Musings

I suppose it's no coincidence that lunacy is a derivative of lunar.  Why else would a group of photographers who probably number in the thousands all get up in the middle of the night and drive to some select spot to photograph a lunar eclipse?  The spouses of our little band deemed us crazy.  That is all but one of them who accompanied us.  We stood around in 14 degree weather to capture shots of this rare event.  That scene was being duplicated by untold numbers of shutterbugs so it wasn't as if we were going to have an exclusive image.  So why bother? All of us had a specific vision...


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My wife, Susan, and Joni are to blame.  Joni is a remarkable entrepreneurial spirit who convinced me at lunch about a year ago to join the world of social networking.  Joni is persuasive and I committed to completely revamping my website, starting a blog and dabbling with Facebook.  She appealed to my ego by saying something like "you have something of value to say".  I was comfortably procrastinating on that commitment until Susan announced her real estate website and blog where up and running!  My excuse of not having the time nor an agency to help me had evaporated.   I leaped into the breach....


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Several decades ago I took on the responsibility of managing several teams of trainers who traveled the country “training” dealer personnel in both the technical aspects and the sales techniques of marketing high performance tires.  The two-day seminars that these folks facilitated were incredibly successful and attendance was packed at every event.   My first assignment was to learn what these guys were doing and why their seminars were so successful.  The seminars turned out to be great fun.  The “trainers” were highly skilled performers who had an unending library of jokes...


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I watched a parade of excellent 35mm transparencies projected on screen.  Due to my digital mindset my first thoughts were how I could improve some of the slides given a little Photoshop magic and that got me thinking.   Perhaps I should be envious of the slide maker.  The slide maker is essentially done with work when he/she drops off film for development.  Most digital shooters, on the other hand, have just begun their work when shooting is completed.  Digital shooters have assumed the burden of processing and printing.  Our involvement in achieving the final print has increased dramatically. ...


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It’s my personal cross and I suspect it’s also carried by a significant portion of the population.  Procrastination can come in many forms.  I’m an expert at finding excuses.  I’m too busy, it’s too cold, I can wait until tomorrow, I need to set aside a specific block of time, and I don’t have anyone to help me.  I could fill this page.  If you need an excuse call me I’m sure I have one that will fit your needs.   I believe it was Sir Isaac Newton that proved through mathematics that it takes more energy to initiate the movement of a mass than to continue the movement...


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The most efficient and productive person I have ever known once said to me that he never wants to sit in a rocking chair when he is 90 years old and say “well, I could ‘a”.  I thought of him when a dear friend recently gave me an album of John Prine songs and told me it’s probably something I would enjoy.  Prine is a balladeer who has written a unique collection of ideological statements and one in particular “Safety Joe” I found particularly compelling.  Safety Joe is a character who spent his entire life avoiding even the slightest emotional or physical risk.  That got me thinking,...


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Here is a question that a friend asked me over a year ago.  When you photograph a work of art, such as a sculpture, or a building or an automobile can you consider that a creative work of art or is it simply documentation of someone else’s creativity?  (He loves to give me these questions.  My friend knows I think about them for months.) The short answer is “that depends” but the real answer has been staring me in the face for over a year.  It’s a quote from the late Garry Winogrand that I have taped to the sill of the same window I look out all day. “Photography is not about the thing...


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I just listened to a brilliant conversation between a world-class photographer and her photography savvy talk show host.  The theme of their talk was fascinating but what I found even more fascinating was a pearl of wisdom they dropped as part of their talk. Every shot is not a great shot even those taken by great photographers.  That would seem obvious to most photographers but what is not obvious is the emotional value you may attach to certain shots.  Your emotional value does not make it a great shot.  As an example, let’s say I just spent an entire day tracking Big Horn Sheep.  Every...


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Equipment Rationale and Selective Hearing My wife tells my friends that the bumper sticker that reads “He who dies with the most toys wins” is inappropriate for me.  She insists that if it were my bumper sticker it should read “He who dies with the best toys wins”.   Okay, I admit to chasing the holy grail of technology but I keep the frequency and number of purchases within reason.  All my purchases are tempered by reciting the mantra “does it solve a problem, will it generate revenue and do I need it now?”  I waited 7 years to buy a new computer.  Does that sound like an avowed...


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I recently had a reader email me and ask my opinion of digital manipulation.  He considered himself a “purist”, that is he shot film, and he was concerned about the apparent limitless control the digital shooter had regarding his/her images.  My first impulse was to request that he allow me to comment on sex, religion and politics, they are far less controversial.  Technology has always gotten a bad rap and I doubt seriously if my comments will change anyone’s opinion but I hope that at least those that disagree can see some logic in the following: Historically speaking, photography has always...


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