April 17, 2025 • 37 mins
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Photography isn't just about capturing images—it can be a powerful tool for healing and presence. Joe Van Wyk's journey from struggling graphic designer to mindful photographer reveals how smartphone photography transformed his mental health and creative expression.
Growing up with artistic talent, Van Wyk initially took a conventional path, pursuing an MBA and international business to emulate his successful father. When this left him deeply unfulfilled, a chance encounter introduced him to graphic design, awakening his dormant creativity. As technology shifted and depression crept in, Van Wyk discovered that street photography produced an unexpected "high"—a profound sense of presence that pulled him from dark thoughts into the moment.
This revelation became the foundation for Van Wyk's book "The Mindful Photography Field Guide: 15 Smartphone Photography Practices for Inner Peace." His approach centers on three principles: Focus (grounding in your body with hand on heart and breath), Capture (documenting present moments without perfectionism), and Shine (sharing with others as an act of service). It's a practice that works regardless of your belief system, though he openly integrates it with his Christian faith.
After years investing in expensive camera equipment, he's gone all-in on smartphone photography, using just an iPhone 16 Pro Max and simple accessories. His "walk around videos" shot in ProRes demonstrate how powerful this approach can be, producing stunning results while eliminating technical barriers.
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Hosted and produced by Gary Pageau
Edited by Olivia Pageau
Announcer: Erin Manning
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Erin Manning (00:02):
Welcome to the Dead Pixel Society podcast, the
photo imaging industry's leadingnews source.
Here's your host, Gary Pageau.
The Dead Pixels Society podcastis brought to you by Mediaclip,
Advertek Printing, andIndependent Photo Imagers.
Gary Pageau (00:18):
Hello again and welcome to the Dead Pixels
Society podcast.
I'm your host, Gary Pageau, andtoday we're joined by Joe Van
Wyk, who is from MindfulPhotography, and he's coming to
us today from Glenwood Springs,Colorado.
Joe's got a crazy long story ofbeing in the industry
pre-digital and getting intophotography and now going
(00:39):
exclusively with smartphones.
So, hey, Joe, how are you today?
Joe Van Wyk (00:42):
So let's talk a little bit.
Are you today, Gary?
It's good to be here with you.
Thanks for having me.
Gary Pageau (00:46):
So let's talk a little bit about your journey.
We were kind of talking aboutthat before we started recording
about.
You know, you went through acareer change, kind of got into
the graphic arts business and itchanged your life.
So talk a little bit about thattransition.
Joe Van Wyk (01:00):
No doubt I'll actually start with kind of the
fruits of the story that I'mgoing to tell you about, and
it's this book that I have in myhand, called the Mindful
Photography Field Guide 15Smartphone Photography Practices
for Inner Peace.
I look at that and, as I'llprobably touch on my faith, is
(01:21):
very important to me and mostpeople have heard this idea that
God works all things togetherfor our good.
And I look at that book and theexperiences that I've had and
the suffering that I've beenthrough and to see that as the
culmination is really rewarding.
You know, it's one of thosethings that's nice about being
later in life when you get tolook back and see those things
(01:44):
and how they all fit together.
I remember I was in my late 20sand in the early 90s I'm just
getting ready to turn 60.
So in the early 90s I had boy.
I thought I had the world bythe tail.
Rather than paying attention tothat little Joe kid inside me,
(02:04):
creative kid inside me, I wasreally looking to my dad and
really hoping to emulate what hehad done.
He was real successful inbusiness and so, you know, I
went to college and then went tograd school and got an MBA and
went out and started working ininternational business and I
(02:25):
thought that was the thing.
Gary Pageau (02:26):
But that was the time for it, right?
Joe Van Wyk (02:28):
I mean, I was going to be hot stuff, yeah yeah,
early nineties, and I absolutelyhated it.
I just hated it.
The cut and dry business worldwasn't getting able to use any
of this visual creativity at allthat I was so good at, you know
, growing up as a kid and always, you know, art classes, et
(02:49):
cetera.
So I really floundered.
I ended up going to work atthis little Christian bookstore
with a music department in SanAntonio, texas, and as just what
started off to be just a shortholiday season job.
And that's when this chanceencounter happened, this, this
guy who came into the musicstore and I learned about his
(03:13):
career.
He was a graphic designer, huh,and he worked for this thing
called a service bureau.
What a service bureau is, asyou know, gary, is it was the
step between the graphic designshop, the ad agency, whatever,
and the printing press.
So we would do film output thatthey would use to burn the
plates at the printing place andpress and drum scanning and
(03:37):
high end digital pre-press workthat ended up morphing into
either digital printing or theprinters themselves took on that
responsibility and they hadthose image setters and whatnot,
and then it went direct toplace.
So suffice to say thisencounter.
I went to work for this companyin sales, and so I learned
(03:59):
everything about that wholefield and how files were created
.
Gary Pageau (04:04):
It was QuarkX Express at the time of course
you mentioned a lot of oldschool stuff to me.
Totally right.
Quark Express.
Joe Van Wyk (04:12):
And I mean Quark for years before InDesign came
on the scene.
So I learned that field insideand out, started to kind of
dabble in doing some graphicdesign myself, found that I had
a real knack for it and afterjust about a year year and a
half I ended up hanging out myown shingle and going and
(04:33):
starting my own graphic designcompany.
Had a client that I landed andthat was my first client, Think
Cigar Company in San Antonio,Texas, the oldest cigar company
in the United States, and I dida catalog for Fink for 30 years,
a print catalog.
(04:54):
I'm actually getting ready.
They haven't done one in acouple of years.
I'm actually getting ready todo a little refresh, just so
they have a print catalog.
So that was the beginning of megetting into the graphic design
field, publishing catalogs,branding work, and then
eventually that led to megetting into photography and
(05:17):
videography.
Gary Pageau (05:18):
Okay.
So were you a one person shopor did you have employees?
How, I mean, is that cause alot of the people put out their
shingle, right?
That's kind of what they wantto do is do their own thing.
So you kind of had to take onvideography and photography to
satisfy clients, right?
Joe Van Wyk (05:36):
That was part of it , and it was also something that
I just I had such a love for asfrom time I was a child
actually photographs and and Iso it was also kind of a a new
career direction for me too.
Gary Pageau (05:55):
So, so so are you doing like professional shoots
on the side as part of that Imean?
I mean, as we're dealing atweddings and social events, as
well as commercial work, as towhere you're dealing at?
Joe Van Wyk (06:04):
weddings and social events as well as commercial
work.
Is that how that was working?
Absolutely so the time framethat we're talking about is
about 12 years ago, when I wasdoing, you know, professional
photography and I would doevents never did weddings.
No way, no, how that's, I don'thave the guts for that.
Sorry but I did do a lot ofevents and portraiture.
(06:27):
Portraiture was my main thing,absolutely Lighting and the
whole bit, but the event.
Meanwhile, I was starting toget heavily into street
photography and building up myYouTube channel so you can see
some of these videos up myYouTube channel.
So you can see some of thesevideos.
(06:48):
If you search for Joe Van Wykon YouTube, I'm at J O E V A N W
Y K on YouTube.
All social media that's.
That's my handle.
And so I started to get intothis form of street photography
where I'd walk around with mySony full frame camera, say with
a 35 millimeter lens or or Imight have a oh.
There was a time I had a LeicaQ.
(07:09):
I love that camera, and so Iwould mount a GoPro onto the top
of the camera and I'd bewalking.
So I was in Austin at the time.
I moved here to Colorado fiveyears ago and I would walk
around the streets and approachpeople and hit them up to take
their portrait.
Some of them were people livingon the streets, some of them
were people just, you know,business people walking around,
(07:31):
whatever.
So I would record thisinteraction and how I worked
with people and those videosreally got popular and meanwhile
I was working with somephotography gurus who did
workshops and stuff.
So I'd go to New York and dothat style of shooting.
So I built up this YouTubechannel and that is very much
(07:56):
part of my story of recoveryfrom at the time I went through.
I've always had some struggleswith depression and anxiety, but
during those years in Austin itgot really, really bad and I
would go downtown and shootthese videos somehow muster that
(08:20):
.
You know that's the last thingyou want to do is get off the
couch and be, productive, right,but I would go down and shoot
these videos and have theseencounters with people and I
would notice that when I gotback to the car it was just like
, oh my gosh, that was such arush, like I like, like
completely elevated walking onair.
And I didn't completely elevatedwalking on air and I didn't
(08:45):
call it mindfulness at the time,but what I was tapping into is
this very intense, creative,active form of mindfulness and
dropping out of this monkey mindof mine and down into my body
and my senses.
And so that was very much thegenesis of the mindful
photography field guide and Iwrote these 15 practices for
(09:11):
inner peace, you know, based ona lot of these experiences and
then assimilating that.
The book got put on a shelfabout five years ago.
This idea I had this idea backthen thought it might be a
therapeutic curriculum of somesort put it on the shelf and
(09:32):
then a couple of years ago, Ijust decided you know what I'm
going to do this thing, and soI've gone all in on it.
I published it last April and Irevived my YouTube channel and
I'm out there making contentagain.
Gary Pageau (09:49):
So talk a little bit about, like, where you were
at professionally when you werestruggling with this, the dark
period, the depression becauseyou know, my guess is your
career is probably doing fine,Right, and there are people who
kind of struggle with they'redoing great in their career
business-wise but emotionallythey're a mess.
(10:10):
Is that what you were goingthrough?
Joe Van Wyk (10:13):
I would say no because the career part of it.
Well, I'll say no to the oh thecareer was a success.
Yay, because in actuality I washitting head on this transition
in my career.
I knew that the graphic designphase was coming to an end.
(10:34):
I was having a hard timebringing on new clientele.
I had a couple of very oldclients that were with me
forever.
I knew that those werefloundering and I and I just
knew there was something elsefor me, career wise.
Meanwhile just on a personalnote, but I think this is
(10:54):
relevant especially to the menlistening to this Uh, there was
a second marriage involved inall of this.
That only lasted four years andI ended up marrying someone.
So I was at that vulnerablepart in my career and my journey
and I was also kind of on theverge of this very depressive
(11:18):
episode.
I thought this was going tosolve all my problems and I
married someone who was veryadvanced in her profession.
We were in very differentplaces in that sense.
So, as a man who puts so muchof our identity in our career,
it was really vulnerable.
(11:40):
Here I am struggling and she'sat the top of her game, et
cetera, and I'm the man and I'mnot even close to bringing in
what she was bringing in etcetera.
So I definitely think that thatexacerbated the sense, the
depression.
But the depression is nothingbut purposelessness.
It's nothing but lack of hope,and so much of the hope that we
(12:04):
find as men and humans is in ourendeavors, in our purpose, in
our career.
So that was what had reallyturned upside down.
Now, thank God, you got to turnthat cup completely upside down
and empty it before you canstart over.
So I think, looking back like10 years ago, that was this
point where I was shedding someof these preconceived notions of
(12:28):
where I wanted to go with mycareer and where I was taking it
and, inevitably, what I wascapable of.
Gary Pageau (12:36):
So are you still doing the photography piece?
You said you kind of walkedaway from the graphic arts and
although think cigars, you'restill doing their catalog arts
and although think cigars,you're still doing their catalog
.
Joe Van Wyk (12:49):
so are you a cigar smoker or are they just a uh, a
no, because I'm an old.
I used to smoke, you know,years ago, so I know the second.
The whole time I've been inthis cigar business, you know,
I've never taken a puff off of acigar because I know nicotine
is nicotine baby and that's thelast thing I want to do is try
sampling some of the merch and,you know, end up smoking again.
Gary Pageau (13:12):
So so you're still doing the photography thing, so
so you kind of focus on that,you're working on that, and you
know I've been to your website.
It's, it's lovely work.
You know so clearly.
You know what you're doing.
So tell me about a little bit.
About, first of all, what ismindfulness in your definition,
because a lot of people usedifferent things.
Right, there's all kinds ofmindfulness apps.
I think my Apple Watch istrying to get me to be mindful
(13:33):
all the time too.
So in your context, what doesthat actually mean?
Joe Van Wyk (13:39):
Means presence to me?
Sure, it means noticing, righthere, in those last five seconds
, I was kind of anticipatingyour next question.
I was, I was starting to straya little bit and now, right now,
click, I'm fully with you, I'mfully present with this.
You know, beautiful human infront of me that I'm interacting
(14:02):
with, I care about you andlike'm, I'm really valuing this
brief time that we have together.
I'm all in my senses are on youand my heart is with you.
And I'm not thinking aboutimpressing you or what the next
thing is.
I'm going to say so in thisvery moment.
(14:22):
That's what that looks like.
When it comes to photography,anybody who has, uh,
passionately practicesphotography knows this.
You know going out and anddoing the thing, the creative
thing that you're best at right,and that whole experience of oh
(14:43):
my gosh, there's somethingwrong with the clock, it's
showing that two hours just wentby.
That can't be right.
Boom, that's mindfulness, whenwe just get completely lost in
creation.
Is this creative form ofmindfulness?
In the West, the mindfulnessthat has come about and that
(15:05):
term and all is very much anagnosticized kind of mindfulness
.
But in the East, you knowmindfulness and, like the
Buddhist mindfulness, it'stotally ingrained, threaded
through the religion.
So in my case it has felt likea little bit of an orphan
(15:27):
experience or an oddballexperience, because I am a deep
believing Christian and I'm alsoreally into this mindfulness
thing.
So, wait, is that compatible?
Oh, I think it is, I think itis Absolutely.
I mean, I can't imagine we, wecan't experience God through
just thinking, thinking,thinking Right, and part of the
(15:48):
revelation of this book and partof what I talk.
I'm open about my faith in thebook, but I'm also passionate
about no matter what your beliefsystem is, whether it is or it
isn't, these practices can help.
They don't require the you know, the God concept.
But, my goodness, those of usas Christians, if our whole
(16:10):
world is just think, think,think and hear a scripture and
study the Bible and yada, yada,then where is the time?
Like the verse says, be stilland know that I am God.
Where is that time that we'respending?
So I really really urgeChristians to learn just basic
meditation, like I did throughthis practice of centering
(16:34):
prayer that I learned from thelate Father Thomas Keating.
Gary Pageau (16:38):
So it's a Christianian infused book, but
it's not necessarily fornecessarily just for Christian
people.
Joe Van Wyk (16:44):
If you're not a Christian, you'll get a lot out
of the book anyway, the partabout being open about my faith
really is kind of at thebeginning of the book.
The practices themselves are alittle more pure form of
mindfulness, but it's a hopethat I come from a perspective
of reality, because we all cometo this place, we're all calico
(17:07):
cats of our belief system, ourreligion, everything.
So we all come with some senseof a higher power and so I
really want to be open aboutthat and not pretend that okay,
we'll put that on the shelf andwe'll just talk about this
benign.
Gary Pageau (17:24):
But you're also not saying you've got to do it my
way to experience themindfulness photography thing,
right, oh, absolutely.
Joe Van Wyk (17:32):
Yeah, there's a.
There's some quotes ofscripture in this book, but
there's also quotes from EckhartTolle.
Gary Pageau (17:37):
Okay, so so let's talk a little bit about some of
the practices.
Right In the book you talkabout focus, capture and shine.
What, what does that mean?
Joe Van Wyk (17:47):
It's a great question.
Yeah, every one of these 15practices has that, and so it's
just a little formula that Icame up with.
I would say that what I'vewritten in this book I sincerely
hope it helps you and yourlisteners.
But I wrote this book for meLike I had to get down in
(18:08):
writing these revelations that Iwas having that were helping me
so much.
I knew that if I just focusedon what is helping and healing
me, that surely there are goingto be other people out there who
identify with this and that canbe helped in the same way
Highly sensitive people who arecreatives, who struggle with
(18:29):
depression and anxiety, maybepeople who are kind of in my
stage in life or, let's say, the40 plus adventures out there.
So focus part is so criticalbecause these practices you can
go out.
Let's say it's today and I go,you know, tomorrow, oh, I'm
(18:50):
going to go up to such and suchtrail and I'm going to go for a
hike.
I'm going to bring mysmartphone with me, put it on
airplane mode and I'm going todo the practice for out of the
mindful photography field guide.
All good, that's one way to usethese practices, but really
what's most important andeffective for me is that there
(19:13):
are these interventionarytechniques.
So focus, for instance.
When I say focus, it means,let's say, I'm out in the wild,
and it may be that I'm up on atrail in a beautiful forest and
I should be just taking in theglory of God and so wonderful.
But yet I'm up there and themonkey mind is churning faster
(19:35):
than it ever has.
You know, we can't escape thatjust by changing our environment
, right?
Or maybe I'm just taking a walkwith the dog and I'm obsessing
about somebody who's done mewrong.
Boom, that's the moment where,hand on the heart, like you're
saying the pledge of allegiance,where, hand on the heart, like
you're saying the pledge ofallegiance, hand on the heart
(19:56):
and three belly breaths, we'redropping out of this monkey mind
and into our body.
So that's the first step, isintervening.
The first step in any kind ofmindfulness is noticing okay,
I've been hijacked, my mind isin in a come, come back to
presence.
So it's focus on body andsurroundings.
(20:18):
Right then, and that process ofdoing that, I'm waking up to
reality, my senses around me.
So that's the focus part ishand on the heart, three belly
breaths and opening our eyes toground in the environment that
we're in and then capture.
Rather than capturing anaward-winning photo, this is the
(20:41):
point where we're justcapturing the present moment.
So if it is a walk with the dog, it may be that I decide to go
out and capture photographs offive different kinds of leaves
on trees that I see.
No, not five different trees,but maybe I'm going to get
zoomed way in and macro mode andtake some veiny shots of
(21:05):
individual leaves and then I'llhave that collection to edit
down when I get back.
That would be capturing thepresent moment.
And then the last step shine isto shine our light and bless
others.
I've been through a lot ofprograms, methodologies.
I've been around this block fora long time on the whole
(21:28):
depression thing and thoseemotional struggles, struggles
of highly sensitive people.
I haven't found a singleeffective program or methodology
that doesn't emphasize serviceto others.
So me shining my light andblessing others with these
photographs, that completes thecycle.
(21:50):
It's sort of like a beautifulColorado stream and you go
upstream and the beavers havebeen building a dam and next
thing you know there's astagnant pond up there that's
not flowing anymore.
We've got the service work andreaching out and loving others
is an example of kind of tearingdown that dam and letting God's
(22:11):
love flow through the us andbless others.
We're made this way.
This is sort of like whatyou're doing right now, gary.
This is a huge ministry to you.
This is a huge form of ofblessing others by helping
people shine their light and puttheir message out there, and
you know how that feels whenyou're, when you're serving that
(22:32):
and you're letting thatcreativity flow through you and
bless others.
Gary Pageau (22:36):
Well, that's nice.
I did not think you were goingto go to me with that, but that
is true.
I mean, you have to think aboutserving people as sort of your
modus operandi for whateveryou're doing.
But I want to shift gears alittle bit, because we're
talking a little bit about gear.
Speaking of shifting gears,we're talking about gear
beforehand, and you're gonna letgo of all your gear and focus
(22:58):
on the smartphone.
And you've got some nice stuffin terms of you know, you got
prime lenses.
You mentioned leica earlier.
So there's no shortage of highquality photographic equipment
in your life.
But but why focus on thesmartphone?
Is it the technology or is itjust the way the phone works?
Joe Van Wyk (23:14):
it is all of the above, okay.
Like I said, I used to be soobsessed with gear that's a lot
of photographers get into it.
Gary Pageau (23:23):
Right, they get into the the lens of this one
and if I just buy that lens I'mgoing to be that much better.
And you know I've got a leica,so I'm better than you and you
know that sort of thing big time.
Joe Van Wyk (23:35):
That was me, that was, and time goes on.
I'm starting to notice.
Oh man, these iPhone camerasare getting better and better,
and now the software behind them, that is well, just at night I
just dropped a couple of videoson my YouTube channel.
A couple of weeks ago I droppedthis video, these, these new,
(23:58):
this new video that I'm doing,this style that I'm doing I call
walk around videos, and so I goout with a simple gimbal and my
phone and just start walkingaround some of these beautiful
places here.
You see these.
I mean it may be like nighttimein kyoto and somebody doing a
walk around video or somemountain walk in Switzerland and
(24:21):
I started noticing these andhow cool and mindful they are.
So I started to do these Joevan white kind of street
photography style walk aroundvideos.
Now, some of these walk aroundsare up in the forest, so I'm
off completely.
You never know I'm there, I'mnot speaking anything.
This all the sound iscompletely ambient sound.
(24:44):
So when I'm doing a walk aroundup in the forest, you're
hearing my feet clomp in thesnow, but you're not hearing any
commentary from me you're notswinging that thing around and
doing a selfie, come on, you'remissing an opportunity.
Gary Pageau (25:00):
You've been an influencer, man Right.
Joe Van Wyk (25:04):
And I'm doing some of that too.
Plenty of those.
So that's a forest example.
But I'm also going around someof these small mountain towns I
lived in and doing walk-aroundsthrough town.
Well, I've done a couple ofthese in Aspen in all its
splendor, you know an opulence,aspen.
But this week I just dropped Isay you know what?
(25:25):
What time is it now?
918 AM my time, at nine o'clock.
The newest version dropped andthat is me doing a how to video
video, how I shot the aspen walkaround video at night.
So I actually do a commentaryon top of this video.
(25:45):
I've taken just the best of thebest parts out of it and I'm
explaining to people of thementality of okay, folks notice,
here I'm walking around and yousee these people coming towards
me.
Okay, I'm letting them cometowards me and now watch as I
wrap around the backside of themand then head off in that
direction.
I love that.
So I'm going through and doingthat.
(26:06):
So I'm hoping this will givepeople the opportunity to kind
of learn my mindset and some ofthe techniques behind it, and
we'll get out there and do theirown, because it really is a
mindful, immersive experience.
It reminds me of streetphotography and that adrenaline
rush when I was out there doingthat.
(26:27):
You know who Bruce Gilden is,obviously, yeah, brooklyn
shooter, yeah.
So for anybody who doesn't know, he's this older guy, he's
still around, real tall guy,thick, new York, kind of
obnoxious kind of guy seriouslyin your face.
So he's using he happens to beusing a like it.
It doesn't matter, but he's gota big flash and a cable and
(26:51):
he's people provoke a responseout of people, right.
So he's like in their face,camera right in their face, in a
flash to pop.
And when I first saw that, Iwas so blown away and I started
doing some of that myself, atrisk of life and limb, like I'm
not sure that I would do thatsame thing today.
(27:12):
In years ago I still feltsomewhat safe enough to to do
that.
So I explain in this latestvideo that I dropped I actually
have some B-roll of some ofthose Bruce Gilden style in your
face shots and then fastforward to now where I'm not
quite as ready to put life atlimb at risk, and how I'm
(27:34):
feeling that same kind ofexhilaration.
I'm making these walk aroundvideos because you have
encounters with people.
As you're encountering peoplethat you're meeting, say, on the
sidewalk, they know you'reshooting and you never, ever
looked them in the eye.
You're looking down, you'redoing what you're doing and
you're catching all of thisactivity going on.
(27:55):
So it's like you yourself arewalking through that scene,
right.
Gary Pageau (27:59):
We got to talk a little bit about gear a little
bit.
So you're focusing on theiPhone.
I see you've got probably youknow a fairly recent iPhone, but
is there a specific app or aspecific thing you use for this?
Do you use any like accessorylenses to screw on the front, or
is it just the iPhone out ofthe box?
And what apps do you?
Joe Van Wyk (28:17):
use the iPhone out of the box and what apps do you
use?
So I invested heavily in Sonygear, full frame Sony cameras,
prime lenses and whatnot and,yes, like what you referred to
it all.
It's hard to even breathe whenI think of it, but I am getting
ready to sell it all off.
I'm going all in.
So what I'm using now is I'vegot the latest, greatest iPhone
(28:39):
16 Pro Max, like that Aspen walkaround video at night.
I shot that using this iPhone16 Pro Max on a simple DJI
gimbal and I was shooting inProRes.
Have you ever shot in ProRes?
I have amateur Res, that's mehave you ever shot in pro res?
(29:03):
I am.
I have amateur res, that's me.
It's well, pro res is thisapple codec?
Yeah, yeah, it is a pipelinelike huge, huge it's like raw
format for video, kind ofexactly.
so 30 minutes of video shot inpro res is probably 150 to 200
gigabytes of video file.
So moving those around andstuff is really, really tricky.
But that's what I shot thesenighttime.
(29:25):
Walk around videos on it andyou're just going to be blown
away by the quality.
And if I had shot that with mySony I currently have a Sony a
seven four If I'd shot that on,say, a, my gm 24 millimeter 1.4
lens, it would not have lookedclose to that good, because it's
(29:46):
not doing the magic that theiphone is doing, not only
through that, that codec andthat high-res video capability.
That's beyond just just a, asimple 4k, but also it's part of
the software.
It's part of the codec and it'spart of that software.
I don't care how it's gettingthere.
All I care is that shot looksamazing and I'm doing it on
(30:10):
something that I can slide intomy pocket.
I actually do have two.
I soon learned that I reallyneeded two iPhones.
Sometimes I'll shoot theshooter and do some B-roll of me
using a phone and I'm shootingit with another, or I'll have
the phone on a gimbal in frontof me and then my second phone,
(30:31):
say ultra-wide mode showingtechniques that I'm doing.
So having two of these is great.
Wireless mic setup when I'mdelivering so having two of
these is great Wireless micsetup doing when I'm delivering
videos here in my studio.
I'm using this front facingcinematic mode, blurry
background, and then using thiskiller mic that I'm talking into
(30:52):
now, USB-C mic, pluggeddirectly into my iPhone.
I don't have to tell you thethe hassle of doing that with a
professional setup.
Right, and it takes the funaway from it.
That's the main thing, yeah.
Gary Pageau (31:08):
That's what I'm saying.
You've radically simplified,simplified your, your gear
environment.
So you can focus on what you'redoing but no so so you're just
using the out of the box apps.
You're not using any kind of uh, specialized.
It makes there's a lot of greatapps.
I mean I can rattle off a bunchof apps I use regularly for
cameras.
You know, camera plus is agreat one, halide's a great one.
Um, you know, I mean I've got,I got my preference, but you're
(31:31):
just using what's what's, whatcomes stock in the camera I am.
Joe Van Wyk (31:36):
Whenever I have the opportunity to go stock, to go
native, I do.
Adding.
Just throwing in third-partystuff just complicates it.
Now there is one thing that I'mdying to try is the final cut
app right for the iphone thatlets you shoot.
If I'm, it lets.
(31:57):
It gives you a lot more choicesmanual choices, whatever but
you know, when I'm shooting outon this iPhone yes, I'm, I'm
getting as technical as makingsure that I'm shooting.
You know, 24 frames per second.
You know, shooting in 4k,that's all fine and dandy, but I
could care less about some NDfilters.
(32:17):
That's going to kick myselfinto.
You know, having 180 degreesshutter, blah, blah, blah and
all of those correct ways toshoot manually that I just don't
need because nobody can tellthe difference really a real
world person, and again, it justtakes the fun out of it.
That's what this tool reminds.
(32:39):
It reminds me of when I was akid just having fun with
something and not having toworry about all the technical
settings, not to mention theaudio.
Just, even without an externalmic, the audio is so fantastic
on these iPhones.
Did you know that these havemics?
I think this new one has likefive different mics, front and
(33:02):
back.
So when I'm shooting these walkaround videos and you have some
killer headphones or something,it totally sounds like surround
sound You're hearing noisescoming out of your back.
Gary Pageau (33:16):
Left front's really something so yeah, I mean
because they're trying to pushyou towards the vision pro,
obviously the spatial audio andall that, all that stuff, sure.
So I'm just curious, do youexpect, if you're doing like
your professional work to do?
You know you're going to showup at a corporate headshot shoot
(33:37):
with this setup.
Do you think clients are goingto accept that, or do they just
care about the results?
Joe Van Wyk (33:42):
Professionally, I'm done.
Oh, okay, all right.
Okay, I'm done with that.
Okay, so anybody in the I knowyou even recently you've had
some guests that are intoportraiture.
But I'll tell you, gary, Idon't want to be in the headshot
field right now.
Oh, thank you when I can uploada crappy, you know selfie of
(34:05):
myself and have AI create somekiller business photo out of it.
Okay, I know, maybe it's notthere 100%.
What I could do with a headshotof you would rock your world,
but are people really willing topay for it?
I think that business model isdone, dead gone.
(34:27):
Shooting events Nope, still avalid market for that.
However, how many people arechasing after that work right
now?
So that's part of me beingquote that gear.
Now I will say this I actuallyhave another gig.
It's a part-time gig, kind of athree quarter time gig, working
as a marketing coordinator fora local parks and recreation
(34:50):
district.
So I'm still shooting with andso happens, I've fortunately
convinced them to buy a sony a74and a 35 to 150 zoom.
So I'll still have that in apinch when I'm doing things like
sports and kids running aroundin a field or whatever.
So I still have that.
(35:10):
But yeah, this is part of that.
Going all in is me admittingthat all of this gear that I
have that's collecting dustright now is really holding me
back.
I'm done.
I'm really ready to transitionto this next phase, and I have
and I'm all in.
Gary Pageau (35:29):
So, people, if anyone else wants to go all in
on mindful photography, wherewould they go for more
information about mindfulphotography and your book?
Joe Van Wyk (35:40):
You know that is a fantastic question.
I'm glad you askedMindfulphotographyorg.
Go there, check it out.
Please sign up for mynewsletter.
You're going to find a link tothe book on Amazon, to the
mindful photography field guide,or just search for it on Amazon
.
But I'd also love you to justseek out my YouTube channel.
(36:01):
Really, youtube is is thesocial platform that I'm I'm
focusing on.
So all of these videos that I'mreferring to, whether they be
instructional or these walkaround videos, they're all on my
YouTube channel at Joe van Wykon YouTube.
Gary Pageau (36:19):
And does, does Frankie the doodle appear on
your any of your videos?
Joe Van Wyk (36:23):
Frankie the doodles there.
He's my companion on this fiveyear journey that I've been on.
It's he's been the most amazingcompanion.
He's a great mountain dog tooAwesome.
Gary Pageau (36:35):
Well, great Joe, great to meet you, great to talk
.
I love talking photography withpeople who are super passionate
about it, and we'll be sure tocheck out the book Mindful
Photography atmindfulphotographyorg.
Take care, thank you, Gary.
Erin Manning (36:48):
Thank you for listening to the Dead Pixel
Society podcast.
Read more great stories andsign up for the newsletter at
wwwthedeadpixelssocietycom.
Welcome to the Dead Pixel Society podcast, the
photo imaging industry's leadingnews source.
Here's your host, Gary Pageau.
The Dead Pixels Society podcastis brought to you by Mediaclip,
Advertek Printing, andIndependent Photo Imagers.
Gary Pageau (00:18):
Hello again and welcome to the Dead Pixels
Society podcast.
I'm your host, Gary Pageau, andtoday we're joined by Joe Van
Wyk, who is from MindfulPhotography, and he's coming to
us today from Glenwood Springs,Colorado.
Joe's got a crazy long story ofbeing in the industry
pre-digital and getting intophotography and now going
(00:39):
exclusively with smartphones.
So, hey, Joe, how are you today?
Joe Van Wyk (00:42):
So let's talk a little bit.
Are you today, Gary?
It's good to be here with you.
Thanks for having me.
Gary Pageau (00:46):
So let's talk a little bit about your journey.
We were kind of talking aboutthat before we started recording
about.
You know, you went through acareer change, kind of got into
the graphic arts business and itchanged your life.
So talk a little bit about thattransition.
Joe Van Wyk (01:00):
No doubt I'll actually start with kind of the
fruits of the story that I'mgoing to tell you about, and
it's this book that I have in myhand, called the Mindful
Photography Field Guide 15Smartphone Photography Practices
for Inner Peace.
I look at that and, as I'llprobably touch on my faith, is
(01:21):
very important to me and mostpeople have heard this idea that
God works all things togetherfor our good.
And I look at that book and theexperiences that I've had and
the suffering that I've beenthrough and to see that as the
culmination is really rewarding.
You know, it's one of thosethings that's nice about being
later in life when you get tolook back and see those things
(01:44):
and how they all fit together.
I remember I was in my late 20sand in the early 90s I'm just
getting ready to turn 60.
So in the early 90s I had boy.
I thought I had the world bythe tail.
Rather than paying attention tothat little Joe kid inside me,
(02:04):
creative kid inside me, I wasreally looking to my dad and
really hoping to emulate what hehad done.
He was real successful inbusiness and so, you know, I
went to college and then went tograd school and got an MBA and
went out and started working ininternational business and I
(02:25):
thought that was the thing.
Gary Pageau (02:26):
But that was the time for it, right?
Joe Van Wyk (02:28):
I mean, I was going to be hot stuff, yeah yeah,
early nineties, and I absolutelyhated it.
I just hated it.
The cut and dry business worldwasn't getting able to use any
of this visual creativity at allthat I was so good at, you know
, growing up as a kid and always, you know, art classes, et
(02:49):
cetera.
So I really floundered.
I ended up going to work atthis little Christian bookstore
with a music department in SanAntonio, texas, and as just what
started off to be just a shortholiday season job.
And that's when this chanceencounter happened, this, this
guy who came into the musicstore and I learned about his
(03:13):
career.
He was a graphic designer, huh,and he worked for this thing
called a service bureau.
What a service bureau is, asyou know, gary, is it was the
step between the graphic designshop, the ad agency, whatever,
and the printing press.
So we would do film output thatthey would use to burn the
plates at the printing place andpress and drum scanning and
(03:37):
high end digital pre-press workthat ended up morphing into
either digital printing or theprinters themselves took on that
responsibility and they hadthose image setters and whatnot,
and then it went direct toplace.
So suffice to say thisencounter.
I went to work for this companyin sales, and so I learned
(03:59):
everything about that wholefield and how files were created
.
Gary Pageau (04:04):
It was QuarkX Express at the time of course
you mentioned a lot of oldschool stuff to me.
Totally right.
Quark Express.
Joe Van Wyk (04:12):
And I mean Quark for years before InDesign came
on the scene.
So I learned that field insideand out, started to kind of
dabble in doing some graphicdesign myself, found that I had
a real knack for it and afterjust about a year year and a
half I ended up hanging out myown shingle and going and
(04:33):
starting my own graphic designcompany.
Had a client that I landed andthat was my first client, Think
Cigar Company in San Antonio,Texas, the oldest cigar company
in the United States, and I dida catalog for Fink for 30 years,
a print catalog.
(04:54):
I'm actually getting ready.
They haven't done one in acouple of years.
I'm actually getting ready todo a little refresh, just so
they have a print catalog.
So that was the beginning of megetting into the graphic design
field, publishing catalogs,branding work, and then
eventually that led to megetting into photography and
(05:17):
videography.
Gary Pageau (05:18):
Okay.
So were you a one person shopor did you have employees?
How, I mean, is that cause alot of the people put out their
shingle, right?
That's kind of what they wantto do is do their own thing.
So you kind of had to take onvideography and photography to
satisfy clients, right?
Joe Van Wyk (05:36):
That was part of it , and it was also something that
I just I had such a love for asfrom time I was a child
actually photographs and and Iso it was also kind of a a new
career direction for me too.
Gary Pageau (05:55):
So, so so are you doing like professional shoots
on the side as part of that Imean?
I mean, as we're dealing atweddings and social events, as
well as commercial work, as towhere you're dealing at?
Joe Van Wyk (06:04):
weddings and social events as well as commercial
work.
Is that how that was working?
Absolutely so the time framethat we're talking about is
about 12 years ago, when I wasdoing, you know, professional
photography and I would doevents never did weddings.
No way, no, how that's, I don'thave the guts for that.
Sorry but I did do a lot ofevents and portraiture.
(06:27):
Portraiture was my main thing,absolutely Lighting and the
whole bit, but the event.
Meanwhile, I was starting toget heavily into street
photography and building up myYouTube channel so you can see
some of these videos up myYouTube channel.
So you can see some of thesevideos.
(06:48):
If you search for Joe Van Wykon YouTube, I'm at J O E V A N W
Y K on YouTube.
All social media that's.
That's my handle.
And so I started to get intothis form of street photography
where I'd walk around with mySony full frame camera, say with
a 35 millimeter lens or or Imight have a oh.
There was a time I had a LeicaQ.
(07:09):
I love that camera, and so Iwould mount a GoPro onto the top
of the camera and I'd bewalking.
So I was in Austin at the time.
I moved here to Colorado fiveyears ago and I would walk
around the streets and approachpeople and hit them up to take
their portrait.
Some of them were people livingon the streets, some of them
were people just, you know,business people walking around,
(07:31):
whatever.
So I would record thisinteraction and how I worked
with people and those videosreally got popular and meanwhile
I was working with somephotography gurus who did
workshops and stuff.
So I'd go to New York and dothat style of shooting.
So I built up this YouTubechannel and that is very much
(07:56):
part of my story of recoveryfrom at the time I went through.
I've always had some struggleswith depression and anxiety, but
during those years in Austin itgot really, really bad and I
would go downtown and shootthese videos somehow muster that
(08:20):
.
You know that's the last thingyou want to do is get off the
couch and be, productive, right,but I would go down and shoot
these videos and have theseencounters with people and I
would notice that when I gotback to the car it was just like
, oh my gosh, that was such arush, like I like, like
completely elevated walking onair.
And I didn't completely elevatedwalking on air and I didn't
(08:45):
call it mindfulness at the time,but what I was tapping into is
this very intense, creative,active form of mindfulness and
dropping out of this monkey mindof mine and down into my body
and my senses.
And so that was very much thegenesis of the mindful
photography field guide and Iwrote these 15 practices for
(09:11):
inner peace, you know, based ona lot of these experiences and
then assimilating that.
The book got put on a shelfabout five years ago.
This idea I had this idea backthen thought it might be a
therapeutic curriculum of somesort put it on the shelf and
(09:32):
then a couple of years ago, Ijust decided you know what I'm
going to do this thing, and soI've gone all in on it.
I published it last April and Irevived my YouTube channel and
I'm out there making contentagain.
Gary Pageau (09:49):
So talk a little bit about, like, where you were
at professionally when you werestruggling with this, the dark
period, the depression becauseyou know, my guess is your
career is probably doing fine,Right, and there are people who
kind of struggle with they'redoing great in their career
business-wise but emotionallythey're a mess.
(10:10):
Is that what you were goingthrough?
Joe Van Wyk (10:13):
I would say no because the career part of it.
Well, I'll say no to the oh thecareer was a success.
Yay, because in actuality I washitting head on this transition
in my career.
I knew that the graphic designphase was coming to an end.
(10:34):
I was having a hard timebringing on new clientele.
I had a couple of very oldclients that were with me
forever.
I knew that those werefloundering and I and I just
knew there was something elsefor me, career wise.
Meanwhile just on a personalnote, but I think this is
(10:54):
relevant especially to the menlistening to this Uh, there was
a second marriage involved inall of this.
That only lasted four years andI ended up marrying someone.
So I was at that vulnerablepart in my career and my journey
and I was also kind of on theverge of this very depressive
(11:18):
episode.
I thought this was going tosolve all my problems and I
married someone who was veryadvanced in her profession.
We were in very differentplaces in that sense.
So, as a man who puts so muchof our identity in our career,
it was really vulnerable.
(11:40):
Here I am struggling and she'sat the top of her game, et
cetera, and I'm the man and I'mnot even close to bringing in
what she was bringing in etcetera.
So I definitely think that thatexacerbated the sense, the
depression.
But the depression is nothingbut purposelessness.
It's nothing but lack of hope,and so much of the hope that we
(12:04):
find as men and humans is in ourendeavors, in our purpose, in
our career.
So that was what had reallyturned upside down.
Now, thank God, you got to turnthat cup completely upside down
and empty it before you canstart over.
So I think, looking back like10 years ago, that was this
point where I was shedding someof these preconceived notions of
(12:28):
where I wanted to go with mycareer and where I was taking it
and, inevitably, what I wascapable of.
Gary Pageau (12:36):
So are you still doing the photography piece?
You said you kind of walkedaway from the graphic arts and
although think cigars, you'restill doing their catalog arts
and although think cigars,you're still doing their catalog
.
Joe Van Wyk (12:49):
so are you a cigar smoker or are they just a uh, a
no, because I'm an old.
I used to smoke, you know,years ago, so I know the second.
The whole time I've been inthis cigar business, you know,
I've never taken a puff off of acigar because I know nicotine
is nicotine baby and that's thelast thing I want to do is try
sampling some of the merch and,you know, end up smoking again.
Gary Pageau (13:12):
So so you're still doing the photography thing, so
so you kind of focus on that,you're working on that, and you
know I've been to your website.
It's, it's lovely work.
You know so clearly.
You know what you're doing.
So tell me about a little bit.
About, first of all, what ismindfulness in your definition,
because a lot of people usedifferent things.
Right, there's all kinds ofmindfulness apps.
I think my Apple Watch istrying to get me to be mindful
(13:33):
all the time too.
So in your context, what doesthat actually mean?
Joe Van Wyk (13:39):
Means presence to me?
Sure, it means noticing, righthere, in those last five seconds
, I was kind of anticipatingyour next question.
I was, I was starting to straya little bit and now, right now,
click, I'm fully with you, I'mfully present with this.
You know, beautiful human infront of me that I'm interacting
(14:02):
with, I care about you andlike'm, I'm really valuing this
brief time that we have together.
I'm all in my senses are on youand my heart is with you.
And I'm not thinking aboutimpressing you or what the next
thing is.
I'm going to say so in thisvery moment.
(14:22):
That's what that looks like.
When it comes to photography,anybody who has, uh,
passionately practicesphotography knows this.
You know going out and anddoing the thing, the creative
thing that you're best at right,and that whole experience of oh
(14:43):
my gosh, there's somethingwrong with the clock, it's
showing that two hours just wentby.
That can't be right.
Boom, that's mindfulness, whenwe just get completely lost in
creation.
Is this creative form ofmindfulness?
In the West, the mindfulnessthat has come about and that
(15:05):
term and all is very much anagnosticized kind of mindfulness
.
But in the East, you knowmindfulness and, like the
Buddhist mindfulness, it'stotally ingrained, threaded
through the religion.
So in my case it has felt likea little bit of an orphan
(15:27):
experience or an oddballexperience, because I am a deep
believing Christian and I'm alsoreally into this mindfulness
thing.
So, wait, is that compatible?
Oh, I think it is, I think itis Absolutely.
I mean, I can't imagine we, wecan't experience God through
just thinking, thinking,thinking Right, and part of the
(15:48):
revelation of this book and partof what I talk.
I'm open about my faith in thebook, but I'm also passionate
about no matter what your beliefsystem is, whether it is or it
isn't, these practices can help.
They don't require the you know, the God concept.
But, my goodness, those of usas Christians, if our whole
(16:10):
world is just think, think,think and hear a scripture and
study the Bible and yada, yada,then where is the time?
Like the verse says, be stilland know that I am God.
Where is that time that we'respending?
So I really really urgeChristians to learn just basic
meditation, like I did throughthis practice of centering
(16:34):
prayer that I learned from thelate Father Thomas Keating.
Gary Pageau (16:38):
So it's a Christianian infused book, but
it's not necessarily fornecessarily just for Christian
people.
Joe Van Wyk (16:44):
If you're not a Christian, you'll get a lot out
of the book anyway, the partabout being open about my faith
really is kind of at thebeginning of the book.
The practices themselves are alittle more pure form of
mindfulness, but it's a hopethat I come from a perspective
of reality, because we all cometo this place, we're all calico
(17:07):
cats of our belief system, ourreligion, everything.
So we all come with some senseof a higher power and so I
really want to be open aboutthat and not pretend that okay,
we'll put that on the shelf andwe'll just talk about this
benign.
Gary Pageau (17:24):
But you're also not saying you've got to do it my
way to experience themindfulness photography thing,
right, oh, absolutely.
Joe Van Wyk (17:32):
Yeah, there's a.
There's some quotes ofscripture in this book, but
there's also quotes from EckhartTolle.
Gary Pageau (17:37):
Okay, so so let's talk a little bit about some of
the practices.
Right In the book you talkabout focus, capture and shine.
What, what does that mean?
Joe Van Wyk (17:47):
It's a great question.
Yeah, every one of these 15practices has that, and so it's
just a little formula that Icame up with.
I would say that what I'vewritten in this book I sincerely
hope it helps you and yourlisteners.
But I wrote this book for meLike I had to get down in
(18:08):
writing these revelations that Iwas having that were helping me
so much.
I knew that if I just focusedon what is helping and healing
me, that surely there are goingto be other people out there who
identify with this and that canbe helped in the same way
Highly sensitive people who arecreatives, who struggle with
(18:29):
depression and anxiety, maybepeople who are kind of in my
stage in life or, let's say, the40 plus adventures out there.
So focus part is so criticalbecause these practices you can
go out.
Let's say it's today and I go,you know, tomorrow, oh, I'm
(18:50):
going to go up to such and suchtrail and I'm going to go for a
hike.
I'm going to bring mysmartphone with me, put it on
airplane mode and I'm going todo the practice for out of the
mindful photography field guide.
All good, that's one way to usethese practices, but really
what's most important andeffective for me is that there
(19:13):
are these interventionarytechniques.
So focus, for instance.
When I say focus, it means,let's say, I'm out in the wild,
and it may be that I'm up on atrail in a beautiful forest and
I should be just taking in theglory of God and so wonderful.
But yet I'm up there and themonkey mind is churning faster
(19:35):
than it ever has.
You know, we can't escape thatjust by changing our environment
, right?
Or maybe I'm just taking a walkwith the dog and I'm obsessing
about somebody who's done mewrong.
Boom, that's the moment where,hand on the heart, like you're
saying the pledge of allegiance,where, hand on the heart, like
you're saying the pledge ofallegiance, hand on the heart
(19:56):
and three belly breaths, we'redropping out of this monkey mind
and into our body.
So that's the first step, isintervening.
The first step in any kind ofmindfulness is noticing okay,
I've been hijacked, my mind isin in a come, come back to
presence.
So it's focus on body andsurroundings.
(20:18):
Right then, and that process ofdoing that, I'm waking up to
reality, my senses around me.
So that's the focus part ishand on the heart, three belly
breaths and opening our eyes toground in the environment that
we're in and then capture.
Rather than capturing anaward-winning photo, this is the
(20:41):
point where we're justcapturing the present moment.
So if it is a walk with the dog, it may be that I decide to go
out and capture photographs offive different kinds of leaves
on trees that I see.
No, not five different trees,but maybe I'm going to get
zoomed way in and macro mode andtake some veiny shots of
(21:05):
individual leaves and then I'llhave that collection to edit
down when I get back.
That would be capturing thepresent moment.
And then the last step shine isto shine our light and bless
others.
I've been through a lot ofprograms, methodologies.
I've been around this block fora long time on the whole
(21:28):
depression thing and thoseemotional struggles, struggles
of highly sensitive people.
I haven't found a singleeffective program or methodology
that doesn't emphasize serviceto others.
So me shining my light andblessing others with these
photographs, that completes thecycle.
(21:50):
It's sort of like a beautifulColorado stream and you go
upstream and the beavers havebeen building a dam and next
thing you know there's astagnant pond up there that's
not flowing anymore.
We've got the service work andreaching out and loving others
is an example of kind of tearingdown that dam and letting God's
(22:11):
love flow through the us andbless others.
We're made this way.
This is sort of like whatyou're doing right now, gary.
This is a huge ministry to you.
This is a huge form of ofblessing others by helping
people shine their light and puttheir message out there, and
you know how that feels whenyou're, when you're serving that
(22:32):
and you're letting thatcreativity flow through you and
bless others.
Gary Pageau (22:36):
Well, that's nice.
I did not think you were goingto go to me with that, but that
is true.
I mean, you have to think aboutserving people as sort of your
modus operandi for whateveryou're doing.
But I want to shift gears alittle bit, because we're
talking a little bit about gear.
Speaking of shifting gears,we're talking about gear
beforehand, and you're gonna letgo of all your gear and focus
(22:58):
on the smartphone.
And you've got some nice stuffin terms of you know, you got
prime lenses.
You mentioned leica earlier.
So there's no shortage of highquality photographic equipment
in your life.
But but why focus on thesmartphone?
Is it the technology or is itjust the way the phone works?
Joe Van Wyk (23:14):
it is all of the above, okay.
Like I said, I used to be soobsessed with gear that's a lot
of photographers get into it.
Gary Pageau (23:23):
Right, they get into the the lens of this one
and if I just buy that lens I'mgoing to be that much better.
And you know I've got a leica,so I'm better than you and you
know that sort of thing big time.
Joe Van Wyk (23:35):
That was me, that was, and time goes on.
I'm starting to notice.
Oh man, these iPhone camerasare getting better and better,
and now the software behind them, that is well, just at night I
just dropped a couple of videoson my YouTube channel.
A couple of weeks ago I droppedthis video, these, these new,
(23:58):
this new video that I'm doing,this style that I'm doing I call
walk around videos, and so I goout with a simple gimbal and my
phone and just start walkingaround some of these beautiful
places here.
You see these.
I mean it may be like nighttimein kyoto and somebody doing a
walk around video or somemountain walk in Switzerland and
(24:21):
I started noticing these andhow cool and mindful they are.
So I started to do these Joevan white kind of street
photography style walk aroundvideos.
Now, some of these walk aroundsare up in the forest, so I'm
off completely.
You never know I'm there, I'mnot speaking anything.
This all the sound iscompletely ambient sound.
(24:44):
So when I'm doing a walk aroundup in the forest, you're
hearing my feet clomp in thesnow, but you're not hearing any
commentary from me you're notswinging that thing around and
doing a selfie, come on, you'remissing an opportunity.
Gary Pageau (25:00):
You've been an influencer, man Right.
Joe Van Wyk (25:04):
And I'm doing some of that too.
Plenty of those.
So that's a forest example.
But I'm also going around someof these small mountain towns I
lived in and doing walk-aroundsthrough town.
Well, I've done a couple ofthese in Aspen in all its
splendor, you know an opulence,aspen.
But this week I just dropped Isay you know what?
(25:25):
What time is it now?
918 AM my time, at nine o'clock.
The newest version dropped andthat is me doing a how to video
video, how I shot the aspen walkaround video at night.
So I actually do a commentaryon top of this video.
(25:45):
I've taken just the best of thebest parts out of it and I'm
explaining to people of thementality of okay, folks notice,
here I'm walking around and yousee these people coming towards
me.
Okay, I'm letting them cometowards me and now watch as I
wrap around the backside of themand then head off in that
direction.
I love that.
So I'm going through and doingthat.
(26:06):
So I'm hoping this will givepeople the opportunity to kind
of learn my mindset and some ofthe techniques behind it, and
we'll get out there and do theirown, because it really is a
mindful, immersive experience.
It reminds me of streetphotography and that adrenaline
rush when I was out there doingthat.
(26:27):
You know who Bruce Gilden is,obviously, yeah, brooklyn
shooter, yeah.
So for anybody who doesn't know, he's this older guy, he's
still around, real tall guy,thick, new York, kind of
obnoxious kind of guy seriouslyin your face.
So he's using he happens to beusing a like it.
It doesn't matter, but he's gota big flash and a cable and
(26:51):
he's people provoke a responseout of people, right.
So he's like in their face,camera right in their face, in a
flash to pop.
And when I first saw that, Iwas so blown away and I started
doing some of that myself, atrisk of life and limb, like I'm
not sure that I would do thatsame thing today.
(27:12):
In years ago I still feltsomewhat safe enough to to do
that.
So I explain in this latestvideo that I dropped I actually
have some B-roll of some ofthose Bruce Gilden style in your
face shots and then fastforward to now where I'm not
quite as ready to put life atlimb at risk, and how I'm
(27:34):
feeling that same kind ofexhilaration.
I'm making these walk aroundvideos because you have
encounters with people.
As you're encountering peoplethat you're meeting, say, on the
sidewalk, they know you'reshooting and you never, ever
looked them in the eye.
You're looking down, you'redoing what you're doing and
you're catching all of thisactivity going on.
(27:55):
So it's like you yourself arewalking through that scene,
right.
Gary Pageau (27:59):
We got to talk a little bit about gear a little
bit.
So you're focusing on theiPhone.
I see you've got probably youknow a fairly recent iPhone, but
is there a specific app or aspecific thing you use for this?
Do you use any like accessorylenses to screw on the front, or
is it just the iPhone out ofthe box?
And what apps do you?
Joe Van Wyk (28:17):
use the iPhone out of the box and what apps do you
use?
So I invested heavily in Sonygear, full frame Sony cameras,
prime lenses and whatnot and,yes, like what you referred to
it all.
It's hard to even breathe whenI think of it, but I am getting
ready to sell it all off.
I'm going all in.
So what I'm using now is I'vegot the latest, greatest iPhone
(28:39):
16 Pro Max, like that Aspen walkaround video at night.
I shot that using this iPhone16 Pro Max on a simple DJI
gimbal and I was shooting inProRes.
Have you ever shot in ProRes?
I have amateur Res, that's mehave you ever shot in pro res?
(29:03):
I am.
I have amateur res, that's me.
It's well, pro res is thisapple codec?
Yeah, yeah, it is a pipelinelike huge, huge it's like raw
format for video, kind ofexactly.
so 30 minutes of video shot inpro res is probably 150 to 200
gigabytes of video file.
So moving those around andstuff is really, really tricky.
But that's what I shot thesenighttime.
(29:25):
Walk around videos on it andyou're just going to be blown
away by the quality.
And if I had shot that with mySony I currently have a Sony a
seven four If I'd shot that on,say, a, my gm 24 millimeter 1.4
lens, it would not have lookedclose to that good, because it's
(29:46):
not doing the magic that theiphone is doing, not only
through that, that codec andthat high-res video capability.
That's beyond just just a, asimple 4k, but also it's part of
the software.
It's part of the codec and it'spart of that software.
I don't care how it's gettingthere.
All I care is that shot looksamazing and I'm doing it on
(30:10):
something that I can slide intomy pocket.
I actually do have two.
I soon learned that I reallyneeded two iPhones.
Sometimes I'll shoot theshooter and do some B-roll of me
using a phone and I'm shootingit with another, or I'll have
the phone on a gimbal in frontof me and then my second phone,
(30:31):
say ultra-wide mode showingtechniques that I'm doing.
So having two of these is great.
Wireless mic setup when I'mdelivering so having two of
these is great Wireless micsetup doing when I'm delivering
videos here in my studio.
I'm using this front facingcinematic mode, blurry
background, and then using thiskiller mic that I'm talking into
(30:52):
now, USB-C mic, pluggeddirectly into my iPhone.
I don't have to tell you thethe hassle of doing that with a
professional setup.
Right, and it takes the funaway from it.
That's the main thing, yeah.
Gary Pageau (31:08):
That's what I'm saying.
You've radically simplified,simplified your, your gear
environment.
So you can focus on what you'redoing but no so so you're just
using the out of the box apps.
You're not using any kind of uh, specialized.
It makes there's a lot of greatapps.
I mean I can rattle off a bunchof apps I use regularly for
cameras.
You know, camera plus is agreat one, halide's a great one.
Um, you know, I mean I've got,I got my preference, but you're
(31:31):
just using what's what's, whatcomes stock in the camera I am.
Joe Van Wyk (31:36):
Whenever I have the opportunity to go stock, to go
native, I do.
Adding.
Just throwing in third-partystuff just complicates it.
Now there is one thing that I'mdying to try is the final cut
app right for the iphone thatlets you shoot.
If I'm, it lets.
(31:57):
It gives you a lot more choicesmanual choices, whatever but
you know, when I'm shooting outon this iPhone yes, I'm, I'm
getting as technical as makingsure that I'm shooting.
You know, 24 frames per second.
You know, shooting in 4k,that's all fine and dandy, but I
could care less about some NDfilters.
(32:17):
That's going to kick myselfinto.
You know, having 180 degreesshutter, blah, blah, blah and
all of those correct ways toshoot manually that I just don't
need because nobody can tellthe difference really a real
world person, and again, it justtakes the fun out of it.
That's what this tool reminds.
(32:39):
It reminds me of when I was akid just having fun with
something and not having toworry about all the technical
settings, not to mention theaudio.
Just, even without an externalmic, the audio is so fantastic
on these iPhones.
Did you know that these havemics?
I think this new one has likefive different mics, front and
(33:02):
back.
So when I'm shooting these walkaround videos and you have some
killer headphones or something,it totally sounds like surround
sound You're hearing noisescoming out of your back.
Gary Pageau (33:16):
Left front's really something so yeah, I mean
because they're trying to pushyou towards the vision pro,
obviously the spatial audio andall that, all that stuff, sure.
So I'm just curious, do youexpect, if you're doing like
your professional work to do?
You know you're going to showup at a corporate headshot shoot
(33:37):
with this setup.
Do you think clients are goingto accept that, or do they just
care about the results?
Joe Van Wyk (33:42):
Professionally, I'm done.
Oh, okay, all right.
Okay, I'm done with that.
Okay, so anybody in the I knowyou even recently you've had
some guests that are intoportraiture.
But I'll tell you, gary, Idon't want to be in the headshot
field right now.
Oh, thank you when I can uploada crappy, you know selfie of
(34:05):
myself and have AI create somekiller business photo out of it.
Okay, I know, maybe it's notthere 100%.
What I could do with a headshotof you would rock your world,
but are people really willing topay for it?
I think that business model isdone, dead gone.
(34:27):
Shooting events Nope, still avalid market for that.
However, how many people arechasing after that work right
now?
So that's part of me beingquote that gear.
Now I will say this I actuallyhave another gig.
It's a part-time gig, kind of athree quarter time gig, working
as a marketing coordinator fora local parks and recreation
(34:50):
district.
So I'm still shooting with andso happens, I've fortunately
convinced them to buy a sony a74and a 35 to 150 zoom.
So I'll still have that in apinch when I'm doing things like
sports and kids running aroundin a field or whatever.
So I still have that.
(35:10):
But yeah, this is part of that.
Going all in is me admittingthat all of this gear that I
have that's collecting dustright now is really holding me
back.
I'm done.
I'm really ready to transitionto this next phase, and I have
and I'm all in.
Gary Pageau (35:29):
So, people, if anyone else wants to go all in
on mindful photography, wherewould they go for more
information about mindfulphotography and your book?
Joe Van Wyk (35:40):
You know that is a fantastic question.
I'm glad you askedMindfulphotographyorg.
Go there, check it out.
Please sign up for mynewsletter.
You're going to find a link tothe book on Amazon, to the
mindful photography field guide,or just search for it on Amazon
.
But I'd also love you to justseek out my YouTube channel.
(36:01):
Really, youtube is is thesocial platform that I'm I'm
focusing on.
So all of these videos that I'mreferring to, whether they be
instructional or these walkaround videos, they're all on my
YouTube channel at Joe van Wykon YouTube.
Gary Pageau (36:19):
And does, does Frankie the doodle appear on
your any of your videos?
Joe Van Wyk (36:23):
Frankie the doodles there.
He's my companion on this fiveyear journey that I've been on.
It's he's been the most amazingcompanion.
He's a great mountain dog tooAwesome.
Gary Pageau (36:35):
Well, great Joe, great to meet you, great to talk
.
I love talking photography withpeople who are super passionate
about it, and we'll be sure tocheck out the book Mindful
Photography atmindfulphotographyorg.
Take care, thank you, Gary.
Erin Manning (36:48):
Thank you for listening to the Dead Pixel
Society podcast.
Read more great stories andsign up for the newsletter at
wwwthedeadpixelssocietycom.
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