Colorado photographer capturing the mountains and the landscape of the eastern plains.
It’s once again time for my annual look at the last twelve months. I’ve been doing these articles for over a decade, and while I personally see the new year as a bit of an arbitrary date on a calendar it still helps to put these images together into a post to catalog what I’ve been up to. A year is a long time, and it is also a short time. It can be hard to fathom that the months flew by, but…
I’m finally getting around to this long overdue post about my travels to the far north last summer and fall. On my previous 2022 trip up to the Yukon and Alaska I was overwhelmed with the possibilities of locations to explore, but there was one region high on my list that didn’t fit into my itinerary: Tombstone Territorial Park and the surrounding area…
Last month I spent a week taking on a new-to-me route in Wyoming’s Wind River Range, an area that has captivated my repeat attention for nearly a decade. These mountains are in a remote part of the state, with no roads cutting through them which makes for difficult access and long hikes to reach the best scenery. I started making a regular habit of visiting these towering granite spires nearly ten…
Back in February and March I escaped the winter of Colorado and took a trip to New Zealand, rebooting an itinerary that had to be canceled back in March of 2020 for reasons we’re all too familiar with. My plan was to just visit the South Island as the mountains and glaciers were my biggest interest, so I booked a flight and a tiny one-person camper van for about 20 days. I also knew that I wanted…
At the end of the year, I always like to look back on what I’ve accomplished and where I’ve been. It’s actually quite helpful to put together these retrospective blog posts to remember that there was typically more adventure and photos to show for it than I knew about. I get to refresh my warm memories of a winter desert trip or time spent on a Hawaiian beach many months ago, and take another look…
It’s time to cover another frequent question that I get: How large can I print from a film scan? This question is most often asked by those who are curious about having me drum scan their film, but it also comes from many folks who are just asking about scanning in general. It is most often phrased as such, “How big can I print from a drum scan of 35mm film?” Today I want to explain how…
Over the years, I’ve had many people say that I should photograph a tropical island. While I’m not generally one to give into unsolicited advice, it just so happens that a friend and fellow photographer (Kurt Stevens) lives on Oahu and was willing to graciously show me around. I would have ten full days on the island, and I wanted to pack light so for a change of pace the medium format 6x7cm…
Another year in the books! It’s time for my annual post where I share some favorites from the last 12 months and look back on what the year was like. While it didn’t hold the level of adventure that 2022 did (it’s hard to top a road trip to Alaska!), I still got out for some backpacking trips in the mountains and time spent in the desert and prairie. Spring this year was wet and incredibly green…
I’m frequently asked about my thought process when it comes to selecting a specific film type for a scene. I already have a regularly updated article on color film choices, but I think it’s worth expanding a bit into what actually goes through my head in the field and why I reach for a certain film. In many ways, this topic will be highly subjective and frequently comes down to a “gut feel” on…
Now that some time has passed, and I’ve had the opportunity to work through most of my Alaska film, it’s time to write about the photography experience of the trip. Where the last post was all about the adventure, this one will focus more on the logistics and challenges of photographing up there - especially on large format film. I’m also going to use this article as a chance to share a…
Updated - April 2023 One of the most common questions from fellow photographers is about the types of color films I use and why I use them. I figured this would be a good subject to write about to provide some insight on film types. The question frequently comes from someone who may have just gotten their first film camera and wants to know what kind of film to use for landscapes, as well as those…
Looking back on 2022, all I can say is “what a year!” My goal was to make it a photographically productive one with more adventure than ever and I can confidently say that was a success. This was mostly due to the decision to spend nearly 3 months on a single road trip, driving up to Alaska and back. You can read about part one of that trip here, but for this post I want to focus mostly on images…
Have you ever wanted to travel as far north and west as roads will take you in North America, to see a land covered in glaciers, tundra, and wilderness? It’s a idea that’s been on my radar for a decade; after a brief trip by plane I found the vast landscape to be captivating on a level I’d never experienced before. But to do it right required a slow tour with plenty of time, and the journey would…
While I’ve always enjoyed seeing the moon turn red during an eclipse, I’ve honestly never made any attempt to capture it in an image. This time I decided to try something out, but I also wanted the image to appear like my own, something that would work with my personal style. The prairie was an obvious choice and I knew of a homestead that faced in the correct direction to make it work. Seeing how…
A little over two years ago Kodak started offering its new E100 slide film in 4x5 sheets, which meant I was finally interested in it after the initial launch period made it sound like the film would only be available in rolls. While it was exciting that a new transparency film was being produced after a decade of gloomy discontinuations, I wasn’t quite sure where E100 would fit into my shooting…
While I’ve never been one to put huge significance on the changing of a year, it turns out I’ve been doing these retrospectives on my work for almost a decade now. Generally speaking, it’s a rather healthy way to see where I’ve come from and how my work has progressed. While selecting images for 2021, it became quite obvious that I’ve been putting an even stronger emphasis on work from the prairie…
Nothing quite captures a vast landscape or moody forest scene the way a panorama does; the wide, narrow format can emulate the way our mind sees these views by cutting out the mess and revealing only the essential visual interests. I’ve long been a fan of panoramas, especially when it comes to large print sizes…
Have you ever wanted to be a little more precise with focus when using a view camera? Where exactly should we set the focus and what aperture should we use to ensure a full depth of field with everything sharp from near to far? Raise your hand if you’ve ever used the method “just focus on something and stop down to f32.” It’s ok, I’m guilty of taking that approach myself. It works more often than…
When first making the leap into the world of large format, it’s pretty common to start off with a lens somewhere around 135mm or 150mm. It’s a great and affordable standard focal length to get your toes wet in the format, I still use a 135mm all the time because it’s just so natural. However, almost everyone will find themselves wanting more than one lens at some point. If your tastes take you…
Ah yes, the year that went as no one expected. Over the last decade I’ve made a habit of looking back on the previous 12 months of achievements and photography by creating a retrospective in the form of a blog post. For 2020 I almost didn’t bother. This year has been rough on a lot of folks for countless reasons; I’m certain you don’t need me to remind you of the hardships. But it would be wrong…