The Depth Of Field Podcast

It has been some time since the last Depth of Field. My apologies for that. I think this will make up for it. A native Texan, Stacy Pearsall joined the US Air Force in 1997. After serving in Nebraska and then later in England she was assigned to the 1st Combat Camera Squad. Now retired, this former Staff Sargent combat photographer became a two-time winner of the Military Photographer of the Year award (the only woman ever to win it twice), has stared her own business and was even featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Not only is Stacy an amazing photographer she is a hero in the truest form of the word. During her three tours in Iraq, she earned the Bronze Star Medal and Commendation with Valor for heroic actions under fire. In this interview I speak with Stacy about how she became a photographer and what a combat photographer does. She tells us stories about her time in Iraq and what she is doing now. Whether you are an American or not, if you are photographer, this will be an interesting listen.

In this interview, I speak with Deanne Fitzmaurice about her long career in photojournalism and her new love multimedia. She shared with me how she creates her award-winning multimedia projects and the back story how Think Tank camera bags was founded. Deanne grew up in Massachusetts but moved to San Francisco to be an art student, before taking up photography. Deanne worked at the San Francisco Examiner, later moving to its rival the San Francisco Chronicle. Deanne has a passion for humanitarian documentary photography for which she won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005.  As a staff photographer for 20 years at the San Francisco Chronicle, she has experience photographing a wide range of subjects including news, politics, sports, and entertainment. Assignments include Super Bowls, Baseball World Series, photographing politicians President Barack Obama and President Bill Clinton. Deanne is one of 13 photographers chosen internationally to be a member of Microsoft's prestigious Icons of Imaging program. She is a co-f

There are interviews I do that are really informative and then there are those that are just plan fun. Then on rare occasions there are times I spend with a photographer in an interview that are both really fun and informative. My time with Bambi Cantrell was one of those, fun and informative interviews. She has numerous awards and honors including in 2007 American Photo Magazine named her as one of the “10 Best Wedding Photographers in the world.” Bambi is a sought after instructor and has a knack of making the complicated simple and manageable. This interview is packed full of wisdom and advise. You might find yourself listening to this a couple of times.

Brian Storm is one of the movers and shakers in both the fields of photojournalism and multimedia production. With my interest in combining still images with audio and video, it was a no-brainer that I had to interview this man. MediaStorm is Brian’s web-based, award-winning multimedia production house and agency that works with the world’s best visual storytellers to create cinematic narratives that speak to the heart of the human condition. MediaStorm has lifted the bar in this genre, in both what can be done and in how it is to be done. Brian and I talk about his vision for MediaStorm and how he made it happen. He also spoke quite candidly about the current state of multimedia and its future. Brian is not one to pull punches; he says it like he sees it. I know you will enjoy this interview with MediaStorm’s founder and photojournalist, Brian Storm. Follow MediaStorm on Twitter at @mediastorm and subscribe to the MediaStorm newsletter HERE. You can find the complete list of Depth of Field podcasts HERE.

A few weeks back Michael Clark and I got into a fight. It was a knock-down-drag-out kind of fight and the internet won all,  but the last round. Michael is patient man that allowed me to keep calling his home until we finally had decent line. Thank you Michael. Not only is he a patient man, Michael Clark is an internationally published outdoor photographer specializing in adventure sports, travel, and landscape photography. His editorial and corporate clients include National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Outside, Men’s Journal, Outdoor Photographer, Digital Photo Pro, pause…take a breath… Climbing, Nike, Nikon, Adobe, Patagonia, Pfizer and DuPont to name just a few. He has risked life and limb on a variety of assignments to bring back stunning images of rock climbers, mountaineers, kayakers, and mountain bikers pushing their sports to the limit in remote locations around the world. Michael and I spoke about his work as an adventurer photographer, how he got his start, and how he continues to be one of the

Jeff Revell is a super nice guy and a talented photographer as well. When Jeff is not shooting his own work, he is managing a group of photographers, authoring books or leading photo walks. In fact, Jeff is the inspiration for the Scott Kelby’s World Wide Photo Walk. You might call Jeff the Photowalk Guru, others call him the Photowalk Pro. I caught up with Jeff at his home in DC. We chatted over Skype, I was on my fancy schmancy Blue Snowball mic and Jeff on his iPad. I was amazed at the clarity of the sound coming from his iPad, and with it just sitting on his dining table to boot! Check out Jeff’s gallery HERE. While you are there he has a whole host of tutorials that you can devour! You can find them HERE. Anyway, I am sure you will love this fun interview with Jeff Revell, the Photowalk Pro. You can find the complete list of Depth of Field podcasts HERE or you can subscribe to them on iTunes HERE.

Meeting with Trey Ratcliff online for an interview was about as easy as pulling teeth. This guy is busy. I thought we would never make our schedules match. The irony is after a ton of emails, and a hand full of miss-connects over Skype; after finally getting the interview with him, then posting a blog post about his influence on my Creative Commons position – after all this; we ended up on the same flight from Narita (Tokyo, Japan) to SFO sitting about ten rolls apart. Strange world we live in. Trey Ratcliff is a huge name in the HDR (High Dynamic Range) community and blog Stuck in Customs is widely popular. Recently he published his first book with our good friends over at Peachpit Press titled “A World in HDR“. It is a 200 page coffee table book of his images with a HDR tutorial at the end. To be fare, I am not very knowledgeable about HDR, so I was not really sure what to expect from the interview. I soon found out Trey is yet another one of those “truly nice guy photographers”. We didn’t have long, this r

David Honl and I have been interacting via the net for many years. But as is common with net-based relationships, I have never met him face-to-face. It’s a strange world we live in. You’d think listening to this podcast we’d hung out with each other or shot together, but that is not the case. Maybe someday we will be in  the same place at the same time. David Honl’s images have appeared in such publications as Newsweek, People Magazine, New York Times, Professional Photographer, and countless more. He has visited all the exciting places, you know, the places where flack jackets are the norm. In his other life, David is the originator & designer of the world-renowned line of HonlPhoto small flash accessories, and he continues to design and field test new products during his travels. In this interview, David and I speak about his time in the field shooting as a journalist as well as his transition back to the US. We discusses how he came up with his lighting system, and how sites like PhotoShelter have help

This past September we where fortunate to have Ami Vitale as a guest instructor on our Ladakh Lumen Dei photo workshop. It was a great experience and I deepened a friendship. Hear me when I say, Ami Vitale is the real deal. She is a true, in the trench, get dirty photojournalist; And she’s one of the best out there. She’s tough, street smart and incredibly talented. But she’s also sensitive and very caring about the people she’s around. I don’t mean other photographers, though she is that as well. I mean, to the people she’s in and amongst photographing. I learned a lot from her over those two weeks. Ami taught me to slow down, and not just photograph the moment but to enjoy and savor. Our paths first crossed many years at a Any Thing Mac, a local Mac repair shop in New Delhi. Ami was covering Kashmir and I was living there and we both had Mac issues. I had no idea who she was. I thought to myself, this little lady is going to get her self blown up if she’s not careful. I think she was thinking something simi

I had the delightful experience to interview Nevada Wier. Nevada is one of the best travel/world photographers shooting today. She not only has an eye for the story but she pushes the boundaries of conventional photojournalism as well. In these interviews she explained to me how she gets joy and fulfillment from experimenting with flash and angle of view she also talked about technology and how it has helped today’s photographers. Like so many of the great photographers of our day, she proves my point that the really great photographers are also really nice people. Here is both parts to a two part interview from 2009. I hope you enjoy this Depth of Field.

I had the delightful experience to interview Nevada Wier. Nevada is one of the best travel/world photographers shooting today. She not only has an eye for the story but she pushes the boundaries of conventional photojournalism as well. In these interviews she explained to me how she gets joy and fulfillment from experimenting with flash and angle of view she also talked about technology and how it has helped today’s photographers. Like so many of the great photographers of our day, she proves my point that the really great photographers are also really nice people. Here is both parts to a two part interview from 2009. I hope you enjoy this Depth of Field.

Instead of looking at a working photographer and seeing what makes them tic, we are going to look at how photographers can give back to this world we live in. There is way too much hate around us. Way too much violent responses to this hate and quite frankly there is no lack of photographers ready to make images of it all. As I have written here on many occasions, photographers are always taking and sometimes we need to give back. Here is a way that just might work. But, even if it fails (and I pray it does not), at least someone tried. My hat goes off to Mario Mattei and Logan McAdams, they are pushing against the darkness and just the effort gives us hope. If you are interested in join them with this effort you can contact them via their website. Please leave your thoughts and comments below and I am sure they wold be glad to respond. To listen to the interview, just click on the link below and a player will show up, hit the start button and enjoy.

I had the distinct privilege to interview my good friend Gavin Gough. Gavin as you probably already know is a travel photographer based out of Thailand. This is a two part interview. Gavin and I talked about his history and how he makes a living as a full time photographer, and we share a few laughs along the way. This is part one of a two part interview

I had the distinct privilege to interview my good friend Gavin Gough. Gavin as you probably already know is a travel photographer based out of Thailand. This is a two part interview. Gavin and I talked about his history and how he makes a living as a full time photographer, and we share a few laughs along the way. This is part one of a two part interview

You know Bob from his work with National Geographic and National Geographic Traveler. As an editorial photographer, Bob's assignments have taken him to all seven continents and have won awards in the Pictures of the Year, Communication Arts, and World Press Photo competitions. During his work, he has been stranded on a glacier in Iceland, nearly run down by charging bulls in southern India, and knighted with a cutlass during a Trinidad voodoo ceremony. He won the title of “Travel Photographer of the Year” from the Society of American Travel Writers in 1994, 2007, and again this year at the 2008 convention. In 2000 his work was honored at the Eisenstaedt Awards for Magazine Photography in New York City.

You know Bob from his work with National Geographic and National Geographic Traveler. I As an editorial photographer, Bob's assignments have taken him to all seven continents and have won awards in the Pictures of the Year, Communication Arts, and World Press Photo competitions. During his work, he has been stranded on a glacier in Iceland, nearly run down by charging bulls in southern India, and knighted with a cutlass during a Trinidad voodoo ceremony. He won the title of “Travel Photographer of the Year” from the Society of American Travel Writers in 1994, 2007, and again this year at the 2008 convention. In 2000 his work was honored at the Eisenstaedt Awards for Magazine Photography in New York City.