Visibly different, part 4


The date of the above shot is unknown it’s a slide, and I know where it was shot but not when. For some reason this slide has no date stamp, though others, from what I believe was the same trip, do, so I’m going with that: August 2006. Down by a boathouse on Hyco Lake in northern NC, these guys were everywhere, read more

Macro photography, part 13: More than illustration


Once again, we’re going to delve into this deal where I tell you to work on mastering something that I haven’t mastered myself – do as I say, not as I do and all that. Except, I don’t really believe that anyone masters anything in photography there are simply different levels of skill, so let’s use the word ‘improve’ read more

Projects, projects

First off, a brief but appropriate celebration.

Woo hoo! Hot damn! Who da man? I da man!

In short, I have just repaired one of my lenses, and it’s working perfectly. The lens in question isn’t one of the old manual ones that I fiddle with off and on, and have repaired many times past, but a complicated modern one: the Canon EF-S 17-85mm 4-5.6 IS USM. Those last bits mean read more

Macro photography part 12: Refinement

I have been meaning to do this for a while now, and have no real excuse for how long it took to get to it. It took no time at all once I sat down to work on it.

This is a combination of two projects, really. The first is the macro softbox, which is still in routine use because read more

Podcast: Twps & Boros & USB


And so, at long last, another podcast… but, you know, don’t rejoice yet:

Walkabout podcast – Twps & Boros & USB

Let’s start with the good stuff: Carmen’s Deli in Bellmawr, NJ, where you can get authentic Philly-style hoagies. And other things, too, but who cares? Hoagies, man. Hoagies.

A Jersey jughandle – follow the blue arrows.


If you’re read more

Macro photography, part nine: Changes

For the past two and a half years, I’ve been using a specialized rig for macro lighting, one that produced dependable and pretty damn good results. But it was not to last. The Sunpak FP38 flat panel flash is a surprisingly neat little package, but like everything that I ever really like read more