Yes, exactly right, the National Geographic Introduction to Photography from the Great Courses. Seems to be really excellent! I have had a workshop weekend from Rocky Mountain School of Photography (also excellent!) but still consider myself a relative beginner. I admire the photos in your blog and hope to aspire to that level of achievement someday.

I agree with your ideas about engagement and life. And I believe people do begin to evaporate when they cease to engage and grow passive. You see their remains on couches and easy chairs. It’s probably what keeps me from retiring.

Hopefully there will be more black & white photos to come!

The prints are wet process gelatin silver prints. Ilford Multigrade fiber paper, 11×14 processed in Kodak Dektol developer mixed 1:2. Acetic acid stop bath and fixer from the Photographer’s Formulary. Prints are washed and processed with Hypo clear to make them more permanent.

I consider the prints proofs because I don’t do much with them. My negatives are consistent enough that I can print almost everything at the same contrast and exposure time. This keeps the darkroom time for printing each week under two hours. Film processing is under an hour.

You’re right about the view camera taking longer. When I use it I’ll hope to expose, process and print three negatives. Can’t do a lot more without ending up in the poor house.

I process the 8×10 film in BTZS developing tubes. I’ve only used them to date with 4×5 but I expect they’ll work as well with 8×10. I used to do the processing in a tray with bare hands and then gloves. Don’t need to be pushing my hands in chemicals anymore.

I guess my reaction to the notion of waiting for the “iconic” photo is this: We don’t always recognize it at the time. At least I don’t. I’m certain that I’ve dismissed shooting pictures because the “light is wrong” when in fact it is amazing as evidenced by a photograph that Kim has made at that moment which I see later.

In my experience it is best to shoot and consider the results later. The only caveat I’ll make relates to my work with a large format camera where the cost of tripping the shutter is high. So I am a bit more careful in that situation. But I don’t accept the Ansel Adams myth about waiting for the perfect moment. That may work for landscapes but not much else. The same with Henri Cartier-Bresson’s “decisive moment”. I believe the moment exists but you can’t wait for it, just work and hope to be ready when it comes. When you look at Cartier-Bresson’s contact sheets it’s obvious he shot a lot of moments that weren’t decisive.

Are you taking one of online National Geographic photo courses from the Great Courses Company?

Sometimes film cameras are best left in the display case don’t you think? For each photographer the needs and goals are different. Same with riding. The right tool for the right job as determined by the user.

There’s a lot of positive things to be said about snapshot mode, at least the part where you become unconcerned with much beyond documenting what’s in front of you. As I carry the Leica around with me I try to stay in snapshot mode. Or maybe it’s “enhanced” snapshot mode.

Thanks Dom for the comments about the pictures. Like every other skill a person can have, practice helps the outcome.

I can’t help but think that rebooting is age-related — we’re sensing mortality more strongly and a subtle increase in regret…