My View Finder - How Photographers Approach Photography – Détails, épisodes et analyse

The continuation of our last chat. Recorded at the Calgary Central Library podcast recording studio. Edited with help from the AI Transcribe function of Adobe Premiere Pro. Brought to you by Alvin and my disdain for any rules, planning, or structure. We'll be sure to ask Chat GPT to give us a script for the next episode.

Another long break and another catch up episode. This time Alvin and I find ourselves in the recording booth at the Calgary Central Library. The summer's been busy. And we have put together two conversations for you. This first is just a reflection on... well... a summer of actually making photographs... Imagine that.

This week I sit down with Ashley Nixon. Ashley holds a PhD in Ecology and has worked in education, research, as well as in the private sector. 

More relevant to us, he has been working a camera since his youth - primarily focusing on building narratives about the environment, culture and social change. His work brought him around the world where he ultimately connected with the native cultures in Peru and I learn how his profound search for sharing his experiences with the people there has driven him into becoming a documentarian through images, words, as well as through film.
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My View Finder is proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network: Locally Grown, Community Supported. 

Last week we met Stefan Strangman and learned about how his focus and work in photo journalism comes with awareness of both the positive and negative impacts images have on the public discourse. This week we wrap up our talk with some musings of his personal projects and staying passionate in a field that can be pretty draining. Frankly I don’t think this is restricted to journalism or photography but in modern living in general. 

How do we stay involved in our passions when burn out is so common? LEt’s find out how he does it and see if there are any lessons for all of us.
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My View Finder is proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network: Locally Grown, Community Supported. 

This week I sit down with Stefan Strangman, writer and freelance photojournalist. I wanted to find out how journalism is taught and practiced, You know, to challenge my own cynical bias that it’s twisted in its nature. Stefan shares with me his own journey becoming a journalist and how his own practice centres around a strong sense of ethics and personal beliefs. He explains that both through his education and work experience he’s very aware of the impact photography can have on public opinion and understanding. And he also understands that the ability and responsibility to share stories is changing - it’s not just the privileged and the establishment that should endeavour to create stories. 

We are seeing the marginalized groups being challenged and earning access to be part of the story telling as well. Here’s the first part of my chat with Stefan!
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My View Finder is proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network: Locally Grown, Community Supported. 

Here in the second part of my talk with Jennifer Sanford we talk about art’s role in politics and directing the public’s attention to important issues. I also yell a lot about Meaghan Markle. But I think it’s an interesting juxtaposition. The media has the power to make any story a focal point. Add on the wide reaching power of social media without any research or citation and we have a recipe for polarization. We have left it to the listener and reader to filter this information for themselves. I don’t know if that’s going so well. Can we shape this into a discussion about collective growth? Is there an opportunity to harness this information to bring about unity instead of division? What do we need? More education? More represntation? More activism? Perhaps simply more critical thinking. Let’s check in with Jenn to hear her thoughts on some of these pieces.

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My View Finder is proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network: Locally Grown, Community Supported. 

This week I’ve asked Jennifer Sanford to join me. While not a professional photographer, Jennifer is a political and PR consultant with her own podcast called Conservative Like Me. I asked her to talk to me because a) she’s been a guest and collaborator on my other podcast Kyle and Dave vs The Machine and she’s smart and well read; and b) because she “quote unquote” leans to the right politically and as artists we need to keep our ears open to the full spectrum. I think we’ll discover that we’re not that different. At all. 

I ask her about the use of photography and truth forming, politics, and propaganda. We discuss the tension in the recent rise of so called nationalism, think MAGA, and I ask the most important question… what is up with Geese? They’ve been hissing at me on my runs and I’m just tired of their devil-may-care attitude. Protected animal my ass. Anyways, here’s the first part of my discussion with Jen.
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My View Finder is proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network: Locally Grown, Community Supported. 

This week we meet Angela Boehm. Angela is a documentarian photographer based here in Calgary who started with building a photography project at home with her teenage kids which then evolved into projects documenting different cultures and most recently a project documenting the forests around us. How do we know if we’re building images that show our subjects in their best light? There is, of course, no one single answer, but Angela shares her insight through her work and her participation with the ICP in New York. She also talks about what urban parks are like in the ironically named Big Apple. Here is the conclusion of my talk with Angela Boehm

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My View Finder is proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network: Locally Grown, Community Supported. 

This week we meet Angela Boehm. Angela is a documentarian photographer based here in Calgary who started with building a photography project at home with her teenage kids which then evolved into projects documenting different cultures and most recently a project documenting the forests around us. How did she start her journey? Has she been taking pictures her whole life? If you looked at her portfolio would you believe she’s only been seriously learning this craft for 3 years? Let’s talk to Angela and see if we can get some insight into her process.
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My View Finder is proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network: Locally Grown, Community Supported. 

Art is often associated with mental health. Usually in some dramatic and brutal way. Think of the phrase: suffering for one’s art. Part 2 of my talk with Kristofer Schofield focuses on his relationship with the prairies; how his photographs become self portraits of his mental health; how seeking help through art, therapy, or medication is not a cure all. Rather, they are ways to hold off the extremes while we search for balance.
Most importantly we find out that Kris was a lead singer of a hardcore band called Shiloh. And I added a clip at the end. And it's sweat-inducing. So Shiloh or Landscape time-lapse... you decide.
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My Viewfinder is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network - Locally Grown, Community Supported