Impact Crater
Odessa, Texas
Mesquite
Odessa, Texas
Makeshift Rangefinder
By most metrics, we’re lousy photographers, and that’s fine. 50mm might be the best focal length, and 35mm the best lens if we crop in a little.
5600ºK
If sunlight’s temperature sits between 5000ºK and 6500ºK, then 5600ºK is a good custom choice.
Town
Rankin, Texas
Taken Seriously
If a picture is good enough for a view camera, it’s potentially good enough for a series, seriously. I love getting lost under a focusing cloth.
Town Scene
Happy, Texas
Aspect Ratios
Focal lengths and aspect ratios correlate. A 50mm needs a narrower 4:5 to emphasize relationships between foregrounds and back grounds, and on the other side, a 28mm does better with a wider 3:2 because it emphasizes side-to-side relationships.
In the Moment
It transitions from play to art as we age, and in learning, it continues.
Lightweight
The less we make photography about something, the more it accommodates.
Pond
Midland, Texas
Interstate Twenty
Warm sunlight and desert mountains blanket the horizon. Miles of asphalt fly under my feet. I love being out here among trucks.
Working Town
If people knew you were out there making pictures, you’d probably get in worse trouble, a proper way of going wrong. Odessa is a working town, and everyone needs a good way of going wrong.
Taking or Making
In photographing landscapes, places, and found environments, perhaps the difference between making and taking lives in the focal length, where a 35mm takes, and a 50mm makes.
Roebling Suspension Bridge
Cincinnati, Ohio
Enjoying the Day
Interesting places exist wherever we look long enough. Odessa is a real place, nothing touristy about it, so thoroughly palpable that it’s utterly clueless about itself in a good way, and that’s why I stay.
Keep Going
If you think it’s bad now, it used to be worse. That’s why I’m not too worried. You are a part of the change you would like to see.
Broken (please use other door)
A sign at a convenience store says, “broken, please use other door,” and then apologizes for the inconvenience.
I don’t know what to tell ya
Bad advice permeates. Everyone offers it freely. The rarest thing is something helpful. So don’t worry. Go ahead and make a wrong decision and regret it later. It’s perfectly normal.
Complaining (a how to guide)
Live a great life. From wherever to whatever, I love taking pictures with my camera. It’s an obsession — a small footprint: prints, posts, and film resting inside a trusty binder.