The Open Shutter Photography Podcast

This episode is a little different to usual, because we are taking a break from new interviews over christmas and the new year, and instead I thought it would be fun to look back over some highlights from the first 24 episodes and interviews.

But rather than pick some random top clips from the various photographers who have been on the podcast this year, I think it's going to be doubly interesting if I try to stick to a theme for each compilation...

So to kick this off, todays compilation episode is a kind of crossover between minimalist landscape photography and shooting locally.

Given the still current travel situation worldwide, shooting locally is a very relevant topic so to start with you'll hear from Anthony Lamb from episode 2 about his minimalist style and how to capture interesting and unique images in your local area, when you don't have epic landscape vistas on your doorstep.

Then you'll hear from episode 19's Mads Peter Iversen who this year has focused on photographing and videoing his home country of Denmark, and shares his advice for taking great landscapes without having to travel far. 

And finally Alex Noriega from episode 11 who talks about how to capture abstract and minimalist landscape photos, and while we don't discuss it specifically in the context of shooting locally, I think this approach of photography is a great option for photographers who want to capture something different and interesting close to home no matter where you live.

Episode #2: How To Develop Your Own Style By Connecting Emotionally With Your Photography – with Anthony Lamb

Episode #11: The Art Of The Intimate Landscape – with Alex Noriega

Episode #19: All Things Landscape Photography – with Mads Peter Iversen

Luminosity Masking Panel for Photoshop - Designed and developed by Steve Arnold to make luminosity masking quicker, easier, and more effective. Podcast listeners receive a 45% discount!

Today we are joined by astro photographer and astrophysicist, Anthony Salsi to talk about photographing the moon. Anthony is currently in the final year of his PHD having had a passion for the night sky since childhood, but he only started photographing it less than a year ago.

I stumbled across one of Anthony's images of the moon on reddit a few weeks ago, which led me to his instagram profile, and even though he only started sharing his moon images since August, it's no surprise that there are already over 21 thousand people following his work.

So I highly recommend you check out Anthonys instagram profile, at @astronophilos and Anthony has kindly invited you to ask him any questions about astronomy or astro photography by sending him a direct message on instagram.

@astronophilos on Instagram – Check out all of Anthony's moon images on Instagram

Autostakkert | Siril – Two of the free image stacking software options Anthony mentioned in the episode

• How Anthony discovered his passion for the universe at an early age
• Using rare events like the NEOWISE comet to spark new interest in the night sky
• How the night sky puts everything into perspective
• Seeing into the past when we observe the universe
• How to reveal the hidden colours of the moon
• What the moon's colours signify
• How to bring out the hidden details of objects in the night sky
• The importance of stacking exposures
• How to capture thousands of exposures in a few minutes to stack later 
• Anthony's equipment setup for photographing the moon
• The most important piece of equipment
• Using a different capture technique for photographing the moon compared to deep sky
• Creating mosaic composites of the moon
• Tracking the moons velocity through the sky
• When and why light pollution is and isn't an issue for night sky photography
• How the earths atmosphere can affect night sky photography 

If you love photos of beautiful and majestic animals roaming the canadian wilderness, then you're in for a treat because today we are talking with canadian wildlife photographer, Colleen Gara, who has had her work published in places like the Canadian Geographic Magazine, BBC Wildlife Magazine, and Wild Planet photo magazine to name a few.

Colleen has worked with National Geographic and Mattel as a mentor for their “you can be anything” campaign, is a content provider for Travel Alberta, and is a workshop leader for Offbeat, and Canadian Wildlife  Photography Tours.

In this episode Colleen shares her love for the wilderness and what it's like to photograph wild bears, wolves, lynx's and more, and shares some tips and advice on how to get started photographing wildlife yourself.

Enjoy!

@colleengaraphoto – Follow Colleen on Instagram to stay up to date with her latest images

ColleenGaraPhotography.com – For futher info about Colleen, images galleries, and more.

• Growing up loving animals and the great outdoors and how photography was a natural extension to that
• Colleens first steps towards professional wildlife photography work
• Planning and organising a wildlife photography shoot
• Going beyond capturing single images of an animal to tell stories over time
• How to identify individual animals over time
• What issues some wild animals are facing
• The excitement of getting the first glimpse of a rare animal you've been waiting for days to see
• Searching for specific animals versus picking a destination first and seeing what you see
• How it feels to see a bear staring down the barrel of your lens
• Colleens favourite wildlife images and why they mean so much
• Colleens advice for photographers who want to start photographing wildlife

Please welcome Daniel Gastager to the podcast!

Daniel experienced an incredibly fast rise in the landscape photography world when only three years after picking up a camera he was named German Photographer Of The Year at the Sony World Photography Awards.

During our conversation we discuss Daniels quick journey to becoming German Photographer Of The Year, and dive into Daniels processes for capturing and editing Epic Landscapes!

Daniel Gastager Photography – Head to Daniels website for links to his portfolio, video tutorials, ebooks, and more

Daniel_Gastager on Instagram – Follow Daniel on Instagram for regular landscape photography inspiration!

• How Daniel became German Photographer Of The Year at the Sony World Photo Awards only 3 years after picking up a camera
• Why Daniel turned to Landscape photography after learning other genres
• The value of re-editing your older images
• The balance between capture vs editing
• Instagram VS 500px – which is more effective?
• What makes a great landscape?
• Daniel's processing methods / workflow
• What happens when you don't like your old images any more?
• How to embed mood and feeling into a photo during the edit
• What instagram is good for, and what it's not
• Where to get actually useful feedback on your photography
• Consistency in editing
• When should you alter a scene in editing to create a better looking finished image than “what was really there”? 
• Daniels favourite locations
• Daniels advice for photographers looking to get more from their RAW files
• When to move from Lightroom to Photoshop in editing

We are joined this week by a wonderfully talented and entertaining travel photographer, YouTuber, and host of the Pierre T. Lambert Podcast - of course I'm talking about none other than Pierre T. Lambert.

There's a lot of photography stuff we could have talked about today, but things are a little different this week.

Because a decade ago I stumbled across a book called "The 4 Hour Work Week" by Tim Ferriss which without exaggeration completely changed the trajectory of my entire life...

And as I learned recently, Pierre experienced a similar turning point in his life after reading it too!

So today we are talking all about how the lessons learned from that book have led to a life and career in Photography.

Pierre T. Lambert Photography on YouTube - Subscribe to Pierre's Photography channel

Trina & Pierre on YouTube - Subscribe to Pierre's travel adventures channel

Pierre T. Lambert on Instagram - Follow Pierre on Instagram to be inspired by his latest images

Check out The 4-Hour Work Week Book on Amazon

• Which ideas from the 4 hour workweek book struck a chord with Pierre first
• Switching from building someone else's dream to building your own
• Lifestyle design and creating a career that supports your lifestyle goals
• Which entrepreneurial ideas Pierre started with and what stuck
• How to get used to being out of your comfort zone
• The feeling of being paid for your first photography gig
• How certain marketing principles from the book helped Pierre price himself straight into the market (and not have to start out cheap!)
• The right time to quit your day job
• The successes and failures of Pierres "air bnb for photographers" project
• Importance of delegating what you shouldn't be doing (and why it's hard to let go)
• Steve's first big 4hww failure that cost 6 months of time and thousands of dollars - and the important lessons learned
• The real power of 4HWW concepts - automation
• Transitioning into becoming a full time YouTuber
• After hundreds of videos Pierres channel was at a virtual standstill, and the strategy that turned it around almost overnight. 
• The best type of content for a travel / photography channel
• What content to focus on if you want people to actually watch and care about your videos
• The pointlessness of vanity metrics on social media (likes, followers, shares etc)
• How it can be hard keeping a good work/life/family balance when you love your work

This week I'm talking with my good friend here in Sydney and gifted street photographer Douwe Dijkstra, who goes by “dex” for short, or on Instagram you'll find him on his profile “Monochrome Visions” all one word, or at his website monochrome visions.net.

Dex really is a master of lines, shapes, patterns, and generally just finding great compositions where most of us wouldn't.

and he photographs exclusively in black and white because as per his personal motto – colour is just a distraction… 

Not only that, but virtually all of his photography over the past half a decade has been exclusively with his iPhone!

Now for me, and i expect many of you listening, as a landscape photographer with a DSLR, expensive lenses, and with post processing being a massive part of my image making process, what dex does might seem on the surface like the complete opposite of what we do. 

But simply browsing Dex's instagram feed for a while is a valuable lesson in composition and finding subjects and points of interest, and this is something that transcends photographic genre. 

Before we get started though… congratulations to two of my earlier guests on the podcast, Josh Snow from episode 13 and Isabella Tabacci from episode 9, who just won second and third places respectively in the International Landscape Photographer Of The Year competition. That's a massive, but well deserved achievement – so congrats again to Josh and Isabella.

MonochromeVisions on Instagram – Follow Dex's Instagram profile here to browse his latest images and get in touch via DM

MonochromeVisions.net – Browse Dex's website for more information

• How Dex discovered his passion for photography
• Why Mobile is the perfect format for Dex as a photographer
• The value of capturing moments, versus technical precision
• How to ask people for permission to be subjects in street photography
• The links between graphic design and Dex's photography
• How colour can disguise a boring composition
• Creating the ultimate personal creative challenge
• Reaching the milestone of 5000 images posted to Instagram
• Where Dex draws inspiration from
• Limitations of mobile photography
• The importance of keeping photography separate from work
• Dex's tips for getting started with street photography

Today I'm honoured to be joined by one of the most talented and prolific landscape photographers around, Mads Peter Iversen.

And can I just say as we come in to episode 19, that starting this podcast is one of my favourite things I've ever done and I still can't believe how privileged I feel being able to get to know the photographers that have inspired me so much down the years.

So I want to thank you for listening, and I want to thank all my guests past, present, and future, for making this possible.

Usually I try to stick to a theme or main topic for each episode, but today is a bit less structured and a bit more like me just wanting to get to know how one of my all time favourite landscape photographers does his thing.

Statistically speaking, you probably already follow Mads on instagram or subscribe to his youtube channel, but if not then I highly recommend you start now.

mpiPhoto.dk - Visit Mads' website for links to his courses, tours, galleries, and blog

Photoshop for Landscape Photographers - Take your editing to the next level with Mads' comprehensive Photoshop course for landscape photoraphers

Mads Peter Iversen on Instagram - Join over 600,000 others who follow Mads' work on instagram!

Mads Peter Iversen on YouTube - Subscribe to Mads' YouTube channel for regular inspirational video blogs and tutorials.

• How Mads maintains consistency across different types of landscape photography
• How to capture unique photos from popular locations
• Mindset differences when in photographer mode VS videographer mode
• The growth of Mads' YouTube channel
• Mads' process for creating video blogs
• How to create videos that people want to watch
• The different phases of growing an instagram following of over 600,000
• Knowing how to give people what they want on each social platform
• Using Instagram as a business tool
• Photographing your home country
• The creative rules Mads follows when creating composite images

Please welcome our guest for episode 18, John Armytage!

John is the founder and former executive chairman of the Focus Seascape and Landscape Photography community, which started out as a small sunrise meetup group on Sydney's northern beaches a decade ago and grew to become one of the largest and most valuable communities for Australia-based photographers.

The annual FOCUS awards has grown to become one of Australias leading amateur photography competitions, and is a testament to the incredible work John has put in to build this community, and to the community itself who continue to grow together and support one another.

John Armytage Photography - visit John's website to learn more about his services and tours

FOCUS Community - join the main FOCUS community hub on Facebook

FOCUS Sponsors - Check out the FOCUS communities sponsors with links to special member-only offers

• How the Focus community started and what it has evolved into
• How forming a committee enabled the Focus community to grow
• John's passion for helping and what that can lead to in others
• The pride in seeing other peoples' progress
• How Focus members have gone on to great things
• John's philosophy for improving your photography
• Why it's so important to get people out of doing life alone
• The joy of teaching others
• How John has started to grow his own photography business since stepping down as executive charmain of Focus earlier this year

Our guest this week is the incredibly talented and multi-award winning photographer Mieke Boynton!

Mieke's recent accolades among many other awards, includes the 2019 victorian landscape photographer of the year with the AIPP, and epson pano awards open photographer of the year 2019..

One of my favourite things about Mieke's work is her skill at finding patterns in nature, whether in abstract arial imagery or from the ground, and over the course of our conversation I came to learn how connecting with nature on a deeper level is a big part of what goes into achieving that.

Mieke's Online Workshops – Learn more with Mieke on one of her online workshops covering a wide range of photography topics.

Mieke's COVID19 Print Sale – Own a piece of Miekes art for your wall at a discounted price (very limited!)

Subscribe to Mieke's email newsletter – to stay in the loop with news and updates from Mieke including new workshop announcements and more

Follow Mieke on the socials at Facebook & Instagram

• Letting nature be the star
• How preconceptions can prevent you seeing what's there
• The joy of looking beyond the iconic shots
• Connecting with the landscape on a deeper level
• Photographing arials from a helicopter VS with a drone
• Why the experience of capturing photos can mean more than the end result
• Embracing the quiet and eliminating noise
• Picking out abstract arial compositions from a massive vista
• Mieke's #1 goal when editing her images
• The value in taking your time to release new images
• What it takes to have a successful exhibition of your work
• How to sell prints in an exhibition
• Knowing your audience

Welcome to part 2 of this double-feature with Paul Hoelen!

In this episode Paul shares stories and insights from some of the many photographic projects he is involved in which aim to highlight conservational issues around Australia, including his work with The Light Collective, which also features artists Adam Williams and Ignacio Palacios who you've heard from in earlier podcast episodes!

To hear part 1 of my interview with Paul, check out episode 15 here.

Many thanks again to Paul for being so open and sharing!

Enjoy!

TheLightCollective.com.au – Check out Paul's collaborative group The Light Collective to see images from their thought provoking galleries and books highlighting the conservational issues affecting Australias landscapes.

Tarkine In Motion –

Talking Landscape Photography – Subscribe to Paul's YouTube channel and tune in Live on 28th October 2020 to the panel discussion on mental health in photography and the arts.

• How and why The Light Collective formed
• The joint benefits of collaborating with other photographers to work towards a common goal
• Using photography not to point fingers, but to open a provocative conversation
• Paul's experience preparing for and presenting a TEDx talk
• The difference in media reach between two TLC projects when one had more of a political angle
• How to use your voice as a photographer
• Is capturing beauty enough nowadays when raising awareness of environmental issues?
• The Tarkine In Motion project
• Using arial photography to unveil things you'd never even know about from the ground
• How abstract photography can be used to invite a conversation
• Activism vs Conservationism
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