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...

Johnny Martyr’s B&W Darkroom Grocery List

by Johnny Martyr If your New Year's resolution is to start processing your own b&w film at home, or you're just interested in comparing notes, I thought it would be handy for me to share my darkroom grocery list. Disclaimer - I am not a chemist! I'm just a photographer who has found some products...

Rating + Processing for Available Light Portraits – EI 3200 ISO

It bears repeating: International Center of Photography shooter James Mignogna once told me that a good photographer matches their light, lens, film and developer. Nowhere do I think these decisions are more critical than portraits in dim lighting. That was the intro I used in my previous entry: Rating + Processing for Available Light Portraits...

Three Interpretations of Conduit

While I have a pretty tight camera system and methods for shooting paid work, when shooting freely and creatively, I like to try a variety of cameras and lenses.  I find that doing this can offer a fresh vision and shakes up my personal conventions, allowing me to take things in new directions. Every day...

A Brief History of my 1930 Leica I/III

I stopped into my local camera repair shop last week to retrieve my Leitz Summarit which got damaged during my family trip to Disney earlier this year.  Lev, the shop-owner told me that he had something I might be interested in.  He brought out a little black Barnack Leica and I tried my best to keep...