Remnants of an older time.

A street with an old church on one side.

And a school on the other side. A much simpler time.

And, because it’s the country, here’s another church less than a mile from the previous one:

Common, pretty scenes using the OM SYSTEM PEN’s Art Filter 16.

The harsh, in-profile black and white’s from the Creative switch are fantastic!

But the natural color profile looks stunning with no editing:

Indian Cave State Park in Nebraska has some fun signs throughout the park:

The town of Stella, NE, a town with a population around 150 was fun to drive through.

I love this scene:

Shubert, NE:

Auburn, NE:

Did you see any stories here? What about a time when you photographed a scene that was a storytelling one? Share below!

P.S. - If you’re getting this, you’re probably already subscribed to my newsletter, but please share this with any photography enthusiasts who are looking for inspiration, tips and a positive photo community (no judgement here)!

And as always, send me any questions you have or topics you’d like to see me cover in upcoming newsletters or YouTube videos (you can subscribe here).

More than anything, even if you don’t purchase a print, subscribing to my YouTubechannel, watching some videos, and leaving me a comment about what you think is a great, free, way to support me!

Oh - and this post is 100% AI-free. Every title, sentence, misspelling, and mistake is mine, and I love that.

DEATH TO THE ROBOTS.

Comments? Leave them below or email me: jerredz@gmail.com

However, every year I seem to struggle with accepting the limited time available to experience the full spectacle and grace of the fall season. As a photographer, that means I’ve driven myself to define my appreciation of the season by how many photos I’m able to capture.

No matter how many “good” photos of fall I get, I quickly dismiss them, and keep pushing myself to get “more.” In my head a clock is always ticking.

I mourn the end of the season before I even experience it.

I keep telling my wife: “Look at those trees. I have to get out to take more photos.” I’m never satisfied with the photos I’ve taken, always hyper-aware of how brief the season lasts.

It’s caused me to miss many precious moments: the sound of leaves falling to the ground. The feel of the chill air hinting at the coming winter. The feel of my wife’s hand in mine as we walk through a forest path.

It’s an endless cycle of either obsessively taking photos, or wishing I was taking photos. I’m almost never in the moment.

There’s a Japanese phrase I found recently: ichigo ichie. It translates into “one time, one meeting.”

The idea comes from Japanese tea masters of the 16th century: every gathering should be treated as if it will never happen again, because it won’t.

Ichigo ichie is, to me, slightly different than the version of “living in the moment” that I’ve heard many times before.

A slight touch of melancholy is present.

There’s a certain amount of respect I’m giving to the truth that I may never see another Fall season again. Living in the moment is great, but the moment means more when you accept that it’s leaving.

And so all the photos you see here are my attempts at respecting this philosophy over the last few days.

At 51 years old, I have, if I’m fortunate, probably 20-25 more “fall” seasons to experience.

That is NOT very many.

So I put my camera on either program or shutter mode. I chose a color profile based on how I felt at the time, and instead of taking the “best” photograph, I focused on simply making intentional photographs.

Each of these moments is absolutely unrepeatable, so chasing a “perfect” version of the scene is, and always has been, futile.

This fall, for the first time in years, I heard the sound of leaves falling.

(It sounds wonderful.)

ALL PHOTOS: OM SYSTEM PEN, OM-1 Mark II, and OM-3 with a few different lenses. All special effects were done in-camera or with a threaded filter on the lens.

P.S. - If you’re getting this, you’re probably already subscribed to my newsletter, but please share this with any photography enthusiasts who are looking for inspiration, tips and a positive photo community (no judgement here)!

And as always, send me any questions you have or topics you’d like to see me cover in upcoming newsletters or YouTube videos (you can subscribe here).

More than anything, even if you don’t purchase a print, subscribing to my YouTubechannel, watching some videos, and leaving me a comment about what you think is a great, free, way to support me!

Oh - and this post is 100% AI-free. Every title, sentence, misspelling, and mistake is mine, and I love that.

DEATH TO THE ROBOTS.

Comments? Leave them below or email me: jerredz@gmail.com

These photos are not just what I saw, but how I felt in the moment. The last one is my favorite.

Which one is yours?

P.S. - If you’re getting this, you’re probably already subscribed to my newsletter, but please share this with any photography enthusiasts who are looking for inspiration, tips and a positive photo community (no judgement here)!

And as always, send me any questions you have or topics you’d like to see me cover in upcoming newsletters or YouTube videos (you can subscribe here).

More than anything, even if you don’t purchase a print, subscribing to my YouTube channel, watching some videos, and leaving me a comment about what you think is a great, free, way to support me!

Oh - and this post is 100% AI-free. Every title, sentence, misspelling, and mistake is mine, and I love that.

DEATH TO THE ROBOTS.

Comments? Leave them below or email me: jerredz@gmail.com

Unfortunately, I made the terrible, horrible mistake of listening to the radio. I heard a clip of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth giddily talking about the United States government livestreaming an execution by firing squad.

The guy interviewing Hegseth at the time, a right-wing Christian Nationalist, Jack Posobiec, called it “Biblical and moral.”

Suddenly, a peaceful drive in the country for some beautiful photos just felt wrong. I kept thinking: this is just another headline now?

We’re all just shrugging our shoulders as if this is all NORMAL??

So my plan shifted: I wanted to make images that might help me work through how I feel living in the heart of Trump country during October of 2026.

I wanted (needed?) to make art.

So I formed a plan:

First, I dialed in a low-contrast, “earthy” JPEG recipe on both of my cameras (the OM SYSTEM PEN and OM-3). I was already thinking ahead to the edit: I knew I’d bring the in-camera JPEGs into Dehancer Desktop for thick grain and another color shift that produces intense contrast.

Next, I also knew I wanted to write down my thoughts on the photos themselves, so I used Procreate on my iPad to build a template for the Polaroid-style borders and found a font that worked.

I was also taking video in the field with both cameras, and I put the whole project together in a big bundle of photos, video and text you can see below.

My goal: to record how I was feeling in the moment, driving through a part of the country that voted overwhelmingly for people in power who believe livestreaming executions for children to view is a great idea.

P.S. - If you’re getting this, you’re probably already subscribed to my newsletter, but please share this with any photography enthusiasts who are looking for inspiration, tips and a positive photo community (no judgement here)!

And as always, send me any questions you have or topics you’d like to see me cover in upcoming newsletters or YouTube videos (you can subscribe here).

More than anything, even if you don’t purchase a print, subscribing to my YouTube channel, watching some videos, and leaving me a comment about what you think is a great, free, way to support me!

Oh - and this post is 100% AI-free. Every title, sentence, misspelling, and mistake is mine, and I love that.

DEATH TO THE ROBOTS.

Comments? Leave them below or email me: jerredz@gmail.com

I had my camera with me (OM SYSTEM PEN), and dialed in a JPG recipe to bring out the look and feel of what I was seeing.

The scene: an interesting mix of ugly, modern technology and stunning, common beauty:

Using my camera, I adjusted the colors, contrast and sharpness to look the way I feel about the end of summer: grateful for the summer’s light, but full of sorrow for its last days.

I don’t want this warmth to end.

I fear what the dark, cold days of winter will do to my mind, already fragile with regret and sorrow.

So I will hold these photographs close to my heart as a beacon to hold me together through the coldest and shortest of our harsh winter days.

Here is the recipe for PEN and OM-3 users:

P.S. - If you’re getting this, you’re probably already subscribed to my newsletter, but please share this with any photography enthusiasts who are looking for inspiration, tips and a positive photo community (no judgement here)!

And as always, send me any questions you have or topics you’d like to see me cover in upcoming newsletters or YouTube videos (you can subscribe here).

More than anything, even if you don’t purchase a print, subscribing to my YouTube channel, watching some videos, and leaving me a comment about what you think is a great, free, way to support me!

Oh - and this post is 100% AI-free. Every title, sentence, misspelling, and mistake is mine, and I love that.

DEATH TO THE ROBOTS.

Comments? Leave them below or email me: jerredz@gmail.com

A few months ago, my family and I went on a trip to Des Moines and took some time to hang out in an abandoned mall.

It was a blast from the past: a trip straight back to 1990 when I was roaming malls like this in a state of confused bliss while trying to buy happiness, one dollar at a time.

Dying or dead malls like this are liminal spaces, and documenting them has been a fun, personal side-project.

I had a video app (Rarevision VHS) installed on my phone, so I used it to dig into the look and feel of my memories by turning my cell phone’s 4k video into damaged, old VHS tapes.

I made the video for myself, and I almost didn’t share. I thought it was a little weird and out-of-the blue for my channel. I thought: this is just for me… no one else will care.

That voice asking, “what will people think?” is one I still fight. It’s stopped me from posting a lot more stuff than I want to admit.

But I pushed back the doubt and posted it anyway… because who knows? Sometimes, our most personal work is the stuff that resonates with others.

Then, months later, something cool happened.

My friend and fellow photographer, Jeanne Prucha, reached out to tell me she'd written an ekphrastic poem in response to the video. (I had to look that word up! Ekphrastic means “an artistic response to a work of art.”)

Here is her poem:

Consumption’s Specter

by Jeanne Prucha
An ekphrastic poem inspired by a video created in a dead mall by Jerred Zegelis

Consumption’s specter
sitting on a gaudy couch
clothed in a gemmed gown
sewn from orange dreams
now abandoned to stillness
like congealed lifeblood
pooled under mirrored
columns ossified by brick
stacks of soft money
minted to stuff its
stilled boarded-up mouth from which
some familiar dirge
drips static meant to
hypnotize with spells cast from
behind owl-eyed doors
hinged to vast chambers
of its bloodless and failing
arcade heart pumping
fuel to power
semitruck guts digesting
coins scraped from pockets
lined with captive trees
producing oxygen for
starving aqualungs
inhaling laughter
imprisoned in its ribcage
of fractured concrete
castles enchanted
by wasted space and plastic
illusions of joy
riding silver stairs
endlessly coursing through blue
neon veins of glass
panes tenebrous with
high speed decomposition
of stark retail cells
now leasing to the
murmured echo of its voice
screaming you are here.

WOW.

Jeanne - this is amazing.

It’s a single sentence poem, put together through a series of 5-7-5 syllable haiku stanzas.

I’m in awe.

Pay attention to the detail and visceral word choice.

The mall has a "bloodless and failing arcade heart." The indoor planters are "captive trees" feeding "starving aqualungs." The concrete is a ribcage, and the neon lights are veins.

The mall is a living organism, slowly dying and decomposing before our eyes.

Every time I read it, I find more layers. I keep asking myself: who am I in this place?

The ending: “you are here” has me standing at a mall directory, staring at the red dot to mark my presence in this liminal space.

There’s a lesson here: share your work.

It’s a video I almost didn’t publish, but now it’s become one of my all-time favorites, simply because Jeanne’s poem resonates with me and helped me to see this dead mall (and my place in within the decaying body) in an entirely new light.

Thank you for inspiring me, Jeanne!

P.S. - If you’re getting this, you’re probably already subscribed to my newsletter, but please share this with any photography enthusiasts who are looking for inspiration, tips and a positive photo community (no judgement here)!

And as always, send me any questions you have or topics you’d like to see me cover in upcoming newsletters or YouTube videos (you can subscribe here).

More than anything, even if you don’t purchase a print, subscribing to my YouTube channel, watching some videos, and leaving me a comment about what you think is a great, free, way to support me!

Oh - and this post is 100% AI-free. Every title, sentence, misspelling, and mistake is mine, and I love that.

DEATH TO THE ROBOTS.

Comments? Leave them below or email me: jerredz@gmail.com

Not getting those sweet likes on Instagram? Maybe you need a trip to Iceland, New York City, or some huge mountain.

I live in Nebraska. It’s not exactly known to be a mecca of photographic beauty, and in fact, a lot of people diss this place.

Flat. Repetitive. “Flyover Country.”

“All that’s out here is a bunch of dying small towns,” someone posted recently in a Facebook group for Nebraska photographers.

“Boring,” is how someone else put it.

I mean, c’mon! Nebraska has endless stories to tell, and these are not dead towns. They have vibrancy, texture, and heart.

I freaking love it here.

Last weekend I headed out to the Sandhills with a small group of photographers - and we had a blast. The weekend was an exercise in looking deeply and finding beauty in the commonplace.

I’ve grown up here, and learned photography in these fields.

I think it’s made me appreciate small things, like the light inside the lodge we stayed at in Valentine, NE.

It was a hunter’s lodge, so the decor was distinctly “hunter friendly” and worth taking the time to photograph a few details:

A few cars parked in front of a shed? PURE VISUAL GOLD:

Roadside scenes ask us to slow down and notice things, like this weird mix of new and old brands:

And small-town people can be some of the best you’ll ever meet - also worth noticing.

Small hikes on a nature preserve reveal scenes like these near Valentine, Nebraska:

We drove by dozens of small lakes and open range. The serenity of hearing the wind drift through these grasses is hard to describe.

Here’s a cow with a cooler-than-mine haircut:

The light, man. The light is amazing out here.

We also went on an amazing visit to feed Buffalo on the Golden Prairie Bison tour (highly recommended.)

We were all pretty dialed-in to this single tree near the Bison:

We saw some burrowing owls:

A Kestrel hovering in the wind:

And some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets I’ve seen in a while.

Boring? Flyover Country?

Nah. Not boring.

I think photographers who can’t find beauty here aren’t in a boring place - they just need to learn to “see.”

P.S. - If you’re getting this, you’re probably already subscribed to my newsletter, but please share this with any photography enthusiasts who are looking for inspiration, tips and a positive photo community (no judgement here)!

And as always, send me any questions you have or topics you’d like to see me cover in upcoming newsletters or YouTube videos (you can subscribe here).

More than anything, even if you don’t purchase a print, subscribing to my YouTube channel, watching some videos, and leaving me a comment about what you think is a great, free, way to support me!

Oh - and this post is 100% AI-free. Every title, sentence, misspelling, and mistake is mine, and I love that.

DEATH TO THE ROBOTS.

Comments? Leave them below or email me: jerredz@gmail.com

The OM SYSTEM PEN’s heritage dates back 67 years when 26-year-old Olympus camera designer, Yoshihisa Maitani, said, “I want to design a camera that becomes an inseparable part of the photographer, a camera that does not get in the way.”

Today, you can follow that heritage right into 2026 and the heart of the OM SYSTEM PEN.

This camera comes in for under $1,000, and yet it has zero weaknesses. There is no “catch.”

Here’s what it has:

• A beautiful, modern/retro-body using a rangefinder EVF.

• It’s wildly light, and meaningfully small. (393 grams)

• The new battery lasts all day.

• It’s got weather resistance.

• Fast and accurate autofocus for most uses (with people/pet subject detection that works really well).

• A Computational Photography button for High Resolution modes (both handheld and tripod), Focus Stacking, Live ND, HDR and Double Exposure.

• The Creative Dial is also present, allowing us to dial-in four color and four monochrome profiles with fully customizable settings. (These apply to both photo and video.)

• The PEN also exists within a fully built-out lens system that won’t break the bank and fits the form factor. There are some fantastic, small, light lenses perfect for the PEN that take advantage of the form factor and don’t cost thousands of dollars.

What are the downsides?

It’s got a standard, non premium EVF.

The video is 8-bit.

… that’s about it, unless you’re REALLY nitpicking an under-$1,000 camera.

Sometimes it’s weird for me to be a “camera reviewer.” I don’t really want to influence people into buying things. I’d rather them just go out and make art… but it’s just plain impossible to NOT recommend the PEN.

Small.

Light.

POWERFUL.

$1,000

And you know what? I took a decent amount of photos with the new kit lens, the14-42 f/3.5-5.6 III (revised to match the PEN’s weather resistance). You get it as a package if you pay $1,100 - and it’s a REALLY small, light, and useful lens. Without a doubt, it surprised me with the image quality:

However, the PEN REALLY shines in a way that respects its heritage with one of OM SYSTEM’s brilliant small, light primes.

The 17mm f/1.8II is the prime candidate for the PEN. Just about as small and light as you could hope, with stunning image quality:

Or how about the 45mm f/1.8? Again, brilliant and the weight/size barely registers.

The 20mm f/1.4 PRO is a killer lens when matched with the PEN. Perhaps it’s my favorite combination.

And of course, the venerable 12-45mm f/4 PRO is just so small and light while being incredibly sharp with wonderful rendering - it’s also just about perfect on the PEN.

What’s awesome is that this will get people into the OM SYSTEM ecosystem, where they’ll soon discover some other combinations, such as pairing the PEN with the 12-100mm f/4 PRO for the ultimate in versatility:

Or even the 50-200 f/2.8 PRO, which is in itself small and light for what it is, and it works wonderfully well with the PEN.

I took thousands of photographs with the PEN, from random shots of cats to my first Rodeo.

The thing is: it just doesn’t have a weakness. It focuses fast. It’s small. It’s light.

It’s got the CP button from the OM-3, which allows for quick access to the PEN’s computational Photography. This includes, for the PEN:

• Handheld and Tripod High Resolution Modes

• LIVE ND

• Focus Stacking

• HDR

• Double Exposure

These options allow more creativity while we are in the field:

And the PEN also has the Creative Dial, with 4 color and 4 monochrome profiles available. By themselves, these offer unique looks, but they allow photographers to create and share their own custom recipes.

For instance, in Kansas City, I visited the West Bottoms during harsh light. I used the Creative Dial to choose a profile, then flattened the highlights and adjusted the colors. I wanted the photos to have a cool, 80’s magazine vibe, and I think I succeeded:

(You can find the recipe at the bottom of this post).

The autofocus was great even during dim light, allowing me to capture shots like these at the Nebraska State Fair:

And finally, it all came into play for me when I met up with my friend Amanda for some fun portraits. I threw my camera on subject tracking, and her and I talked while I casually chose creative dial profiles to match the mood of the photo. I mostly just snapped away as we talked, and the PEN created some stunning images.

The final verdict for me: this is the best new camera you can buy for $1,000.

Get a small, light prime or zoom (even the 14-42 new kit lens does great!), and you’re set.

If you have time, check out my livestream with OM SYSTEM:

Questions? Just ask!

OM PEN RECIPE: 80’S MAG

CURVES: Shadows +3 Highlights -5 (Midtones 0)

Sharpness: +1

Contrast: -1

WHITE BALANCE: CWB: 5400K. A:5 M:6 (Or Auto White Balance in mixed/difficult indoor lighting)

P.S. - If you’re getting this, you’re probably already subscribed to my newsletter, but please share this with any photography enthusiasts who are looking for inspiration, tips and a positive photo community (no judgement here)!

And as always, send me any questions you have or topics you’d like to see me cover in upcoming newsletters or YouTube videos (you can subscribe here).

More than anything, even if you don’t purchase a print, subscribing to my YouTube channel, watching some videos, and leaving me a comment about what you think is a great, free, way to support me!

Oh - and this post is 100% AI-free. Every title, sentence, misspelling, and mistake is mine, and I love that.

DEATH TO THE ROBOTS.

Comments? Leave them below or email me: jerredz@gmail.com

Leave it to the pros.

Weddings are crazy: Equipment fails. People fail. The weather fails.

Weddings are the ultimate pressure cooker for new photographers, and there are 200 billion ways things can go wrong.

But man… I learned a LOT.

When I first started learning photography, I got a big camera.

If you’re a guy with a big camera, and someone is getting married… sometimes they ask you to take their wedding photographs.

And of course, when that happened to me, I said, “SURE! I can do that.”

I had no idea what I was in for. Holy cow… it was the most difficult thing I’d ever done… but it was also fun.

Pretty soon, my wife and I had a wedding photography business and we were doing a wedding nearly every weekend, sometimes more than one.

It was hard work. Long hours. Dozens of hours in the editing room were common. (We shot a BUNCH of weddings before Lightroom even existed.)

We did it for a while before our son was born, and our priorities changed. We wanted to be home with him more - so we shut down the biz. It seems like a million years ago.

Now, though, I look back at those photos and realize that so much of it created the foundation of my photography, even today.

Weddings forced me to adjust to an untold amount of variables, and demanded the absolute best of my skills every time I photographed one.

I had to learn how to handle ISO settings, especially on those ancient cameras I used to use.

Shutter speeds needed to be constantly monitored, especially in churches. A slow-walking bridesmaid is perfect at 1/125th of a second, but the flower girl who’s sprinting down the aisle like the universe is ending needs a faster shutter! Or a flash. or both.

The aperture is important because taking a photograph of 50 people in rows won’t turn out well if you’re shooting wide-open.

I had to learn how my autofocus worked in endless situations. I also had to learn how to disable autofocus to take over control in a split second.

And anticipation, rhythm, and movement were everything. We had to read the room and be ready for what’s next.

We had to tell stories… all while each and every moment of the wedding would only happen once, and often for a fraction of a moment.

And emotion. Emotion is everything.

Weddings taught me so many things, and while I’m grateful I’ll never do another one, in some ways weddings made me improve more than anything else I’ve done.

What I learned is that putting myself into new and interesting situations is important for my continued growth as a photographer.

I’m 51 but will never, ever even come close to “mastering” photography… and that’s fantastic.

I want to keep chasing, putting myself into new situations, and learning as I go.

P.S. - If you’re getting this, you’re probably already subscribed to my newsletter, but please share this with any photography enthusiasts who are looking for inspiration, tips and a positive photo community (no judgement here)!

And as always, send me any questions you have or topics you’d like to see me cover in upcoming newsletters or YouTube videos (you can subscribe here).

More than anything, even if you don’t purchase a print, subscribing to my YouTube channel, watching some videos, and leaving me a comment about what you think is a great, free, way to support me!

Oh - and this post is 100% AI-free. Every title, sentence, misspelling, and mistake is mine, and I love that.

DEATH TO THE ROBOTS.

Comments? Leave them below or email me: jerredz@gmail.com

I still shoot RAW + JPEG (RAW files are good as a backup for difficult situations), but I now mostly focus on jpegs, and it’s been a huge boost to my creativity.

I’m here to be a champion for creative JPEGS!

Because, I most definitely wasn’t always like this.

The art filters, the borders, the funky color profiles, and the blur you can add to the top and bottom of a frame were things I thought no “real” photographer should ever touch.

The prevailing advice from experts is almost always to shoot RAW only. That’s way more “PRO.”

I mean, look at this dude, who shoots RAW as his entire IDENTITY:

I WAS WRONG. He’s wrong.

Lately, I’ve been really focused on what I want to do with my photography.

I want to get outside more. (Less scrolling, better mental health.)

I want to have more fun. (Less worrying, and a good way to live life.)

I want to be more creative. (Voice over “pretty stuff”. Signal over noise.)

Shooting JPEG-first helps me do all those things.

(Remember, my advice is to shoot RAW + JPEG but to focus on the JPEG.)

When I’m focusing on a jpeg-first style, it’s freeing. The files come out fast, they’re small, they’re easy to share, and most of them look great straight out of the camera with almost no work.

What’s awesome is that it has also transformed my entire style of shooting.

Embracing jpegs as my primary file (and thinking of the RAW file as backup), sent me in a whole new direction.

I’ve been shooting a lot more magenta and purple and deeper, moodier color lately, mostly inspired by OM SYSTEM’s Art Filter 16 (Instant Film) on the OM-3’s Creative Dial.

I use it when I go find these weird, dark, kind of strange-looking spots, and I lean into how changing my white balance can really transform the files into something gritty and somehow ethereal.

The unique colors and filters have inspired me to get out more in certain situations, and I’m developing a collection of images made when I find strange, cool light.

And one of my favorite sets from Chicago comes from using the same Instant Film Art Filter for these colorful and strange scenes:

Yet… one click over to the monochrome setting on the Creative Dial, and I’m shooting the best black and whites of my life.

I never even thought of myself as a black and white photographer.

But the monochrome profiles of my camera make me feel like I’m toting along a classic black-and-white film camera.

These files are TOTALLY editable!

One of the knocks against JPEGS are that they don’t have a lot of information in them. That’s totally true compared to RAW files, and why I still recommend shooting RAW + JPEG.

But you know what? You can edit these JPEGs like crazy.

Here is a before/after of edits made directly to the original SOOC jpeg in a jpeg file where the highlights would be normally blown out. I was able to gently recover much of the grass and trees outside and boost the shadows even without the RAW file.

Here is another pair showing you how much color and information is in this original SOOC jpeg “flat” file:

I had so much information, I could create this file:

And for junkyard junkies like me, who love to find cool cars out in the middle of nowhere, jpegs are fine even for some of the extreme high contrast scenes we find, like a car interior in bright sunlight. Check out this file from a monochrome recipe I dialed in specifically to help with the highlights and shadows in high-contrast scenes:

Zooming into the highlights reveals a ton of detail in the outside world, while keeping the interior’s shadows full of texture.

In 2026, modern jpegs are fantastic. I can pull highlights back, push the color around, and recover more than I expected. Do RAW files have a lot more data? Yes! However, the old idea that you have to shoot RAW to do much editing isn’t always true.

JPEGS ARE PERMISSION

Try this out! I’m challenging you to think differently here.

EMBRACE THE JPEG!

Set your camera to the craziest JPEG look you can think of, and then get outside and take some photographs.

1. Pick a color profile or an art filter you’d normally ignore. If there are settings such as contrast, sharpness, and color manipulation, mess with those too.

2. Change your white balance to a custom one. This shifts a photo more than almost anything and can totally transform your entire style.

3. Now go out and shoot. Walk around your block. Shoot the sidewalk. Shoot the downtown you’re sick of. Take a photo of the stuff you’ve photographed a hundred times.

4. Tweak your settings based on reviewing your photos.

5. Repeat steps 1-4.

After doing this project, ask yourself: What did you notice about the jpegs? What did you like? What don’t you like?

Then do the steps again the next day with a different look.

The point isn’t the perfect photo! The point is getting out the door, having fun, and (possibly) finding a new idea or two based on experimenting with your camera’s jpeg engine.

I’d love to see what you come up with, so share it with me by replying here or emailing me. I’d love to see what you come up with!

P.S. - If you’re getting this, you’re probably already subscribed to my newsletter, but please share this with any photography enthusiasts who are looking for inspiration, tips and a positive photo community (no judgement here)!

And as always, send me any questions you have or topics you’d like to see me cover in upcoming newsletters or YouTube videos (you can subscribe here).

More than anything, even if you don’t purchase a print, subscribing to my YouTube channel, watching some videos, and leaving me a comment about what you think is a great, free, way to support me!

Oh - and this post is 100% AI-free. Every title, sentence, misspelling, and mistake is mine, and I love that.

DEATH TO THE ROBOTS.

Comments? Leave them below or email me: jerredz@gmail.com

My son was playing the guitar before a family walk in Omaha’s Old Market. I had my camera on me, and took some deliberate, intentional photographs of him.

Why? Because I wanted to remember these moments.

I’ve been focused on that word lately: intentional.

Research done in 2017, 2020 and 2021 all found relationships between taking photographs and memory. Most of it is not great news: snapshot-like photography might actually make our memory worse.

In one of the studies, visitors to art galleries who took photos of the artwork were not able to remember the artwork as well as others who took no photographs at all.

It’s an interesting facet of our society: everyone, everywhere taking photos and videos of almost every aspect of our lives. Are our memories at stake?

After reading this research, I worried: is my constant need to take photographs making me forget what’s important in these moments?

From an NPR article on the subject: "When people rely on technology to remember something for them, they're essentially outsourcing their memory," says Linda Henkel, a psychology professor at Fairfield University. "They know their camera is capturing that moment for them, so they don't pay full attention to it in a way that might help them remember."

That scares me personally, because one of the things that has gotten me out of a later-in-life state of constant depression is this: every day presents us with opportunity to experience wonder.

I need to remember it ALL… and I want my camera there with me.

I desperately need to remember these amazing things I see every day.

The inspiration I find in other people’s art:

The interesting way shadows move on the sidewalk:

And incredibly common light on a building that takes my breath away:

Luckily, for us, the research provides a path for us “everyday carry” photographers.

Another researcher found (from the NPR article):

“Focus in on details. If you immerse yourself in the details of a scene as you prepare to take a photo, that process can help anchor memories,” according to New York University's Barasch. "As we search the visual field to decide what to capture in a photo, we are more likely to commit those details to memory," she says. As such, "taking photos can actually enhance memory for certain details in an experience."

Now, THAT is what I needed to read!

The process of reviewing our photos and editing them is important as well.

Also from the article:

“Look at your photos regularly. Photos are an effective tool for memory retention only if we take the time to look at photos — which many of us don't do,” says Henkel: "We need to take the time to look at photos after the experiences and reactivate those mental representations."

Again - wonderful news. Yay for us, the ones who are intentional.

This night a month ago was just a common one.

But the evening was full of all kinds of beautiful things.

Intentionality is important.

Experiencing the every-day with a focus on the beautiful within the commonplace is something worth doing…

All of these big-or-small moments matter, and if we pay attention while we photograph, our memories will be more distinct.

This is the scene that ended the night as I ran into my local grocery store for family snacks and looked behind me:

I made an audio-version of this newsletter here:

P.S. - If you’re getting this, you’re probably already subscribed to my newsletter, but please share this with any photography enthusiasts who are looking for inspiration, tips and a positive photo community (no judgement here)!

And as always, send me any questions you have or topics you’d like to see me cover in upcoming newsletters or YouTube videos (you can subscribe here).

More than anything, even if you don’t purchase a print, subscribing to my YouTube channel, watching some videos, and leaving me a comment about what you think is a great, free, way to support me!

Oh - and this post is 100% AI-free. Every title, sentence, misspelling, and mistake is mine, and I love that.

DEATH TO THE ROBOTS.

Comments? Leave them below or email me: jerredz@gmail.com

“Are you bringing your camera, dad?”he would ask with his nose scrunched up. He did NOT want me to bring my camera.

And if I ever mentioned that he could use my camera someday, or that I’d teach him photography, he made sure to tell that he would NEVER want to do that.

However, Logan asked me for a camera recently. “Dad,” he said. “Do you have a camera I can borrow?”

We were in Chicago, and it caught me by surprise. I tried to play it off and shrug: “yeah, man, if you want one.” I knew if I got too excited I might ruin the moment.

During this trip, I was doing a video for OM SYSTEM using the OM-3 to do street photography in the Windy City. As a backup, I still brought my OM-1 MarkII, to keep in the hotel room, so I handed it to him.

I set the camera to auto ISO and aperture priority mode with his f/stop set to f/4. (he mostly used the 12-100 f/4 PRO and 12-45 f/4 PRO).

The light would fade eventually, so I told him what would happen with the shutter speed creating blurry photos and told him, “Just keep the camera steady.”

I also showed him how to autofocus and move his autofocus points… and that was mostly it. He ran off and started taking photos.

These are among his first shots:

He asked me “how do you get that cool blur stuff” so I just had him steady his camera on a street lamp. He did the rest.

I KNOW! They are cool!

We walked through some neighborhoods, and he took a few more photos at some local places we found:

A record store:

A historic church:

Then we went hunting for photos in the evening, and he got these of the Congress Hotel:

We walked to the pier the next night.

I LOVE how he noticed details and honed into things I completely ignored:

A series of water abstracts:

A series of interesting clouds:

And just more beauty:

I remember him saying “It’s cool how the clouds and light keep changing.”

He didn’t just say it… he told the story of those moments with his photographs.

It was INCREDIBLE to see him run around the pier with the OM-1 MarkII. He barely spoke, and just kept taking photos as the light faded.

As the light changed, so did the colors - the warmer city lights taking more prominence. He thought that was pretty awesome.

Logan took this next photo and ran toward me. “This looks just like a painting.” I looked through the viewfinder at the photo he had just taken, and saw this:

Wow.

When we found ourselves far away from the lighthouse, he looked back and saw the building surrounded by incredible clouds and color. He ran full speed back toward the lighthouse to get these:

And he just kept shooting:

We drove to a different vantage point:

I mean. WOW, right?

And then a few days ago I asked him if he wanted to run out one morning and take photos in the fog.

He said, “Get me my camera.”

He had claimed the OM-1 MarkII as his own.

We headed out to take photos in the fog, and he took these:

You have to understand that I’m not coaching him at all. He almost never asks questions.

He just lets the camera do it’s thing and holds it super steady to avoid camera blur (made easier with OM SYSTEM’s world-class stabilization).

He focuses 100% on composition.

I’m honestly in awe of many of his shots. This next one is a photo he said he doesn’t even like very much (he wishes he would have stepped a bit more to the right), but I find it so dreamy with the way he framed it all.

The following photograph is another “WOW” one. He said at the time, while pointing to the river, “that looks like a Japanese painting.” And then he took this photo:

HOLY COW. Yes it does.

Finally, he noticed the interplay between light and shadow above us:

I hope you’re okay with me having a PROUD DAD MOMENT with this week’s newsletter.

These are photos that I, as a professional photographer, would be proud to share… and they were done by my son with nearly zero experience.

We often get caught up in countless YouTube videos, learning the technical aspects of photography or arguing about how much distortion there might be in a lens.

We compare ourselves to others.

We argue over megapixels and theory and sharpness, and blah, blah, blah.

My son could not care less about any of that stuff. He just wants to remember the beautiful moments he experiences with a camera.

This week’s YouTube Video is a slideshow-only one I made to feature a lens I didn’t even want to buy: the OM SYSTEM 12-45mm f/4 PRO. However, I’ve found it to be pretty awesome at helping me tell stories, so I put something together with no script - just music and photos from the lens:

P.S. - If you’re getting this, you’re probably already subscribed to my newsletter, but please share this with any photography enthusiasts who are looking for inspiration, tips and a positive photo community (no judgement here)!

And as always, send me any questions you have or topics you’d like to see me cover in upcoming newsletters or YouTube videos (you can subscribe here).

More than anything, even if you don’t purchase a print, subscribing to my YouTube channel, watching some videos, and leaving me a comment about what you think is a great, free, way to support me!

Oh - and this post is 100% AI-free. Every title, sentence, misspelling, and mistake is mine, and I love that.

DEATH TO THE ROBOTS.

Comments? Leave them below or email me: jerredz@gmail.com

Fog is interesting because it can capture surreal scenes, straight from our restless dreams.

The fog also mirrors how I’ve felt the last couple days.

Empty.

Afraid.

Alone.

Unsure.

Sometimes, our camera is a mirror.

We often hide our emotions online. We present a perfected version of ourselves in order to trick everyone into thinking we’ve got the answers. Our quest for followers and subscribers can turn us into tricksters and liars.

The universal truth is that, as humans, we feel weird things that don’t often make sense or align with reality.

I can’t help but to think that right now, in a world that is sometimes literally on fire, we need more authenticity than ever.

I just hope that when I share these struggles, I can help others feel less lonely and remember there is hope in every day’s sunrise… even when shrouded by fog.

Also, at least there are cats to cheer us up after all these intense deep thoughts!

(All photos: OM SYSTEM OM-3)

Are all things better late than never?

In my case, here is a video I recorded way earlier this year. I actually TRIED to get decent b-roll, which made the video look better… but took me forever to edit. My first cut was over 40 minutes long. My second was 20, and with the gracious help of my friend, Hunter Hart, the final video is much more palatable at right around 16 minutes.

I had a ton of fun on this trip:

P.S. - If you’re getting this, you’re probably already subscribed to my newsletter, but please share this with any photography enthusiasts who are looking for inspiration, tips and a positive photo community (no judgement here)!

And as always, send me any questions you have or topics you’d like to see me cover in upcoming newsletters or YouTube videos (you can subscribe here).

More than anything, even if you don’t purchase a print, subscribing to my YouTube channel, watching some videos, and leaving me a comment about what you think is a great, free, way to support me!

Oh - and this post is 100% AI-free. Every title, sentence, misspelling, and mistake is mine, and I love that.

DEATH TO THE ROBOTS.

Comments? Leave them below or email me: jerredz@gmail.com

I seriously, honestly didn’t even know why I bought the OM-3. Professionally, I was already using tens of thousands of dollars of full frame and medium-format cameras, so why would I need another camera system?

Honestly: I just thought the OM-3 LOOKED cool. I thought I’d buy it, make a few YouTube videos about it, and move on.

Something happened though: this thing won me over.

Every intricate detail is designed with precision and delight, and the more I used it, the more I realized it’s a camera destined to become a legend. I call it Optimus Prime because it’s my favorite camera of all time.

I wasn’t ready for how much tech was packed into the solid but diminutive body. This is a stacked sensor, no-holds-barred, cutting edge camera designed with a throwback, retro-inspired body. The bonus: when I held it… it just felt perfect.

Photography is a fusion between art and technology. Can we create works of art using equipment designed AS works of art? The OM-3 is the answer to that question.

A beautiful machine that helps me create beautiful imagery.

Using the OM-3 was my gateway drug to the rest of OM SYSTEM’s lineup.

First the OM-3, then a few lenses, then their other flagship camera, the OM-1 MarkII, and then a BUNCH more lenses.

Every time I went on a photo trip, I’d take all my gear, including the other cameras… but I’d never touch them. I’d use the OM SYSTEM stuff instead.