Jon Sienkiewicz Blog

Photokina, the photography “show of shows,” opens in Cologne, Germany on September 20. The size of this biennial event is monstrous—you have to experience it to believe it. In 2014, a total of 1,074 exhibitors from 51 countries hosted 183,297 attendees. We’re taking serious show here. In honor of Photokina, here’s a pop quiz to test your knowledge of photography. 

My friend Kasia (not her real name) bought a Click Bit bracelet last month to track her photography activity and immediately became obsessed with recording every detail of her camera life. Not passively obsessive, either—she’s become a compulsive, fanatical, evangelistic, raving maniac. But let’s go back to when she was still just chubby Kassie…

I’ve been taking pictures for so long that when I began, practically all cameras were made in Japan or Germany, ISO was spelled ASA and image files were paper folders where sleeves of negatives were stored.

Despite my ample experience, there are mistakes that I make over and over again—not every time I go out, thankfully, and not even every week—but often enough. Do you do these too?

Adobe Photoshop Elements is a budget-friendly image editing package that’s designed for casual users and amateurs. Under the hood, however, there are dozens of advanced features and hidden capabilities that are accessible via plug-ins. Wouldn’t it be cool if you could unlock, say, 130 of those features with one add-on product that costs less than fifty bucks? Then here’s good news: you can. 

Xpozer is a fascinating new way to create exhibition-quality photo prints from Bay Photo Lab. How good do they look? If Leonardo da Vinci had seen these…

The Classic Car Club Manhattan. What could possibly be a more appropriate venue for a product launch event by a company that’s done an amazing job of capturing classic, retro lines in its X-100 and X-Pro series cameras? We’re talking about Fujifilm, of course, and the product that was launched at the CCCM is the exciting new Fujifilm X-T2.

No, we’re not cooking color slides and film negatives in a pop-up toaster like Eggo waffles. The FilmToaster is a device that enables you to create digital image files from virtually any size film or transparency up to 4x5. You supply the DSLR and macro lens. If you have a shoebox full of family negs like many of us do, prepare to bring those old images back to life.