Category Archives: teaching photography

The perfect camera is the one I have in my hands

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The discussion of the “perfect camera” will be debated forever, by every photographer who has ever had access to a camera. There are elitists, reverse-snobs, pragmatists, brand loyalists, agnostics, evangelists, geeks, and every shade in between. Over time, I have embraced about all those points of view.

If I could wave my magic wand and make every option available simultaneously for my students, I would have them use every camera and make the same images over and over again until the novelty work its way through their brain. And then everyone would find out which system, camera, method that they feel most fluid with, and then go make photos.

For the record, I definitely have favorite lenses and simply attach them to any camera that fits. (more on that later)

But what struck me today was the contrast between these two photos of my Irish Water Spaniel, Cooper. On the left is a studio shot made with a medium format camera and digital back that cost in the neighborhood of $30K. The image on the right was made yesterday with my cell phone. Cost? Free, if you don’t count the monthly charges from Verizon. (It is an iPhone 4)

The value of the iPhone is that it is the one in my pocket, all the time, and is available for times like this. It is limited in speed, resolution, color, dynamic range, focal length, aperture controls, etc., etc. But it is convenient and if it captures that moment in time otherwise missed, then it is the perfect camera.

Welcome to the blog

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“A cobbler’s child goes without shoes.”

After helping maintain another blog for the last 5 years (about my dogs), I finally put this one together. One element I stress with my photography students is maintaining a public presence outside of facebook and twitter. I have been very fortunate with my own business, which I get primarily through word of mouth and direct contacts. And those circumstances lulled me into complacency about maintaining my own public presence. Until now.

So this week there is a new website plus this blog. This format will allow me to address a number of non-commercial aspects of making images, discuss some of the “behind-the-scenes” of my business, and also share some of the interesting things that I have discovered along the way about images, art, and interesting people.

Below is an example of a spontaneous photo from my Spring class of Studio Photography at the Art Institute of Portland. The topic and demonstration was about using a 7.5′ parabolic umbrella as a single light source. As this was the last class of the term, a little pent up energy popped through as the Summer break was just a few days away.

The primary lesson learned that day: Photography can be fun