Jeff Curto's Camera Position

Camera Position is back! After a too-long hiatus, I’m back with a great series of ideas about the creative side of photography. In this episode, metaphor and symbol and the way they can enhance our photographs.

In this episode, Camera Position  takes a field trip! A great visit to A Gallery for Fine Photography in New Orleans, Louisiana and a great conversation with gallery owner Joshua Mann Pailet links up the idea of collecting photographs with a consummate collector.     Links for this episode: * Tulane University Marching Band * A Gallery for Fine Photography

Living with art… if we were wanting to be writers, we’d read books and we’d collect work by our favorite authors. As photographers, living with work by artists we admire is an important part of living the artful life. This podcast talks about how important it is for us to collect photographs we love and live with them in our homes. Scroll down to see images from this podcast and to listen to and see the podcast. Links for this Episode: * Tami Bone Photography * Beth Dow Photography * Jeff’s Italy Photography Workshops or email Jeff for info jeff@jeffcurto.com * 20×200 project * Jen Beckman Gallery * Jeff’s LensWork Folio

Sometimes inertia gets the best of us and inertia was responsible for Camera Position’s absence these last few months. And photography can be like that, as well. This is the story of how one picture helped get me moving on a beautiful day in Rome and that same picture helped get me moving on talking about photography here on Camera Position. * Jeff’s Italy Photography Workshops

Camera position and camera distance… are they the same thing? As we position the camera, are we also thinking about how we position ourselves relative to the subject? By looking at work by August Sander, the Bechers, Andreas Gursky, Tina Barney and Jessica Todd Harper, we examine ideas about how we distance ourselves from a subject. Above: Photographs by August Sander, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Andreas Gursky and Jessica Todd Harper Links for this episode: * Dirk Rosler’s “Japan Exposures” site * Mary Werner Marien’s book – Photography – A Cultural History

In this, the second of a two-part “desert island photograph” project, we cover more Camera Position listeners describing that one image that they’d take with them for visual sustenance if they were stranded on a desert island. Links for this episode: * Don Hong-Oai – A History of Photography “Summer School” podcast * Cartier-Bresson at Magnum * Edward Weston

Back in Camera Position #83, I asked Camera Position listeners to pick their one “desert island photograph;” that one image that they’d take with them for visual sustenance if they were stranded on a desert island. This episode shares the first few of those responses; others will follow in the next episode. Thanks to those of you who submitted! Links for this episode: * Vanuatu * Bill Brandt * Garry Winogrand * Ibarionex Perello’s The Candid Frame * Sam Abell * Ansel Adams

One of my goals for my workshops is to help the participants learn how to cope with the volume of images that they are making and to edit their images so that the group of photographs becomes their own. This podcast is a partial response to my friend Brooks Jensen using his podcast platform to ask who is teaching this important skill to today’s photographers. Of course, my workshops are about looking and seeing and being in the world as a photographer, but we also work with ideas about how to express who you are and what you think in a series or group of images. Play Podcast:   Just a few spots remain in my Italy photography workshops for June, 2010. Join us for “Your Story of Rome” Rome (June 1 to 5) or “In Search of the Personal – Photographing Southern Tuscany” (June 5 to 12) and explore the way the editorial process helps make meaning possible. Links for this Episode: * Jeff’s Italy Photography Workshops – June, 2010 * Student Work from the 2009 workshop * Brooks Jensen’s LensWork Podcast – “Where are the Editorial Workshops?” (.mp3 file in a new window) * Brooks Jensen’s LensWork Podcast on iTunes and the podcast on the web * Jeff’s LensWork Folio – “Evidence of Hands on Stone: The Italian Portfolio” Students from the 2009 workshop in action:

In a world populated by billions and billions of images, with more being made every second, how do we find a path for ourselves as image makers? We look at the dilemma of quantity and quality in this episode. Links for this Podcast * Alec Soth interview on the Big Red & Shiny Blog * Alec Soth’s website * William Eggleston * David Quigg on Huffington Post * David Quigg’s Flickr Photostream * David Quigg’s blog * Texas Photographic Society – Cell Phone Photograph Contest * Jeff’s Italy Photography Workshops

Nurturing a set of “interesting visual friends” is one of the ways we can help create an environment of creativity around us. We can do that by networking both in the virtual space of today’s social networking tools and in the real world space of spending time with other photographers. This podcast episode talks about ways we can build networks of people who share our interests. We also talk about the Society for Photographic Education national conference in Philadelphia March 4 to 7, 2010 and announce the availability of my Italy photography workshops in Rome (June 1 to 5) and Tuscany (June 5 to 12). Links for this episode: * Jerry Downs Photography * Jeff Curto on Facebook * Camera Position Facebook Group * Camera Position Flickr Group * Jeff on Twitter * Society for Photographic Education * Jeff’s Italy Photography Workshops

If you were stranded on a desert island, what one photograph would you bring along to sustain you visually? I’m soliciting Camera Position listeners’ “Desert Island Photographs” and asking them to send me the one photograph they think would keep them visually “fed.” Listen to the podcast to find out how to play along. Eugene Atget’s “Lampshade Seller” (above) is one of Jeff’s Desert Island Photos

“Many times beauty begs to be recorded and it is only later that its position in the overall order of things becomes apparent.” So said podcast listener Bryant Johnson, a sentence that made me think about how we photograph and the ways that we can produce work just by looking and responding. After our time talking about project planning, I thought this was a great way to segue into a discussion of beauty, photographic impulse and how this picture of a cloud taught me a few things. Links for this podcast: * Bryant Johnson’s Website * LensWork – Link to Jeff’s new Folio * Fred Picker’s Zone VI Workshop book at Amazon * Friend Jeff on Facebook * Follow Jeff on Twitter * Jeff’s Channel on YouTube

In our final “Project Planning Roadmap” podcast, we talk about DAM – Digital Asset Management – trying to get a handle on what these software packages can do for you. Rating, sorting, grouping, keywording and adjusting your images is what applications like Apple Aperture and Adobe Lightroom are all about. If you’re using them, you know, but if not, it’s a really great way to get organized, stay organized and keep your project on track. Links for this episode: DAM Links: * The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers – Peter Krogh’s excellent book * UPDIG – Universal Photographic Digital Imaging Guidelines is an organization dedicated clarifying the issues affecting accurate reproduction and management of digital image files. * Controlled Vocabulary – Great information on how to choose and use keywords * ASMP’s Digital Photography Standards and Practices – An outstanding and important collection of ideas about standards and practices for professional digital photography * DP Bestflow – A new site, also from ASMP, that aims to clarify issues related to digital photography workflow Apple Aperture Links: * Apple’s Aperture website – Starter tips from the Mothership * Aperture Tutorials – Excellent “start to finish” video tutorials * Apple Pro Training Series: Aperture 2 – The best book I’ve found on Aperture * Aperture Users Network– One of the best websites for Aperture support and info * Aperture Plugins – Aperture’s architecture is extensible by the use of plug-ins… some paid, some free * I’m giving away three copies of Aperture – Listen to the podcast for details Lightroom Links: * Adobe’s Lightroom website – Starter tips from the Mothership * Julieanne Kost on Lightroom – Adobe’s Diva of the Demo with great information about Lightroom * The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers – The best book I’ve found on Lightroom * Lightroom Killer Tips – A great website/podcast about Lightroom * Lightroom Plugins – Lightroom’s architecture is extensible by the use of plug-ins; here’s Adobe’s clearing house Jeff’s LensWork Folio – Evidence of Hands on Stone:...

A place for your all your stuff! The next part of planning and producing a project has to do with managing your content. Where do you store it? How do you get at it? Can you find it when you need it? We take a look at these issues in this episode. Links for this Episode: * B&H Photo * Calumet Photographic * Archival Methods * Light Impressions Italy Workshops – June, 2010

Taking a quick break from our project planning roadmap series, this episode of Camera Position spends some time looking at a few of the wonderful photographs produced by participants in my first-ever photography workshop in Tuscany, Italy. This podcast episode looks at two images from each of the participants. The rest of their great projects can be seen in the link below. Students in the 2009 Photography Workshop in Tuscany produced some really great images. As a “final project,” they made wonderful slideshows. Check them out below: * Ann Marie Barry * Cathy Brinkworth * Amanda Dussault * Marty Grassie * Keith Guthrie * Don Hartwell * Bud Hines * Gary Lewis * John Triebe * Roksolana Tymiak-Lonchyna