Everyday Photography, Every Day

90: Looking and Collecting, with Gallerist Catherine Couturier

Every photographer wants to be collected, and we all look at photos every day, perhaps never fully thinking about the process we use to judge what we see. In this special episode we dig into how we look and judge and also how we might begin to collect. Get inside the head of a gallery owner.

89: Haunted: The Sensual Identity of Sophie Dimond

Photographer, and subject of her own introspective and sensual photographs, Sophie Dimond seems to roam the landscape wrestling with her past. Her beautiful work is created with traditional methods, on medium format film as well as with Polaroids, and is both spooky and alluring. (Apologies for poor audio this episode).

88: Learning to Play, with Jerry Downs

Photographer and teacher Jerry Downs has been taking pictures for more than 50 years, and inspiring other picture takers along the way. His spiritual approach is delightful; and anyone would benefit from engaging with him. We sat down to get to know Jerry better and understand more about his philosophy and background. Listen in!

87: Winners of the Fall Show

86: The Photographer's Photographer, Rick Smolan

Rick's career spans amazing gigs at Time, LIFE and National Geographic; he's been played on the silver screen by Adam Driver, and his creative Day in the Life projects have touched millions. He's also the guy who convinced me to move into digital from film (and get a Fujifilm camera --even though he talks about his Sony today...).

85: Pricing Photos

As Neomodern gets ready for a gallery show this week, we debate issues in pricing photos, collecting photos and, actually, whether we can call them "art".

84: Noticing Things, with Mark Citret

Citret has studied with so many historic icons: Ansel Adams, Pirkle Jones, Willy Ronis... and has taught students, and has influenced my own photography for years. It's a treat to get to sit with him for a bit and talk about pictures. "The world is an endlessly fascinating place..."

83: Private, with Artist Jason Langer

Jason Langer's photography is poetic, but the photographer has a lot he articulates beautifully about why we take pictures and how we look at them. I've long been a fan of his moody and noirish images of cities and strangers. But beyond those specifics, Langer describes his process and as expected, it was inspiring. Truly one of the best conversations about photography I've had in ages. A must for any new photography fan.

82: Photographing Burning Man

There's something about Burning Man... maybe its ephemerality (like a sand mandala) that is created with love and then wiped away without a trace, that not only feels like an interesting metaphor for all living, but how it highlights the nature of photography to grasp at the transient and make it permanent. Anyway, its a dusty nightmare that is a photographic dream. My experience:

81: Balance with Brooks!

We met Brooks Fletcher when we started working with Peak Design. But not everyone you bump into in the workworld is as interesting a photographer and artist. Introducing Brooks!

80: Our Photo (Party) Game

79: Death and Pictures

Where Suzanne and Rubin explore the painful conflict between processing grief and the desire to take photos. Pulling a camera out at a funeral or in a hospital room is almost taboo, yet we cannot argue that birth and death are all part of our human experience and the act of photography can be an important part of these natural moments.

78: A Million Pictures with Thomas Hawk

Hawk is the quintessential photographic hobbiest, with a goal on publishing a million images over the course of his life. With a busy day job, a large young family, Hawk squeezes his passion into the nooks of his world. [NB: there is some bg audio noise in the first minute that clears up]

77: "Take her picture. Let her see what you see."

Morning meandering thoughts on life with a camera and the lessons of using film, even if you've never used film. Lessons for beginners. And a message from "Sundays are for lovers" - There's a difference between how you look, and how I see you.

76: Not Quite the Quote Show

When Suzanne and Rubin take a break from guests and dig into some of their favorite quotations about photography, and other meandering photographic thoughts.

75: Risk, with Documentarian Andrea Pritchard

Pritchard's new award-winning documentary (Risk: Women on the Frontline) shines light on three remarkable photojournalists.

74: Genuine, with Photojournalist David Burnett

Burnett's images have long been synonymous with Time magazine — his images of the Iranian Revolution, presidents, historical moments worldwide. Who is this real-life Sean O'Connell (the mysterious globe-trotting photographer in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty")?

73: Seductive, with Rachael Dunville

Rachael Dunville manages to mix her work with physical intimacy with her photographic portraits, producing wonderfully personal stories of her subjects.

72: A Camera is not an Eye: Taking Better Pictures

Why can something LOOK cool, and you take a pic of it, but the picture is flat and dull?? What is that? Shouldn't the photo look as good as the way you see it -- and if not, what to do about it.

71: Both Sides of a Lens: Photographer and Model Ellian Raffoul

Photographer-models are a special group, bringing a unique perspective to the ideas of seeing and being seen. Ellian begins our ongoing series of chatting with photographers who are also models.

70: Where the Photo Meets the Frame: The Art of Jefferson Hayman

Jefferson Hayman's photography was already haunting, with images in the pictorialist style... but a few years ago he began finding antique frames and pairing them with his images to create beautiful and unique creations.

69: Telling Stories: Learnings from The New Republic Photo Director Stephanie Heimann

Great pictures are just part of the art of photography; selecting a few to tell a story is a totally different skill and critically important, particularly for journalists (but really: for everyone). Meet The New Republic magazine's photo director Stephanie Heimann as we discuss telling stories.

68: Printing on Glass: Meet Fracture

Neomodern isn't the only company with a passion for getting images off your phone and onto your wall: Fracture is a growing company that has tapped into the challenges of printing on glass, in the tradition of Ansel Adams and even back to the original daguerreotypes, all photographic processes on glass.

67: The Life-Time Project

Why does every wall-sign in the Neomodern gallery include the photographer's age? The answer was a long time in the making...

66: Are Still Images Enough? Chatting with Frederick Barnes

Photo manipulator Frederick Barnes mesmerizes his 100K followers on Instagram with his complex still-image animations, and his work begs the question whether a non-moving image is enough to capture the interest in the public.

65: The Zen Art of Photography, with Chris Lunt

Chris Lunt and I discuss the zen arts and it's application in photography.

64: The Power of Scale: Meet Bryant Austin, Whale Photographer

Where we talk about scale, and the power in size to communicate, in addition to an image. Bryant uses his photographs to connect, with nature and himself. I want to say this once: a LIFE SIZE PHOTOGRAPH of a whale. Think about that. And think about the power of an image. To connect us to the things around us, and our place in the world, from our tiny vantage point. I wanted to talk to someone about the importance of SCALE for an image, whether it's small or giant, in communicating about the s...

63: Los Angeles... and Sock Puppets

Part Two of our chatting before the next guest arrives. I road-tripped to LA and had a number of photographic moments... I think this is my favorite episode. Is that nuts?

62: The Syntopicon: Russ, Doug, Kris and Nigel

Suzanne and I look at themes running through our last four episodes in the conversations with four very different photographers: Russell Brown, Doug Menuez, Kris Sanford and Nigel Barker.

61: Meet Nigel Barker, Fashion Photographer and, well, Celebrity

After 17 seasons co-hosting America's Next Top Model, Nigel Barker is one of the most famous and recognizable photographers today. He has a wealth of great stories, inspiration, and experience to share!

60: Meet Kris Sanford, Artist and Educator

Kris describes her work as exploring "intimate relationships, specifically queer desire, through the use of appropriated images, video, and text." But she's also a teacher of young photographers and her insights there are fascinating!

59: Meet Doug Menuez, Photojournalist and Creator of "Fearless Genius"

Doug Menuez is perhaps best known as the key documentarian of the '80s Silicon Valley, and particularly his work with Steve Jobs. His work is empathic and beautiful; he's balanced a career in both commercial and fine art.

58: Meet Russell Brown, Father of Photoshop and Madman...

Our first guest is the ever-wacky Russell Brown, a super senior creative person at Adobe, and perhaps more interestingly, one of the founding team of Photoshop along with the Knoll Brothers. His observations about photography, Instagram, photo manipulation are fantastic. A joy!

57: Enter the Darkroom

In which we take a walk through the now-archaic process of silver printing, traditional darkroom work, and what can be gleaned from this background.

56: Why We Print (and Happy Birthday Ansel!)

There are a lot of important reasons to print your pictures, it being Ansel Adams' birthday isn't one of them...

55: Visiting Monet

You'd think that an exhibit of Monet's paintings wouldn't have too much to say to a photographer, but you'd be wrong...

54: Travel Pictures

You're not a journalist covering your vacation, so you might want to relax a little when you're taking pictures on your trip. Pick a few moments to "cover". We also discuss the pros and cons of anonymous subjects in your pictures.

53: The Fifty... and "Visual Osmosis"

You do not need to learn any stupid rules of composition. You need to look at these 50 images, really look, and you will learn composition -- your photos will be better immediately.

52: Photography for Creative Expression (after 180 Years)

Starting from the "document" side of photography, and moving into the poetic.

51: Beginners... How to Start Growing Your Skills

It's all about your composition. It's the only thing you have to practice. And it's free and easy.

50: Collage with Gabrielle

More explorations of ways to play with your pictures and explore the power in juxtaposition -- whether in collage, book layouts, or wall displays.

49: When You Need a Pro...

Professionals can deliver the goods. So when are those moments when it's worth getting a pro versus just handling a picture yourself? And how do you even hire a pro?

48: Decorating with Photos

Seems like it would be easy: everyone has lots of pictures and all you have to do is select one and get it enlarged and framed. So what's the problem? Clearly there's more to it than this. We dig in.

47: Wabi Sabi and Photographic Imperfection

It's hard not to want to make your photos "perfect" whatever that might mean -- skin with no blemishes, compositions elegant, no reflections... but embracing the imperfect is part of improving your pictures. Learn about the philosophy of wabi-sabi...

46: Look at the Light

We're back and looking at moody lighting opportunities and how the think about them. Also, we dig into some reasons to limit how much you shoot, and how to organize the things you keep. But mostly it's about the light.

45: Photographing Nudes - A Privileged Intimacy (The NSFW Episode)

One of the most fun and challenging subjects for photographers is nude figures; but how do you start? what do you say? In this episode Rubin reflects on his process in ways that are applicable to all sorts of every day photography.

44: A Minimum Quantity of Gear

Pros have great gear. But what do you need when you aren't a pro?

43: Landscapes, Mostly...

Ansel Adams suggested that landscapes are the hardest photos to pull off. They are inspired by our amazing real life experience of the majestic outdoors, but somehow get crushed into little photos. Is there anything that can be done? Oh, and Rubin reveals a secret...

41: The Instagram Dilemma

Photographers have a love/hate with Instagram. It uses photos as social currency, which is a great way to get your images seen, but also suffers as a marginal way to experience a photo (small, quick), which isn't always what a photographer wants.

40: Some Technical Questions Before the Holidays