Photography is an art, and a craft. You might be able to express your artistic side using the camera built in to you cell phone, but you are missing out on the craft. (Yes, there are some people doing wonderful and amazing things with cell phone cameras, but they represent an incredibly small minority of cell phone users, or artists.)

I started photography when it involved a whole lot of explicit chemistry. It sure is easier to take photographs in this digital age, but it’s no easier to make photographs. Ansel Adams always used the term “making” a photograph, not taking one. I try to use his term also, to acknowledge the craft of photography.

Photography is about light, and sight, and vision and creativity and expression. It’s both planned and opportunistic. It’s technical and the gear is cool. Walking around with a camera and making exposures, recording images, is often meditative. Processing photographs can be frustrating and also rewarding. Sharing images with others is part of how we communicate, reach out to others, recognize them, and ourselves.

Photo Galleries and Notes:
Southwest
Nature
Abstract
Intra-red photography
Alphabet of Photography
Notes on converting to black and white
Porsche Pages
The Girls

You can see some of my photographs in the galleries above. As for the equipment I use, here’s a list:
Canon R3, Canon 1DX, Canon G1 dedicated to IR
Canon EF24-105f4L IS (2005), RF70-200F4L IS (2020), EF70-300f4,5.6L (2010), EF40f2.8 (2012), EF50f1.2L (2007), EF85f1.2LII (2006), EF100f2.8L IS macro (2009), EF135f2L (1996), EF200f2L IS (2008), EF200f2.8L II (1996), EF400f4DO IS (2001)
Sigma 35f1.4, 50f1.4, Bower/Samyang 14f2.8 (Man.)
Manfrotto tripod with ball head, Manfrotto Carbon monopod, Kirk plate, Canon 430EX flash, Crumpler bags

Here’s an interesting note on Ansel Adams’ Moonrise Over Hernandez image.

A retrospective of my cameras