There’s an interesting idea at the heart of this observation, but it should probably be framed a little differently. To be clear, I don’t think autofocus, autoexposure, subject recognition, and the presence of computational photography have made people less capable of being good photographers. What the modern camera has done…
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One of the reasons the Leica M6 has become almost mythical is that people often describe it as if it has a personality. That may sound strange for a purely mechanical camera, but personality in a camera doesn’t come from electronics—it comes from how it influences your behavior. The M6…
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He meets the camera like a man meets weather—steady, worn, still standing. They sing about It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,where the day lets go easy.But not here. It’s Not Five O’Clock Here ©2026 Eric Wells Hatheway Leica M11-P & Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 Here, the hours stack.His hands carry the…
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It’s almost a symbol in its own right–that black bar over the eyes on photographs used to obscure identity. It’s a little artifact of visual culture that has been fascinating to me since I was a youngster. I once sneaked a look at a “spicy” detective magazine in the back…
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The phrase “the art life” feels older than it sounds, but its current popularity owes a lot to David Lynch and his documentary David Lynch: The Art Life. What’s interesting is that the phrase didn’t arrive as a formal movement or theory—it emerged more like studio slang that finally found…
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Number One: Pursue Obsession Without Apology The subjects that return to you uninvited — the ones you feel almost embarrassed by their persistence — are precisely the ones worth pursuing. A personal visual language is built from obsession, not from subjects deemed appropriately serious or commercially viable. The embarrassing preoccupation…
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One might ask why this matters — whether it is not, finally, a self regarding project, a kind of extended navel-gazing with better materials. The answer is that a genuine personal visual language is one of the most outward-facing things a human being can produce. When you construct a language…
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Sometime, within the first few weeks of art school, someone will say it. A professor, a visiting critic, a paint-stained upperclassman leaning in a doorway–they say the same thing. And, it sticks with you: “Create your own personal visual language.” The phrase lands with the weight of instruction and the…
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Since receiving my first rangefinder camera at age nine, I have learned from my practice and studies that photography is a decisive engagement with reality. This phrase suggests something far more active—and far more philosophical—is involved with photography than simple image-making. The phrase frames photography not as passive recording, but…
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The Artist 
Dirque du Soleil 
Eric Hatheway