Author name: Dan Castelli

In my previous life, I taught photography, graphic arts, CAD, and woodworking at a public high school in Connecticut for 35 years. Both my wife & I are retired. I’ve always worked in 35mm, with a couple of instances of straying into large & medium format. A friend once commented that I work in the 'snapshot aesthetic.' I never gave it much thought. I’ve been fortunate to have some of my work in private collections, the National Gallery of Art and The National Archive (both in Washington DC.)

Chasing a Hot Dog with a Leitz-Minolta CL – By Dan Castelli

By / / Photos & Projects / 16 Comments

Like many photographers, I have a camera that serves as back-up to my primary photography equipment. In my case, it’s the Leitz-Minolta CL with the 40mm f/2.0 M-Rokkor lens.

The CL has its quirks. There are dozens (hundreds?) of articles that can be accessed online that’ll give you an idea how radical this camera was in the Leica world. I won’t rehash the accounts here; that’s not the purpose of this story. I will say, it takes a bit of practice to develop the muscle memory to handle the CL, especially if you’re familiar with the workings of the Leica M series.

I found myself needing some hands-on time with the CL because of my infrequent use of the camera. So, long story short, I took a deep breath, put away both my Leica M2 & M4-P and started to use the CL for the summer of 2017. Let the learning curve begin!

A Tour of my Darkroom and some notes for setting up yours – By Dan Castelli

By / / Processes, Tutorials & Guides / 17 Comments

For more than 40 years, taking photographs has been more than a hobby for me. It’s how I react to the things I see around me as I go about my day. I can’t explain why I react to what I photograph. It’s just what I do. It helps me make sense of the world. Taking a photo is my reaction to a ‘visual itch.’ It’s uniquely mine. It’s never existed before, nor will it ever be duplicated.

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