Shooting small: I love it, and here’s why

I like to photograph small things. I’ve been doing that since 1966. I’d always had a juvenile interest in photography. I learned about it, and especially the darkroom aspect of black and white, by working my way through college as the darkroom technician for the geology department (yep, I was a rocks-for-jocks major). As part of that job, I had to learn to photograph rock and mineral samples for professors. Many were small fragments (the rocks, not the profs).

I first used a Minolta SR1-s bought mail order from Japan and some rather dicey extension tubes attached to a 55mm lens. Exposure was always bracketed guesswork. Extension tubes required adding exposure time. After a while, I learned to be consistent in lighting setups so I could nail the exposure more often.

Rattlesnake Gulf

 

Kat: Working for a Living

5280 Lens Mafia salutes the American worker today. This is Kat, my favorite waitress over at Javier & C’s Diner. She’s busting it on Labor Day 2012 (I caught her here just before the rush hit).

5280 Lens Mafia’s Greg Thow featured at Matador Network

Matador Network has posted an absolutely stunning series entitled “47 Unearthly Lightning Strikes.” A lot of these shots are of the take-your-breath-away variety, and 5280 Lens Mafia is especially proud because our own Greg Thow is included. Not once, but three times.

Take us to your leader

Lenticular clouds, often looking like flying saucers, may form as moist air flows over a mountain range. Here, lenticulars have formed on the downwind side of the Front Range near Boulder. (This photo took 6th place in Digital Photography Review’s Aleatoric Forms: Open Subjects from Abstract Mediums challenge.)