In this interview with family photographer, Erica Montgomery, we talk about how creates beautiful lighting in her family photography.
Erica tells how she uses her garage for portraits and how she loves to find pockets of light in her home to photograph her children in.
We talk about this photograph she made of her daughter after she lost a beloved uncle. She tells us what inspired her to pick up her camera and how it helped her.
Find out more about Erica on her website, Instagram and Flickr.
The next Week of Daily Photos Project is October 25-31. Sign up here for more information.
This episode is an interview with Nick Kelsh. These days Nick teaches people like you and me at How To Photography Your Life. Nick has been making photos since he was in junior high and has years of experience. He’s been a newspaper photographer, collaborated with Anna Quindlen on the books Naked Babies and Siblings and his photograph of a baby is on the cover of A Day in the Life of China.
I was introduced to Nick when my oldest was a baby and I got his book, How to Photography Your Baby. It’s a book that is full of great ideas for photographing the baby in your life.
On today’s show, Nick tells us what will help make better photos right away – photograph someone you love close up in great light. Nick says people think learning aperture, shutter speed and ISO is the hard part. He says what’s harder to learn is how to appreciate the quality of light and good composition. We talk about the photos we can make at home in the drama of every day life. We also talk about the photos Nick took and didn’t take when he son was born early and was in the NICU.
Nick’s classes on Basic Photography, Going Manual, Portraits and Lighting, Editing in Lightroom and Smartphone Photography. Classes start September 11.
Here is an example of doing what Nick talks about – photographing someone you love close up in beautiful light. On the show we talk about making great portraits like this in your garage.
We also talk about the drama of life with kids. Nick tells us about making this series of baseball photos.
In this episode, I ask Erin how she feels about being the family photographer and how she shares her photos with her family. Erin joined the 365 Flickr group last summer. I talk with her about what inspired her to start a project and how the doing the project helped her see her life in new ways. Erin now serves as staff photographer for a children’s hospital. prior to that she was a full time wedding and family photographer. I ask her about why she changed and what she’s learning at her new job. It was pleasure to have this conversation with Erin and I’m sure you’re going to enjoy it too.
In this episode, I talk with Molly Flanagan. Molly is a mother of three, she runs the Define School with Kelly Hatcher and teaches a class there titled Visual Storytelling. Molly photographs families in their homes as they are. In her photographs of her own family and of families she photographs, Molly strives to celebrate the heart of the home – not domestic perfection but the nurturing and comfort offered there.
In this interview with Molly Flanagan, we talk about how she began photographing her family and how her work evolved from posing families in the park to documenting families at home. We also talk about how she travelled the United States with her family last summer, photographing and teaching along the way.
In this interview with Kevin Mullins, we talk about what he loves about candid family photography. Kevin tells us how he deals with common family photography challenges – the uncooperative subject, the photobomb kid and fake smiles. I ask Kevin about his workflow – he starts with Photo Mechanic. And find out which little Fuji camera Kevin recommends for parents.
In this podcast interview with Tim Coulson, we talk about the how Tim’s love of making photographs began. And we talk about how he loves photographing his family using film.
I contacted Tim after reading this:
A deep lesson I’ve learned is that there’s a really fine line between documenting the essence of something and over-documenting to where you become withdrawn from what you’re really doing. I don’t want to get to a place where we have an incredible amount of photos detailing our lives, and realize I was only paying attention to my camera. I want to be here, actually here, for all of it, and I want to document our life in a true way. But, as important as it is to document life, what is by far more important is to be in your life.
We talk about this and much more on the show this week.
In this interview with Cheryl Hanna-Truscott, we talk about how she began photographing mothers and babies in a prison nursery. Cheryl talks about her background in photography and her years as a midwife. Cheryl also talks about the photographs she’s made for the organization Midwives for Haiti.
If you’ve felt like you want to do something with your photography to help someone or something be seen, you’ll love this show. Cheryl has been doing work with her camera for years and has a beautiful body of work to show for it. Some of her work has been far from home, but the prison nursery project is near home.
Today on the show, I’m thrilled to share my interview with David duChemin.
David is a humanitarian photographer, teacher and author. His new book is The Soul of the Camera. We talk about his new book, why he wrote it and what he hopes readers will take away from reading it.
David tells us about the photos he took in his teens and the scenic route he took to becoming the photographer he is today – a path that included being a comedian and magician. David urges us all to go deeper in this episode of The Family Photographer.
Spirit Bear (Kermode Bear), Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada.
Socorro, Revillagigedo Archipelago, Mexico. Silky sharks playing behind our dive boat gave us a great excuse to make some photographs.
A young boy climbs a bamboo pole towards his prize during Tet. Sapa, Vietnam.
Agra, a tradesman is silhouetted as he sweeps the mosque at the Taj Mahal.
Khutzeymateen Inlet, Northern British Columbia, Canada
A young boy in the arns of his grandfather in Ladakh, India
On this episode, I’m sharing my interview with Chris Orwig. Chris is a playful father of three girls, photographer, author and teacher. He recently taught a class on Creative Live called Capturing Authentic Photos of Children & Families. He’s the author of many books including The Creative Fight, Visual Poetry and People Pictures.
Chris shares how a massive hard drive failure showed him how important his family photos were to him. He also shares an exercise to help us slow down with our cameras and just use one button. A listener asks if he has a good photo of each of his family members. If he doesn’t, does he have the same pit in his stomach she has when she thinks about the photo that doesn’t yet exist of that person? A few other things we talk about are being present as parents and photographers, insurance and the idea of luck.
Today on the podcast, it’s an interview with Andrew Hellmich. Andrew is a wedding photographer based on the Central Coast of Australia. He’s also the father of two boys and the host of the the Photo Biz X podcast – a podcast all about the business of wedding and portrait photography. It’s an amazing podcast if you are thinking about starting a photography business or if you currently run one.
On today’s show, we talk about how Andrew got started in wedding photography and also why he didn’t photograph his boys growing up very much. Andrew answers some listener questions about what the most important first steps are in going into business.
Andrew says what he learned from Bernie Griffith about Facebook ads is he’s learned from his podcast that has had the biggest impact on his business.
A clients photo from a Day In The Life session – pure documentary.
This is from a BBQ with a few friends in summer. It was hot so we dragged out a massive plastic sheet, added soap and water and had some fun. Good memories.
My brother Simon on a recent skiing trip in Japan. These are the photos that I know I’ll be treasuring when I’m older. Everyone complains when I stop to take photos on holidays but EVERYONE loves the fact I did afterwards.
From a recent holiday in Bali. This is Linda in the resort pool at a hotel much nicer than the one we had booked. This became our second home on this trip and it’s simple photos like this that I love and are enough to take me back.
In this interview with family photographer, Erica Montgomery, we talk about how creates beautiful lighting in her family photography.
This episode is an interview with Nick Kelsh. These days Nick teaches people like you and me at 
