Developing black & white film yourself results in far better quality control than a lab can deliver, and of course brings the cost down. But experimenting with different developers and films results in easily confusing mixing tables, time, and temperatures. Massive Dev Chart iPhone App made my rediscovery of film alot easier and less confusing. The electronic digital age has made shooting film easier in so many ways. Unfortunately, though, it also invented the digital camera. For those of us who still enjoy shooting film, we should take advantage of modern techniques when we can. The Massive Dev Chart App is created by the makers of The Digital Truth Website, who have a great database of everything for film shooters, including a web-store for rare film and development items.

      During my off times in the year, I shoot weddings and commercial jobs to keep my photography skill as well-rounded and multidimensional as possible.  Shooting in the ‘strobist’ style (small remote triggered flashes), for instance, forces me to carefully analyze artificial directional lighting, which in turn helps me understand natural lighting better.  For instance, using rim, hair, and back lighting on a...

Photography is a careful and balanced blend between the technical and the creative.  Like many modern digital photographers, I fell victim to endless online reviews and comparisons of cameras and lenses, which skewed my focus, more and more, toward the technical theory instead of my own creative vision.  However, last summer, I completely changed gears. I began this article last summer and left in in draft status, but have updated it and...

Workshops are a blast, and working with the awesome students at Valencia College were no exception! An officer of the Valencia Photography Group saw my portfolio online, later approaching me to teach a hands-on ‘Night Lighting’ workshop, which would include artificial lighting and natural light techniques.  Because I believe that all lighting setups are closely related, I taught in terms of general lighting, with a focus on...