Picturing the World from Immersive to Eternal, with Claudio Edinger
Release Date: 02/27/2025
Podcast: Creative Innovation & Visual Voodoo, with Chase Jarvis
B&H Photography Podcast
Above Photograph © Chase Jarvis We’ve all heard the saying “The best camera is the one that’s with you.” But do you know how this catch phrase ended up as a mantra of the mobile economy? In today’s show, we speak with Chase Jarvis, the man behind Best Camera—the wildly successful photo sharing app that predated Instagram—to get an inside look at his wild ride. A born entrepreneur and self-made photographer with a hunger that always worked against the grain, Chase’s meteoric rise in action sports/lifestyle photography dovetailed with the dawn of the sharing economy,...
info_outline
AI-Powered Wedding Photography Workflows, with Sam Hurd & Justin Benson
B&H Photography Podcast
Photographers often react instinctively against artificial intelligence, typically focusing on controversial generative AI. Meanwhile, a different branch of AI technology—machine learning systems—has been making remarkable progress helping photographers manage overwhelming image workflows under tight deadlines. In today's show, we explore this trending topic in a discussion with Justin Benson and Sam Hurd, both accomplished wedding photographers and tech entrepreneurs. Justin begins by clarifying the distinction between machine learning and generative AI before taking us...
info_outline
Picturing the World from Immersive to Eternal, with Claudio Edinger
B&H Photography Podcast
Above Photograph © Claudio Edinger When it comes to photography, Claudio Edinger has a Midas touch. Equally celebrated for his immersive photo series, the intimacy of his portraits, and his aerial views that conjure a sense of the eternal through selective focus, his compulsion for research drives adjustments to his photographic strategy from one project to the next. In today’s show, we unpack the many facets of Claudio’s storied career, from his arrival in New York and early documentation of Brooklyn’s Hasidic community in the late 1970s to the environmental portraits he made inside...
info_outline
Demystifying Contemporary Africa with Lou Jones and the panAFRICAproject
B&H Photography Podcast
Above Photograph © Lou Jones Africa is the cradle of our civilization. Yet, most Westerners see this massive continent from a distance, and often through a scrim of largely negative headlines. For more than a decade, Boston-based photographer Lou Jones has sought to challenge this misperception. In 2013, he launched an in-depth photographic documentation of individual countries across Africa under the title the panAFRICAproject. Jones joins us on today’s podcast to recap his efforts to date, which currently encompasses a third of Africa’s 54 nations. Listen in to learn...
info_outline
The Art of Competitive Cycling Photography, with Phil Penman & Kristof Ramon
B&H Photography Podcast
Top shot © Kristof Ramon The dynamic arena of competitive cycling photography is not for the faint of heart. This grueling specialty requires a mix of split-second reaction times, intuitive technical mastery, and the ability to anticipate—and even more important—embrace risk. It takes a special breed of photographer to continuously capture every ounce of emotion packed into this sport, from bruising injuries and bitter disappointments to the exaltation of a win. For today’s show, we’ve brought together two passionate cycling aficionados, former competitive cyclist...
info_outline
Passing the Podcast Keys with Derek Fahsbender and Allan Weitz
B&H Photography Podcast
Allan Weitz had little idea of the grand photographic adventures in store when he signed on as host of the B&H Photography Podcast shortly before the show’s debut in October 2015. As a self-described big mouth, and with more than 40 years as a working pro fueling his curiosity about all things photographic, Allan quickly honed his chops to become the voice of the show. Today’s episode marks a crossroads, as Allan passes his hosting mic to the show’s incoming host, Derek Fahsbender, producer and host of the B&H Event Space. During a lively chat, we celebrate Allan’s long and...
info_outline
Black Cowboys & Rodeo Culture, with Ron Tarver & Ivan McClellan
B&H Photography Podcast
Top shot © Ron Tarver Cowboy lore has deep roots in American culture. Yet, black cowboys have lived pretty much under the radar until recently, when songs by pop culture icons Lil Nas X and Beyoncé went viral and catapulted the black western aesthetic into the limelight. In today’s show, we’re getting the inside scoop from two photographers who’ve been fully immersed in these vibrant communities since long before they became a top fashion trend. Separated by a generation in age and with pictures spanning from film to digital, we follow Ron Tarver and Ivan McClellan from their early...
info_outline
2024 Photo Gear of the Year with Kevin Rickert
B&H Photography Podcast
Well, 2024 has certainly come and gone in a flash, meaning it’s time once again for us to reflect on new photo offerings in our annual Cameras of the Year episode, now renamed Photo Gear of the Year. Featured in our discussion are new releases from , , , , , , , and . In the words of our recurring guest, Kevin Rickert, B&H’s Senior Sales Trainer for Photography and Lighting, “Everything old is new again” at least when it comes to this year’s most sought-after camera releases. A penchant for pocketable, fixed lens cameras led us to organize our camera offerings by type rather...
info_outline
Picturing World Cultures: Marcela Taboada – Mexico
B&H Photography Podcast
Photographers have a magical ability to transport us to hidden worlds, giving us intimate access to facets of society that would otherwise go unnoticed. Above photograph © Marcela Taboada In today’s podcast, we sit down with Mexican photographer Marcela Taboada, whose long-term documentary projects offer revealing glimpses into underrecognized communities, for Picturing World Cultures. Combining a passion for making pictures that let her “see backstage,” with a knack for “knocking doors” and the tenacity to win over resistant subjects, Marcela gained rare access to photograph the...
info_outline
Reclaiming a Natural Landscape, with Jade Doskow & Cal Flyn
B&H Photography Podcast
What is the role of landscape photography in a post-industrial world? In today’s podcast, we consider some possibilities in a chat with Jade Doskow, current photographer in residence for Staten Island’s Freshkills Park, and Cal Flyn author of the book Islands of Abandonment. Above image: © Jade Doskow While our two guests work in different disciplines, which leads to divergent approaches to the pictures they make, their shared purpose tells similar stories. Among the topics we discuss are a distinction between romantic landscapes of the past and a more ambivalent attitude...
info_outlineAbove Photograph © Claudio Edinger
When it comes to photography, Claudio Edinger has a Midas touch. Equally celebrated for his immersive photo series, the intimacy of his portraits, and his aerial views that conjure a sense of the eternal through selective focus, his compulsion for research drives adjustments to his photographic strategy from one project to the next.
In today’s show, we unpack the many facets of Claudio’s storied career, from his arrival in New York and early documentation of Brooklyn’s Hasidic community in the late 1970s to the environmental portraits he made inside Manhattan’s infamous Chelsea Hotel, and beyond.
Learn the backstory to his fortuitous connection with master portraitist Philippe Halsman, and the influence this had on his photographic vocabulary. We also discuss Claudio’s aerial imagery made from helicopters and drones, and debate the slippery slope between noteworthy content, image quality, and resolution.
As a longtime disciple of meditation, Claudio’s approach to photography is equally influenced by the underlying flow of energy essential to life on this planet, which led him to state, “I'm open to whatever the universe brings my way. But the universe has to conspire in your favor. My whole life has been like that. I've been guided. My intuition brings me to places, and the place drags me into it.”
Guest: Claudio Edinger
Episode Timeline:
3:03: Claudio’s beginnings in photography while studying economics in Sao Paulo, and his first exhibit at the Sao Paulo Museum of Art.
4:55: A move to New York in 1976 and a two-year project on Brooklyn’s Hasidic community.
8:42: Connecting with master portrait photographer Philippe Halsman, and how this expanded Claudio’s vocabulary as a photographer.
15:35: A move to the Chelsea Hotel and a new photographic strategy to make environmental portraits of the building and its residents.
19:52: The influence of August Sander’s work, and Claudio’s pursuit of intimacy to create images with universal meaning.
25:22: The organic path of Claudio’s photographic approach, and how he developed his selective focus technique.
28:15: Episode Break
29:06: The predictable visual effect of a Hasselblad’s square frame, combined with a tripod and flash for portraits of patients in a Brazilian insane asylum.
33:06: Using the same techniques to capture the insanity inside an institution, as well as to photograph the institutionalized insanity of Brazilian Carnival.
37:51: Claudio’s assignment work, plus his time as a New York paparazzo and the lessons this taught him.
39:28: Claudio’s experience as a war photographer in El Salvador, and the urgency of living connected to war.
43:42: Shifting to a 4x5 Toyo camera to further explore the tilt-shift look of selective focus.
48:57: The shortcomings of large format that forced Claudio to shift to digital and then discover aerial photography.
54:17: Comparing aerial photos from a helicopter with those made from a drone, plus Claudio’s thoughts on viewing the world from the point of view of eternity.
Guest Bio: Claudio Edinger is one of Brazil’s preeminent photographers. After studying economics at Mackenzie University in São Paulo in the early 70s, he turned his attention to photography, and he hasn’t stopped since.
Edinger moved to New York City in 1976, and during the 20 years he spent in the US, he completed immersive photo essays about the Hasidic community of Brooklyn, the denizens of Manhattan’s Chelsea Hotel, and habitués of LA’s Venice Beach. He also freelanced for Brazilian and North American publications such as Veja, Time, Life, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times Magazine, among many others.
The author of more than twenty books, Edinger’s photographs have been collected worldwide and exhibited by institutions such as New York’s International Center of Photography, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Maison Europeénne de la Photographie in Paris, and the São Paulo Museum of Art, to name but a few.
Edinger has received many honors for his work, including the Ernst Haas Award, the Hasselblad Award, the Higashikawa Award, and the Leica Medal of Excellence, which he received twice.
Always seeking new approaches to his work, Edinger has explored a wide range of camera formats and photographic techniques over the course of his career. In 2000, he began working with a large format camera, using selective focus to approximate human vision, and in 2015, he started an exploration of aerial photography—a theme that continues to this day.
Stay Connected:
Claudio Edinger Website: https://www.claudioedinger.com/
Claudio Edinger Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/claudioedinger/
Claudio Edinger Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/claudio.edinger/
Claudio Edinger Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudio_Edinger
Claudio Edinger Chelsea Hotel book: https://www.abbeville.com/collections/just-released/products/the-chelsea-hotel
End Credits:
Host: Derek Fahsbender
Senior Creative Producer: Jill Waterman
Senior Technical Producer: Mike Weinstein
Executive Producer: Richard Stevens