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Photography

Model Photography
Equipment
Film, Labs, Darkroom, and Digital
Depth of Field Spreadsheet
Books
Model Metadirectory

I'm a part-time photographer. During the day I toil at my place of legitimate employment. On the weekends and in the evenings, I do things photographic.

I recently (June 15, 1999) moved from London, England back to New York City. I have a new apartment with some studio space in downtown Manhattan, but I haven't gotten the studio back up and running yet. I'm still doing the odd shoot, but it'll probably be another month or so before I'm back into the swing of things. That's one of the disadvantages of having a day job: I don't have a lot of time to do other things! (The advantages of having a day job include being able to afford to eat, pay my rent, and do photography at a loss.)

If you have any professional jobs that they'd like me to take on, please let me know. If the job is interesting and will be a good addition to my portfolio, then I'll probably be willing to do it at cost.

If you're looking for my photo galleries, I've moved them to a separate Galleries and Tear Sheets page.

Model Photography

I am available to shoot photos for models who are just getting started in the industry or who are looking to add some new styles to their books. I'm also willing to work on a time-for-prints basis under certain circumstances Please visit my Model Photography page for more information.

Equipment

I love equipment. Half the fun of photography is playing with the gear. However, I think that the gear is only useful to the extent that it helps to create a good picture. I tend not to buy a lot of gadgetry that doesn't assist in the actual process of creating a photograph. I haven't used more than a fraction of the stuff that's available, but if you'd like to read my opinions about what's good and what's not, you can do so on my Equipment page.

Film, Labs, Darkroom, and Digital

I used to use Tri-X for everything. Then, frankly, I started to get sick of Kodak, and I started to think that I'd rather use Ilford stuff for black and white at least. I really love XP2 Super, and I'll probably work more with it in the future. For color work I usually use the new Portra films, which are Kodak products yet seem quite good. I also use T-Max 100 in medium format and 4x5, Agfa Optima when I want a super-saturated look, and Fuji Super G 800 in 35mm for snaps.

I have recently sold off my darkroom equipment. I loved my Kaiser VCP9005 6x9 enlarger, but it's been sitting in my closet for the last two years because I have nowhere to set up a darkroom in my New York City apartment, at least nowhere that is compatible with day-to-day living.

I now have a digital darkroom consisting of a Canon D2400UF scanner and a Canon S800 inkjet printer. (It's just coincidence that both of them are made by Canon.) The D2400UF is a flatbed scanner with a backlight built into the top so it can scan negatives and transparencies in addition to opaque material. It scans at 2,400 dots per inch, which is enough to get a decent scan out of a 35mm frame. When scanning 4x5 film, I usually scan at 1,200 dpi. The S800 printer is also a 2,400 dpi device, though the scanning resolution and the printing resolution have little to do with each other.

Is the digital darkroom superior to my wet darkroom? No, at least not in terms of quality. Prints from the S800 look very impressive, but when you compare them directly to a C print made from the same negative, they appear slightly soft and slightly grainier due to the dot structure of the inkjet print. But in terms of convenience, the digital darkroom wins hands-down. I can make more prints in less time for less money using the digital darkroom, and I still have the option of bringing a negative to a lab for a professional-quality final print.

If I had a $5,000 scanner instead of a $500 scanner, and a $3,000 printer instead of a $300 printer, then the quality of the digital darkroom would equal that of the wet darkroom. Can't afford $8,000 for a digital darkroom but still want professional-quality output? Just wait a few years.

I use The C Lab in Soho for all my lab work.

Depth of Field Spreadsheet

I've made my depth of field spreadsheet available. It is in Microsoft Excel 95 format. For any given lens focal length and maximum circle of confusion size (or frame size), it provides:

Hyperfocal distance for f/1 through f/128
DOF for f/1 through f/128
Bellows extension
Bellows factor (expressed as a factor and in stops)
Magnification

All data (except hyperfocal) is provided for a range of distances as well as for four distances that adjust to provide 1:2, 1:1, 2:1, and 4:1 magnification. Four more distances are user adjustable.

There is a message in the spreadsheet to the effect that you are free to make changes to it and redistribute it provided that you credit me for the initial design.

If you download the spreadsheet and find it useful, please let me know!

Addendum: I've had this page up for months, and nobody's given me any feedback about the spreadsheet at all. Is anyone looking at it?

Books

I'm an Amazon.Com associate site now, so you can help pay for my film by taking a look at my recommended photo books and then buying some!

Model Metadirectory

I've started work on a model "metadirectory." It's not a model directory but rather a directory of model directories. There are an awful lot of modeling directories on the web, probably due to the fact that it costs nothing for an aspiring agent to whip up a model site and solicit models to list themselves on it, and he might even meet a pretty girl in the process! Some of the sites are quite good, but a lot (most, even) are crap. Get the lowdown here.