On Taking Pictures

This week, how digital technology helped Emmanuel Lubezki shape the natural light on The Revenant. Also, we discuss the often cryptic presentation of online tutorials and ask: “How do you learn something new?” Plus, letting what you know affect what do and how far you’re willing to push outside your comfort zone. Check the show notes for teases of next week’s show. Ernesto Bazan is our Photographe...

This week, we’re discussing the good and the bad of habits—making them, breaking them and learning how to recognize when you may need one over the other. Also, a follow up on last week’s audiophile/photography discussion, particularly around street photography. Plus, we geek out a little over an interview with Photoshop Master Bert Monroy in which he talks about his massive 750,000 layer Photoshop...

Paris Photo LA is cancelled permanently and what that means to collectors and fans of photography. Where do you fall when it comes to awards and competitions? Are they worthwhile endeavors and potentially valuable experiences or simply distracting popularity contests? Also, we discuss an interesting connection between audiophiles and photographers and the suggestion that where you came to photogra...

This week, we’re starting off with Cindy Crawford—she’s worked with some of the top photographers in the world and in her new book, Becoming, she shares what she’s learned from them. Also, we discuss the seesaw that is balances humility and confidence and how we may need to find a new struggle. Plus, technical details from Taylor Wessing and Instagram gives you more ways to share. Gilbert Garcin i...

This week, we talk a little about the recent Gregory Crewdson show at the Gagosian in NYC and how seeing a photograph in person can be vastly different than seeing it on a screen. Also, how you feel about meeting your heroes? Would you like a one-on-one, or do you prefer to keep them in your imagination? Plus, a trip to B&H sparks a discussion around gear—both the limitations of it and the not...

This week, an experiment we proposed on the show a year ago yields some terrific results for a listener. Also, is the bigger problem getting beyond a plateau, or realizing that you’ve reached one in the first place? Plus, Instagram has grown beyond food photos and into a robust platform for discovery, particularly for photojournalism. Alfa Castaldi is our Photographer of the Week. Links for this e...

This week, is art just a shell game of semantics? Do the names and labels matter at all as long as you’re making mistakes, making work and moving forward? Why do we get so spun up over something so nebulous? Also, do you buy photobooks to enjoy, or simply to leave them shrink-wrapped on a shelf, hoping that they will appreciate in value? Are collectors screwing it up for the folks who want to enjo...

This week, a discussion partially prompted by the passing of David Bowie on living your art. Does the work/art you create exist apart from you or is one an intrinsic part of the other? Also, a conversation with Gregory Crewdson about his new body of work. Plus, is there such a thing as “the perfect size” for printing and displaying your photos? How do you determine what’s too big or too small? Bel...

This week, we’re taking a look back on 2015 and discussing what worked, what didn’t and what we’d like our respective 2016s to look like. We’re also responding to a listener question around changes in the industry and what the career of a maker may look like moving forward. Plus, you asked for some of our favorite Lynda tutorials, so we’ve each picked our top three. Jing Huang is our first Photogr...

For the last show of the year, we’re doing a Q&A show and taking a stab at answering some of your questions. We can’t thank you enough for not only listening week in and week out, but also for helping to build a community of makers that we are both extremely proud of. We are very much looking forward to 2016 and can’t wait to see what all of you are up to. If you have ideas, comments or sugges...

This week, is boring art bad? Then again, who is to say whether any art is either good or bad? That said, do we miss part of the conversation if we don’t “get” a piece of art from the start? Or, should expecting to connect aesthetically to a particular piece or body of work be enough? Also, is there such thing as taking a perfect photograph and would you try 720,000 times to take it? Plus, we disc...

This week, we’re discussing a letter from a listener who offers observations on the intellectualizing of modern art and how we tend to find it difficult to relate when we look at it emotionally. Also, another letter from a listener sparks a discussion around what to do when a shoot (or a project) doesn’t turn out the way you wanted it to and how we gauge success or failure. Next week, we’re lookin...

This week, we discuss what to do when you feel like you’ve said all you want to (or can) say creatively, including some recent examples of creators who have decided to make dramatic changes to both what and how they create. Also, TIME has updated their contracts, which looks to have a dramatic affect on how freelance photographers are able to monetize their work. Plus, David Bowie has a new album...

This week, we discuss a terrific NPR article on how people prefer to consume and contextualize information. It may offer some insights into how we as creators present our own work and how and to what degree a given audience may respond. Also, what do you do when what’s popular isn’t the way you see? Do you try to bend your own aesthetic to fit in, or stay in the familiar and let them come to you?...

This week, we’re talking about leaps—not leaps of faith, but rather those unconscious leaps in process, technique or vision that serve as lines of demarcation for the work that came before and after them. Also, a listener writes in for advice about how to position the services he offers. Plus, a couple Crit Wall selections and a teaser for next week’s show around the stages of an artist’s life and...

This week, we begin with a warm thank you to everyone who made it out to the DC meetup. It was really terrific to get to meet you all and we will definitely be doing more of these. The big discussion centers around a question from a listener who asked whether talking so much affects the doing—and both the quality and quantity of what we actually are able to ship. Also, giving yourself permission t...

This week, the dangers of letting yourself become defined by what you produce or how much (or how little) it is worth. Also, you can’t make iconic work, but you might be able to make it good. The problem is, is good good enough? Plus, Instagram as a platform for buying and selling art. Ben Thomas is our Photographer of the Week. Links for this episode: On Taking Pictures - Google+ - Assignment: #T...

This week, do creatives always have a responsibility to practice their craft? Or, should we get to choose when and how we let inspiration move us into action? Also, do you work better alone, or when surrounded by others who may be on a similar creative journey? Plus, we discuss a couple photography-related iOS apps and a terrific Kickstarter photobook project that uses a unique printing method to...

This week, Bill is on his honeymoon in Europe, so we’re doing another Q&A show that we actually recorded last week before he left. Ironically, we did the show on Back to the Future Day, which means that while we were recording it for the future, you’re really listening to it in the past. Science! Links for this episode: The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ore...

This week, we start with a terrific discussion around self-promotion. How do you decide how to best represent yourself and to whom? Is there a difference between the “personal” you and your public brand? Should there be? Also, some final thoughts on the discussions around Magic Lessons. In two weeks, we’re talking about truth and ethics in photojournalism, so check the show notes for the link. Tab...

This week, we continue our platform discussion from last week and expand on it into areas of reach and archiving. Do you look at your website as long term storage of ideas or a snapshot of where you are in the moment? Also, an interesting story around whether art is personal property or a ward of the state. The Elizabeth Gilbert discussion has been moved until next week. Check the link in the show...

This week, we’re talking about influences, using the terrific Keith Richards Netflix documentary Under the Influence as a starting point. How do we want to be influenced and to what extent should we allow our work (or art) to change because of it? Too little and the influence may be wasted. Too much and the work may cease to be our own — and ultimately less authentic. We also talk about art as a v...

This week, we talk a little about the iPhone 6s and the iPhone’s impact on photography for both amateurs and professionals. Also, we discuss the Bruce Gilden photos that have been making the rounds lately from his recently released book, Face. Should intent be a factor in viewing or appreciating photography, or is it all about the end product? Also, a few teasers for next week, when we'll be discu...

This week, we’re back in our respective cities and begin with a bit of follow up on the discussion around tools and process started in last week’s “walk and talk” episode. We also ask ourselves and each other “what’s my creative hurdle or bottleneck?” Here’s a question for you listeners: How directly do the tools you use affect your final product? Can you ONLY get the results with a DSLR and “big...

This week, we’re going West Wing and doing a walk and talk LIVE from the National Mall in Washington DC. We’re talking about the connection between tools and process and their effect on the work we produce and we wonder whether it’s better to just keep using the tools that are familiar, rather than always chasing the latest pieces of kit. Since we are on the Mall, home to the many of the Smithsoni...