Motivating the Practical - Gregory Heisler

Motivating the practical is a lighting term used in the movie industry. Internationally renowned portrait photographer Gregory Heisler defines motivating the practical one step further, his practicals are also the subjects of his iconic photographic portraits, which he brings to life with his technical mastery and innovative visual style.     With the help of Vistek, I had the opportunity to chat with Gregory Heisler before his sold-out Contact Photography Festival lecture in Toronto, Ontario.

When you look at a photograph nicely framed in a home or a gallery, have you ever thought about what goes into creating it? Before there were pixels, memory cards and inkjet printers, photographers processed their film and paper using chemicals in a darkroom. In his exhibition “Icons of Obsolescence”, which was at the National Gallery of Canada, Montreal, photographer Michel Campeau traveled the world and turned on the lights to photograph the magical rooms used to bring photographs to life. In this episode of Photo Kibitz, Michel and I discuss his photographic career, which spans more than 40 years, his exhibition and photography as art.

Are we witnessing the end of an era? Robert Burley, photographer and associate professor with Ryerson University’s School of Imaging Arts, has documented the closing and implosion of Kodak, Ilford, Polaroid and Agfa factories in his exhibition and book, The Disappearance of Darkness. In this episode of Photo Kibitz, Robert and I discuss photography at what could be the end of the analog era.

In theory, photojournalist Fred Chartrand retired from the Canadian Press in February 2008. If you google his name, you will find his CP photo credit attached to current events, which makes me wonder, did he really retire? In this episode of Photo Kibitz, award winning photojournalist Fred Chartrand talks about his "retirement", and his 40+ years of telling stories with his cameras from around the world.

It takes talent to consistently be in the right place at the right time and Lois Siegel has the knack for doing just that. For example, her talent has enabled her to work with legendary Hollywood writer Joe Eszterhas. In this episode of Photo Kibitz we also chatted about her first celebrity portrait, internationally renowned portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh and how she was selected to be one of only 10 photographers to photograph the Rolling Stones' concert in Ottawa. Lois is a filmmaker, casting director, writer, professor, musician and of course a photographer. She has won a Genie award and was named one of Ottawa's top 50 people who are shaping the future of the national capital.

This is a special edition of Photo Kibitz. This episode is an informal conversation between Dave Heath and Michael Schreier.  The movie Blow-up inspired Michael Schreier to pursue a career in photography. However, it was Dave Heath that inspired Michael to understand photography beyond the Hollywood representation. From September 20, to January 26, 2014. The Ottawa Art Gallery presents: Dave Heath: A Heritage of Meaning, An Introspective, which was curated by Michael Schreier. The talk was recorded on September 20th 2013, with a live audience in the main studio of The School of Photographic Arts Ottawa and was introduced by one of the school’s directors, Tony Martins.

What is a photograph? Beyond the halides and pixels which are either exposed or sprayed onto a sheet of paper, have you ever paused for a moment to wonder what is a photograph? Artist, teacher and student Michael Schreier is my guest on this episode of Photo Kibitz. Michael is a former Director of Visual Arts at the University of Ottawa. His work is collected in both public and private institutions, like the National Gallery of Canada, the National Archives and the Canadian Portrait Gallery, to name a few. We spent quite a bit of time chatting about his own work, how he got into photography and his interpretation of what a photograph is.

Wedding photography, it’s an easy business to get into, an expensive business if you are going to properly equip yourself and a very competitive business, because anyone with a good camera thinks they have the right stuff to do it. Wedding photography is also an absolutely rewarding business if you can consistently get “the shot”. In this episode of Photo Kibitz, Melanie Rebane of Melanie Rebane Wedding Photography and Derrick Rice of Union Eleven chat about how they became wedding photographers and some of the issues they have faced. We also talked about the different perspectives and approaches they have in photographing a wedding and running their respective businesses.

For a moment, lets assume you are the photo editor for Ferrari magazine and you need $100 million dollars of Ferrari cars photographed. Who would you call? A wedding photographer? Yes, if that wedding photographer is also award winning news photographer Blair Gable. In this episode of Photo Kibitz, Blair Gable and I chat about the challenges of being a news photographer, balancing family life and some of the lessons he has learned running his photography business.

From the pages of Elle Magazine, the Streets of Tokyo and world leaders in Ottawa, Frédéric Dekkal  was inspired by the documentary style of street photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson, Doisneau and others from his native France. Frédéric and I chat about how he got started in photography, his training at the Verdier Centre, doing street photography in Paris, and his current personal work shot in Tokyo.