1. My dad built a darkroomin the basement when I was 4.
Itwas a real room with a big sink, heat, and an exhaustfan. He jackhammered a
hole in the floor for a dry well to drain the rinse water.
I clearly remember the firsttime I watched a white piece of paper floating in the
developer, under red safelight, as the image emerged. I was smitten.
Dad and my two older brothers used it a lot. Dad did technical photography
professionally and we also had the gear to make photo-silk screens. Mostof the
photography dad did at home was taking pictures for the shows and musical
events my older siblings were in at school.
So, I was exposed to lots of 60’s era tech as a youngster, and it kind of sunk in.
Since there were at least three photographers in the house, there were spare
cameras and I had interest in doing something myself.
I picked up a camera that was lying in the back of a drawer and bought somefilm
and took pictures of our cats. The camera was an East German 35mmPraktiflex. It
was in the back of the drawer for a reason, apparently. The light seals weren’t
very good and I had to use electrical tape when I loaded a new roll of film so the
film wouldn’tbe exposed through the back of the housing. There was no built in
light meter, so I had to learn to usea separate light meter. The aperture had to be
set manually for every shot – you had to manually open it up so you could see to
focus, and then manually stop it down for the correct exposureto shoot. After the
shutter tripped the mirror stayed up. Itwas lowered again when the film was
advanced. Itwas not automatic anything, but I learned a lot using it about how
everything interacts when you take pictures.
Right fromthe beginning, although this was notvisited on me in any other aspect
of my life, I was extremely organized with my film negatives. I labelled and dated
everything. This proved very usefulwhen Facebook became a thing and I was able
to pull many rabbits out of my hat, to the delight, and sometimes consternation
of friends I’vehad since my youth. Back in the 70’s I printed photos in the
darkroom. And it was a pretty arduous task compared to what has become the
click-and-postworld welive in now. I printed last weekend’s photos during the
week and passed them around to friends the next weekend. And it could take
hours. The darkroomwasn’twellheated in the winter and the chemistry stank.
But, it was fun.

2. My firstreal 35mmcamera I boughtwith money earned by pumping gas. I had
that camera through high schooland college and beat it to death. I took it
everywhere.
In college I shotfor the paper and became the photo editor in my senior year.
There was no glory, only the responsibility of turning exposed film into prints for
publication quickly. Being an amateur photojournalistexposed me to dealing with
extreme conditions of light (or lack of) and cold (I went to schoolin upstate New
York). Itwas a really thorough education in what could be done with a camera.
After schoolI went into the printing business as a technician. The lure of a regular
paycheck was stronger than being a photographer for hire. I did shoot bands in
clubs, and hung a roll of seamless background paper in my studio apartment in
the EastVillage, thus making it an actual studio. And the kitchen served as a
darkroom. I never made any money, but always had lots of fun.
During my career in printing I was very lucky to be in the right place at the right
time. I was working in the second print shop in NYC to get a digital retouching and
pagination system. BecauseI knew how to type (thanks to the semester long
coursein high school– Typing for College Bound Students) and I had a technical
facility with printing, I got a seat at the machine. This was in 1984 –the system
was housed in three refrigerator sized cabinets, cost many thousands of dollars,
and could do less than a cheap laptop running Photoshop and InDesign can do
today. But it was obviously the future. Oh, and a lot of the programming
instructions werein German. But I prevailed.
Again, I was in the right place when Photoshop was released. In 1991. On two
floppies. The mostpowerfulcomputer Apple had released at that point was their
Laserwriter. Anyway, I’vestuck with Photoshop allalong and have been fortunate
to work with someof the mosttalented retouchers and artists in the field, from
whomI’velearned a lot.
Marriageand kids followed and I mostly just took photos of the family. They
eventually grew up and didn’t requiresuch carefulsupervision, and I got the itch
and got back into it again. About ten years ago when digital cameras were starting
to get somerespect, the prices for good used film cameras plummeted. I havea
good digital camera now, and I respectthe technology. I don’t feel the need to

3. bash the technology as somefilm “purists” might. But there is something about
film, and the cameras that use it that is hard to get with digital. The old “je ne sais
quoi,” I suppose. And black and white, which is nearly what I shootexclusively,
tells a story in a way that color doesn’t. More dreamlike – I like it.
Now I shoot film to relax, although it’s a little more hectic technically (there’s this
whole mental checklistI have to recite before I trip the shutter… “lens cap off?,
check, dark slide out?, check, film advanced?, check, focused?, check, no, really –
are we in focus?, check, film speed correct?, check, shutter speed and aperture
set?, check, deep breath - slowly released, hold steady!, click.”). I develop my own
film, as I learned frommy dad ages ago. But, I don’t print with an enlarger
anymore. I learned a lot aboutelectronic scanning in my professionallife, and
now I scan and print. That way, I can get more done in less time and don’t have to
deal with a cold, stinky darkroom. And the quality and cost of modern ink jet
prints is amazing.
I manipulate images with Photoshop – things I could only dream about doing
manually in a darkroom. After all, I think, the image, whether printed or posted is
what counts. I don’tcount myself anything like a photojournalistanymore– I’ll
manipulate the reality out of an image if it suits my mood.
I shootmostly medium and large formatfilm cameras. The resolution – the detail
– that can be captured still is finer than what can be achieved with digital cameras
by a long shot. And much more economically. Again, I don’t wantto rant, but the
modern crop of DSLRs have reached a point wherethe marketing department is
all that makes them better. They are really, really good now – marketing wants
you to believe you can shootwithout light, which is justsilly to my way of
thinking. But film is higher resolution. Itjustis.
I don’t havea theme, or a stylewith my photos. I shootextemporaneously.
Sometimes I have an idea of whatI want to image, but it rarely comes out that
way – I get distracted with something else that comes along, and usually for the
better. I personally don’t like it when an artist falls into an exclusive “style,” much
like I don’tlike when authors revivetheir characters for “series” books. There’s
enough stuff out there to make interesting pictures of every day.

4. Every second the light changes, and we can look from a lower or higher
perspective. My only principle is to try not to do whatothers have done, not to
repeat myself. There is an endless streamof imagery out there.
SmokeRise and the country around here is so beautiful. I take cameras out on the
lake sometime, or over to Silas Condict Park, and Pyramid Mountain. I love all the
trails around here and like to get out there and shoot.