Episode description

Today’s conversations address the challenges photographers encounter when “real life”—children, family, economic changes, even personal tragedy—interrupt the work we would like to be doing, namely taking pictures, and how we find our way back to the form of creative expression we all desire.

We welcome four photographers who have overcome challenges or who have found ways to incorporate their own life and lifestyle into their professional work. First, we speak with photographer Erin Babnik, who previously joined us to talk about the tech she uses in her landscape photography, but now tells of her recent brush with tragedy when her new home and studio was engulfed by the deadly 2018 Camp Wildfire, in Paradise, California. Next, we are joined by Sofia Aldinio and Colin Boyd, of Affuera Vida Productions, who have decided to take their business on the road, quite literally. Not wanting the typical white picket fence and two-car garage lifestyle, they are retrofitting an old fire department van and taking their two young children on an epic journey from Maine to Argentina, all along, photographing for clients who love their real-life family adventure content.

After a break, we welcome National Geographic Explorer and Grantee Erika Skogg to discuss her project on Scandinavian-American culture. After years spent traveling the world with her camera, Skogg decided it was time to return to her Wisconsin hometown to live. It wasn’t long before she turned her documentarian’s eye to her own culture and heritage and created a beautiful series on the traditions she knows so well.

Finally, we’ll be joined by Carissa Pelleteri, who has published two books on the people of Montauk, NY. “Car” is a Brooklyn native who, after years of vacationing in Montauk, began to notice the changes happening to her beloved getaway. Her books are visual records of the town’s transition from bucolic fishing village to an oft-crowded tourist destination at the eastern end of Long Island. Join us for this intriguing set of conversations, recorded at the 2019 OPTIC Photography Conference.

Guests: Erin Babnik, Sofia Aldinio, Colin Boyd, Erika Skogg, and Car Pelleteri

Photograph © @AffueraVida