Frame Works? Basket in Winter Light
Description: Woven basket filled with fruits and vegetables in winter afternoon light Background: Since I began gardening, I have become attuned to the yearly cycles of sun and rain. The sun holds a particular fascination. I have tracked it through the seasons and marked out– in house and garden–where it willContinue Reading
Garden Frame: Pincushions in Spring
Description: A bed of pincushion flowers in early spring on a mildly hazy, beautiful April day. Background: Pincushion flowers made it into the garden purely on color. They are the exact shade of lavender that I love. The foliage is also interesting because the leaves take on different forms. The first yearContinue Reading
Midtown: Into the New City
A beautiful spring day is the perfect setting for exploring. This particular day, I chose Midtown Atlanta because I once lived in the neighborhood. Since moved away from the area, I rarely visit. When I relocated to Atlanta in the early 1990s, the area was half new, half crumbling. AtContinue Reading
The Pandemic, the Darkroom, and Me
After deciding I wanted to do more with photography than take pictures of the garden, I joined a community darkroom, The Photographer’s Studio (TPS) in May 2019. Membership isn’t cheap, but I was drawn to the range of classes offered and a chance to meet experienced photographers. My first classContinue Reading
VMLP 2: Sony–The Revenge of Minolta, the Re-birth of the Cool
I have before me a Minolta Maxxum 5D camera and a Sony a100. The a100 was a pandemic buy—I hadn’t planned to buy another digital camera because the Olympus e300 works fine for testing manual lenses. The a100 was the first A-mount camera Sony made after buying Minolta’s camera IP.Continue Reading
Opossums, Squirrels, Owls and Hawks
Living in the middle of Atlanta, one doesn’t expect many genuine wildlife encounters. I’ve had a few–I almost put my hand on an opossum one night on the deck. It was so dark that I didn’t see it resting on the railing. One morning, an opossum ambled across the frontContinue Reading
My Introduction to Pincushion Distortion
When I began looking for Minolta Maxxum lenses, I came across a now-defunct site (MaxxumEyes.com) that made specific recommendations. The site recommended the classic 35-105mm AF (1985), particularly pointing out its sharpness. At the time, the only AF Minolta lenses I owned were the 50mm f1.7, 100mm f2.8 macro, andContinue Reading
Frame Works? Antelope with Birds
Description: Still life of a metal antelope sculpture Background: I’ve always been drawn to the minimalism of this sculpture. I waver over whether it is a cow or an antelope. It was a gift to my wife from one of her friends years ago, so its origin and background are lost. Continue Reading
Why the Urge to Capture an Image?
I read a post on the Japan Camera Hunter blog in which the author posed a somewhat rhetorical question: “What’s the point in taking pictures?” It’s something I have thought about — a lot. When I bought the Maxxum 7000i, I knew exactly why I wanted to take pictures; IContinue Reading
Garden Frame: Catmint with Coral-Red Azaleas
Description: A sprig of catmint (Walker’s Low) against a background of coral azaleas. The shot was taken in the early afternoon while the sun was high in the sky. Background: Catmint blooms in early to mid-spring and has beautiful, small lavender flowers. Bees love it. I bought three plants from a smallContinue Reading





