B&H Photography Podcast B&H Photo & Video

Sports enthusiasts from around the world will soon be glued to their nearest viewing screen, watching the action unfold during the international Summer Games in Paris.
 
But how much do you know about the finer points of photographing elite level competition, or about the lightning-fast, high-tech journey these images make from inside a camera to a remote editing workflow, and then onward to be enjoyed by you, the viewer?
 
In today’s podcast we’ve got the inside track on how these visual delicacies are brought to life and served up to global audiences. Our guests are Getty Images Chief Photographer Maddie Meyer and Managing Editor James Chance, who runs Getty Images’ editing operations in Europe.
 
We start with Maddie, who details the advance preparations and complex logistics required to ensure the success of 60 Getty Images photographers on the ground in Paris, alongside a sizable amount of remote and robotic gear. In the show’s second half, James describes the impressive synergy between the photographers on site and the massive team of photo editors he’s assembled to work remotely from London and in other locations around the world—a complex infrastructure that’s a first for the agency.
 
Immerse yourself in the passion for sports and learn what it takes to capture images that set you apart from the pack.
 
As Maddie Meyer sums up, “That's where the real challenge comes in. And that's where I would say it's really difficult. But that's where knowing the athletes comes in, knowing the way they move, knowing their rituals before they get in the pool, knowing some of the dynamics between the athletes, where you can really kind of pick up on the minutia to try and make something special.”
Guests: Maddie Meyer & James Chance
Episode Timeline:
3:37: Maddie’s college internship at Getty Images, and her experiences as a woman shooting sports.
8:30: Plans for covering the Paris Games, and details about the Getty Images team.
11:56: Maddie’s aquatics specialty and details about photographer assignments.
16:23: A question of shooting strategy: going for maximum volume vs anticipating more and shooting less.
22:37: Dedicated cameras vs remotes and robotic equipment, plus Maddie’s go-to gear: A Canon R3 mirrorless and 28-70 mm f/2 lens.
28:23: Episode Break
 29:35: The synergy and trust between photography and photo editing teams.
33:28: Logistics of staff photographers, remotes, and robotic cameras on the ground to capture the Paris Games
 38:28: Details about Getty Images remote photo editing staff in the UK during the Paris games, and their three-stage editing process.
43:33: The technical tools—hardware and software—powering the Getty Images workflow and file management process.
1:00:58: The most important qualities in a Getty Images photo editor.
Guest Bios:
Maddie Meyer is a chief photographer for Getty Images based in—but not geographically limited to—Boston, Massachusetts. She joined the Getty Images team in January 2015, after earning a Bachelor of Science degree in photojournalism from Ohio University. Maddie’s assignments range from covering New England’s professional sports teams to international travel covering events such as the Men’s and Women’s World Cup, the FINA World Swimming championships and the Olympic Games in Rio and Pyeongchang. Her pictures are continually published in major metropolitan newspapers, magazines, and websites worldwide, including ESPN, the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, the Washington Post, among many other media outlets.
Equally skilled as a photographer, James Chance began his editing career as a freelancer in London. He currently serves as the managing editor for Getty Images Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He works to train and schedule the editing team, as well as plan editing for major events such as the Women's World Cup in Australia, and the Paris Olympic Games. James helped to create the vision

A photographer’s success hinges on access. This is an underlying thread in the tapestry woven in this week’s show. Our discussion covers multiple facets and cultural attributes of Indian society, as seen through the eyes of a photographer with a knack for being in the right place at the right time.
In this month’s episode of the series, Picturing World Cultures, we speak with Indian photographer Pablo Bartholomew about his long career as a documentarian and photojournalist.
From his early intimate views of 60s-era hippies launching a counterculture invasion from the West to his photojournalistic coverage of historic events, Bartholomew shares insights about dynamics at work behind the scenes. We also discuss changes to the marketplace for pictures over time, and whether an iconic picture is still able to affect a change in the world.
As an antidote to a life chasing the news, Bartholomew embarked on a ten-year documentation of India’s remote Naga tribes. In the show’s second half, he walks us through his background research and the permissions process involved in photographing tribespeople and their customs with professional lighting gear.
 There’s also a personal motivation behind Bartholomew’s Naga Project. As a child, he had heard many stories about goodwill the Naga showed his father’s family during their flight from Burma to India during World War II.
 “Principally, what I couldn't wrap my head around was that headhunters, they're supposed to be these ferocious people. Why would they let fair game pass through their backyard, to the degree where they would provide food and shelter?” he says. “So, there was in this savage something very kind. And I wanted to find out what the contradiction was.”
Tune in today for more on the Naga tribes and other stories from India!
If you haven’t already listened, check out all the episodes of our Picturing World Cultures podcast series here.
 
 Guest: Pablo Bartholomew
Episode Timeline:
2:16: Pablo describes how the caste system functions as a defining aspect of Indian culture.
7:18: The influx of the Western hippy counterculture in India as recorded in Pablo’s earliest pictures.
12:27: Capturing life on the streets of Delhi, Bombay, and Calcutta, a photo essay on Calcutta’s Chinatown, and Pablo’s work with the renowned Indian film director Satyajit Ray.
17:05: The rise of Pablo’s photojournalism career, the dynamics of a photographer’s access, and his iconic images of the tragic gas leak at Bhopal.
29:09: Pablo discusses how the work of a photojournalist has changed in the past 40 years.
32:53: Go-to camera gear, the various cameras Pablo’s used over the years, and his transition from analog to digital.
36:37: Tips for mitigating the heat and humidity of India, plus equipment for image storage and film scanning.
40:10: Episode Break
41:23: Pablo’s long-term project documenting the Naga tribes in Northeast India, his preliminary ethnographic research on the tribes, and gaining permission to photograph with full lighting gear. 
51:43: Animist practices within the Naga tribes, and distinctions between tribes within the Naga identity.
1:00:05: Naga rituals it may be too late to photograph, and a memorable festival held by the Konyak tribe.
1:04:09: Pablo’s cross-cultural project documenting economic emigres from India who have resettled in the US, France, England, Madagascar, and Portugal.
1:14:38: Pablo Bartholomew answers our PWC Visual Questionnaire.
 
Guest Bio: Pablo Bartholomew, a self-taught photographer born in New Delhi in 1955. His father Richard was a noted art critic as well as a photographer, allowing Pablo to learn photography at home at a very young age.
In his subsequent career of nearly fifty years, Pablo has documented societies in conflict and transition, while also recording intimate details of his own generation maturing amid a changing India.
From 1983 to 2004, his photojournalistic

Most people’s perception of prison life revolves around sensationalized news stories and Hollywood movies depicting drab, inhospitable environments far outside our reach.
In today’s show, we’re challenging that view in a chat with two educators who use photography as a framework for teaching visual literacy and the art of storytelling to incarcerated men.
Cameras, computers, and sometimes even books, are prohibited from classrooms inside lock up, which forced our guests to come up with creative workarounds, using the generosity of the photographic medium as a path to engage in dialog with their students.
As one of our guests, Nigel Poor, puts it: “With a little bit of ingenuity, there's always a work around to come out with something really beautiful and emotional. And that's one of the pleasures of working in a prison, is that you've got to really rely on your imagination and your ability to hit a road bump and find a way around it.”
Don’t miss this inspiring discussion with two artists and educators who successfully adapted their teaching to the prison workaround, then connected with students on a human level, ultimately triggering their capability to “see fascination everywhere.” 
Guests: Chantal Zakari & Nigel Poor
For more information on our guests and the gear they use, see:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcasts/photography/pictures-from-the-inside-seeing-fascination-everywhere-with-chantal-zakari

Top shot courtesy of Nigel Poor and the San Quentin State Prison Museum, with thanks to former Warden Ron Davis and retired Lieutenant Sam Robinson
Stay Connected:
Chantal Zakari Website: https://www.thecorner.net/chantal-zakari

Chantal Zakari Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/show.n.tll/
Chantal Zakari’s Pictures from the Outside book: https://www.thecorner.net/picturesfromtheoutside
Tufts University Prison Initiative (TUPIT): https://sites.tufts.edu/tupit/overview/
 
Nigel Poor Website: https://nigelpoor.com/
Nigel Poor Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nigelpoor/
Nigel Poor’s San Quentin Prison Project: https://nigelpoor.com/project/san-quentin/
Nigel Poor’s San Quentin Prison Project book: https://aperture.org/books/the-san-quentin-project/
Ear Hustle Podcast website: https://www.earhustlesq.com/
This is Ear Hustle book: https://sites.prh.com/thisisearhustle
Mount Tamalpais College: https://www.mttamcollege.edu/

Documenting a culture can be a daunting process, especially when it involves a history of conquest and colonialism. Synthesizing such a complex and traumatic past in a contemporary narrative is a formidable task, requiring extensive researchh and dedicated planning. This is the back story to today’s podcast.
Above photograph © Juan Brenner
For the seventh chapter in our monthly series, Picturing World Cultures, we speak with Guatemalan photographer Juan Brenner about his recent projects in the country’s Western Highlands.
Our chat begins with Brenner’s introduction to photography as a youth, and the protective bubble surrounding him during the country’s brutal civil war. He left Guatemala at age 20 to forge a career as a fashion photographer in New York, which filters into our discussions about portraiture and photo gear.
But our primary focus is on Brenner’s recent personal projects, created after his return to Guatemala, and an epiphany he had about the idea of “Indigenous Power.”
Listen in as he describes how this concept was subsequently called into question. You’ll gain insight into the unequal power quotient that comes with being a “Mickey Mouse” photographer and discover how critical aspects of communication extend well beyond the basic structure of language.
As Brenner notes during our chat, “You have to be really careful just being a photographer. It's so colonialist, you know, having a camera. You have this big robot that you stick in people's faces. You have this advantage. And, for me, it's really important to think about that a lot.”
If you haven’t already listened, check out all the episodes of our Picturing World Cultures podcast series here.
Guest: Juan Brenner
For more information on our guest and the gear he uses, see:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcasts/photography/picturing-world-cultures-juan-brenner-guatemala

Stay Connected:
Juan Brenner Website: https://www.juanbrenner.com
Juan Brenner Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juan_brenner
Juan Brenner Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/JuanBrenner5/
Artist talk with Juan Brenner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPiwQXWUMJ8&t=40s
Juan Brenner’s book Tonatiuh: https://editorialrm.com/en/producto/tonatiuh/

Julia Blaukopf is not afraid to think big, particularly when it comes to her photographs. She’s also not afraid of blurring the lines between fine art and commercial enterprise. Equal parts photographer, designer, visual artist, and entrepreneur, Julia is the founder of Fotografica—an arts-products venture with the goal of re-envisioning options for photography and photo-based products.
Top shot © Julia Blaukopf
In this week’s podcast, Julia leads us along her inspiring path—from her early days working with alternative processes and forging relationships with crafts people to her latest collaborations with architects, designers, and developers in the creation of architectural-scale commissions and custom photo-based installations.
When collaborating with professional partners and clients on huge projects, psychology is key, which we discuss in detail. Blaukopf also describes the critical importance of seeking out the best printers and installers. Besides a command over technical details such as sound absorption, color fading, and bubbling, she sheds light on lesser-known yet equally essential construction issues such as fire codes.
In addition to Blaukopf’s commercial work, she is also a documentarian with a passion for women’s empowerment and social justice. Towards the end of our chat she describes her work in that realm, offering insights about connecting with non-profits, and sharing stories through photography that have the ability to galvanize change.
Guest: Julia Blaukopf
For more information on our guest and the gear she uses, see:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcasts/photography/larger-than-life-julia-blaukopfs-custom-photographic-wall-decor
Stay Connected:
Julia Blaukopf’s Website: https://www.juliablaukopf.com/
Fotografica Website: https://www.thefotografica.com/
Julia Blaukopf’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliablaukopf/
Fotographica’s Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/fotografica_official/
Julia Blaukopf’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/juliablaukopf
Julia Blaukopf’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julia.blaukopf/
North Bar Wall Covering:  https://www.thefotografica.com/north-bar
Julia’s book The Rain Parade: https://www.abingdonsquarepublishing.com/rainparade.html

How much do you know about New York City’s 1982 Loft Law, which established a process for artists to obtain legal occupancy of the raw industrial spaces they inhabited, while also providing rent stabilization and protection from future eviction? Or the pigeon fanciers who were once a fixture across the rooftops of Brooklyn and remain valued as neighborhood sentinels?
If these poetic vestiges from Gotham’s storied past have you dreaming about the good old days, then you won’t want to miss our podcast with gen-Z New Yorkers (and good buddies) Joshua Charow and Josh Katz.
Their ambitious, self-assigned photo projects explore rarified mini-worlds featuring magical artist spaces and exuding West Side Story vibes.
While their respective explorations occupy opposite ends of the struggle for prized urban space, the insights they share when discussing both their working methods and their paths to publishing are instructive and inspirational. What’s more, their spirited camaraderie in conversation is infectious!
As Charow aptly notes toward the end of the episode, “I have to say, I don’t know if this book would exist without Josh Katz. Because I started this project towards the end of him finishing his, and as a close friend, he was able to basically show me the roadmap of how you get from idea to a finished book. And like he said, it’s really hard to understand how that works without someone in your life who can show you the steps you have to take.”
And for bonus points, listen up to discover the former guest of the show who also sat down with Charow, and ultimately lined him up with a book agent!
For more information on our guests and the gear they use, see:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcasts/photography/nyc-artist-lofts-brooklyn-rooftops-with-joshua-charow-josh-katz
Guests: Joshua Charow and Josh Katz
Top shot © Joshua Charow
Stay Connected:
Joshua Charow Website: https://www.joshuacharow.com/
Joshua Charow Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshuacharow/
Joshua Charow TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joshcharow
Joshua Charow Twitter: https://twitter.com/joshuacharow/
Joshua Charow YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@joshuacharow
Joshua Charow Loft Law book:
https://www.damianibooks.com/en/collections/charow-joshua
Joshua Charow Westwood Gallery Exhibit: https://www.westwoodgallery.com/exhibitions/loft-law-photographs-by-joshua-charowosh Katz Website: https://www.joshkatz.me/
Josh Katz Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshkatz/
Josh Katz YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/joshkatz
Josh Katz Kickstarter campaign:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joshkatz/new-york-in-quarantine-rooftop-culture-through-crisis?ref=5bku66
Josh Katz On the Roof book: https://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/books/on-the-roof-new-york-in-quarantine-hardcover
Josh Katz Skatefolio Project: https://skatefol.io/