B&H Photography Podcast

On the suggestion of a listener, we contacted a few Australian photographers to get their take on the devastating bushfire season that has burned more than 18 million hectares and taken thirty-four lives, since June 2019. We were fortunate to connect with Nick Moir, self-described storm-chaser, wildfire photographer, and current chief photographer at the Sydney Morning Herald. On this week's episode of the B&H Photography Podcast, we speak with Moir about his experiences photographing this year's fires, as well as the overall news coverage of this disaster. Moir won a 2003 World Press Photographers Award for his coverage of that season's bushfires, so he knows of what he speaks, and we talk with him about his approach to shooting such a dangerous subject, including planning, gear, safety measures, and the type of fire photos he prefers to make. We also discuss with Moir the fire season itself and why this year is so much worse than previous seasons. Finally, we talk about the news coverage of the fires and how his news organization covers the many stories that are part of this disaster, in comparison to how international journalists and news organizations cover the story. Before we speak with Moir, we welcome David Brommer, organizer of the 2020 Depth of Field Professional Portrait, Wedding, and Event Photography Conference, which takes place here in New York and streams online, on February 11 and 12. Join us for this timely conversation. Guests: Nick Moir and David Brommer Photograph: © Nick Moir

I don't know if we've ever had two photographers with such divergent styles on the same episode. It would make little sense to even have them on together, except that their individual work is exceptional, and they are married to each other. This week on the B&H Photography Podcast, we return to a format that has served us well in the past—speaking with a couple who both work in photography. We really hit the jackpot this time, with Joseph O. Holmes and Sara Bennett, not simply because they are interesting photographers and really nice folks but, between them, they embody a wide range of photo skills, from the technical and artistic, to the narrative and journalistic, from portraiture and art photography, to advocacy and social documentary. It's quite an interesting situation and Holmes and Bennett, each in their own way, offer personal insight into their varied projects, and they also generously allow us a glimpse into how they work together as a couple, raising a family and supporting each other's work. Sara Bennett's photography, which has been published in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and the PBS/News Hour, grew from her years working as a lawyer, primarily on cases related to battered women and the wrongly convicted. Her portraiture of women in prison and transitioning from incarceration humanizes as it advocates and educates. Her books, Life After Life in Prison, The Bedroom Project, and Looking Inside: Portraits of Women Serving Life Sentences, are beautiful and simple documents that serve a higher purpose, and we talk with Bennett about her intentions and the long process to find the right women to photograph and the complications and joys of photographing in prison. With Joseph Holmes, we start the conversation with New York City—and I don't think we ever leave. Holmes could make a great image in a dark closet, but his work has such an understanding of our city and the subjects he has chosen to photograph—"Cooks on Breaks," "Urban Wilderness," "Streit's Matzoh Factory," and "Tracing the Underground," are so New York, without ever touching the boiler plate. Blending portraiture, documentary, and street photography, Holmes's dedication to the photo series and his technical aplomb represent the best of fine-art reportage. His work is represented by Jen Bekman Gallery, and pieces are included in the permanent collection of several museums, including the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Check out his photo annuals and enjoy this wonderful conversation as much as we did. Guests: Sara Bennett and Joseph O. Holmes Photograph © Joseph O. Holmes For more information on the Nikon, Sigma and Fujifilm gear discussed in this episode follow this link

On this week's episode of the B&H Photography Podcast, we welcome editorial, fashion, art, and music photographer Olivia Bee. That's a lot of tags and she's earned them all in a relatively short time span. Her "origin story" is well-documented in photo circles, so we won't go into that much, but in a career now a decade old, we discuss where those early successes have brought her, what she enjoys about photography, and what she is working on now. With clients that include Hermes, Nike, L'Oreal, Sony, and editorial assignments from Vice, Elle, the New York Times, and Complex Magazine, Bee has created a comprehensive body of commercial work while continuing to evolve the personal aesthetic that got her noticed in the first place. She is also now directing music and other videos and beginning a narrative film effort. We speak with Bee from her bucolic Oregon acreage and discuss a wide range of topics, from the evolution of her gear, including her current use of 8x10" view cameras, to her self-portraiture techniques, to publishing her first book, Kids in Love, with Aperture. We also spend some time discussing her work with musicians, the different approaches to an editorial assignment with a musician, and working on album art or a portrait. Finally, Bee lets us in on her dream assignment and Allan promises to make that dream come true. Join us for this pleasant and informative conversation. Guest: Olivia Bee Photograph © Olivia Bee

Imagine the privilege of being present at the creation of one of the "wonders of the world," and then imagine being asked to document the magnitude—and the details—of that creation. Our guest on today's episode of the B&H Photography Podcast has just that privilege and that responsibility and, as he puts it, this telescope may "change the way we understand our universe." Chris Gunn has been a NASA contract photographer for almost twenty years but, for the past ten, he has dedicated himself to the James Webb Space Telescope and documenting the construction and eventual launch of this spacecraft, which will replace the Hubble as NASA's most powerful telescope. We speak with Gunn about all aspects of his job and, specifically, about the gorgeous medium format images he creates that are made available to the public. Gunn is responsible for documenting the construction process, which includes portraits of scientists, as well as macro shots of screws, and he relates how he has "taken the extra step" to evolve as a photographer, incorporating medium format photography and detailed set-ups. Gunn must be prepared to shoot any style of photo and he discusses his daily responsibilities, how his gear has evolved over time, the lighting he chooses, and his interaction with the hundreds and technicians and scientists he works with regularly. We also discuss marketing yourself as a photographer and the specific challenges that make his job like no other, including working in giant "clean rooms," accepting that your work is immediately in the public domain, and incorporating the aesthetics from science-fiction films. Sitting in on this recording is our own member of the B&H Space Force, writer Todd Vorenkamp. Join us for this fascinating episode in which we learn about this incredible spacecraft and the work that goes into documenting its creation and check out our 2016 episode in which we speak with the imaging scientists from the Hubble Telescope mission. Guest: Chris Gunn Photograph © Chris Gunn

During a little holiday trip, producer John Harris made a visit to the gallery and studio of photographer Clyde Butcher. For anyone who grew up in Florida, Butcher's work should be very familiar; his photography is often found on the walls of local libraries, municipal buildings, and, as Miami native Jason Tables points out, "every doctor's office I've ever been in." Butcher's images of the Florida landscapes, particularly of the Everglades, are legendary, and although he has a brisk print sales business, many of the photos in libraries have the attached placard, "Donated by Clyde Butcher." Although he is known primarily for his large format black-and-white photography of "the swamp," Butcher's photographic career extends back over many decades and includes architectural photography, mountain and western landscapes, filmed documentaries, and decorative color photography. Interestingly, Butcher began his career selling prints at small art fairs and, in the 1970s, he had a thriving business selling thousands of prints through department stores such as Sears and Montgomery Ward. This episode of the B&H Photography Podcast is a casual conversation that glides through several topics including Butcher's work with large format cameras, his recent foray into Sony digital cameras paired with Canon tilt-shift lenses, the incredible set of vintage enlargers in his giant darkroom space, the business models he and his family employ to market his images, water conservation, and, of course, his relationship to the Florida landscape for which he will be forever linked. Join us for this conversation with a true master. Guest: Clyde Butcher Some of Clyde Butcher's current and future exhibits: America the Beautiful: Midwest Museum of American Art April 17, 2020 - July 12, 2020 - Elkhart, IN Fort Wayne Museum of Art October 1 - December 31, 2021 - Fort Wayne, IN CUBA: Ave Maria University December 10th – February 28th 2020 - Ave Maria, FL IMAG History & Science Center March 6 - May 31, 2020 - Fort Myers, FL Everglades Exhibit: Ding Darling Wildlife Society Nov 7, 2019 – February 7, 2020 - Sanibel, FL The Butler Institute of American Art September 13 – November 22, 2020 - Youngstown, OH

It's hard to believe that another year of the B&H Photography Podcast is on the books and, as has become our way, we close out the year with a casual conversation about our most memorable episodes from 2019. But before we get started, a recent count showed that we have listeners in all but 15 countries. To us, that's remarkable, and we'd like to offer a very heartfelt thank you and best wishes for a happy holiday season to all our listeners around the world. We look forward to your feedback and suggestions for photography conversations in 2020. Allan Weitz starts off today's show with a few of his favorite 2019 episodes, including our talk with photographer Stephen Mallon, who documented the recovery of Flight 1549—referred to as the "Miracle on the Hudson"—from the icy waters of the Hudson River after its forced landing in January 2009. On that episode, we welcomed Denise Lockie, a passenger on that flight. Allan also mentions our conversations with Albert Watson and Vince Aletti as favorites and our chats on car photography with Nate Hassler and on D.I.Y. camera makers. For his part, Jason Tables starts his list with our episode on storm chasing and extreme-weather photography as a favorite. He also recalls "The Copyright Infringement Superhighway" with attorney David Deal, our talk with photographer Corinne May Botz on her series "Milk Factory," and our hilarious and insightful conversation with portraitist Mark Mann. John Harris begins with some of the 2019 episodes that performed best in terms of number of downloads, some of which surprised us. He also discusses a few of his favorites episodes, including "Conflict Photography—Motivation and Consequence." Other memorable episodes he mentions are "Commitment to Community—Rhynna Santos, Michael Young, and the Bronx Documentary Center," our talks with rock photographer Mick Rock and photojournalist Shahidul Alam, and, of course, our conversation with actor and photographer Jeff Bridges. Enjoy our casual end-of-the-year chat, subscribe to the B&H Photography Podcast on Apple Podcasts, join our Facebook group, and have yourself a happy new year. Photograph © Jason Tawiah

The B&H Photography Podcast wraps up 2019 expanding our minds, with the help of Swedish photographer Erik Johansson. Enabling his playful and slightly sinister imagination with a wealth of design and photographic talent, Johannsson makes images that toy with the veracity of a photo while using relatively basic photographic processes to create them. It is certainly worth viewing Johansson's website or Instagram feed before (or while) listening to this episode to familiarize yourselves with the images we discuss and to gain a sense of his mastery of scale and narrative. Combining landscape photography, staged scenes with actors, oversized props, and the best of digital collage, Johansson creates images that seem to emanate directly from his dreamy imagination, but are undoubtedly the product of much real-world work, and he kindly takes the time to explain his process and workflow to us. A woman emerges from a shopping mall escalator to find herself in a dark forest, a man pulls a lonely country road across a field like a bed sheet, a house is tossed as verdant farmland turns into a violent tidal wave. These scenes, along with many others (and some with a decidedly MC Escher feel), have us wondering, "how does he do it?" Join us for our conversation with Johansson to find out the tools he uses (starting with his Hasselblad camera system and Profoto lights) and the amount of time and production it takes to create each of these surrealistic vignettes. As we celebrate our 200th episode, chime in on our Facebook group with your all-time favorite episode or let us know a subject you'd like us to cover in 2020. Thanks! And have a great New Year. Guest: Erik Johansson Photograph © Erik Johansson

It's that time of year again at the B&H Photography Podcast. Now firmly established as a tradition, with the end of the year in sight and gifting season in full swing, we take an episode to talk about the most interesting—dare I say, best—cameras of the year. Our guests include podcast regular Levi Tenebaum and B&H SuperStore camera expert Georgina Diaz. This year, we start with an overview of mirrorless cameras announced in 2019, including the new full-frames from Panasonic, Sony, Leica and Sigma. We also mention the new APS-C and Micro Four Thirds format cameras such as the FUJIFILM X-Pro 3, the Sony Alpha a6600, the Nikon Z50, and the Olympus OM-D E-M1X Mirrorless Digital Camera. Perhaps most interesting are the mirrorless medium format high-resolution cameras that were introduced, including the FUJIFILM GFX 100 and Hasselblad X1D II 50C. Jumping ahead to DSLR cameras, we see that Nikon and Canon updated their flagship models, Canon offering the EOS-1D X Mark II DSLR and Nikon, the D6 DSLR Camera. Canon also announced its compact mirrorless full frame, the Canon EOS RP. High-end point-and-shoots from Sony and Canon were released, as were three new waterproof tough cameras from Ricoh, FUJIFILM, and Olympus. After a break, we take on the subject of lenses and accessories and highlight a few lenses that caught our attention, such as the FUJIFILM XF 16-80mm f/4 R OIS WR, the Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS, the Nikon NIKKOR Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct lens, and several others. We wrap up the episode with a discussion of lights, tripods, drones, and other accessories. Our guests bring their expertise to this conversation as we compare new cameras to their predecessors, discuss specs, and get insight from the SuperStore floor regarding what have been the hot items from 2019. Join us for this timely and educational episode. Guests: Levi Tenenbaum and Georgina Diaz

With the holiday season upon us (and today's celebration of the 86th anniversary of the repeal of prohibition) we figured it a good time to revisit a wonderful episode on food photography. We will return next week with a new "Cameras of the Year" episode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photographing food is far from being a new facet of photography. Whether for commercial or artistic purposes—think William Henry Fox Talbot, Edward Weston, Irving Penn—it can be found throughout eras and styles, but it sure seems like we are currently witnessing a boom in food photography. With the foodie culture exploding and the profusion of #foodstagramming, there is no shortage of photographed meals flying around the Internet. Our guests on today's episode of the B&H Photography Podcast have a wealth of experience in this arena, having shot food photography for a combined total of... many years. Specifically, they join us to talk about their latest book, "Eating Delancey: A Celebration of Jewish Food", but while at it, we discuss food photography in general, from gear and technique to workflow for editorial and commercial assignments, and even for cookbooks. We also discuss the change in food photography styles over the years and ask their opinions on the proliferation of "food selfies." Aaron Rezny has photographed major campaigns for Nestlé, Duncan Hines, Kellogg's, Russell Stover, Nabisco, and Applebee's, and his work has appeared in Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, New York Magazine, and other publications. Jordan Schaps is an author, Professor of Photography at the School of Visual Arts, and the former Director of Photography at New York Magazine. He has produced shoots for inStyle, GQ, Lincoln Motors, and many other commercial and editorial clients. Together, they have produced a wonderfully engaging book. Join us for this educational and, at times, hilarious episode. Guests: Jordan Schaps and Aaron Rezny Photograph © Aaron Rezny www.rezny.com www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcast

On today's episode of the B&H Photography Podcast, we welcome California-based advertising, sports, dance, and fashion photographer (and director), Alexis Cuarezma, who packs a considerable amount of practical and creative insight into our hour-long conversation. Ostensibly, Cuarezma was joining us to talk about his lighting techniques and, while he does dive deep into lighting schemes, we discuss so much more. Cuarezma is generous with is thoughts on production, composition, models, gear, self-promotion, and marketing really anything that he understands to help him in his burgeoning photo business. Just a glance at his work, and one will realize why Cuarezma is here to discuss lighting techniques, he has shot for Sports Illustrated (including six covers), Fortune magazine, Ring magazine, the New York Times, and his clients include Nike. Cuarezma emphasizes his belief that getting in right "in-camera" is the key to his success, not just for the sake of the final image, but for his creative process. Researching, planning, arriving early, being hands-on in every phase of the work, and understanding that your vision, when properly executed, will win over a client, is the other key to his success. With Cuarezma we discuss his decision-making process when creating a portrait; each of the small problems that needs to be solved to create the desired look that works best for his particular subject. While comfortable renting the needed gear to fulfill each project, he also discusses the gear he owns and uses, including Profoto B1 lights, Rosco Gels, and his Canon 5DS. Join us for this insightful and very educational episode. Guest: Alexis Cuarezma Photograph © Alexis Cuarezma