By Brian Matiash
The podcast currently has 58 episodes available.
When the topic of mobile photography is discussed, it’s almost always with reference to the cameras and sensors built into our phones. However, there is another side of this topic that is as interesting and can be quite impactful for photographers. I’m thrilled to welcome my friend, Matthew Cassinelli, to the show to discuss the potential that Apple’s upcoming iPadOS and shortcuts can have for those of us who want to cut down the weight of our gear when we travel. It’s a really interesting episode and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it!
The self-paced online education industry has been booming for several years and reports indicate that this space will only grow. You can find online educational resources for virtually every topic, every field, and every hobby. Photography is no exception here, yet it is becoming an exceptionally crowded space. Despite that, there is plenty of room to find success and today’s guest is an excellent resource to discuss that. I’m so happy to welcome Aaron Nace, founder of Phlearn, a premier online education website dedicated to helping photographers improve their Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom skills.
Last week was Earth Day, which always seems ludicrous to me since we should focus on the health and hygiene of the planet every day. But, I’ll take any opportunity to bring more attention to this topic, especially when it involves our beautiful natural landscapes getting trampled or destroyed by people looking to create a new Instagram post. Social media has had a number of societal impacts. Some have been good, but others have been quite devastating, especially when it comes to the lack of care for natural environments.
As photographers, we have a responsibility to act as nature’s stewards by incorporating Leave No Trace best practices, as well as deputizing other photographers. Fortunately, Erin Babnik, my guest for this episode of the No Name Photo Show is one of the foremost authorities in fighting to protect natural landscapes from being destroyed by witless people. In addition to being an absolutely amazing photographer, Erin is a stalwart advocate for protecting the sanctity of natural environments. I’m so thankful to have her on and I’m sure you’re going to love the conversation.
Show NotesI'm very excited to welcome my very close friend, Colby Brown, back to the show. Colby was last heard on Episode 51 and my goal was to follow up our extended conversation into Episode 52, but life happened. Fortunately, we were able to record this episode together while huddled in our cabin in Norway's Lofoten Islands as gale force winds were pummeling the area. Considering that we were about to begin a winter workshop in the area with a group of intrepid photography students, we thought it'd be fun to discuss how we approach and plan for shooting in extremely cold conditions. We follow up with a great conversation about dealing with expectations vs. reality when it comes to photography, gear, and life. It's a great chat and I'm sure you'll love it!
Follow Colby on his website and on Instagram.
As a whole, I believe that landscape and travel photographers are good people with equally good intentions. We are all eager to photograph the beauty of nature and go to great lengths to protect it… for the most part. Unfortunately, the groundswell of social media ego and a general lack of values localized to a subset of people have resulted in myriad negative effects on nature. Rather than appreciating the privilege of shooting at these locations, some people see it as their right, with the expressed interest of getting that new post on Instagram.
The resulting general consensus has been to prohibit, or discourage, sharing locations or tagging them on social media posts. The idea is that by making it harder for others to find those locations, the odds of them being destroyed or overrun with tourists will decrease. The problem I see with this tactic is that it doesn’t do much to raise awareness and educate people. Tucking this info under the carpet may be a decent stopgap solution, but the real effort should be in empowering everyone to take greater care of our precious natural environments.
That’s why I’m very excited about a brand new project that my guest, Luka Esenko, is announcing: PhotoHound. Native to Slovenia, Luka is a fantastic photographer and guide who has traveled to over 50 countries in Europe and SE Asia. He believes that we, as a photo community, can do amazing things when we not only share all the beauty and variety that this world offers but also practice common sense, responsible photography. Instead of keeping location information proprietary, Luka wants to address the issue head-on and equip photographers with the knowledge and tools to preserve these locations. I’m a big fan of this plan and can’t wait to see what he does with PhotoHound.
Show NotesThese days, we measure the success of a blog post or video or podcast by impressions. While the ways these impressions can be defined or quantified vary by platform, but the general rule of thumb is that the more clicks you get, the more opportunities that a host, like YouTube, for example, can serve up ads, which aids in generating revenue. And, yes, while I am oversimplifying this entire process, it is known that the more sensational a piece of content is, the more likely it is to be clicked on. On its face, this presents a number of problems, not the least is the authenticity of the content and how it has been sourced.
When you wrap that loose set of journalistic standards to a particular industry, you have a rumor mill. And when a rumor mill can create stories about product releases with no reputable source and without consequence, interesting things can happen. I’m joined by veteran photography journalist, editor, and all-around-great-guy, David Schloss, to unpack the reality of online rumor mills and how they materially impact and, in some cases, adversely affect camera launches. It’s a conversation that David is perfect for and I’m so happy to have him on. Enjoy!
Show NotesI’m so happy to welcome back one of my closest friends, Colby Brown, to the show. Colby was the guest for Episode 20, which just over a year ago, and it was great to compare the state of photography and social media from January 2018 to today. Because, as you can imagine, a lot has changed. Between Facebook’s myriad PR and political nightmares to Google+ shutting down, to Flickr working its way back to glory, the digital landscape for photographers is wildly different.
This episode covers a lot of ground, whether you’re a photographer who is interested in making a career out of your passion or simply in it to share your photos with the world. Even better is that Colby will be returning for Episode 52! We had a second topic to discuss, but our conversation about photography and social media was too good to cut short. Give it a listen and let me know what you think in the comments section!
Show NotesWe’ve made it to 50 episodes! Thank you SO much to all of you for subscribing, listening, and writing in. I’ve had a blast putting out new episodes of this show and can’t wait for all the things I have planned to grow it even larger.
Sometimes, one of the best things you can do when you reach a milestone is to look back on the journey you took to get to where you are and that’s exactly what this episode is all about. Once again, I’m joined by the wonderful Nicolesy to share a few things we wish we could tell our younger selves as we began building our photography businesses. If you’ve got your own nuggets of wisdom that you’d share with your younger self, leave them in the comments below! Enjoy the show!
Welcome to the first episode of 2019! I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday and are as excited for this new year as I am.
A few weeks ago, I received an email from Matt, a listener of the show, asking an interesting question that has been discussed many times by others and I thought it’d be great to cover it here. Thankfully, I’m joined by a wonderful photography who also happens to pull double-duty as my wife! Please welcome the one and only Nicole S. Young (aka Nicolesy).
Matt allowed me to share portions of his email and the one that is most appropriate for the show notes is the following:
First, I love the No Name Photo Show, thank you for the time you take to create the content. This is in reference to the most recent episode of No Name and the question of what makes a professional photographer, a professional. My question is, in reference to your professional photographer question, is it only those that do it as their own business that are the professionals or would someone like me fall into it as well? If not, then how and or when would I get to that point?
The second half of the show is all about Flickr and why both Nicole and I are so excited to see what SmugMug will do to grow it in 2019. It’s a great episode and I hope you enjoy it!
Show NotesIf you’re celebrating, then I hope you have a Merry Christmas! We’ve reached the final episode for 2018 and what better way to send us off than by looking back at the top photography themes and stories that made headlines this year. Fortunately, my guest knows a thing or two about what makes a great story. Alex Cooke is the Editor in Chief at Fstoppers and has been involved in writing and coordinating the publishing of over 4,000 photo stories this year, including my articles!
Each year, certain dominant themes tend to crop up and make us stop and think. Social media has been in the limelight this year, especially when it comes to Facebook. Instagram has also had its share of news, from the influencers who scam their followers to those who go into debt trying to appear “en vogue”. Of course, mirrorless cameras had a huge year with a bevy of new offerings from Sony, Canon, and Nikon. And how could we forget about our beloved drones and the foolish operators who ruin it for the rest of us? Fortunately, Alex and I share our thoughts on all of these topics, in addition to sharing our predictions for what we’ll see in 2019!
Before I go, I want to take a moment to thank all of you who listen to the show every week, write in to tell me how much you love it, and for being such amazing supporters. 2018 was a bumpy year and we had some hiccups with the show, but I’m more excited than ever about what we’re going to do and I am SO happy to have you along for the ride!
Show NotesThe podcast currently has 58 episodes available.