Starting today, October 5, 2025, I’m documenting a year on the Jack’s Fork River in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways—river, forests, and the wild horses—using large-format black-and-white film.
Category Archives: Darkroom Diary
Ferric Oxalate: Why “Fresh” Matters
Ferric oxalate (FO) is the engine of platinum/palladium printing. When it’s healthy, prints “pop” with clean highlights, deep blacks, and smooth midtones. When it drifts—even a little—you burn paper chasing exposure, contrast, and clearing.
Make the Damn Prints: 9 Lessons I Took from Sally Mann’s New Book, Art Work
Sally Mann doesn’t write like a guru. She writes like someone who did the work, paid the price, and kept going. Art Work: On the Creative Life isn’t a how-to manual so much as a mirror: you either see yourself showing up, or you don’t. These are the ideas that hit me hardest—and how I’m putting them to work in the studio and darkroom.
Announcing Salt & Silver: A Working Reconstruction of Photography’s Origins
I’m launching a new, long-term project that re-performs William Henry Fox Talbot’s and Sir John Herschel’s foundational experiments—from photogenic drawing to the calotype and salted paper print—documenting original 1830s formulas alongside safe modern equivalents, with real results (wins and misses). Follow along for transparent, step-by-step discoveries and why they still matter today.
50 Years of Photography—My Single Biggest Lesson
50 Years of Photography – 1 Lesson: Gear won’t give you a voice—finishing small, focused projects will.
In this premium article, I share the six-week Micro-Project Method, five ready-made project templates, and the mindset shifts that finally quieted gear FOMO (fear of missing out) and grew my work.
Platinum/Palladium Developers Compared: Potassium Oxalate vs Ammonium Citrate
Swapping developers in platinum/palladium can change the print’s voice—even at the same exposure. Here’s a practical overview of how potassium oxalate (POx) and ammonium citrate (AmCit) differ in tone, contrast, and Dmax when everything else stays constant, plus when to reach for each one.
The One Thing AI Can’t Fake
As algorithms learn to write, paint, and sing on command, we’re drowning in images that look perfect and feel empty. This essay is about the one thing AI cannot produce: a handmade fine art print. Not for lack of processing power, but for lack of presence—the trace of light, chemistry, time, and the maker’s hand. What follows is a case for the tangible: objects with aura that you can hold, keep, and pass on when the scroll has vanished.
The Missing Lever in Pt/Pd Printing: Dialing Potassium Oxalate Concentration for Tone, Contrast, and Feel
Premium Member Article This deep-dive is part of Darkroom Diary Premium—my members-only library for photographers who want repeatable nuance, not happy accidents. Inside Premium, I go beyond “recipes” to show why choices work: tested variables, controlled comparisons, and the decision frameworks I use to shape tone, contrast, and feel in the final print. What members can expect IfContinue reading “The Missing Lever in Pt/Pd Printing: Dialing Potassium Oxalate Concentration for Tone, Contrast, and Feel”
The Psychology of Creating Artwork
I often ask myself why I continue photographing, knowing no one truly cares about my work. People may glance at it, appreciate it for a moment, and a few even pay for it. But in the grand scheme, my prints will eventually be discarded, my name forgotten, and my efforts reduced to nothing. This isn’t self-pity—it’s reality. Even the greatest artists of the past, those who defined entire movements, have been buried under the relentless tide of time. What chance do I have if their work, once celebrated, can be forgotten?
And yet, I keep going. Why?
The Illusion of Easier – Be Careful
Everywhere you turn, someone’s trying to sell you “easier.”
Apps that edit for you. Cameras that know what you want before you do. AI that writes, paints, composes — all while you sit back and watch.
And I get it. Life is busy. We’re tired. We’ve earned our rest.
But there’s a sneaky cost buried in that promise of effortlessness — and it’s not always so obvious at first.