Vision Slightly Blurred
144 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★ - 38 ratingsPhotography has evolved into something more than an aggregation of pixels. Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah Jacobs and PhotoShelter co-founder Allen Murabayashi discuss photography and its intersection with culture and technology in this weekly podcast. From facial recognition to the photographers capturing Beyoncé, Vision Slightly Blurred will help you see photography through a new lens.
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Episodes
What Happens When a Major Photo Magazine Shuts Down?
February 03, 2020 12:00 - 23 minutes - 16 MBLast week, Emerald Expositions, the owner of Photo District News (PDN), announced that PDN would no longer publish new content online or in print. The magazine was a staple of the professional photography industry, particularly for advertising and commercial photography. Their articles covered a wide range of topics from pricing to major campaigns to the venerable PDN 30 list. In addition, PDN produced a number of photo contests including the PDN Annual. In this episode of Vision Slightly B...
How Photographers Remember Kobe Bryant Through Their Photos
January 30, 2020 05:00 - 29 minutes - 20.3 MBThe crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his 13-year old daughter Gianna, and seven others aboard a helicopter shocked millions around the world. Near the Staples Center in California where Bryant played for 20 years as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, make-shift memorials appeared. And online, fans posted messages of grief and condolences on social media. Unsurprisingly, images of Bryant were widely shared as if a way to collectively remember him through the most accessible and visceral medi...
How Technical Do You Have to Be to Take a Good Photo?
January 28, 2020 20:00 - 20 minutes - 14.1 MBDoes knowing the science behind photography help us create better pictures and/or get more out of our equipment? Or does the accumulation of such knowledge simply make more technical photographers feel superior? In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Allen Murabayashi makes the case that beyond understanding the exposure triangle and acquiring specific knowledge for the types of photography that you practice (e.g. astrophotography), it's unnecessary to be pre-occupied with understandin...
Joe Rimkus Jr.'s Hopeful Photo of an Exploding Rocket
January 21, 2020 12:00 - 21 minutes - 14.9 MBOn January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded during liftoff due to a faulty O-ring design on the rocket booster which allowed hot gas to ignite a fuel tank. STS-51-L was the 25th space shuttle mission, and in the mid-1980s, launches still captured public attention and imagination. On hand that day was photographer Bruce Weaver, who has been a mainstay of Cape Canaveral launches for over 30 years. Although the NASA video of the tragedy was available immediately, the grainy, low...
In (Partial) Defense of Flickr
January 13, 2020 12:00 - 34 minutes - 23.5 MBOn December 19, 2019, Flickr (and Smugmug) CEO Don MacAskill posted a letter entitled “The world’s most-beloved, money-losing business needs your help.” MacAskill described how Smugmug saved Flickr from an imminent demise at the hands of Verizon, and how the company needed the photo community to step up to staunch the money-losing operation. Was the plea an honest and transparent message, or an admission that MacAskill made a critical mistake in acquiring the company. Online reaction was sw...
How Many Camera Bags Do You Own? (And Why Do You Want More???)
December 23, 2019 13:00 - 24 minutes - 16.6 MBAs with fashion, the camera bag has moved from a purely utilitarian tool to something that expresses your personality, fashion sense, and indecisiveness. The boxy camera bag of the 70s and 80s has been supplanted by sleek backpacks constructed from ballistic nylon, designs that target women, and rolling suitcases for the airborne photographer. No longer the domain of just a few bag manufacturers, the modern camera bag is as likely to be launched on Kickstarter as it is to be found in your lo...
Richard Prince Appropriates: Genius or Charlatan?
December 16, 2019 12:00 - 20 minutes - 14.4 MBIn the world of appropriation art, there are few that can hold a candle to the notoriety that Richard Prince has built over the past five decades. From cowboys to Rastafarians, his use of other people's photos as source material for his art has led to numerous lawsuits and a frenzy of conversation around whether what he's doing is "art" or not. For the past few years, Prince has looked to Instagram for source material and has created his newest work by inserting a fake comment and selling t...
All I Want for Christmas (and Hanukah and Kwanzaa) is...
December 09, 2019 12:00 - 20 minutes - 14.3 MBThe holiday season is upon us, and it's the perfect time to start dropping hints about all the wonderful gear and experience that you covet as a photographer. In conjunction with Feature Shoot, PhotoShelter has also released "The Photographer's Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide" with practical and inspiring suggestions from working professionals. While you're downloading the guide, listen to the dulcet tones of Sarah and Allen's voices while they subtly tell you what you ought to gift them this h...
How Are the Presidential Campaigns Using Photography?
December 01, 2019 12:00 - 25 minutes - 17.7 MBYou might expect sophisticated use of imagery by the U.S. Presidential candidates in the Instagram age. But the capture and use of imagery runs the gamut from good to bad. And with cash poor campaigns struggling to stay afloat, they often use whatever image is available to them. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen take a look at the websites and Instagram accounts of some of the major Democratic candidates, as well as the incumbent President Donald Trump. What they f...
Annie Leibovitz and Her Google Pixel 4
November 25, 2019 12:00 - 16 minutes - 11.4 MBGoogle tapped Annie Leibovitz to help launch the Pixel 4 smartphone with a series of diptychs and videos (shot on Pixel) of social activists around the U.S. According to TIME magazine, Google essentially gave Leibovitz carte blanche to select and shoot the subjects as she saw fit. But are the results compelling? In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen recount their visceral reaction to the project (e.g. "sellout"), whether tech brands should keep pushing the "Shot on Pi...
Have You Fallen Victim to a Photographer Scam?
November 18, 2019 12:00 - 17 minutes - 11.9 MBPhotographers rely on a certain level of trust with their clients to provide a service often before payment is rendered. And for freelance photographers living from paycheck to paycheck, desperation can lead to less than critical thinking skills. This lack of scrutiny creates fertile ground for con men to take advantage of photographers using tricks like the "overpayment scam" to steal hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen recou...
A Photographer Used Roadkill to Attract an Eagle, Then He Won a Contest
November 12, 2019 12:00 - 14 minutes - 10 MBBiologist and Canon Europe Ambassador Audun Rikardsen creates stunning images on land and in the sea – often employing strobes, underwater housings with dome ports, and other specialized gear to give his images a level of eye-popping polish. Recently, Rikardsen took top honors in the "Behavior: Birds" category in the UK's Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest for his incredible image of a golden eagle just inches away from landing on a branch. The contest prohib...
Which Instagram Accounts Steal Images (and Why Do You Follow Them)?
November 04, 2019 12:00 - 20 minutes - 14.2 MBThe Information Age helped usher in a culture of intellectual property theft that extends from photos to music – even jokes. Some of the most popular Instagram accounts have built huge followings around stolen content, then leveraged those audiences to launch new products and services. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen take a deep dive into accounts like @fuckjerry, @historycoolkids, @officialseanpenn and more, and discuss the role of curation, theft, and monetiza...
The Accidental Renaissance in that Trump/Pelosi Photo
October 28, 2019 11:00 - 24 minutes - 16.6 MBOn October 17, 2019, The White House released an image from a contentious meeting between Nancy Pelosi and Donald Trump. Trump quickly tweeted the image with the caption "Nervous Nancy's unhinged meltdown!" and Pelosi responded by using the same photo as her Twitter cover art, writing, "Thanks for the new cover photo realDonaldTrump!" The image quickly went viral – not only because of the use and subsequent appropriation – but because it fell into the category of #accidentalrenaissance, a d...
Does Buying Photo Gear Motivate You to Shoot More?
October 21, 2019 11:00 - 17 minutes - 11.7 MBPhotographers often fault the lack of gear as an excuse for why they don't take better photos. But Allen argues that sometimes acquiring more gear can actually motivate you to photograph more. As he battles his current bout of Gear Acquisition Syndrome, he coerced Sarah to begrudgingly talk about gear for a whole episode! What piece of gear motivated you to shoot more and better? And what purchased do you regret? Is talking about gear a gendered activity? And how many clouds need to be in t...
Photographing The Women of the 116th Congress: Biz Herman and Beth Flynn
October 14, 2019 11:00 - 29 minutes - 20.6 MBA record number of women joined the ranks of the 116th Congress in the 2018 elections, and photojournalist Elizabeth Herman pitched the New York Times on photographing them. Along with portraitist Celeste Sloman, the duo photographed 130 or 131 women in congress in six days, and then worked with photo editors Beth Flynn and Marisa Schwartz Taylor to put together print and online editions that launched in January 2019. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred recorded live at Photoville 20...
If You're Tired of Diversity Talk in Photography, You Haven't Been Listening Hard Enough
October 07, 2019 11:00 - 52 minutes - 35.8 MB"No one is advocating putting mediocre photographers forward just because they're diverse," Tara Pixley told us at a recent interview at Photoville 2019 in Brooklyn. Tara and Mengwen Cao – two board members of Authority Collective – stopped by to talk about their mission to help support, educate and promote women and non-binary photographers in what has historically been a white male-dominated profession. In this wide-ranging episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen (mostly Allen...
How to Shoot a 10-year Photo Project: Jinhee Bae at Photoville
September 30, 2019 11:00 - 24 minutes - 16.6 MBKorean-born Jinhee Bae dropped by for a visit at Photoville 2019 to discuss shooting long-term photo projects, why she continues to use large format, the state of Korean photography, and even a little K-Pop (Can BTS save photography???). With a translation assist from photographer Sylvia Kang, Sarah and Allen chat with Jinhee in a surprisingly candid and refreshing interview.
Scars of Racism: Telling the Story via Drone
September 23, 2019 11:00 - 31 minutes - 21.7 MBTravis Fox, the Director of Visual Journalism at CUNY's Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, was inspired by Ta-Nehisi Coates' piece "The Case for Reparations" and decided that he wanted to help tell the story of systemic racism in the USA. But instead of telling the story from the ground, he took to the skies with his drones to show how practices like redlining of neighborhoods have created visible marks on the landscape. Rich neighborhoods abut impoverished ones by a single road, f...
20 Years of PDN's 30 with Holly Hughes and Jessica Pettway
September 16, 2019 11:00 - 35 minutes - 24.2 MBVision Slightly Blurred is recording live from Photoville 2019 at Brooklyn Bridge Park! For 20 years, PDN's 30 has been setting the bar for emerging talent within the world of photography. As a part of their 20th anniversary celebration, they've set up a container at featuring the work of both the 2019 cohort, as well as many past winners. Holly Hughes, PDN's long-time editor-in-chief and photographer Jessica Pettway join Sarah and Allen in St. Ann's Warehouse to talk about the nomination...
We Can't Stop Looking at the Papa, Paparazzi!
September 09, 2019 11:00 - 26 minutes - 18.2 MBGrocery store checkout lines are lined with magazines using photos by the paparazzi to grab our attention and hopefully add one more item to our cart. Although their tactics can be questionable, there's no doubt that photographs (and video) taken by paparazzi have been a crucial chapter in photographic history – even more so in the U.S. where celebrity culture dominates everything from social media to the Presidency. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen discuss icons ...
Is Ansel Adams Overrated? (Nah, Couldn't Be)
September 03, 2019 11:00 - 33 minutes - 22.9 MBThirty-five years after his death, Ansel Adams is still one of the most popular (and most searched) photographers. He spent a lifetime creating some of the iconic images in the history of photography primarily using an 8x10 camera and black-and-white film. He developed the Zone System with Fred Archer, wrote numerous books, vigorously corresponded with contemporary artists, and advocated for the environment through the use of photography. But has nostalgia for the avuncular photographer led...
Should street photography be illegal?
August 21, 2019 18:00 - 29 minutes - 20 MBStreet photographer Joshua Rosenthal found himself at the center of a rage-fueled campaign by visitors to the Ventura County Fair. Rosenthal's transgression? Photographing people – including some children – in public without explicit consent. Street photography has a long history of candidly capturing subjects, but in today's climate, does intent matter? In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen contemplate the work of photographers Daniel Arnold, Garry Winogrand, Diane A...
Do You Still Need a Photo Website in 2019?
August 19, 2019 11:00 - 24 minutes - 16.8 MBBefore the rise of social media and the ubiquity of apps like Instagram, photographers established and flexed their brands through their personal website and blog. Social media took over the industry (and consumer lives in general) in the late 2010s, and ever since then, the website has seemingly taken a backseat in relevance and importance. But social media like Facebook and Instagram have a number of shortcomings – both from a feature and experiential perspective – that make maintaining a...
Skip Photo School and Learn Everything On YouTube?
July 15, 2019 11:00 - 21 minutes - 14.5 MBWith college costs skyrocketing and uncertainty around job prospects, more students are contemplating whether 4 years of photo school makes financial sense. In the age of YouTube, you can learn virtually any photo technique – from capture to post processing – online, and often for free. Content providers are publishing materials at an unprecedented pace, and making a living while doing it. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen contemplate a college-free world for profe...
Who Did You Ask to (Photograph) Prom?
July 08, 2019 11:00 - 14 minutes - 10.1 MBLike the senior school photo, the prom photo is a rite of passage for most American teens. The traditional posed couple's photo has given way to trends like professional pre-prom photo, and the niche has been tackled by esteemed photographers Aristede Economopoulos, Gillian Laub, Mary Ellen Mark. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen delve into the world of prom, and even share some of their own prom photos.
Get Schooled: The Fascinating World of School Photography
July 01, 2019 11:00 - 16 minutes - 11.3 MBThe school photo – particularly the senior photo – has been a longtime rite of passage for most students in the US. And while schools enforce strict yearbook rules to ensure conformity, a niche industry of more creative photography has emerged that emphasizes individuality. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen talk about their own senior portraits, and investigate photographers who are taking different approaches to school photography (laser cats, anyone?)
What Is the Best Animated GIF of All Time?
June 24, 2019 11:00 - 22 minutes - 15.7 MBNo one could have predicted that the lowly animated GIF would have survived to the ripe old age of 32. Despite the rise of many more efficient technologies, the GIF remains stubbornly popular, and continues to thrive on social media as a sociological force. Its ability to convey emotion while leveraging popular culture combined with the popularity (and $150m investment) of sites like GIPHY, have made the animated GIF as influential as the emoji. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, S...
Why Does Space Photography Inspire Us?
June 17, 2019 11:00 - 13 minutes - 9.59 MBFrom "Earthrise" to "The Pillars of Creation" to Mars rover selfies to this year's image of a black hole, it's undeniable that space photography captures the attention and imagination of the media and public at large. And space exploration is one area where scientists have successful leveraged photography to market their ideas and discoveries in a way that most branches of science have not. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah Jacobs and Allen Murabayashi discuss how NASA's ear...
What Should You Look For In a Photo Workshop?
June 10, 2019 11:00 - 14 minutes - 6.84 MBThere are thousands of photography workshops to teach specific techniques and/or inspire attendees from amateurs to full-time pros. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen talk about workshop disasters, evaluating workshops, and whether pros should consider alternate events like a portfolio review to further their careers. And don't forget PhotoShelter's annual list of "40 Exciting Photography Workshops Happening in 2019 & 2020" which you can find on the blog at https://...
Celebrities Love Photography, But Are They Good Photographers?
June 03, 2019 11:00 - 16 minutes - 7.71 MBDid you ever notice that celebrities love photography? Did you ever notice that they always carry around their Leicas and Contax G2s? What's up with that? But it's not always for show, some celebrities are accomplished and dedicated photographers like Jeff Bridges. Others like Cole Sprouse are honing their craft and getting editorial and commercial gigs to complement their day jobs. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen dig into the psychology of celebrities and thei...
NYT's Lens Blog is On Hiatus, Where Can We Find Great Photography?
May 28, 2019 04:00 - 20 minutes - 9.25 MBThe New York Times Lens blog announced that after 10 years, its going on "indefinite hiatus" – a victim of the change in technology-driven consumption habits of photography. From its humble beginnings, it grew into a photography blog that had the might of a "newspaper of record," pushing documentary photography to a much larger audience than industry-specific blogs could. Lens didn't exist without criticism. Some photographers bemoaned the poor compensation for their often self-financed pro...
We Still Need Stock Photography (for Memes?)
May 20, 2019 11:00 - 17 minutes - 8.15 MBThere was a time when you could make a full-time living producing stock photography. That changed in the mid-90s with the introduction of royalty-free stock CDs. Digital photography and the rise of microstock created enormous downward pricing pressure on the industry. Nevertheless, stock photography still satisfies a real need for generic photography at a (too) reasonable price when commissioned photography isn't feasible. Sarah and Allen talk about stock as well as the co-opting of stock p...
What Do Photo Collectives Stand For?
May 13, 2019 11:00 - 21 minutes - 9.81 MBPhoto cooperatives and collectives have thrived for decades as a way to share resources (e.g. accounting and marketing functions) for like-minded photographers. But in the past few years, a palpable shift has occurred. Many contemporary collectives aggregate niche or marginalized groups of photographers, and provide a showcase and directory for photo editors to reference. Sarah and Allen examine the pros and cons of approaching photography through the lens of a potentially unknown "insider...
What Can Photographers Learn from Instagram Influencers?
May 05, 2019 11:00 - 22 minutes - 10.4 MBSocial media influencers build economic viability by amassing as large an audience as possible. This raison d'etre is different than a photographer who sells their skill as a service. Despite this difference, what might photographers learn from their influencer counterparts about how to best take advantage of a medium like Instagram. Sarah and Allen talk about the Insta-famous from Kim and Kylie to Jimmy Chin and Brinson+Banks in the latest episode of Vision Slightly Blurred.
Are Photographers Ruining Everything?
April 29, 2019 11:00 - 13 minutes - 6.09 MBThe fixation of some photographers to document their lives at any cost has led to unsavory behavior around the world – from the poppy fields in CA to the Grand Prismatic Springs in Yosemite to the railroad tracks at Auschwitz. To make matters worse, businesses have started designing their spaces to encourage and maximize Instagrammable moments. Could leaving your camera at home be liberating? Could it allow you to enjoy the moment even more? Sarah and Allen discuss the possibilities in thi...
Earth Day: Photographers Are Environmental Advocates
April 22, 2019 12:00 - 17 minutes - 8.28 MBMany photographers have abandoned neutral documentary photography in favor of advocating for environmental causes that are important to them. And with massive social media followings, photographers like Paul Nicklen, Ami Vitale and many others are helping to shine a spotlight on issues big and small, and using photography as a primary storytelling device. On this Earth Day, we celebrate the photographers who are advocating for clean water, endangered species, and a healthy planet.
Can Viewing Photos Be Hazardous to Your Health?
April 15, 2019 04:00 - 21 minutes - 10.1 MBFacebook's content moderators have to look at some awful images and video to protect the rest of us from graphic content. The Verge reports that many of these $15/hour contract workers have suffered PTSD or secondary PTSD symptoms, which led Sarah and Allen to ask whether viewing photos could be hazardous to your health. From war photos to images of athletes with catastrophic injuries, what images should be published by the media, and what images should the public consume?
Can you become famous by just photographing Beyoncé?
April 08, 2019 12:00 - 16 minutes - 7.6 MBIt certainly won't hurt your career if Queen Bey hires you for a photo shoot, but the photographers who have worked with her in the past few years honed their skills and earned their keep before being tapped by one of the most influential people on the planet. Tyler Mitchell, Raven B. Varona, Awol Erizku and Blue Ivy have all taken a different approach to photographing Beyoncé, but the end result has been visually spectacular and helped to enhance her brand.
Filters Ain't Just Optical Anymore
April 01, 2019 12:00 - 21 minutes - 9.86 MBIn traditional photography, filters were used to block certain frequencies of light or to create in-camera effects like starbursts or soft focus. But in the age of computational photography, "filters" offer a stunning array of creative choices that can simulate film stock, swap your face, or apply other forms of augmented reality to significantly alter your appearance. In this episode, Sarah and Allen give you the low down on the latest and greatest. #nofilter
When is It OK to Give Photos Away for Free?
March 25, 2019 12:00 - 30 minutes - 13.9 MBThe hardliners say never give away a photo for free, and there is definitely a case to be made for not allowing other companies to use your intellectual property without compensation. But not all photos have the same economic value, and how can you evaluate whether allowing apps like Google Maps to use your images makes sense or not? The devil is in the details, and Allen and Sarah give it a go.
OMG, You're Still Entering Photo Contests?
March 18, 2019 12:00 - 18 minutes - 8.29 MBLove 'em or hate 'em? Photo contests are ubiquitous in the industry providing contest promoters with an endless source of revenue and free content, and for a few select photographers, fame (sort of) and fortune (sometimes). Sarah and Allen discuss their own experiences with photo contests and why you might *still* consider them in this day and age.
Facial Recognition: Your Photos Reveal More!
March 11, 2019 13:00 - 16 minutes - 7.66 MBFacial recognition software gives consumers a powerful way to auto-tag and organize photos. But like many technologies, the potential for abuse is significant – especially for hackers, overreaching governments and law enforcement agencies. Sarah and Allen discuss the implications in our premiere episode of "Vision Slightly Blurred," a new PhotoShelter podcast.
Introducing: Vision Slightly Blurred
March 05, 2019 22:00 - 3 minutes - 1.86 MBA brand new photography podcast from PhotoShelter with hosts Sarah Jacobs and Co-founder Allen Murabayashi. But we're not talking about gear or the newest version of your favorite software. Instead we're talking about how photography and photographers influence culture, how technology is shaping the definition of photography, and fun stuff like cool images of Beyoncé. Join us weekly starting Monday, March 11.