Dating back to the early 1950's, my training in photography came through academia’s side door, that of periodicals, seminars, white papers and practice. One of my recent photos appeared on the November-December 2005 cover of Art & Frame Review, a leading trade magazine devoted to the field of art and photography presentation and preservation. More recent recognition came when a couple of my favorite photographs appeared in the 14-month, 2007 North Idaho calendar; then again for the 2008 edition.

As a retired member of the US Navy, and later a major aerospace contractor, assignments have taken my wife, boys and I to California, Washington, Massachusetts, Georgia, Texas, and waypoints between. In the line of duty over 20 countries have been visited, awed, feared and photographed. Viet Nam was my war with III-Corps my home. But other than a handful of purposely benign shots in FREE EXPRESSION, you'll have to look elsewhere for river-action or coastal-surveillance photos documenting that piece of American history.

Cameras owned over the last 50 years have included rangefinders and SLRs from Kodak, Yashica, Minolta, Canon and Topcon; including a couple 8 mm and Super 8 mm movie cameras. I have pocket-sized Fuji and Kodak digitals for convenience and fun. Through the 1970's, my SLR of choice was the proven Topcon RE Super. However, "on the 8th day" I discovered Nikon; the others are gathering dust.

My Nikon travels nearly everywhere with us. Once on location, I shoot film as if there's an endless supply just around the corner. Of 100 or so frames exposed, 10 may be considered candidates for further scrutiny. Of those, one might be worthy of a place in your heart. My motto: It’s only film, take the shot.

Every image included in my Gallery was captured using a Nikon F100, 35mm film camera mounting either a Nikkor or Tamron lens, single Hoya filter, and when required, a Nikon electronic remote trigger, plus tripod. I ocassionally use an SB-800 Speedlight for fill. My absolute favorite lens is Tamron's 28-105 mm, F2.8. Current film choices are Fujicolor Pro 160S & 160C and Kodak Pro 100UC & 400UC. However, I'm begining to experiment more with Ilford and Agfa monochrome entries. Earlier film favorites included Kodak's HD. Royal Gold, Portra VC and Agfa Optima.

I use print film due to its greater exposure range and more importantly, the desired output being a print. In wedding and special event photography, we've yet to have a print so poorly exposed that it provided no useful information. A few have been tossed that were lacking in composition, but even they showed decent exposure.

Computer hardware, used for scanning, editing and storage, include a Sony PCV-RX860 Digital Studio PC (which just died), now using a Gateway GT-5674 Digital Media Manager, an Epson Perfection 2400 Photo & negative scanner, and for photo proofing, l use, an Epson RX680, 6-color copier. Software includes Adobe Photoshop Elements, and VCOM's Webeasy 5.0 Pro Design Studio.

Web site images are of low-resolution and JPEG format. However, all prints for purchase are based upon 350 dpi minimum, 24 bit color, and uncompressed TIFF format. Files of 100 MB are typical for a single image as each scanned negative is both edited and saved at maximum print size. The theory behind saving scans at the anticipated print size is that no color interpretation is introduced, while printing smaller is rarely problematic.

All TIFF masters include cropping and scratch, dust, & film-blemish removal, but extremely limited color or lighting-contrast adjustment, if at all. Black-white and sepia-tone images are, however, deliberate corruptions of the original color scans and intended for those who prefer the look of monochrome & age-appearing, special effect images. Otherwise, few artistic liberties are employed. The intent is to maximize authenticity of the final product. Now that I've ventured into posters, layering is utilized for the lettering and signature.

Every print you receive is, substantially, a faithful reproduction of the subject, as captured by the camera's lens and recorded within the limits of the film. This philosophy applies to all my images, assuring you that your new Giclee print accurately reflects the scene at the very moment it was recorded.

All prints are sold without frames. We encourage you to choose your favorite art & frame shop carefully, using a local business whenever possible. My recommendation is that you insist on archival material. Use UV filtering glass, but if you anticipate shipping or moving the print regularly, consider heavy weight acrylic protection.

Our shipping method is based upon a container's inherent strength and its ability to protect the print from moisture, tears, bends & abrasion. We typically utilize a heavy duty tube stock for maximum protection. It's a container you will likely re-use indefinately.

Bud Holley
CdA Photographer

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