by JBlack | Mar 11, 2025 | Uncategorized |
I suspect I was a little ADD as I never concentrated on one subject, i.e., landscape. Rather, if a subject grabbed my attention, I shot it. This is unfortunate, as portfolio reviewers wanted to see a concentration in one area. My philosophy, however, was and still is…shoot the scene if it strikes a chord inside of you. The plus side of ADD is that I acquired knowledge and experience from shooting a wide range of subjects such as ballet, ice hockey, birds, and landscape.
Photography took a backseat during my work and family years but then came retirement. More and more I went back to my first love…photography. Over the last 15-20 years I have honed my visual concept and photographic skills.
To me documentary photography means looking at historic events or social themes and bringing them to the social consensus. However, in a different sense I am a documentary photographer. Hopefully, my photos will inspire people to travel and see the great world we live in. I have been fortunate and lived in or visited 30-35 countries, and I still have a bucket list a mile long which will never be completed. In some cases, travel photography is to document cultures before they disappear. For instance, the Pushkar Camel Market in Rajasthan, India is changing. In years past a visitor could see 30-40,000 camels. Today, you might be luck to see 5000 camels as mechanization is modernizing rural Rajasthan.
Certainly, I am no Ansel Adams. My final image is not anything close to using a Zone system. I am not capturing that second in time in the way he did. Yes, I compose and expose my image but with the intent of creating the image I see in my mind. This is accomplished in the digital darkroom somewhat akin to the wet darkroom days but with a greater array of tools. It is not just adjusting sliders for exposure and so forth; it is bringing out the colors that are already there, but our brains cannot necessarily process.
Photography has always played a big part in my life…just ask my family and they will tell you that a camera is an abnormal growth on my hands. It did not change my vision of the world, rather it brought world problems into focus. Through photography I can try to convey the beauty, good, the bad, and the extreme wrongs in the world.
Do not be satisfied feeling you know everything. You must continue your education by attempting different photo genres and experimenting…i.e., converting selected images to paintings or posters. And, although good images can be taken from roadside, take a walk. You will be surprised what you can find within 50-100 yards of the road.
by JBlack | Dec 20, 2023 | Uncategorized |
I bit the bullet and bought ConeColor Pro ink for my Epson printer. After much thought and the cost of Epson OEM ink, I am switching. Once the ConeColor ink is installed and used for awhile, I will post my thoughts.
See About ConeColor Pro Inks (inkjetmall.com) for information about ConeColor ink.
by JBlack | Aug 18, 2023 | Uncategorized |
It is my great pleasure to inform you that you have been awarded a winning placement in the 2023 Prix de la Photographie de Paris – Congratulations! … The annual PX3 exhibition which will gather the 1st and 2nd Place winning photographs from Px3 2023 and the 2023 curated exhibition “State of the World” will take place November 6 to 12, 2023 at the 24b Gallery, Paris during the Paris Photo Week. We will contact you again to give you updates on the exhibition.
by JBlack | Jun 7, 2023 | Uncategorized |
The Photo Review has selected one of my images (Lonesome Boulder) for a special web exhibition.
“The Photo Review is a critical journal of international scope and readership. Publishing since 1976, The Photo Review covers photography events throughout the country and serves as a central resource for the Mid-Atlantic region. With incisive reviews, exciting portfolios, lively interviews, the latest in books and exhibitions, The Photo Review biannual journal has earned a reputation as one of the best serious photography publications being produced today. Our writers — including A.D. Coleman, Stephen Perloff, Shelley Rice, Peter Hay Halpert, Barbara L. Michaels, Jean Dykstra, and Mark Power — have weighed in on subjects as varied as the posthumous publication of work by Diane Arbus, women in photography, the growth of digital media, the historical movement from Pictorialism into Modernism, etc., etc. In his ongoing series, “The Censorship Diaries,” Editor Stephen Perloff was in the forefront in covering the controversy over funding for the NEA and censorship of the arts.
The Photo Review has earned a reputation for lucid and incisive writing aimed at an intelligent and informed audience, but free of the cant and jargon that infects much contemporary writing about art. Thus, both arts publications and the popular press have looked to us for interpretations of what’s happening on the photography scene. Articles have been reprinted in such publications as Afterimage, To, Photography in New York, American Photo, and others.
Editor Stephen Perloff, a respected writer, educator and photographer, has been interviewed for The New York Times, The Toronto Globe & Mail, The Wall Street Journal, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Photo District News, and the New York Observer. He has received two critic’s fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Colin Ford Award for Curatorship from the Royal Photographic Society.”
by JBlack | Feb 23, 2023 | Uncategorized |
Most (many) photographers concentrate on one theme area…landscape, nature, birds, theater, and so forth. But the truth is a photographer must branch out if for nothing else than honing his or her skills. Although my main concentration is landscape, I sometimes photograph ballet, birds or still-life to sharpen equipment and lightingskills. Birds can be a test of your reflexes, focusing skills, and concentration, while ballet forces you to think about low light and the accompanying noise in an image taken at ISO 5000. Just a though.
by JBlack | Nov 8, 2022 | Uncategorized |
We all go through it. Over the years we accumulate old camera lenses and bodies that gather dust on the shelves. It’s time to clean off those shelves and make a little money in the process. However, if you are like many of us you will probably plow the money back into more equipment and accessories. A great place to buy and sell equipment is MPB | Buy or Sell Used Cameras & Lenses of Brooklyn, New York. I’ve used them over the past several years and firmly believe their trade-in and sale values are fair. The process is easy to use so give them a try…and, no this is not a paid commercial. 
MPB Reviews: Buy Or Sell Used Camera & Lenses (photographytalk.com) is a good review of MPB.
