The Tumblr Era

Stephen talks about his film photography project that's been 18 years in the making, why scanning and printing choices make a big difference, finishing a project about teenagers before social media and smart phones, the moment he knew this would be a long form project, why it took a while for the show and book to happen, why now is the perfect time for a project about teenagers from the y2k era, supporting future generations of artists and more!

We talk about the beauty of medium format photography, how the variety of cameras gives you more options for great images, graduating from 35mm to medium format, different film backs being a game changer, evolving as a photographer and more!

We discuss cinematography, how much of the visuals the director of photography is really responsible for, our favorite color and black and white cinematography from classic movies, why shooting a movie on film today has become a big deal and more!

We cover how tumblr and analog photography are connected, major photographers who had a profile, how the peak tumblr era had people seeing photography on laptops and not phones, the taste level of the 2009-2013 tumblr community, being "tumblr famous" and more!

We discuss Roy DeCarava and his book with Langston Hughes, shooting in low light and embracing the shadows, why his mastery was overlooked, being ahead of his time and more!

Oscar Diaz joins us to talk about going out and shooting everyday in New York, searching for all things vintage, why technical expertise isn't everything, his future plans for his work and more!

We discuss the career of Helmut Newton, his famous portraits, his personal work, editorial photography, how influential he became and more!

We discuss the career of Annie Leibovitz and how she was responsible for the look of Rolling Stone in the early days, started to grow as an artist, moved on to bigger and more commercial productions with Vanity Fair and Vogue, did personal work late in her career, Susan Sontag's impact on her photography and more!

We cover the career of Richard Avedon and his photojournalism background, his innovations in fashion photography, creating his best work later in life, personal work vs commercial and more!

We discuss how Diane Arbus helped make photography an art form to be taken seriously, how her upbringing led to her photographing certain types of people, why unflattering portraits can be great works of art, her work becoming more important after her death and more!