These Counter-Axioms should challenge photographic dogma, expose exceptions, and occasionally say, “Stop taking yourself so seriously.” Here is the companion set of counter-axioms for the Thirty Axioms of Monochrome. The Wall ©2026 Eric Hatheway Leica M6, Summicron 35, Tri-X 400 Every photographic principle eventually becomes a cliché. The Counter-Axioms exist…
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Black-and-white photography is not color photography with the color removed. It is a different photographic language, with its own vocabulary, grammar, ambiguities and prejudices. These are not rules. Rules tell you what to do. Axioms propose what might be true. 1. Color is the scene. Black and white is the…
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“f/8 and be there” — the old photographer’s mantra. I paraphrased this expression into the title of today’s post – f/8 and don’t be late” – but the spirit is the same. And, it sounds better with a rhyme don’t you agree? This saying is commonly associated with Arthur Fellig,…
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There is a peculiar moment in photography when technique begins to masquerade as doctrine. One hears it often, spoken casually but with quiet authority: don’t shoot at f/16. The reasoning is not without merit—diffraction, that subtle optical phenomenon, begins to soften the image as the aperture narrows. Lens tests confirm…
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Not long ago, when someone talked about photography, the conversation usually revolved around light, lenses, timing, and the mysterious ability some photographers possess to recognize a photograph before it happens. Cameras were tools—complicated tools perhaps—but still instruments used in the service of seeing. Today, among users of Fujifilm cameras in…
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The world feels quieter when the trees are bare. Today, I watched two tree trimmers suspended high against a pale, wintry sky, their ropes cutting stark lines through the bleakness. They moved with a calm precision, dangling like dancers in slow motion, each shift of weight deliberate, each trim a…
Please Read On ... Foveal focus in photography refers to aligning the camera’s point of sharpest focus with the photographer’s own point of maximum visual acuity—the tiny central region of the human retina called the fovea centralis. This area is responsible for our ability to see fine detail, read, and judge critical sharpness. Everything…
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Digital sensors did not change the fundamental physics of infinity focus, but they profoundly changed how infinity behaves in practice and how critically it must be treated by the photographer. In the era of film, infinity focus existed within a forgiving margin. Film had physical depth, slight curvature, and a…
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On a camera lens, “infinity” (∞) is a focusing position—not a place—where the lens is adjusted so that objects at an extremely great distance are rendered acceptably sharp on the sensor or film. Here’s what that means precisely, without the mythology. What “Infinity” Really Refers To In optical terms, infinity…
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