William McEwen - Photographer @mcewenphoto - Tumblr Blog

Yes, I'm still here, still shooting. Here is Mary Ann with my camera, an iPhone snapshot.

#william mcewen #portrait #8x10 camera #dontmesswithtexas #wisnercamera #zonevitripod

The great photographer David Donovan died on January 11. He was a talented photographer, a great friend, a philosopher, and a lover of life. R.I.P., old friend.

#david donovan #david francis donovan #afterimage gallery

Days of Summer Drag On

Here in Texas it has been 100+ degrees almost every day for weeks. And above is a photo from long ago: Debbie Davis at Lake Isabella in Michigan. I made this photograph with a Polaroid SX-70 camera. Very well made, easy to use, and one of the all-time great snapshot cameras.

Stay cool, everyone!

#William McEwen.#Polaroid #SX-70 #debbie davis #lake isabella #michigan

Old Tree, Michigan,1994.

#William McEwen.#tree #swamp #wisner camera #8x10 camera #tri-x #michigan

Sara with my Rolleiflex, 2003

©William McEwen

Visiting California! Not me. My Rolleiflex. This 67-year-old camera was overdue for a tuneup, and it is with Harry Fleenor at Oceanside Camera Repair. The third tuneup in its long lifetime.

This camera was given to me by my father’s best friend, who used it for 30 years before giving it to me.

Long ago, a guy in a photo store once referred to camera repair/tuneup periods as the camera doing time. (I wish I remembered his name to properly credit him; he worked at Quarry Photo at Fashion Square Mall in Saginaw, Michigan in the late 1970s or early 1980s.)

I expect to use this camera the rest of my days.

#William McEwen.#Rolleiflex #ROLLEIFLEX 2.8C #8x10 view camera

Angela, American Brands, 2013

Happy birthday to Angela! I’ve photographed her many times since a friend spotted her in 2001 and knew we would work well together.

I once considered undertaking a photo series called “American Brands.” Each photo would feature one or two items. For the first photograph, Angela wore Levi’s jeans and held a bottle of Coke. The project never moved beyond this first photo.

Camera: Rolleiflex 2.8C

Film: Kodak Ektachrome Plus

#William McEwen.#rolleifliex #rolleiflex 2.8c #Levi's #cokeboys #coca-cola

Christmas Morning, 1980

A snowfall overnight and clear sunny skies in the morning. Always an alluring time for a man with a camera.

The view is Mom and Dad’s backyard. You might think I had the date wrong – isn’t that a discarded Christmas tree in the foreground?

Yes. I can explain.

Our living room had a high ceiling. So every Christmas, Dad bought the tallest tree he could find. The 1980 Christmas tree was a special challenge. It was too big and heavy for the tree stand. No amount of precise positioning would prevent it from falling over. We even tried wiring it to a beam in the ceiling but gravity kept winning. So we tossed it out the back door.

Christmas morning I made this photograph. To the right of the tree is a small sculpture Mom made years before in her sculpture class. That little sculpture survived many harsh Michigan winters. Now it’s in front of my house, surviving harsh Texas summers.

To the left of the tree is a stump that we put food on for the wild animals. A special detail in the picture is the numerous animal tracks, mostly squirrels and rabbits, who came to feed on the dry corn we always left out for them.

A day or two later I dragged the tree out into the woods. It would provide nice shelter for birds and other creatures.

After 1980 turned into 1981, I headed back to CMU and developed the film in the dorm darkroom. (Those were fortunate times – a darkroom downstairs in the dorm!)

I made one print and dropped it off at the Framework office, the CMU literary arts magazine. They published it full page. I still have that lone print, which has the editor’s notes on the back (“100%/Photo K/P12”).

Camera: YashicaMat 124-G

Film: Kodak Tri-X

Paper: Kodak Polycontrast

#William McEwen #yashicamat #Saginaw Michigan #framework

Fritz Feld, 1986

The busy actor Fritz Feld died on Nov. 18, 1993 at the age of 93. He made 140 films over a 72-year career. POP! You might remember him playing a waiter or maître d, who would famously slap his mouth to make a pop sound. That was his trademark.

I photographed Feld in 1986 during an interview for The Nostalgia Channel. (I wrote and photographed for them back then.) Prior to sitting down for the interview, he came over to me and performed comedy magic for a minute or so. He adjusted my clothing and made noises in the process, including his famous POP. There was a twinkle in his eye and he delighted in making us laugh. A warm, funny, charming man.

Camera: Rolleiflex 2.8C

Film: Kodak Tri-X

Paper: Whatever slick resin coated stuff the commercial lab used

#fritz feld #william mcewen #rolleiflex #nostalgia channel

Michael A. Smith, 2018

Michael A. Smith, the great photographer died one year ago today.

It’s never unusual to say, “I can’t believe he’s been gone for a year already.” For me, I just can’t believe Michael is gone.

I made this photograph at his rural Pennsylvania home a few months before he died. He had been in declining health and didn’t have much energy. I made four very quick negatives and then called it quits. This was a mistake. Looking back, I realize he had a lot of energy that day. Michael’s wife, the photographer and artist Paula Chamlee, later told me, “Your visit energized him.”

During Michael’s last year, he telephoned me frequently, and I’ll always cherish those calls as well as his friendship. Many times, I told him frankly, “It worries me that you’re not getting better.” He always responded, “But I’m stable.” Yes, and that’s why the news of his death on Nov. 16, 2018 was such a shock. I miss him.

Camera: 8x10 Kodak Master View

Lens: 14 inch Goerz Dagor

Film: Ilford HP5 Plus

Paper: Ilford Multigrade Fiber

#michael a. smith #william mcewen #black and white portrait

Martin Mull, 1979

Happy birthday (Aug. 18) to singer/songwriter/artist/guitarist/actor Martin Mull. Here he is performing in Royal Oak, Michigan many years ago.

Camera: Canon 35mm

Lens: Canon 135mm

Film: Kodak negative film

#martin mull #william mcewen

Elephants, Fort Worth Zoo, August 11, 1990 (proof)

Today is World Elephant Day. Amazing and majestic beasts! Here is a photograph I made 29 years and one day ago at the Fort Worth Zoo.

Camera: Burke and James 8x10

Lens: 12 inch Kodak Ektar

Film: Kodak Tri-X

Paper: Proof made on Kodak Azo

#elephants #world elephant day #William McEwen #Fort Worth Zoo #8x10 camera

Amy

Amy was a bright light on this earth, and I’m fortunate that she was my sister-in-law for 21 years. She died in 2016. It seems impossible that cancer could have taken this special person from us. Her death still feels like a strange illusion. It can’t be true -- she was too special, too delightful. Surely her death is a temporary wrong that will correct itself?

Here is a snapshot of Amy in 1999, reading wild stories to us from the delectably crazy tabloid Weekly World News.

Camera: Canon AE-1 35mm

Lens: Canon 50mm

Film: Kodak 200 speed color negative film

Self-Portrait Doing a Flip, June 13, 1991

A picture to welcome summer. Here I am diving off the diving board in my mom and dad’s pool in Michigan. Mom and dad lived in a little paradise; I miss it every day. I would be content to make all of my pictures there, every one.

Since the cable release wasn’t nearly long enough, my wife at the time tripped the shutter and my twin sister Patty gave her the NOW! command. Perfect timing!

Camera: Burke and James 8x10

Lens: 12 inch Kodak Ektar

Film: Kodak Tri-X

Paper: Kodak Azo

#William McEwen #swimming pool #Michigan

Tami, Michigan, 1984

I made this photo of my friend Tami in my mom and dad’s living room. The room was a good choice for a daylight studio, with large floor-to-ceiling windows that let in a lot of light.

A few days later, Mom asked me how my pictures came out. I showed them to her, and she responded, “They really don’t do her justice.” Yes, Tami is beautiful and a head-turner, but I didn’t agree with Mom’s assessment and shrugged off the comment.

The background is a large piece of canvas that I painted myself. I’d ordered a painted canvas from a photography dealer, and the quality was so poor that I turned it over and painted it myself. I used this background for many years, until I ultimately decided real places were more interesting than studios.

Camera: 4x5 Sinar Alpina

Lens: 210 Rodenstock

Film: Kodak Tri-X

Paper: Ilford Galerie

#William McEwen.#sinar alpina #portrait #tami #Tri-X #Michigan

Paul Spudis, 1952-2018

I just learned that the lunar geologist Paul Spudis died last year.

I photographed Paul in 2001, and we hit it off. We were both space geeks who had been mesmerized by the Apollo moon landings, an enthusiasm that never left us.

Paul was an accomplished scientist who played a key role in unmanned missions to the moon and wrote scientific papers, articles, blog posts, and books about the moon. His book “The Once and Future Moon” is a favorite of mine, and I recommend it highly.

During our photo session Paul told me he had recently gone on an archaeological dig in a desert somewhere. He was invited by colleagues, and he looked forward to it – he hadn’t been on a dig in ages. He peered under a rock and was confronted by an angry rattlesnake. After he had a moment to recover from the scare, one of his friends told him, “From now on, Paul, please stick with dead planets.”

Here is my photograph of Paul taken in a stairwell at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. I confessed to him later that I found his conversation so interesting that it drowned out my artistic abilities and they unfortunately fell short. Paul was interesting and a lot of fun. Another good man is gone.

Camera: 8x10 Wisner Technical Field

Lens: Schneider G-Claron 355mm

Film: Kodak Tri-X

Paper: Ilford Galerie

#William McEwen #Paul Spudis #Lunar and Planetary Institute #Black and White Portrait