Camera Position is a podcast about the visual and creative processes in photography, not the technical.
Using images and the spoken word, my podcasts are about the “why” of photography from the point of view of the creative photographer.
Passion for subject, experience and image all wind together in these short commentaries about camera-based images and my life as a photographer.
The podcasts are presented as “enhanced” podcasts, meaning that they have images embedded in them so there are visuals that accompany the audio. The best way to watch and listen is in iTunes, though QuickTime Player works as well. A last choice would be an iPod with video capability, as the images are pretty darn small on those screens.
The podcasts can also be watched in your browser if you have QuickTime installed. Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes –
In Camera Position #8, we looked at Paul Strand’s “The Family, Luzzara, Italy, 1953”. Listener Don Bricker wrote in to note that there are, in fact, two different images of this photograph. The idea that Strand “directed” this image by changing the content in an important way should be considered when we think about how we see the photograph.
“The Family” Luzzara, Italy, 1953
Photographs by Paul Strand
Photographers sometimes have a hard time separating their own emotional response they have to a subject from the image that they make of that subject. It’s up to us as imagemakers not only to respond to the subject and the way we feel about it, but also to remember that our viewers can only rely on the pure visual authority of the image to understand our story. We always have to keep in mind that while we may have responded to the subject in one way, our viewers can only respond in their own way.
Why do we do what we do as photographers? Where does our motivation come from? Why do some subjects interest us more than others? Episode number 12 of Camera Position briefly traces my 16-year examination of Italy’s culture, architecture and landscape and looks at where we find our inspiration as image makers.
It took Edward Weston 29 prior attempts to get to the point where he made his well-known “Pepper #30” photograph. Musicians have to practice their scales, and so do photographers, trying a variety of attempts at conveying the essence of their subjects before hitting on the one that works the best. Weston’s strategy of looking at the three-dimensional world in a two-dimensional image is explored with Pepper #30 and Head-Down Nude.
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