On Taking Pictures

Coercion vs connection in portrait photography , making it through the fear of failure or even fear of success, and what? Bill is shooing video now? The world must be ending, so we might as well start at the beginning with 19th century French portrait photographer Nadar as PotW.

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Our thoughts on the HBO series 'Witness', classic Hollywood portraits, tips for making your composites look more real, and a deep delve into the mind of photographer of the week Joel Meyerowitz.

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How do you know when you've got it right? Are trends in art supposed to be chased or ridden, and is there is a location which really is the 'place to be' at any particular time? Parisian street photographer Brassai is this week's photographer.

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How do we know when art 'works' or doesn't? Is it intuition or knowledge? Bill and Jeffery also tackle some listener mail about b/w conversion, hype in the art world, and a rebuttal of a listener who thinks Bill is a little too cranky. Master portraitist Irving Penn is this week's photographer.

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A serious episode this week as Jeffery and Bill discuss whether a body of work is retrospective in origin or whether it's built masterpiece by masterpiece. Also David Hockney's article on perspective, scanning slides with your dslr, and asking why photography is ever a crime. The wonderful Alfred Sieglitz is this week's photographer.

Extra bonus episode so that Jeffery and Bill could get caught up on and answer all the listen feedback they've been getting lately. We talk about the worth of process, light source color, framing, photo books, and the new Faking It exhibit at the Met in NYC. Get on board!

This week Bill tells all about his trip to Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks while Jeffery gives him a hard time about it. Do you need to leave where you are to see where you've been? And of course it's fitting that Ansel Adams is our photographer of the week.

Bill and Jeffery respond to a bit more feedback about workshops & websites, Jeffery's thinking about taking up senior portraits, Bill can't stand photographers who don't know what they're talking about. Magnum photographer Elliot Erwitt is our photographer of the week.

Bill and Jeffery respond to feedback about workshops & websites, famous people buying Leicas, and why taking less pictures is better. Then Bill recounts being ignored by Philip Glass and his methodology behind a group shot of 10 people. Of course Edward Steichen, our photographer of the week, could have done a better job I'm sure.

Bill is nervous for the first time in a while and it's not about the latest crop of cameras coming out at Photokina. Also, your portfolio site might just suck, but Jeffery's diatribe on the subject might just help. All this plus the century old amazing work of Karl Blossfeldt on this week's On Taking Pictures.