The Perceptive Photographer

Several months ago, I started to really think more and more about artificial intelligence and machine learning in photography. I did a podcast on it. Since that time, I have continued to think more an more about that form of art and how it is both good and different from light captured photography. In this week’s podcast, I continue to talk about the impacts on AI on photography and how it s...

In this week’s podcast, we spend some time talking about how various aspects of our work and approach to photography as impacted by 10%. From an article years ago where Brooks Jensen talked about how we see a decrease of 10% in our selection of great images from 1000 to 100 to 10 to 1, I expand that idea to talk about how our approaches to seeing, thinking, and approaching our photography ca...

In this week’s podcast, I dive a little into a method for evaluating photographs. In working with others, I have found that all of us can be overly critical of our work with no real rhyme or reason. So today, we focus on a few simple steps to evaluate images and how to be more effective at judging our work. Questions like What did I do in the image, what would I do differently and how will I...

My good friend Ken Carlson was a lacrosse coach. In several of our conversations over the years, he has said that in his view the purpose of playing the game was to evaluate how well you practiced. The practice was the most important part of the process. Not the winning of a game, but rather how well did you prepare. In this week’s podcast, I dive a little into this topic and how it can be a...

In this week’s podcast, I talk about how projects ideas develop and what is the best method for working with and dealing with projects in your photography. Also in the podcast this week, if you purchase a gallery print of mine from either the Alex Ferrone Gallery for the SAM Gallery, I’ll give you 10% off any workshop. One of the questions I get asked frequently is what sort of equipme...

In this week’s podcast, quantity is the name of the game. One of the best things you can do to improve your photography is to increase the amount of work you are creating. That increase in volume will give you more data points to understand some of the key elements of your work like voice, vision, signature and style. Also in the podcast this week, if you purchase a gallery print of mine fro...

After my traveling recording issues last week, I am back in the studio and have cut together a new intro and tacked on last weeks podcast to start the new year. So this should get us all caught back up on the schedule. In this week’s podcast, I talk about how setting goals can help you keep focused and move your photography forward. In an effort to help you get some goal setting started, I d...

This past week we have been traveling to see family. The big storm that came in caused our flight to be cancelled, and as a result, we are spending several more days with family in Las Vegas. In an effort to be a good users of energy, I shut down the studio when we left and didn’t feel like having the pet sitter take on the responsibility of powering the place back up. So I spent the day trying to...

This week’s podcast is focused on titling your photographs and why and how that can impact our perception of the image, intention and experience of the work. One of the questions I get asked frequently is what sort of equipment do I use to record my podcast. I have used a variety of equipment in the years that I have been recording, but here is the current list of equipment that I am using....

Two topics for this week’s podcast. The first is the difference between explaining your work and justifying your work. For many photographers, they end up making justifications for there images when they think they are explaining what the work is about. I also talk about the importance of storage boxes for your prints that you’re keeping and using in your practice. One of the questions...

As 2022 starts to draw to a close, it is a time to look back and reflect on the prior year. As photographers that means we should look back at the impact of our photography in our creative and non-creative aspects of life. In this week’s podcast, I toss out three areas to think about cleaning up before the start of the new year so that you can put your best foot forward for 2023. One of the...

Speaking about your work can be a challenge. Sometimes we are insecure about our work. Maybe we are nervous about talking in public about our work. No matter what the reason is that you might feel challenged about speaking about your images, learning to talk about your photographs can not only help other understand your work better, but the process can make you a better photographer as well. The m...

It can take a lot of work to find and maintain an audience as a photographer. There are so many other photographers working and sharing work. So, how does one go about finding and using an audience? In this week’s podcast, I share some thoughts on how to use and work with your audience so that you can share your work and find more people who are engaged with your message. One of the question...

This week’s podcast looks at the role of recognition in our photography. We often seek feedback and validation for our work and might seek this out from various places. We might post to social media for instant validation or maybe do a critique session to gain deeper insights. Along with those insights, I feel there is a desire to get recognition for our work and efforts. So join me this wee...

Today’s release is the 400th episode of the Perceptive Photographer. I started this little podcast 400 weeks ago and never thought I would be here today celebrating this milestone. As I looked back, I am most thankful for the community of listeners who tune in each week and listen to me ramble on about something that has caught my ear or attention. I never in a million years thought that thi...

One of the significant challenges that many of us are brainwashed into thinking when photographing is that photography is about making a simple, clear, and concise photograph that checks all the boxes. One that meets the photographer’s intention is accepted by the viewer and meets all the criteria for what compositionally and processing-wise makes for a good image. We spin up all sorts of la...

Many times in our creative practice we might find ourselves at a road block of sorts. A spot where we are struggling to move forward with some aspect of our process. It can be easy to ignore those feelings and push away from that resistance or wall we are hitting. In this week’s podcast, I talk about how important it is to face the resistance and see if we can sort out the root cause of why...

In this week’s podcast, I tackle two of the hardest topics for any photographer. If you follow these very simple steps, I promise that your photography will grown by leaps and bounds. So take a listen and learn how a comfortable pair of shoes and a return to the basics of your photography can set you free from the binds of bad f-stops and shutter speeds. One of the questions I get asked freq...

My partner, Lori who runs Ritual Mischief , organizes her products by the emotional support they provide. That got me thinking about how we can create photographs that fit in to our emotional buckets. This week’s podcast explorers the idea of grouping photographs, not by subject or subject matter, but rather by emotional support or insight they provide. One of the questions I get asked frequ...

Sometimes it is easy to get discouraged when looking at other people’s work. They already have the shot, not just because of their skill level, which can be a challenge. I know for myself, sometimes I start to plan out a trip or shoot and then only to come across a very similar image taken by someone else. It can be hard to keep the excitement and energy up to go out and make a photograph. W...

When looking at a single image, it can be hard sometimes to understand the context for the image. Sure, there are photographs that stand out on their own, but in many cases, the single image is better understood from the photographs that surround it. This is true looking at contact sheets, or their digital equivalent, or a sequence on the wall, In the podcast the week, we jump into some of the asp...

I recently heard someone say that looks normal. Now in a medical office, that might be a nice thing to hear. In the case of creating photographs, the thought of what is normal gave me pause. I started to wonder what is normal in a photograph? Do we want to even make normal photographs? What defines a normal photograph anyway? In this week’s podcast, I dive into the notion of normal in photog...

In this week’s podcast, we explore a little more into the nature of time and how it impacts our photography. Not just in the images we make, but in our approach behind the camera, when to pick up the camera and how to balance the priority of photography in our lives. One of the questions I get asked frequently is what sort of equipment do I use to record my podcast. I have used a variety of...

In reading about a recent photo competition where the winner in the digital manipulation category used an AI engine to make the photograph before doing some light tweaks in Photoshop caused a big uproar, I got to thinking about the nature of what it means to make art and to that end meaningful art. In this week’s podcast, I spend some time discussing the nature of what it means to make art a...

E pisode 390 This week’s podcast focuses (pun intended) on the idea that straight out of the camera is somehow better than images that are processed after being taken. While I think getting it right in camera is critical to success as a photographer, the conversation to push images as being better or more accurate and faithful because they lack processing is missing a big part of the photogr...