The Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast

Photographers - or, more precisely, photography trainers -  talk about muscle memory - creating habit and comfort in what you do.  But have you ever thought it might hold you back?

In this caffeine-fueled, bleary-eyed podcast recorded early on a Friday morning,  I ponder on how to break out of your self-imposed limitation - one that we constantly refer to as a necessary thing: your muscle memory.  

BE WARNED: there is a modicum of rudeness and one or two swear words at the beginning.  Should you happen to be listening to this in the background while doing a little homeschooling with the kids, I suggest you pause it (the podcast, not the homeschooling) until you have a glass of wine and no youngsters around!

Enjoy!

Cheers
P.

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, where there are articles and videos about this beautiful industry. 

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. 

If you'd like to use one of the other players out there, why not try Vurbl?  

In this interview, I get a chance to talk with the incredible photographer, Sanjay Jogia.   To quote from Canon's website (he is a Canon Ambassador):

Sanjay Jogia is one of the world's most decorated wedding photographers, with a clutch of awards from both the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers (SWPP) and Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI). The Briton is known for capturing a mix of posed and unposed images, all bursting with emotion and charm. He also shares his expertise, travelling the world to deliver lectures and workshops.

Serving the luxury wedding market, Sanjay's company, Eye Jogia Photography, specialises in wedding photography of the most demanding kind: destination weddings all over the world, and Indian weddings, which pose distinct challenges compared to other types of ceremony. "Indian weddings are more intense and much longer: a typical day can be 12 to 16 hours," says Sanjay. "There are many separate rituals on the day of the main ceremony, and all the days tend to be an onslaught of colour, energy, emotion, socialising and fun."

Well, that may be the official line but I know him as someone who I thoroughly enjoy judging with - his sharp attention to detail, the emotion and his humanity (he is always respectful of each and every image we assess) make him a pleasure to work alongside.

In this interview we talk about a wide range of topics though I had originally intended to talk about what we have learned through judging - it is still in there somewhere but there is much more besides! 

I talk about one particular image in the podcast - this is that image:

I just love the subtlety of it! More of Sanjay's beautiful work can be found at https://www.eyejogia.com/

As always, I asked him for a book submission for ou library and he recommended  "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki. This is a book I've read a couple of times and is well worth the investment!  

Enjoy!

Cheers

P.

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, where there are articles and videos about this beautiful industry. 

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. 

If you'd like to use one of the other players out there, why not try Vurbl?  

Ever wondered if you're your own worst enemy? Your very own, personal, TROLL?  Well, stop it at once!  It really isn't helping!

I mention a couple of things in this podcast - here are the links for the curious:

• The camera I am talking about is the Nikon Z7ii - you can read about it on Nikon's site. 
• The focus checker is the Datacolor SpyderLensCal

Of course, remember that my book Mastering Portrait Photography is still very much available on Amazon (it's still in the top 20 photography books after all these years!)

Enjoy!

Cheers

P.

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, where there are articles and videos about this beautiful industry. 

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. 

So why do people think it's OK to criticise HOW you do something?  In this episode, I am more or less muttering about something that is prevalent in our industry: snobbishness about how you create your images rather than the celebration of what you've created.

I may have uttered an expletive during the recording of this podcast.  Sorry - don't judge me.  I've left it in because I think a little passion is a good thing. Besides, bleeping it out wouldn't have hidden the fact I said it. 

Enjoy!

Cheers

P.

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, where there are articles and videos about this beautiful industry. 

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. 

In a podcast last year, I lamented that I had lost a little mojo - the penalty for having a massively busy season prior to that.  This triggered a couple of threads of conversation, one of which is this interview with Trevor Long PhD.

To quote from his bio: "Trevor brings an extensive experience in education and consultancy to this work, from many different countries and cultures, with a primary interest in individual development as a means of building long-term growth and well-being.  Working with several business schools, including Cambridge, Duke, Henley and Warwick, he has designed and delivered programmes on strategy, leadership, change, personal development and cultural awareness. He focuses on the educational content of the charity.

In this fascinating interview, Trevor talks about ways in which we can be more creative, stay motivated and generally be happier in everything that we do.  And right now?  Well, I'll take every bit of information on joy and contentment that I can find!

Trevor, and his wife Nikki, run a charity in The Gambia, called Be Reel, that helps the community form viable, sustainable micro-businesses to feed themselves and their families.  Details of the charity can be found here.  

As always, I asked Trevor to nominate a book for our every-growing Photography Library here at the studio.  In typical enthusiastic fashion, he nominated two!

The first is called "Mindfulness And The Natural World", by Claire Thompson:

The second, by Micah Mortali, is called Rewilding.

Enjoy the interview and please share with anyone you think might find it useful.

Cheers

P.

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, where there are articles and videos about this beautiful industry. 

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. 

I think I recorded the previous episode on a cold, crisp day.  Well, the cold has remained, but instead of 'crisp' it is now grey, gloomy and damp (though quite how it is still damp when the temperature is hovering around freezing, I have no idea!)

We're closing 2020 and opening a whole new chapter, bright and clean, as yet unsullied by Covid, Brexit, politicians or social media.  I doubt it'll stay that way but let's enjoy the moment, just like stepping out into fresh white snow: it is clean and white, with only your footsteps to be seen, though you know it'll soon be brown and yellow, slushy and melting away. 

But right now?  Clean, white, untouched and exciting.

You never know, maybe it will stay that way!

Cheers

P.

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, where there are articles and videos about this beautiful industry. 

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. 

This question was asked by our model on a recent masterclass: "Why do you take pictures?" she enquired of me and our attendee.  I suspect a pro, and an amateur may give slightly different answers but it's a simple and yet profound question: indeed, what on earth fuels our desire to create images?

In this episode, recorded on a cold, crisp Christmas Eve, I ponder on that and look forward to a couple of days of laughing with my family and,well, maybe consuming a little sherry along the way!

Happy holidays one and all!

Cheers

P.

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, where there are articles and videos about this beautiful industry. 

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. 

In this episode we look at ways of seeing your images as your clients will.  When I used to work in recording studios, we would dump a copy of the music track onto cassette (yes I am that old) and walk it out into the car park and sit in a band member's car, listening to the audio.  It was the best way to make sure it sounded good somewhere other than in a sophisticated mixing room! 

Making sure your images look great to your end client is much the same - but you don't need an old Ford Capri, a Sony Cassette deck and five sweaty musicians!

In this podcast I also mention (well, someone has to blow my trumpet!) the award we won a couple of weeks ago at the Master Photographers Association International Photography Awards - I won the title of 'Portrait Photography Of The Year' with this image of Carol.

You can read the story on the BBC News website.

Enjoy!

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, where there are articles and videos about this beautiful industry. 

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. 

Well this is one of those catchup episodes (I have discovered that our studio microwave has a grill!) but it also deals with one of those odd bits of human nature: that as you develop your talents and knowledge, the insecurity never seems to leave you.

Funny ol' world isn't it?!

Enjoy!

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, where there are articles and videos about this beautiful industry. 

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. 

You'll be happy to hear that this episode is recorded in the peace and quiet of our studio - actually, I had intended to record it in the studio garden as the cool and the smells of late summer and early autumn are so seductive.  Sadly, about a million drills, chainsaws, strimmers, lawnmowers and jackhammers ruined that for me.  It wasn't nearly as peaceful as I'd hoped!  Goodness knows what our neighbours are building!

Still, we're lucky to have a nice calm studio in which to record so, with a microphone, recorder and a cup of coffee, I decamped to our consultation room which is currently not being used as we impose some Covid-19 policies for safety.

Anyway, this podcast was triggered by a lovely email that included a question about whether someone who is gentle and quiet could be a successful wedding or portrait photographer: do you have to be energetic and confident or does gentle and reserved have its place too?

Here are my thoughts on the matter.

Enjoy!

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry. 

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk