Film Testing, Testing, Testing

In a recent newsletter, I mentioned wanting to do some testing – something I feel I ought to do regularly.  One of Ansel’s favorite quotes (attributed to Pasteur) was “chance favors the prepared mind.” Having started his creative life as a musician, he brought that musician’s discipline to his photography – the equivalent of a

Lost Adams Plates Update

“Lost” Adams Plates – a brief update from my point of view.  My last newsletter of July 27 stressed that those of us close to Ansel did not believe the work was his.  In the ensuing time significant issues have come to light suggesting the work is really that of a Fresno, California photographer named

Selective Masking for Printing Challenging Negatives

Get Total Consistency from Print to Print Over the years I’ve evolved a technique I have come to refer to as Selective Masking. I use the term “selective” because it is a physical, hands-on method of tonal control in analog printing, rather that the photometric “unsharp masking”. In its basic form, it’s not techno-anything; it

Film Negatives from Digital Files

Making Film Negatives from Digital Files. Last year I had a wonderful assignment photographing gnarly, twisted zinfandel vines for Ravenswood Winery in California’s Sonoma and Napa Valleys.  As the project took shape, it was decided that because some of the vineyards had a lot of irrigation tubing and other unsightly distractions, the final output would

Photoshop and Photography – What is a Photograph?

On February 25th, 2010, technology writer David Pogue posted a thought provoking commentary for the New York Times on the subject of Photoshop and Photography – What is a Photograph.  I replied with some thoughts of my own, and David graciously gave me his permission to quote him in my news letter and on my

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