Photography Podcasts - Part 2 of 2
Continuing a rundown of photography podcast reviews and links. . .
* The Pro Photography Show is hosted by Gavin Seim, a slightly hyperactive and very young (22ish) accomplished wedding photographer from the Pacific Northwest. He’s a little overeager at times, but I find a lot of interesting stuff in his weekly hour-long podcasts. The youth shows through in some of his verbal tics, as well. Since it’s not constant “upspeak,” though, I can deal with it. “And stuff like that” gets pretty repetitive, though. I listened to one show over the weekend where he used it a half dozen times. It didn’t even make sense in context a couple of those times. . .
Also, someone needs to stop all podcasters from addressing their audiences as “you guys.” Even forgetting the inherent sexism that some people might see in it, it comes off patronizing after a while.
His occasional round table discussions don’t even attempt to hide their TWiT influence, and sometimes even directly mention it. Sometimes, I wish he’d stop worrying about others and talk more about what he knows and does, rather than doing research to tell Windows users what they might need to know. They should likely tune into another podcast for that. There probably isn’t one, mind you, but they might as well. . .
A new round table went up this weekend. I’m only about 15 minutes into it, but it’s about the least organized mess of a round table I’ve ever heard. The one podcaster involved with any sort of experience is attempting to bail Gavin out by guiding conversation, but then things just fall apart. It’s all rather frustrating.
* The L7 Photogaphy Review podcast is one you should strive to avoid at all costs. It’s a computer voice synthesizer reading written reviews out loud. They’re mercifully short podcasts, but I couldn’t make it through one of them. Painful. Computers can’t talk like humans yet. This one is fairly convincing, but it’s off just enough to really grate on my nerves. The blog isn’t bad, though.
* The Digital Photography Show is the first one I found and, in many ways, is still my favorite. Hosted by two Friends-In-Photography (Scott Sherman and Michael Stein), they feature interviews with software companies, hardware companies, photographers, and Photoshop experts. There are giveaways, photo contests, listener e-mail, and everything you could ask for. They’ve been around for awhile, producing a weekly hour-long podcast every week for 70-some-odd weeks. If you listen to too many too quickly, it might start to grate on your nerves when the main host interjects his one-liners too often and starts sounding like a bad impersonation of Mario Cantone. Take special care to download any episode with Scott Kelby or Rick Sammons. After that, follow the topics you’re interested in and enjoy.
The show comes from the point of view of two enthusiasts looking to learn about photography, so you’re never lost as a listener and you never feel talked down to. Both are important, particularly to the new SLR user. And the two have a great rapport that sucks you in. You can’t help liking them, though Scott does occasionally come across a little shrill. Those are isolated incidents, thankfully.
* The Digital Photography Podcast is hosted by Allen Rockwell, a California man who recently made photography his business, specializing in sports and event photography. The podcasts are short, his tone is a little dry, and you might occasionally find yourself drifting to sleep. It doesn’t help that it took a while for him to upgrade his sound set-up. That said, there’s some good parts here and there, but a lot of it is repetitive if you’ve listened to the other podcasts I’ve already mentioned.
It is a bit odd that Rockwell, a fan of The Digital Photography Show and even a one time guest on it, would so closely name his podcast to theirs. You’d think he’d have avoided it completely to save from confusion.
* LightSource Studio Photography Podcast is one I’ve only listened to once or twice. They talk to photographers about their lighting techniques, it seems. It’s a bit more advanced than I need, and it often loses me.
* Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Podcast is hosted by Adobe’s George Jardine, and usually features an interview with a photographer talking about a series of his or her pictures, which are sometimes displayed on screen as part of an enhanced podcast. It’s an interesting and friendly chat every time out. Pay special attention to the series earlier in this year from the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Adventure: Iceland series. It convinced me to buy the book. Beautiful pictures, friendly stories.
And that’s about it for my regular photo podcasting listening. If you have a favorite, please let me know.