In early December I purchased a Gakken-flex kit from a Flickr contact (mijonju) in Japan. The Gakken-flex, for those that must never have looked online, is a 35mm twin-lens reflex plastic camera kit. It's a shame that there are no equivalent US magazines like that of Gakken's Otona no kagaku (?????) magazine. However, the US-based MAKE Magazine is now selling many Gakken kits online, including

"Man Of The Year"
©David A. Ziser

Here is one more image from my film days.  I remember walking into this location and being so intrigued by the architectural features, particularly the ceiling lines.  They seemed to offer the perfect "compositional pointers" for my shot. The previous sentence gives you some insight as to how I create a shot.  I survey the surrounds first, see where the lines lead, and then place my subject into the the image where all the lines seem to intersect. You can easily see that in this image. All the ceiling lines and even the banister all lead directly to the groom.  He is positioned in the bottom right quadrant of the image, and presto, we've got a pretty strong portrait. Lighting is coming in from camera left - a Metz CT-1 triggered with Quantum radio system. Camera specs; Hasselblad 500CM fitted with 40mm Distagon lens, F5.6 @ 1/125 second, Kodak Vericolor 400 film.  Enjoy!  -David

Good Morning Everybody,

Today is our third day at Imaging USA - and we still haven't made it all the way through the trade show floor.  Hopefully we can finish the job today.

I was hoping to have more to report for you today but yesterday had me in meetings for most of the day and I didn't get a chance to take in as much of the trade-show as I’d hoped. I plan to remedy that today. Anyway, I think you will like what I've got in store for today's post.

Another reason for missing a good part of the trade show time was the fact that I was attending the ASP Fellowship Luncheon. Those holding the degree of "Fellow" - there are only 104 living members - are invited to the luncheon.  I received the honor from the Professional Photographers Association in 1988.

One becomes a "Fellow" by going through a rigorous application process with includes a submission, a portfolio, of the applicant's top 25 images produced during their career.  We had 44 attend the luncheon yesterday and it was good to catch up with many old friends.

This year we welcomed three new "Fellows" to our group. They were Barry Rankin, Michael Timmons, and Joe Campanellie.  Each had stunning images in their portfolio submissions.

I was thrilled to see my buddy, Barry Rankin, receive his "Fellowship Degree".  Barry and I have known each other for many years.  Not only is Barry

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