The Perceptive Photographer

• Books for the giving season

  In this episode of The Perceptive Photographer, I talk about book ideas for the holiday season, especially for photographers and creative folks. Thanks to a listener, David, I once again share some of my favorite reads or books for giving ranging from creative practice and photography theory to memoirs and photo books. The goal of this week’s episode (561) is to hopefully help you find meaningful books for yourself or the photographers in your life. so without future adieu here is a list: Creativity / General Art & Practice 12 Notes on Life and Creativity — Quincy Jones Bird by Bird — Anne Lamott The Secret Lives of Color — Kassia St. Clair The Meaning in the Making — Sean Tucker Photography Conversations, Interviews, Thought Interviews and Conversations, 1951–1998 — Henri Cartier-Bresson (Aperture) Ping Pong Conversations — Alec Soth & Francesco Zanot Memorable Fancies — Minor White Photosoup Education — Steamway Foundation Trust Photosoup Enterprise — Steamway Foundation Trust Photosoup 2022 — Steamway Foundation Trust Photography Theory / Essays The Photographer’s Eye — John Szarkowski Beauty in Photography — Robert Adams Why People Photograph — Robert Adams Why Photographs Work — George Barr Photobooks / Monographs Illuminance — Rinko Kawauchi Songbook (called “Songbird” once in the transcript, but the correct title is Songbook) — Alec Soth The Notion of Family — LaToya Ruby Frazier House Hunting — Todd Hido In Dialogue — Dawoud Bey & Carrie Mae Weems The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (re-release) — Nan Goldin Additional Mentions Galen Rowell  Cindy Sherman Fred Herzog Sally Mann  If you are looking to buy a book you can ‘t go wrong with PhotoEye.com Bookshop.org Abe’s Books

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• Working With What the Photograph Wants

  In this episode of the podcast, I explore the notion of what it means for a photograph to be something it wants versus something I like. We all spend time thinking about what we want our photos to be or be about. We might even have some unintentional expectations that develop long before we click the shutter. Those expectations can be a problem because once the photo is made, it becomes something different than what we thought we photographed. So this week, we are going to dig into what it means to let a photograph be its own thing.I have started to think that every photograph we make can carry its own internal logic or way of being. Each image, good or bad, has structure, rhythms, weights, and a pull that is inside the frame. We can choose to fight that structure or enhance it. I always say to follow the light in an image. Work with what you have, not what you might want to have. How do the tones relate to one another? How do you make them something else? Is there a gesture or a space that pushes and pulls in unexpected ways? If we think of our photographs more as partners in the process, does the picture know more about what to focus on in processing than we might? At the root of all this are our intentions. The thinking about what we should do versus what we can do versus what image is doing. That intention often comes from a memory of the moment. We remember taking the shoot and what all went into that. And yes, all of that is valuable, but none of it lives inside the photograph. If we try to force the image to match our memory rather than honor its reality, we can miss out on something really cool. The question then becomes, what do we do in those positions? Well, I think you can ask yourself a simple question: what is this photograph already doing well without me touching a thing? Before I move a single slider or adjust a single tone, I want to get a sense of the image. That sense tells me what to do rather than the other way around. This allows for things like minor mistakes to become important to the image, and it asks whether the so-called flaw is actually what gives the photograph its interest. To all this, our editing becomes a conversation rather than a correction. I am collaborating with the picture. I respond. It esponds. We discover the image rather than follow my old formula for getting it done. If you give it a shot, you might be surprised that the photograph often reveals the one you didn’t expect, but the one you needed.

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• Interpretation and translation

  this episode of the podcast we dig into the idea of editing as translation. I have been thinking a lot about what really happens once the shutter is pressed and the file shows up on the screen. For so many photographers, editing is framed as a technical chore. It is often reduced to slider management or a list of corrections that must be made before an image can be considered finished. But for me, editing has always felt more like the work of a translator who is trying to bring a lived moment into a new language that a viewer can understand. When I am standing in a place with a camera in my hand, I am surrounded by a flood of experience. I notice the sound of wind through leaves, the cool air on my neck, or the way the light draws a soft edge along the side of a building. I feel my own emotional state and whatever thoughts were drifting through me at the time. All of that sensation creates a kind of internal atmosphere that shapes why I press the shutter. But the camera does not understand any of that. The camera gives me its own version of the moment. It gives me clipped highlights or deep shadows or a color that is slightly off from what I remember. It captures the literal details but it does not capture the truth of the experience. This is where editing steps in. Editing is the bridge between what I lived and what the photograph needs to say. I am not fixing problems so much as interpreting the story. I am choosing which parts of the moment were essential and which parts can fade away. It might be the warmth of late afternoon light or the tension in a deep shadow or the subtle calm in a soft horizon. These decisions are not technical choices in my mind. They are emotional ones. Color is one of the places where this translation becomes very clear. A shift toward cooler tones might bring forward the quiet or lonely part of a scene. A gentle warm lift in the highlights might echo the softness of a memory. Even simple choices about contrast or clarity can shape the voice of the image. Editing becomes a conversation with myself about what I felt and what I want the viewer to feel. Sometimes the translation is easy. The image opens up with just a few adjustments. Other times I wrestle with a photograph that refuses to come together. That usually tells me something important. It often means that I did not fully understand what I was responding to in the moment. The photograph becomes a reminder that translation requires clarity. If I did not know what mattered when I pressed the shutter, it is very hard to bring that intention back later. What I love about thinking of editing as translation is that it frees me from the idea that there is a correct way to edit. Instead, there is only the question of whether the photograph carries the same emotional weight as the experience that created it. My goal is not to make a perfect file. My goal is to make a true one. As you listen to the episode, I invite you to think about your own images and the moments behind them. Think about which photographs feel authentic and which ones feel unfinished. Ask yourself what you were sensing during the moment of capture and how you might bring those sensations back to the surface during editing. When we approach editing as translation, the work becomes more personal, more expressive, and far more connected to the heart of why we make photographs in the first place.

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• What it means to share your work

  Photography has always lived in that strange space between solitude and connection. This week on The Perceptive Photographer, we are exploring the delicate balance between the solitude that shapes our work and the community that completes it. We will look at why so many photographers thrive in the quiet, how loneliness creeps into the process, and why sharing your work, even when it feels imperfect or unfinished, might be one of the most generous things you can do for your own creative process. So much of the craft asks us to be alone: long walks with a camera, quiet hours in the car or the darkroom, early mornings before the world wakes up. Even when we are surrounded by people, the actual act of photographing is a solitary one. No one else can stand where you stand, feel what you feel, or decide when the moment is right. This gives us room to notice, really notice, the small shifts of light, the quiet gestures, the transitions and tensions that most people rush past. It is often in these moments that our best photographs show up. However, what starts as quiet can slide into loneliness. You make work for months without anyone seeing it. You wrestle with images you are not sure anyone will understand. You develop ideas in your head with no sense of how they land in the world. Without realizing it, isolation can distort your relationship with your own photographs. You begin to think they are either far better or far worse than they really are. This is where sharing becomes essential, not as a quest for validation but as the major step in the creative cycle. A photograph is communication. The moment someone else encounters your image, you can learn about what you intended and what the photograph actually communicates. You see what resonates. You discover what was invisible to you because you were too close to the making. Sharing builds connection. It builds the kind of community that reminds you that your way of seeing, the quiet and personal way you move through the world, has value. More importantly, sharing helps your work take up space outside the loneliness that created it. It allows your images to have a life beyond your hard drive and beyond your doubts. Photographs can comfort, challenge, surprise, or inspire people in ways you may never know. They can become part of someone else’s story, not just your own. We might make the work alone, but we understand it together.

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• The Importance of Intention and Emotional Connection in Photography

  As photographers, it is easy to get caught up in the technical parts of our craft: camera settings, lenses, editing workflows, and all the details that make up the process. Every once in a while, though, something reminds us that the real heart of photography lies beyond the gear and the techniques. In episode 557 of The Perceptive Photographer, I shared how a simple act of cleaning my studio turned into a moment of rediscovery. I came across my well-worn copy of Galen Rowell’s The Inner Game of Outdoor Photography, a book that has shaped not just my approach to images but the way I see the world. That encounter led me to reflect on how passion, intention, and empathy are what truly give photography its soul. Passion is the energy that keeps us creating, but compassion, the ability to see and feel with the heart, is what gives our work depth. Rowell reminds us that a great photograph does not just record what is in front of us; it reveals how we feel about it. When we let empathy guide our lens, we move from simply taking pictures to making connections. Whether you are photographing a stranger, a landscape, or your own backyard, being present and emotionally honest allows your images to resonate on a universal level. The most memorable photographs often carry traces of the photographer’s own vulnerability and curiosity. In the end, photography is as much about self-discovery as it is about expression. Developing a personal style is not about perfecting technique but about refining your intention and learning to trust your emotional instincts. When you photograph with honesty and awareness, your voice naturally begins to emerge. As you continue your creative journey, lead with empathy, stay grounded in your passion, and remember that your best work will always come from the heart.

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