you know you’re a photographer

you wear a fishing vest
have a beard and belly
use view camera
use spot-meter
use pyro and amidol 
make contacts prints 
try to find the perfect cloud in idyllic spots


a photo is just a photo
-- plumber at hardware store

optical
-- the ten dollar way of saying enlarger


fat mans glue
-- butt sweat on the toilet seat

the point of the place
 --to preserve the past
even tho the past has passed you by.
a past you’re not even part of
never were. 

Start with the instructions

the manufacturer wrote
then test them to learn how your needs and their assumptions match.

Never trust art that doesn't experiment. the studio is a place of show, not a place of tell.

trust your own work, distrust those that show-off rather than showing.

don't trust; test
press your eye to the glass