Black-and-white photography has become my passion over the past year. From an art form that I admired, and occasionally practiced, I have decided to concentrate exclusively on black-and-white photography, mostly on film, some on digital. For the moment, I'm concentrating my printing on inkjet, although I intend to add in digital negatives and all processing as space allows.

A major part of the practice of any art is the study of successful works by other practitioners. To that end I intend to have at least one post a week devoted to analysis and criticism of a photograph that I find interesting. In this case, I will be biased towards black-and-white work, although I won't rule out looking at color.

A wise professor once told me that our goal in talking about art is to always keep the conversation at the highest possible level. By that he meant that not only should we look for interesting works of art to talk about, but that we should always talk about them in interesting ways. Saying provocative things is easy, and can often start a conversation, although perhaps not an interesting one. News outlets are always full of stories like that, and there is no need to expand the scope of pointless discussion. That is why, after being on the net since the beginning, and having exhausted my needlessly provocative phase, I am finally starting a blog about something that I find interesting, and that I hope others will also find interesting.

So, this blog will be about photography, not photographic equipment. Some discussion of gear will creep in occasionally, after all, there is still a strong geek streak in me that will rear its head from time to time. And I will spend a fair amount of time talking about technique, especially as it relates to the process of printing. Still, I will endeavor always to return to the art of photography, and not dwell on the minutia of cameras, lenses, film, and ink.