Street Shots Photography Podcast

Collaborate or Cry

The start of the new year brings all sorts of self-promises and resolutions. This year, I'm taking the advice from Mac of the Shuttertime podcast: choosing a single word to guide me throughout the year. The word I pick is "collaboration." Find out what I hope that word will mean for me in 2019. In regards to collaboration, I reveal a little news in regards to that word. 
Also, I give a little update into my foray into shooting film. Yes, film! This should be interesting.
Happy New Year to all! 
 
Links from Show:
David Szweduik's Adventures in Creativity Podcast
Shuttertime Podcast
KAGE Collective

Have We Got A Story To Tell

What started out as an idea I wanted to explore about our photos telling a story, morphed into a great discussion with my friend and photographer Ward Rosin about whether or not photographs on their own can tell stories or need to be part of some larger narrative. 
Show Links:
 
Ward Rosin
"Between Dust and Sky"

Red Hook Ramblings

Mid-December and I find myself wandering the streets of Brooklyn again, camera in one hand and iPhone microphone in the other and an overly active mind. Join me as I ramble on about photography while walking and taking pix through one of my favorite neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Red Hook. 
Here's my Flickr album from that day of shooting:
 

Creative Oasis

When the world around us is too overwhelming, where do we go to find respite? A "creative oasis" perhaps? The definition of an oasis is "something that provides refuge, relief, or pleasant contrast." How can we find these oases? Join me and my buddy Mark Reierson in an intimate discussion of exploration as we try to figure out together where these oases exist and what we can do when we find them. This show comes from an idea I had after being on the ShutterTime podcast with Mac and we explored a subject together while recording the show. It's a slightly new format which I'd like to try again. I hope you find the chat with Mark as fascinating as I did. 
And big props to my buddy David Szweduik for the fantastic oasis drawing!

Chat with Alex Ford

This episode I get the chance to chat with someone who I've only known through social media. Six years ago, Alex Ford and I connected on Twitter for the first time as I was live tweeting from my Brooklyn home as Superstorm Sandy crashed into New York City. That was the same year Alex decided to retire from the British military and become a professional portrait and wedding photographer. Join me as I chat with my friend about what it was like for him to end his military career and begin a new one as a photographer. What I learn from Alex is his photography is something that literally saved his life.
Alex's photos:
 
 
Show links:
Alex Ford Photography
Precious Times Photography
Alex on Facebook
Facebook

I'll show you.

It's October and you know what that means? PhotoPlus East Expo. I walked the floor for a couple days and give you my take on what I'm seeing presented here. Also, I manage to get one interview with this greatyoung  company about their new gadget. 
 
 

Take a Walk

In this episode, I first do a quick followup to some information about the new iPhone XS Max camera since my last show. I still have some issues and I found an article which explains some of the "anomalies" I've been seeing. Then... I get to talk to a couple of friends about photo walks. Both Mac Sokulski from the Shuttertime podcast and previous guest & friend, Mark Reierson, talk about our experiences with photo walks and how to best take advantage of them when you're able. It was a great late night conversation with a couple of good friends about a great photo activity. 
 
Show Links:
Miks Media
ShutterTime Podcast
Mark Reierson
Halide App blog
Photowalks on Meetup.com
 

Excess Max

Episode 82 and I've got nothing. Well, almost nothing. A definite off-the-cuff episode though I do manage to chat it up for nearly an hour about the new iPhone XS Max and its camera. There are some nice things about it and one thing that looks like a serious flaw. Listen to what I've found out about it.

Simulacrum

On this episode, I'm talking about my experience digitizing a selection of slides using a new Nikon slide digitizer and also I have some thoughts about the new iPhone and just what it could mean for our photography. 

Mish Mosh

This is the show's 80th episode!!
I had a scheduled discussion planned with a buddy but that got bumped due to some technical issues I had regarding my camera equipment. But guess what? I explain all of that to you in this end-of-summer episode. Just going over some stuff regarding photography like what shows I've been on lately and what new photo books I'm reading. Also, a plug for a photo walk in Brooklyn on October 6th. Nothing too revolutionary, just me catching you up on what's going on. Hope Y'all had a great summer.
 
Show Links:
ShutterTime Show with me filling in for Sid
Kelby's World Wide Photo Walk 2018
 

Colorful Language

This episode I'm joined by my buddy and color grader, Reed Means again to continue our discussion about color, both in movies and stills, and just what the language of color means for the way we express ourselves with our art. 
Colorful language can really be observed in movies (and I'm not talking four-letter words here) because color helps a story along by setting an emotional tone to a scene. So how does that translate to still images? Does it translate to still images?
Stills have a slight disadvantage when it comes to this because they have to package everything into one still frame. Your eye needs to be caught and your emotions grabbed immediately. There are no preceding scenes to get you prepared for what you're about to see.
Expect more episodes with Reed in the future as we continue this great discussion about color.
 
Show Links:
Palm Tree Shoe Productions: https://www.palmtreeshoeproductions.com/
 
Miesner Media: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_4HXushRwS_9b1JdRFYVgw
 
Color Grading Central: https://www.youtube.com/user/colorgradingcentral
 
Mixing Light https://mixinglight.com/
 
Casey Faris https://www.youtube.com/user/CaseyFaris777
 
Reed's mushroom shots:
 
David LaChapelle's Shot:

A Walk Among The Tombstones

 
No, not the Liam Neeson film but an experimental episode where I talk and walk while shooting in my local historical landmark, Green-Wood Cemetery (and, yes, the Liam Neeson movie WAS filmed there). In this episode, I give you a little update about how it's going for me now that I no longer submit images to Instagram. Yes, another social media update but a couple of surprising consequences I've discovered. Then, an experiment. I decided to mic myself up and take a walk thru Green-Wood with my camera and have a chat about what's going on while I do; sort of a "inside the mind" dialogue, which I decided to share on this show. Let me know if you dig this self-introspection or not. I figured it's summer and why not try something new.

Who Am I?

In this special episode, I continue a conversation started on episode 203 of Shuttertime with Sid and Mac. A mashup of sorts, Sid and Mac invited me onto their show and rather than make it one long show, we decided to record it in two parts, the second part here on Street Shots.
 
The question we ponder is what kind of photographer do you want to be? We chat about all the different paths we can take when we decided to make photography our expressive medium of choice. We also take some inspiration from this video of photographer Jay Maisel talking about how to be a better photographer.
 
Before you listen to this episode, please go here and listen to part one on Shuttertime with Sid and Mac. Please give me some feedback if you enjoyed this mashup or not. We may do it again in the future to promote cross-border podcasting goodness.

Aftermath

 
Yes, I did say I wouldn’t be talking about social media again, but I thought it might be important to start exploring the aftermath of reducing my presence. What is it like not to be “beholden” to social media. Well, the results are interesting. I spend this episode giving you an update of what it's like to be on a social media “fast.” It's been just over a month since I quit uploading images to Instagram and all sorts of things are happening but I’ll just talk about a couple. Who am I now that I don’t immediately share my images with the rest of the world? I’m sure this is a question we all wrestle with. Hang out with me for an hour or so and hear what I’m doing about that.

Seeing

 
"Contrast by Hornbeck" is an iPhone camera app recommended to me by my friend, Mark Reierson, when I recently told him I was stuck in a visual rut. The app has the ability to distill a scene into an almost truly black and white image with very reduced grey tones. Mark's idea was to get me to look at the world with this app and to see things differently and maybe jar me out of the rut. 
On this episode, I bring Mark in to discuss just what made him latch onto this app and how it changed the way he saw the world he wanted to photograph. 
Photographers use apps and cameras and film and filters to alter the way they see the world and thus alter how a photograph ultimately looks. This is not new to the digital world; it's been happening since the invention of the craft. Join me and Mark in what I hope is a fascinating exploration around how we record what we see.
 
Show Links:
Contrast by Hornbeck
Mark Reierson's Site

Nineteen Eighty Six

The more things change, the more they stay the same.
After finding and reading an entry from an old journal of mine from 1986, I decided to no longer add any more images to my personal Instagram account. How did this journal from 32 years affect my decision? Was it only the words from my past, or was there something else that led me to pull the plug on my Instagram account? Taking this trip into my photographic past has shaken me up a little and surprised me in a way I didn’t think it would. Let’s hang out for the next hour or so and let me tell you a couple of stories.
I know I’ve been talking a lot about quitting social media these days, on this show and other podcasts. I’ll try to make this one of the last times (if not *the* last times) I spend a good chunk of my energy on it. We need to move on.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Stopped In Our Tracks

Sparked by a topic suggestion from a listener, Antonio called up his longtime friend Sean Justice to talk about what are the not-so-technical aspects that make a photo “great.” Sean’s an educator and visual artist living in Texas, and was the perfect fit to discuss the question of “what makes a photograph stop us in our tracks?” Spoilers: there’s no (simple) answer. Sean and Antonio aren’t after an answer; it’s the question that drives their discussion. What moves us to take a photo? Can we be stopped in our tracks by our own photography? Why is a photo great to our eyes but not to someone else? Tune in and hang out with Sean and Antonio as they pose more questions about what makes a photo “great” than they can answer. There will be a Part 2.
 
Links:
SeanJustice.com
Sean Justice at Texas State University

Social Character

Episode 72 - "Social Character"
Antonio is pondering the wisdom of social media (yes, again) and whether or not it makes sense to give it all up or to use it that benefits being a photographer. The current trend now has a lot of people shutting down their Instagram accounts and Facebook pages, but does that make sense if all you want to do it share your imagery? Also, he talks about our ever-changing and evolving photographic personalities and how that is reflected in the cameras we choose to use.
 
Show Links:
Olaf Sztaba: Seeing Simplified - HD eBook 
Eric Kim: Why You Should Delete Your Instagram

The Write Stuff

On this episode, Antonio speaks with Minnesota-based photographer and podcaster, Dave Szweduik. He’s been a friend of the show for a while now and this chat has been a long time in coming. Lately, Dave’s been putting pen to screen, as it were, writing some incredibly thoughtful (and perhaps a little provocative) blog posts on his photography website. Three recent posts delve into what it means to be a successful photographer, how social media plays a role in that, and the idea that the pressure of creating art may be killing our passion. Dave and Antonio talk about these posts in particular and also about the tasks of maintaining a blog as a photographer. For Dave, writing about his thoughts and feelings about the photographic journey is almost as important as taking the photos themselves.
Show Links:
Dave's website
"Is the pressure of creating art killing our passion?"
"Photography Success, Chasing The Wrong Dream?"
"The Photographic Long Game : A classic approach to photography"
Digital Soup Podcast
 

The Why

In this 70th episode, Antonio ponders the "why" in photography. Why do we care about taking pictures? Why do we want to share our photos in social media? Why do we care? Why, why, why? We all would like to know the "why" when we take pictures and why we want to show them and why we keep them. and why we photograph what we photograph. This is more a stream of consciousness than any really defined subject of photography.  Join Antonio on this wondering journey, as he begins this discussion which is sure to continue well past the end of this show. 
 
Show Links:
Why do we take pictures? – Sushicam
Overexposed? Camera Phones Could Be Washing Out Our Memories : NPR
“Mirrors With Memories”: Why Did Victorians Take Pictures of Dead People? | Mental Floss
 
This Photographer Deleted His Social Media with 1.5 Million Followers

All Good Things

Well, the time has come to say adios to Tom as a regular host on Street Shots. In this episode, Antonio and Tom talk about what it's been like to have created such a fun team with Switch to Manual and this podcast. Not a whole lot of practical photography tips spoken about but more about what it's been like for the two of them to have worked together to create STM and what the future will be like with just Antonio hosting the podcast. So grab your favorite beverage and chill with the STM guys on this bittersweet episode. Oh, and it's not all bad news. :)  

Opinions are like...

This week, Antonio scours the photography news site called PetaPixel and adds his two cents about some the recent stories published there. 
 
Show Links:
500px gets acquired
Odd pricing at 500px
Lensbaby Burnside Lens
New Fuji X-H1
Canon’s AI Flash
Lightroom Update
Stupid Photography Terms
The B-Word
Peter Lik “Faked” Moon Image
NYC Street Coincidences

Technicolor

In this episode, Antonio is joined by his friend and co-worker Reed Means to discuss the technical and emotional impact of adjusting colors in both film/video and still photography. Tapping into Reed’s extensive experience as a film/video colorist, they talk about how color editing (also called color “grading”) affects our feelings about a visual scene and the information conveyed to a viewer. Color editing in film and still photography share a lot of similar ideas and Antonio and Reed discuss those commonalities and how they can be used to help an artist express themself.
 
Show Links:
 
Palm Tree Shoe Productions
Reed’s color grading sample video
Color Grading Central
Alexis Van Hurkman
Film LUTs
Color Harmony
DaVinci Resolve Software
Behind the scenes of the Hobbit
The Psychology of Color

Ruminations

In this episode, Antonio ponders other podcasts (and shoutouts), new lenses, and image processing. Also, he starts to pave the way for a future episode where he'll discuss the films and TV shows that shape his visual DNA. All this from a late night recording from the STM studios. 
 
Links:
ShutterTime with Sid and Mac
Let's Talk Photography