The importance of your archive

This weekend was a trip down memory lane for me as one of my old college photographs resurfaced. John Huffer, a classmate and now head of the photographic services department at Ball State University, was scanning some old photos from their files for use as stadium graphics when he came across a picture I made in 1979 of a BSU football player. Well, that football player (on the right) from the 70's is Brady Hoke, the new head football coach of the University of Michigan!

You just never know where people will go in the years ahead which is just one more reason why it is so important to protect and hold onto your copyright as well as obtain (and file) model releases. Now, for full disclosure, this is 'do as I say, not as I've done' advice for I have made images on a work for hire basis. But in those cases where I've sold my copyright I've been compensated accordingly or worked out a deal that is satisfactory for all parties involved. The bottom line -- pay attention to the work you create today, for tomorrow that will be your archive, your history, your legacy.

On the technical side. This image was created with a Nikon F and motor drive using a 500 mm f/8 mirror lens. Tri-X film. Exposure was 1/1000 @ f/8.

How do I remember those details 30 + years later?

Easy, Tri-X was all we used back then and the lens has a fixed aperture of f/8 so the exposure must be 1/1000 second because that is the proper exposure for daylight.

How do I remember the exact lens used? The donuts. If you look in the background you see circles of confusion that appear to be donut shaped. Those little donut shapes are the tell tale signs of a mirror lens. A harder than hell to focus mirror lens. The depth of field on a 500 mirror is about six inches. At infinity. Insane, especially when you consider I'm shooting big guys running on a football field.

The Nikon F and motor was my camera of choice back then for anything sports related. I had five of them. They were heavy. They were slow. Luckily back then I was neither so it all worked out. Besides, I was young. It's amazing how much you can endure when youth is on your side!

Later, thanks.