Episodes

One of the biggest teaching aspects of digital photography is the importance of the non-destructive workflow. The idea behind the non-destructive workflow is that we are editing our images to give the maximum flexibility and recoverability of the data when we are working with our files. This non-destructive process ensures that we can always return to the source and start again. Post Production In post production, this non-destructive workflow involves using a RAW editor like Adobe Lightroom, ...

In this week’s podcast, we take a look at some of the differences between facts and truths in art and how having an awareness of both can shift your understanding of photography. Facts There are very few facts in photographs. Facts are things in a photograph that are indisputable and have happened. A fact might be the shape and size of the photograph. That the photo is color or black and white, but there are very few facts about the subject (what the photograph is about) and the subject matter...

Workshops I am excited to announce in this week’s podcast, my 2017 workshop calendar. You can learn more about the workshops here, but I am offering both in-person workshops and online workshops on a variety of topics. So no matter if you are looking to create better images behind the camera, stay organized or create amazing prints, this years’ workshops have something for everyone. I am also teaching at Photoshop World in April as well as with CreativeLive in May. You can learn more about bot...

What do you actually see? I was having coffee with a fellow photographer recently and we got to talking about how truth in a photograph exist when you photograph what you actually see. With that conversation in mind, I returned to the work of Jeff Wall who recreates all of his photographs from memory. There is a more real truth to Jeff’s work, in his mind, because the actual reality of the images is based on what sticks with him after he sees a scene. Based on that memory, he goes out and recre...

Interview with Erik Bennion In this week’s podcast, Erik Bennion joins me to talk about a variety of topics relating to the art world. Erik has spent the past 25 or so years working in the fine-art gallery sector, artist, and art collector. Erik and I were having a conversation about art and working artist. At some point in the conversation, it occurred to me to record the conversation. We pick up the conversation midway through our discussion at a point where we are talking about the challeng...

Interview with Fine-Art Photographer Sarah King In this podcast, I am joined by the amazingly talented photographer Sarah King. Sarah is a fine-art photographer based out of Seattle, Washington, who has recently begun working on a new project and business called Visum Monographs. In Visum Monographs, Sarah works to captures the essence of a place whose history, stories and family tales are found in the objects within a home. This is a great quote by one of her clients, “Sarah’s ability to captu...

Interview with Fine-Art Photographer Aaron Brethorst In this podcast, I am joined by Seattle-based photographer Aaron Brethorst. Aaron is a fine-art photographer from Minnesota who has relocated to the Seattle area. He works in a variety of photographic mediums from digital to historical processes. His work has been featured in numerous shows across the US. His photograph “Adam & Son” received second place honors in the 2016 CVG show. Over the course of our conversation, we touch on how we dev...

Interview Month The month of February is interview month. Each week will be a new interview with an artist. Each interview will focus on their creative process, current projects and how they create and find meaning in their work. This first week is the wonderful writer Lori Kane. Lori is an essayist, nonfiction storyteller, and poet. Her most recent book is titled The Grace of Dragons: Receiving the Gifts of Dementia Care Partnering. In The Grace of Dragon’s, Lori shares essays and poems about...

Listener Questions In this week’s podcast, we answer some of the more popular and interesting questions I have been asked by the listeners of the podcast over the past several months. Topics include favorite cameras and photographers, goals around printing and how to put yourself out there in your work. Next week starting with episode 100 we move into a month of interviews starting with the poet, writer, and creativity Lori Kane.

People and your creativity As 2017 started, I began to look at my creative process and the things that impacted that process. As it turns out, I have some associates that cause a significant drain on my creativity. They are negative, rude and not really all that supportive of the arts or people who are trying to tell interesting stories. It then occurred to me that I don’t have to continue to be friends with and hang out with these people. While it has been a challenge to have some hard convers...

Why you became a photographer I was recently asked about how I become a photographer, and as I got to thinking about this question the more I realized that the question of why was more important than how. The how implies a process or procedure to become something. The why ask a more foundational question about our work as an artist. The why requires that we peel back the onion layers for a deeper connection to reasons we act the way we do. For me, that answer lies in understanding my need for ...

What drives your creative life As I looked around the studio this week, still getting it cleaned and built, I got to thinking about all the work to create and live a creative life. I got to thinking about what are the sorts of things that drive us to be creative and to create. For each of us, it is different, but I can imagine that there are some common themes. I thought that in this week’s podcast, we could take a look at some of the ways that we drive and push our creative life. As I consider...

Being Productive Thinking forward to everything that I want to accomplish in 2017 has me considering what sort of changes I need to make to my productive plan. In the past, when I didn’t achieve my goals I got to thinking of myself as lazy, but as the new year starts I have a different perspective on productivity. I find that we spend time on the things that matter and that we need to give ourselves a break when that doesn’t work out the way that we planned. As I consider my own creativity, I ...

Five things photographers should do in 2017 As 2016 draws to a close, we take a look at five key things that creative photographers can do to set up a successful creative framework for 2017. There are always some things that we can do to help improve our photography. In this final podcast of 2016, I have come up with a list of ideas that I think could make a difference in your work in the coming year. Remove the word should from your creative process and replace it with want. Should can create...

Context of Photographs In this podcast, we discuss the importance of thinking about the context of how a photograph was created to help understand the meaning and significance. We can often gain more insight into the photograph based on how and when the photograph was created verses an arbitrary judgement based on personal bias or belief. If you subscribe to the Perceptive Photographer up on in iTunes and have you take a few minutes to do a quick review, it can help others learn about the show...

Complexity verse Simplicity Often times, it seems that in my creative process I do things the hard way. I value the complexity of the process more than the outcome. As I got to thinking about why this happens, it occurs to me that there is some reward or payout for focusing on complexity over the value of the simple process. For me, I think that if we make things overly complex and hard, we allow ourselves to have an easy out when we fail. We can always say that it was just too hard to finish. ...

Award Shows As the end of the year draws near, I got to thinking about some of the things that Hollywood does to celebrate their best of for the year and how that can be applied to photography. As the major award shows draw closer, you will find several lists containing the best of. I think one of the things we can do with our photography is taking the same categories and apply them to the work we created from the past year. For example, you can get all of your photographs from the past year an...

Five Mistakes I was recently having a conversation with a good friend, and he asked me what the five mistakes are I think most photographers make. It was a tough question because I’m not sure that all photographers make the same mistakes. But it did get me thinking as he pushed me more and more, what were the five things in my photography that I think moved my creative process forward. As seen I continue to talk I came up with the following list: understanding your learning style not knowing ...

Holiday Season As the holiday season approaches, we were out shopping for the new house and was amazed at just how busy everyone seemed. People seem to be running around from store to store and place to place without really slowing down to experience anything they were seeing. And in all of that rushing, I got me thinking about our creative process. How we define our creative process I think one of the things that we do as an artist is to sometimes put limits on her own creativity based on th...

Creativity and Artist in Age of Uncertainity The world was dramatically changed last week with the election in the US. As many artist sit thinking about what it means, I challenge each and every one of you to take what you are feeling. All the fear, angst, or other feelings and push it into you creative process. Use that energy to create truly meaningful work. It is important that as artist we find ways to tell our story and the story of others so that things of true importance remain front an...

Zone System Basics In last week’s podcast, we took a look at the introduction to the zone system. In this week’s podcast, we take a look at how we can apply the principles of the zone system to create more compelling photographs. Although the zone system was created for use in analog film photography, I think there are several ways we can apply it to create more interesting photographs even using today’s digital technology. There are three primary places we can think about applying the zone sys...

Zone System Basics In this week’s episode of The Perceptive Photographer, we talk about some of the basic principles of using the zone system in your photography. Even if you are a digital photographer there is a huge benefit to understanding the basic principles of the zone system. At it’s core, the zone system is a clear and concise language to describe the various black and white tones that are present in an image. Comprised of eleven zones from Zone 0 being pure black to Zone X being paper...

Halloween costumes and simple photography As fall takes hold and the seasonal changes are in full swing, we find ourself at the end of October and one of our great holidays. Halloween is just around the corner. It has got me thinking. As a kid, I remember being all excited about getting to dress up and head out into the neighborhood getting bags and buckets of candy. As I got older, I still found Halloween to be a big deal. There was always a big party with everyone dressed up like an alter-ego...

Condition of who we are meant to be A lifetime ago I was an instructor at a university teaching public speaking and business communication. The students in those courses had to give some presentations. At the core were informative and persuasive presentations. Each of those presentations had a particular formula for what made a successful speech. As each student would get up in front of the room, we had a sheet with all the points they had to cover and the order they were to appear. Of course, ...