About this website
This one-page website was rather hurriedly put online in March 2021 to reassure anyone who might wonder if there was a real person behind TCQ. There is.
I realize that this is not a particularly fascinating website right now. I have plans to add some short essays and maybe some photographs, but I can’t promise anything, because then people start asking how long it will be before there’s new content, and I don’t want to add content just to add content.
So you might check back once in awhile, and maybe there will be more. But please don’t check too often, lest you be disappointed.
I realize that this is not a particularly fascinating website right now. I have plans to add some short essays and maybe some photographs, but I can’t promise anything, because then people start asking how long it will be before there’s new content, and I don’t want to add content just to add content.
So you might check back once in awhile, and maybe there will be more. But please don’t check too often, lest you be disappointed.
About my career
This is where I’m supposed to say that I’ve won countless awards and my photos are in private collections and museums around the world. And I could say that, but it wouldn’t exactly be true. (OK, it wouldn’t be at all true.)
Granted, I’ve spent my career making a living as a photographer or a graphic designer and often both. But most of that time I’ve just been doing what normal people do: trying to please clients, employers, and colleagues; working on my craft; earning a living; and striving to become a better person.
None of that is very glamorous, but it’s the truth.
Granted, I’ve spent my career making a living as a photographer or a graphic designer and often both. But most of that time I’ve just been doing what normal people do: trying to please clients, employers, and colleagues; working on my craft; earning a living; and striving to become a better person.
None of that is very glamorous, but it’s the truth.
About my other interests
Over the years of working on TCQ I’ve cultivated a great interest in issues of media credibility and public trust, especially (no surprise) with regard to visual images in the age of digital manipulation.
Lately I’ve been focusing on the purpose of “news reportage” — its meaning for both those who provide it and those who consume it — which is a far bigger issue in our culture than most of us would imagine.
I plan to do more writing on these subjects, but for now TCQ will have to do.
(I also have the usual kinds of hobbies and passions, but nothing extraordinary or noteworthy.)
Lately I’ve been focusing on the purpose of “news reportage” — its meaning for both those who provide it and those who consume it — which is a far bigger issue in our culture than most of us would imagine.
I plan to do more writing on these subjects, but for now TCQ will have to do.
(I also have the usual kinds of hobbies and passions, but nothing extraordinary or noteworthy.)
About my first name (Micah)
Not every name comes with a mission statement, but I’ve always felt that my name sort of did. It’s tied to a fairly well-known Bible verse: “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
I’ve tried to keep those four charges — be fair, be kind, be humble, be faithful — as a tidy little set of aspirations, however unattainable or unrealistic they may be.
I’ve tried to keep those four charges — be fair, be kind, be humble, be faithful — as a tidy little set of aspirations, however unattainable or unrealistic they may be.
About TCQ (“A wonderful problem to have”)
Around the turn of the 21st century I gingerly set out to tackle photography’s biggest problem in the age of digital manipulation:
“How can a visual medium built on believability adapt when its believability can no longer be judged visually?”
The problem was hugely daunting but also hugely appealing.
“Daunting” because a solution to “photography’s biggest problem” would be of worldwide relevance (photography is now the world’s most universal language).
“Appealing” because it appeared that the solution might be attainable by one person, drawing entirely on information that was available to everyone.
That combination of factors made it a problem of a kind so rare that it might come along only once in a lifetime — a wonderful problem to have.
Quite helpfully, I learned early on of a comparably “daunting-but-appealing” problem that had been resolved not long before. In 1994 an Oxford mathematician named Andrew Wiles had finally solved a world-famous 300-year-old math problem that he had first heard about three decades earlier, when he was only 10 years old.
Wiles’ experience provided crucial inspiration and guidance for tackling a problem of this magnitude, and I was on my way.
The TCQ website takes it from there | PBS interview with Andrew Wiles
“How can a visual medium built on believability adapt when its believability can no longer be judged visually?”
The problem was hugely daunting but also hugely appealing.
“Daunting” because a solution to “photography’s biggest problem” would be of worldwide relevance (photography is now the world’s most universal language).
“Appealing” because it appeared that the solution might be attainable by one person, drawing entirely on information that was available to everyone.
That combination of factors made it a problem of a kind so rare that it might come along only once in a lifetime — a wonderful problem to have.
Quite helpfully, I learned early on of a comparably “daunting-but-appealing” problem that had been resolved not long before. In 1994 an Oxford mathematician named Andrew Wiles had finally solved a world-famous 300-year-old math problem that he had first heard about three decades earlier, when he was only 10 years old.
Wiles’ experience provided crucial inspiration and guidance for tackling a problem of this magnitude, and I was on my way.
The TCQ website takes it from there | PBS interview with Andrew Wiles
About my photography
I’ve been photographing since 1978. Like most professional photographers, I went “digital” in the early 2000s. I calculate that I’ve taken more than a million digital photos since then, almost all of them commissioned by others and, when published, without bylines, but I also still shoot a lot of film (mainly large-format).
My general rule is that if other people are going to see the photos, I shoot digital, but if the photos are just for my own photography projects then I shoot film.
When shooting for myself, I prefer to photograph things that I want to see more of in the world: beauty, order, brilliance, understatement, meaning, subtlety, quiet, kindness, gratitude, optimism, hope.
I have committed my life to photography because (as the TCQ website makes clear) I am awed by the timeless power of “the undoctored record of what one person saw, in one small corner of the world, at one unrepeatable moment in time.”
My general rule is that if other people are going to see the photos, I shoot digital, but if the photos are just for my own photography projects then I shoot film.
When shooting for myself, I prefer to photograph things that I want to see more of in the world: beauty, order, brilliance, understatement, meaning, subtlety, quiet, kindness, gratitude, optimism, hope.
I have committed my life to photography because (as the TCQ website makes clear) I am awed by the timeless power of “the undoctored record of what one person saw, in one small corner of the world, at one unrepeatable moment in time.”
About my gear
There aren’t many brands of digital or film cameras that I haven’t used over the years, so when asked “Have you shot with x brand?” my answer is usually yes. ALL tools that make photographs are miracles to me, so I’m not a good person to ask about which tools to buy.
About contacting me
I’ve tried over the Internet era to keep a low profile online (e.g., no social media), and I am grateful to those who have helped me maintain that. I don’t do audio or video interviews, but I’ll try to answer via email as many questions about TCQ as I have time to answer.
If you have a question about TCQ that’s likely to already have been answered, please use the search box on the tcq.photos website; that will save you time compared to waiting for a reply.
If you have a question about TCQ that’s likely to already have been answered, please use the search box on the tcq.photos website; that will save you time compared to waiting for a reply.
“Do as MUCH as you can to make others’ lives better
while drawing as LITTLE attention to yourself as possible.”
— What my mom taught me about goals
while drawing as LITTLE attention to yourself as possible.”
— What my mom taught me about goals