Q&A: Is it Hard to Find Clients for a Documentary B&W Film Photographer?

by Johnny Martyr Comedian Nikki Glaser and musician Anya Marina recently posted photos that I took of them in Baltimore. I got a slew of new follows and DM's about my work. One of them was a good question that I get from time to time. There were a few from other photographers whose question...

Rapid Firing With Manual 35mm Cameras

"I guess I've shot about 40,000 negatives and of these I have about 800 pictures I like." - Harry Callahan One of the major differences in the way that I see digital and film photographers approach each medium is how rapidly we shoot. A common mantra among film shooters is "I shoot film because it...

Happy Birthday, Kodak Tri-X

Kodak Tri-X, as a concept, has been around since the 1940's when it was a 200 ISO b&w sheet film. Because it was their first fast film, when Kodak released the 400 ISO roll film version, the Tri-X name was maintained. Just like Kodak TMAX P3200 revolutionized low light photography in 1989, Tri-X was an...

One Year with the Voigtlander 40mm 1.4 Nokton MC

Since buying, shooting and writing about the Voigtlander 40mm 1.4 Nokton MC, I feel like I see this lens everywhere! I didn't realise how popular it is. The blog I wrote about it is my third most viewed of all time, I see it mounted to many of the cameras that I read reviews of...

One Photographer’s Experience; The Frederick Maryland March for Justice

It's a little after 10pm on Friday, June 5 2020.  My negatives are hanging in a nearby window to dry and my shoes are still sopping wet too. Today was the Frederick March for Justice, one of innumerable nationwide demonstrations in honor of George Floyd. A storm front began lingering around the area Thursday afternoon...

We Choose to Go to the Moon; David Burnett @ the Leica Store DC

This past Friday, the Leica Store DC hosted a gallery opening for famed photojournalist David Burnett's Apollo XI 50th anniversary photo series, We Choose to Go to the Moon. Though the astronauts made it to the Moon in 1969, my wife and I barely made it to DC!  We were about 40 minutes late but...

My Life As A Production Still Photographer

What do House of Cards, Whale Wars, Michael Jackson's Beat It, the Walking Dead, Parks and Recreation, Wedding Crashers, and Sex in the City 2 all have in common? I've photographed members of their casts and crews! Being a photographer is reason enough to be somewhere special and meet interesting people.  If you shoot production...

Wedding Receptions on Film; No Flash, No Automation

Say what you will about wedding photography but few other gigs will allow you to party with beautiful people without having to even know a single dance move. My wife and I are freelance wedding photographers.  She shoots digital and I shoot on b&w 35mm film.  I use vintage, all manual cameras and lenses and...

www.JohnnyMartyr.com

New and improved for 2019! http://www.JohnnyMartyr.com! Well, actually, I overhauled my site in the final months of 2018 but I think I've got all the bugs blown out and tweaks sufficiently tweaked.  What d'ya think?! For anyone who remembers the old JohnnyMartyr.com, you'll note that I finally removed ALL my color images, simplified my genres...