Category: Stories
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How a $15,000 Camera Makes $1,500 Feel Cheap
“Why do $1,500 cameras suddenly feel ‘reasonable’ the moment a brand puts a $15,000 monster in front of us?” Because of “the halo effect in camera marketing.” Here is how it works. Leica or Hasselblad drops a $15,000 flagship. Reviewers and influencers line up to drool over it. And quietly, without anybody noticing, your brain…
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What I Learned About Life With My Camera
I am obsessed with back roads, old houses, and abandoned places. I filmed this one scouting East Tennessee back roads with a film camera loaded with 400 speed Fuji film. The origin story: 1984, I am 18, driving home from college in Southwest Virginia. A major accident on I-81 near the Stanton exit routes me…
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How to Fix an Out-of-Focus Photo (You Can’t)
Here is how to fix an out-of-focus photo. You can’t. Well, AI can “fix” it. But all AI does is invent details that were never there and paint them over your blur. That is not fixing. That is replacing. It used to be simple: missed focus meant a missed shot. Now a sharp portrait might…
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Top 5 Dumbest Things Photographers Say
Let us count down the dumbest things photographers say. Starting at number five. Number five: “You must master your camera gear.” Please. It is on-the-job training. You learn the camera by shooting the camera. Nobody masters anything by reading the manual in an armchair. Number four: “The only good photography is golden hour or blue…
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Top 5 Dumb Things Photographers Do
“Photographers can be some of the most pretentious people on earth, and I know that because I am one.” The gaffer tape over the Leica logo? Thieves will sell it for fifty bucks no matter what the badge says. The “gear does not matter” crowd holding a free fifteen thousand dollar Hasselblad? Sure, pal. My…
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Ricoh GRIV: Is It Enough of an Upgrade From the GRIII?
The GR IV reviews are coming out, and as a long-term GR IIIx shooter, let me save you some money. The GR IIIx is still a great camera. You can pick one up for under $1,000. I love mine so much I bought a second one used for about $400. For a $1,200 camera, that…
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Was This Photo Created With Artificial Intelligence or Hard Work?
Look at this photograph. A triple-arch Milky Way over a mountain peak. Incredible. Now consider the work behind it. A photographer made multiple trips to an extremely high peak in dangerous, potentially death-defying conditions. Hypothermia risk. Real risk. She won a competition with that shot, and “more power to her.” Here is the part that…
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The Forgotten X100VI Feature
The secret feature is the OVF. The optical viewfinder. The forgotten feature that Fujifilm should keep, not drop. I owned every X100 and I was always an EVF guy. If it is in the frame, I can see it in my EVF. But I have converted. The OVF is perfect for street photography because you…
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Film Simulation Battle: They All Look the Same
Three way APS-C battle extraordinaire. The Fujifilm X100VI with a film sim I had never shot. The Ricoh GR III with a sim I did not know existed, because I never scrolled past black and white. And the Sony A6700 with its very creatively named film simulation. AI picked the most similar sims across the…
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The Canon A1 Was Ahead of Its Time
The internet acts like Canon made exactly one camera in the 70s and 80s: the AE-1. It is in every YouTube film-photography starter pack. Every TikTok kid’s first roll of Portra. Meanwhile the Canon A-1 sits at the kids table at Thanksgiving. “The forgotten SLR.” I will confess: I helped. I got an AE-1 for…
