Continuing with the medium format nostalgia....beauty.

I've always had a love affair with.......the 150mm Lens on a Square Medium Format camera.  This was shot on the stairs that connect my living room with my dining room.   The model's name is Kara and we originally shot this as an alternative choice for the cover of my first book.  The image was taken with a Carl Zeiss lens but it wasn't on the front of a Hasselblad, it was on the other European MF system I used, the Rollei SLR system.  While there was much to love about the Rolleis, and with the same lens maker and choice of films the ultimate quality was absolutely equal to the Hasselblad, but I always preferred the battery-less operation of the Swedish version and the relative quiet of the shutter.  The Hblad is also a bit lighter.

When we create book covers it's routine to try a number of variations and then judge the winner at the end.  I had worked with Kara on several advertising campaigns before this but they all cast her as the quintessential "soccer mom" while I wanted something a bit sexier.  I don't care what you're marketing, beautiful faces work for me...

Hope everyone is staying cool and having a fun Monday.

(quick note:  shot on Fuji Asti E-6 film and then scanned on an Epson V500 Photo flatbed scanner.)

A self serving book review that I hope will inspire even non-commercial photographers to rush to Amazon or Precision Camera to secure a copy.

I am in the middle of writing my sixth book. This one is about the convergence of digital photography and video.  I think I'll call it Minimalist Video for Photographers.    All of the books I've written are about photography.  Two are about lighting technique (Minimalist Lighting: Professional Techniques for Location Photography and 

Minimalist Lighting: Professional Techniques for Studio Photography) and they have been very popular books when it comes to sales.  Another book I wrote is all about lighting equipment.  It's mostly about what's available out there and why you might want to use it.  It's entitled, aptly enough:  Photographic Lighting Equipment.   And sales of that book are also good.  In fact, anything I write that relates to equipment either sells well or, in the case of this blog, is a big reader magnet.  I guess that says something about the interests of my audience.  The fifth book is a comprehensive look at LED lighting and it should come out this Winter, from Amherst Media.

But the best book I've written to date is the one that seems to always be languishing on the shelves and getting chummy with the remnants on the Amazon shelves.  And it's sad for me because I think that in addition to being well crafted it is by far the most important book I've written for the greatest number of photographers.  It's called:  Commercial Photography Handbook.  Let me explain.