Behind the Shot

My guest today most likely needs no introduction. As Vice President of Operations for KelbyOne, Erik Kuna has been around the photography world for a long time, and he’s been on the show before, for the episode titled Shoot for the Skies . His specialty is photographing rockets and spaceflight, but make no mistake, Erik could teach you a lot about almost any genre of photography. From behind...

A few years ago I was walking around the WPPI Expo floor with a friend, when he suggested we stop by the StellaPro Lights booth. This friend does some work with StellaPro Lights, a division of Light & Motion, and he thought I might be interested in seeing their new product – the StellaPro Reflex. As the staff there showed me the lights, I immediately thought that these might be a game ch...

My guest for this show is none other than my buddy Dave Williams , making his third appearance on the show. On the chance that you haven’t seen the other two shows I did with Dave, “ Aurora and the Night Sky ” and “ The Traveling Photographer “, let me take a moment to introduce one of my favorite creatives. Dave is a travel photographer based out of London, or wherev...

So, funny story… I get people pitch themselves for my show very often. It’s usually some bizarre pitch, for a subject matter that has zero to do with what my show actually is about. Sometimes it’s the potential guest emailing me, and sometimes it’s their “representative”, but it’s almost always some “motivational speaker” that wants to help my...

I get guest suggestions sent to me regularly, and this show is the result of one of those. Dave Kallmann messaged me on Twitter to suggest a few motorsports photographers, and that instantly intrigued me. Dave is a sports reporter for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and he is one hell of a photographer himself. If he was suggesting someone then I knew I had to take a look, and man, I am so glad that I...

Today is a new type of show, its: 10 Questions with… Jesse Feyereisen I have been thinking a lot lately about doing some shows that are a bit different from the normal format. Something just for fun, and shorter than the usual style of shows. I’ve had the “10 Questions” idea for awhile, and while recording a show with Toy Photographer, and Platypod Pro, Jesse Feyereisen (fo...

I first heard about wedding and portrait photographer, and wedding videographer, Andre Brown through my buddy  Ant Pruitt’s show “Hands on Photography”, when Andre was on for a Photographers’ Go-To Tip . I knew I wanted to get him on the show, and once I realized he was an Ambassador for StellaPro – an amazing line of lighting – I worked my contacts there to hel...

PRODUCTION NOTE: I unfortunately had some issues with the guest audio on this show, so you will hear some echo at times. My apologies to my guest, and to you – the viewers and listeners. Tim Gerard Barker is an award-winning photographer and filmmaker based in Hanoi, Vietnam, who I met through the folks over at Wonderful Machine . As soon as I saw Tim’s work, I knew I needed to get him...

Today’s guest, former White House photographer Pete Souza, is a bucket-list item for me. I started Behind the Shot because I am a fan of great photography, or more specifically great photographers. Through the over six years I have been doing the show, I have had a range of guests, in a range of genres, from legends, to people I wasn’t aware of before asking them to be on the show. Whi...

I often talk about how much I love being a part of the photo community. I have made such amazing friends being around this world of creativity, and today’s show is the product of those friendships. There are times that this community starts to feel like “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”, and I love that. A few weeks ago I had Kersten Luts on the show to talk about Creative Portraits &...

One of the best parts of doing this podcast is getting to see the amazing photography community at work. I mentioned this a few weeks ago when I had Kersten Luts ( Creative Portraits and Headshots ) on the show. He had been suggested as a guest by my friend, and past guest, Dave Williams ( The Aurora & The Night Sky,   The Traveling Photographer ). Kersten then referred me to Nina Welch-Kling...

I am so excited to have  David Dewhurst  back on the show again! David is one of those legends that I could talk to everyday. His work spans through multiple genres, and has consistently stood the test of time. The first time he was on was for the show on  Getting Your Photos Up To Speed . When I learned he was creating a book about his days photographing the golden era of motocross I asked him to...

Rick Sammon  has been referred to as the Godfather of Photography, because he is one of the best there is. He jokes that he “specializes in not specializing”, but the reality is that he understands light, his gear, and his subjects so well that he can photograph pretty much anything at a world class level. I’ve learned so much from this guy over the years, and I still learn somet...

Jefferson Graham is a Manhattan Beach, California based writer-photographer, educator, and the host/producer of the travel photography series “Photowalks with Jefferson Graham”, which streams on YouTube, Tubi and the Roku Network. I first met Jefferson the same day I met Frederick Van Johnson. I drove out to watch him record his Talking Tech podcast, a show he did for USA TODAY when he...

It looks like I will owe Dave Williams a beer, or whisk(e)y. Dave is one of the best there is, and I am so lucky that he’s been on the show a few times. Well, a few weeks ago Dave emailed me to introduce me to Kersten Luts, a commercial portrait and headshot photographer based in West London. I was already aware of Kersten, along with his amazing work and Camera Shake Podcast. Kersten is one...

A few episodes ago I talked about how I edit and finish some of my images in the episodes on  Dodge & Burn +  and Photoshop + Nik Color Efex Pro + Nik Silver Efex Pro . After those shows went live I received a few comments from people that they didn’t own some of the software I mentioned, like Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, or the DxO Nik Collection of plugins. That got me thinking that may...

David Bergman has been on the show many times. Along with twice on the normal shows, first back on Episode 48 for “Composition, Creativity, and Workflow” , and then on Episode 137 for a “Making Better Action Photos”,  he was also a guest on Image Critique #9 . His most recent spot was on the show about “ The Best Photo Advice You’ve Ever Been Given “. Toda...

A few episodes ago I talked about masking in Lightroom, which is one of my favorite new features in the program. It wasn’t a deep dive into masking, but a demonstration of how I use masks in Lightroom to add depth to my concert photography using what I call “ Dodge & Burn +” . It’s a technique that’s easy to do, and can be used on any genre of photography. During...

There are rankings in photography that I had no idea even existed. For example, the #1 Fearless Photographer in North America, and Top 3 in the World, for 2021 is Jason Vinson. He’s also ranked as one of the Top 100 Fearless Photographers of all time. I am intrigued, and that alone makes me want to meet him. Jason is a multi-award winning wedding and documentary photographer, based out of No...

I know a lot of photographers that work in multiple genres, but Kevin Jairaj is unique among them. One day he might be shooting a wedding, and a few days later college or pro sports. Then, on the days in-between, you might find him doing a fashion or boudoir shoot. What makes him unique is that he is very accomplished in each and every one of these fields. In just a few short years, Kevin has beco...

Today is another special episode, at least to me it is. In the almost six years I have been doing this show I have had guests share so much knowledge, and that got me thinking. “What is the Best Photo Advice You’ve Ever Been Given?” is a pretty open ended question. In fact, if you replace the word “photo” with “creative” it gets even more generalized. Stil...

I have always had a love / hate relationship with Lightroom, meaning 20% love and 80% hate. There are just parts of this app that drive me crazy, or seem like they’re designed by someone that has never edited a photo in their life, or used a computer, or knows what a mouse is. Recently however, one feature has completely changed how I do my edits… Masking. Lightroom has had masks for a...

Corporate portraits can be challenging. Everything from tight spaces and limited time, to a mix of personalities and desired goals, the photographer has to become the fixer. Adding to that, telling the story of what someone does in a single photo might be one of the most difficult things you’ll ever have to do. When it comes to these types of commercial shoots, there are many possible direct...

LA based photographer Ian Spanier was first on the show back in 2019 for a conversation about Classic Portraits & Classic Lighting , discussing a portrait of actor Jeff bridges. His lighting style immediately struck me as something so classic, and timeless. Since then, Ian and I have become friends, and when he was invited to do a lighting workshop for the photography students at California Ba...

I get guest suggestions often, very often in fact, and almost all of them are for amazing photographers, but on occasion the suggestion stops me in my tracks. On those very rare occasions, no matter where I am or what I am doing, the photographer is so good that I need to ask them to be on the show right then. This is an example… On April 13th I saw that I had a DM on Instagram from Jaime (...