Photography Podcasts

The technology we have at our fingertips these days is nothing short of amazing. PDAs, laptops, Blackberries, and iPods are all tools to keep us on the cutting edge. Do you have an iPod or MP3 player?

I have an iPod that I use almost on a daily basis. I download photography podcasts to my iTunes software, hook up my iPod to upload the podcasts, and leave with any number of shows and discussions just waiting to be heard by me at my convenience. Amazing!

Some of my favorite photography podcasts are:
The Image Doctors
D-Town TV
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips
This Week in Photography
Camera Dojo

I learn so much about photography just from listening to these podcasts. It truly is amazing how much information is right at our fingertips.

Are you utilizing the technology of our modern day to learn more about photography?

The Case for Authentic Photography

Photography, as a medium today, is often second-guessed and criticized. Does that photograph really depict an authentic scene or has it been altered? With software available today, like Photoshop, photographs can be altered in tremendous and disheartening ways. It is one thing to remove a distracting utility pole or cluttered background, but it is something entirely different to add an element or subject to a photograph that was not present when the photograph was captured.

What are your thoughts and feelings about altered photographs?

I cut my teeth in the film days where dodging and burning were acceptable practices. Even occasional double images were acceptable at times. But now things have changed dramatically.

I heard someone say recently, “Photoshop is not a verb.” I could not agree more. I use Lightroom and Photoshop myself, but I have placed some self-imposed parameters to what I do and what I believe is acceptable. I am not out to deceive anyone. If I share a photograph with others, I do not want them questioning my integrity or standards. A reputation takes far too long to establish to even consider putting it at risk with such practices as completely changing or adding to a photograph.

Society will eventually determine what is acceptable and what is out of bounds. In the meantime, why not use authentic photography as you preference? I know I will.

Photography Dreams

What are your photography dreams?

Do you have a special place you dream about photographing? Is there an event or sporting activity that is your goal to shoot someday? Do you dream of capturing a photo of some famous person? What are your photography dreams?

My one dream (and, yeah, I have many dreams) is to be in the photographer’s pit at a professional baseball game. I would like nothing more than to capture the action of a major league game and also literally rub elbows with other sports photographers in that kind of venue.

The problem with many of us is that dreams just remain dreams and rarely ever become a reality. We dream big but that’s all we do—dream.

No matter your dream, whether it is photography based or any other kind, you have to take steps to make it a reality. You cannot just dream of something. Rather, you have to see it in your mind’s eye, visualize it, and then determine how you can progress step by step to live the dream.

My favorite movie of all time is Field of Dreams. Ray has a strange dream that everyone else thinks is ridiculous and silly. I find it similar in many ways to what Noah must have gone through as he was building an ark on dry land. This just doesn’t make sense! But the dream drives Ray to plow under his corn crop and build a baseball diamond in the middle of his fields. It takes determination and time, step by step planning, and patience; but Ray’s dream is finally realized in a big way. It turns out that he slightly misinterpreted the dream. He thought that “build it and he will come,” meant that if he built the field then Shoeless Joe Jackson would come to play on it. This did happen, but what the dream really meant was that if he built the field, then his dad would come to play on it and give Ray a unique opportunity to have a catch with his dad.

Not all of our dreams are going to come true. Usually, however, these dreams don’t come true because we never move beyond the dreaming stage. Action is required.

What are you doing to make your dreams come true?