I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Mine was great, spent with my wife, children, grandchildren, and dogs.  To say I have a lot to be grateful for is truly an understatement … in art and in life.

But I also know the things we hold most dear and usually take for granted can easily be taken away.

So, please take a moment to think about this, especially as it relates to the one thing that enables us to do so much and to have so much … our democracy.

Let’s do all we can in this most important year ahead to be to make sure Thanksgiving 2024 is truly a happy one.

Stay well,

Michael

Several weeks ago I visited a new acquaintance to listen to his stereo (I’m somewhat of an over the top audiophile) and to look at some of his photographs made some fifty years ago.  The stereo sounded great but what really struck me were the wonderful images he had made. Some were framed on the wall, but most were confined to an old 8×10 Kodak Polycontrast paper box.

Here was a person that had real talent so what I saw and felt bothered me.

The pictures, made when he was in his twenties were sensitively seen and beautifully printed. It sounded like he had tried to make a go of it, but having a young family made that difficult. Like many his age he found a better way to make a living and stopped making photographs. I get that, but I can only imagine the work he might have produced had he continued on.

Sad.

I think he’s a few years younger than me, and still works like I do. He puts a lot of time and effort into his listening passion. So do I. I told him he should find some time to make images again; I didn’t care whether they were analog or digital. I just wanted him to get out there again and do what he’s capable of doing … for those that would be fortunate enough to see the work … but most of all for himself!

He’d lost all that precious time and missed the opportunity to create a meaningful body of work.

What could have been.

I think he could have found a way to keep photographing. I had to do the same thing. I know it’s difficult, yet possible. It’s a question of priorities like everything else in life.

Now it’s a question of what still could be.

I’ve told him several times that he should find the time and make pictures again. Easy for me to say, maybe not so easy for him to do … or want to do. I’ve offered to help, but I won’t bother him again.

He really wanted me to see his pictures. I guess that says something.

For all those of you with dusty old Polycontrast boxes underneath your bed, in the basement or the attic, go find them, take the old rubber bands off and have a good look at what’s inside. Once upon a time you really cared and had something you wanted to say. It’s not too late to finish what you started or say something new that matters … to you … to all of us.

Stay well,

Michael

Every week for the last month or so I have been working with thirteen and fourteen year old’s after school. No they don’t have film cameras!  A few have old basic digital cameras, but most come to class equipped with their mobile phones. No sweat, I’m just trying get them interested in learning about photography and making pictures. They’re very polite but don’t speak very often, so it’s been a bit of a challenge, but I feel I’m making more progress every week!

A couple of weeks ago it came time for the much anticipated outdoor photo walk. I had everything scouted out for some interesting pictures and was pretty jazzed about what I found!  Like my recent photo walk with older teenagers, the idea was to look for exciting opportunities that are usually passed by without a thought.

So off we went. The problem, or so it seemed, was that some of the things I thought were pretty spiffy appeared to be flat out uninteresting to them!  I would point out something I thought was cool and then say “so what do you think?”, only to get the deer in the headlights look, or a “nah”.

But was there was a silver lining that made the experience a success?

I realized that while I was trying to get them to think about making photographs of things I found interesting they were making photographs of things they found interesting! The more I thought about it, I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.

Then at class last week they showed me the pictures they had made on their phones.  As I looked at their pictures I noticed something very interesting … along with all the pictures of what they thought were interesting were some of what I thought were too!

Those sneaky kids!

I’m glad they made pictures of what they saw, as well as ones of what I saw.  And while there were some promising images of what I pointed out, the best ones were all theirs … and that makes me especially happy.

I hope I succeeded in getting them to begin to open their hearts and mind’s eyes to the vast array of photographic opportunities that will always surround them as they grow up.

They agreed I was on to something here … I know they are too.

Stay well,

Michael

After attending another Zombie Walk in Asbury Park, I decided to head back to the town made famous by The Boss. I’ve been making photographs of murals lately and Asbury Park has its share. So this past week I drove back. The seventy mile trip takes about an hour and half.

The sun was shining when I pulled into my parking space not far from the boardwalk. Getting out of the car I immediately noticed something I wanted to make a picture of. I opened my camera bag grabbed my camera. And then I looked again. Oh $@%#^$!  I left my light meter home in another camera back #!@$%^(*&^%!!

I’ve never left my meter home. My first thought was put the camera back in its bag and head back. But then I thought I’m not going to do a three hour round trip and come back empty handed!  What to do?  All of a sudden I thought of the so called Sunny 16 Rule that states on a nice day you can set your lens aperture on f/16 and your shutter speed at the inverse of your film box speed. I guess we were about to find out if it was really true about all that Tri-X latitude! With the shutter speed set at 1/500^th of a second, a close enough match to ASA 400, I set out to find some murals.

Would my trip to Asbury Park turn out to be a bust or have a sunny outcome? After a long stroll along the board walk and a number of photos of the murals made I saw what looked like a bridal party in the distance!  My pace quickened until a caught up with the happy couple being photographed against some of the murals by their wedding photographer. Great … I had a camera too! Needless to say I hung out with them for a while.  Good thing I had my Leica … small unobtrusive and quiet!  If the exposures of the murals and the bride and groom were remotely accurate there may be a keeper or two.

But wait, there was more!  As the wedding party finally walked away and I was ready to head back to my car, I spotted yet another man and wife to be with their photographer!!  Needless to say more photographs for me!

I talked to my two kids about my experience that day. Both said pretty much the same thing. According to my son my bridal stalking was semi creepy … my daughter said it was creepy.  Millennials … what can I say? Hey, no one shooed me away, and one of the grooms even waved at me!

Yesterday I developed my Tri-X filled with murals and young love and the negatives didn’t look all that bad.  There may well be a sunny outcome after all to my meterless outing!

Stay well,

Michael

Last time I wrote about Pentax’s exciting announcement and its plans to reintroduce film cameras aimed in part at younger photographers. This is welcome news and would fill an important need, a point that was driven home to me recently when I led a Photo 1 high school class on a photo walk. All of the students owned film cameras including some oldies but goodies like the Nikon FM2 and Canon AE1!!  I asked them why they were taking a photography class and more specifically why they were interested in film. The general response was that they wanted to do something creative and have fun. There you have it … perfect reasons to go out into the world with a film camera!!! As we meandered about I pointed out things they should be looking for and often routinely pass by without a thought and answered questions they had. I had a great time and afterwards hung out with the Photo 2 class as they made black and white prints in Nazareth Area High School’s very well equipped darkroom.

The Pentax announcement and my walkabout experience gives me great hope about the future of analog photography and the young people that are discovering it and helping to keep it alive.  I know digital is here to stay. But the more that people give film and traditional processes a try, the more they will recognize what a beautiful means of artistic expression is at their disposal, as well as an approach to making art in a much more fulfilling way.

Stay well,

Michael

Not sure how I missed this, but last December Pentax announced it is working towards development of one or more film cameras based in part on the growing interest of younger people interested in photography. It’s called the Pentax Film Project. You can check several videos posted here:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu4T6jlKqMfQpvCilj7CgJe9r2eMhscwo

Apparently the Pentax Film Project is not a done deal yet but this is exciting news nevertheless! While Leica continues to make film cameras and recently reintroduced the venerable M6 for a cost of $5,295, it is a luxury the average photographer can’t afford. My sense and hope from Pentax’s announcement videos is that their initial offerings will be affordable and simple to use.  A winning combination for sure!!  How about something like the Pentax SV or Spotmatic? Younger photographers (and even some older ones) would snap them up in a hurry.  Let’s hope it happens!

No matter what the outcome, this wildly exciting news is yet another powerful indicator that film photography is indeed alive and becoming more and more popular!

Go Pentax!

Stay well,

Michael

Ever since my bout with benign vertigo forced me to cancel my trip to eat my way through and photograph the Bloomsburg PA Mac & Cheese Festival I’ve been itching to go there.  So for several months I had the annual the Bloomsburg Fair on my calendar, but as things got closer to my planned travel date we got caught up in a couple of ugly weather systems that threatened to scrub yet another road trip. Even though Bloomsburg is one hundred thirty miles from where I live, the town experienced the same non-stop rain. Then work got in the way for the couple of days that were somewhat dry. Saturday was my last chance and also the last day of the fair! I shook off some mild reactions to the covid and flu shots I got the day before and left at nine.

After a two plus hour drive, I was rewarded with a ten minute traffic jam just to get into the enormous field that served as a parking lot. When I finally found a parking place it seemed I was in another state, but after a long walk I purchased my ticket at the admission gate and strolled into the fairground.  The Bloomsburg Fair is said to be the largest in the state and it sure looked that way! Not only was it packed with cars and people, but there was more! I’ve seen and had my share of kitsch and junk food, but I’ve never experienced so much of it all together in one location!! I mean it was unreal and as far as the food goes there should have been a sign at the entrance gate stating that consuming this stuff, even in small quantities posed a major health risk!

I know, it was probably all pretty lip-smacking good, even the nasty looking stuff. Unbelievably though, I didn’t even purchase a tacky tee shirt or sample any of the fries, various deep fried meats (I’m a vegetarian after all), bake goods, ice cream, waffle cakes, cotton candy, fudge and so on.

I did manage to run through a role of 120 Tri-X before declaring no mas. The people were interesting and I think I might have gotten a keeper or two. And speaking of interesting people, next week follows up with one of my favorite events of the year, the annual Asbury Park Zombie Walk. Once that’s done I’ll develop all of the negatives and make proof sheets.

Life is good … the journey continues!

Stay well,

Michael