On Taking Pictures

This week, the amount of new post-production tools (including the newly announced Lightroom CC) inspires a discussion around workflow and the potential need for evolution in how we catalog and process our photographs. While some photographers (ourselves included) tend to prefer the “old” ways of doing things, tools seem to be making a shift, both in capability and in target audience. Also, we begin a look at whether or not you even need a website anymore. There doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer either way and, in the end, it really depends on what you want to get out of your work. Eugene Richards is our Photographer of the Week.

This week, how do you approach a new project or body of work? Is the making more important than the potential juice? Or is potential monetization always a component? Also, a discussion around creating work vs. seeing work, using photojournalism as an example. Plus, a spoiler-free discussion of the making of Blade Runner 2049 from the perspective of practical vs CG environments. Lynn Gilbert is our Photographer of the Week.

This week, have improvements to the gear side of photography affected the overall craft of making pictures? Or are we now able to simply pick and choose the pieces of the craft that matter most to us? Also, a listener asks about what motivates us to make, the love of doing it, money, or something else? Larry Burrows is our Photographer of the Week.

This week, we’re addressing some of your feedback from email and the Google+ group, including the impact that mobile photography has had on how we take and share pictures. Also, we talk about the iterative nature of creativity and how sometimes starting over on a project can be a good thing. Maris Svarbova is our Photographer of the Week.

This week, does having tools at the ready make you more likely to actually create? Or is preparing to create a necessary part of your process? Sometimes creativity shows up messy, if it comes at all. Also, is the perception/representation around women in photography changing, both in front of and behind the camera? Depends on where you look. According to Getty, yes. But, based on something that recently happened with Nikon, maybe not so much. Ronan McKenzie is our Photographer of the Week.

This week, we’re attempting to answer some of your questions that range from our desert island photo choices to whether or not ego affects how we take pictures. There are also questions on how to recognize when a project is done and whether or not it’s possible to change your photographic style. As usual, we got some questions that really stumped us, and some that we’re going to have to come back around to after thinking about them a bit. Pete Turner is our Photographer of the week.

This week, can creatives have concrete long term goals or is the nature of making such that clarity beyond a certain point is elusive by design? Then again, if you can’t define a specific goal or end point, how do you know whether you are getting closer or moving further away from where you want (or need) to be? Ruth Orkin is our Photographer of the Week.

This week, does progress take the place of craft, or can things simultaneously move on while still staying the same? Or is the romance and nostalgia of “the way things used to be” just a manufactured memory? Also, how intentional are you about the colors in your photography? The colors you choose (and choose to leave out) can have a dramatic emotional effect on how your work is received. Plus, Sarah Oliphant has been at the forefront of backdrops for decades. Peter Hurley visits her studio to see what all the fuss is about. William Wegman is our Photographer of the Week.

This week, how do you know when you’re making good work? There are so many factors that contribute to the success of a project that worrying about a subjective definition of good ends up getting lost. Is just doing the work — any work — more important than whether or not you call it good? Marvin Newman is our Photographer of the Week.

This week, we’re discussing order vs chaos and how each of us feels most productive. We also talk about how some forms of chaos can actually act as a motivator to help you focus and get more done. Plus, a follow up on last week’s discussion around purpose. John Vachon is our Photographer of the Week.

This week, what is the purpose of your work? What does it mean to live with purpose? Is purpose a necessary component to making good work? Also, the web is filled with reviews of everything you can imagine, but how do you know the unbiased ones from the affiliates and who do you trust? Gus Peterson is our Photographer of the Week.

This week, we discuss the work of photographer Chris Killip, whose photographs of Northern England from the 1970s and 1980s manage to embody the spirit of the people as well as the landscape. Who are some of your favorite photographers who perfectly capture the feel or the energy of a particular time and place? We also talk about David Hockney, from the perspective of his ability to constantly explore and embrace new processes and techniques. Plus, the pros and cons of cropping. Olive Cotton is our Photographer of the Week.

We begin this week with a little tech talk around monitors. Is 4K the way to go, or is an ultrawide 1080 the better play? In the end it’s just pixels, but most photographers want as many as they can get. We also talk about elevating photography into an art form, exemplified by the career of John Szarkowski, an iconic photo curator who recently passed away. Plus, what makes a portrait? Robert Freeman is our Photographer of the Week.

This week, a listener asks for advice on how to fund a print project, which leads us on a discussion around potential solutions as well as options for compromise on what the end product looks like — something anyone who has made anything will likely be able to relate to. Also, a few stories that re-open the discussion around copyright and what a slippery slope it can be to navigate on both sides of the equation. Plus, “fake” is the new “it” word — fake news, fake photos, fake fame — but what happens when we really do lose our ability to tell fact from fiction? Martin Munkácsi is our Photographer of the Week.

This week, we discuss the possibilities of stepping outside our comfort zones. Sometimes, the beginning of a project seems too far out of reach — maybe even more than we can handle — but we find that the sweet spot in the Venn diagram between challenge and uncertainty is exactly what we need to take the work somewhere it couldn’t have gotten to any other way. Also, where have all the Renaissance men gone? William Christenberry is our Photographer of the Week.

This week, for all of the “improvements” in the creative tools we use — specifically around software — have they really gotten noticeably better? Faster, yes. But are we more productive and is the work we produce better because of the tools or is it something else? Also, nepotism might get you in the door, but it doesn’t keep you in the game. Plus, should an artist be allowed to destroy his or her work from beyond the grave? Jason Lee is our Photographer of the Week.

This week, we’re talking about inherited meaning, specifically related to last week’s discussion around using tintype to capture older blues musicians and how that process seemed to “fit” the subject matter. Does the process give the photographs more meaning? Is the fact that they are actual tintypes “better” than if a similar effect had been achieved with a preset or a filter? Also, a terrific story about a husband and wife, their Hasselblad, and the Moon. Lilian Day Thorpe is our Photographer of the Week.

This week, a discussion around long term projects, inspired by the work and career of Ed Gold, a photographer who often spends years on a single body of work. Also, art and politics have had a long shared history, but has the current political climate allowed art to cross the line? Plus, choosing the right medium for the job and advice on printing your images. Khadia Saye is our Photographer of the Week.

This week, we discuss what happens when the results of a project just don’t seem to match the effort we put into making it. Is “giving your best shot” really good enough? Also, a follow up on a previous discussion on how certain places seem to enable or at least play a part in what we make in them. Wolfgang Suschitzky is our Photographer of the Week.

This week, what happens when machines learn enough to not only sort pictures, but make them? Is creativity just an algorithm after all? Also, a discussion around self-publishing using a cookbook as an example as well as a reader who’s life was changed by it. Michael Wolf is our Photographer of the Week.