All Episodes
The Perceptive Photographer — 309 episodes
Trusting Your Instincts When You Can’t Explain Why
In the Creative Practice, Nothing Is Ever Wasted
Why people photograph at all
Hesitation in your work is costing you
The misunderstanding of intention in your work
Interrupting that darn autopilot
Connections and relationships in our images
What Your Edits Say About You
May the 4th be with you
From Contact Sheets to Yes And
Rethinking Your Photographic Approach
Triple Distillation and a better photographs
Shifting Perspective in How We Talk About Our Images
The role of intention and edges in creating meaningful photographs
Working with sweet spots
Playing a good mind game with our work
Thinking about entry points
In conversation with Jenny Hansen Das
Exploring meaning from John Berger’s essay “Understanding a Photograph”
When Meaning Splits: Navigating Disagreement in Photographic Critique
Composition as Personal Expression and Growth
Is an audience required for meaning, or just for momentum?
Moments that make us stop
Photographing for Ourselves vs. Seeking Validation
Why two photographers never see the same scene: myth of objectivity
Relational vs. Transitional Viewing
In Conversation with Rachel Demy
Why your best work might feel boring to you
The Danger of Consistency
When the Photograph Stops Explaining: Seeing Without Searching
Not Every Good Photograph Needs to Be Shared
Books for the giving season
Working With What the Photograph Wants
Interpretation and translation
What it means to share your work
The Importance of Intention and Emotional Connection in Photography
Burnout verse rest
Magic in the mundane
Seasons of Light
Thoughts on Creative Momentum
Learning to Trust Your Eye
In Conversation: single images verse projects
What I don’t know may mean more than what I do know
The role of quiet or silence in our photographic practice
Are You Measuring the Right Things in Your Photography?
Which story telling structure do you use in your photography?
How spicy can you handle?
Storytelling Through Images
An arrow in the quiver
What you see and what you photograph
Finding Meaning Beyond Description
In Conversation with Ken Carlson on Roland Barthes Death of the Author
No title means you don’t know this week’s topic
Embracing Imperfection and Authenticity in Photography
In Conversation with Ken Carlson on Composition in Photography
How Do Truth, Wonder, and Trust Shape Your Photography?
Art for Me or for You? Navigating the Creative Tug-of-War
In Conversation with Ken Carlson: Curiosity, Craft, and the MFA Path
Finding Your Point of Entry in Photography
Seeing Clearly: Mentorship, Duality, and the Core of Your Work
Photographic trophies verse experiences
How asking “What do I see?” can transform your photography
Working with the mundane in your photography
Ep 533 Understanding the why of your visual narratives in editing & sequencing
Episode 532 How can embracing more of your irrationality over your rationality enhance your photography?
Talking about Robert Frank and The Americans
Discussing the power of “just one more thing” in your photography
Deepening our Understanding of Photography
Thinking about print size can change your approach
Are You Overthinking Your Photography and Missing the Moment?
Connecting “Things” and “Relationships” in Photography
Visiting the impacts of New Topographics on modern landscape photography
Choices Behind Minimalist and Simple Photography Part 2
Navigating the Fine Line Between Simple and Minimal Photography Part 1
Finishing the image
The Hawthorne Effect
Celebrating 10 Years
Random Thoughts on your past, present and future
The don’t know what you don’t know bucket problem
Where’s your focus?
Revisiting Our Approach to Understanding Photography Critique
Thoughts on finishing
Unpacking what makes a good photograph
Flip the question
Wishing you a happy new year
Exploring the Visual Language of Photographs
How we think about removing distractions can impact our images
Adapting Your Photography: Turning Personal Challenges into Creative Opportunities
Great photography exercises for the holiday season
How Can Finding Balance Transform Your Photography?
Finding Peace in the Frame: How Photography Helps Us Cope with Life’s Challenges
The importance of simplifying when facing complexity
The importance of simplifying when facing complexity
How Can We Embrace Mistakes as Happy Accidents in Our Creative Journey
Thinking about the Connection Between Perception and Photography
Are You “Mailing It In” with Your Photography?
Reflecting on 500 Episodes: The Importance of Patience and Discovery in Photography
Enhancing Your Photography Through Critique and Visualization
How do we draw the boundaries in processing our images
Do you already know the answer?
Theater, sitcom storylines and your photography
Realizing what we thought we knew we didn’t know in our work
Impacts of tension on our photography
Can Originality Be Taught? Exploring Innate Talent vs. Learned Skills
How we think about photographs
Forks in the road of the creative process
Embracing Fragmentation in Photography
Discussing the Role of Chance in Photography
Simple Language Shapes How We View our Photographs
The importace of learning in making meaningful images
The Role of Self-Acceptance in Your Creative Journey
Ideas on Time and Presence in Your Photographic Process
Musings on simplicity and complexity in photographs
Revealing Your Photography Personality through F-Stops
Understanding Photographs Through Repeated Engagement
A tale of distractions
Importance of good customer service
What would your camera club be?
Evolution, revolution and rants
Five ways resistance can impact your photographic process
Interview with Dave Cross
Defining your best work
Five Photography Challenges to Connect to Your Work
Defining value in the image: snapshots to fine-art
Diving deeper into photo inspiration and influences
Symbolic meaning and thinking in photography
The reason does matter
When it is practice and when is it insanity?
Discussing the concept of presets both in software and as a mindset for photographers
Imitate, Influence, Inspire: Lessons from ‘Art and Fear’
Key elements to thinking about your work as projects instead of images
Keeping perspective before and after the click
What can happen if you don’t revisit your work
Seeing the shots with community
Five bad habits to drop like a hot potato
Questions of quality: The viewing of a great Photo
Sights and Insights: Starting 2024 with a Photographic Mindset
Finding inspiration in quotes on photography and connecting
Embrace Failure: A Key to Success
Listener Question Week
Unlocking conversations about your work with 11 easy questions
Work is never linear
Hitting the bullseye in goal setting for your photography
The shape of influences
The difference between knowledge and wisdom in photography
Are you in it for the long haul?
Why sitting with uneasy feelings can help you better edit your photographs.
10 questions to being a better photographer
It’s not a corporate gig so don’t act like it is
Metaphors and story telling
Like healthy eating, you know what you need to do in your photography
Gear does matter. It affects your work
Celebrating the uniqueness of episode 444
A question of quality
Acts of Kindness
Framing considerations
Keep it simple with one small thing
Got a song stuck in your head? Might be good for your photography
Being bold
Considerations for better compositions
Where’s the fire?
Projects, odd questions and toning black and white images
Chicken and the egg
Working Projects
Simple lessons from my last workshop and an editing effect to keep a close watch on
Five challenges to push your photographic process forward
What to do with all those bad ones?
Generative AI, Diane Arbus and other musings on the creation of images
Details and other small things
Starting from failure
Balancing act in photography
Grief, loss and owning your emotions
Listening to your voice
One piece of advice you would give yourself
The power of multiple meanings in photography
Nature verse nurture?
How do you know you are making progress on making more meaningful work?
Listener Questions
Insights from The Nature of Photographs
Five cliches to help your photography
Simple acts make all the difference
Episode 415 Why do you photograph what you photograph?
Episode 414 Continuing thoughts on AI in photography
The 10% rule in your photography
Ep 412 Who judges who
Ep 411 The importance of practice in photography
Ep 410 What are the best ways to come up with project ideas
Ep 409 Quantity is the name of the game
Ep 408 Setting goals for 2023
Ep 407 Thoughts on Points of View
Ep 406 Some thoughts on titling your photographs
Ep 405 Explaining verse justifying your images and the importance of print storage
Three things to clean up before the end of the year
How to be a better speaker about your photographs
Thoughts on working with your audience
Is it recognition that you seek in your photos or something else
Episode 400 and a thanks to the community
The problem with clear and concise in photography
Pushing against the resistance
All photographers need to return to the basics and a good pair of shoes
Do your photographs fit into your emotional buckets
Self-doubt and the value of getting your shot
Understanding a photograph by looking at its peers
What is normal anyway?
Time is the ultimate variable
AI and the challenge of what it means to make art
Is straight out of the camera important or even possible?
10 tips to kick up your creativity in your photography
Is simple always good in photography?
The power of two & working with diptychs
How much does that photograph cost?
Has digital really changed photography that much?
What defines a great print in photography?
Photography and the expression of idea
Improv and the value of yes, and
Comfort food verse new food as an approach to your photography
Value of forgetting things
The lure of instant gratification
Research to make more meaningful images
Listener questions on how to improve quickly and when the subject is the light
Can we tell if you are upset?
Conversation starters
You can’t please everyone
The making of a one hit wonder
What is photography about?
Dealing with choices
Instant successes decades in the making
Lessons from bird watching to improve your photography
Pick one thing to focus on in your work
What makes a basic photograph interesting?
Blurry and sharp in your photography
Why you need I statements in your work
Well it has been 7 years since this all started
Sense of wonder or obligation
Two task challenge week
Are facts destroying your creativity?
Where do you put your time?
Who is your audience?
How am I today and how do I want to be?
Taking a moment to honor your images before you delete them
A wish for all of us in 2022
Some listener questions to end 2021
On our photographic journey a few little things to pick up along the way
Feeling verse knowing is huge in your photography
Meaning relationships and the impact on the photograph
What’s the purpose for the picture?
How you group images can really change things
It’s all been done before…
The notion of sequencing images
Thinking about the defining moment
What do you collect?
Memory is a powerful thing in photography
Revisiting the contact sheets
Subtle Nuances
Clarity is not just a slider in Lightroom
It is time for a reboot?
Listen to tell a better story in your photography
Increasing your satisfaction with your images
The process is part of your inspiration
If your settings on your camera are “correct” does that mean all the other options are incorrect?
Can I quote you on that?
Art of the metaphor
Everybody loves a parfait. Peeling back the layers on a meaningful conversation
Footnotes and endnotes Episode One
Being more successful by doing nothing
Why do you care what other people photograph and why bash on them?
Change your thinking not your settings
What’s the rush?
How do the spaces we work in and frames we create overlap?
Focus on the ripples in your pond
Does our style shift when working on different photographic projects
Stuck in neutral and the sense of going nowhere
How important is accuracy in a photograph?
The value of ideas that are both easy and hard
Of course, you shouldn’t know that…
How to tell better stories in your photographs
Are Cliff Notes the way to go to learn photography? (you can likely guess my answer)
The loss of sight and photography
Not everything has to be the same
Our reactions make the difference
Reading is fundamental
Importance of Spring Cleaning
Listener questions about new tech, inspiration, and finding one thing that matters
Staying with something good or evolving to something better
Nice photograph, but is it personal?
How long to wait?
It’s always something
Edges or overlaps in your approach to photography
Is it poor taste or a bad photograph?
Who’s your photo buddy?
What are you missing and the one thing approach
How do you feel about photography?
The start of a new year and celebrating the good
30,000-mile tune-ups
Do you have photographic traditions?
How to figure out your good photos from the bad
It’s Episode 300 so we are talking about celebrating milestones
AI and Computational Photography-When is it no longer a photograph?
The rules and repeatability of composition
The joy and pain of muscle memory
How do you approach knowing when enough is enough in your photography?
How do you value your images? Is it more than just a 1-5 star ranking?
Seeing the whole from the parts and a reminder to vote
Can you answer the question Why do you care?
This isn’t personal. It’s just business
A mile in someone else’s shoes
Questions to ask yourself and others about photographs
The power of the photographic interview
The value of small changes you can make even in a year of crazy to boost your photography enjoyment