Photography by Steven Dempsey

01/10/2023

It’s been a while since I posted here. To see what I’ve been up to, take a look at my favorite photos from 2022 of our European tour.

Steven here and, as usual, I have a hard job at the end of each year. How can I possibly choose my favorite photos from thousands I have taken? The answer, of course, is I can’t but I have tried …

02/09/2022

There’s something vulnerable about painting a self portrait. I find it reveals so much more about the subject than a photo does. There’s something more dimensional about it. It’s also the ultimate challenge for getting a likeness. I am intimately aware of my face and if it’s not right, it is really obvious. When I go to art galleries, I find myself drawn most to self portraits, especially those of Rembrandt and Lucien Freud. Anyway, I’m proud of this one :)

05/21/2021

Many of you may not be aware that my wife and I have been traveling in Europe for the last couple of years and have a travel blog documenting our adventures. Most of my favorite photographs are featured and my wife Linda is a very entertaining writer so if you’d like to keep up with our travels (definitely worth it in my biased opinion), check it out and subscribe :)

We are Steven and Linda, an American couple exploring Europe in our motorhome. Join us in our adventures!

10/10/2020

The Plague Doctor
Venice

08/02/2020

This is the final pinhole film in a trilogy loosely based on my thoughts on the pandemic among other things. Filmed in and around Prague in the Czech Republic.

07/28/2020

New short film continuing my exploration of the world during a pandemic. All shot in Austria using a pinhole on my digital camera. No lens used.

A short film shot entirely using a pinhole with a Fujifilm X-H1. Scenes from Austria and thoughts on the pandemic.

07/14/2020

Many of you are familiar with my pinhole photography. I decided I’d make a film using the same technique. For those of you who don’t know, basically a pinhole is just a tiny hole to let the light in to the sensor of the camera. There is no glass so no lens. Because the hole is so tiny, it needs a ton of light to properly expose. The resulting image is gritty and grainy but the footage has a unique atmosphere that I love.

Here is the film with thoughts about the current pandemic.

Shot entirely with a Fujifilm X-H1 camera using a bodycap pinhole. No lens used.

06/18/2020

Evening Shadows Fell

06/11/2020

Interested in an app that rivals Photoshop but on your iPad? Affinity Photo maybe what you are looking for. I’ve just started a tutorial series for this great app. In this tutorial, I talk about the Develop Persona and how to process RAW files in Affinity Photo. I have basically ditched my laptop at this point and am doing everything on my ipad, including photo processing.

In this tutorial I go over everything in the toolbar inside the Develop Persona. This is where Affinity Photo processes RAW photos.

05/31/2020

Baffled by the High Pass filter in your photo editor? In my latest tutorial, I walk you through using it for sharpening in Affinity Photo for iPad. Even though this is for the iOS version, the same principles apply to the desktop version.

The high pass filter offers a lot of flexibility when sharpening your image. This video walks you through the process.

05/28/2020

Greetings everyone, I just published a new tutorial on YouTube talking about basic masking in Affinity Photo for iPad. The concepts discussed are not program-specific so if you’re new to masks, I hope this will be helpful.

An introduction to a critical photo editing skill: Masking. This tutorial breaks down the basics of the concept and the principles really apply to all progra...

05/23/2020

Affinity Photo is an absolutely amazing Photoshop alternative and I’ve been using it for over a year now. The iPad version is equally as capable as its desktop sibling. I challenged myself to learn the app during lockdown and I’m creating a series of tutorials based on that learning. I just finished this one today talking about layers. Enjoy.

Layers are one of the most important concepts when trying to master Affinity Photo. In this video, I go over the basics to get you up and running.