Camera Position is back! After a too-long hiatus, I’m back with a great series of ideas about the creative side of photography. In this episode, metaphor and symbol and the way they can enhance our photographs.
In this episode, Camera Position takes a field trip! A great visit to A Gallery for Fine Photography in New Orleans, Louisiana and a great conversation with gallery owner Joshua Mann Pailet links up the idea of collecting photographs with a consummate collector. Links for this episode: Tulane University Marching Band A Gallery … Continue reading Camera Position 92 : A Gallery for Fine Photography in New Orleans →
Living with art… if we were wanting to be writers, we’d read books and we’d collect work by our favorite authors. As photographers, living with work by artists we admire is an important part of living the artful life. This podcast talks about how important it is for us to collect photographs we love and … Continue reading Camera Position 91 : Living With Art →
Sometimes inertia gets the best of us and inertia was responsible for Camera Position’s absence these last few months. And photography can be like that, as well. This is the story of how one picture helped get me moving on a beautiful day in Rome and that same picture helped get me moving on talking … Continue reading Camera Position 90 : Inertia & Inspiration →
Camera position and camera distance… are they the same thing? As we position the camera, are we also thinking about how we position ourselves relative to the subject? By looking at work by August Sander, the Bechers, Andreas Gursky, Tina Barney and Jessica Todd Harper, we examine ideas about how we distance ourselves from a … Continue reading Camera Position 89 : Camera Position & Camera Distance →
In this, the second of a two-part “desert island photograph” project, we cover more Camera Position listeners describing that one image that they’d take with them for visual sustenance if they were stranded on a desert island. Links for this episode: Don Hong-Oai – A History of Photography “Summer School” podcast Cartier-Bresson at Magnum Edward … Continue reading Camera Position 88 : Desert Island Photographs – Part 2 →
Back in Camera Position #83, I asked Camera Position listeners to pick their one “desert island photograph;” that one image that they’d take with them for visual sustenance if they were stranded on a desert island. This episode shares the first few of those responses; others will follow in the next episode. Thanks to those … Continue reading Camera Position 87 : Desert Island Photographs – Part 1 →
One of my goals for my workshops is to help the participants learn how to cope with the volume of images that they are making and to edit their images so that the group of photographs becomes their own. This podcast is a partial response to my friend Brooks Jensen using his podcast platform to … Continue reading Camera Position 86 : Italy Photo Workshops – Photographing and Editing in Rome & Tuscany →
In a world populated by billions and billions of images, with more being made every second, how do we find a path for ourselves as image makers? We look at the dilemma of quantity and quality in this episode. Links for this Podcast Alec Soth interview on the Big Red & Shiny Blog Alec Soth’s … Continue reading Camera Position 85 : A Bazillion Photographs →
Nurturing a set of “interesting visual friends” is one of the ways we can help create an environment of creativity around us. We can do that by networking both in the virtual space of today’s social networking tools and in the real world space of spending time with other photographers. This podcast episode talks about … Continue reading Camera Position 84 : Interesting Visual Friends →
If you were stranded on a desert island, what one photograph would you bring along to sustain you visually? I’m soliciting Camera Position listeners’ “Desert Island Photographs” and asking them to send me the one photograph they think would keep them visually “fed.” Listen to the podcast to find out how to play along. Eugene … Continue reading Camera Position 83 : What’s On Your Desert Island? →
“Many times beauty begs to be recorded and it is only later that its position in the overall order of things becomes apparent.” So said podcast listener Bryant Johnson, a sentence that made me think about how we photograph and the ways that we can produce work just by looking and responding. After our time … Continue reading Camera Position 82 : Beauty Begs to be Recorded →
In our final “Project Planning Roadmap” podcast, we talk about DAM – Digital Asset Management – trying to get a handle on what these software packages can do for you. Rating, sorting, grouping, keywording and adjusting your images is what applications like Apple Aperture and Adobe Lightroom are all about. If you’re using them, you … Continue reading Camera Position 81 : Project Planning Roadmap – DAM! →
A place for your all your stuff! The next part of planning and producing a project has to do with managing your content. Where do you store it? How do you get at it? Can you find it when you need it? We take a look at these issues in this episode. Links for this … Continue reading Camera Position 80 : Project Planning Roadmap – A Place For Your Stuff! →
Taking a quick break from our project planning roadmap series, this episode of Camera Position spends some time looking at a few of the wonderful photographs produced by participants in my first-ever photography workshop in Tuscany, Italy. This podcast episode looks at two images from each of the participants. The rest of their great projects … Continue reading Camera Position 79 : A Workshop Overview →
Who is your audience and how will they best see the work? Audience and Distribution considers not only who is interested in the work you’re producing, but also to consider how they can access the work you’re creating. Links for this podcast: Books from Blurb.com Portfolio reviews at Photo Lucida
Now that we have an idea for a project and a mission for what that project will do and for whom, we have to start making some images and actually creating the body of work. This episode deals with our needs, our habits and our goals, all aspects of project time managment.
Taking passion and combining it with purpose gives you a direction in your work. This episode talks about taking the list of 20 things that are important and using that passion to build a mission for your photography. Passion & Mission PDF
What do you care about? What things are really important to you as a person in the world? The next step in the project planning roadmap is to make a list of at least 20 things that are really important to you. We’ll use this list in the next episode of Camera Position,
The second part of the Photographer’s Project Planning Roadmap series looks at idea germination; how do you find new ideas and nurture them? Download the Hard & Soft exercise PDF
Defining and planning a project is one of the most useful ways to build a body of work, learn about yourself and learn about your personal response to photography. With this podcast, we start a series of Camera Position episodes that will create and follow a project planning roadmap for photographers.
Photographer’s Bookshelf #5 highlights a stunning and interesting reprinting of Robert Frank’s important 1959 book “The Americans,” a must-have for your photographic book collection. Also, a reminder about registration for the Tuscany Workshop May 16 to 23, 2009 – the registration deadline is Friday, February 6 – register now! Robert Frank’s The Americans at Amazon … Continue reading Camera Position 72 – Photographer’s Bookshelf #5 →
I am very pleased to announce that I will be leading a workshop to Tuscany this May. In Search of the Personal: Photographing Tuscany with Jeff Curto Saturday, May 16 to Saturday, May 23, 2009 For more information, visit www.photographitaly.com Enjoy a photographic journey where you will experience many aspects of Tuscany’s remarkable culture, landscape … Continue reading Camera Position Special Edition : Tuscany Workshop Announcement →
How to get really good at photography! Finally, the secret is revealed. Turns out, it’s not all that hard… just live a life in the world. And make pictures. Tractor, Sycamore Steam Fest, 2008 and Spring Grapevine, Tuscany, 2008 Photographs by Jeff Curto (click for a larger view) Books mentioned in the podcast: Photography in … Continue reading Camera Position 71 : How To Get Really Good at Photography →
Part two of our examination of the concepts of Gestalt in composition. Gestalt is a psychology of visual communication that helps explain how the mind works to make sense of the visual world. This episode talks about “similarity” and “proximity.” Photographs by Jeff Curto (click for a larger view)
We examine the concepts of Gestalt as they relates to composition. Gestalt is a psychology of visual communication that helps explain how the mind works to make sense of the visual world. This episode talks about “Closure” and “Continuance.” Photographs by Jeff Curto
Zoom with your feet! Zoom lenses can interfere with the creative process by letting you get lazy with where you’re positioning your camera. Switching to a “prime” lens of a single focal length can help your composition and your thought process. We also look at “The Poor Man’s Tripod” – a simple device for helping … Continue reading Camera Position 68 : Zoom With Your Feet! →
Photographers must love the act of photographing; the mechanics of making a picture. But, before that, they have to love the simple act of seeing the world around them. Some pictures are best made without a camera. Lunch – Still Life with Tomato & Basil Salad – Photograph by Jeff Curto “The camera is an … Continue reading Camera Position 67 : The Mind as Camera →
Human memory is a curious thing; sometimes it’s spot-on perfect, other times it’s altered by the passage of time. Photographs are a way that we can extend or enhance our memories and this episode is about a way that my memory was both rewarded and tested in the Italian mountain village of Scanno.
Photography is about doing, but it’s also about thinking… looking, seeing, appreciating. It’s possible to learn more about photography just by doing it, but it’s a lot easier when you pay attention to how others do it. This episode of Camera Position discusses the ideas of connoisseurship; the art of how we come to know … Continue reading Camera Position 65 : What Are You Lookin’ At? How do you Know? →
