The Photo Brigade Podcast

On this episode Mike Isler makes a house call, so Robert sat him down for a podcast in his living room. Mike is a stellar photographer, digital tech, first assistant, and aerial technician where he works with photographers from helicopters, airplanes, cranes and rooftops providing assistance, coordination, and most importantly, safety. He's also very skilled with any sort of lighting, whether shooting stills in the studio or on a film set where he works as an assistant camera operator pulling focus, building camera systems, and on top of it all, he's a licensed airplane pilot. Wish we could say he was as talented at the poker table as he is with everything else previously mentioned, but alas, it's just not the case. They talk about all sorts of interesting projects he's been working on and and the craft of building production estimates for large corporate and advertising gigs. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode of The Photo Brigade Podcast.

Direct download: 028_-_Mike_Isler_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 12:38pm EDT

On this episode of The Photo Brigade podcast, Robert chats with a good friend and Photo Brigade's very own Pixel Pimp, Warren Winter. They met at the poker table while Robert was an intern at the New York Times. Born in to a photojournalist family, Warren watched his father cover a range of sporting and news events. He's lived in Prague, New York City and Chicago, worked for a slue of photo agencies like Sipa, Zuma, WPN, Polaris, WireImage, and now runs his own agency called PSG and has become a book publisher on top of it all. They talk about everything from licensing your archives, negotiating with a range of clients, contracts, the economics of self-publishing, and one of the scariest days of his life covering the 9/11 attacks in New York. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode of the Photo Brigade Podcast. 

Direct download: 027_-_Warren_Winter_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 11:44am EDT

On this episode Robert chats with Steve Boyle who's a really great sports photographer and portraitist based in Philadelphia. He's worked his way into the world of freelance sports photography by paying his dues assisting some stellar sports photographers and sitting behind the editing desk. Now with clients ranging from Runners World, ESPN The Magazine, and Gatorade, Steve's shooting what he loves and making a living doing it. As always they talk about business, promotion, and much more. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode of The Photo Brigade Podcast. 

Direct download: 026_-_Steve_Boyle_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 12:46pm EDT

On this episode Robert chats with his good friend Peter Taylor who is a successful editorial and commercial photographer based in Charlotte, North Carolina. He's served in the Army, photographed three war zones, spent some time photo editing at AOL, and now takes on a range of clients from top chefs, restaurants, cigar companies, and more. They talk all about business, licensing, bidding for jobs, and how to continue finding new clients. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode of The Photo Brigade podcast!

Direct download: 025_-_Peter_Taylor_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 10:38am EDT

On this episode Robert Caplin chat over breakfast with his good friend Dustin Snipes who is a stellar editorial and commercial portrait photographer based in Los Angeles. Coming from a newspaper background after 6 internships, Dustin transitioned predominantly into sports photography working for Icon Sports Media while he developed his signature high-end lighting style before jumping into the world of freelance photography. Now he shoots mainly sports-related portraiture for fitness and sports magazines like ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Men's fitness, and brands like Nike, Coke-Cola, and Red Bull, among many others. Dustin was in New York City for the 2013 PhotoPlus Expo and also to give a talk at Shoot-NYC. Robert and Dustin squeezed this podcast in between a packed schedule of events, talks, and photo-industry parties. So join them over omelets at the Holiday Inn for this episode of The Photo Brigade Podcast!

Direct download: 024_-_Dustin_Snipes_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 5:26pm EDT

On this episode Robert speak with a good friend, Nicole Tung, a young and talented photojournalist who has been covering the Arab Spring and all the conflict surrounding the uprisings in Egypt, Libya, and Syria. After graduating from NYU, Nicole jumped into the world of conflict photography head first and received a baptism by fire. Nicole tells the very difficult story of loosing two colleagues in Libya; filmmaker Tim Hetherington and Getty staff photographer Chris Hondros when they were both killed by a mortar that landed near them also injuring a handful of other journalists. Nothing could prepare her for what she went through in Libya. A big thank you up front to Nicole for sharing these difficult stories with us. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this rather intense episode of The Photo Brigade Podcast. 

Direct download: 023_-_Nicole_Tung_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 12:00pm EDT

On this episode Robert has the photo business godfather, the one and only John Harrington, author of Best Business Practices for Photographers and editor of Photo Business News Blog on the podcast. Oh yeah, he's also a very successful and talented photographer who travels the world talking about the business of photography. They chat about just that, along with copyright, licensing, networking, investments, and planning for your retirement and much, much more. This is an episode you don't want to miss...so sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode of The Photo Brigade Podcast! 

Direct download: 022_-_John_Harrington_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 10:53am EDT

On this episode Robert chats with 30-year-old San Francisco Bay Area photographer Alexis Cuarezma who currently specializes in boxing and high-end, heavily-lit portraiture. He works for Getty Sport, Sports Illustrates, individual athletes, as well and many others. Alexis and Robert literally met through Instagram only hours before recording this podcast when he reached out to connect with Robert while in NYC for the Photo Plus Expo and various meetings with editors. They talk a lot about how he's made connections in the industry, promoted himself using social media and building big, beautiful printed portfolios catching the eye of some of the countries biggest magazines. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode of The Photo Brigade podcast!

Direct download: 021_-_Alexis_Cuarezma_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 11:43am EDT

On this episode Robert chats with Senior Photo Editor for Rolling Stone Magazine, Sacha Lecca. They talk about his 20-year-long career in print journalism from his days as a low-level photo researcher at Newsweek to his senior photo editing position at Rolling Stone. They discuss some of the more controversial decisions he's had to make in his career, like choosing the photo of the Boston Bomber for the magazine cover. They also talk about how photographers can get his attention through emails, phone calls, social media, and proper promotional mailers. Make sure to listen the whole way through because Sacha even give out his email address so you can connect with him directly! This is another episode packed full of great info....so sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode of The Photo Brigade Podcast! 

Direct download: 020_-_Sacha_Lecca_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 10:38am EDT

On this episode Robert Caplin chat with Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, an organization of thousands of news photographers, videographers, editors, and students. Simply put, Mickey advocates for photographer's rights. They discuss the many legal issues presenting the photographic community today from copyright infringement, the fair use defense, to the 1st amendment issues and all the recent arrests of journalists doing their jobs. They also talk about the terms of service of Facebook and Instagram, along with the importance of knowing your cost of doing business. Mickey is a lawyer and a lawyer's time is valuable, so they've really packed a lot into this hour-long podcast. So sit back, relax, and maybe get some editing done while listening to this week's episode of the Photo Brigade podcast. 

Direct download: 019_-_Mickey_Osterreicher_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 7:10pm EDT

On this episode Robert make a house call to his good friend Marko Georgiev who was suffering from a back injury and taking it easy at home in New Jersey where he is currently a staff photographer at The Record. Marko is one wild and crazy guy...the two met at a photojournalist's poker table about 8 years ago when Robert was an intern for the New York Times. They talk about his ever-changing career in photography from his beginnings covering the Kosovo conflict in his region of the world, to moving to NYC, working for the New York Times both locally and embedded during the war in Iraq. He has some crazy stories from when he covered Hurricane Sandy in New Orleans and to close calls in Iraq. As always they talk about business and how Marko got into the world of photography. So sit back, relax, enjoy this episode of The Photo Brigade podcast!

Direct download: 018_-_Marko_Georgiev_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 8:04pm EDT

On this episode Robert chats with celebrity and political photojournalist Kris Connor. They grabbed a coffee and took a walk in Central Park and discussed Connor's career and what led him to covering the interesting mix of both politics and entertainment in our nation's capitol. Kris has a very unique story compared to most, if not all photojournalists as he was born with Achondroplasia, the most common type of dwarfism. We talk about how being a little person has helped his job as a photographer and how he's overcome obstacles over the years, including multiple limb-lengthening procedures as a child, that in the end gave him an extra 12 inches in height. We also discuss numerous stories he's been working on including his latest project called Polirazzi, that looks at the role celebrities play in today's politics. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode of The Photo Brigade Podcast! 

Direct download: 017_-_Kris_Connor-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 2:06pm EDT

On this episode Robert chats with one of his online friends, Jamey Price, a stellar motor sports photographer based out of North Carolina. They grabbed a coffee and had a chat in Central Park while Jamey was briefly in town visiting his sister prior to leaving for Singapore for Formula One. Jamey has begun working for some big corporate clients like Ducati and Lamborghini all while traveling the world shooting what he loves. They talk about how he built the connections that have led to his successful freelance career, blogging, his background as a collegiate athlete and much more. So Sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode of The Photo Brigade Podcast. 

Direct download: 016_-_Jamey_Price_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 11:50am EDT

On today's episode Robert met up with his friend Darren Carroll, a veteran sports shooter and portraitist based out of Austin, Texas. Darren's been working as a freelancer for some of the biggest sports magazines in the world from Sports Illustrated to Smithsonian. He racks up frequent flyer miles jetting from city to city covering major sporting events year-round. We talk about how he got his "in" at the big magazines, his educational background, and we touch on both Instagram and Facebook's sketchy new terms of service, and of course much more. So sit back, relax, and sit with us for a chat in Central Park in this episode of The Photo Brigade Podcast. 

Direct download: 015_-_Darren_Carroll_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 9:33pm EDT

On this episode Robert chats with talented photojournalist Daniella Zalcman, a freelance photojournalist based in New York and England. They met up in Central Park while she was in town preparing for her wedding last week to chat about her transition from freelancing in NYC to starting fresh in England. Daniella recently published a book of double exposures from called New York + London in which she used Kickstarter to fund. They talk about her successes using the crowd sourcing platform, our thoughts on Instagram's Terms of Service, the business of photography and how the Iranian dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inspired her to become a professional photojournalist in a round-about way... Sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode of the Photo Brigade Podcast! 

Direct download: 014_-_Daniella_Zalcman_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 10:36pm EDT

On this episode Robert chats with veteran travel photographer Alison Wright who has been working for National Geographic on numerous assignments and book projects throughout the world. She's been to every continent working for both editorial clients and not-for-profits ranging from the Hellen Keler Foundation, OxFam, US Aid, Save the Children, and UNICEF just to name a few. When a logging truck crashed into her bus in Laos breaking her back, pelvis, ribs, and arm nearly killed her, it only pushed her to live her life by her own terms using her camera to help people and raise awareness around the world. We talk about her lengthy career, projects, passion for her work, along with the business of being a photographer, and many other wild stories from her adventures. So sit back, relax, and join Robert and Alison for a drink at the Mandarin Oriental for this episode of the Photo Brigade Podcast! 

Direct download: 013_-_Alison_Wright_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 10:53am EDT

On this episode Robert chats with freelance photographer Keith Bedford who became Robert's mentor and good friend when h attended the Eddie Adams Workshop in 2004 and was Robert's team's producer. Soon after we met, Robert moved to New York City to intern where Keith works as a full-time freelancer. After Robert's internship ended, he became a freelancer in the Big Apple and worked alongside Keith now for the past 7 or so years. They chat about Keith's career path from Kinkos copyboy to photographer, his time covering politics in Iowa during the 2008 presidential election, to his many long-term trips and projects overseas from Sri Lanka, to Afghanistan, to India, to China and Japan. As always they talk about the business of photography and setting yourself apart from the pack, so sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode of the Photo Brigade Podcast! 

Direct download: 012_-_Keith_Bedford_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 2:23pm EDT

In this episode Robert chats with his friend and colleague Jennifer Altman who has been freelancing professionally in her native New York City for over 18 years now. They talk about growing up in New York taking pictures on the subway in route to high school, how interning in college, and editing for both the New York Post and Associated Press led to her freelance shooting career. They discuss the business practices of freelance photography, how she keeps her work diverse and versatile, and the burdens of dealing with copyright infringers in the ever-changing landscape of online sharing. Lastly, they touch on the the importance of marketing and editing your body of work for various clients, how she's been able to balance motherhood with full-time freelancing, and about being a female in a male-dominated industry.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode of The Photo Brigade Podcast!

Direct download: 011_-_Jennifer_S._Altman_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 5:37pm EDT

On this episode,  Robert met up for coffee in his neighborhood with an up-and-coming photographer named Alex Trautwig, who he met when he started his career as an intern at the New York Times while covering the US Open Tennis tournament back in 2005. Alex was about 14 at the time attempting to shoot sports action with a short lens and a prosumer body. Alex's father is a well-known sports broadcaster, so he grew up around all these amazing sporting events. He reminded Robert of himself at that age, eager and ready to learn, so Robert took him under his wing and let him use his lenses for the day. Since then, they've kept in touch through email and social media and he's been able to see him graduate middle school, high school, college, work at his school paper, intern at Getty Sport, intern with the New York Mets, and grow into a young, professional photographer. They talk about all the steps that let him to where he is today from internships, making connections, and learning the busisness of photograpy. 

Direct download: 010_-_Alex_Trautwig_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 10:27am EDT

On this episode, Robert visits his good friend Brad Smith who recently became the Director of Photography at Sports Illustrated. Prior to working at SI, Brad was the sports photo editor at The New York Times where he gave Robert his very first assignment for The New York Times when he was an intern back in 2005. Prior to that he was the White House Photo Editor under the Clinton Administration. Brad really gives some great advice to our listeners about getting your work in front of him and others at Sports Illustrated....and guess what, he even share's his email address where you can send your work and submit photos for consideration for the 6 pages of prime real estate in the front of the magazine called the Leading Off Section. They also talk about the new direction in which Sports Illustrated is moving....all really cool stuff. 

Direct download: 009_-_Brad_Smith_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 1:40pm EDT

On this episode, we move the show to Chicago where Photo Brigade's very own Pixel Pimp, Photo agent Warren Winter of PSG chats with two former Chicago Sun-Times staff photographers Rob Hart and Brian Powers, who were unceremoniously laid off, along with the rest of their photography staff. Nearly 30 in all. Warren gets right down to business as they discuss the meeting where it all went down, how it's effected their lives, the outpouring of support from the photojournalism community, and what's next for them. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode of the photo brigade podcast from the windy city!  

Direct download: 008_-_Rob_Heart_Brian_Powers_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 6:33pm EDT

In this noisy episode, I chat with my pal Michael Rubenstein who's a freelance editorial and advertising photographer based in New York City. Michael and I met while he was attending grad school at Ohio University while I was just a lowly undergrad. Michael has traveled the world making pictures for some of the biggest publications and companies in the world, from the New York Times to Master Card. In 2008 while living in Mumbai he found himself in the middle of a deadly terrorist attack and became the go-to photographer for the New York times covering his first, and hopefully last conflict zone. Now back in New York City, last year got in a terrible motorcycle accident that has sidelined him for the past year  and he's been recovering ever since. I caught him while at a coffee shop in my neighborhood just prior to a meeting he had with a new client. The cafe started to fill up and get noisy during our chat, so excuse the background noise as you sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode of the photo brigade podcast. 

Direct download: 007_-_Michael_Rubenstein_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 1:57pm EDT

In this episode I chat with my pal and veteran SF Bay-area sports photographer Brad Mangin, who was in NYC this past week to, among other things, speak at the Apple Store in SoHo about his not one, but TWO new books he's just had published. The first, Never Say Die,  a book full of all his great photos of the 2012 World Series Champion SF Giants, and the other Instant Baseball, a book chalk full of all his Instagrams from the same season. We talk a lot about the business of photography, the importance of retaining one's copyright, the recent news of the Chicago Sun Times photo staff being fired .  We find out how one of my favorite websites, SportShooter.com, a site he co-founded came to exist. We also learn about how a an early job at Chuckie-Cheese funded Brad's first camera, a $249 Canon AE1!  So sit Back, relax, and enjjoy as we crash our friend Allen's apartment in this episode of the Photo Brigade Podcast.

Direct download: 006_-_Brad_Mangin_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 11:00am EDT

In this episode Robert Caplin chats while taking a stroll in Central Park with CS Muncy who's name you may have seen from his many gear reviews and photo features here on http://ThePhotoBrigade.com. CS is both a Manhattan-based freelance photographer for various publications like The Village Voice, New York Daily News, New york times, Wall Street Journal, and Newsday.. He's also a hustler because not only does he chase spot news and protests, but also he's an active duty Air Force photographer by day and commutes daily between his base on Long Island and his apartment in New York's East Village. We talk about why he got into photography in the first place, which was girls, getting started in NYC by making contacts and working for various publications, his work covering the Occupy protests in the city to make a name for himself, his current transition from chasing calamity to quieter subjects. We talk about the education he received as a used camera salesman at BH Photo in New York which led to his camera collection from rescuing the junk cameras. We also talk about some great business topics like diversifying your skill set and client base. So sit Back, Relax, and take a stroll with us through central park in this episode of the Photo Brigade Podcast.

Direct download: 005_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast_-_CS_Muncy.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 12:49pm EDT

004 - Sara Lewkowicz - Photo Brigade Podcast

In this episode I chat with Sara Lukewitz who is a talented graduate student at Ohio University's School of Visual Communication. If you dont recognize her name, you may have seen her recent project in which she bore witness to an act of domestic violence between a young couple who she was documenting in Lancaster, OH as part of a class project. The incident she documented was published by Time Magazine and other worldwide publications both online and in print. This exposure gave the world a peek into the harsh reality of domestic violence and what battered women face on a daily basis. Sara and I chat about her class project that's helped create an international debate on the topic and on a more more personal note, Sara responds to a debate that many viewers have criticized her for documenting the incident rather than intervening. 

 

Other topics we cover:

Her beginnings at UNC as a psychology major and as she transisitioned to journalism as a writer, and eventually found her calling in photography

How Insturctor Pat Davidson encouraged her to take a photography class

How social media turned her class project viral after applying for a grant from fotovisura

Why you should value your work and skill and not sacrifice exposure over getting paid for your quality content

Direct download: 004_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast_-_Sara_Lewkowicz.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 12:13pm EDT

In this podcast Ohio University alumnus Robert Caplin chats with the director of Ohio University's School of Visual Communication, Terry Eiler, who recently announced his retirement as director after over 35 years at the school.

We discuss:

- How Terry got into photography and began his career shooting for local papers in high school.
- His beginnings as an intern at National Geographic and his intense interview with legendary Geographic director Robert Gilka.
- Marrying his wife Lyntha and their fun career shooting projects together for magazines.
- Terry's transition into teaching at Ohio University in the 1970s.
- How he and his father-in-law Chuck Scott, together founded the renowned School of Visual Communications at Ohio University.
- Learn what students go through at OU's VisCom and how their education is shaped, undergraduate sequences, and mid-career graduate sequences.
- Information Design, interactive multimedia, commercial photography, documentary photojournalism.
- Knight Fellowship in Newsroom Graphics Management and scholarship support.
- Learn about Terry's toughest course, his Magazine class.
- Learn about Terry's 28 years of bringing OU students to Scotland for his annual Scotland Field School.
- The importants of internships, workshops, conferences, and building portfolios with versatility, talent, and skill.
- Importance of surrounding yourself with good people.
- Working with people who are better than you, everyday.
- Sharing your knowledge as you get older with people that are younger than you. Pay it forward.
- Learning the unpredictability of photography.
- Learning the business of photography.
- Understanding marketing value, profit-loss statements, and licensing as a freelance photographer.
- Importance of contributing to your retirement funds early as a freelancer and treating your archive and stock photography income as icing on the cake.
- Terry's plans after his retirement: fly fishing. more assignments, visiting past projects.

Direct download: 003_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast_-_Terry_Eiler.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 1:53pm EDT

In this episode we talk with talented New York City based music and sports photographer David Bergman who is currently on tour as Bon Jovi's tour photographer. David and I talk about his entire career from his humble beginnings as college yearbook photographer, to working as a staffer at the Miami Harald. His move to NYC to build a freelance career. The events that lead to becoming one of Sports Illustrated's go-to freelance photographers, his push to become a big-time tour photographer, how becoming the gigapan man changed his life, and finally why president Obama personally told hem "You got Skillz". Sit back, relax, and enjoy the podcast! 

Direct download: 002_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast_-_David_Bergman.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 11:57am EDT

In this show we chat about:

In our very first episode of The Photo Brigade Podcast hosts Robert Caplin and Mike Isler chat with their good friend, photographer and cinematographer Vincent Laforet, prior too a night of poker with a group of photographers in New York City.

• The business of photography.
• Importance of knowing your cost of doing business.
• Knowing when and how to say no to a client, politely.
• Networking, promotion, marketing, social networking, blogging.
• Having a creative vision, style, and good ideas to separate yourself from the pack.
• Previous photo and video shoots.
• Vincent’s transition from editorial still photography to commercial cinematography and directing.
• Making mistakes and learning from them.
• K.I.S.S. – Keep It Simple Stupid.
• The art of being prepared before a shoot.
• Collaborating with fellow creatives.
• Helping your colleagues when they’re in the need.

Direct download: 001_-_Photo_Brigade_Podcast_-_Vincent_Laforet.mp3
Category:photography -- posted at: 4:31pm EDT

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