade.  You can find it HERE. It seemed like something I could try, so I. ordered the diode and waited.  A week later the diode shows up and an empty Saturday comes along.

I followed the instructions, using some carefully bought camera CLA tools (what I mean to say I did not go in with a hammer and some dull screwdrivers).  I  encountered an unexpected set back when one of the terminals was very poorly soldered (I believe this is where the jumpy needle came from) but was fixed after a few minutes planning.

End result was a diode properly put in, heat shrink wrapped, the resistor cleaned and everything put back in order.  I took the camera out and it tested PERFECTLY to my hand held light meter.  It stopped dancing around and I have a consistent, accurate reading and the camera looks perfect.

So far, so good.  Then I post my "success story" on Facebook and got a VERY different perspective of what I have done.  A fellow Nikon F appreciator took issue with what I did. Now I want to be clear here, his position is a valid one, which is what I want to discuss, not really his tone or method to convey his thoughts which I found a bit heavy handed.  But here is is for you to judge.

"I would never modify internally a vintage camera. WeinCells work well.  You aren't using your F for business and yes, WeinCells are more expensive on the long run. But philological integrity is priceless."

So far so good.  A different view.  No harm, no foul. The same person then takes another issue with my photo...

"Sad to say your Apollo also sports a fancy shutter release, apart from the exposure meter power supply disaster."

"And no, you are not going to sell her at a premium on eBay"

Then another writes:

"Annnnnnd collectors value on that item is now ZERO."

So, I appreciate those who wish to collect cameras in pristine condition.  And if someone wants to pay a premium for this go for it.  I myself believe that cameras should be used and shot not kept as perfect replicas.  

Most seemed to agree with my view.  I was not very nice in my reply...I regret that.  Should not reply back to posts I disagree with until 24 hours pass.