I’ve spent much of the last four months photographing bits and pieces on a small chest on our sunporch, affectionately called my Square Foot Studio. At first focused solely on playing with my Fuji macro lens, I used whatever light fell upon the wooden top and photographed the dead flowers and leaves being washed out of the jar that week. I began to play with the light that changed throughout the day, popping in and out of ...

The area of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park known as Elkmont was once a thriving vacation and retreat area for people from Knoxville. At one time there was a 50-room hotel and about 75 houses and cabins in the area. Little River Lumber Company owned much of what is now the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. They started to sell private plots to individuals in 1910. By 1926 the national park movement was underway. ...

  Spirit of Structure Workshop: Ghost Towns of Western Montana Maine Media Workshops September 8 to 14, 2019 Dillon and Missoula, MT What is the "Spirit of Structure Workshop"? I use the term Spirit of Structure to describe how I approach photographing the places we humans build. I am trying to capture stories about the built environment. During this workshop, we will visit at least one location a day. These are primarily preserved or maintained ...

Spirit of Structure Workshop Maine Media Workshops August 11 to 17 Rockport Maine What is the "Spirit of Structure Workshop"? I use the term Spirit of Structure to describe how I approach photographing the places we humans build. I am trying to capture a story about the built environment. During this workshop, we will visit at least one location a day. On a couple of days, we may visit several different places. We will travel ...

Photograph the Spirits of Scotland with Tillman Crane Strabo Photo Tours October 5 to 17   "I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks." Daniel Boone I was never wholly lost in Scotland, but I was befuddled on more than one occasion. During my first extensive photo trip to Scotland in 2003, I spent much of my time driving around the highlands and central Scotland seeing what I could ...

Dear Friends If you have visited the Tillman Crane Photography website in the last year you have noticed that we have not been as active as in the past. We hoped to completely redesign our web site but the process is taking longer than anticipated. But I am going to start using part of the site for a new purpose. I am going to revitalize the MUSING section of this site to include weekly thoughts ...

A Project Evolves and an Obsession Ends Back in 2009 I became interested in photographing the Erie Canal. As a project it offered history and historic structures in contemporary use, it covered a sizeable and varied topography and was within a day’s drive of home. The locks and dams on the Tennessee River where I grew up were huge and inaccessible but my first visit to the Erie Canal’s more human scaled locks hooked me ...

Lessons from a Workshop The simple truth about being a photo workshop teacher is this, I usually learn more from my students than they learn from me. I have come to realize that my job is primarily to find interesting places for people to make photographs, make the place accessible as possible, and provide a safe environment for them to work, and then get out of their way. Occasionally then need a piece or two ...

Big Dreams Make Photographers Great Donald Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” raises the question in my mind of “When was America great?” I think it’s a valuable question to mull on. For me, America was great when we dreamed big. In driving to my Virginia workshop I was primarily on the Interstate system of roads. The Interstate system was a big dream, which provided easy transportation for everyone with a car to travel around ...

Close Enough isn’t and Good Enough won’t be I should have two trashcans in my darkroom - one labeled “good enough” and the other “close enough”. When I catch myself thinking a print is “good enough" or “close enough” then the print needs to go into the designated can. This is my own short hand to myself that the print is not up to my standards. It reminds me to question if I’m rushing to get ...