Well, I've been spluttering along on a depleted tank the past couple of days. I've written three half-posts that didn't seem to want to spark up and kick over. Those come along from time to time, but three is more than usual. Maybe all that stuff about SDXC cards wore me out, dunno. I'm a little overextended.
And I need a little help: What would you like to see more of here?
Please, though, if you would be so kind, I don't want critiques or criticisms (at the moment), or (God forfend) global negativity about hell, handbaskets, and big chunks of blue sky on the ground. That would only fire me down, as my old friend the banjo player Jimmy-James Rollins used to say. I need a kickstart, not a kick. What do you enjoy most or what have you enjoyed in the past? What would you like to find when you click over to TOP on a Spring morn? What brings you joy?
The Suggestion Box is out.
—Mike the Proprietor and all-purpose Radar O'Reilly
Get your hands on a Pentax monochrome, review it, as well as compare it to your modified Sigma. You should be able to get at least a few good posts out of that. I’m also interested in your detailed thoughts and experiences with using color filters on the Sigma vs B&W film. Maybe try a few other L mount lenses too.
On the non-gear side, I’d like to see any posts about individual photos (any kind) that particularly interest you (for any reason).
Remember your post about Beatles songs? Maybe try that with your favorite photos of all time, favorite photographers, favorite photobooks, etc. A well thought out and annotated list is a great starting point for discussion, and therefore leverages one of this blogs key assets (the comments).
The Camera Lucida posts were good. What about some more responses to other classic or contemporary writings on photography? What about your own Camera Lucida? Could you write a concise statement of what photography means to you and how you think about it? The TOP critical theory of photography.
Posted by: AN | Sunday, 12 May 2024 at 02:30 PM
Hi Mike,
I've always enjoyed your thumbnail sketches of noted photographers and their bodies of work. Many years ago I went to see an exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum, based on one of your posts. There I was introduced to the work of Saul Leiter. Those images really struck a chord with me and led me to investigate more of his work, which in turn has become an inspiration for some of my own photography.
I'd love to see you do a recurring series of photographic biographies with your own critiques. My guess is that many of your readers would find something like this helpful and enjoyable.
Thanks for asking! :-)
Dan
Posted by: Dan Gorman | Sunday, 12 May 2024 at 02:48 PM
Write about photographs.
Posted by: Donald Zochert | Sunday, 12 May 2024 at 03:19 PM
Personally, I think you have a special gift for education in Photography. For instance, I think that your columns on exercises to train a photographer's eye and brain are among the best I've read from you and, certainly and by a wide margin, well above other material available on-line. I don't know how popular that would be, but if it inspires you, I would consider doing that more systematically.
Posted by: Andrea | Sunday, 12 May 2024 at 03:26 PM
How about a series on discovering and developing a photographic style.
Posted by: Pete F | Sunday, 12 May 2024 at 04:36 PM
Oh. My. God.
Reading these comments just inspired me incredibly.
What an amazing readership you have.
I'm going to bookmark this page. Then I'm putting my favourite lens (15mm panaleica) onto my fave camera and heading out with my choccie lab to make some photographs.
Posted by: Kye Wood | Sunday, 12 May 2024 at 06:32 PM
The first place I go in the morning (for the past few decades) is this site. What’s Mike got to say ‘today’. It’s a very good bet, that whatever the hell you’ve chosen to write about I’ll read, from first word to the last. So I’m not going to be any help choosing topics for you. I’ll just add to what many have said already…..just write….and I’ll read. At least for the next few more decades. I’m 75 this year.
Posted by: DaveB | Monday, 13 May 2024 at 05:07 AM
You've told us a lot about learning to type. How about determining to learn iPhone photography well and telling us about that journey, perhaps including references to random iPhone excellence by others and what you've learned from them?
That would sort of bring you full circle from your roots in the photography of the past to the photography of the present and perhaps bring some of the photography curmudgeons in your fan base along for the ride. Imagine all the grandparents here being able to tell their grandchildren what they're doing with their phone, and listening to their grandchildren tell them what fun they're having with their grandparent's old film camera?
Perhaps you could muse along the way about how this technology is changing photography for the better and worse. A bit like how the transition from typewriters to the Mac and the like has revolutionized publishing. And your real profession, writing.
And who knows, you might even attract some younger readers.
Posted by: Terry Burnes | Monday, 13 May 2024 at 11:04 AM
Every month or so you should identify a time period, (e.g. the decade of the 70s) or event (e.g. tennis) and ask members of the community to link a "significant" public image (limit one per person) from that event/time period that we identify with. We could also provide a very brief (one or two line) statement of why we identify with that image. This would provide ample opportunity to provide meta commentary. This would also be a great celebration of photography.
Posted by: Jeffrey Hartge | Monday, 13 May 2024 at 11:19 AM
I read in yesterday's New York Times Magazine that Kathy Ryan, its long-time director of photography, is retiring. How about a review of her career, especially her impact on photojournalism?
Posted by: Chuck Albertson | Monday, 13 May 2024 at 12:24 PM
Ok caught up now, sorry I was mia for a few days with my body in the hands of the medical profession.
You asked about content. I seem to read pretty much everything you post. I read all three SDcard posts and every comment even though SDcards are of not much real use to me. I own one which is used to transfer jpegs from my truly ancient iMac to my phone and iPad which it will no longer talk to directly via my little MacBook Air and air drop. I guess that means your writing and choice of subjects are captivating.
There is however a fine line on the off topic stuff. If it gets to prescriptive or just overdone it certainly gets less captivating. Are there any outstanding snooker photographers? If you can find one please do write about them!! And definitely include some of their images. If they won’t give you permission or at least a link you should probably tell us.
I should probably stop now, I don’t have an editor either
Posted by: Terry Letton | Monday, 13 May 2024 at 12:51 PM
Sorry - hope I haven't missed the window for this.
Lately I've been seeing a lot of issues on the Quadtone RIP site that I'm concerned might impact the future inkjet printing of monochrome images.
Given the lack of a true monochrome printer, efforts to hack existing printers and take over the colour channels have resulted in several options for printers. Generally the alternatives have been focused around Epson printers given they utilize ink drop technology. In my case, I first got interested in Jon Cone's piezography inks and converted my 3880 to his all black inks. There are others however and lots of workshops in the methods exist for prints and digital negatives.
My concern is that this printing world exists only because some key individuals have been able to stay ahead of Epson's efforts to block 3rd party ink usage and also maintain the software for ink profiling in the constant world of operating software updating. Most of this software is proprietary relying on the best efforts of their designer (ie Roy Harrington's Quadtone RIP)and it seems, following the forum, that there are increasingly complex challenges.
My concern is that, at some point, we will lose the ability to profile and print multiple black channels and be restricted to whatever the printer manufacturer is able to supply with fewer channels.
I'm no expert in this and could be missing something so I'd like to hear others views on this and the future of serious monochrome image printing. What do they do? Are they happy with the current offerings by Epson and Canon?
Regards
Dave
Posted by: Dave Hodson | Tuesday, 14 May 2024 at 01:38 PM
Film topics... All the reviews of the latest digital features make my eyes gloss over, but when you post on film, darkroom, or film gear, I seem to hang on every word. This puts me in a distinct minority, but there it is.
Also in agreement with others who enjoy reviews of books and photographer's work.
Dale
Posted by: Dale | Thursday, 16 May 2024 at 02:26 PM
What brought me to your blog was your writing about photographers, and photo as art. Known, unkown, historical, current. You write very well about that.
A couple of suggestions: Anders Petersen and Borys Mykhailov. They might not necessarily be to your taste, but that makes your reviews only more interesting.
Texts about tech or gear is not very relevant to me, and not as unique as your photo critique.
Posted by: Erik | Friday, 17 May 2024 at 02:37 AM