Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast

So you know what it's like: you're in the middle of a busy week, the weather is crappy, you're tired and you have a shoot to do... Not exactly conducive to creativity.  And yet, and yet...  your job is to weave your magic - from the experience to the images, your clients rely on you, nay your business relies on you to kick into gear and perform to the absolute limit of your ability. Even if you'd rather be sitting with a cup of tea (or a glass of wine!) And that is always the case. No matter what, it is crucial that you turn up and you're present.  100%.  Each. And. Every. Time. Your clients deserve it. Enjoy! If you do enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be inte

A real pleasure to have interviewed Richard Bradbury FBIPP FMPA.  Richard is one of the world's great photographers and an all round nice guy and the interview is full of little gems about preparing for sales, customer service and authenticity. In fact, our chat in his west London studio is full of useful stuff for anyone interested in running a photography business. As is our way, I asked Richard to recommend a book or two for our ever-expanding library of interesting books. Richard recommended Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind and The Work Of Hipgnosis : Walk Away Renee by Storm Thorgerson. Enjoy! If you do enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and b

In this episode, I ponder on WHY on earth I am taking the shot?  There has to be a reason, right?  Surely I am not just lying in the dirt for the fun of it! In this day and age it is all too easy to simply take the photograph because you can - not because it's a good image or there's a profound reason to take it.  These are my thoughts on some reasons why you should create that image - and some thoughts on not bothering if there's no good reason to. Enjoy! If you do enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk 

It's always a pleasure when I get to sit and chat with someone with such a wide and interesting view of photography as Su Kaye, MPA's Chair Of Judges.  I've known Su for a few years and, as ever, she is intriguing, knowledgeable and engagingly honest about her life, career and what the future holds for her and the photography industry. As always, I asked my interviewee to choose a book or two for our ever-expanding library and she chose the following brilliant editions: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1846149649/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_bx1TDbYEFFBMM Obama: An Intimate Portrait: The Historic Presidency in Photographs https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cyclops-Collection-Photographs-Albert-Watson/dp/0821223887  Cyclops: A Collection of Photographs by Albert Watson I've used the Amazon links for these (as these offered the best value I could find) but they're available in various online booksellers. Enjoy! If you do enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos

You've finished your shoot (in this case, a wedding), everything is packed up, the memory cards are shared between you (you know, just in case you're in a car crash - you have clean underwear on too, just like your mum told you) and you're trundling your way home.  And then it hits you. That all-too-familiar wave of paranoia and disappointment.  You start to think of all the images that you didn't take.  Ignoring the hundreds, maybe thousands, that you did capture - beautiful images, maybe even a competition image or two.  And the constraints of a wedding. And the UK weather. Yet still, you focus on the things you didn't manage to capture. And it's a normal feeling.  Uncomfortable? Yes of course, but still normal. This podcast is all about that disappointment. Enjoy (and don't be disappointed!) If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify.

Well, I'm back on the microphone!  Had a bit of a break as the summer peak workload kicked in but once more, I am sitting in the cab of the Land Rover Defender, muttering musings into the microphone on the move. Haha, a little alliteration for you. Anyway, this episode's topic is the choice between constancy or invention: should we, as photographers, creatives, artists, strive for constancy - recognisable, familiar images - or push the boundaries of invention, looking for new images, new ideas, originality. Of course, there is no easy answer to this; it is more of a discussion about personal preference and effective business choice, but it's an interesting topic nonetheless and one that was actually driven by conversations with my clients so I thought it might be of use. Let me know your thoughts! Enjoy! If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spoti

In this interview, I get to spend a very happy hour in the company of Melanie East, an extraordinary Newborn Photographer and Trainer: Melanie is known around the world for her passion and creativity for newborn photography and is the author of the book The Art Of Newborn Photography.  She is equally passionate about running a business which is key to the success of any social photographer! We get to talk about how (and why) she became a newborn photographer; her views on safety; running a business; the love of the sales process and her taste in soft furnishings (which, it has to be said, is flawless.) Her chosen book - which I initially struggle to spot under a huge pile of publications that permanently resides on her coffee table - is the Icons Of Photography by Peter Stepan which is a wonderfully worthy addition to our ever-expanding library.  And you can get 2nd-hand copies for less than a fiver!  Bargain. Enjoy! If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are

  Meet one of our clients.  Rob Panting, Communications Officer for OxLEP (The Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership) has been a commissioning client of ours for nearly decade - starting at the Hearing Dogs charity in 2011 and then with Affinity Trust, Bucks Care and his current employer, OxLEP. I thought it would be interesting to ask him what he values when selecting (and retaining) suppliers such as photographers.  Of course, the answer to that question is a useful insight (and the answer is NOT the quality of the photography!) It was a pleasure to chat with someone who I really love working with and whose organisation really does value and use photography well - if you look at their website you'll see what I mean.  Rob came to our studio to chat along with Leona Weston who is their star apprentice and she also chats a little about why she chose an apprenticeship rather than college or university. Plenty of stuff in this interview if you want to run a successful photography business. As usual, I asked o

In this episode, I am talking about the all-too familiar feelings of a photography business: faith, fear and fatigue (and possibly one or two other 'F' words!) When you start you set out from some point of having nothing more than an idea - and a whole heap of faith! Insecurity, sure, ignorance, naivity, risk, maybe a little poverty - but, in the end, an utter belief that it’s the right thing to do.  You may not be right, of course, but that faith carries you into the new venture. Then it works. And the fatigue and the fear kick in. This podcast is just me chatting away about those feelings and reading out the email I sent to Sarah way back in 2006 that described how I hoped things might pan out and firmly setting the two of us as the team that would make it happen (even though both of us were in different careers at that point!) I mentioned a book by Anita Roddick in the email I sent to Sarah - I think she bought the bought the book for me as a Christmas present.  That book is 'Business Unusual' and can be f

"You soon start to learn a lot more about business" In this interview, I get to talk to Karen Massey, wedding and portrait photographer.  Karen is a successful photographer and business owner, having started out owning a beauticians and then transferring her business skills to setting up a photography studio. She talks about how she has always worked, how she had to 'soften her accent' (not something you could be asked by an employer to do in this day and age!) and her plans for her new venture: RISE PFP, a group for professional female photographers. Plenty for everyone in this podcast from business insights to how she runs her weddings.  Oh, and she's really lovely too! Not only did Karen bring ideas for books for our little library, but she brought the actual books too! The first is A Coastal Reflection by Mary Shayler.  This can be found here on Blurb books The second is the Aston Martin Centenary Collection Programme 1913-2013. One for all you petrol heads out there! As I suspected in the podcast, this i

"To keep them coming, to keep them inspired, you have to give them an experience." So true.  In this episode I talk to Steve Gregory, founder and owner of the inspirational Fitlife Gym about his career as professional footballer (soccer player for my U.S. friends), his motiviation for fitness and how he deals with the highs and lows of running a business. A wonderfully frank interview that deals with the low points of suddenly running a successful business (yes, that is often how it can feel), having good mentors and finding ways to keep the business exciting and fast moving.  This is one of those interviews where the parallels to the photography industry are all too apparent.  Except for the fitness bit... This episode's addition to our every-expanding library is Start With Why by Simon Sinek - a great book if you're building a new business! If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to th

In this episode, I get to to sit and chat with Chris Cooze, Technical Communications & Training Manager at Hasselblad. It has been a real pleasure for me to have both the Hasselblad X1D and H6D for a couple of months here at the studio and it was Chris, along with Hasselblad's European Marketing Manager, Mark Witney, who came to the studio to help me get the most out of the kit.  Who knows, maybe we'll add medium format to the capability here for our studio portraits! In the interview, we chat about life, the universe (well, the moon anyway) and the future of medium format.   Chris is a lovely guy and an accomplished photographer in his own right, as well as being Hasselblad's technical go-to person, and his own work can be found on his personal website. As we build our little photographer's library, Chris recommends Patrick Demarchelier during the interview. He has a vast back-catalogue of fashion images so this link takes you to Abe Books and lists the titles he has available there. Enjoy! If you enjoy

One of the greatest pleasures of recording this podcast is that I get to talk to all sorts of people and, in this episode, it gave me the opportunity to chat with an incredible, internationally renowned sculptor, Tom Stogdon.  We talk about all things creative from leaving his job as a greengrocer (his love of arranging fruit and vegetables in many and various ways is still with him) to how you develop your own, unique style.  And all of this with the sounds of chickens, cockerels and song birds in the background. You can see his stunning work here. Tom mentions Richard Serra - you can find a list of some of his books here.  He also mentions the book Play With Your Food.  One for you and the kids! If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics you would like

Well, it's just me in this podcast: me, a microphone, a couple of hours in the car and Friday night rush hour traffic. Clearly I had time to kill so in this recording I chat away about bits and pieces but mostly about figuring out clients and why you have to stay positive no matter what happens. I also take the opportunity to add a new book to the Photographer's Library: Hug Your Customers by Jack Mitchell.  I admit it's been a while since I read it (and I am NOT necessarily advocating ACTUALLY hugging your customers but this is a good book for some ideas about building your business!) If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please con

In this podcast I get to chat with Terry Hope, the long standing editor of Professional Photo Magazine and its newbie publisher, having acquired the magazine just a few short weeks ago. Having trained as a photographer Terry went straight into journalism and has worked on titles as varied as Camera Weekly, Amateur Photographer and Professional Photographer. He was part of the team that launched Bright Publishing 13 years ago and was launch editor of Digital Photo Pro, which morphed into Professional Photo a few years back. As the new owner Terry is looking to shake up the title and to introduce lots of fresh ideas and online features, and to kick things off a new website at www.professionalphoto.online has just been launched. In this interview, he chats about his life, career, the industry (magazine and photography) and how he used to play bass in a punk band.  During the interview, as we always do, Terry added the book "Dogs" by Elliott Erwitt to our photographer's libary - you can buy your copy at Abe Books

 This podcast really is about the importance of relationships - particularly those with your clients - how some of those can play out in your career. I don't know if this podcast makes too much of an intellectual point other than it being a vehicle for me to be proud of our son, Jake.  That's the nice thing about a podcast: I occasionally get a chance to wax lyrical about the people I love around me, whether family, friends or clients. Still, it's only a short one so you can get through it in the time it takes to have a cup of tea, import the images from a couple of memory cards or play a few levels on Lemmings! If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed

  In this podcast it is an absolute joy to interview the fantastic documentary photographer, Mark Seymour.  Mark has spent many years at the top of the wedding profession but is equally at home (maybe more at home these days) creating iconic street documentary images - so much so that images are featured in the National Geographic magazine. In the interview we talk about many aspects of life, the job and family and Mark's disaster one fateful day when a concerned wedding venue had to call to ask him why he hadn't yet arrived! As an avid collector of books, Mark mentions three in particular (though the titles here are not quite as he recalls): Contact Sheets, Magnum (one that we have featured previously) The Life Of A Photograph by Sam Abell  (during the podcast, Mark refers to this as "Two Shots" which may have been an overseas title of the book - at least, I couldn't find any reference to a book of that name but, given Mark's description, this appears to be the correct one.) The World from My Front Porch by

This podcast was triggered by us selling our trusty Land Rover Defender (though we are replacing it with a newer one) and pondering on why we chose such an esoteric car at the heart of our business. Well, of course, it's all part of the brand we decided to build. And so I thought I'd chat a bit about just that: brand. It's so easy to think the brand is your logo, or website, or brochure design or, simply, your images but, of course, it's not quite so simple.  Your brand is everything your clients experiences, and I do mean everything. And that includes my beloved Land Rover.  Enjoy! If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contac

This episode was recorded in the hotel lobby at The Societies Convention 2019, so forgive the background noise (and the unexpected accompaniment of a random pianist!) I am interviewing the incredible wedding photographer and all-round nice guy, David Bostock. We talk about all things photography, saxophone playing, the importance of pursuing the image and the strategy of always selling albums. David also mentions his favourite photographers (Bob Carlos Clarke and Horst P. Horst) and his favourite book Clarke's The Dark Summer. If you enjoyed this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk 

It's just me this episode, wittering away about the week that's been and something that was raised during a recent presentation to a camera club: that photography judges can be pretty rude.  And I don't think it's right or proper that this is the case: judges should be polite, constructive, inspiring, entertaining and, most of all, supportive. During this episode, I also mention the announcement of The 2 Fellows Workshop - details for the 2020 workshop in Graphistudio's Castello Ceconi can be found at www.the2fellows.co.uk. We'd love to see you there! If you did enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonph