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One is none As the saying goes, “one is none” when it comes to backups. If you have data you can’t bear to lose, you need to back it up somewhere. End of discussion. Local backups I have a Synology DS218play at home. It’s a very entry-level NAS (network-attached storage) model from Synology. I have two drives installed (the max this model supports) for a couple terabytes of storage. The drives use a replication strategy, though it would be more effective with more drives, and in retrospect I wish I’d picked a model with dual ethernet ports as well, but it does okay....

It’s a popular thing in photography to say you are documenting someone or something. But what does documenting really mean? For whom are you/we documenting? Documentation implies an audience, and one with a critical eye. However, I think that most documentation these days isn’t intended for an audience other than social media, where each image might get a few seconds of attention. Does it make documentation less valid to change the audience?...

I often stop to wonder what the point is. Why do I take photographs? What benefit is there to me or others from my practice. I think this is probably a common question for artists of every stripe. When you spend so much time and effort making something, for little reward, that almost no one will ever see or care about the way you care about it, it’s natural to wonder… why?...

The view from the Literati Bookstore, with a new-to-me Leica M3, my 50mm Summicron, and Kodak 400TX.

I recently had my first real darkroom print session. I’ve made a few prints here and there, but struggled with the technical aspects (e.g., expired developer, bad masking). This time, I made some contact sheets and enlargements that I feel really good about. The motivating force was to produce Christmas gifts for my family. I unearthed some hitherto unseen Tri-X negatives from a family trip in 2019, and got to printing....