We Talk Photo

Jack and John are honored to welcome Alister Benn to the show.  Alister is regarded as one of the leaders in the landscape photography genre with his expressive and introspective work.  He comes to us today to talk about his new printed book, Out of Darkness. Here is how Alister describes the genesis of the book: “In January 2017 I travelled to one of the emptiest places on earth; The Gobi Desert in northern China. There, I underwent a complete creative epiphany, and over the following 6 expeditions into that region, began to rewrite the story of my life and gain understanding and perspective on my mental health. It is no understatement to say that my creativity has been the gateway to a more balanced and accepting life.“

Alisters Bio:

Scottish born Alister Benn is an award winning Landscape Photographer and founder of Expressive Photography Limited.

His passion for individual creativity and expression make him an enthusiastic instructor and someone who wants everyone to have the confidence to express their own unique voice.

“It is unfortunate that in these days of popularity and social media, that many of us have lost the pure basic reason why we started making landscape photographs in the first place – to be outside, engaging with nature.”

Alister is a strong advocate of engaging with the landscape in an organic way, unrestrained by conventions, rules or the pressure of external validation.

Preorder his book here:  https://expressive.photography/out-of-darkness-home/

Alisters Website:  https://alisterbenn.com

Expressive Photography Website:  https://expressive.photography

Outofdarkness Website:  https://outofdarkness.co.uk

The We Talk Photo podcast is dedicated to being an entertaining, informative and lighthearted discussion about a wide range of photographic topics centered around landscape and nature photography.  Hosted by Jack Graham and John Pedersen, long time industry professionals, they will bring you in to their conversations about gear, recent trends, insightful interviews with industry leaders as well as entertaining stories from their collective experience in the photography business.

Jack & John welcome one of the most exciting and insightful creators, artist, photographer and writers today, Guy Tal.  Guy has produced an incredibly amazing body of work, both visually and written about photography and life.  Guy is one of the most vivid and introspective thinkers who has an innate ability to transfer his thoughts to the photograph or written page.

Guy is joining us today to talk about his latest book, called The Interior Landscape. Building on the legacy of his previous best-selling books More Than a Rock and Another Day Not Wasted, as well as his work as a regular contributor to LensWork and On Landscape magazines, The Interior Landscape is a collection of more than 60 brief essays, packaged in a beautiful hardcover format and illustrated throughout with Guy’s stunning photography.

Organized into four parts, Guy discusses:

Creativity and expression as the most significant aspects of making art

The controversial and tenuous relationship between photography (by design a medium for objective representation) and art (by definition the subjective expressions of the imagination of artists)

How he has formed a relationship with, and found meaning in, the natural landscape, and how he expresses these meanings in his photographs

Lessons learned from more than three decades of practicing expressive landscape photography

The Interior Landscape is for anyone interested in, as the title suggests, turning inward to explore creativity, art, expression, and the landscape. It is sure to illuminate, educate, and inspire you on your photographic journey.

Visit Guys Website – www.guytal.com

To order Guys new book, you can get the ebook edition from Rocky Nook or Amazon. If you want an autographed printed version, visit Guys site when the hardcover is available later this year.

The Interior Landscape e-book

            On Rocky Nook: HERE

            On Amazon: HERE

The We Talk Photo podcast is dedicated to being an entertaining, informative and lighthearted discussion about a wide range of photographic topics centered around landscape and nature photography.  Hosted by Jack Graham and John Pedersen, long time industry professionals, they will bring you in to their conversations about gear, recent trends, insightful interviews with industry leaders as well as entertaining stories from their collective experience in the photography business.

On this very special episode, we welcome 6 of the 7 members of Photo Cascadia to talk about their new book, Washington Evergreen, Land of Natural Wonders.  These folks are always busy and it is a huge accomplishment to get so many of them all on the program with us.  Joining us in this episode are Sean Bagshaw, David Cobb, Erin Babnik, Kevin McNeal, Adrian Klein and Zack Schnepf.  

Their new book is a follow-up to their previous Book, Oregon My Oregon, Land of Natural Wonders and is one of the most complete photo compilations of the amazingly beautiful state of Washington.  Hear them tell about how the book came to be and what it took to bring together so many amazing images.   With a forward by Robert Michael Pyle, this is THE definitive photo compendium of beautiful Washington State.

The book is available for pre-order on Timber Press:  Click HERE for more information.  At only $30 for 244 pages, this is such an amazing deal.

Photo Casdia Website: https://www.photocascadia.com

The We Talk Photo podcast is dedicated to being an entertaining, informative and lighthearted discussion about a wide range of photographic topics centered around landscape and nature photography.  Hosted by Jack Graham and John Pedersen, long time industry professionals, they will bring you in to their conversations about gear, recent trends, insightful interviews with industry leaders as well as entertaining stories from their collective experience in the photography business.

We are pleased to bring  you two outstanding guests in this episode of We Talk Photo.  Listen in as we talk with David Kingham and Jennifer Renwick.  Both are amazingly accomplished photographers in their own right and together, they are a powerhouse duo.  Recently David has injected new life in to Nature Photographers Network, a site devoted to landscape and nature photography filled with helpful information, image critiques and a wonderful sense of community.

David is a professional nature photographer who travels full-time with his partner Jennifer Renwick and their two cats. David started his full-time travels in 2014 to travel the country, spend time in the places he loves, and to find purpose in this world. David and Jennifer plan to settle down in Ridgway, CO where they met and feel most at home. Until then they will continue their travels across America. David and Jennifer lead photography workshops together. They love to share their knowledge of photography and the locations they call home year to year. You can learn more about their workshops by visiting Exploring Exposure.

Jennifer is an accomplished nature photographer who teaches and speaks about her love of nature and capturing this love through her photography. From Jennifers Bio, “While I enjoy photographing landscapes, my real passion is focusing on the smaller details in those landscapes. Every grand landscape has many stories and nuances that make up the larger landscape, and each of these moments deserves to be shared. I enjoy practicing slow photography, visual storytelling, and expressing my emotions through my imagery. Whether I’m photographing dolphins in the ocean or positioned over a natural abstract in the desert, my goal is the same; I strive to make compelling photos that not only trigger emotions and feelings but, more importantly, help bring awareness to the inspiring but delicate natural world we live in.”

Nature Photographers Network – www.naturephotographers.network

The We Talk Photo podcast is dedicated to being an entertaining, informative and lighthearted discussion about a wide range of photographic topics centered around landscape and nature photography.  Hosted by Jack Graham and John Pedersen, long time industry professionals, they will bring you in to their conversations about gear, recent trends, insightful interviews with industry leaders as well as entertaining stories from their collective experience in the photography business.

Folks, this episode is a big one….we are officially announcing and launching the Masters of Nature and Landscape Photography Symposium.  Created by Bill Fortney and Jack Graham, MNLP will bring together luminaries in the photographic field to teach and share their knowledge to the attendees in the amazing landscape in and around Tucson Arizona.  The symposium is October 30th – November 3, 2023.

Website:  https://www.mnlp.net

Registration will fill up FAST, so if you think you might want to go, we’d suggest you sign up quickly!

Follow MNLP on Twitter @mnlpphoto

Jack and John welcome Adrian Klein to the podcast in this latest episode.  Adrian is a Pacific Northwest Photographer and member of the Photo Cascadia team.  He has been a prolific photographer and workshop leader over the years and we are thankful to have him on as our guest on the podcast.

About Adrian

Born and raised in Oregon, Adrian lives within a 100 miles of the Pacific Ocean, the Columbia River Gorge, Mt. Hood Wilderness and the high desert of Oregon. His love of nature has nurtured his love of photography. He has spent over a decade fine tuning my photography skills and building a connection to nature that allowed him to create the photos you see on his website. His experiences and contributions are many including; working as a portrait and wedding photographer, contributing member of Professional Photographers of Oregon board of directors 2007-2009, landscape workshop leader, active team member of Photo Cascadia, and building alliances with a number of companies.

Adrians Website:  https://www.adrianklein.com

The We Talk Photo podcast is dedicated to being an entertaining, informative and lighthearted discussion about a wide range of photographic topics centered around landscape and nature photography.  Hosted by Jack Graham and John Pedersen, long time industry professionals, they will bring you in to their conversations about gear, recent trends, insightful interviews with industry leaders as well as entertaining stories from their collective experience in the photography business.

Jack and John welcome Ian Plant to the show to talk about his amazing professional career, his approach to photography and some of his favorite and memorable experiences he’s had in photography.  Ian also discusses his new venture with Rick Sammon, called Photo Wonders, which is a site dedicated to some of the wonders to photograph with ways for folks to build out their own unique bucket list of photographic sites.

About Ian

Whether hanging over the rim of an active volcano, braving the elements to photograph critically-endangered species, or trekking deep into the wilderness to places most people will never see, world-renowned professional photographer Ian Plant travels the globe seeking out amazing places and subjects in his never-ending quest to capture the beauty of our world with his camera. Ian seeks out the hidden spaces in between the familiar, relying on long exposures, unique lighting conditions, non-traditional perspectives, and special natural events to show his subjects in a new light. Known for his inspiring images and single-minded dedication to creating the perfect photo, Ian has reached hundreds of thousands of people around the world in his mission to inspire and educate others in the art of photography. Ian is a frequent contributor to many leading photo magazines and the author of numerous books and instructional videos.

Ians Website:  https://www.ianplant.com

PhotoMasters: https://www.photomasters.com

Photo Wonders: https://www.photowonders.com

The We Talk Photo podcast is dedicated to being an entertaining, informative and lighthearted discussion about a wide range of photographic topics centered around landscape and nature photography.  Hosted by Jack Graham and John Pedersen, long time industry professionals, they will bring you in to their conversations about gear, recent trends, insightful interviews with industry leaders as well as entertaining stories from their collective experience in the photography business.

Jack and John are very excited to bring you this episode of We Talk Photo to introduce a new educational course for producing better prints.  Our guests, and the creators of this course, are Sean Bagshaw (below) and Zach Schnepf (left).  Both are accomplished photographers, workshop leaders/teachers and all-around great guys!  Printing can have many barriers to entry, but as they explain, printing is the third leg of the creative stool and is often overlooked or so intimidating folks don’t go down this path too far. What Sean and Zack hope to do is to de-mystify printing and make it easy for the layperson, or experienced printer, to learn how to properly prepare a file for print and then execute the print, either at home or at a lab.

Zach and Sean have previously taught an in-person class on printing and they have taken this course into the digital realm that can be delivered to your computer. The course is 32 chapters long with a couple of bonus chapters plus many sample images for you to work on alongside them as they teach various aspects of the printing process.  From monitor calibration to soft-proofing, sizing and sharpening on to hard proofing and final printing, this course covers every aspect of a robust and thorough print process.

Zacks Website: https://www.zschnepf.com/Other/Better-Prints-Video

Seans Website: https://www.outdoorexposurephoto.com/video-tutorials/video-tutorials/

For the month of May, they are offering a 20% discount on this course teaching you the ins and outs of producing better prints.  Folks, we don’t often encourage you to buy things on this show, but this is one thing Jack and John both say that if you have any interest in printing at all, please listen to this podcast and then buy this course.  Incredible value for the modest price they are charging.

The We Talk Photo podcast is dedicated to being an entertaining, informative and lighthearted discussion about a wide range of photographic topics centered around landscape and nature photography.  Hosted by Jack Graham and John Pedersen, long time industry professionals, they will bring you in to their conversations about gear, recent trends, insightful interviews with industry leaders as well as entertaining stories from their collective experience in the photography business.

Jack and John come to you in this episode from their hotel in Forks WA as they prepare for their Olympic National Park workshop.  Listen in as they discuss the preparations they go through to plan the workshop itinerary and work to provide the best possible photo and learning experience possible for the clients.  The first segment of the podcast is prior to the workshop and then they regrouped after the workshop to discuss how the experience was, plus some helpful tips on visiting the park.

Please join them for an insightful and informational podcast about this most special National Park.

John and Jack welcome Krista McCuish to this episode of We Talk Photo. Krista has travelled all over the world and engaged in several careers and throughout has remained connected to the visual arts.  She currently resides in Nova Scotia, which is where she completes a large portion of her work.

On a recommendation from Guy Tal, Jack and John instantly fell in love with Kristas work, particularly the care and attention, the thoughtfulness, that she puts in to every photograph.  It is very evident from her portfolios that she is not just a photographer, she is an artist in how she approaches and executes her work.  Each image is inspired by something within, then thoroughly executed in the field before she applies her creativity in the digital darkroom.

Her work is slowly gaining notoriety and we are so pleased to have her on this show in order to showcase her thoughtful approach to her craft through her beautiful images.  We encourage each one of you to visit Kristas website to view her images.

Kristas Website: https://www.kristamccuish.com