Leitz 5cm f3.5 Elmar: The Meaning of Gestalt

I'll admit it. As I shuffled around the streets of downtown Frederick, Maryland anticipating the paths of passersby and lifting my little black Leica to my eye, I imagined that this is what it was like for Henry Cartier Bresson before this equipment was legendary, new methods were standard practices and the genre was a...

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...

These Photos Were Processed In Kodak’s New HC110 In Spite of The Product’s Single Flaw

In early 2019, the film community was pretty stressed out, and with good reason. The nearly two century old chemical manufacturer, Tetenal appeared close to shutting down. Many photographers have probably never even heard of this company, but Tetenal has been "the man behind the curtain" for many of Kodak's products for decades. The product...

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 1600 ISO

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. With all of us spending so much time at home lately, I have gotten a number of emails asking for...

Photographing Fireworks with a 90 Year Old Leica

*photos and text depict July 2019 There they were, a continuous, almost organized line of middle-aged men in various stages of unfolding tripods, mounting massive DSLR's on them, carefully aiming long lenses at indeterminate points in the darkening late evening sky.  The LCD's lit their faces with a soft glow as they took test shots...

Yashica A, In Use

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my new-to-me, super cheapie antique-store-find Yashica A.  Last week, I burned my first 5 rolls of Kodak Tri-X in it as a test drive and man, what a test drive it was! Every year, my wife hosts a Fall Family Photo session on our friends' beautifully rustic property in...

“They’re Coming to Get You, Barbra!”

Do you remember that old black and white zombie movie, Night of the Living Dead?  The famous line was "They're coming to get you, Barbra!"  That movie was released in October of 1968.  That's FIFTY years ago! NotLD was late horror director George Romero's first film.  It was put together on a shoestring budget by...

Fall Family Photos

Okay, so by the strictest definition, Fall began a few days after our photo shoot, but hey, I didn't have my & Harper's work processed & scanned until it was officially fall.  So, Fall Family Photos it is! Last weekend, my talented wife Stephanie was scheduled to shoot her bi-annual family photos with one of...