Allan Weitz had little idea of the grand photographic adventures in store when he signed on as host of the B&H Photography Podcast shortly before the shows debut in October 2015. As a self-described big mouth, and with more than 40 years as a working pro fueling his curiosity about all things photographic, Allan quickly honed his chops to become the voice of the show. Todays episode marks a crossroads, as Allan passes his hosting mic to the shows incoming host, Derek Fahsbender, producer and hos...
Jan 16, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Top shot Ron Tarver Cowboy lore has deep roots in American culture. Yet, black cowboys have lived pretty much under the radar until recently, when songs by pop culture icons Lil Nas X and Beyonc went viral and catapulted the black western aesthetic into the limelight. In todays show, were getting the inside scoop from two photographers whove been fully immersed in these vibrant communities since long before they became a top fashion trend. Separated by a generation in age and with pictures spann...
Jan 02, 2025•1 hr 27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Well, 2024 has certainly come and gone in a flash, meaning its time once again for us to reflect on new photo offerings in our annual Cameras of the Year episode, now renamed Photo Gear of the Year. Featured in our discussion are new releases from Canon , FUJIFILM , Leica , Mint , Nikon , OM SYSTEM , Panasonic, Ricoh Pentax , and Sony . In the words of our recurring guest, Kevin Rickert, B&Hs Senior Sales Trainer for Photography and Lighting, Everything old is new again at least when it comes to...
Dec 19, 2024•2 hr 42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Photographers have a magical ability to transport us to hidden worlds, giving us intimate access to facets of society that would otherwise go unnoticed. Above photograph Marcela Taboada In todays podcast, we sit down with Mexican photographer Marcela Taboada, whose long-term documentary projects offer revealing glimpses into underrecognized communities, for Picturing World Cultures. Combining a passion for making pictures that let her see backstage, with a knack for knocking doors and the tenaci...
Dec 05, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Transcript available on Metacast What is the role of landscape photography in a post-industrial world? In todays podcast, we consider some possibilities in a chat with Jade Doskow, current photographer in residence for Staten Islands Freshkills Park , and Cal Flyn author of the book Islands of Abandonment. Above image: Jade Doskow While our two guests work in different disciplines, which leads to divergent approaches to the pictures they make, their shared purpose tells similar stories. Among the topics we discuss are a distinc...
Nov 21, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Transcript available on Metacast In todays podcast, we sit down with Mark Leong, a fifth-generation Chinese-American photographer, for Picturing World Cultures. Above photograph Mark Leong From his arrival in 1980s Beijing on a one-year travel fellowship, to his decision to live and work there long-term over the following decades, we follow Marks path from his ancestral village to the Beijing art scene, and beyond. He walks us through his experiences in documenting the massive cultural shifts as Chinese society transitioned fro...
Nov 14, 2024•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we chat with Reid Callanan, founder and director of the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops and renowned photo educator Craig Stevens, formerly of Maine Media Workshops and Savannah College of Art & Design, about photography mentors, lifelong learning, and the role photo workshops play in cultivating community. Craig and Reid share plenty of insight, not just on the requisite trust thats required in a successful mentor and student relationship, but other topics such as what it means to be trul...
Oct 31, 2024•1 hr 28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Todays podcast has us sitting down with Venezuelan photographer and investigative journalist Fabiola Ferrero to discuss her long-term photographic projects in Venezuela, for Picturing World Cultures. Above photograph Fabiola Ferrero Fabiola walks us through her childhood memories of Venezuela and describes how this period contrasts significantly with the countrys current climate. We also discuss how she got started in photography, and how her time spent both in and out of Venezuela helped grow h...
Oct 10, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast In todays podcast, we chat with Boris Eldagsen, visual artist and AI pioneer, and Miles Astray, documentary photographer, on a plethora of issues surrounding AI-generated content. Boris and Miles share a ton of insight into the nature of AI-generated images, from the implications of it becoming more prevalent, the possibility and dangers of the spread of misinformation all the way to the need to rethink how we engage with social media. These are just a few of the points raised in our discussion ...
Sep 26, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Transcript available on Metacast In todays podcast, well be talking with Norwegian photographer Naina Heln Jma about her documentation of indigenous South Sami culture in Norway and her career as a press photographer in Scandinavia. Jma details her childhood growing up in the small rural village of Snasa, where, at the age of 15, she began her career while working as a cultural interpreter and archivist at the Saemien Sijte Museum. From there, Naina takes us on a journey through her fascinating career as a photographer, from he...
Sep 12, 2024•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast In todays podcast, well be talking with Long Island-based pediatrician and self-taught photographer Dr. Greg Gulbransen, whose newly released book Say Less documents the three years Gulbransen spent embedded with Malik, the paralyzed leader of a Crips set in the Bronx. Gulbransen details his journey from wildlife and fashion photography to documenting the lives of at-risk members of the Bikes Up Guns Down club to his most recent (and most daunting) project: photographing members of a violent str...
Aug 29, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast How would you feel if all the coverage you saw about your culture was a superficial view from the outside, rather than a narrative steeped in details of lived experience? Above photograph Tailyr Irvine This is the motivating force that led todays guest to pick up a camera, enter the newsroom, and cultivate an insiders perspective on contemporary Native American life, to expand the scope and enhance the accuracy of stories being told. From exploring quiet moments at the Standing Rock Sioux Reserv...
Aug 08, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Where does the medium of photography stand in an era where the latest mantra encourages people to Skip the Photo Shoot? How can a viewer continue to trust photographs as evidence in a marketplace where AI is touted as a revolution, and the new digital camera that we need to embrace? And what methods can a photographer use today to be considered a credible witness with a transparent code of ethics? These are just a few of the points rai s ed in our discussion with renowned writer, photo editor, a...
Aug 01, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sports enthusiasts from around the world will soon be glued to their nearest viewing screen, watching the action unfold during the international Summer Games in Paris. But how much do you know about the finer points of photographing elite level competition, or about the lightning-fast, high-tech journey these images make from inside a camera to a remote editing workflow, and then onward to be enjoyed by you, the viewer? In todays podcast weve got the inside track on how these visual delicacies a...
Jul 18, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast A photographers success hinges on access. This is an underlying thread in the tapestry woven in this weeks show. Our discussion covers multiple facets and cultural attributes of Indian society, as seen through the eyes of a photographer with a knack for being in the right place at the right time. In this months episode of the series, Picturing World Cultures , we speak with Indian photographer Pablo Bartholomew about his long career as a documentarian and photojournalist. From his early intimate...
Jul 04, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Most peoples perception of prison life revolves around sensationalized news stories and Hollywood movies depicting drab, inhospitable environments far outside our reach. In todays show, were challenging that view in a chat with two educators who use photography as a framework for teaching visual literacy and the art of storytelling to incarcerated men. Cameras, computers, and sometimes even books, are prohibited from classrooms inside lock up, which forced our guests to come up with creative wor...
Jun 20, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Documenting a culture can be a daunting process, especially when it involves a history of conquest and colonialism. Synthesizing such a complex and traumatic past in a contemporary narrative is a formidable task, requiring extensive researchh and dedicated planning. This is the back story to todays podcast. Above photograph Juan Brenner For the seventh chapter in our monthly series, Picturing World Cultures , we speak with Guatemalan photographer Juan Brenner about his recent projects in the cou...
Jun 06, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Julia Blaukopf is not afraid to think big, particularly when it comes to her photographs. Shes also not afraid of blurring the lines between fine art and commercial enterprise. Equal parts photographer, designer, visual artist, and entrepreneur, Julia is the founder of Fotograficaan arts-products venture with the goal of re-envisioning options for photography and photo-based products. Top shot Julia Blaukopf In this weeks podcast, Julia leads us along her inspiring pathfrom her early days workin...
May 23, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast How much do you know about New York Citys 1982 Loft Law, which established a process for artists to obtain legal occupancy of the raw industrial spaces they inhabited, while also providing rent stabilization and protection from future eviction? Or the pigeon fanciers who were once a fixture across the rooftops of Brooklyn and remain valued as neighborhood sentinels? If these poetic vestiges from Gothams storied past have you dreaming about the good old days, then you wont want to miss our podcas...
May 09, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast The dictionary defines culture as the way of life for an entire society. But sometimes larger forces create rifts within the whole, inevitably leading to a confrontation between factions. A prime example of this cultural struggle is playing out today within the cities and villages of Ukraine, the focus of todays episode. Above photograph Maxim Dondyuk In this sixth installment of our monthly series, Picturing World Cultures, we speak with Ukrainian photographer and visual artist Maxim Dondyuk, a...
May 02, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Transcript available on Metacast For anyone familiar with the photo industry, the mammoth lawsuit between The Andy Warhol Foundation and renowned music photographer Lynn Goldsmith should be no secret. This complex battle over the rights to her 1981 portrait of the artist formerly known as Prince lasted seven years and went all the way to the Supreme Court. But do you know the circumstances behind her original portrait session with the famously reserved musician, and were you aware of all the misinformation about this case that ...
Apr 18, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Professional tree planting is back breaking pieceworka combination of high intensity sport and industrial labor that requires both technical finesse and remarkable physical and mental endurance. Using techniques more often associated with high-performance athletes, experienced planters (commonly known as high-ballers) leap up and down through uneven and debris-strewn terrain, armed only with a shovel and 30-kg bags of seedlings on their backs. In recent years, tree planting has become a rite of ...
Apr 04, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Cozy up to a ringside seat for a behind-the-scenes tour of the wildest shows in sports entertainment, during our insightful chat about the still photos produced for World Wrestling Entertainment, (otherwise known as WWE). In 2023 alone, the WWE photo team traveled the globe, covering close to 170 live events, and producing 2.6 million stills to serve the organizations various platforms. You mightincorrectlyassume that WWEs still images are generated from video screengrabs. Well, this couldnt be ...
Mar 28, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Where will you be on April 8, 2024? If you dont already know, youd better figure it out fast, particularly if youve got an interest in observingand ideally photographingthe awe-inspiring phenomenon of a total solar eclipse. To get you up to speed on essential eclipse details, tune in to our chat with science writer Rebecca Boyle and Gabriel Biderman from B&Hs Road Marketing team. Boyle shares tidbits about Earths silvery sister gleaned from research for her book Our Moon, while Gabe discusses pr...
Mar 14, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Transcript available on Metacast There are many different ways to look at culture, and today we take a geographic approach, to distinguish people who live in rural mountain and hilly settings from those of the wider plains and urban areas. Our focus is the country of Romania, where well explore the rustic landscape of small farms, hand tilled fields, and local communities that still identify with the working methods and traditions of the past. Along the way, well follow the cyclical work of farmers and shepherds, gain insight i...
Mar 07, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Transcript available on Metacast How much can you edit a photo before it stops becoming true? Thats the question CNET tech reporter Stephen Shankland recently asked in the opening lines of his story, How Close is that Photo to the Truth: What to Know in the Age of AI . The article, which examines digital photography and advanced smartphone image processing in the era of AI, reaches beyond the polarizing visual minefield of generative AI by delving into aspects of this technologythats been quietly pre-baked into most every camer...
Feb 29, 2024•2 hr 30 min•Transcript available on Metacast How did a space-age invention become ubiquitous in todays digital imaging landscape? Learn all about it here in our latest podcast, featuring pioneers of photography and digital imaging. In 1993, noted physicist and engineer Eric Fossum led the invention of the CMOS active-pixel image sensor as part of his work for NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Then, as part of JPLs mandate to seek commercial and consumer applications for emerging technologies, he was active in the transfer of the CMOS ...
Feb 16, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast While Joshua Irwandi was born and raised in Indonesia, the early pictures he made during his first visit to the region of Asmat, in the province of West Papua, were less than satisfying to him. Yet his fascination with the people and the place stuck, inspiring him to embark on the long-term project Not a Blank Canvas. In this third installment of our monthly series, Picturing World Cultures, we speak with Irwandi about his experiences documenting the people and landscape of Asmat, which offers a...
Feb 01, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Press photographers have faced tough workplace challenges for quite some time. Yet, according to recent headlines, their job is about to get even tougher, due to current plans by many law enforcement agenciesparticularly the NYPDto encrypt radio calls, making live transmissions of breaking news inaccessible to common citizens and members of the press. Besides being a devastating blow to meddling old biddies and law enforcement buffs, this change has huge implications for photojournalists and new...
Jan 18, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kiana Hayeri was born in Iran, and this was where she launched her career as a photojournalist and visual storyteller. Yet after traveling to Afghanistan for a 2014 assignment, she decided to relocate, spending the next eight years covering both the frontlines of conflict and everyday lives of the Afghan people. In this second installment of our monthly series, Picturing World Cultures, we speak with Hayeri about her experiences living and working in a region mired in cultural upheaval, failing ...
Jan 04, 2024•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
