Camera Position 189 : Cultivate The Itch, Not The Scratch
Release Date: 11/09/2016
Camera Position 213 : What's Your Hashtag?
Jeff Curto's Camera Position
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? If I make more images, like the one in this post, am I a #lunarphotographer or a #GreatLakesPhotographer? If I shoot it with #film or with #digital, how does that change what the image says? I think my intent as a photographer matters more than the label or the gear and if you make photographs that are genuinely yours, your own personal hashtag will...
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Camera Position 212 : Sources & Resources
Jeff Curto's Camera Position
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 - - . – Sources – Where to Listen to Camera Position – Resources – Where to Find Quality Photography & Photography Inspiration Online - "an online platform dedicated to supporting and celebrating the photographic arts and photographic artists through exposure, discussion, community collaboration, and education." - "LensCulture is...
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Camera Position 210 : The Calming Camera
Jeff Curto's Camera Position
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. We are certainly in strange and uncertain times, a situation that brings anxiety to many. I’ve discovered that for me the disquiet of our time is calmed by the camera. I’ve learned that spending some time exploring some part of the world through the lens takes me away from the chaos and uncertainty and brings me back to center. It doesn't matter...
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Camera Position 209 : November 22, 2020
Jeff Curto's Camera Position
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. Instead, you need to go deeper wherever you are.
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Camera position 208 : Bringing Ourselves to the Photograph
Jeff Curto's Camera Position
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. Links for this Episode: - Follow me and I'll follow back - Planning is underway for the 2020 Italy Photography Workshops Life Saving Museum, Eagle Harbor, MI Snow Drift, Eagle Harbor, MI A couple of images from my winter in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
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Camera Position 207 : On Warming Up
Jeff Curto's Camera Position
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. Links for this Episode: - a great opportunity for any arts-oriented college student - young or old! - a couple of spots are left in my 2019 Tuscany Photography Workshop Rainy Day - Arezzo, Tuscany - Photograph by Jeff Curto Rainy Day - Arezzo, Tuscany - Photograph by Jeff Curto Rainy Day - Arezzo, Tuscany - Photograph by Jeff Curto
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Camera Position 206 : The Artful Life
Jeff Curto's Camera Position
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. Links for this Episode: - The American poet at the Poetry Foundation - a brief video of some of Tharp's choreography - Some information about the poet & playwright - A collection of paintings, quotes and a bio Summer Cloud, Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan, 2018 - Photograph by Jeff Curto
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Camera Position 205 : Your Life Is Your Art
Jeff Curto's Camera Position
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 Birch & Sun, Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan, 2018 - Photograph by Jeff Curto
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Camera Position 204 : Always A Reward
Jeff Curto's Camera Position
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. Links for this Episode: Places you can find and listen to Camera Position: Sun, Pines and Water - Lake Superior, Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan, 2018[/caption]
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Camera Position 203 : Your Eyes and The Lens
Jeff Curto's Camera Position
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 difference in distance from near to far. Links for this Episode: - Jeff's Italian architectural photographs - a deceptively simple device to help you sort out camera position and focal length Places you can find and listen to Camera Position: [caption id="attachment_2658" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Fortezza di Radicofani - Tuscany A...
info_outlineWhat 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.
I was prompted to think about how we should cultivate the itch - our curiosity - and not the scratch by this quote from photographer Sabastião Salgado:
“If you’re young and have the time, go and study. Study anthropology, sociology, economy, geopolitics. Study so that you’re actually able to understand what you’re photographing. What you can photograph and what you should photograph.”
Links for this Episode:
- The Italy Photography Workshops for 2017
- Sabãstiao Salgado - View some of his work
- Steps, Medici Chapel, Florence, 2016 - Photograph by Jeff Curto