Camera Position 93 : Symbolism & Metaphor

FromJeff Curto's Camera Position

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Camera Position 93 : Symbolism & Metaphor

FromJeff Curto's Camera Position

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Length:

20 minutes

Released:

Feb 7, 2012

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

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

Released:

Feb 7, 2012

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

A Podcast About the Creative Side of Photography

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Camera Position 01 : An Introduction through an Italian window: This introductory podcast explains what I want to try to accomplish with this Camera Position and what I will be talking about as the shows progress. Camera Position is a podcast about the art of creative photography, by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
7 min listen
Camera Position 13 : Time and the Subject: Photographers sometimes have a hard time separating their own emotional response they have to a subject from the image that they make of that subject. It’s up to us as imagemakers not only to respond to the subject and the way we feel about it, by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
10 min listen
Camera Position 20 : The View Through: The visual device of a "view through" from one place to another is a fairly common one in photography, and one that I tend to use often. This episode explores a variety of ways of using the idea of framing a subject to emphasize a sense of space and pl... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
20 min listen
Camera Position 03 : Paul Caponigro’s Two Leaves: Camera Position #3 features a discussion about one of my all-time favorite photographs by one of my all-time favorite photographers, Paul Caponigro. The photograph, “Two Leaves, Brewster, NY, 1963” is discussed alongside some images that were made at t... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
18 min listen
Camera Position 46 : Passion & Profession: This episode of Camera Position is about combining passion with profession. We need to photograph what we love, but we also can’t lead an insular life; we need to be out there, casting our lines into the river of photographic experiences. This week, by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
20 min listen
Camera Position 02 : Light in Montepulciano: Camera Position #2 is about a photograph I made in 1997 of the Tempio di San Biagio, a beautiful Renaissance church just outside the walls of the Tuscan hilltown of Montepulciano. It’s all about the light and waiting for that light to be right. by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
4 min listen
Camera Position 11 : Weston and the Other 29: It took Edward Weston 29 prior attempts to get to the point where he made his well-known “Pepper #30” photograph. Musicians have to practice their scales, and so do photographers, trying a variety of attempts at conveying the essence of their subjects ... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
7 min listen
Camera Position 39 : Your Mission & Your Audience: Mission statements don’t have to be about dull, corporate stuff… they can also be about the creative process and act as a compass to point you in the right direction. Your photographic mission statement can be about your audience, by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
20 min listen
Camera Position 04 : Patience and Seeing: Using a photograph of Venice, Camera Position #4 explores the idea of how sometimes what you think you want in a photograph isn’t the most interesting thing there. Sometimes the subject is right in front of you; you just have to be patient enough to fi... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
5 min listen
Camera Position 15 : Moving Camera Position & Moving Your Boundaries: I’ve moved my Camera Position! I’ve abandoned Apple’s “easy but limited” iWeb software and moved over to a WordPress blog. Hopefully, the majority of listeners have made the switch with no problems. There is a new RSS subscription feed (see first post ... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
12 min listen
Camera Position 27 : The Mind & The Machine: Click image for a larger view Whether we like it or not, photography has technology at its base. Sometimes, changing up the equipment we use can allow us to change the way we look at the world in a significant way. by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
20 min listen
Camera Position 24 : Looking & Looking Back – Stieglitz & “The Steerage”: As I’ve worked with one of my newest photographs, I’ve noted a loose relationship Alfred Stieglitz’ “The Steerage” from 1907. It reminded me that photographers need to be aware of the image makers who have gone before them and helped them see. Now, by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
20 min listen
Camera Position 06 : Left, Right, Up, Down: Eugene Atget’s photograph of conical shrubs in Saint Cloud provides the visual resource for a discussion of how careful camera placement can affect a photograph. Saint Cloud, 1921 Photograph by Eugene Atget A great resource on Atget on Artsy by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
11 min listen
Camera Position 10 : A Story Without Words: Photographers have to be aware of the fact that viewers of their images can’t know the whole story of how a photograph came to be. The image has to rely on its own visual authority to get the message across. Using this photograph of Sant’ Antimo, by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
8 min listen
Camera Position 37 : Hey! Crop it Out!: Photographers are not creators, they are editors. Unlike the painter, who starts with a blank canvas, we start with the whole world and our job is to remove all the “stuff” that doesn’t make our picture better; to pare down to the essence of the image.... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
20 min listen
Camera Position 35 : Bookshelf #2: Another in an irregular series of suggestions for the photographic bookshelf. My selection this time is the Aperture monograph of the work of Ralph Eugene Meatyard, but you may substitute that one book that made you realize new and different things abo... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
20 min listen
Camera Position 07 : Light, Idea and Emotion: Ultimately, a photograph comes down to a common element: Light. Using two photographs of a vineyard, this podcast explores the quality, direction and visual impact of light. Vineyard, Umbria, 2001 Photographs by Jeff Curto by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
20 min listen
Camera Position 29 : Where Are You From?: Where do creative ideas come from? How do we figure out what’s the most interesting thing to photograph? Using the photographs and ideas of photographer and writer Wright Morris (1910-1998), I explore the notion of mining your past and your passions to... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
20 min listen
Camera Position 12 : Motivation and Inspiration: Why do we do what we do as photographers? Where does our motivation come from? Why do some subjects interest us more than others? Episode number 12 of Camera Position briefly traces my 16-year examination of Italy’s culture, by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
12 min listen
Camera Position 09 : Composition and Idea: The idea you want to communicate in a photograph is in direct relation to the way in which you choose to make that photograph. A photograph of Bernini’s beautiful Baroque fountain, situated in front of the Pantheon, by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
8 min listen
Camera Position 05 : Movement and Time: With a photograph of pecore (sheep) as an example, Camera Position #5 examines the way movement and time affect a photographic image. In many ways, every photograph is about the past and about the passage of time. Pecore, Tuscany, by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
8 min listen
Camera Position 36 : Who’s Lookin’ At You?: Who is in your critical circle? Who looks at your work to help you define what is good and what “works”? Do you do it yourself? Can you trust yourself to be a good critic of your own work? This episode examines the idea of being your own best friend an... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
20 min listen
Camera Position 08 : Strand’s “The Family”: Paul Strand’s masterful 1953 portrait “The Family” acts as a backdrop for some thoughts on how interaction between the photographer and subject and among the subjects themselves creates visual and emotional interest in a photograph. The Family, by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
9 min listen
Camera Position 14 : Strand’s “Family” Revisited: In Camera Position #8, we looked at Paul Strand’s “The Family, Luzzara, Italy, 1953”. Listener Don Bricker wrote in to note that there are, in fact, two different images of this photograph. The idea that Strand “directed” this image by changing the con... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
11 min listen
Camera Position 32 : Gallery Talk: This week, we go into the “field” to a gallery talk I gave at an exhibition of my work. My comments give some background on my 17-year photographic exploration of Italy and the show, “Evidence of Hands, The Mediated Landscape of Italy. by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
20 min listen
Camera Position 16 : The Game Of Inches: Sometimes, photography is the proverbial "game of inches." by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
11 min listen
Camera Position 18 : A Dull Picture of A Useful Object: Here is an absolutely dull photograph of an absolutely dull (and ugly!) piece of cardboard that is one of the most indispensible pieces of equipment in my camera bag. Temporarily diverting Camera Position from the examination of fine photographs, by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
11 min listen
Camera Position 31 : Editing as Creative Process: How many images does it take to say what you want to say? Editing your work to create a group of images that projects a coherent voice is an important part of the photographic process. Honest and unmerciful editors have the most effective stories. by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
20 min listen
Camera Position 23 : Take a Left Turn: Photographs by Jeff Curto Sometimes, when you think that there is a photographic subject in front of you, you can’t see the picture you want to make. In this episode, I talk about taking a left turn, both to find a photograph and to provide a catalyst ... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
17 min listen
Camera Position 17 : The Instant and the Machine: The idea of photography that depends on the exact moment of exposure for success didn’t originate with Cartier-Bresson, but he certainly made the most of that perfect instant. Bresson’s idea of “the decisive moment” is examined this week, by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
10 min listen

More Episodes from Jeff Curto's Camera Position

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Camera Position 213 : What’s your hashtag?: How do you consider yourself as a photographer in terms of the work you do? Is it important to tell your viewers how you define your work as being a particular kind or made with a particular camera, or does the work you make define you instead? by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
11 min listen
Camera Position 212 : Sources & Resources: This episode covers some practical details. I go over the places where you can listen to Camera Position and list a number of online resources for you to explore photography that go beyond the “usual suspects” of Instagram – Flickr – Facebook. by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
13 min listen
Camera Position 211 : What not to do: "Whatever you do with your photography - don't ever do... "that" Our desire to learn quickly, be noticed in social media and not make any mistakes has led to some photography pundits saying things like the above with increasing frequency by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
10 min listen
Camera Postion 210 : The Calming Camera: I can’t think of a time in my life that has been more disconcerting than this last year. The pandemic and the disruption to our daily routine. We don’t work the same, we don’t socialize in the same way, we don’t go out or see friends or family. by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
7 min listen
Camera Position 209 : Your Own BackYard: During this pandemic time, we have been forced to trade in the allure of travel for the allure of the backyard. As I return to the podcast after a long absence, I explore the idea that you don’t need to go somewhere special to make special photographs.... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
6 min listen
Camera position 208 : Bringing Ourselves to the Photograph: By slowing down as we look at photographs – ours or someone else’s – we can more easily bring ourselves to the photograph, and by doing that, learn more about the medium and ourselves. Play Podcast: Links for this Episode: My Instagram Feed – Follow me... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
7 min listen
Camera Position 207 : On Warming Up: Musicians warm up before they make music, but what about visual artists? Do photographers need to warm up before they create photographs? I think yes, and with the help of a podcast listener, we posit some ideas for getting warmed up visually. by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
11 min listen
Camera Position 206 : The Artful Life: Some thoughts on living an artful life, led off by poet Mary Oliver’s “Instructions on Living a Life” Pay attention Be Astonished Tell about it. Play Podcast: Links for this Episode: Mary Oliver– The American poet at the Poetry Foundation Twyla Tharp... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
6 min listen
Camera Position 205 : Your Life Is Your Art: Rather than trying to make art your life, work instead on trying to make every day of your life into art. “You just have to live and life will give you pictures.” -Henri Cartier Bresson Play Podcast: by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
7 min listen
Camera Position 204 : Always A Reward: The act of making photographs connects me to the world, to my medium and to myself. When I make photographs, there is always a reward. Play Podcast: Links for this Episode: Places you can find and listen to Camera Position: iTunes Podcasts Player FM ... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
6 min listen
Camera Position 203 : Your Eyes and The Lens: Many people think of a wide lens as a way to get farther away from a subject, but I think of a wide lens as a way for us to get closer… a wide lens is really a close-up lens, allowing us to create a dominant subject in the frame by emphasizing the diff... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
12 min listen
Camera Position 202 : Exploring The World And Ourselves: Podcast listener Tracy wrote: “Photography comes from the depths of who we are. It is not only an exploration of our world, it is also an exploration of ourselves.” This episode is a “part 2” of self-exploration and its relationship to our photography,... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
9 min listen
Camera Position 201 : Digging Deeper: What is your story? What are you curious about? What do you care about? How can your photographs express those interests? Making stronger photographs often depends on digging deep to determine your passion and then translating those passions into image... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
7 min listen
Camera Position 200 : Make Interesting Mistakes: Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes and art is knowing which mistakes to keep. Instead of living in fear of “getting it wrong,” a better, more useful strategy is to keep moving – plowing through the things that don’t work and slowly refin... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
8 min listen
Camera Position 199 : Playing Like Yourself: “Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.” -Miles Davis One of the most consistent questions I get from students is this one: “how do I develop my own style?” Miles Davis helps with an answer. by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
7 min listen
Camera Position 198 : Losing and Finding Ourselves: “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” – Thomas Merton How can we use the art we make with the camera to grow, learn and provide ourselves with a way of saying new things… to, as Merton says, by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
10 min listen
Camera Position 197 : Let the Subject Take Precedence: When the subject takes precedence – when you point your camera at things that are the most interesting thing to you – you are on your way to developing a personal style – the sense that these subjects are the most important things and can only be point... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
7 min listen
Camera Position 196 : A Sense of Place: How do we go beyond a record of a place and begin to make photographs that convey a real sense of place? The objective is not just to show what your destination looks like, but rather to convey, in photographs, what it felt like to be there. by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
9 min listen
Camera Position 195 : The River of a Story: This episode is a little meditation on the importance of aligning ourselves with the messages around us, using Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird as inspiration. “The Gulf Stream will flow through a straw provided the straw is aligned to the Gulf Stream, by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
8 min listen
Camera Position 194 : Our Wish To Persist: “But the art in an artwork might not be located precisely where you thought it was. Perhaps it was just as much in the damage and decay as it was in the intact original. Perhaps it was in the gaps – in contemplating and rending those insults and injuri... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
6 min listen
Camera Position 193 : Is It Art?: As photographers, we know that there is a fairly wide range of options available to us that change what was to what we show the world in our images. Every photograph is a composite of the choices we make as the person who eventually presents the image.... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
7 min listen
Camera Position 192 : John Berger, Looking and Seeing: An early influence on my ways of thinking about photography on a deeper level was the great writer John Berger. A poet, novelist, artist screenwriter and more, Berger, born in 1926, and died just a few weeks ago, in January of 2017 at the age of 90. by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
7 min listen
Camera Position 191 : Walt Whitman, Poetry and Photography: Walt Whitman’s poems in his opus Leaves of Grass mirror the actions of the photographer by beginning with facts and transforming those facts into ideas. I explore how both photography and Whitman’s poetry use simple language to convey complex ideas, by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
12 min listen
Camera Position 190 : Watching Photographers Photograph: “You can observe a lot just by watching.” – Yogi Berra I like to see photographers out in the world and watch them photograph. Observing how photographers photograph can be a great aid in helping us make better, more informed, by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
10 min listen
Camera Position 189 : Cultivate The Itch, Not The Scratch: What drives and motivates photographers to do the work they do? I think that our unifying motivation is curiosity – an unrelenting, never-ending curiosity – an “itch” to know more about something and to learn about that thing through photographing it. by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
6 min listen
Camera Position 188 : You Are Worth The Time: Do you take time to be creative each day? The creative act is worth taking the time for. It’s worth making the time for. It’s what holds us up and keeps us going. Thousands upon thousands of creative people are forced to make the time to create. by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
7 min listen
Camera Position 187 : Always Make the Photograph: If you see a picture that you think you may have photographed before, take it. Both the subject and the photographer may have changed since the last time you photographed it. Regardless of the reason, you should always make the photograph. by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
7 min listen
Camera Position 186 : Objective and Subjective: Among the many things that make photography such an interesting pursuit are its qualities of objectivity combined with subjectivity. In the end, photography is an objective medium with a subjective soul. Play Podcast: Sign up for the Workshops Mailing ... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
6 min listen
Camera Position 185 : God Is In The Details: In addition to the phrase “Less is More,” the great architect Mies Van der Rohe also had another saying that relates to making creative work, and that is “God Is In The Details,” suggesting that attention to each and every detail of your process, by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
7 min listen
Camera Position 184 : Look At The Path, Not The Mountain: Whether it’s a stack of dishes in the sink, moving forward with your photography or climbing up a steep mountain, looking at the path that you’re traveling is usually the easiest way to the top. Play Podcast: Links for this Episode: Sign up for the Wor... by Jeff Curto's Camera Position
6 min listen

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Camera Position 93 : Symbolism & Metaphor

Camera Position 93 : Symbolism & Metaphor

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from Jeff Curto's Camera Position

Related podcast episodes