10 Food for Thought Photography Questions

thank you for tuning in. If you have I know it's been a while and I know periodically, I come on and I say I'm gonna get better at uploading these podcasts regularly. And it hasn't happened and I am still working on it. The only thing I can now guarantee is, I'm never giving up on this podcast. I like doing it. I think it makes me think about photography. And I hope some of the things I bring up, also help you to think about some things you haven't

thought about before. Having said that, again, for those who are new, I started this podcast, sort of as a, it's actually not sort of it's actually to help people to help photographers navigate the muddy waters of the photography, business. Maybe not necessarily the economic side, or maybe it's better to say

including the economic side. But a lot of the things that go on, in doing shoots in setting up in doing business, all aspects of photography, from the creative and to the business, to the economic and to dealing with people to technical stuff. And certainly in the first group of podcasts, we have covered a number of those things. We've covered parts of certain things with the intentions of going back to them and they those things will get done, there will

be other parts. You know, we were doing the exposure triangle. We've talked about white balance, we've talked about a number of things, and just not to overload their will has been the intention of going back and briefly summarizing what we've talked about and then moving on to the next step, or steps and those things will happen. However, since today is our first day back together in a

very long time. I thought I would take a different turn and we do something a little out of the box, shall we say and I'll talk to you about what the plan is for this podcast today. Stay tuned and welcome back. Welcome to clued up with Maria be the behind the scenes photography podcast clued up is your insider's view to building successful magazine style

photoshoots. We talk design and concept fashion and style tech, social media and of course business plus so much more, including how to avoid common photography pitfalls. You'll also meet some special guests who work behind the camera and in front of the lens. Whether you're an aspiring photographer, a portrait photographer, thinking about starting your own business, or you just have an interest in what it takes to plan and execute professional shoots, you've come to the right

place. I'm your host, Maria b. Now let's get you clued up. Okay, so you know how you ask yourself certain questions just to explore ideas. I often do that, and in particular, I do it with photography. As it happens a couple of weeks ago, a photography friend of mine said, if you had x amount of dollars, if somebody gave you X amount of dollars and said you have to buy gear for photography, what would

you buy? And this conversation came up because she was trying to convince me to upgrade my camera, which in the conversation, the answer was no. But since then it's been a thought. I don't know that it's a serious thought. However, that's what spurred the conversation. Because we have this thing going back and forth about how much money you spend on upgrading gear and if you really need to upgrade gear, and when is the appropriate time to

upgrade. And if you've listened to past episodes, you know this has come up time and time again. Because of the amount of money people spend upgrading their camera gear because something newer or something new and shiny comes out. Anyway, her question got me thinking about doing something like that on this podcast because it is something that I often think about if given a certain amount of money.

And you know there's the restriction When, or the direction that the only thing I could spend that money on was on photography? What would I buy? And you have to spend it and spend out all of it. So, in addition to that question, I put together a total of 10 questions, and I'm gonna call this food for thought 10 questions, food for thought about photography, and I hope you play along. There are no right or wrong answers, these answers are in your head, they're things you don't even

need to give an answer. But it's worthy of thinking about because I think these are questions that help you to grow. In your thoughts about photography, whether you're you are a hobbyist or Pro. So we're going to start out with that exact question, which is, you're given $10,000. You must spend it on photography gear, camera, lenses, anything photography related, but gear related. What would you buy? And with this question, as with some of the other questions I'm gonna throw

in, you know my answer. If you gave me $10,000, and told me, I had to buy photography gear, I would upgrade my camera, or, I don't know, if it's hard to say upgrade, I would get another camera. So currently, I have the Z six tune by Nikon, I would probably hate to say this, I would probably get the Z eight, one because it has all of the features of the Z nine, but in a smaller body. And that would run four grand, so that would leave

6000. And with the 6000. Left, I think it's fair to say I would spend that on buying, um, probably higher quality lenses than what I already own. Or buying a lens that, you know, maybe I would only rent but I'd like to have in my arsenal. One of those would be something like, I think it's the 200 to 500. And I don't do wildlife, I shouldn't say that I have done wildlife. But I've done it with a 200 and then a 200 with a converter and I actually have a

70 to 300 millimeter lens. But if I've got the money and it's not an object, yeah, I would upgrade some of the lenses that I have. And then I would get something like that just as a fun thing to fool around with. Because I love wildlife photography, even though I don't do it frequently. And you know, the ability to photograph an animal in the wild or birds or something. From distance, I think it's pretty awesome. So that's how I would spend that 10 grand. This is not another

question. It is another question. But it's a sub question of the first question. So this isn't question two, this is more like Question one, a if you're given $5,000 the same scenario, how would you spend it, it's got to be on gear. And the reason I put this question in here is because I think it tells you a lot about the thought process here. So I as I said if I had 10,000 If he gave me 10,000 I'd buy a new camera

body and then buy lenses. If he gave me 5000 I would buy lenses because as most of us know your money your financial investment in photography should be in glass, more so than camera bodies, depending on the brand of camera and I shouldn't say depending on I think with all kit all major camera brands. When you upgrade on when the bodies of cameras are upgraded.

You know they retain the ability to use old lenses or older lenses so if your money if you've spent good money on lenses, they remain perfectly usable with new bodies. So for with five grand, I would do part of what I said before, which is to upgrade some of the lenses that I already have, and then I

wouldn't invest in either. Now then I would invest in an additional or whatever the amount of money I had leftover would get me in terms of a lens that I'd like to have not even one that I absolutely needed or strongly wanted but just something that you know, was a little fancy like the 200 to 500 lens for wildlife to use for wildlife. So along the same lines if the money 10 1000 or 5000 was not limited to gear, what would you purchase? So for example, would you spend it on

photography education? Would you spend it on traveling to some place to photograph something that you've always wanted to see? Would you spend that money to try to get or to definitely get someone famous in front of your lens that you've always wanted to photograph? just food for thought? I would probably spend it traveling to someplace that I've either been before and want to go back to and there's a similar question about that later on. Or I would go someplace I've never been before

someplace really exotic. And actually, you know, when I think I would do, I think I do a photo safari in Namibia, or something like that. Because that's such a different world from the world we live in, well, from the world I live in. I think that would be, you know, like mind blowing. And anyone who's ever done that always. They not only want to go back, they end up going back because it's it's potentially

life changing. Just seeing the way people live so different to the way we in the, you know, the West live. So I think that's what I would do, I would dedicate that money to traveling, and photographing people and places I hurt. I've been before, but I'd give serious consideration to going to someplace I've never been, and just having that that awesome experience. Okay, so those are all related to spending money given to you for a photo shoot, or, you know, for

photography. The next question is related to photo shoot, and that is you're going on a photo shoot, and you don't know where you're going. You don't know whether it's outdoors, whether it's a studio, whether it's a park, a forest, whether it's Street, whether you have no idea whether it's an event, you have no idea. The only thing you're told is that you can bring one camera body and one lens, and it has to be a prime lens. If you're someone who doesn't have a prime lens, I apologize for

this question. But you know, most people do so tell me or think about what lens would you bring, I already know the camera that I'm bringing lights set before just my Z six, two, or the way our eyes work. And all that's perfectly true. But I'm going to say I wouldn't go with the 50. Something just tells me that I would bring my 85 I bring my 85 millimeter because I don't have a good reason I'm going to back this up. And here's the

other thing. When you're all done and you upload your photos, they can't be cropped and the background can't be expanded. So if you chose like a 20 millimeter lens, and you went out to photograph one tiny little flower, it is what it is. Just to make things interesting. I'm betting most people would probably go with their foot with the 50 because it is the safest lens. You know, all you've really got to do is move your feet and you can cover just about everything. Okay, next

question. Number three, you are told that for a day, you will have full access to a photography studio to photograph anything you'd like. What would you choose to photograph? Whatever you choose, you'll receive all of the necessary equipment and personnel for the shoot. So for example, if you choose to photograph a model for beauty shoot, you're gonna get a makeup artist. If you choose to photograph a portrait, you will get makeup artist, a stylist and assistant anything that you

need. The only catch is that you can't change the genre of whatever you choose. So you can't go from photographing a fashion model to doing macro photography, you've got to be consistent with one specific genre. Think about if you would choose to photograph a genre that you're already familiar with. Or would you be a little bit more daring and step outside of the proverbial photography box? Are you more likely to step outside the box if you're given someone to teach or mentor you

through the day? So take for example, I do portraits and headshots. Doing headshots would be boring. Not that it is but But given the this opportunity, I would try to take full advantage of it, I would probably opt to do boudoir, and stick to that genre for the day and get an expert. Somebody like Tanya Smith or or Marie, to guide me through the process. And I think that's a wonderful opportunity. I mean, I can't imagine something like something like that happening. It's like a

wish come true. You know, if you've always wanted to photograph something, or, or a particular genre, and never had the opportunity. I would also consider something like pet photography, because I've never done pet photography. And I think it's absolutely beautiful and fantastic. And it gives pet owners such a joy, and animals I love animals. So that would also be something I'd consider but I'd probably want to conquer a day of doing really classic boudoir photography. What would

you do? How would you step out of sight outside of that photography box? Or would you stick to what you already know? When you think about this? Try to be specific. What I mean is, for example, don't just choose portrait photography. If you notice, like I said boudoir Well, that's a type of portrait photography. Try to be specific, would you photograph families newborns don't just like if you choose fashion, don't just say fashion photography, you know

what I mean? Like, would you prefer more glamorous special occasion, photography or casual photography or sportswear? Something like that just narrowed down to what exactly you would like to photograph given that opportunity. You can spend a day with any photography mentor of your choosing anywhere in the entire world on their photoshoot. Who would you choose? And why? And I consider that a tough question because there are some people who I am

so blown away with. I don't know like in their presence, I probably forget what what I know and just stumble through everything. But you know, my, my, I couldn't say absolutely. I would think probably Matthew Jordan Smith would go right to the top of the list for a number of reasons. His whole demeanor is so calm and just not intimidating in the least, that I think even if you screw up, he would break it to you gently. So I think ideally, I would choose

to spend the day with him. If you've ever seen him photograph, it's a really nice experience. It's actually quite calming. And I've seen him in person I attended a workshop of his or a presentation of his years ago. And he's the real deal. Like I don't mean in terms of talent. That's not in question. But the person that you see in videos is very much the person that I saw when I attended his event, his

workshop. Some other people that I would consider although I'm going to say I would definitely go with Matthew Jordan Smith, but let's say he's not available. Some other people I would consider would be in the running would be Jerry gayness. However, I have to say I'm so intimidated by him. I don't think that would actually be a good choice. Joe McNally who comes across like the guy next door, but it's so like, he's the, for me. He's a photographic

encyclopedia. It's just like anything you want to know about lighting, about your camera about setting about anything. He just figures out these really interesting and intricate shoots, whether it's you know, in a castle or an old library or out in the desert or with mirrors or hanging off the side of a building, and to have someone like that mentor you for a day would be absolutely amazing. The other person I would seriously consider would be Dixie Dixon, because she is

just I hate to say cute. She must get that all the time. But there's something about her that's very girl On next door and unintimidating. She's not intimidating in the least. And to be so young and so talented, and so gracious. And I've met her twice and just like briefly spoken to her. And you know, she is always consistently warm and

friendly. She's another person who when you see her do a presentation online and or you watch a video of her or you happen to see her live, if you walk up to her to speak to her, she is that exact same person. And that's really wonderful. Plus, I always get the feeling like, like, you know, after you talk to her, like if she did this shoot with me this imaginary shoot, when we're done, we'd go out and, you know, hang out and chit chat and get a

drink together or something. So there's something about her that I find very appealing that I think would just ingratiate interacting and asking questions and making, essentially elevating that whole experience. So that's my answer for that. Um, that was question four. Question number five, you can have any photographer come to your studio, or be with you on a shoot to offer their advice? Who would you choose? And would it be the same person from the last

question? And, you know, when I thought when I first rolled out that question, I said, Well, this is kind of silly, I think I'm asking the same thing. But it's really not the same thing. There's a huge difference between being on somebody else's shoot, and watching them work and being an assistant to them in some way, shape, or form, which is being they're asking questions. And that's totally different to inviting someone into your space to advise you on what you're attempting to do.

And for that, I have no idea who I would choose. I know one person who I would choose, and I actually want to talk about him. In a separate podcast, his name is Simone Diaz, and that's D I E, z. So I did a workshop of his in the beginning of April, and I will share that experience with you in a full podcast, but he's definitely someone who's who would be great to guide you through the entire process of putting a shoot together, and lighting it and choosing a wardrobe and doing a bunch of

other things. And if you've never seen his work, it's as you can go online as I m ondiez.com, Simone diaz.com. And I think when you look at his work, it'll be quite obvious why I would want him to mentor me. And in a sense he already has, so that's the person I would choose. Obviously, anybody who's a well renowned photographer, is someone that's worth having, you know, the opportunity to work with if that should ever happen to you. I will say this not to

be a Debbie Downer here. There are some people, and I'm certainly not going to give names. But there are some people who I have met in my photography journey, and you know, again, world renown, certainly deserving of their accolades. Not the friendliest people you'll ever want to meet. One of them. I met at the Javits Center years ago, there used to be something I think it was photo

plus. And this gentleman, he still has a company, large company, produces books, produces, you know, online teaching, does a ton of stuff has made, you know, Google's money off of I shouldn't say off of that sounds really bad. But he's made a significant amount of money from people buying his educational material. And I ran into him at the Javits, Javits Center and I said, Hello, and I am not the type of person like I don't mob famous people when I see them. It's not hold let me

get selfie. And actually, when I when I met him, selfies weren't in existence yet. But you know, and he said nothing. I said, Hello. He said, nothing. I know he heard me he said nothing. And that was like, wow, I've got three of your books. sitting on my shelf at home, I've bought your courses, I've done this and this and you can't manage a hello. I know we all have bad days, we don't know what's going on in people's lives. But, you know, when you're up there, there's got to be some

consideration. Some consideration of people who say hello to you because you don't know who that person is. And you know, me buying three books means absolutely nothing. I'm not saying that's earth shattering, or it's important. But people like me help support people like that, who choose to make their photography dollars beyond taking photographs. And therefore, when we go to interact, especially when we're not like, oh, my gosh, it's stolen. So can I get a picture?

If I get if you're standoffish about that, that was not the case here. There's another person, actually a woman who twice once in New York, and once in another state, I'm not gonna say the state because then I think it might become quite obvious who it is. I have attempted to speak with her. The first time I attempted to speak with her and I, and there was somebody in front of me speaking with her. And this guy was going

on and on and on. And like, she made no attempt to kind of shorten or abbreviate the conversation with him, which I certainly appreciate. Because everyone's time is, you know, everyone is worthy of being listened to. But you know, there's a line of people waiting to speak with you. So you can't, if that person isn't being mindful of that, then you politely kind of need to hone it in and, you know, move things along. And she saw me standing there waiting to speak to her.

And she didn't necessarily move things along, which is fine. You know, I get it. The second time I actually had happened, it's happened three times, now that I think about it. The second time, I attempted to speak to her I was at a conference, I happen to see her outdoors. And she had just finished speaking to someone and I said, Hello, and she just walked away. And the third time it happened. Also at

a conference. Again, I had actually started speaking to her and thanking her for organizing this and what it means to blah, blah, blah, and she Skittles, what's the right word? skedaddled. Again, so I'm, like, all about warmth and niceness. You know, when people watch you online, it's not the vibe I'm getting. And it's made me a little bit wary of that person. And then finally, there's a gentleman, well known for a particular genre of portrait

photography. And I attended a conference and I gotten in line to photograph in his little booth, his area. And we had a little interaction where it's fair to say he was downright rude. And it wasn't pleasant. So all this to say that it's nice to be mentored by people who are one willing to teach and to, they're nice. And I know nice is like a four letter common word that we all throw around like

the word good. But two words that really mean a lot are good and nice, because they don't cost you anything, doesn't costs doesn't cost you a penny doesn't cost you air doesn't cost you anything to be nice to people, particularly people who may be responsible for putting, you know their money into your pocket on some level. So that's my little blurb on that. Sorry if I went off on a tangent, but Okay, so next question. Question number six. Oh, you know what?

Question number five subpart to it that you could have any photographer come to your studio. The first part we talked about, who would you choose? And would it be the same person as the last question, and it's also something to consider. And when you think about that part of the question, think about why or why not. Okay. Next question number six, you're given a year to photograph anywhere in the world outside of

your native country. entry, you'll be provided with everything you need a place to live, transportation, absolutely everything. And all of your expenses from home are going to be paid for you. So all of your expenses at home and all of your expenses or abroad are going to be covered. You'll be in that country for a year, you cannot leave that country, you cannot go outside of its borders, what country would you choose? And

why? And then the next part of that question is, would you choose to return to someplace you've been before? Or would you travelled to someplace that you've never been a place that's on your bucket list? This kind of goes back to one of the earlier questions. If we're talking about a place to live for a year, I'm going to say I'm going to end up in Italy, having now been there twice. And I had plans of going back a third time this summer. But at this point, that seems

unlikely. I could see why people returned to Italy every year, it's majestic. I mean, you know, they're like everyplace else, Italy's like everyplace else. There are fantastic things about it. There are things that are not so great, they have political issues, they have economic issues, they have all that stuff that every country has, I don't know, have it as the as severe as this, you know, the state we're in right now,

here in the US. But having said that, every time you turn around and Italy, you're looking at something historical, it's just, it's amazing. And it's beautiful. And it's generally a different lifestyle. It is not the Well, I live in New Jersey. And you know, we're adjacent to New York. So we kind of inherit that New York pace of life where we live our lives by the clock.

And the times I've been to Europe, probably with the exception of England, I think Great Britain, I think most of continental Europe kind of lives that way, meaning, like the Italians, they don't rush through a whole lot of things. Same thing with the Spanish you sit down for a meal, you're there for a while, you are going to have to ask for the check

before somebody brings it. You You know you work you what what's the saying, you don't work to live you live to work or whatever, whatever the correct way of putting it it is work is not your life is what it comes down to. It's just different. And it's totally enjoyable. And it's scenic, be it you know, something old, ancient historical, or be it something ultra modern, or any museum or art piece or sculpture or

anything. Photography wise, I mean, you could just, your mind is just blown every time you turn around. So I think as a photographer, having to live in another place for a year, that would be my choice. The second part of that question is, where are we? If you could spend that year between two places, what would be your second choice? So for me, the second choice would be Spain, pretty much for the same reasons. Not, you know, not so much I shouldn't say not so much. In addition, that's what I

should say. In addition to the photography aspect, though, the way of life is really attractive. It is not the stress of you know, getting into work early, being bombarded, but with whatever from the time you hit the door until you leave working more than eight hours or 12 hours or, you know, you go to lunch and you've got to get back before this, this and this. Just as an aside, I had this conversation with someone

yesterday. I walked into work a little late yesterday, yesterday morning, and when I entered the building I entered on the same level with our cafeteria and there was a young woman walking very briskly down the hall toward the cafeteria. She was on the phone and I heard her say well I'm downstairs getting breakfast I've only got 15 minutes and I have to go back upstairs and I just thought to myself How disgraceful is that?

That we live in a world where in you're allowed 15 minutes to get on an elevator go down a couple of floors to get breakfast so you that you can so that you can wolf it down and have enough energy to get to lunch and your lunch is going to be half an hour to You know, like you can't even relax through lunch so you could get back. It's an awful way to live. And not all of the world lives like that, I would hope that they've learned from us that it's extremely

unhealthy. So I would opt to live in a country where, seemingly there is less stress in the everyday life, I'm sure there is stress, but overall, it's either a different type of stress or, you know, it's just not what we go through here on a daily basis if you work full time. That's my answer to that question. Okay. Question number seven. Is there an artist? Or are there artists outside of photography, whose work you look to for inspiration? Or to learn

from? And it can be, I don't know, just think about who inspires you? Is it a modern artist of some kind? Or is it an old masters or? Or sculptors or who Who do you look to? So here's some of mine and taking the more traditional approach Rembrandt that Rembrandt lighting is real. If you if you get a book about Rembrandt or a book that's a collection of his paintings, just go looking for that Rembrandt lighting, it's in almost every photo. So in the body of work is absolutely

amazing. I have a book that sits on my coffee table. It's by the publishing company Titian ti s c, H, E N, and they produce magnificent books that are huge and heavy. And they are vast collections of you know, photos of artwork by the great masters and on my coffee table. I have three books by Titian publications, or Titian. One, the end, the largest one is the rim Rembrandt text. The next one who is also someone I look to is Caravaggio, and I like Caravaggio, because his work is

dark. And for portraits, I actually prefer portraits that are on the darker side. I may not photograph portraits that way, but I actually enjoy looking at photographs that are styled with a darker, mysterious type of mood. And Caravaggio does that a great deal. And one of the things I particularly like about some of his work is that, you know, in photograph we have in photography, we always have had this thing about catch lights. And yeah, generally,

photos look a lot better. And people look a lot better if you can see the light reflected in their eyes. But Caravaggio's got a couple of paintings. There's no light in people's eyes. And it's heavy. It's really it's different. It catches your eye. But no one looks at it and says, Oh, it shouldn't be that way. You know what I mean? What if I produce a photo and there are no catch lights, people like, you know, not a good photo. That's

an aside, sorry. And then the other person or the other old master that I really like is Vasque was and I have his Titian book as well. And I have Caravaggio's if I didn't say that. But Vasque was his work, which covers a lot of Spanish royalty. It's beautiful in a way that you could see the modernity, modernity of his work, as opposed to the people came before him. You could see the progression of art, the progression of painting and his work. So those are my three.

That I think when I say influence, like, again, I like the darkness. I like the detail. I like the lighting. You know, and for me, it's kind of inspirational, especially those paintings that are they're not just scenes But they're they truly are portraits where it's like the neck up, or the chest up, and you could see so much detail. And it's the type of thing where like in a photograph, you want to capture

that much detail. And what I find really interesting and I am and you see this with Rembrandt, particularly in his portrait paintings. You see the lines in people's faces, you see lines. Let's call a spade a spade here you call right there, you see wrinkles, okay, you see wrinkles on people's faces, you see flaws, you see marks, you see, like, nobody's perfect. You know what I mean? Nobody looks

perfect. He doesn't. His work doesn't look like he painted a portrait of someone and attempted to make them look better than what they truly

looked like. And this is one of the things about photography that kind of irks me that, you know, we place such an emphasis on retouching, and look, I mean, I work with a couple of retouchers now, and I do some retouching myself, but it's just, it's just something about the fact that we are unaccepting of photographing people the way they are, like, you know, there's a picture, there's a television show, or I shouldn't say it's not as helpful to show it's a streaming program called

actors on actors. I think it's produced by Variety magazine, or variety, or whatever it is, but, you know, they pair actors up to speak to each other and to interview each other. It's a really interesting show, very introspective, and the actress Jennifer Coolidge. She was a recent guest with another celebrity for the interview. And the promo photo did such a job on Jennifer Coolidge. Jennifer Coolidge is a middle aged, beautiful woman. She's just a

beautiful woman. When I looked at the photo, I I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that somebody allowed a retoucher or whoever to go that far in retouching Jennifer Coolidge. Um, her face is as smooth as I don't know. I can't even say it. I think a baby's bottom actually has more lines or wrinkles. Her face was or it appears like plastic. It's ridiculous. It's insulting to her that anyone would change her appearance that much. If you remember Jennifer Coolidge from

Legally Blonde. You know, she was the the manicurist she had a great comedic role. The photo, the promo photo for, for this episode of actors on actors made her look younger than that. And that movie's got to be at least 20 something years old, if not more, I mean, it's, I don't imagine that she looked like that when that she looked like that photo when she was a teenager. It's awful. It's just amazing to me how unaccepting we are of how people truly look.

And yet, when you look at these masterpiece paintings by the great artists of the past, you know, people look like people. They look flawed. They've got birthmarks. They've got I don't know. They've got scars. They've got wrinkles, they've got lines, they've got a droopy lid. No one's perfect. And I'm somewhat bothered by our lack of acceptance of that. But anyway, so those sorry, again, for going

off. But those are my three Rembrandt, Caravaggio Vasque was and you know, there are a ton of others, like I flip through magazines, and I see things by certain photographers or I don't know, certain artists, or you go to the museum and you see something that's just mind blowing, and you. You don't want to copy it. You want to learn from it. And I think that's what I mean, when I say you know,

inspiration. This is someone that I want to learn from, I want to learn how to take a photo that looks like that, I want to learn a particular technique, and then sort of alter it or, you know, put it in To my bag of tricks, so to speak. So, what artists? What artist or artists influence you? Next question, what tool or gear other than your camera lens or lenses helps you the most in photography and photography or simply just makes photography photographing easier. And for me

that's really simple. That's my light meter. Which, if you've listened to past episodes, I'm not going to go into that in an in depth way right now. But it, it saves me time, it gives me good light accuracy and helps with color accuracy because things aren't blown out or, or peer to dark, or what have you. My next question What do you thinks? What do you think makes a great photo? What draws your attention, what draws you in what makes you stop scrolling?

For me, it's always about the expression and the emotion of the subject. A great photo, in my opinion, captures joy, sorrow, sadness, despair, caring, love. And those are the things that will always again, for me make a great photo. Even though technically, it may not be a great photo, if that makes sense. I think in a previous episode, I mentioned I, I was in Italy at a graphic studio and I was with a group we were part of

a workshop. And on the last day of the workshop, we got to tour the actual I hate to say it's a factory because it's so much more than that. But the the production site for all photographic materials, beat albums, prints, wall art, any and everything that graphic Studio makes, it was mind blowing. But the at the end of the tour, you end up in this room are there all of these albums on and wall art completed works. And ton a ton of albums, you could be there all day just

looking through stuff. And one of the people on the tour happened to mention that she was taken aback by how bad some of the photos were in those albums. And like I was offended. I shouldn't say offended I was kind of it made me feel bad, is what it comes down to. It made me feel bad for a couple of reasons. I'm at that point in my career, we're talking four years ago now. I was not as proficient. Or let me just say, I was not as good as I am now. And by no means am I saying I'm

that I'm great. All I'm saying is that I'm better than I was four years ago. But at that point, to listen to somebody say that just something in me fell, you know, you know how your heart just kind of drops. Because my immediate thought was, Wow, I could only imagine what you must think of my work.

Because you know, you've got your fancy studio and you're bringing in the big bucks and people lining up and you've got a backlog of people because you're that good that you could stand in judgment of other people and their photos. And the thing about it, and this is what I mean when I talk about what draws you into photo. The photos in these books are like wedding albums or families, you know, kids, young kids, babies,

toddlers. Those photos are priceless to the people who ordered those albums because I think what happens is that like graphic duplicates that, you know, album orders and then they put they would put them on display or you know, whatever. But photos are more than just images put on paper and then put in a book they mean something to people so to listen to somebody talk about how bad photos are or it's like Wow, you know, you,

you're all that are you. So if this is someone who I like, I mean, she's a nice woman, she's a successful woman, photography's her second career, and she has just like, taken off. And she's fantastic. Her work is magnificent. But just to know that you stand in judgment of other people like that, just, you know, it's like I said much earlier. good and nice, right? I mean, either keep the your opinion to yourself if it's not complimentary, or be gentle with

the statement. Because for me, anyway, a photo that shows emotion shows a moment that means something to people, and that should be respected. But the other thing I want to say about that is, you know, how experts when they talk about Instagram, they they keep telling us that video is the new thing, it's not really still photos anymore, but I don't see it that way. Or maybe for the masses, it, you know, video is more attractive. And it's become more relevant. But I see the

other side of the coin. I don't think video can capturing motion or expression the same way photography can. Because Video, Video demands movement, right? Either the videographer or the recorder has to move or the subject has to move. If not, it's not good. It just doesn't look right. If there's no movement, the video becomes boring, and no one's going to

look at it. But if you think about something like, you know, the groom, when he turns around to see his bride for the first time, and the tear starts to fall, okay, so the video captures the motion, I'll give you that. But then what happens, like the videographers kind of pan out so that you can then see why the tears that he's looking at his beautiful bride, or he's got the videographers got a pan out enough to so that you could see the best man put his arm around the groom and be

supportive. Photo doesn't need that photo just needs his face, and the tear falling. And that moment is going to live forever. As long as somebody has that photo, who's going to pull out the video. See, that's the thing about video, you've got to seek video out, you know what I mean? It's you're not going to have a video of your wedding constantly playing in your home every day. But you are going to have a photo of the day you got married. And the most precious

moments of that ceremony. And that's what people don't get about the importance of photography. Nothing captures moments like photography, nothing, you're not going to, you're not going to replay the video of when the groom turned around to look at the bride, you're not going to replay it. There's nobody who's gonna argue differently. Your you know, five years down the road, the guy's not gonna come home from work and say, Hey, honey, where's that video me crying when you

walk out? No, that's not going to happen. But if he walks past that photo every day, it's going to do something for him, hopefully good is going to you know, evoke a memory of that moment of what it meant of the time that's passed since then, whatever. And you can't get that with video. So this is why photography is always going to remain relevant. Because no other medium, absolutely no other medium, can capture can isolate and can freeze moments in time. Only photography does.

Final question? What do you think makes a great photographer and we're going to talk about that in my next episode. Thanks, everyone. I hope you enjoyed this actually, what I'm going to do is I'm just going to quickly run down the questions without the commentary. So number one, you're given $10,000 to spend on photography gear, camera, lenses, anything related to photography, what would you buy?

Same scenario but instead of $10,000 $5,000 What would you buy and would you buy the same things that you attempted to buy with the $10,000 If you didn't have to spend it on gear, how would you spend either the five or the 10,000? Classes education travel? That was number one. Number two, you're going on a photo shoot, you can only bring one camera body and one lens, and it must be a prime lens.

What are you going with? You can't crop the photo, when you're processing it, you can't crop it, and you can't expand the background. So your your photo is going to be whatever it is you shot. So what do you bring? What do you bring us camera body? What are you bringing us? Your prime lens and only a prime lens? Question number three, you have full access to a photography studio for a day. What would you choose to shoot? What genre and be specific? Think about what you

would do? Would you think about what you would do? And whether you would stay with what you already know? Or would you use this opportunity to go outside the box and you'll get all the you know, all the assistance, all of the equipment, whatever it is that you choose? If you want to do product, product, stock, photography, beauty, photography, whatever, you'll get everything that you need. Um, what would you choose? And be as specific as possible in your decision? Just really think

it out? on question number four, you can spend a day with a photography mentor of your choosing anywhere in the world on their photoshoot. Who would you choose? And why? Number five, you can have any photographer come to your studio or be with you on a shoot to give you advice. Who would you choose? And why? And would it be the same person? As in the

previous question? Question number six, you're given a year to photograph anywhere in the world outside of your native country, you have to live there for the year you cannot go outside of its borders. What country would you choose? And why? Would you go to a place that you already known a place that you've already been to? Or would you go someplace you've never been before? That's on

your bucket list? And the second part of that question is if you could be in two countries six months in one six months and the other, what would be what country would be your second choice? And why? Number seven? Is there an artist or are there artists outside of photography whose work has been inspirational or that influences you. And that can be an old master, it can be a modern artist, it could be a sculptor or a painter. It can't just can't be another photographer. It has to be outside of

photography. Question number eight, what tool or gear other than your camera and lens or lenses helps to make the most in photography for you. Or it simply makes photographing easier for you is probably a better way to say it. Number nine, what do you think makes a great photo? And we just finished talking about that. So it's food for thought. And number 10? What do you think makes a great photographer and that's something we're going to talk about on our next episode.

I hope you've enjoyed these 10 questions. I hope they've given you some things to think about. And I think they're important things to think about right? Because there's a lot in photography and sometimes you lose sight of the bigger picture the broader picture that you do this because you love it because you're so wrapped up in the

technical stuff. And I think this is a nice way to clear your mind a little bit, give you some food for thought about what's really important to you as a photographer and as an artist. Thank you for listening. Till next time. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of clued up with me your host Maria b. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please be sure to rate subscribe and review on your preferred podcast listening

platform. I really appreciate your support when you rate subscribe and review you're also helping other listeners find and enjoy this podcast until next time