I have too many cameras and I've gotta start doing something about that. And too many photos lost somewhere in the recesses of terabytes of a hard drive, and that's not counting the old black & white prints in boxes, or all the negatives that have been carefully sleeved with their proof sheets. The inevitable result of a lifelong interest in photography is that you end up a librarian...or in my case, not a very good librarian. To make things worse, I've been in New Orleans for three decades, a humid and wet city, living in a building with a leaky roof...many photos and negatives have been lost to these much less than archival conditions. My plan was to scan the negatives with a film scanner, but then I discovered that they were fused to the so-called "archival" negative sleeves that I dutifully stored them in decades ago. That has stopped me from doing anything for many years...but I'm beginning to understand the homily..."don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good". So I'm preparing to scan all these 3.5" x 5" snapshots from those negatives, many of them printed on a textured surface, because the negatives are essentially gone. Damn...this is somewhat of a tragedy for someone who is serious about photography, but what else am I gonna do with all the remaining snapshots from the last four or five decades, now that the negatives are ruined?

I am 76 and a lot of my friends are dead. I've always wanted my photos to be in the hands of those who are in the photos. But it is difficult to find out how to contact them. I picture the aftermath of my own death, and some poor fucker who has to dispense with all my crap...box of photos--trash. Negatives and proof sheets in a binder--trash. So this is my attempt to get these photos out to the folks who should have them. The downloadable large sizes have been scanned at minimum 300dpi so they should print well. And if it's been shot with a digital camera, the largest size is also at it's highest origional resolution. Click on "All Sizes" which is one of the options under the "actions" tab above the photo, and select "Original" which is the largest size, download it and either print them using your own computer printer, or save the file and send it to a professional digital printer. Enjoy!

My basic photo philosophy...you give enough cameras to enough monkeys, you're gonna get some good photos. It's what gives me faith. The great photographer, Robert Doisneau, probably said it best..."If I knew how to make a good photograph, I'd do it every time."

I used 35mm film cameras for decades before venturing into digital. I played around with rangefinder cameras now and then (Olympus XA, Canonet QLGIII), but mostly I used a Nikon F SLR with a Vivitar 283 flash. I got a few decent surf photos with a Nikonos II underwater camera back in the 1960's.

I struggle with cameras, and I'm conflicted. Mostly I have film cameras...35mm SLR, and 35mm rangefinder, and a medium format TLR and Polaroids and specialized panorama cameras...and there are digital cameras too. Sometimes I carry a tiny Casio Exilim S2 or S3 along with my current "serious" digital rig, a Kodak DCS760 with a bracket and flash attachment...a huge beast of a camera on which I can mount my old f-mount manual focus lenses, and I'm mostly okay with it.

Update; it's just another hassle of a digital camera, and I've decided to go back to using my simple and dependable old film cameras, using a film scanner to convert them from analog to digital.

Update two, I've been using an Olympus C-8080 digital camera with which I've become comfortable.

Update three, I haven't taken a photo in months...so what.

Update four; Back to using the DCS 760 and comfortable with it, and I got an iPhone 4s, which is always with me and makes carrying the little Casio S1, S2 or S3 redundant.

Update five; Bought a used Nikon D3, which will be a huge upgrade from the Kodak DCS 760.

Update six; Got an iPhone 6 plus, and it's easily my primary camera...carrying around that big Nikon D3 with a few accessories is a COMMITTMENT. I guess I've devolved into an iPhone photographer. Oh well...

Update seven; Upgraded to an iPhone 12 Pro Max with three focal lengths; 13mm, 26mm, & 65mm...and I can carry it in my pocket? Amazing! Embarassed to admit, but I also bought a used Sony a7s full frame digitial, and there are so many complicated options, I haven't even used it...that's just wrong.

Obviously, I've been picky about all this photo crap for much of my life, but really, I'm good with most cameras, and not that concerned about megapixels and all the rest of it...just give me a camera I can set on manual, with basic f-stops and shutter speeds so I don't have to outsmart the dang thing, and I'll do the rest. And if the only choice is automatic, I still try to do my best. Cameras are fun.

Many people know me as a photographer, but I've also had a lifelong interest in jewelry design. There's a few photos of Jewelry I've made in the past in one of my sets. My current "job", however, has sorta become working on old houses...we bought 'em cheap, long ago, and now we're stuck having to renovate them ourselves...so I've started uploading renovation photos to my photostream as well.