On Taking Pictures

Bill and Jeffery gripe about Apple's new pricing and gear decisions, then get into Norman Rockwell's staged reference photography after a Vermont museum trip, and wander through social media algorithms, creative burnout, and letting go and moving onto the next project, before wrapping with photographer of the week Frank Horvat.

Photograph search of Norman Rockwell Archives

Norman Rockwell “Behind the Camera” book on Amazon

Rockwell “Shuffleton’s Barbershop”

Shelburne Farms Wikipedia

Shelburne Museum Wikipedia

PotW - Frank Horvat

Frank Horvat on Wikipedia

Bill and Jeffery grumble about Apple's Mac mini and Mac Studio price increases and Jeffery’s love for the Supernote Manta, then spend most of the episode remembering photographer Jay Maisel, touring stories and photos from his cavernous bank-building archive and debating what makes a photographic legacy. They wrap up with this week's Photographer of the Week, Life magazine shooter Nina Leen.

Supernote Manta

Jay Maisel ‘Favorites’

John Loengard portraits of photographers

Joel Meyerowitz “Cape Light”

The Family of Man

PotW Nina Leen

Bill and Jeffery dig into where creative legitimacy actually comes from now that gatekeepers like ASMP and Magnum have lost their grip, and talk about why they stopped chasing metrics and just make the show for its own sake. They also swap stories about a QR-code standoff at the Air and Space Museum and their shared guilt over unfinished projects and letting themselves have fun, before closing with Photographer of the Week Hiromix, whose 1990s film self-portraits look decades ahead of Instagram.

VII Canon ad

Dr Ali Mattu on YouTube

Clyde Lawrence “Guy I Used To Be” on piano

Apple Reference Image

Hiromix article

Hiromix on Canon

Bill and Jeffery talk through a buggy macOS beta, a $10 thrift-store flatbed scanner, and the endless search for a good digital asset manager, then get into why they both might be pulling back from Instagram and just taking photos for themselves again. They also swap stories about vintage audio gear, dream up a DJ-style internet radio show, wrestle with headphone pad mysteries, and close with Photographer of the Week Szilveszter Mako's whimsical, paper-textured portraits.

Qwestlove with Barry Manilow

PixlPath

Harman Kardon 430 Receiver

‘Mend It Mark’ on YouTube

Cool House Jeffery Used to Visit

Tom Hoops’ “Underexposed”

MixCloud

PotW SZILVESZTER MAKÓ on Instagram

Bill and Jeffery ramble from brushes with celebrities and growing up before the internet to a deep dive into old Mold-A-Rama toy machines, vanishing physical media, and why modern life feels so overwhelming, before wrapping up with this week's featured photographer, Arthur Elgort.

Freedom Train

Mold-A-Rama

Mold-A-Rama Gorilla

Ebba Forsberg Album on Apple Music

PotW Arthur Elgort

Estella Warren in bucket picture

Episode 375 opens with a personal reflection on the death of photographer William Coupon, a friend Bill made through the show years ago, and a broader conversation on grief and mentorship. Bill also describes vibe-coding a custom Mac app with Claude Code to automate uploading episodes and drafting WordPress posts. The back half covers David Hockney's photographic collage work and how scale affects whether a piece works as a print versus a wall-sized object, plus a preview of an upcoming episode on the new Spielberg film.

Pals with Coupon

William Coupon NYT Obituary

Michael Jackson “She’s Out Of My Life”

Duane Michals NYT Obituary

Quantel Paintbox

David Hockney Photographic Collages

Ansel Adams in AI color? Yuck! Do we ever get past the fear of complete failure and should we? Color grading footage and getting lost. Montana native Robert Osborn is our Photographer of the Week.

Danziger response to the AI Ansel Adams print

Degas “Woman seat beside a vase of flowers”

Bill’s portrait of Alon at a piano

Burden video of “Shoot” (User discretion advised)

Robert Osborn mini-doc

Robert Osborn website

How to teach an old dog new tricks by learning new skills, tools, and processes. Also some discussion of first stage movie making and William Gottlieb as our Photographer of the Week.

Jacob Collier Berklee Commencement Speech

William P Gottlieb on Wikipedia

Big long conversation about change and mental health, then a trip down a used camera rabbit hole. Emma Summerton is our Photographer of the Week.

“Bowling Alone”

John Stewart talking about AI

PotW – Emma Summerton

Sandra Huller in Vanity Fair

Jeffery & Bill are back to discuss the amazing pictures from Artemis II and the cameras they used, as well as whether doing something without it trying to be great is doing it at all. Lillian Bassman, who has a show at The Met in NYC right now, is our Photographer of the Week.

Lunar Eclipse from space – Artemis 2

Strong Songs – Both Sides Now

Liza Minelli and Michael Feinstein

Hockney Documentary

David Hockney – Painting with Light

Lillian Bassman on Wikipedia