Theory & Reflections Archives

© Phil Maxwell, The Kiss, Brick Lane Laundrette, early 1980s. Shot on an Olympus XA2.

26 June, 2026

Phil Maxwell, the Olympus XA2, and the Street as Theatre

By Shafiur Rahman

I have known Phil Maxwell for about sixteen years. For a period, we both had studios in Spitalfields, in that strange zone where the East End was still recognisably itself but w...

19 June, 2026

My Zine Publishing Mis-Adventure, or: Where fools dare

By Andrew

Back in 2015 I had a self proclaimed “Self Publishing Misadventure” and in 2025 I can say that was a lesson I did not learn from. Recently I decided to make another self publish...

12 June, 2026

Travails of two Leica M3s

By Art Meripol

I wrote in another post in the past about how I came to want a Leica M3. In my career whenever I had a little extra cash for gear I bought what would make my job easier. When it...

Ricoh 500 ME film camera with 40mm lens next to a roll of Fomapan 100 black-and-white film.

19 May, 2026

5 Frames with the Ricoh 500 ME – What Grain Does.

By Shafiur Rahman

I took these photographs at two very different moments. The first were made on the Norfolk coast. I was very unwell at the time. The trip was meant to get me out of the house, t...

17 May, 2026

My Journey into Photographing Performing Musicians

By Alexandre Kreisman

Ever since I was a child, I loved music. I still do. In fact, it is one of my motivators in life, it always boosted me and put me in the right state of mind. The experience of l...

15 May, 2026

Pairings, pt. 1 — Leica Summarit 50mm f1.5 + Rollei Blackbird

By Scott Ferguson

Inspired by what I learned in the recent “Goldilocks Challenge” comparing my different Leica 50mm lenses, I’ve embarked on an open ended project/rabbit hole of...

13 May, 2026

Leica 50mm Lenses – The “Goldilocks Leica Lens Challenge” Day Two – Summicron vs. Summitar…

By Scott Ferguson

For me, a good photo outing starts before I pick up a camera or leave the house. Of course, I’d never go out shooting without a loaded camera, and depending on how ambiti...

10 May, 2026

Lubitel 166 (vs. Bronica ETRSi) – Testing an impulse purchase

By Roger

Having succumbed to the temptation to impulse buy a camera that I knew only by its reputation for having long been the inexpensive way into medium format, a Lubitel 166, I decid...

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