The Perceptive Photographer

What do you want me to look at and notice? It is amazing how much this concept of audience, meaning and what an audience has to know about your work comes up. This podcast is a revisit of an oft-discussed topic in our episodes, but nonetheless, the conversation about what we should tell an audience about our work and what we shouldn’t keeps coming up for me again and again.  So in this episo...

Intro Welcome to episode 604 of the Perceptive Photographer podcast. Before we jump into today’s topic, how long should your project take to finish? Just a couple of quick reminders. First, if you are in the Seattle area on November 5, make sure you save that date to come down and check out my lecture on landscape, meaning and identity at the Photographic Center Northwest. Also, if you are i...

We are up to episode 603 of the Perceptive Photographer podcast, and this week we are going all meta meta on how to make projects. Just a quick note before we jump into the actual meat and potatoes of the podcast show notes. Save November 5 if you’re in the Pacific Northwest area to pop by the Photographic Center Northwest for my lecture on the Landscape as Language and Identity. It should b...

In this week’s episode, we’re gonna be talking a little bit about questions and asking the correct questions. Before we jump into the nuts and bolts of the week, just a couple of quick reminders: first, I’ve got a book club that’s running, so you can join that by clicking on the book club link from the workshops and classes section of my website. Also, save the date: Novemb...

Hello, everyone! Thanks for joining me for episode 601 of The Perceptive Photographer. Before we jump into this week’s show notes, I want to take a moment to say thanks to every one who reached out with kind messages and emails during our milestone of 600 episode and to all of those of you who are listening all these years. Your support is awesome and really makes me appreciate the wonderful commu...

Well, this marks a special episode of the podcast. Today we release our 600th episode of The Perceptive Photographer. I wanted to take a moment to say that it has been a blast to do that many, and at the same time it’s hard to grasp the significance of that number. That is roughly 11½ years of commitment to showing up every week. There are very few things in my life that last that long, so i...

What makes something great in our work? As I sit in the studio getting ready to record this podcast, I am finding the irony of the topic to really have a stinging bite to it. As I look across the studio, I see so many things that aren’t done, from putting away images recently returned from the gallery, to still lifes yet unfinished, to the buzz of the hard drive telling me that I haven&#8217...

The Sales Pitch I was recently talking with a friend of mine who is an absolutely incredible salesperson. You can walk into his studio to bring him a cup of coffee, and within five minutes you’ll probably be discussing whether you need a painting or a sculpture. He is good at art, and he is good at selling his art. And it got me thinking about how often photographers say, “I’m te...

The Way We See: Topic Two is Attention This week we dig into part two of our mini-series with a focus (pun intended) on attention. As photographers, we often find ourselves debating what essential gear we need in our camera bags. Is it the camera itself? A favorite lens? A sturdy tripod? While all of these pieces of equipment hold their own value, I would answer that way myself. In reality, I thin...

Asking a simple question I’ve been pondering a deceptively simple question: What makes a photograph good as part of my book club this month? But, before diving into that, a couple of quick announcements! I’ve got some new workshops lined up in 2027 at Badlands, Adventures in the Palouse, and the Oregon Coast and Redwoods. Check out the details on my website. Plus, I’ll be teachin...

Welcome to episode 595 of the Perceptive Photographer. This week, we are exploring the importance of asking questions about our work—not questions related to critique or the meaning of our completed images, but rather questions we consider before taking the shot. I hypothesize that the questions we ask play a crucial role in shaping the central theme of the image. If we prioritize technical elemen...

In this episode of  The Perceptive Photographer (number 594), I return back to dig a little deeper into one of the most common pieces of creative advice:  know your audience . Your audience is not your starting point. Your audience is the people who see themselves in the work you made that began with your act of seeing and sharing something more universal than just here is a picture of a thing. Th...

This week we are talking critique and seeing. I think one of the most powerful ways to grow as a photographer, or any creative professional, is to invite critique from outside your own niche. A great photo editor can look at any set of photographs and know what makes good photography, reminding us that fresh eyes often see what we can’t. I also discuss how seeing isn't just behind the camera but a...

This month, I'm starting a mini-podcast episode on silence in photography. What does silence look like? While we see silence as the absence of sound, it's more about how we capture it in images. Mindful observation helps us overcome both auditory and visual noise, allowing us to create calmer compositions. Silence lives in negative space and soft light, teaching us patience and restraint. The most...

I am out on the road this week so just a quick note on the podcast. I hope you enjoy it. I have been driving across Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota so seeing lots of plateaus, but I digress from the topic of the week. A creative plateau is that strange phase where progress feels stagnant. You’re not getting worse, but it feels like you’re also not getting any better. It’s like hiking. There are...

Have you ever looked at two versions of a photograph where one is technically clean and the other one a little rough around the edges. For some reason, you feel something pull you toward the scruffy one. It drives you crazy because you can’t explain it and put words to why? Well for this weeks podcast we are going to dig in a talk about that and how to sit with that feeling. In my practice a...

Hey all. We are up to episode 589 of the Perceptive Photographer. This week, we are going to talk about how nothing is ever wasted in the creative process. I think one of the most damaging ideas for artists and photographers is the belief that every effort must produce a successful result. We head out with our cameras, hoping for great light, compelling subjects, and portfolio-worthy images. When...

Before we dive into this week’s episode (number 588, btw), just a quick reminder: two spots are still available  in the Photo Book Club —Click on the link under the workshop menu for more details.  This week, the inspiration for this episode came from the book we are reading for the book club — Robert Adams’s  Why People Photograph.  But before we dig into our topic...

Before getting into today’s episode, I want to acknowledge the passing of Jeff Schewe. Jeff’s contributions to the photographic community were immense, and his passion for the craft touched countless photographers worldwide. I learned so much about printing and processing from Jeff. He will be deeply missed, and my thoughts are with his family, friends, and everyone whose life he influ...

Photographers often hear that they should “shoot with intention.” I agree with this for the most part, but thought it might be a great topic for today’s episode of the Perceptive Photographer (episode #586). Like I said, I do agree that there is some intention always at play, but I don’ think we always know that intention before we pickup the camera. Sometimes, we learn abo...

In this episode of the podcast, 585, I talk about something that has come up in conversations several times over the past few weeks with different friends and colleagues: the challenge of photographing familiar places. There’s a tendency in photography to believe the next great image exists somewhere else. So we travel to new cities, another country, or another landscape. We just want something ne...

In Episode 584 of  The Perceptive Photographer , I dig into some ideas about how photography is ultimately about creating connection. Sure, a camera can record information, but meaningful photographs ask something deeper of us. They change how we relate things in the frame, such as people, objects, emotions, and ideas, into new ways that create coherence and resonance. I would argue that phot...

On this week’s episode of  The Perceptive Photographer , I talk about the idea that editing may be one of the most personal parts of photography. Not that behind the lens isn’t important, but long before someone knows anything about us, they can often sense something in the way we process an image. After all that is a part of what we emphasize, what we remove, and how we shape what we see in...

As I think about topics for  The Perceptive Photographer , I spend a lot of time thinking about how we see not just with our eyes, but with our awareness. And oddly enough, as we approached May 4 which is Star Wars Day I keep finding those same ideas is in  Star Wars . In many ways both photography and  Star Wars  are about perception from a certain point of view. I often talk about the idea that...

Welcome to episode 581 of the Perceptive Photographer. This week, I am sharing what I hope are five insightful suggestions to help you think differently about your work in your photography and deepen your creative practice. As I was digging into some new books, class prepping and thinking about some classic comedy and photographic techniques, I came up with five simple ideas for you to try out and...