I’ve been listening to a large number of photography-related podcasts in the last few weeks. Thought I’d share some links and thoughts about them, on the off chance you’re looking for a Photography podcast, as well. Plus, it’s NaBloWriMo!

* The Martin Bailey Photography Podcast is an interesting one, and a great use of the format. The podcast is available as an enhanced AAC file. The host can sneak in images along with the podcast file that will automatically pop up on your iPod as you’re listening. For a photo podcast, this is a brilliant idea, and once I’m surprised more don’t use. If you’re not using an iPod or iTunes, you’ll only hear the audio and you’ll have to visit a web site to see the photos being discussed. You might be better off that way, as the iPod screens are still relatively small. Maybe this would look better on an iPhone or iPod Touch? I dunno.

Bailey is a Briton living in Japan. He’s an avid photographer and devotes about half of his shows showing off pictures from his trips around the country (and the world) in a nice calm manner. As interesting as the photos are — I always want more — his stories add great context to what you’re looking at on the screen. He talks gear as much as composition, and devotes episodes to answering listener questions or to discuss various aspects of photography, e.g. How To Choose a dSLR, How To Choose a Lens, Using Deep Focus Photography, etc.

The show has been updated weekly for about a year and a half now and shows no signs of slowing down. Particularly recommended: Episodes dedicated to waterfall pictures (40 and 41), the recent autumn colors podcasts, and his day in Bangkok.

* Focus Ring is a roundtable discussion podcast created at the beginning of the year, including hosts from different shows along the Photocast Network. Scheduling it is a tricky thing, particularly as participants in the show come from as diverse locations as Germany, Australia, Japan (the aforementioned Bailey), the U.K., and the States. As such, there’ve only been ten episodes, but they’ve been entertaining. Each host brings a topic to discuss and there’s a general conviviality shared amongst the hosts that’s infectious.

Each show is about an hour and ends with the mandatory end-of-show picks of the week that any and all roundtable discussion podcasts today must have, by law.

* Photo Talk Radio is the polar opposite of The Martin Bailey Photography podcast in one major way — the hosts are obnoxious FM radio zoo crew wannabes whose enthusiasm takes the form of cliched radio voices shouting at you and telling you how great they are. It’s borderline repulsive, particularly in a corner of the podcasting world so filled with calm hosts. I only listen to it for the guests, such as Rick Sammons and Scott Kelby. If you can get past the hosts and enjoy the guests, you’ll be safe.

If not, I couldn’t blame you.

* Jeff Curto’s Camera Position is an enhanced podcast from the Photocast Network. It’s about the “creative side of photography,” and so it gets a little high-falutin’ at times. It’s not hard core “Here’s How To Use Your Gear.” Heck, he devoted two whole shows to Ansel Adams’ Zone system of photography. If you’re just learning what burst mode means and how to manually adjust your exposure, then this is not what you need just yet.

More to come Wednesday, including my first and favorite photography podcast. . .

This entry was posted on Monday, November 12th, 2007 at 10:12 am and is filed under Podcast, Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.