"Light is almost like some sort of magical quantity that I get to work with — and I'm fascinated by it."

This might be one of the most process-driven episodes of Process Driven yet. I’ve known Karl Taylor for more than a decade. I was introduced to his work by my friend Patrick in the form of a DVD of Karl‘s Photography Master Class. What struck me straight away was Karl‘s enthusiasm for photography – that and his encyclopedic knowledge of the medium. 12 years after its initial release, Karl has created a brand new remastered version of his original introduction to photography built on a decade of learning and refining what was already an incredible understanding of both the art and science of photography. In this conversation we talk about some of the things he’s learned over the past 10 years, including a deep dive into the biology of how we see and process images.

SHOW NOTES

Tim Flach: https://timflach.com/

CONNECT WITH KARL

Website: https://karltaylor.com

Platform: https://karltayloreducation.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/karltaylorphotography

Music in this episode

Please Listen Carefully  by Jahzzar (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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"The best way to be in the moment behind the camera is to be in the moment in life."

When I saw the work of photographer Ryan Struck, particularly his surf and lifestyle photography, I knew I wanted to talk to him. From the first photo, it was obvious that Ryan wasn’t just an outsider simply documenting this lifestyle, he was living it and I bet he had an interesting story to tell. Turns out, whether he’s self-funding a documentary about the community surrounding an all-female surf competition, or photographing abandoned televisions on the streets, interesting stories don’t just fuel his photography, they fuel his life.

SHOW NOTES

Tofino

Queen of the Peak

CONNECT WITH RYAN

Website: https://ryanstruck.com/

Instagram: @ryanstruck

Music in this episode

Please Listen Carefully by Jahzzar (CC BY-SA 4.0)

 

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Tell Your Friends & Share Episodes Online: You can even share a favorite show clip using the terrific Recast feature. I’ve made a video showing you how: Create Custom Audiograms with Recast by Simplecast – YouTube

Buy a copy of my book: Photography by the Letter

A couple weeks ago, I got a text from my friend Sean who had just gotten out of the cinema seeing 1917, the new World War I epic from director Sam Mendes. The text simply read “so good.” I remember seeing the trailer for the film months ago and thinking that it looked incredible. But most of recent the buzz about the film seemed to center around the idea that it was all shot in one continuous take. In fact, the first plot keyword you’ll see in the IMDB listing for the film is “one take.” You’ll also read it…

The recent death of Rush drummer Neil Peart hit me like a ton of bricks. While I consider myself a visual artist, I can’t think of a single painter, or sculptor, or photographer whose death has or even would affect me as dramatically as Neil’s has and I can’t really reconcile why that is. It’s just not a simple answer. I’ve been a Rush fan since 1982, but as I’ve said before, it wasn’t the music that grabbed me initially, but the lyrics. Yes, the musicianship was superb, but the themes and the language that Neil used to explore those…

I have a question for you, and the answer depends at least partly on the primary perspective you take – either as an audience member or a maker — when you think about how to answer. It centers around effort in art-making and to what degree the visibility of that effort affects how we connect to the work, both as the artist and as a viewer. Again, the answer is entirely subjective, but it’s something I’d like to continue to explore in multiple conversations over time. But before we get to that, we’re talking about culling our creativity — letting…

In the last Iteration I talked about the importance of giving yourself little victories in the work that you do — tiny wins that you can finish in a day or two that can often re-energize you or jumpstart your creative momentum on larger, more time-consuming projects. In this episode, I want to share a couple of examples of little wins that I’ve given myself in the last week. You may have noticed — or you may not have, and that’s okay too — but I’ve given the cover art for each of my three current podcasts a slight redesign. They still have a similar feel to the previous versions, but they all work together a bit better and feel more on point with my overall design aesthetic if that makes sense. I’ve also made some tweaks to my website — nothing really major, but I’ve tweaked the fonts and the color palette so there’s a bit more visual cohesion between the design of the show covers and the site.

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LINKS

My Blue Note playlist on Spotify

Orba by Artiphon

Dark and Stormy icebox cake

 

Music in this episode: The Wrong Way (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

We’re getting close to the end of the year and if you’re like me, you’re already looking ahead to 2020 – maybe you have been for a while – trying to come up with some great new project or maybe multiple projects that will make the next year better than this one.

I love the idea of big projects and in fact I’ve already started laying the groundwork for what’s looking more and more like the biggest solo project of my career – but while I’m more excited about it than I’ve been about anything in a while, I’m also terrified that I won’t be able to pull it off or that it will end up being less than what I think it could or should be. Big projects are great when you finish them but, man, they can be a slog. And typically the bigger the project, the more we hope or expect from it in terms of response once we actually do finish it.

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If you enjoy listening to Iterations, please consider leaving a review or a rating where you listen to podcasts to help others discover the show.

LINKS

https://www.charliecliftphotography.com

The Beastie Boys book

David Hurn Documentary on BBC Two 

 

Music in this episode: The Wrong Way (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

"So much goes into it and I'm finding even for myself the stuff I'm learning or the stuff that's changing who I am isn't necessarily reflected visually in the final image."

One of the first photographers I reached out to when I started recording conversations and podcasting was John Keatley. I was introduced to his work by my friend Kevin and what struck me straight away was how seamlessly John’s commercial work fit with his conceptual photographs. Though each body of work is distinct, John’s eye for detail and his love of ambiguity runs through all of it. While we don’t talk often, when we do I find that the conversations stick with me and often they inform the way I think about my own work as well as the work of others. He’s recently entered the world of fine art photography with a project called UNIFORM that centers around his personal exploration of identity and, as he puts it, “a deep need to be seen.” In addition to a series of limited edition prints, UNIFORM is available as a book, John’s first in fact, and that’s where we begin in this episode.

SHOW NOTES

To purchase a copy of the UNIFORM book, visit https://www.johnkeatley.com. For pricing and availability on UNIFORM prints, email [email protected].

The Jim Morrison contact sheet that John mentioned was taken by Joel Brodsky and featured in a show called CONTACT at the Fahey/Klein Gallery. See the image at http://www.faheykleingallery.com/exhibitions/contact#5.

CONNECT WITH JOHN

Website: https://www.johnkeatley.com

Instagram: @johnkeatley

Twitter: @johnkeatley

Music in this episode

Please Listen Carefully by Jahzzar (CC BY-SA 4.0)

 

WANT TO SUPPORT THE WORK I’M DOING?

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSS | Spotify | Google Podcasts

Tell Your Friends & Share Episodes Online: You can even share a favorite show clip using the terrific Recast feature. I’ve made a video showing you how: Create Custom Audiograms with Recast by Simplecast – YouTube

Buy a copy of my book: Photography by the Letter

My dad and I never really did a lot together when I was growing up. I mean, yes I spent summers with him and my stepmother Linda in Arizona but it was always with a group of people - and don’t get me wrong, it was a terrific way to spend the summer. But rarely was it ever just the two of us.

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LINKS

Charmolipi: joy making sorrow - Full FIlm

An Intimate Look Inside The Art Studio Of Scott Avett

Color Grading Netflix’s Mindhunter

 

Music in this episode: The Wrong Way (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

“Because I had really poor depth perception, everything in my world flattened into two dimensions. I struggle to incorporate depth into my work because that’s not how I engage with what I see.” — Jo Mackby If you listen to any of my other shows—particularly Iteration 52—you know that earlier this year I had surgery on my eyes to correct a condition called Strabismus. About a month ago, I got an email from a listener and a photographer who recently had a similar surgery although I’ve since learned that her condition was much more dramatic than mine. I’ve never met anyone…