Author: David

A simple, repeatable process for getting great results with your Olympus OM – from frame 0 to 36. Shooting your first few rolls of film can feel overwhelming: This guide gives you a step-by-step beginner workflow.Follow this and you will shoot cleaner, sharper, better-exposed film every time – no guesswork, no panic. Think of it as the Zuikography method. 1. Load the camera properly (confidence starts here) Most beginner problems start with loading. Make sure the film leader is securely on the take-up spool.Pull gently – it should not slip out. Advance twice.Frame 1 should advance smoothly. Set your ISO…

If photography has a philosopher, it is Sam Abell. Soft-spoken, contemplative, deeply patient – Abell makes pictures the way a poet writes: slowly, deliberately, with attention to the smallest emotional shift in a scene. Few photographers have shaped how modern photojournalism understands composition, patience, and ethical presence as deeply as Abell. A National Geographic legend, a teacher without ego, and one of the greatest living masters of composition, Abell built his career on discipline rather than drama. No rushing. No spraying. No gear obsession. Just clarity and intention. During his later National Geographic work, Abell was known to favour the…

Photography has never struggled with sharpness, resolution, or perfection.It struggles with feeling. In a world obsessed with technical correctness, there’s something quietly powerful about images that breathe – photographs that accept blur, grain, imbalance, and chance as part of the process rather than something to be corrected later. This way of seeing aligns closely with wabi-sabi, the Japanese philosophy that finds beauty in imperfection, impermanence, and incompleteness. It isn’t a style you apply. It’s a mindset you step into. Stop Chasing Perfection – Look for Truth A technically perfect photograph can be impressive.It can also be completely forgettable. Imperfection brings…

A short National Geographic documentary following the final commissioned use of Kodachrome film. This short documentary follows Steve McCurry as he photographs with what Kodak presented as the last roll of Kodachrome ever produced. The premise is straightforward: a film stock that defined colour photography for decades is reaching the end of its life, and one photographer is asked to use it one final time. The film doesn’t try to turn this into drama. There’s no countdown, no manufactured tension, and no attempt to create a definitive “last photograph.” Instead, it quietly observes McCurry at work – travelling, photographing people,…

Wildheart isn’t a place you rush. It sits quietly off the mainland on the Isle of Wight, and it has a way of slowing you down whether you intend it to or not. The animals here are rescued. They aren’t arranged, prompted, or encouraged to perform. They’re simply living out their lives with care, space, and time — and it doesn’t take long before that affects how you behave with a camera. I’ve grown fond of the place for exactly that reason. This visit was in early December. Cold, wet, and windy. I had thermals on, a woolly hat, waterproofs,…

The most common beginner disaster — and how to avoid it completely. Few things in film photography hurt as much as collecting a developed roll…and seeing absolutely nothing except 36 perfect rectangles of fogged sadness. A blank roll feels like a betrayal.But the cause is almost always simple — and almost always avoidable. Here are the five main reasons beginners end up with blank rolls on OM cameras, and how to make sure it never happens to you. 1. The Film Never Caught the Take-Up Spool This is, by far, the number one cause. What happens:You load the film, close…

Some photographers chase spectacle. Others chase perfection. David Hurn chased something quieter: understanding. A founding member of Magnum Photos, a lifelong teacher, and a fiercely observant documentarian, Hurn built a career on simplicity – a small camera, a short lens, and a clear idea of what mattered. While Hurn is best known for his use of Leica cameras, the principles that shaped his work – simplicity, discretion, and observation – are exactly what Maitani designed the Olympus OM system to support. He is, in every meaningful way, an OM-minded photographer.Not because of brand loyalty, but because the OM philosophy matched…

How well do you actually know Maitani’s masterpieces? Think you know the OM System?Prove it. Score 16+ and you earn an honorary place in the Hall of OM.Score below 10 and you must load a roll of expired Jessops 200 as penance.Make a note of your answers as you go – no cheating, no Googling, and definitely no pretending you “meant to pick that one.” Let’s begin. 1. Which Olympus camera was originally named the “M-1” before Leica complained? A. OM-1B. OM-10C. Pen FD. Trip 35 2. The Olympus Trip 35 famously requires: A. AAA batteriesB. A sacrificial goatC. Exactly…

Learn these early and your whole OM journey becomes easier. The Olympus OM system is beautifully designed – but beginners often make the same handful of mistakes, usually because they came from digital or modern film SLRs. Here are the most common beginner missteps, and how to avoid each one. 1. Forgetting to Watch the Rewind Knob This is the most important OM habit. If the knob doesn’t turn → the film isn’t moving. Get into the habit of glancing at it every time you advance. 2. Setting the Wrong ISO On OM cameras the ISO (ASA) is a separate…

There are many photography videos online that explain which buttons to press. This series is not interested in that. Britain in Focus: A Photographic History is a three-part BBC documentary presented by photographer and journalist Eamonn McCabe, and it does something increasingly rare: it treats photography as something worth thinking about. Slowly. Rather than racing through cameras, techniques, or trends, the series steps back and looks at photography as a cultural force – shaped by science, circumstance, patience, and a great deal of trial and error. It assumes the viewer is capable of concentration, which already places it in a…