Many years ago, still fresh out of college, I worked with a 21/4x31/4" Century Graphic. I bought it used with three lenses and it was so cool. Pebble-grained gray leather covering, bright red bellows, and a coupled rangefinder. Wow, I naively...
Riddle: what do Ansel Adams, the Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy, William Mulholland, and Gunga Din all have in common? Answer: a geographical area of California that is as rich in human history, geological wonder, and photographic beauty...
Whether it’s with film using my large format gear or capturing multiple images on my digital camera to be stitched together later in the computer, I’m nuts for panoramas.
In the fourth grade every kid in California learns about Father Junípero (say, who-NIP-ero) Serra of Mallorca, Spain. A tough little man who was destined to become both the founder of California and someday, a saint.
Ansel Adams had Yosemite, for Edward Weston it was Point Lobos, while Galen Rowell prefers places with mostly vertical surfaces. It seems that every photographer has his/her special place, a place where all seems in balance, we feel most alive, and the...
How would you like to photograph dramatic ocean scenes, wildlife, Spanish missions, urban landscapes, agriculture, mountain vistas, wildflowers, marine mammals, surfing and sailing, fishing villages, multi-million dollar real estate, thriving artist's colonies, remote lighthouses, and even a real castle?
I don't recall just how many times I've gone through this, but it's more than a few. After much soul-searching, speculation, and fretting I decide I'm going to give up large format photography forever. It always seems like such a...
When I'm out shooting with my view camera the first question most people ask is, "Is that an antique camera?" The second question is invariably, "How much does one of those cost?" My stock answer to question two is, "It depends." Let's face it, for some folks entry level is a Porsche Boxster while for others it's a...