Photo Kibitz | Chatting about Photography, Photographers and their Images

Like a feather fluttering in the wind, life as you know it can change with a cross breeze. There were times when Azimir Burzic wished he could delete the images caught with his eyes. Today, twenty years later and thousands of miles away from his native Bosnia, I chatted with Azimir Burzic about the moments he now captures with his paint brush and his camera.

For retirement, some people might be drawn to swinging a golf club or volunteering. This episode’s guest picked-up a camera and started her next chapter in life as a fine art photographer.

Drawn to iconic structures associated with major events of the last century, award winning photographer Leslie Hossack plans, prepares and has passion for taking pictures of public spaces, changing communities and familiar items from previous generations.

Generally, photographers can be divided into two camps. Those that strive to get it right in-camera and those that will shoot anything, then fix it in Photoshop later. Rarely shall the two meet. But when they do, magic happens.

I am calling today's guest Mr Post, because he is extremely talented in post processing and he is also a very skilled photographer who is able to capture his vision in camera too.

As a successful commercial photographer, Richard Desmarais has shot for People Magazine, McCain Foods and Canada Post to name just a few.

In this episode I chatted with Richard about his interest in producing surreal images, which goes back to the days before the ease of digital and Photoshop.

Street Photography, what is it?

In this episode I’ve asked award winning photographers Tony Fouhse and Justin Wonnacott to join me in a discussion on street photography. As with any good discussion, we did get a little off topic, but it was still relevant and important to not just street photography, but important issues facing photographers today.

This episode is not trying to answer what is right and what is wrong, but start a discussion on the topic of street photography.

I invite you to enjoy the podcast, then stop by photokibitz.com and join the discussion with your comments on the blog.

From the early days of Rock n’ Roll, icon Bill Haley and the Comets to the music of today with Rihanna, John Rowlands was there to photograph them all.

At an age when most people were happy to be a fan and enjoy concerts from the audience, John Rowlands was juggling the responsibilities of doing his high school homework and photographing the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and most of the other big musical acts on tour at the time.

John and I chat about how at the age of 13, Brenda Lee helped start his photographic career. We also talked about one of his iconic shots, The Thin White Duke, David Bowie in his archer pose, a portrait which Bowie has said is one of his favorites.

What separates a snap shot from a fine art photograph which is worthy of hanging in a National Gallery?

My guest on this episode of Photo Kibitz is Ann Thomas, Curator of Photography for the National Gallery of Canada.

Ann and I chat about the National Gallery’s extensive world class collection of photographs, which starts practically from the beginning of photography and continues to grow with works from today.

I also asked Ann how she looks at a photograph, what does she see in them.

Of course, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ask how can I get my photographs into the National Gallery collection.

Have you ever considered starting a small business? As glamorous as it might sound, starting a freelance photography business is not easy.

Nick Ghattas is this episode’s guest and we chat about his decision to leave the comforts of a steady paycheque for the challenges of being self-employed.

Imagine you have been taking photographs for most of your life and you’ve kept all of your negatives safely stored away. Just as you are quietly passing away in relative obscurity someone comes along and finds all of your images and thinks they are fantastic.

In 2007, while doing research for a book, John Maloof discovers the work of street photographer Vivian Maier. He is now the custodian of over 100,000 of her images.

This episode of Photo Kibitz is dedicated to the book Vivian Maier, Street Photographer. Paul Clark and host Michael Vuckovic chat about the book, the images and discuss if Vivian would even want all of the world wide attention her work is getting.

Have you ever wondered what you are allowed to do with the photographs you take? Do you hope to sell your images? Do you want to publish them in any form – including social media sites like Facebook?

For the legal perspective to those questions I chatted with Paul LaBarge, a founding partner of the law firm LaBarge Weinstein.

Paul and I discussed many of the issues photographers should be aware of. For example, when do you need consent from the people you photograph, what are your rights to protect your work and why it is extremely important to have a contract when you are hired for a job.

Have you ever wondered what those guys behind the counter of your favourite camera store are like?

My colleagues Dennis Lecuyer and Mark Petrica joined me on this episode of Photo Kibitz.

Amongst many topics like movies and music, behind the counter we often chat about photography.

After dinner Mark, Dennis and I chatted about all sorts of things, such as what we like to shoot, street photography, street photography from a legal perspective, music and photographers, and some things which needed to be edited out.

Overall, we had fun and we hope you enjoy this episode too.