Photographs by Jeff Curto

The visual device of a “view through” from one place to another is a fairly common one in photography, and one that I tend to use often. This episode explores a variety of ways of using the idea of framing a subject to emphasize a sense of space and place.

I’ll be gone in Italy for the next 3 weeks making photographs. I’m hoping to produce a Camera Position or two while I’m gone (bringing the PowerBook and recording gear along with) but don’t know about finding high-speed access to do the uploads. With any luck, you’ll hear from me before I get back, but otherwise, I’ll be back at the end of June. Thanks for listening!

 Listen to the Podcast [10:31m]: Download

When a photographer finds a beautiful scene, there is often a temptation to put everything he sees in the photograph, even if the image that results isn’t all that interesting. Here, Ansel Adams and Paul Caponigro show us how showing less shows us more.

As a side note, if you are listening to and enjoying Camera Position, I would really appreciate if you’d send an email to a friend or two and tell them about the Podcast. Also, if you have time, I’d appreciate it if you’d leave a quick review of the Podcast at the iTunes store. Thanks!

 Listen to the Podcast [11:28m]: Download

Here is an absolutely dull photograph of an absolutely dull (and ugly!) piece of cardboard that is one of the most indispensible pieces of equipment in my camera bag. Temporarily diverting Camera Position from the examination of fine photographs, I look at a tool I use to help me make better images. By using this cardboard viewing frame, I get to examine subjects for potential photographs before I take the camera out of the bag. Once I’ve found the right place to stand, the string helps me figure out which focal length of lens to use on the camera. It’s a simple, but indispensible tool for making better images.

 Listen to the Podcast [9:34m]: Download

The idea of photography that depends on the exact moment of exposure for success didn’t originate with Cartier-Bresson, but he certainly made the most of that perfect instant. Bresson’s idea of “the decisive moment” is examined this week, along with the idea of how photographers always have to grapple with the intersection between idea and their machinery.

 Listen to the Podcast [9:34m]: Download

Sometimes, photography is the proverbial “game of inches.” I made several pictures of this “barca” (boat) on a canal in Venice. I had initially been interested in the boat’s shadow and the intersection of the shadow of the boat and the shadow of the building and the way the boat’s bow interacted with the wall behind. That was working well, but it wasn’t until I saw the way that the reflection of the sky from the adjacent canal created a shift in the way space was rendered that I felt that I had a real photograph.

 Listen to the Podcast [10:20m]: Download