Hello, and welcome.
I originally wrote the following in the “about” section; it quickly became a blog post, so I decided to move it to the appropriate section.
Come on in; stay a while and listen.
My first foray into photography began in the late 1990s shooting slides and negatives with a Canon 35mm camera. I’d scan the developed results to a digital format and edit, catalog, and store my work — long before digital photography went mainstream.
Around 2000 I purchased my first digital camera: a 2 megapixel Sony point and shoot that I’d use in parallel with my film camera. A few years later I moved over to a Canon Digital Rebel XT with a whopping 8 megapixel sensor, allowing me to take advantage of the lenses I’d accumulated during my time shooting film.
Around 2012 I sold off my Canon gear and purchased a Sony NEX-C3, increasing my pixel density to 16 megapixels and dramatically reducing my overall equipment footprint. The NEX-C3 was one of the earliest mirrorless systems with an APS-C sensor (most at the time were micro four-thirds or smaller).
After three years and countless photos taken with the Sony, I moved back to the Canon ecosystem with an EOS 70D. I’d really missed having a viewfinder and the more tactile experience the DSLR provided. Over the next few years I purchased several lenses, but found that my go-to lens was the 35mm f/2 prime. It was hands-down the highest quality lens in my collection.
By 2019 I was feeling stagnant in my photography. Too much time was being spent in post processing. The act of taking pictures felt mechanical, similar to how I started feeling about the Sony in 2015. A summer road trip to California was the last major photographic event undertaken with the Canon equipment; throughout the trip I felt weighed down with my bulky gear, even when just carrying the camera body and the 35mm lens. The improvements made with mirrorless technology intrigued me, and while I’d always assumed my natural progression would lead me to a full frame camera, my research into my “next big thing” took me someplace unexpected.
Enter Fuji.
After extensive research, I decided to (once again) sell my Canon gear and go mirrorless — this time, with a Fuji X-T3. My passion for the actual process of capturing an image in the moment was rekindled almost immediately. Fuji’s commitment to a tactile experience allows for a much more “analog” process: large, clicky dials and rings replaced scrolling through menu settings or using button combinations to adjust aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings. The aperture is adjusted on the lens like the classic film cameras. Gone is the “settings” wheel with the ubiquitous Av and Tv and P and M options; in its place are individual dedicated knobs, each with an (A)uto option. Set ISO and shutter to auto, then adjust the aperture while shooting: aperture priority. Want to manually set the shutter speed? Adjust the dial to your preferred setting: now you’re in the old P mode. The degree of intuitive design was exhilarating.
And then there’s the color science, expressed through the film simulation options. Memories of selecting specific film based on how it rendered colors or selecting particular black and white film with especially contrasted results came flooding back. I found myself spending more time focusing on achieving results in-camera instead of lazily assuming that I’d “fix it in post.”
As if the camera system itself wasn’t great enough, the Fujinon lenses are equally impressive. The Canon 35mm f2 was hands down the highest quality glass in my collection up until that point; however, every lens I’ve used by Fuji equaled or surpassed it. I initially purchased the Fuji XF 35mm f/2 lens with my X-T3; after about a week with it, and after 4 years of using a 35mm on the Canon for over 90% of my images, I decided it was time to use a different focal length. I sent the 35mm back and purchased the XF 16-55mm f/2.8, rejecting years of prime lens snobbery. I felt I had enough experience behind a camera to not overuse the variable focal length but rather to treat the lens like it was basically 4 primes in one: 16mm, 23mm, 35mm, and 55mm. Naturally, variations between those options were also used, but the idea was to approach a scene with the focal length already set and to avoid zooming in or out to reframe.
While this approach served me well, reports of the lens weight and size are not exaggerated. I found that a vast majority of my images were being taken at around 23mm. I also really enjoy taking photos at night, and while f/2.8 across the entire spectrum was great, I was really interested in using a lens with a faster aperture. I sold the 16-55mm on MPB.com and picked up a 23mm f/1.4, which is my current primary lens.
It’s worth noting that I also rented the Fuji XF 50mm-140mm f/2.8 for an event and was extremely impressed with its quality as well.
Besides the Fuji lenses, the mirrorless ecosystem opened another door of creativity for me — one that I didn’t even consider when I first made the switch: vintage lenses. I still own a Canon AE-1 35mm film camera with a 50mm f/1.8 “nifty fifty” lens, and was curious if I could adapt the lens to the Fuji. After purchasing a $13 adapter, the answer was a resounding “yes, yes you can.” I went on to pick up a 135mm f/2.8 Minolta for $40; a 28mm f/3.5 Olympus for $30; another Canon FD-mount 50mm f/1.8 I found at a thrift store for $5; and most recently, a Kiron 80mm-210mm f/4 at an antique shop for $10. Each lens has its own personality that comes through in the images. Manually focusing every shot requires that I slow down and be more deliberate in my process.
So what’s next? Why am I here? What’s this website all about?
While I’ve done some photography work for payment, I wouldn’t claim to be a professional photographer — not yet. My photography journey began with a desire to capture the world around me without any real direction or goal; over the course of 20-plus years I’ve focused and refined my technique as well as my purpose. I’ve shot just about every style of photography out there, from landscapes to portraits to street to weddings. The common thread that’s ran through all my work is spontaneity. I love capturing that fleeting, unscripted moment. The best definition I’ve found for my preferred style of photography is “documentary” style. This can be applied to almost every genre of photography. Even portraits and landscape/nature shots can utilize a candid, documentary approach (albeit, admittedly, with a potentially lower ratio of good-to-bad images to show for it).
Living in Colorado, nature photography is a given. I live in one of the most beautiful locations on Earth, and I’m going to capture it as often as I can. There’s also the obligatory family & pet photos. I enjoy street photography so long as I can work without invading others’ personal space; making strangers feel uncomfortable when they’re just living their life is not my aspiration.
Professionally, I have three goals:
Sell nature and landscape prints;
Sell artistic/abstract prints;
Provide services for events.
Event photography can be very broad, but generally includes corporate events, social gatherings, concerts, etc. I’d be very interested in providing services for weddings, so long as the couple understood that my approach to photography is less about various posing for an hour with different family members and more about capturing the experience of the event itself.
So what’s next? Finishing this website is a critical step; from there, I’m going to see about having some canvas prints made and then trying to get them displayed in a few locations where they can gain some exposure. On the services side, I’ll need to figure out how to tap into the scheduling of some local events and start building up a more comprehensive portfolio.
The only restrictions on my success are those I put on myself. Procrastination and apathy are the enemies of personal growth and progress.
Venture forth.
