Category: Stories
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Why Negative Space Makes Street Photos Feel So Powerful | Ricoh GR Black and White Photography
I shoot completely differently in black and white than I do in color. In color, I fill the frame. Color, reflection, light, weirdos, all of it. But black and white on my Ricoh GR? I go minimalist. I hunt for negative space, big empty parts of the frame where nothing is happening, and somehow that…
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Ricoh GR Snap Focus Distance, Explained in Car Lengths
Snap focus distance on the Ricoh GR III and GR IV, explained for Americans. Because we do not do meters. They did not teach us the metric system. Remember the liters per gallon thing? Yeah. Even ten feet is hard to judge horizontally. We know ten feet high, that is a basketball goal. But ten…
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Are Street Photographers Storytellers or Just Witnesses?
I watched a street photographer interviewed who said he is not a storyteller. That got me thinking. Is it the story for us to tell, or the story for us to witness? I am on the fence, but here is where I land. We are witnesses. We position ourselves to see a story, we photograph…
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The Hard Truth Every Young Photographer Needs to Hear
This is for the eighteen to twenty two year olds, and for their parents. Here is the central question: do you want to be a professional photographer, or do you want to look like a professional photographer? Stop lying to yourself. Poker analogy. I played a lot of poker. Traveled to Las Vegas. Played several…
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Fujifilm X-Pro2 in 2025: Still Worth It?
Is the Fujifilm X-Pro2 still good in 2025? That is the wrong question. Of course it is still good. The battery goes in and the 24 megapixel sensor works. The real question is: is it still worth it? Because this camera holds its value like nothing I have owned. I paid thirteen hundred about ten…
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Layered Street Photography: Luck or Lies?
The Framelines boys were discussing a complex layered photo and it got me thinking. Is that real? Is this real life? Are we looking at an unstaged organic street photo, or are we looking at a composition? The one in a million framing, a man looking at the camera, perfectly balanced, makes me doubt it…
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This Isn’t Photography (My Dumbest Opinion)
Ready for my dumbest photography opinion? You are going to love this one. You will probably unsubscribe. Drone photography isn’t photography. I know. I told you it was dumb. There is a disconnect for me and I cannot explain it. You are not holding the camera. You are holding a device that triggers a camera…
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Smoky Mountains Fall Foliage: A Local’s Guide
A local’s guide to fall foliage in the Smokies. I live twenty minutes from the park. Twenty five years shooting there. Tennessee has about a hundred deciduous species, which makes it America’s top voted fall foliage destination. Road situation after Hurricane Helene: Newfound Gap Road, US 441, the East Tennessee to western North Carolina link,…
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Ricoh GR III Best Black and White Setting and Top Tips
You compliment a guy on his black and white photography and next thing you know you are driving three and a half hours to Atlanta, to the High Museum, where the contrast is baked right into the building. Incredible light streaking through the windows. Levels and layers everywhere. And this Ricoh GR III on the…
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Location Scouting for Street Photography
I have acted and been around movies, TV, and theater. So I am mapping three film set jobs onto street photography: the location scout who finds the places, the set designer who builds the scene, and the set dresser who fills the frame. Today I am playing all three. I am all about filling the…
