Everyday Photography, Every Day

In which Suzanne and Rubin review their thoughts on Kertesz and her home project and generally catch up.

Andre Kertesz had a long and multi-faceted career producing some of the most iconic, modern, and often enigmatic photos in history. His influence is profound, and it was a pleasure to sit down today with Robert Gurbo, curator of the Kertesz estate and domain expert on this fascinating photographer.

Peter Fetterman offers rich insights into photography collecting and being collected, and the sheer magic in great photographs. As one of the pre-eminent gallerists of photography for decades, his delightful personal tales about the artists is a joy.

“What is a photo? I see an image… and i am changed by it; I’m incredibly moved by it. I’m haunted by it. I have to possess it. I learn something from it. I breathe it. I want it to be inside me. That’s a photo to me.” -- Peter Fetterman

Here's a short episode where we go over a few projects you can do at home, with no supplies but a phone, and practice key skills that will make your pictures better.

It's hard to think about photography in Santa Cruz without discovering Shmuel Thaler, the leading photojournalist at the Santa Cruz Sentinel. He's been documenting the community since the late 1980s: from earthquakes and fires, to surfers and dancers—the fabric and heart of the town.

Jeff Carlson has written an astonishing array of books over his career, explaining a range of creative and technical topics—perhaps 20 of them related to photography. His newest book on Luminar4 is out this week, so it seemed a great time to say hi and hear what driving him!

I'd never heard the term "rhyme" used so perfectly to describe a visual experience before... but the wonderful pairings NYC photographer Nina Kling are delightful, mysterious, and enormously satisfying.

Angelica Glass decided on a whim to walk the length of every street in the county of Santa Cruz. Over the course of five and a half years, she walked all of the 4,121 streets in the county. After that, she continued the project in the form of walking every trail in the county. She took photos on each street and chose one to represent each street/trail and through this project fell in love with photography.

It's a bleak time for many, and insane stress for us all -- but there are a few advantages to being forced to stay in. Rubin has converted Neomodern.com from a retail business to a free program of projects to build people's photographic skills: not tech skills but creative ones. Using the content from his Zen Arts curriculum, he's posting daily projects designed to help folks stuck at home.

Rubin formally declares his upcoming book for beginners and pros -- finding a philosophical foundation for his disparate feelings about creative picture taking: the Zen Arts. There are lessons from haiku, kintsugi, enso, ikebana, bonsai and origami (and the principles of wabi-sabi) if you know how to find them. Not how to use photography to practice zen, but how to use zen arts to get better at photography! His recent Petapixel article on the subject is discussed, as is a pair of workshops in San Francisco in March.