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July 2, 2023 59 mins

In this episode we explore 10 Food for Thought Photography Questions about our photography. These are questions I've thought about over time. The answers  change based on my experiences and what's significant to me at the time. I think you'll find the same if you ever choose to come back to them. These questions show us where we are and where we want to be, and in some cases, the likelihood of making our answers real. As the title states, these questions are food for thought to help us think about and explore what appeals to us and what nourishes us on our photography journey.  Reach out and let me know some of your responses. We'll talk about them in an upcoming episode. 

Questions or Comments? Reach out at MariaB@CluedUpBTS.com and I'll be in touch* directly or address your comment on the podcast.









*By submitting a question or statement, you agree that your submission can be discussed publicly on the podcast, website, or other platforms owned by or affiliated with CluedUpBTS and its parent company, HeadshotNJ, and affiliate company Maria B Photography Studio. while retaining your anonymity.

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Episode Transcript

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Unknown (00:00):
Hello, this is Maria.
This is a sound test, I can'teven talk right? It's been so
long. It's amazing what yourmind forgets when you haven't
done something in a very longtime. It is not like riding a
bike. Let me tell you. Anyway,here we are, again. Hi,
everyone, this is Maria B, youare listening to clued up the

(00:21):
behind the scenes photographypodcast, if you have not
listened to B to me before,thank you for tuning in. If you
have I know it's been a whileand I know periodically, I come
on and I say I'm gonna getbetter at uploading these
podcasts regularly. And ithasn't happened and I am still
working on it. The only thing Ican now guarantee is, I'm never

(00:43):
giving up on this podcast. Ilike doing it. I think it makes
me think about photography. AndI hope some of the things I
bring up, also help you to thinkabout some things you haven't
thought about before. Havingsaid that, again, for those who
are new, I started this podcast,sort of as a, it's actually not

(01:03):
sort of it's actually to helppeople to help photographers
navigate the muddy waters of thephotography, business. Maybe not
necessarily the economic side,or maybe it's better to say
including the economic side. Buta lot of the things that go on,

(01:24):
in doing shoots in setting up indoing business, all aspects of
photography, from the creativeand to the business, to the
economic and to dealing withpeople to technical stuff. And
certainly in the first group ofpodcasts, we have covered a

(01:44):
number of those things. We'vecovered parts of certain things
with the intentions of goingback to them and they those
things will get done, there willbe other parts. You know, we
were doing the exposuretriangle. We've talked about
white balance, we've talkedabout a number of things, and
just not to overload their willhas been the intention of going

(02:07):
back and briefly summarizingwhat we've talked about and then
moving on to the next step, orsteps and those things will
happen. However, since today isour first day back together in a
very long time. I thought Iwould take a different turn and
we do something a little out ofthe box, shall we say and I'll

(02:30):
talk to you about what the planis for this podcast today. Stay
tuned and welcome back. Welcometo clued up with Maria be the
behind the scenes photographypodcast clued up is your
insider's view to buildingsuccessful magazine style
photoshoots. We talk design andconcept fashion and style tech,

(02:52):
social media and of coursebusiness plus so much more,
including how to avoid commonphotography pitfalls. You'll
also meet some special guestswho work behind the camera and
in front of the lens. Whetheryou're an aspiring photographer,
a portrait photographer,thinking about starting your own
business, or you just have aninterest in what it takes to

(03:13):
plan and execute professionalshoots, you've come to the right
place. I'm your host, Maria b.
Now let's get you clued up.
Okay, so you know how you askyourself certain questions just
to explore ideas. I often dothat, and in particular, I do it

(03:36):
with photography. As it happensa couple of weeks ago, a
photography friend of mine said,if you had x amount of dollars,
if somebody gave you X amount ofdollars and said you have to buy
gear for photography, what wouldyou buy? And this conversation
came up because she was tryingto convince me to upgrade my

(03:59):
camera, which in theconversation, the answer was no.
But since then it's been athought. I don't know that it's
a serious thought. However,that's what spurred the
conversation. Because we havethis thing going back and forth
about how much money you spendon upgrading gear and if you

(04:19):
really need to upgrade gear, andwhen is the appropriate time to
upgrade. And if you've listenedto past episodes, you know this
has come up time and time again.
Because of the amount of moneypeople spend upgrading their
camera gear because somethingnewer or something new and shiny

(04:41):
comes out. Anyway, her questiongot me thinking about doing
something like that on thispodcast because it is something
that I often think about ifgiven a certain amount of money.
And you know there's therestriction When, or the
direction that the only thing Icould spend that money on was on

(05:03):
photography? What would I buy?
And you have to spend it andspend out all of it. So, in
addition to that question, I puttogether a total of 10
questions, and I'm gonna callthis food for thought 10
questions, food for thoughtabout photography, and I hope
you play along. There are noright or wrong answers, these
answers are in your head,they're things you don't even

(05:26):
need to give an answer. But it'sworthy of thinking about because
I think these are questions thathelp you to grow. In your
thoughts about photography,whether you're you are a
hobbyist or Pro. So we're goingto start out with that exact
question, which is, you're given$10,000. You must spend it on

(05:47):
photography gear, camera,lenses, anything photography
related, but gear related. Whatwould you buy? And with this
question, as with some of theother questions I'm gonna throw
in, you know my answer. If yougave me $10,000, and told me, I

(06:10):
had to buy photography gear, Iwould upgrade my camera, or, I
don't know, if it's hard to sayupgrade, I would get another
camera. So currently, I have theZ six tune by Nikon, I would
probably hate to say this, Iwould probably get the Z eight,
one because it has all of thefeatures of the Z nine, but in a

(06:34):
smaller body. And that would runfour grand, so that would leave
6000. And with the 6000. Left, Ithink it's fair to say I would
spend that on buying, um,probably higher quality lenses
than what I already own. Orbuying a lens that, you know,

(06:57):
maybe I would only rent but I'dlike to have in my arsenal. One
of those would be somethinglike, I think it's the 200 to
500. And I don't do wildlife, Ishouldn't say that I have done
wildlife. But I've done it witha 200 and then a 200 with a
converter and I actually have a70 to 300 millimeter lens. But

(07:21):
if I've got the money and it'snot an object, yeah, I would
upgrade some of the lenses thatI have. And then I would get
something like that just as afun thing to fool around with.
Because I love wildlifephotography, even though I don't
do it frequently. And you know,the ability to photograph an

(07:43):
animal in the wild or birds orsomething. From distance, I
think it's pretty awesome. Sothat's how I would spend that 10
grand. This is not anotherquestion. It is another
question. But it's a subquestion of the first question.
So this isn't question two, thisis more like Question one, a if

(08:05):
you're given $5,000 the samescenario, how would you spend
it, it's got to be on gear. Andthe reason I put this question
in here is because I think ittells you a lot about the
thought process here. So I as Isaid if I had 10,000 If he gave

(08:27):
me 10,000 I'd buy a new camerabody and then buy lenses. If he
gave me 5000 I would buy lensesbecause as most of us know your
money your financial investmentin photography should be in
glass, more so than camerabodies, depending on the brand

(08:47):
of camera and I shouldn't saydepending on I think with all
kit all major camera brands.
When you upgrade on when thebodies of cameras are upgraded.
You know they retain the abilityto use old lenses or older
lenses so if your money ifyou've spent good money on

(09:10):
lenses, they remain perfectlyusable with new bodies. So for
with five grand, I would do partof what I said before, which is
to upgrade some of the lensesthat I already have, and then I
wouldn't invest in either. Nowthen I would invest in an

(09:31):
additional or whatever theamount of money I had leftover
would get me in terms of a lensthat I'd like to have not even
one that I absolutely needed orstrongly wanted but just
something that you know, was alittle fancy like the 200 to 500

(09:52):
lens for wildlife to use forwildlife. So along the same
lines if the money 10 1000 or5000 was not limited to gear,
what would you purchase? So forexample, would you spend it on
photography education? Would youspend it on traveling to some
place to photograph somethingthat you've always wanted to

(10:13):
see? Would you spend that moneyto try to get or to definitely
get someone famous in front ofyour lens that you've always
wanted to photograph? just foodfor thought? I would probably
spend it traveling to someplacethat I've either been before and

(10:36):
want to go back to and there's asimilar question about that
later on. Or I would gosomeplace I've never been before
someplace really exotic. Andactually, you know, when I think
I would do, I think I do a photosafari in Namibia, or something
like that. Because that's such adifferent world from the world

(10:57):
we live in, well, from the worldI live in. I think that would
be, you know, like mind blowing.
And anyone who's ever done thatalways. They not only want to go
back, they end up going backbecause it's it's potentially
life changing. Just seeing theway people live so different to
the way we in the, you know, theWest live. So I think that's

(11:18):
what I would do, I woulddedicate that money to
traveling, and photographingpeople and places I hurt. I've
been before, but I'd giveserious consideration to going
to someplace I've never been,and just having that that

(11:41):
awesome experience. Okay, sothose are all related to
spending money given to you fora photo shoot, or, you know, for
photography. The next questionis related to photo shoot, and
that is you're going on a photoshoot, and you don't know where
you're going. You don't knowwhether it's outdoors, whether

(12:05):
it's a studio, whether it's apark, a forest, whether it's
Street, whether you have no ideawhether it's an event, you have
no idea. The only thing you'retold is that you can bring one
camera body and one lens, and ithas to be a prime lens. If
you're someone who doesn't havea prime lens, I apologize for

(12:27):
this question. But you know,most people do so tell me or
think about what lens would youbring, I already know the camera
that I'm bringing lights setbefore just my Z six, two, or
the way our eyes work. And allthat's perfectly true. But I'm
going to say I wouldn't go withthe 50. Something just tells me

(12:48):
that I would bring my 85 I bringmy 85 millimeter because I don't
have a good reason I'm going toback this up. And here's the
other thing. When you're alldone and you upload your photos,
they can't be cropped and thebackground can't be expanded. So

(13:08):
if you chose like a 20millimeter lens, and you went
out to photograph one tinylittle flower, it is what it is.
Just to make things interesting.
I'm betting most people wouldprobably go with their foot with
the 50 because it is the safestlens. You know, all you've

(13:31):
really got to do is move yourfeet and you can cover just
about everything. Okay, nextquestion. Number three, you are
told that for a day, you willhave full access to a
photography studio to photographanything you'd like. What would
you choose to photograph?
Whatever you choose, you'llreceive all of the necessary

(13:53):
equipment and personnel for theshoot. So for example, if you
choose to photograph a model forbeauty shoot, you're gonna get a
makeup artist. If you choose tophotograph a portrait, you will
get makeup artist, a stylist andassistant anything that you
need. The only catch is that youcan't change the genre of

(14:14):
whatever you choose. So youcan't go from photographing a
fashion model to doing macrophotography, you've got to be
consistent with one specificgenre. Think about if you would
choose to photograph a genrethat you're already familiar
with. Or would you be a littlebit more daring and step outside

(14:38):
of the proverbial photographybox? Are you more likely to step
outside the box if you're givensomeone to teach or mentor you
through the day? So take forexample, I do portraits and
headshots. Doing headshots wouldbe boring. Not that it is but
But given the this opportunity,I would try to take full

(15:02):
advantage of it, I wouldprobably opt to do boudoir, and
stick to that genre for the dayand get an expert. Somebody like
Tanya Smith or or Marie, toguide me through the process.
And I think that's a wonderfulopportunity. I mean, I can't

(15:25):
imagine something like somethinglike that happening. It's like a
wish come true. You know, ifyou've always wanted to
photograph something, or, or aparticular genre, and never had
the opportunity. I would alsoconsider something like pet
photography, because I've neverdone pet photography. And I
think it's absolutely beautifuland fantastic. And it gives pet

(15:48):
owners such a joy, and animals Ilove animals. So that would also
be something I'd consider butI'd probably want to conquer a
day of doing really classicboudoir photography. What would
you do? How would you step outof sight outside of that

(16:10):
photography box? Or would youstick to what you already know?
When you think about this? Tryto be specific. What I mean is,
for example, don't just chooseportrait photography. If you
notice, like I said boudoirWell, that's a type of portrait
photography. Try to be specific,would you photograph families
newborns don't just like if youchoose fashion, don't just say

(16:34):
fashion photography, you knowwhat I mean? Like, would you
prefer more glamorous specialoccasion, photography or casual
photography or sportswear?
Something like that justnarrowed down to what exactly
you would like to photographgiven that opportunity. You can

(16:58):
spend a day with any photographymentor of your choosing anywhere
in the entire world on theirphotoshoot. Who would you
choose? And why? And I considerthat a tough question because
there are some people who I amso blown away with. I don't know

(17:21):
like in their presence, Iprobably forget what what I know
and just stumble througheverything. But you know, my,
my, I couldn't say absolutely. Iwould think probably Matthew
Jordan Smith would go right tothe top of the list for a number

(17:42):
of reasons. His whole demeanoris so calm and just not
intimidating in the least, thatI think even if you screw up, he
would break it to you gently. SoI think ideally, I would choose

(18:04):
to spend the day with him. Ifyou've ever seen him photograph,
it's a really nice experience.
It's actually quite calming. AndI've seen him in person I
attended a workshop of his or apresentation of his years ago.
And he's the real deal. Like Idon't mean in terms of talent.
That's not in question. But theperson that you see in videos is

(18:25):
very much the person that I sawwhen I attended his event, his
workshop. Some other people thatI would consider although I'm
going to say I would definitelygo with Matthew Jordan Smith,
but let's say he's notavailable. Some other people I
would consider would be in therunning would be Jerry gayness.

(18:48):
However, I have to say I'm sointimidated by him. I don't
think that would actually be agood choice. Joe McNally who
comes across like the guy nextdoor, but it's so like, he's
the, for me. He's a photographicencyclopedia. It's just like

(19:09):
anything you want to know aboutlighting, about your camera
about setting about anything. Hejust figures out these really
interesting and intricateshoots, whether it's you know,
in a castle or an old library orout in the desert or with

(19:30):
mirrors or hanging off the sideof a building, and to have
someone like that mentor you fora day would be absolutely
amazing. The other person Iwould seriously consider would
be Dixie Dixon, because she isjust I hate to say cute. She

(19:54):
must get that all the time. Butthere's something about her
that's very girl On next doorand unintimidating. She's not
intimidating in the least. Andto be so young and so talented,
and so gracious. And I've mether twice and just like briefly
spoken to her. And you know, sheis always consistently warm and

(20:19):
friendly. She's another personwho when you see her do a
presentation online and or youwatch a video of her or you
happen to see her live, if youwalk up to her to speak to her,
she is that exact same person.
And that's really wonderful.
Plus, I always get the feelinglike, like, you know, after you

(20:41):
talk to her, like if she didthis shoot with me this
imaginary shoot, when we'redone, we'd go out and, you know,
hang out and chit chat and get adrink together or something. So
there's something about her thatI find very appealing that I
think would just ingratiateinteracting and asking questions

(21:03):
and making, essentiallyelevating that whole experience.
So that's my answer for that.
Um, that was question four.
Question number five, you canhave any photographer come to
your studio, or be with you on ashoot to offer their advice? Who

(21:24):
would you choose? And would itbe the same person from the last
question? And, you know, when Ithought when I first rolled out
that question, I said, Well,this is kind of silly, I think
I'm asking the same thing. Butit's really not the same thing.
There's a huge differencebetween being on somebody else's
shoot, and watching them workand being an assistant to them

(21:47):
in some way, shape, or form,which is being they're asking
questions. And that's totallydifferent to inviting someone
into your space to advise you onwhat you're attempting to do.
And for that, I have no idea whoI would choose. I know one

(22:08):
person who I would choose, and Iactually want to talk about him.
In a separate podcast, his nameis Simone Diaz, and that's D I
E, z. So I did a workshop of hisin the beginning of April, and I
will share that experience withyou in a full podcast, but he's

(22:32):
definitely someone who's whowould be great to guide you
through the entire process ofputting a shoot together, and
lighting it and choosing awardrobe and doing a bunch of
other things. And if you'venever seen his work, it's as you
can go online as I m ondiez.com,Simone diaz.com. And I think

(22:59):
when you look at his work, it'llbe quite obvious why I would
want him to mentor me. And in asense he already has, so that's
the person I would choose.
Obviously, anybody who's a wellrenowned photographer, is
someone that's worth having, youknow, the opportunity to work

(23:21):
with if that should ever happento you. I will say this not to
be a Debbie Downer here. Thereare some people, and I'm
certainly not going to givenames. But there are some people
who I have met in my photographyjourney, and you know, again,
world renown, certainlydeserving of their accolades.

(23:42):
Not the friendliest peopleyou'll ever want to meet. One of
them. I met at the Javits Centeryears ago, there used to be
something I think it was photoplus. And this gentleman, he
still has a company, largecompany, produces books,

(24:04):
produces, you know, onlineteaching, does a ton of stuff
has made, you know, Google'smoney off of I shouldn't say off
of that sounds really bad. Buthe's made a significant amount

(24:26):
of money from people buying hiseducational material. And I ran
into him at the Javits, JavitsCenter and I said, Hello, and I
am not the type of person like Idon't mob famous people when I
see them. It's not hold let meget selfie. And actually, when I
when I met him, selfies weren'tin existence yet. But you know,

(24:47):
and he said nothing. I said,Hello. He said, nothing. I know
he heard me he said nothing. Andthat was like, wow, I've got
three of your books. sitting onmy shelf at home, I've bought
your courses, I've done this andthis and you can't manage a
hello. I know we all have baddays, we don't know what's going

(25:09):
on in people's lives. But, youknow, when you're up there,
there's got to be someconsideration. Some
consideration of people who sayhello to you because you don't
know who that person is. And youknow, me buying three books
means absolutely nothing. I'mnot saying that's earth
shattering, or it's important.

(25:30):
But people like me help supportpeople like that, who choose to
make their photography dollarsbeyond taking photographs. And
therefore, when we go tointeract, especially when we're
not like, oh, my gosh, it'sstolen. So can I get a picture?
If I get if you're standoffishabout that, that was not the

(25:54):
case here. There's anotherperson, actually a woman who
twice once in New York, and oncein another state, I'm not gonna
say the state because then Ithink it might become quite
obvious who it is. I haveattempted to speak with her. The

(26:15):
first time I attempted to speakwith her and I, and there was
somebody in front of me speakingwith her. And this guy was going
on and on and on. And like, shemade no attempt to kind of
shorten or abbreviate theconversation with him, which I
certainly appreciate. Becauseeveryone's time is, you know,

(26:36):
everyone is worthy of beinglistened to. But you know,
there's a line of people waitingto speak with you. So you can't,
if that person isn't beingmindful of that, then you
politely kind of need to hone itin and, you know, move things
along. And she saw me standingthere waiting to speak to her.

(27:02):
And she didn't necessarily movethings along, which is fine. You
know, I get it. The second timeI actually had happened, it's
happened three times, now that Ithink about it. The second time,
I attempted to speak to her Iwas at a conference, I happen to
see her outdoors. And she hadjust finished speaking to

(27:23):
someone and I said, Hello, andshe just walked away. And the
third time it happened. Also ata conference. Again, I had
actually started speaking to herand thanking her for organizing
this and what it means to blah,blah, blah, and she Skittles,

(27:45):
what's the right word?
skedaddled. Again, so I'm, like,all about warmth and niceness.
You know, when people watch youonline, it's not the vibe I'm
getting. And it's made me alittle bit wary of that person.
And then finally, there's agentleman, well known for a

(28:10):
particular genre of portraitphotography. And I attended a
conference and I gotten in lineto photograph in his little
booth, his area. And we had alittle interaction where it's
fair to say he was downrightrude. And it wasn't pleasant. So

(28:31):
all this to say that it's niceto be mentored by people who are
one willing to teach and to,they're nice. And I know nice is
like a four letter common wordthat we all throw around like
the word good. But two wordsthat really mean a lot are good

(28:52):
and nice, because they don'tcost you anything, doesn't costs
doesn't cost you a penny doesn'tcost you air doesn't cost you
anything to be nice to people,particularly people who may be
responsible for putting, youknow their money into your
pocket on some level. So that'smy little blurb on that. Sorry

(29:16):
if I went off on a tangent, butOkay, so next question. Question
number six. Oh, you know what?
Question number five subpart toit that you could have any
photographer come to yourstudio. The first part we talked

(29:38):
about, who would you choose? Andwould it be the same person as
the last question, and it's alsosomething to consider. And when
you think about that part of thequestion, think about why or why
not. Okay.
Next question number six, you'regiven a year to photograph
anywhere in the world outside ofyour native country. entry,

(30:01):
you'll be provided witheverything you need a place to
live, transportation, absolutelyeverything. And all of your
expenses from home are going tobe paid for you. So all of your
expenses at home and all of yourexpenses or abroad are going to
be covered. You'll be in thatcountry for a year, you cannot
leave that country, you cannotgo outside of its borders, what

(30:24):
country would you choose? Andwhy? And then the next part of
that question is, would youchoose to return to someplace
you've been before? Or would youtravelled to someplace that
you've never been a place that'son your bucket list? This kind
of goes back to one of theearlier questions.

(30:48):
If we're talking about a placeto live for a year, I'm going to
say I'm going to end up inItaly, having now been there
twice. And I had plans of goingback a third time this summer.
But at this point, that seemsunlikely. I could see why people
returned to Italy every year,it's majestic. I mean, you know,

(31:12):
they're like everyplace else,Italy's like everyplace else.
There are fantastic things aboutit. There are things that are
not so great, they havepolitical issues, they have
economic issues, they have allthat stuff that every country
has, I don't know, have it asthe as severe as this, you know,
the state we're in right now,here in the US. But having said

(31:33):
that, every time you turn aroundand Italy, you're looking at
something historical, it's just,it's amazing. And it's
beautiful. And it's generally adifferent lifestyle. It is not
the Well, I live in New Jersey.
And you know, we're adjacent toNew York. So we kind of inherit

(31:54):
that New York pace of life wherewe live our lives by the clock.
And the times I've been toEurope, probably with the
exception of England, I thinkGreat Britain, I think most of
continental Europe kind of livesthat way, meaning, like the
Italians, they don't rushthrough a whole lot of things.

(32:16):
Same thing with the Spanish yousit down for a meal, you're
there for a while, you are goingto have to ask for the check
before somebody brings it. YouYou know you work you what
what's the saying, you don'twork to live you live to work or
whatever, whatever the correctway of putting it it is work is

(32:36):
not your life is what it comesdown to. It's just different.
And it's totally enjoyable. Andit's scenic, be it you know,
something old, ancienthistorical, or be it something
ultra modern, or any museum orart piece or sculpture or

(33:00):
anything. Photography wise, Imean, you could just, your mind
is just blown every time youturn around. So I think as a
photographer, having to live inanother place for a year, that
would be my choice. The secondpart of that question is, where

(33:22):
are we? If you could spend thatyear between two places, what
would be your second choice? Sofor me, the second choice would
be Spain, pretty much for thesame reasons. Not, you know, not
so much I shouldn't say not somuch. In addition, that's what I

(33:43):
should say. In addition to thephotography aspect, though, the
way of life is reallyattractive. It is not the stress
of you know, getting into workearly, being bombarded, but with
whatever from the time you hitthe door until you leave working
more than eight hours or 12hours or, you know, you go to

(34:06):
lunch and you've got to get backbefore this, this and this. Just
as an aside, I had thisconversation with someone
yesterday. I walked into work alittle late yesterday, yesterday
morning, and when I entered thebuilding I entered on the same
level with our cafeteria andthere was a young woman walking

(34:28):
very briskly down the halltoward the cafeteria. She was on
the phone and I heard her saywell I'm downstairs getting
breakfast I've only got 15minutes and I have to go back
upstairs and I just thought tomyself How disgraceful is that?
That we live in a world where inyou're allowed 15 minutes to get
on an elevator go down a coupleof floors to get breakfast so

(34:52):
you that you can so that you canwolf it down and have enough
energy to get to lunch and yourlunch is going to be half an
hour to You know, like you can'teven relax through lunch so you
could get back. It's an awfulway to live. And not all of the
world lives like that, I wouldhope that they've learned from
us that it's extremelyunhealthy. So I would opt to

(35:14):
live in a country where,seemingly there is less stress
in the everyday life, I'm surethere is stress, but overall,
it's either a different type ofstress or, you know, it's just
not what we go through here on adaily basis if you work full
time. That's my answer to thatquestion. Okay. Question number

(35:38):
seven. Is there an artist? Orare there artists outside of
photography, whose work you lookto for inspiration? Or to learn
from? And it can be, I don'tknow, just think about who
inspires you? Is it a modernartist of some kind? Or is it an

(36:00):
old masters or? Or sculptors orwho Who do you look to? So
here's some of mine and takingthe more traditional approach
Rembrandt that Rembrandtlighting is real. If you if you

(36:26):
get a book about Rembrandt or abook that's a collection of his
paintings, just go looking forthat Rembrandt lighting, it's in
almost every photo. So in thebody of work is absolutely
amazing. I have a book that sitson my coffee table. It's by the

(36:46):
publishing company Titian ti sc, H, E N, and they produce
magnificent books that are hugeand heavy. And they are vast
collections of you know, photosof artwork by the great masters

(37:06):
and on my coffee table. I havethree books by Titian
publications, or Titian. One,the end, the largest one is the
rim Rembrandt text. The next onewho is also someone I look to is
Caravaggio, and I likeCaravaggio, because his work is

(37:30):
dark. And for portraits, Iactually prefer portraits that
are on the darker side. I maynot photograph portraits that
way, but I actually enjoylooking at photographs that are
styled with a darker, mysterioustype of mood. And Caravaggio

(37:52):
does that a great deal. And oneof the things I particularly
like about some of his work isthat, you know, in photograph we
have in photography, we alwayshave had this thing about catch
lights. And yeah, generally,photos look a lot better. And
people look a lot better if youcan see the light reflected in

(38:14):
their eyes. But Caravaggio's gota couple of paintings. There's
no light in people's eyes. Andit's heavy. It's really it's
different. It catches your eye.

(38:35):
But no one looks at it and says,Oh, it shouldn't be that way.
You know what I mean? What if Iproduce a photo and there are no
catch lights, people like, youknow, not a good photo. That's
an aside, sorry. And then theother person or the other old
master that I really like isVasque was and I have his Titian

(39:00):
book as well. And I haveCaravaggio's if I didn't say
that. But Vasque was his work,which covers a lot of Spanish
royalty. It's beautiful in a waythat you could see the
modernity, modernity of hiswork, as opposed to the people

(39:26):
came before him. You could seethe progression of art, the
progression of painting and hiswork. So those are my three.
That I think when I sayinfluence, like, again, I like
the darkness. I like the detail.
I like the lighting. You know,and for me, it's kind of

(39:49):
inspirational, especially thosepaintings that are they're not
just scenes But they're theytruly are portraits where it's
like the neck up, or the chestup, and you could see so much
detail. And it's the type ofthing where like in a
photograph, you want to capturethat much detail. And what I

(40:11):
find really interesting and I amand you see this with Rembrandt,
particularly in his portraitpaintings. You see the lines in
people's faces, you see lines.
Let's call a spade a spade hereyou call right there, you see
wrinkles, okay, you see wrinkleson people's faces, you see

(40:33):
flaws, you see marks, you see,like, nobody's perfect. You know
what I mean? Nobody looksperfect. He doesn't. His work
doesn't look like he painted aportrait of someone and
attempted to make them lookbetter than what they truly

(40:54):
looked like. And this is one ofthe things about photography
that kind of irks me that, youknow, we place such an emphasis
on retouching, and look, I mean,I work with a couple of
retouchers now, and I do someretouching myself, but it's
just, it's just something aboutthe fact that we are unaccepting

(41:20):
of photographing people the waythey are, like, you know,
there's a picture, there's atelevision show, or I shouldn't
say it's not as helpful to showit's a streaming program called
actors on actors. I think it'sproduced by Variety magazine, or

(41:42):
variety, or whatever it is, but,you know, they pair actors up to
speak to each other and tointerview each other. It's a
really interesting show, veryintrospective, and the actress
Jennifer Coolidge. She was arecent guest with another
celebrity for the interview. Andthe promo photo did such a job

(42:06):
on Jennifer Coolidge. JenniferCoolidge is a middle aged,
beautiful woman. She's just abeautiful woman. When I looked
at the photo, I I couldn'tbelieve it. I couldn't believe
that somebody allowed aretoucher or whoever to go that
far in retouching JenniferCoolidge. Um, her face is as

(42:32):
smooth as I don't know. I can'teven say it. I think a baby's
bottom actually has more linesor wrinkles. Her face was or it
appears like plastic. It'sridiculous. It's insulting to
her that anyone would change herappearance that much. If you

(42:54):
remember Jennifer Coolidge fromLegally Blonde. You know, she
was the the manicurist she had agreat comedic role. The photo,
the promo photo for, for thisepisode of actors on actors made
her look younger than that. Andthat movie's got to be at least

(43:16):
20 something years old, if notmore, I mean, it's, I don't
imagine that she looked likethat when that she looked like
that photo when she was ateenager. It's awful. It's just
amazing to me how unaccepting weare of how people truly look.

(43:38):
And yet, when you look at thesemasterpiece paintings by the
great artists of the past, youknow, people look like people.
They look flawed. They've gotbirthmarks. They've got I don't
know. They've got scars. They'vegot wrinkles, they've got lines,
they've got a droopy lid. Noone's perfect. And I'm somewhat

(44:03):
bothered by our lack ofacceptance of that. But anyway,
so those sorry, again, for goingoff. But those are my three
Rembrandt, Caravaggio Vasque wasand you know, there are a ton of
others, like I flip throughmagazines, and I see things by
certain photographers or I don'tknow, certain artists, or you go

(44:28):
to the museum and you seesomething that's just mind
blowing, and you. You don't wantto copy it. You want to learn
from it. And I think that's whatI mean, when I say you know,
inspiration. This is someonethat I want to learn from, I
want to learn how to take aphoto that looks like that, I

(44:49):
want to learn a particulartechnique, and then sort of
alter it or, you know, put it inTo my bag of tricks, so to
speak. So, what artists? Whatartist or artists influence you?

(45:11):
Next question, what tool or gearother than your camera lens or
lenses helps you the most inphotography and photography or
simply just makes photographyphotographing easier. And for me
that's really simple. That's mylight meter. Which, if you've
listened to past episodes, I'mnot going to go into that in an

(45:34):
in depth way right now. But it,it saves me time, it gives me
good light accuracy and helpswith color accuracy because
things aren't blown out or, orpeer to dark, or what have you.

(45:55):
My next question What do youthinks? What do you think makes
a great photo? What draws yourattention, what draws you in
what makes you stop scrolling?
For me, it's always about theexpression and the emotion of
the subject. A great photo, inmy opinion, captures joy,

(46:24):
sorrow, sadness, despair,caring, love. And those are the
things that will always again,for me make a great photo. Even
though technically, it may notbe a great photo, if that makes

(46:44):
sense. I think in a previousepisode, I mentioned I, I was in
Italy at a graphic studio and Iwas with a group we were part of
a workshop. And on the last dayof the workshop, we got to tour

(47:06):
the actual I hate to say it's afactory because it's so much
more than that. But the theproduction site for all
photographic materials, beatalbums, prints, wall art, any
and everything that graphicStudio makes, it was mind

(47:29):
blowing. But the at the end ofthe tour, you end up in this
room are there all of thesealbums on and wall art completed
works. And ton a ton of albums,you could be there all day just
looking through stuff. And oneof the people on the tour
happened to mention that she wastaken aback by how bad some of

(47:53):
the photos were in those albums.
And like I was offended. Ishouldn't say offended I was
kind of it made me feel bad, iswhat it comes down to. It made
me feel bad for a couple ofreasons. I'm at that point in my

(48:16):
career, we're talking four yearsago now. I was not as
proficient. Or let me just say,I was not as good as I am now.
And by no means am I saying I'mthat I'm great. All I'm saying
is that I'm better than I wasfour years ago. But at that

(48:37):
point, to listen to somebody saythat just something in me fell,
you know, you know how yourheart just kind of drops.
Because my immediate thoughtwas, Wow, I could only imagine
what you must think of my work.
Because you know, you've gotyour fancy studio and you're
bringing in the big bucks andpeople lining up and you've got

(48:57):
a backlog of people becauseyou're that good that you could
stand in judgment of otherpeople and their photos. And the
thing about it, and this is whatI mean when I talk about what
draws you into photo. The photosin these books are like wedding

(49:19):
albums or families, you know,kids, young kids, babies,
toddlers. Those photos arepriceless to the people who
ordered those albums because Ithink what happens is that like
graphic duplicates that, youknow, album orders and then they
put they would put them ondisplay or you know, whatever.

(49:43):
Butphotos are more than just images
put on paper and then put in abook they mean something to
people so to listen to somebodytalk about how bad photos are or
it's like Wow, you know, you,you're all that are you. So if
this is someone who I like, Imean, she's a nice woman, she's

(50:09):
a successful woman,photography's her second career,
and she has just like, takenoff. And she's fantastic. Her
work is magnificent. But just toknow that you stand in judgment
of other people like that, just,you know, it's like I said much
earlier. good and nice, right? Imean, either keep the your

(50:30):
opinion to yourself if it's notcomplimentary, or be gentle with
the statement. Because for me,anyway, a photo that shows
emotion shows a moment thatmeans something to people, and
that should be respected. Butthe other thing I want to say

(50:56):
about that is, you know, howexperts when they talk about
Instagram, they they keeptelling us that video is the new
thing, it's not really stillphotos anymore, but I don't see
it that way. Or maybe for themasses, it, you know, video is
more attractive. And it's becomemore relevant. But I see the

(51:17):
other side of the coin. I don'tthink video can capturing motion
or expression the same wayphotography can. Because Video,
Video demands movement, right?
Either the videographer or therecorder has to move or the
subject has to move. If not,it's not good. It just doesn't

(51:41):
look right. If there's nomovement, the video becomes
boring, and no one's going tolook at it. But if you think
about something like, you know,the groom, when he turns around
to see his bride for the firsttime, and the tear starts to
fall, okay, so the videocaptures the motion, I'll give

(52:04):
you that. But then what happens,like the videographers kind of
pan out so that you can then seewhy the tears that he's looking
at his beautiful bride, or he'sgot the videographers got a pan
out enough to so that you couldsee the best man put his arm
around the groom and besupportive. Photo doesn't need

(52:29):
that photo just needs his face,and the tear falling. And that
moment is going to live forever.
As long as somebody has thatphoto, who's going to pull out
the video. See, that's the thingabout video, you've got to seek
video out, you know what I mean?
It's you're not going to have avideo of your wedding constantly

(52:52):
playing in your home every day.
But you are going to have aphoto of the day you got
married. And the most preciousmoments of that ceremony. And
that's what people don't getabout the importance of
photography. Nothing capturesmoments like photography,
nothing, you're not going to,you're not going to replay the

(53:12):
video of when the groom turnedaround to look at the bride,
you're not going to replay it.
There's nobody who's gonna arguedifferently. Your you know, five
years down the road, the guy'snot gonna come home from work
and say, Hey, honey, where'sthat video me crying when you
walk out? No, that's not goingto happen. But if he walks past

(53:33):
that photo every day, it's goingto do something for him,
hopefully good is going to youknow, evoke a memory of that
moment of what it meant of thetime that's passed since then,
whatever. And you can't get thatwith video. So this is why

(53:59):
photography is always going toremain relevant. Because no
other medium, absolutely noother medium, can capture can
isolate and can freeze momentsin time. Only photography does.
Final question? What do youthink makes a great photographer

(54:22):
and we're going to talk aboutthat in my next episode. Thanks,
everyone. I hope you enjoyedthis actually, what I'm going to
do is I'm just going to quicklyrun down the questions without
the commentary. So number one,you're given $10,000 to spend on
photography gear, camera,lenses, anything related to

(54:43):
photography, what would you buy?
Same scenario but instead of$10,000 $5,000 What would you
buy and would you buy the samethings that you attempted to buy
with the $10,000 If you didn'thave to spend it on gear, how
would you spend either the fiveor the 10,000? Classes education

(55:05):
travel? That was number one.
Number two, you're going on aphoto shoot, you can only bring
one camera body and one lens,and it must be a prime lens.
What are you going with? Youcan't crop the photo, when

(55:25):
you're processing it, you can'tcrop it, and you can't expand
the background. So your yourphoto is going to be whatever it
is you shot. So what do youbring? What do you bring us
camera body? What are youbringing us? Your prime lens and
only a prime lens? Questionnumber three, you have full
access to a photography studiofor a day. What would you choose

(55:49):
to shoot? What genre and bespecific? Think about what you
would do? Would you think aboutwhat you would do? And whether
you would stay with what youalready know? Or would you use
this opportunity to go outsidethe box and you'll get all the
you know, all the assistance,all of the equipment, whatever

(56:09):
it is that you choose? If youwant to do product, product,
stock, photography, beauty,photography, whatever, you'll
get everything that you need.
Um, what would you choose? Andbe as specific as possible in
your decision? Just really thinkit out? on question number four,
you can spend a day with aphotography mentor of your
choosing anywhere in the worldon their photoshoot. Who would

(56:32):
you choose? And why? Numberfive, you can have any
photographer come to your studioor be with you on a shoot to
give you advice. Who would youchoose? And why? And would it be
the same person? As in theprevious question? Question
number six, you're given a yearto photograph anywhere in the

(56:53):
world outside of your nativecountry, you have to live there
for the year you cannot gooutside of its borders. What
country would you choose? Andwhy? Would you go to a place
that you already known a placethat you've already been to? Or
would you go someplace you'venever been before? That's on
your bucket list? And the secondpart of that question is if you

(57:16):
could be in two countries sixmonths in one six months and the
other, what would be whatcountry would be your second
choice? And why? Number seven?
Is there an artist or are thereartists outside of photography
whose work has beeninspirational or that influences
you. And that can be an oldmaster, it can be a modern

(57:38):
artist, it could be a sculptoror a painter. It can't just
can't be another photographer.
It has to be outside ofphotography. Question number
eight, what tool or gear otherthan your camera and lens or
lenses helps to make the most inphotography for you. Or it
simply makes photographingeasier for you is probably a

(58:01):
better way to say it. Numbernine, what do you think makes a
great photo? And we justfinished talking about that. So
it's food for thought. Andnumber 10? What do you think
makes a great photographer andthat's something we're going to
talk about on our next episode.
I hope you've enjoyed these 10questions. I hope they've given

(58:23):
you some things to think about.
And I think they're importantthings to think about right?
Because there's a lot inphotography and sometimes you
lose sight of the bigger picturethe broader picture that you do
this because you love it becauseyou're so wrapped up in the
technical stuff. And I thinkthis is a nice way to clear your
mind a little bit, give you somefood for thought about what's

(58:46):
really important to you as aphotographer and as an artist.
Thank you for listening. Tillnext time. Thanks so much for
listening to this episode ofclued up with me your host Maria
b. If you've enjoyed thispodcast, please be sure to rate
subscribe and review on yourpreferred podcast listening

(59:07):
platform. I really appreciateyour support when you rate
subscribe and review you're alsohelping other listeners find and
enjoy this podcast until nexttime
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