Episodes

I was asked recently to help a friend understand how to use depth of field on a new camera. They had always been using an iPhone and just wanted to know how to use that feature of their camera. The idea of depth stuck in my head as a critical aspect of the photograph from the depth and illusion created by the paper to the emotional connection to the work. There are always layers and depths to a photograph. In this week’s podcast, we talk about three key elements to depth in photography. First,...

I have been struggling lately trying to understand why so many more bad photographs are out there. Part of it is a volume game. Part of it is an education game. However, I am not focusing on the bad photographs from someone who doesn’t aspire to make great photographs. This weeks’ podcast is focused on why a photographer who wants to make great work continue to put out bad photographs. As I spent time reflecting on this, I realized that we spend so much time consuming bad photography that it im...

One of the most overlooked skills to develop as a photographer is good note taking habits. Before the wealth of data provided by digital cameras, note taking was essential to understanding your exposure, subject matter and development needs. Outside the understanding the technical aspects of photography, note taking can also help you to relate and connect with your work in the field. Note taking can help you remember the emotions, feelings, and sensory experiences you were having while taking a...

This is the 200th episode of the podcast. Eva, my australian shepherd, is in the studio today like always. She wanted to remind me that it is the 1400 dogcast. Anyway, dog humor aside, this week’s podcast is about being thankful for connecting with photography. There have been so many people who have influenced my work over the years, and many of them have no idea how much impact they have had. Over the course of the week where I was thinking about those people, I got to thinking about how impor...

This week’s podcast starts with a quick rant against people who review photography gear, products, and methods which they haven’t ever used the product. I am amazed at how many people use a product for a few minutes, hours or never use the product and still feel qualified to write a review. If you find people who are writing or speaking about products they don’t use, it might be worth your time to find a different reviewer. The main topic of this week’s podcast is about the hardest thing in pho...

As the end of the year draws closer, I keep hearing more and more people talk about how tired they are. The holiday season and current state of the world has so many people I know feel like they are burning a very short candle at both ends. This week’s podcast is focused on how we get to the point of exhaustion and some ways to hold, live with and move through the experience. I know in my own practice the regular everyday life events keep me busy. When you compound holidays, the loss of my broth...

In rereading The Zen of Creativity again, I discovered a paragraph where he talks about how being different doesn’t make you original or unique in your creative practice. This week’s podcast dives into how we approach our photography and photographic work as it relates to originality. You often read about how important it is to be different in photography to stand out from the crowd. Yet, when you look at photographs are they really that unique or even that different. I many cases, photos often ...

I get asked by family and friends this time of year what makes a good gift for a photographer. In past years, I have talked about books or gear that I think might make for a nice gift. This year I wanted to return to this idea but provide some other gift options that I think most photographers could appreciate but might not ask for. If you are a photographer, give you photographs to family and friends. Nothing is more meaningful than a gift from the heart you created. This gift will also force ...

We all have a house in crazy town. As much as we like to think that our crazy thoughts, insecurities, and ideas are unique, if you spend time talking to any creative person, you will quickly find that they have crazy thoughts too. In this week’s podcast, I spend some time talking about how we live and work in crazy town. I hope that once you learn about your own sense of crazy that you might find support and friendship by sharing your own version of crazy with others. Sometimes when we share, w...

When you read content on the Internet, you will eventually run across material that falls along the lines of five easy steps to a good photograph or three easy ways to make killer portraits. There are literally thousands of these lists. I imagine I have written several myself over the years. The weeks leading up to recording this week’s podcast have got me thinking about this idea that things should be easy in photography. I mean should photography be easy? In my own work and in helping others,...

I sometimes feel bad that I don’t make better or more exciting photographs. I look at images online or in books and think I really need some help. Yet, other people can look at my images and tell me how much they love them and think they are amazing. So why do I spin into thinking my work lacks something. It is because I get self-conscious about the quality of my work and the value of my work in the field of photography. I think it is easy to get stuck thinking about why our work isn’t good eno...

Someone asked me recently about what is the correct distance to shoot a photograph. I was a first taken back by the question because it seemed a little strange to me. After digging a little, it was apparent that the photographer was interested in making sharp photographs. So we talked depth of field and subject distance impacts as options. However, the topic got me thinking more and more about distance as it relates to intimacy in photography. In my experiences, one of the most significant indi...

I have always been amazed by people who are willing to share their imaginations with others. The more fantastic the story, the better. For me personally, I think we all have those stories in us, but for some reason, many of us don’t share them. In this week’s podcast, we are going all in on the importance of imagination in our photography. This doesn’t mean that you are doing compositing or making crazy sets to photograph, but it is about really allowing your storytelling to be about the worlds...

In this week’s podcast, we focus on how at the core essence of photography is two things: light and time. Without either of those, there is no photograph. Yet, most photographers know that there is more to a photograph than those two elements. One of the most significant aspects of talking about and reading a picture that often gets overlooked is ambiguity in the photograph. This ambiguity of time, content and context are also crucial to our understanding of the photograph. Much like our memory...

If you read about photography and critical thinking in photography, much of that writing is about the importance of ideas and thematic concepts in art. It doesn’t matter if it essay’s from Brook Jensen’s Lenswork magazine over other year, Critical Thinking in Photography, Art in America, Allard’s The Visual Storyteller or some other book. The idea behind the image is what makes the image interesting. In a simple form, it is the why you take the photograph verse the how you take a photograph. As...

To thine own self be true. -Polonius in Shakespeare’s Hamlet In Hamlet, Polonius provides some last words of wisdom to his son as he gets on the next boat for Paris. While this quote has been stated over and over again, I think it’s something that is still true for photographers today. At the core of the quote is how you have to take care of yourself first so that you can take care of others. Of course, if you know Hamlet, you know that even for Polonius this is easier said than done. In this...

The simple question of “Are you a black and white photographer?” caused me to shift my approach to my own work. The question while simple enough invoked in me an acknowledgment that much of my reaction and experiences of the world could be at the extreme edges. The black and white so to speak. However, in my experience as a creative person, the experiences that matter most were in the shades of grey between the black and white. The beauty of the world and the photograph were in how all of the t...

When I was growing up, I always heard the phrase: Close only counts in horseshoes, and atomic bombs. Later in my career, I had a boss who always said: “good isn’t good enough, and perfection is the enemy of done.” These two phrases have been bubbling up a lot for me in recent weeks during my photography. In this week’s podcast, we take a look at how these two phrases can help us better understand what is working and not working in our photography. Whether you are missing focus, composition, fra...

There is a remake or reboot trend that many of my friends talk about with Hollywood movies and television shows. Sure there are some reasons to reboot or remake a movie or show. Maybe it was awful the first time, but the source material was excellent. Or, perhaps there is a modern sensibility to bring to the work. However, in many cases, it can feel like it is laziness or an unwillingness to take a risk on something new and original. When you look at your own photographs do you see them as some...

When you are in school and getting ready to graduate, or you are starting to look for a job, you often hear advice from people about what to do with your life. Much of that advice was summarized in the book What color is your parachute. In that book, at the core is finding something you are good at and something you have a passion for and where those intersect you can find your ideal job. Photography and our passion for doing work that we like often have that same interaction. In this week’s po...

I love to travel and take pictures, and fall is my favorite season. In this week’s podcast, we talk about some of the lists that you need to make to be successful when you travel. While most people know to make a list of equipment, clothing and travel documents, I encourage everyone also to consider making a few other lists that are about your creative approach to the trip. I like to create a seeing list and a shot list. Both of those lists are about the places and things I want to see in a loc...

If you are a photographer, the only person who cares about your camera brand is you and other photographers. People who look at photographs judge photographs not if they were taken with the “right camera.” However, in our modern day of Internet fame and quick judgment, you might think that photographers are overly obsessed with gear. We shouldn’t be. Equipment is a tool. You are the photographer. In this week’s podcast, I am asking for some help in getting us to change how we focus on equipment...

Ever feel like you are running on a treadmill and going nowhere. In my creative practice, I call these loops, and just like getting lost in the woods, I start and end at the point even though I feel like I start in a different direction. This week’s podcast talks about some of the more common loops that I face, or I see others face in their photography, and how to deal with those loops. I like to think about these loops more as spheres rather than circles. The reason for that is that there is a...

Ok so after a quick rant on the war and revolution that is coming in photography click bait, this week’s podcast focuses in on balance. As we have discussed many times on this podcast, balance is something that is important when thinking about images while behind the camera. However, this week, we are focusing on the importance of balance, or lack of balance, in the final image. Balance is about visual harmony and understanding of the frame. It is achieved several ways, but for most photographs...