Film Photography

Why I Started Intentionally Making My Photos Look Worse (And Why You Should Too)
Video Tutorials

Why I Started Intentionally Making My Photos Look Worse (And Why You Should Too)

There’s a photo on my Instagram that I’m almost embarrassed about. It was taken on a $200 Android phone, slightly crooked, a little blown out in one corner. It’s also my most liked post by a wide margin. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about why. So when I came across a Peter McKinnon tutorial where he describes holding his son, spotting incredible light, snapping a quick shot, and then lying in bed that night feeling almost unsettled by how effortlessly beautiful it looked, I felt that immediately.

What Shooting Street Photography on Kodak Tri-X Taught Me About Slowing Down
Video Tutorials

What Shooting Street Photography on Kodak Tri-X Taught Me About Slowing Down

Every Sunday morning I take a photo walk through my neighborhood in Seattle. No agenda, no client, no assignment. Just me and whatever camera I feel like carrying. For the longest time I treated it as a warm-up, a way to shake the rust off before a “real” shoot. I’d come home with 200 frames and maybe feel good about three of them. Fast and loose, spray and pray. Then I watched Watch the full tutorial on YouTube, where Sean Tucker introduces Hong Kong-based film street photographer Mavis CW and spends time unpacking why her approach to film changes the entire relationship a photographer has with a scene.

Using Your Camera as a Compass: What Ian Howorth Taught Me About Photographing Places You Don't Fully Understand Yet
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Using Your Camera as a Compass: What Ian Howorth Taught Me About Photographing Places You Don't Fully Understand Yet

There’s a specific kind of restlessness I feel when I visit a new city and I can’t quite put my finger on what makes it itself. I’ve been in that situation more times than I can count, standing on a corner in some neighborhood I don’t know, camera in hand, unsure whether I’m seeing something worth capturing or just projecting my own expectations onto ordinary streets. It’s not a technical problem.

What Joel Grimes and a 4x5 Camera Taught Me About Obsessing Over Focus
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What Joel Grimes and a 4x5 Camera Taught Me About Obsessing Over Focus

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it actually means to commit to a shot. Not in the motivational-poster sense. I mean the physical, logistical, you-burned-your-dinner kind of commitment. Last month I was out on my Sunday morning photo walk and I kept chimping, checking the back of my camera every thirty seconds, second-guessing my focus point, re-shooting the same frame six or seven times. I got home with 200 photos and maybe two that felt intentional.

How to Never Miss Focus on a Large Format Portrait (The Dual Focusing Method Explained)
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How to Never Miss Focus on a Large Format Portrait (The Dual Focusing Method Explained)

There is a specific kind of dread that comes from getting film back and realizing your shot is soft. Not artistically soft. Out of focus. I’ve felt a version of that with digital files, staring at a portrait at 100% zoom and watching the eyes dissolve into mush. Now multiply that by the cost, the rarity, and the sheer ceremony of shooting 4x5 film, and you start to understand the problem Joel Grimes was facing when he set out to photograph portraits on a large format view camera for major ad campaigns.

Why a New Vintage Lens Mount Still Matters to Modern Photographers
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Why a New Vintage Lens Mount Still Matters to Modern Photographers

Why a New Vintage Lens Mount Still Matters to Modern Photographers I was genuinely surprised to learn that 7Artisans recently released a fresh 35mm f/2.8 lens for the Leica Thread Mount system. Here we are, well into the digital era, and manufacturers are still creating glass for a mounting system that’s over a century old. But the more I thought about it, the more this decision made perfect sense—and it speaks to something important about how we approach photography as a craft.

March 2026: A Pivotal Month That's Reshaping Photography
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March 2026: A Pivotal Month That's Reshaping Photography

March 2026: A Pivotal Month That’s Reshaping Photography When I look back at March 2026, I can’t shake the feeling that we witnessed something genuinely significant for our craft. It wasn’t just one story that captured my attention—it was the cumulative weight of multiple developments happening simultaneously that made this month stand out as a true turning point for photographers at every level. The Convergence of Change What struck me most was how interconnected these developments seemed to be.