The Stop Down Photography Podcast
Reconnect with your photography. A photography podcast to inspire, educate, and entertain. Hosted by Scott Davenport.
Episodes
In this episode, I challenge you to check your patterns and routines. Are you dedicating time to your photography, to grow as an artist? I share a story about my effort to overcome a certain inertia with my life patterns and its impact on my photography, and how a disruption to my typical day-to-day rhythm sparked creativity and making time for personal growth.
Non-destructive editing is the professional standard for photo editing in the digital age - and with good reason. Keeping your original image untouched is fabulous. Creating virtual copies or versions of an image to try out different looks and styles without duplicating the original file is wonderful. However, there are pitfalls, such as editing tool lock-in or, in a world where you can end...
The topic for this episode of the podcast was inspired by a listener question. If you have a question you’d like my thoughts on, please submit your question through the contact form on my website.
Our camera is the primary tool we use to create our work and express ourselves as artists. We get attached to certain cameras, and they sometimes become an...
There is no better way to grow as a photographer than to immerse yourself in photography. And there is no better way to do that than take part in a photo workshop. That rings true for me, both as an instructor and as a student. When a workshop finishes, I am always invigorated and my passion for photography rekindled.
I am very excited to share with ...
In the previous episode of the podcast, I shared the photo gear I was packing for a non-photo trip, a family vacation. I have returned from that trip and am happy to say that my gear choices worked wonderfully. I successfully fit photography into this non-photo trip and have images I know I’ll be happy with.
Looking back on the trip, some things cert...
Travel is a joy. Exploring a new place or revisiting an old one, as well as reconnecting with friends and family away from the routines of home. As photographers, our thoughts gravitate toward the photo opportunities our travels will present. But what to do when the purpose of a trip is not photography? You are not immersing yourself in photography like you would on a photo workshop. Instea...
Whether you are a seasoned photographer or just starting out, there are common photo mistakes that we all make. And we make time and time again. In this podcast, a light-hearted rundown of several rookie mistakes I’ve made in very recent history that cost me good photos.
Have a listen and hear if any of these fumbles and stumbles have happened to yo...
To say my visit to Cambria, California and the surrounding area did not go to plan would be putting it mildly. Mother Nature was in a sour mood and she quickly squashed my plans and pre-visualized photos. I share thoughts and takeaways from this less-than-successful photo excursion.
In studio news, I have been busy with several ON1-themed projects of...
This podcast is all about staying active with your photography, pacing yourself, and a little bit about World War Z. How does a 10-year old zombie apocalypse movie intersect with photography? It’s a phrase uttered in the beginning of the film … “Movemiento es vida”, movement is life.
That phrase rings true for me in several ways, and certainly for p...
I’m back! I know it has been a bunch of time since my last podcast. I am regretful for that, though there is no grand story to explain my absence. Life simply got busy, and the podcast was the first thing to fall “below the line” of what I could keep up with. To ease back into the podcast, how about a light-hearted chat about the tools we hold most dear - cameras and software.
Happy 2023! I use a lot of photo software for my photography - Lightroom, Photoshop, ON1 Effects, ON1 Resize, Topaz Sharpen AI, Luminar Neo, Radiant Photo… I admit it, I like software tools. I don’t use every tool every day, some are more specialized or niche than others. My core processing tools are Lightroom and ON1 Effects. These are my bread and butter.
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I have a set of 3 questions to help me get unstuck when I’m in the field:
What do I want to say?
How do I effectively say it?
Why is one writing technique preferred over another to deliver my message?
I learned this approach to storytelling from writing. A writer asks these key questions as they work on ...
I carve out at least one day a week to step out into the landscape with my camera. However, of late, I’ve been skipping those outings. I’ve made excuses of one kind or another, or talked myself out of taking in a landscape shoot. I have done camera work for some family events, but not landscape photography. A couple of days ago, the conditions in San Diego were perfect for sunset. I asked m...
Photographers, myself included, hold our cameras in high regard. It is the beloved tool we use to create our photos, to express ourselves. We put a lot of time and energy into choosing our cameras to select the one that best fits our photography and personal style. Yet to our viewers, the camera doesn’t matter - at all. That is the topic for this episode. Listen and hear how a recent meetin...
The summer heat has kept me indoors a lot these past few months. As we enter September and the temperatures drop ever-so-slightly in the Northern hemisphere, I am stepping back out in to the landscape. I have noticed I am rusty and my muscle memory is in need of some retraining. I especially noticed my after-shoot workflow was a little clunky with my hiatus from the camera. So … here are 4 ...
I am a photographer of an age where one foot of my photography was in film and the other is in digital. Make no mistake about it - I love digital photography and I have no intentions of going back to film. I don’t miss the darkroom, or waiting for the negatives, or wasting half a roll of film to switch to a different ASA (ISO). Yet there is one thing I do miss about my days working with fil...
A few weeks ago I had an interesting experience that I knew I wanted to discuss on the podcast. I was working with a student who is starting a blogging business, and she wanted to improve here photography skills. She writes articles about health, well-being, and mindfulness and includes nature and landscape photos to visually enhance her content.
We ...
Episode 100! This is certainly a milestone for this podcast. Like our photo journey, the road to this milestone has been one step at a time, the result of continued, sustained effort.
Looking back at the past 99 episodes of The Stop Down Photography Podcast, the most popular ones are the “Taught Me” episodes. In my daily life, I very often connect t...
A photo journey is rarely a straight line. There are switchbacks, twists, and turns along the way. Visual artists change direction, pivot, encounter roadblocks. For me, that carries over into my project work. I don’t work linearly through a project, and many personal photo projects stall.
Pressing pause on a personal photo project is totally fine - a...
In early April, I headed into the Southern California desert for some astrophotography. Clear skies and a new moon were perfect conditions to capture the Milky Way. And I learned a few things during this star gazing adventure. I have 3 tips to share with you for better photos of the core of the Milky Way. I hope you enjoy the episode.
Tip 1 - Planning Is Important (If Not Vital)
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