A Grateful Journey A New Phase

By P. Wellington Smith

A photographic journey is no greater than the partners who ride with you and share the visual recording of this majestic land. My first formal use of photography was in 1959 as a high school senior yearbook photographer. I continued photography as a yearbook photographer at Howard University. Since college, I have done weddings, portraits, events and many of the things that photographers do to learn the art and science of photography. With some regret, during most of my adult life, photography has been a part time love while another profession supported my photo habit and family. Certainly, this is not a unique story.

My most significant photographic experiences have revolved around annual photographic trips of 7 to 10 days with my two partners, Dr. Kenneth L. McCoy and Bob Miller (Dr. McCoy’s son-in-law). Since around 1990, at least once a year, we have had the good fortune to traverse this country and Africa for the sole purpose of enjoying and photographing nature. The fact that we did it together has given us a special bond. We don’t claim to be the greatest photographers, but we have learned a lot of photography along the way.

Bob Miller is a serious, but fun, guy. Dr. McCoy and I worked together at Providence Hospital in Washington, DC. Bob and I are so honored to travel with Dr. McCoy. He turned 90 in 2007 and bought a new Pentax K10 camera to prepare for our next trip. Frankly, he is in much better mental and physical shape than me. He is a man that hiked the entire Appalachian Trail from Georgia and Maine in his 60s.

Now that I have retired from the job that got in the way of my photography, I am happy to continue this photographic journey with my partners. Riding the trails with them has given me some of my happiest life moments and the next trip is just ahead.

If you enjoy just some of the photographs, I will be most pleased and grateful.

"The world creates magical moments that beg for recording. I think of my photography as life recordings. I hope these recordings bring some pleasure to those who view them".

Contact Info: info@pwellphoto.com

Imaging Tools, Facts and Processes:

I personally print all of my photographs. I like to control the process and it is fun for me. All of my photos are now taken with a Nikon D200 with a Nikon D70 used as a backup camera. Most Black and White photos taken in past years were taken with a Mamiya RZ67 camera. Any black and white negatives or color slides from these older photos are now printed digitally after first being scanned into the computer with a Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 scanner. Once in the computer, any adjustments to images are made with Photoshop, Lightroom or Nikon Capture Nx software. I am using Adobe Lightroom most often.

Prints are made using an Epson Stylus Pro 7800 printer. Most often, I use Epson Premium Luster photo paper using Epson Ultrachrome K3 pigmented inks, both of which are considered archival. Wilhelm Imaging Research estimates the display permanence of this paper at 71 years when framed under glass and 156 years when framed with UV resistant glass. Prints are signed in the lower right corner of the photo paper off the image with the year the image is printed.

I do not do any framing. I do not do matting except for prints sold that do not require mailing such as at a show where I hand deliver a print to a customer or when I hand deliver to a person in the metropolitan Washington DC area. For my personal matting and framing, I most often get materials from either www.pictureframes.com or www.framedestination.com. I do not endorse any company and mention these only because I am often asked where to get matting and framing materials. Also, it is often difficult to locally find what you need if you want to do-it-yourself especially for non-standard sizes.