I'm a writer and amateur B&W photographer. I live in the Finger Lakes area of Western New York State, and have been writing, editing, and moderating a medium-sized website for photography enthusiasts called The Online Photographer, a.k.a. TOP ( theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer... ), since 2005. Before that I was Editor of Photo Techniques magazine; before that I was a professional photographer, did custom B&W printing for galleries, museums, and publications in the Washington D.C. area, and wrote articles for a variety of publications including the American Camera and Darkroom magazine and the British Black & White Photography magazine; and before that I was a photography teacher. I've had students of every age from middle schoolers to grandmothers and thoroughly enjoyed them all. I have a BFA in Photography from the Corcoran School of Art (now The Corcoran College of Art + Design), located in the Corcoran Gallery near the White House in downtown Washington. My articles about photography for The New Yorker's website, newyorker.com, can be accessed through my author page there under the name Michael Johnston.

My current cameras include a Sigma FP converted to monochrome by Daniel Morrison at Monochrome Imaging Services in Vancouver, Washington state; a Fuji APS-C camera for color work; and an iPhone. The pictures here on Flickr are ones I've taken with the Sigma FP(m), which I've been using since the end of August 2022 and having wonderful fun with.

My interests include portraiture, occasional jobs doing real estate photography which I very much enjoy (I've had an interest in houses and residential architecture all my life), and I hope eventually to formalize a more extensive project about The Finger Lakes.

Some of these pictures are "test shots" that relate to posts on TOP.