Photo Breakdown is a podcast in which we explore the world of photography with a trusted guide, host Scott Wyden Kivowitz. His expertise and passion bring the industry to life as we explore the stories, trends, and ideas shaping it today. Join us as we dissect everything from incredible photographs and creative techniques to the latest gear releases and hot topics in the photography community.
In each episode, we break down what’s happening behind the scenes - whether it’s making a powerful image, a candid discussion on industry trends, or a reflection on the tools and technology changing how we make photographs. You’ll get insights, expert opinions, and a fresh perspective on what’s top of mind for photographers right now.
Anticipate short, engaging episodes brimming with ideas and inspiration. Be part of the conversation by sharing your thoughts, voice notes, and comments. Your participation is what makes our community vibrant and dynamic.
It’s more than just photography - everything that makes photography tick.
Photography Media and Updates in the Photography World
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[00:00:00] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Welcome to Photo Breakdown. My name is Scott Wyden Kivowitz and I started the show literally breaking down one photo by one photographer episode after episode. Put the show on a little bit of a hiatus, brought it back, with a new premise. I would still be doing Photo Breakdowns of individual photos with individual photographers over time, but more recently the episodes have been.
[00:00:31] Different topics, different, educational pieces or opinion pieces that I have that's relevant to the time or just something that I thought of that I wanted to share with the world.
[00:00:42] And. I'm going to add another layer to this. And that is a. A bunch of news. And the reason why is because.
[00:00:52] there's a lot of, good news in the photo world. And, I'm just gonna bring up my [00:01:00] notes while I'm a
[00:01:03] doing this There's a bunch of really good news in the photo world and not all of it gets seen. Some of it tries to get seen, but unfortunately the sites, these photo media sites.
[00:01:16] They often.
[00:01:18] They often.Distort things, share their opinions with the news. And, or their sites are littered with ads.I know for me, I go between Safari and the Chrome browser. And when I have a site that I go to that just is banner ad after banner ad, after pop-up ad, after you name it ad there's an ad that winds up crashing the browser.
[00:01:45] So quite often, I either have to use Safari reading mode or I'm in sometimes even that crashes because the ads somehow still make their way in there.
[00:01:52] Or I have to try to read it through an RSS reader and it's just frustrating. If you feel that way. [00:02:00] That's what this episode is for. And this sort of, hopefully I'll do this quite often. This sort of like news segment to Photo Breakdown. So I'm going to start with.
[00:02:11] I'm going to start with something very relevant before moving on. I mentioned the ads, you've got. Every media site, every photo media site. Except Photo Breakdown has, ad after ad popping up.
[00:02:23] And so most of them have a membership. I don't know if all of their memberships remove the ads.
[00:02:30] I don't know. I'm not a part of all the memberships, however, Petapixel just announced that they have a ad free membership. The only thing you get, as far as I know. The only thing you get is no ads on Petapixel by having the membership and they're charging $3 a month or $30 a year to just remove the ads from Petapixel.
[00:02:51] So if you are a diehard Petapixel fan, first of all, I've been following Petapixel since they first started many years ago. The, [00:03:00] camera, the original camera store. Video YouTube crew would that then went to DPReview and then it, when DPReview got acquired, they went to Petapixel.
[00:03:08] So I love their video content, and I'm glad that they're a Petapixel, and they're not just gone from the photography world. with that said, would you spend $3 a month or $30 a year on an ad-free Petapixel. I'm curious. Feel free to do a shout out on X, on threads on wherever you want. And just,at mentioned me @scottwyden.I'm curious if you would do something like that.
[00:03:33] So that I'm just sort of on point with what I was talking about. The next thing I want to mention is Clyde Butcher. If you're not aware of who Clyde Butcher is. Think of him like an Ansel Adams.
[00:03:46] He is a large format photographer who does these beautiful swamp scapes and landscapes and gorgeous work. He's been doing humanitarian environmental photography. For years. [00:04:00] And he was just awarded by president Biden the metal of honor.
[00:04:07] I love that a fantastic photographer, like Clyde Butcher receive this award. It's just amazing. And, I believe if you go to his Instagram, there's some behind the scenes of that. I know I share some of my stories. Yes, there is. I'm just checking his Instagram. So you, it is there. the official award is, the national medal of arts. that president Biden awarded him and really fantastic. great to see Clyde Butcher up and, Hanging at the white house.
[00:04:36] It's just an amazing thing to see for photographers. Everywhere. Okay. big achievement. What else can I mention here? Small Rig they partnered with a Potato Jet a while back for a beautiful tripod with it's like a squeeze and the legs just expand near can go up and down very easily. It's really for videographers, but. You could use it for anything if you really want to.
[00:04:59] And that [00:05:00] tripod is now available. So if you're looking for a new tripod. and you do a lot of video work. Or you just want a very. diverse tripod that is easy to go up and down and easy to maneuver. That is a potentially we're checking out small rigs. I think it's called a Tribex.
[00:05:17] It's a collab with Potato Jet who's who is a YouTuber? There is an Instagram change happening. If you're, if you post a video on Instagram, it's going to be high, the high quality that you upload, 1080p, but if your video is not popular, they're going to reduce the quality of it. I'm assuming to save bandwidth for Instagram has saved them money. I'm assuming. To, save them storage space, things like that.
[00:05:40] Not a big deal that affects you. If you do a ton of video work on Instagram and all of your content is not popular, obviously that would affect you, but is what it is. Aether apparel.
[00:05:54] They partnered with Leica. To create a jacket or photographers. Think of it like, eh, [00:06:00] photographers, vest. But as an, a jacket form ScottEVest even has these. Just a nice looking. wildlife. Ask jacket with a ton of big pockets and things like that. But the charging somewhere around the $800 range, US dollars. That's insane. I. I don't know who would buy that. hopefully if you're listening to this, you're not one of the people who would buy that because it's just a jacket. You want a jacket with a lot of pockets.
[00:06:27] Check out ScottEVest. That's all I'm saying you'll save a ton of money from that. yeah, there's a lot going on in the world. Of course. There's The big election is coming up. I'm not going to talk politics here, but I will say that I am excited because it is that time of year. I am excited to see who becomes the next white house photographer, depending on who is elected as the next president of the United States. There's a lot of fantastic photographers that are photographing [00:07:00] both sidesof the aisle. Whether you like Kamala Harris, whether you like Donald Trump. I don't care. I'm not sharing my political opinions here.
[00:07:10] I just want to say that the photographers who have been photographing their campaigns. One of these photographers is very likely to become the next white house photographer to follow in the footsteps of a Pete Souza.and it's very exciting to see that. It could be somebody. Really fantastic in the White House, to continue this legacy from,there's been a lot of great photographers even,Pete Souza was Ronald Reagan's photographer.
[00:07:39] He was, Barack Obama's photographer. With Biden and Trump in the White House. it's been a couple other people. And I really look forward to seeing who becomes the next White House photographer again. Based on whoever wins the US presidential election.
[00:07:56] very interesting times here in the United States. [00:08:00]
[00:08:00] I just want to thank you if you did listen to this whole episode, I want to just thank you for tuning in. Hearing some news going on. and I want to know. If you're liking this sort of concept, this variety I'm doing with Photo Breakdown, because I don't want to be boring for you. I want it to be something that you want to keep coming back to.
[00:08:17] If you don't let the news segment, just tell me, and I won't do the new segment anymore. This is for you.
[00:08:24] And that's all I got to say about that. thank you. And until next time. photobreakdown.com.