B&H Photography Podcast

(This is an encore presentation of an episode first published in November, 2018.)   When we finished recording this episode, Jay Maisel asked us which podcast episode was our favorite. It didn’t take Allan a second to answer, “This one!” While we now have recorded more than three hundred, there is no doubt that this episode of the B&H Photography Podcast is very memorable. Once we turned the mics on, nobody wanted this conversation to end and, indeed, it runs longer than 80 minutes, but it is worth every minute. When listening to Jay Maisel and Stephen Wilkes talk, time doesn’t fly—it soars.   The reason we have two such remarkable photographers and long-time associates on together is because Wilkes made a documentary about Maisel, called Jay Myself and with Maisel and Wilkes we discuss the making of the film and their personal and professional relationship that has lasted for 40 years.   At the heart of the film is Maisel’s former residence and studio, the six-story, 30,000 square-foot Germania Bank building that he bought, in 1967, and sold in 2014 for a tidy profit. This massive space, almost as legendary as Maisel himself, must be emptied before Maisel is to move, and Wilkes was there to capture this undertaking. The movie touches upon themes of mentorship, mortality, visual creativity, and the changing face of New York City, but along with the remarkable space he created, the film focuses on the life, work, and legacy of Maisel himself. It is a loving tribute from one photographer to another, one friend to another.   Our conversation is filled with the type of creative insight and humor that these towering figures in contemporary photography can bring. Join us for this fascinating conversation.     Guests: Jay Maisel and Stephen Wilkes Photograph © John Harris https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcasts

Our guest on this week’s episode of the B&H Photography Podcast is food photographer Christina Peters, and we start with a discussion of Peters’ macro food photography. We learn about her work with medium and large format systems, including FUJIFILM cameras. We also explore focus stacking, tilt-shift lenses, and when and why she might choose her Canon full-frame system over larger formats. Peters’ work runs the gamut from large commercial jobs with major brands to editorial, portrait, and restaurant work, as well as the unique challenge of photographing pet food. Choice of lighting is also a topic we cover, and Peters offers practical advice for newbies considering a first lighting kit.    In the second half of our conversation, we talk about The Food Photography Blog and The Food Photography Club, both founded by Peters and designed to “help foodies and photographers improve their photography and get higher-paying clients.” We also acquire some perspective on Peters’ professional trajectory and learn why she now prefers to work with smaller, healthy food clients, compared to the fast-food giants.     For our listeners, Peters has put together a resource page loaded with practical information and the link to her Recommended Gear Page on the B&H Photo website.   We also thank Pelican for its support of this episode, and encourage you to visit the Pelican product page on the B&H Photo-Video website.     Guest: Christina Peters   Above photograph © Christina Peters https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcasts https://www.christinapeters.com/index https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/browse/Pelican/ci/4457/N/4232860887

On this week's episode of the B&H Photography Podcast we talk to an old friend about a new book; two-time past guest Amy Touchette joins us to discuss her book of street portraits. She also brought a friend with her - none other than photographer, Larry Fink. Is it fair to call Fink a photo legend?  We think so, and clearly the people at the Center for Creative Photography seem to think so, because they just acquired his complete archive of work including images from the 1950’s to the present, from his acclaimed series “The Beats”, “Social Graces”, “The Vanities” and others.   While this is a roundtable conversation, we start with a few questions about Touchette’s book “Personal Ties: Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn”, which she shot over the course of summer strolls through her New York neighborhood. We learn why she started photography in 2001, about her working process with a Rolleiflex twin lens reflex film camera, and why her personal interaction with her subjects/collaborators is paramount in her photography practice. We also talk about crowdsourcing, editorial collaboration, and why Fink wrote the foreword for Touchette’s book.   Larry Fink’s sixty years of photography work is well-recognized, but his harmonica playing, less so.  We hope to remedy that with this episode, but while at it, we learn how he created an extensive archive of vintage prints and “hustled” to find a home for his life’s work. We learn of his Mamiya medium format camera with bellows, his preferred photo paper, and mull on the difference between our two guest’s aesthetic style. We also talk about an insider vs. outsider perspective, about the nature of portraiture, and the “revelatory excitement that defies the logic of what a frame could be”.    Join us for this playful yet insightful conversation and have a look at this link for portraiture and WPPI related specials.   Guests: Amy Touchette and Larry Fink Photograph © Amy Touchette For more information on our guests or the gear discussed in this show, please visit https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcasts

On today’s episode of the B&H Photography Podcast we welcome two members of the New York chapter of the American Society of Media Photographs, otherwise known as the ASMP-NY and we discuss their evolving role as a trade organization for photographers, as well as a recent photography exhibition they sponsored.   Our guests are Liam Alexander, President of the New York chapter of ASMP, and Harper Bella, ASMP-NY board member and co-curator of the exhibition "Uncovering the Laws of Perseverance". From Alexander, we learn a bit about the history, structure, and benefits of the organization and discuss his initial reasons for joining. We also talk about the group’s mentorship programs, photo law counsel, and recent initiatives to include a new generation of artists, whether that means reaching out to photographers from underrepresented communities or opening the organization’s membership criteria to include “new media” makers, who don’t necessarily operate within traditional media outlets.   In the second half of the show, we speak with Harper Bella about the impressive show she co-curated and how it was born from the anger and up-rise sparked by the George Floyd murder and then nurtured through difficult yet fruitful conversations with other ASMP-NY board members.  We also learn about her curatorial process, the disparate photographers involved, and the varied artistic responses to the idea of protest, including healing as a form of resistance.   Join us for this interesting conversation and learn how this photography trade organization, founded in 1944, is listening to its community and adapting to the new media and cultural landscape.   Guests: Liam Alexander and Harper Bella Photograph © Harper Bella https://www.asmp.org/newyork/ https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcasts

It’s worth the time to see the work of photographer Mandy Barker before listening to this episode. Take a glance at the B&H Photography Podcast homepage or Barker’s website to get a sense of the simple but imaginative images she creates; it will certainly enrich the experience of hearing her speak about photographing plastic garbage, which is what she has found to be her calling.    Of course, we’re being a bit facetious with that comment, but as we discover from our conversation with Barker, it really is the issue of marine plastic—the plastic waste that litters our oceans and beaches—that brought her to photography and continues to push her to create captivating images with the intention of bringing awareness to this increasingly severe problem.   The colorful and almost playful images she creates with marine plastic belie the tremendous damage this refuse is doing to ecosystems around the world, and in some cases, in the most remote of islands and coastal lands. And it is this ability to create likeable images that draws people to her work, as seen in National Geographic, The Guardian, and VOGUE, and in her books, including 2019’s “Altered Ocean.”   With Barker we speak about her transition from graphic design to photography, about sketchbooks and process, and about the relatively basic Canon gear she uses. We also learn about the value of working with scientists on intense overseas expeditions and the incredible stories of lost or discarded items that have traveled across the globe. Join us for this fascinating conversation.   Guest: Mandy Barker Photograph © Mandy Barker

This weekend’s football game is bigger and better than most games―you might even say that it’s a super game. It certainly is one of the most photographed sporting events of the year, and with that in mind, the B&H Photography Podcast welcomes two photographers who know their way around the sidelines. Our guests are football photographers Al Bello and Callena Williams.   Al Bello is a veteran sports and news photographer who has covered countless football games, including previous big bowl games; he is the former Chief Sports Photographer for North America at Getty Images; and his current title is Special Sports Correspondent at Getty. There’s not much Bello hasn’t photographed, including the Summer and Winter games, underwater photography, and even medium format film portraits of athletes but, if you’re a football fan, you’ll never forget the incredible photo he made in 2014 of Odell Beckham’s fingertip touchdown catch. We ask Bello about getting his first ultra-telephoto lens and playing sports in college, and he offers some very practical and football-specific advice on how he approaches each play, but also talks about taking advantage of good background and light when you have it.   After a break, we speak with Callena Williams, the team photographer for the Dallas Cowboys. Williams, who previously worked for the Carolina Panthers, has a different role than a sports photographer like Bello, and we learn about her photo responsibilities that fall outside the field of play, as well as how she works the games. We also talk with Williams about her Canon gear choices and incorporating graphic design duties into her work for the team. Join us for this timely episode. Go team!!   Guests: Al Bello and Callena Williams https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcasts   Photograph © Al Bello/Getty Images

There are many talented people who work at B&H Photo, and the connections to photography and photo history run deep. We have welcomed many “staffers” to the B&H Photography Podcast over the years, and today we are particularly excited to speak with two members of our team on the B&H Explora blog.   We start our conversation with Howard Gotfryd, Senior Copy Editor at Explora, and learn about the incredible photography career of his late father, Bernard Gotfryd. Gotfryd Sr. emigrated to New York after World War II and ultimately found a job as staff photographer at Newsweek Magazine, a job he performed for three decades. We discuss the twists of fate and hard work that got Gotfryd to Newsweek and talk about his most noted assignments, including photographing Robert F. Kennedy, Nina Simone, and The Beatles. We also discuss his camera systems and home darkroom, and come to understand the complexities of keeping an archive of more than 10,000 negatives intact and manageable.   In the second half of our program, we speak with writer and photographer Jill Waterman. Waterman writes for the Explora blog and has also created an epic photo series about New Year’s Eve.  For thirty-seven straight years, she has photographed New Year’s celebrations around the world, documenting each with her Nikon FM camera on black-and-white 35mm film. Waterman has traveled to cities and villages in Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Europe, and throughout the United States, and she describes the various celebrations she has covered and the motivations to keep this personal documentary project alive.   Guests: Howard Gotfryd and Jill Waterman Photograph by Bernard Gotfryd https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcasts

We try to maintain a global perspective at the B&H Photography Podcast and speak with photographers from around the world, but we are New Yorkers at heart and it’s hard to deny the love we have for our city and its history. With that in mind, we are pleased to welcome photographers Anders Goldfarb and Larry Racioppo to the show―two photographers, both born in Brooklyn, who have taken the face of our ever-changing city as their subject. Each photographer has extensive archives of New York neighborhoods, landmarks, and communities, and both have recently published new books of their work. Goldfarb’s book, Passed Remains, is a look at the Greenpoint and Williamsburg neighborhoods prior to the gentrification of the 2000s and Racioppo’s latest book is titled Coney Island Baby, which chronicles the changes to that storied locale from the 1970s to the present. We learn of Goldfarb’s process of bicycling through the quiet corners and industrial cityscapes of his then-neighborhood and photographing with a Rolleiflex twin lens reflex camera. He describes his work as both a “survey and a statement.” With Racioppo, we learn of the many visits he made to Coney Island over the years to photograph―covering the demise and demolition of the 1970s through its reincarnation in the 1990s. He also discusses working as a photographer for the New York Department of Housing Preservation and Development and provides a glimpse at the life of a working artist in Brooklyn in the 1970s and ’80s. Our wide-ranging conversation includes the challenges of the square format, Nikon rangefinders, texture in a photograph, self-publishing, and the delight of mystery. Guests: Anders Goldfarb and Larry Racioppo Photograph © Larry Racioppo For links and more information : www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcasts

Conflict photography of the past twenty years is a subject we have discussed in previous episodes with photographers, psychologists, and scholars, but our very welcomed guest, photographer Peter van Agtmael adds his well-articulated thoughts on the subject, including his own motivations and challenges while covering the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the ramifications of those wars here in the United States and elsewhere. On this episode of the B&H Photography Podcast, we reflect on the mindset of a young man wanting to bear witness to history and the evolution of his thoughts after many assignments and embeds. We also learn about aspects of his work, from the intra-personal to the technical and how these have also changed over the course of an almost two-decade career.   The work of van Agtmael has been published in The New York Times, The Guardian, and The New Yorker; he is a Guggenheim Fellow; a winner of multiple World Press Awards; and a member of the Magnum Agency. He has also authored several books of his work, which take a deeper narrative and conceptual dive into his images from this same general body of work. He is not alone in this endeavor, but it is this balance, this ability to conceptualize his work within the news sphere and in the nuanced context of a personal photo book that is quite interesting. Quiet images from ten years ago have a tragic power today.   His most recent book, Sorry for the War, a subtle and powerful exploration of the disconnect between the United States home front and the actual wars themselves is the main topic during the second half of the show, and we discuss the differences between this and his other books. We talk about the editing process, collaboration, and the formal decisions that go into making a book that is meant to be a historical as well as a personal statement.   We also take a minute to talk about gear choices, the aesthetics of technical limits, and about other stories he is working on. Throughout, van Agtmael offers insightful answers to the very complicated questions posed by and of contemporary photojournalism. Please join us, and also check out his work with the Arab Documentary Photography Program.   Guest: Peter van Agtmael Photograph © Peter van Agtmael https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcasts http://www.petervanagtmael.net/ http://arabdocphotography.org/  

The B&H Photography Podcast is kicking off the new year hot. For our first episode of 2022, we welcome photographer Joe McNally to discuss his career, his working methods, and his exciting new book, The Real Deal: Field Notes from the Life of a Working Photographer.   Joe McNally is known to many as a “photographer’s photographer,” skilled in many genres and able to work across the lines of photojournalism, long-form photo essays, portraiture, sports, dance, and even fashion photography. He has worked for National Geographic, Time, LIFE, and Sports Illustrated, and his commercial clients include FedEx, Adidas, Epson, and many more. He is also a Nikon and Capture One ambassador, a World Press Photo Award winner, and an Alfred Eisenstaedt Award recipient, but as he mentions in our conversation, he started at the New York Daily News as a copyboy, “the wretched dog of the newsroom.”   Our conversation is easygoing, and we talk with McNally about the beginning of his career and early assignments. We discuss the evolution of photo technology (he shot the first “all-digital” story for National Geographic), and there is much to be gleaned about lighting, gear choices, and custom camera settings. We also talk about self-confidence, research, big budgets, and general thoughts on how to succeed in the ever-changing photo business. McNally also spins a few tales about his more adventurous assignments and the risks and rewards that come from them.   In his new book, The Real Deal, McNally candidly shares stories, lessons, and insights he has collected along the way. This is not a dedicated how-to book, nor is it a navel-gazing look back at “the good old days,” because those never really existed anyway. This book is as welcomed and as enjoyable as our conversation. Join us.   Guest: Joe McNally Photograph © Joe McNally https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcasts