Ibarionex Perello

When looking for photographic inspiration, I rarely used to turn to street photography. Not because I dislike or disliked the genre, as a viewer, but mostly because I'm not attracted to making those kinds of images, so I (to my detriment) tended to not seek out those images.

Ibarionex Perello puts out a podcast, titled The Candid Frame, and I've been a listener for years and years. When I first started listening, circa 2008 (the podcast has run since February 2006), it seemed like nearly all of his guests were street photographers, or portrait photographers, and I let my disinterest in making street photography or portraits get in the way and I skipped so many of those early episodes. But eventually I got over myself, and regularly turn to Ibarionex and other street photographers, either actively, or passively, and for the past seven or eight years haven't missed an episode.

Ibarionex is one of the best interviewers I've known, up there with the likes of Charlie Rose. Each episode is so inspiring and it's great to learn from all of the wonderful artists he has on the show.

But, enough about the podcast, and lets get into some photographs!

In addition to being a fantastic interviewer, Ibarionex makes excellent street and portrait photography. He talks a lot about gesture, and uses that element (something that took me a while to comprehend in the images where there aren't any people—I always connected gesture to sentient beings, mostly humans) masterfully to create impact within an image.

Ibarionex has such wonderful sensitivity to light and shadow, and attention to shape, and line.

Ibarionex is quite a prolific photographer and has enough images to keep you busy for hours. Go check it all out on his website, and subscribe to The Candid Frame podcast while you're at it, and then follow him on Instagram!

Jeffery Saddoris

Several years ago I was searching for more photography podcasts that didn't focus so heavily on gear or technique, but philosophy and the creative and even theoretical side of the medium, and found On Taking Pictures, a podcast by Bill Wadman and Jeffery Saddoris. It wasn't purely philosophy and theory; they sometimes discussed gear, but in a different way than others I came across. Those discussions were always in the context of the camera being a tool and whether a certain camera or lens or light was the best tool to use to achieve their desired result. It was full of intelligent and thoughtful and thought-provoking discussion, and at times it felt like I was again part of a graduate program. That particular podcast has now been over for a few years now, but Jeffery has continued podcasting, producing three regular podcasts: Process Driven, In Between, and Iterations. You can subscribe to their individual feeds, or subscribe to Jeffery's Everything feed, where you'll get all three as they become available.

Jeffery himself is more a painter than a photographer, and in his latest work, Grid Variations, vol. 1, he made several 6"x6" square pieces that can all be organized and arranged at random, and the possible combinations are endless. It's fun to view the work on his website and imagine different groupings and find how each piece relates to the body of work as whole, but also how they relate to the ones adjacent to it, and those throughout the whole project.

In The New Propaganda, Jeffery uses collage and elements of traditional propaganda to "communicate larger messages and ideas."

Go check out more of Jeffery's work on his website, follow him on Instagram, and subscribe to one or all of his podcasts! You'll be glad you did!