Street Shots Photography Podcast

“A camera didn’t make a great picture any more than a typewriter wrote a great novel.”

— Peter Adams

“It’s not when you press the shutter, but why you press the shutter.”

— Mary Ellen Mark

In this episode, Antonio and Ward dig into what makes a photograph worth stopping for in the first place. Antonio shares how teaching a small photography class pushed him to focus less on perfect images and more on attention, curiosity, and the little details people notice once they slow down. Ward brings in recent film work, including medium-format rodeo photos, and the two talk through the special “airiness” and physical feel that film and older cameras can bring to an image.

They carry that idea into large-format cameras, field cameras, phone photography, Fuji film simulations, and the creative blocks that can come from too many self-imposed limits. Ward wrestles with a Fuji X-E3 setup that has him feeling stuck, while Antonio considers how newer iPhone camera tools and film-grain textures change the look and feel of everyday shooting. The episode wraps with a recommendation for Mary Ellen Mark’s Encounters, a celebration of her social documentary work, and a reminder that gear matters most when it changes how photographers see.

The Art of Noticing: Better Photographs Close to Home — Antonio’s photography class through Southeast Community College in Lincoln. The class focuses on slowing down, noticing overlooked details, and finding worthwhile photographs close to home.

Antonio’s private photography lessons and workshops

Walker Evans — Discussed in connection with photographs of churches, vernacular architecture, and the visual influences photographers carry with them.

Hand Hills Lake Stampede — The Alberta rodeo where Ward made the medium-format photographs discussed in the episode.

Flic Film — The Alberta-based film company and lab that developed and scanned Ward’s 120 film.

Between Dust and Sky — Ward Rosin and Mark Reierson’s book documenting the 100th Hand Hills Lake Stampede.

Twin-lens reflex cameras — The waist-level medium-format camera design Ward used to photograph rodeo action.

Rolleicord — Ward’s Rolleicord, the simpler sibling of the Rolleiflex, dates from around 1959 and uses a Schneider Xenar lens.

Minolta Autocord — Another twin-lens reflex camera in Ward’s collection.

Fujifilm GFX system — Fujifilm’s digital medium-format system, discussed in comparison with the look of 120 film.

Porch Art Palooza — Lincoln’s free, self-guided neighborhood art tour, featuring local artists and pop-up galleries on residential porches.

Intrepid Camera — The Brighton, UK, company making lightweight modern large-format cameras. Antonio handled one of its portable 4×5 field cameras at Porch Art Palooza.

Intrepid 4×5 Kickstarter — The original crowdfunding campaign for the Intrepid field camera.

Chamonix View Camera — Maker of handcrafted large-format field cameras. Despite the French-sounding name, Chamonix cameras are made in Zhejiang, China.

Chamonix 4×5 cameras — An example of the company’s portable 4×5 field-camera designs.

Graflex Crown Graphic — The classic press and field camera Antonio has in storage and hopes to put back into use.

Alfie [BOXX] Camera — The British wooden camera Antonio backed. It exposes directly onto 6×9 cm photographic paper and uses a film holder that doubles as a portable developing tank.

More about the Alfie [BOXX] — Sample images, development news, and details from Alfie Cameras.

Scheimpflug principle — The focusing principle Antonio and Ward were trying to name. Tilting the standards changes the orientation of the plane of focus.

Ansel Adams: The Camera — Adams’s technical guide to 35mm, medium-format, and large-format cameras, including camera movements and extended depth of field.

Give Ward an assignment: Send him a tightly defined photography project through the Street Shots Substack or Instagram. He is looking for a prompt that will help him break through his creative block with the X-E3.

iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max — Antonio discusses the new variable-aperture main camera, manual shutter speed and white-balance controls, exposure histogram, and expanded Photographic Styles.

iPhone 18 Pro camera specifications — Includes the four physical aperture settings, Pro controls, focal lengths, and camera formats.

Using Photographic Styles — Apple’s guide to adjusting tone, color, texture, and simulated film grain.

iPhone 18 Pro camera overview — Examples of variable aperture, motion blur, texture controls, and Photographic Styles 3.

Mary Ellen Mark: Encounters — The episode’s featured book. Published by Steidl and C/O Berlin in 2023, it contains 204 images across 232 pages, along with contact sheets, letters, magazine spreads, and archival material.

Mary Ellen Mark’s official archive — Photographs, books, exhibitions, films, and biographical material.

Mary Ellen Mark bibliography — Publication history and information about Encounters and her other books.

Mary Ellen Mark at the International Center of Photography — An overview of her documentary, editorial, portrait, and film-set photography.

Ward 81 and Falkland Road — Background on Mark’s work inside the Oregon State Hospital and along Mumbai’s Falkland Road.

Pentax Spotmatic — Antonio’s reference point for the simple manual-camera experience of learning photography.

The Score — The Montreal-set heist film starring Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, and Marlon Brando that Antonio recommends near the beginning.

The Kids in the Hall and The Rockford Files — Two pop-culture detours prompted by Ward’s story about finding an old camera as a child.

Monarch migration — Background on the migrating butterflies Antonio photographed with his iPhone, Fujifilm X half, and X100.

Street Shots Photography Podcast

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Instagram: @amrosariophoto

Bluesky: @amrosario.bsky.social

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Website and portfolio

Books, zines, and prints

Between Dust and Sky — Ward and Mark Reierson’s Hand Hills Lake Stampede book.

Gaijin — Ward’s black-and-white Japan zine.

Instagram: @wardrosinfineart

Facebook

X/Twitter: @wrosinphoto

"In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present."

"Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness."

In this episode, Antonio and Ward welcome back Australian photographer Gavin Libotte for a wide-ranging conversation about street photography, travel, sequencing, and the pull of printed work.

Gavin talks about photographing Japan with his family, moving between color and black-and-white approaches, and how Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Mount Fuji, rainy streets, cherry blossoms, and strong light each shaped the work he brought home. He also shares plans for two Japan zines: one gritty, black-and-white, flash-driven project, and one color zine built around light, contrast, and the visual beauty of the trip.

The conversation turns to Gavin’s zine Passenger, a dark, contemplative body of work made on Sydney’s ferry system. Antonio and Ward dig into the mood, sequencing, negative space, and emotional quiet of the images, while Gavin reflects on public transport as both a literal journey and a metaphor for the human condition.

They also discuss influences including Ray K. Metzker, Trent Parke, Alex Webb, and the physical experience of photography in print: zines, books, gallery walls, paper, ink, pacing, and why printed work still matters in a social-media world.

Links

Gavin Libotte: Website | Instagram

Gavin’s Passenger: Street Attitude feature | Paris International Street Photo Awards listing

Gavin at Head On Photo Festival: Wanderland | 42 Days

Mentioned: Trent Parke | Ray K. Metzker | Alex Webb

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Antonio M. Rosario's Website, Vero, Instagram, Bluesky, and Facebook page

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"You are responsible for every part of your image, even the parts you’re not interested in."

"Take a look at what you’re looking at."

-- Jay Maisel

In this episode, Ward steps into unfamiliar territory at a fashion photography event sponsored by Sony and The Camera Store. Instead of simply making the same model pictures as everyone else, he falls back on what he knows: treating the whole thing like street photography. He moves between sets, waits for gestures and expressions, and eventually turns his camera toward the photographers crowding around the models. The experience gives him a taste of the collaboration that happens between a photographer and a willing subject—and makes the idea of organizing his own outdoor fashion shoot feel a lot less like a daydream.

Antonio and Ward then remember legendary New York photographer Jay Maisel, who recently died at 95. Antonio shares his own encounters with Maisel, stories from the photographer’s famously blunt workshops, and the quiet influence Maisel’s work has had on the way he photographs color, light, and ordinary surroundings. Maisel claimed that when he went out with a camera, he looked for “absolutely nothing”—meaning he left his expectations behind and allowed the world to show him what was there. His photographs are a reminder that seeing is a skill, style can become a trap, and even the most everyday scene can become remarkable when someone is paying close enough attention.

That ’70s Shootout at Off Set Studios — The Camera Store’s recap of the event Ward attended

The Camera Store — Calgary’s independent camera shop

Peter Lindbergh — the fashion photographer Ward hopes to channel in his own way

Jay Maisel — explore Maisel’s extensive photographic archive

Jay Maisel’s favorites — photographs accompanied by Maisel’s own stories and observations

About Jay Maisel — biography, interviews, books, and other resources

Joe McNally — photographer and former Maisel student whose remembrance Antonio reads during the episode

Light, Gesture, and Color — Maisel’s book about training the eye to recognize what makes a photograph work

Jay Myself — a documentary about Maisel and his legendary home and studio at 190 Bowery

Lauritzen Gardens — the Omaha botanical garden Antonio visits

Adobe Project Indigo — the experimental iPhone camera app Antonio uses for extra reach and RAW capture

Trent Parke’s Monument — the photobook Antonio shares with his class

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Show Links:

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"I can’t seem to get enough of the ‘highway stuff,’ and the fascination of what may be around the next corner makes the whole trip worthwhile."

"Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs."

In this episode, Antonio and Ward talk about how photographs begin to change when they’re placed next to one another. A quick exercise from Antonio’s class, using the still-unpublished zine they made together, leads into a conversation about sequencing, photo books, chapbooks, PDFs, and the simple pleasure of getting pictures off a screen. Not every image needs to be the big standalone “banger.” Sometimes a quieter photograph finds its purpose when it lands beside the right companion and becomes part of a larger story.

From there, they head out of town. Ward takes a long, unhurried drive through small prairie communities, photographing weathered buildings and enjoying the rare freedom of not having to be anywhere at a particular time. Antonio returns to the Cass County Fair, where the smoke, noise, and motion of a tractor pull give him a chance to borrow a little inspiration from Ward’s rodeo and motorsport work. Going back for a second year lets him see what has stayed the same—and how much his own eye has changed. Together, they find that photography doesn’t require an exotic destination or a crowded city street. Sometimes the good stuff comes from revisiting familiar ground, wandering without too many expectations, and paying attention to what a place has been quietly trying to show you.

Miro — the collaborative board Antonio and Ward used to sequence their zine remotely

Apple Freeform — an Apple-based alternative for arranging pictures and collaborating on visual boards

Gavin Libotte Photography — Gavin’s photography and projects, including Wanderland

Walker Evans at The Met — an influence on Ward’s direct photographs of prairie buildings

Michael Kenna — the inspiration behind Antonio’s “diesel Michael Kenna” tractor-pull photographs

Cass County Fair — home of the truck and tractor pull Antonio photographed

Outlaw Truck and Tractor Pulling Association — more about the machines, events, and gloriously excessive noise

Wilber Czech Festival — the festival and parade Antonio visited in Wilber, Nebraska

Nebraska State Fair — Antonio’s next larger fairground photography opportunity

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In this episode, Antonio introduces the work of Latvian photographer Inta Ruka, whose quiet, direct portraits have completely pulled him in. Her photographs may appear simple at first, but the longer Antonio and Ward sit with them, the more stories and visual relationships begin to emerge. What matters most is the connection behind the pictures: Ruka uses the camera as a passport into people’s lives, spending time with them and allowing each photograph to grow out of trust. Her Rolleiflex stays out of the way, leaving her free to maintain eye contact and treat the person as more important than the equipment.

Ward then reviews The Art of Street Photography by Sean Tucker and Joshua K. Jackson, a book concerned less with camera settings than with learning how to think and see as a photographer. Tucker explores creative dry spells, fear, ethics, motivation, and the experience of being fully present with a camera, while Jackson’s rich, layered photographs demonstrate just how open street photography can be. Together, the words and pictures offer something Antonio and Ward keep returning to: permission. Permission to stop being rigid, photograph whatever genuinely catches the eye, and recognize that becoming tired of old habits may simply mean it is time to grow.

The Art of Street Photography by Sean Tucker & Joshua K. Jackson

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"I take photographs in my neighborhood. I think that mysterious things happen in familiar places. We don’t always need to run to the other end of the world."

"There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment."

In this midsummer episode, Antonio talks about returning to Seward, Nebraska, for the Fourth of July and giving himself one simple assignment: photograph people wearing the stars and stripes. By narrowing his attention, he actually becomes more present and comes home with a stronger, more connected group of pictures—a good reminder that creative limits can open things up instead of closing them down. As he prepares to teach his first six-week photography class, he also wrestles with how to give beginners enough technical knowledge without losing the bigger picture.

Ward has just finished nine evenings at the Calgary Stampede, an event he has attended for more than forty years and photographed seriously for the last decade. This time, he finds himself looking beyond the strong, formal compositions he knows how to make and toward quieter pictures that say something about who people are. That shift brings more color, more interaction, and a little more humanity into the work. It also raises questions about responsibility: having the right to take and share a photograph does not always mean keeping it online is the most decent choice. Together, Ward and Antonio come around to the value of returning to the same places year after year. Familiar events can become long-term projects, giving photographers a chance to notice what interests them now, see how they are changing, and gradually find something deeper than the pictures they made the year before.

Antonio's Seward July 4th Pix: https://adobe.ly/4hdxxVA

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"Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual."

"I see no reason for recording the obvious."

In this episode, Antonio and Ward talk about Fujifilm cameras, autofocus, and film simulations. Antonio shares his frustration after missing bird photographs because the autofocus refused to lock onto obvious subjects, while Ward compares his own experiences photographing action with Fujifilm gear. They discuss firmware updates, the expectations photographers have for modern autofocus systems, and how working with film simulations can encourage a slower, more intentional approach to photography.

Antonio and Ward spend the second half of the episode talking about Edward Weston’s Daybooks and the ideas that shaped his photography. They discuss Weston’s famous pepper photographs, his search for what he called “the thing itself,” and his belief that photography should reveal the true character of a subject rather than imitate painting. They talk about the relentless self-criticism found throughout his journals, the years he spent refining both his craft and his artistic philosophy, and the challenge photographers faced in convincing the art world that photography belonged alongside painting and sculpture. Along the way, they reflect on how Weston’s writing still offers practical lessons for photographers today and why his way of seeing continues to inspire nearly a century later.  

Links:

Watch the YouTube video of this podcast here.

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"Sometimes the simplest pictures are the hardest to get."

– Neil Leifer

“I never have taken a picture I’ve intended. They’re always better or worse.”

– Diane Arbus

In this episode, Antonio talks about getting ready for his upcoming six-week class, The Narrative Lens, at Southeast Community College. That leads to a discussion about teaching photography, helping new photographers build confidence, and why so many photographers feel pressure to chase “hero photographs” instead of paying attention to the ordinary subjects that are already around them. Antonio and Ward also discuss the value of constraints, personal projects, and finding meaningful photographs close to home.

The conversation moves to gear, including some new USB-C rechargeable batteries Antonio has been using with his Fujifilm cameras. They also talk about collecting photographic prints after Antonio finally opens a signed Gregory Crewdson print that had been sitting unopened in its box for far too long. That leads to a discussion about living with photographs, hanging prints on the wall, and the different ways photographers connect with the work of artists they admire.

The second half of the show focuses on Ward’s recent trip to the Hand Hills Lake Stampede rodeo. Returning to an event he photographed ten years ago, Ward set out to make something different from the traditional rodeo photographs he had made in the past. Instead of concentrating on the obvious action, he focused on color, movement, gesture, and smaller details within the scene. The result was a series of photographs that received a strong reaction from other photographers and online audiences. Antonio and Ward spend some time discussing one particular image and why it works. The conversation looks at shape, color, rhythm, timing, and composition, along with some of the practical challenges of photographing fast-moving events. Ward shares his approach to photographing the rodeo, while Antonio breaks down some of the visual elements that make the photograph successful.

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In this episode, Antonio and Ward talk about how photography often grows out of ordinary days, familiar routines, and the small things that catch our attention when we are willing to stay open to them. The conversation moves through weather, travel, flea markets, rodeos, old cameras, and personal projects, but the larger theme is about remaining photographically awake even when there is no grand subject in front of you. Whether it is storm clouds over Nebraska, a county fair, a vintage Kodak Brownie, or a quiet experiment with color, the episode is about trusting the small sparks that keep a photographer engaged.

The discussion also turns toward presence and patience, especially through the Japanese idea of Zanshin, or “remaining mind.” Antonio and Ward connect that idea to photography as a kind of follow-through: staying with the moment after pressing the shutter, rather than rushing away from it or judging the image too quickly. Alongside references to William Eggleston, simple cameras, and ongoing personal projects, the episode becomes a reflection on attention itself: how photographers keep seeing, how they work through quiet periods, and how the ordinary can become meaningful when we give it enough time.

William Eggleston Fixed Digital Photography’s Biggest Flaw - The Photographic Eye

Alfie [BOXX] Camera on Kickstarter

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"All the technique in the world doesn’t compensate for the inability to notice."

"Beauty is in the commonplace."

The conversation settles into the idea of “low-energy photography” — not as a failure, but as a way back in. Antonio talks about photographing birds from the deck, making pictures in the backyard, and using a new Fuji film simulation to see familiar spaces differently. That leads into a larger discussion of Walker Evans, ordinary subjects, and the pressure photographers feel to make every image a polished “hero photograph.” Rather than chasing spectacle, Antonio and Ward make a case for the plain, nearby, and easily overlooked: the kind of photography that may not shout right away, but often stays with you longer.

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