Somedays while out photographing in the Siouxland region I am not really inspired by what I see. However I do enjoy witnessing and seeing the various lighting conditions that might occur when out. Whether it’s sunshine or heavily overcast, the lighting is the one thing that creates the image one will take. The conditions may not be ideal, but still, I used to tell photo students that I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a day that out photographing.
When I first began photography the film used was Kodak’s Tri-X, 400 ASA black and white film. A versatile choice as one could utilize it in so many ways. Underexposing and pulling processing to flatten it out for better tonality and resolution or pushing it by one, two and sometimes three stops or more to work in low light situations. Then selecting a paper to help complete the “visual” process.
Now while out shooting I consciously shoot either color or black and white, tweaking settings in camera for one or the other. With some added tweaks in post processing. I am not a “raw” shooter. Jpegs only. It makes me think of shooting slide film where one had to be spot on in exposure. Unlike shooting negative film (think color negative) where one sometimes had latitude to do some tweaks while printing. At least one has choices, then as now. And it’s better to pursue what is comfortable to a person in pursuing their endeavors than to listen to the “maddening crowd” and follow. One might never see the cliff for all the bodies in the foreground, metaphorically speaking.
Jerry Mennenga
Sioux City, Iowa
lostinsiouxland 
Interesting, I rarely change my camera settings relying on the digital darkroom to make desired changes to the RAW image. I know Brad is a JPG shooter – actually been having this debate for a few months now. great series of shots!
Shooting jpegs is like shooting slide film. Had plenty of practice at that for a couple, three newspapers, all kind of situations. Never had issues. Shooting mirrorless helps in that what you see is what you get but I am always checking the meter as well. Hard film habits don’t die. Thanks for looking and continue that conversation. Maybe one of your posts might be a comparison of raw vs. jpeg.