A smattering of random images from the past few weeks. I shoot this stuff all the time, rarely do anything with it other than promptly label it something I can never find later on. These aren’t great images but they allow me to shoot and allow me to think about light. I harp all the time with workshop students that light is the most important ingredient. If the light ain’t there then either keep looking or go get a beer. And when I say light it could mean lack there or, or dim, nearly nonexistent light. Or artificial. Whatever. These rolls of film might be in the camera for a long, long time, and when they finally emerge from the chemicals they might contain six or eight images entirely unrelated other than I made them. Each roll is like rolling back the clock and reliving small moments.
Tagged: black and white, daniel milnor, random, smogranch

Hey Dan,
Nice to have found you and your work. I couldn’t agree more with you comment regarding light. I look forward to seeing more of your stuff and reading what you have to say.
btw…with Blurb eh? I put together a book with you guys a few years ago when I was still pretty new in photography “Places I Have Known”. My style has changes quite a bit since then.
Cheers,
John
John,
Yep, much Blurb going on here. Been with them for a while now and am loving it. Just beginning to learn what is possible.
Hi Dan,
Always enjoy your thoughts and posts. I was doing something kind of similar, in my latest post really experimenting with very low diffused light and relying on the fog and a fast aperture to give various shades of grey and and mixture of hard and soft composed form.
That is so true about shooting over a period on film, when you look back it is an assortment of from time and memories. I still have some frames left from last year on my old rangefinder, and beautiful though provoking post like yours make me miss film and the magic it contains.
It is satisfying when you can make a coherent body of work from several unrelated photo-shoots.
Sorry for waffling on a bit
Zeno
Zeno,
No reason to miss. Film stuff is super cheap. Don’t need much.
*edit typos, it is late at night and my brain is almost sleeping, should have read…
Hi Dan,
I always enjoy your thoughts and posts. I was doing something kind of similar, in my latest blog post, experimenting with very low diffused light and relying on the fog and a fast aperture to give various shades of grey and and mixture of hard and soft composed form.
That is so true about shooting over a period on film, when you look back, it is an assortment of frozen time and memories. I still have some frames left from last year on my old rangefinder, and this beautiful though provoking post like yours really makes me miss film and the magic it contains.
It is satisfying when you can make a coherent body of work from several unrelated photo-shoots.
Sorry for waffling on a bit
Zeno
Small moments are true rewards in life.
And then you have to ask….are they really small?
Recognizing the smallest moments can make the biggest difference in our lives and our work.
Which reminds me that I have an unused roll in the Mamiya. The problem with medium format is that it demands a more serious and considered approach. I always feel like I am trying to justify myself against Beaton. A challenging place to be, if ever there was one.
Lionel,
Bruce Lee, “Don’t think…FEEL.”
Seeing light and understanding how you can use this light are of fundamental importance for the final image/print. I’m just beginning to understand how light works in photography and I hope to get better, more powerful pictures with some more practice. I have been learning a lot from all the advices that you are sharing with us readers and I want to thank you for the energy you are putting in your blog.
Another good source to learn a lot about light are the books from the “old” fine art printers like Ansel Adams, Bruce Barnbaum and so on – even if one is not using the zone system.
Gilles,
And simply paying attention to light is key. Just walk and look.