B&H Photography Podcast

• Finding Faces in the Rocks, with John Paul Caponigro and Joel Simpson

  “If you look very intensely and slowly things will happen that you never dreamed of before.” This Aaron Siskind quote neatly sums up the deeply contemplative discussion we had with landscape photographers John Paul Caponigro and Joel Simpson in this week’s podcast. Siskind’s name is mentioned several times in our chat—as are many other 20th century photography legends—making this show both an exploration of photo history and an exercise in a holistic way to envision and record the world around us. Our focus on landscape quickly diverges from realistic depictions in favor of terrain that celebrates abstraction and metaphor. Follow along as we unpack the unwieldy term Pareiolia—the tendency to see familiar things in otherwise random patterns—and discover unique pathways to relate to the natural world. As John Paul Caponigro aptly points out, “I think of every exposure that I make as having a conversation with the subject and myself. I think of every move that I make in Photoshop as having a conversation with the image that started one way and is developing in another. And I ask, you know, what does the image want?”   Guests: John Paul Caponigro & Joel Simpson   Episode Timeline: 3:30: Joel Simpson describes his early landscapes as a way to re-experience being elsewhere. 9:24: Pareidolia: what it means and its relationship to Joel’s photographs. 13:24: John Paul’s relationship to the term pareidolia: a way to find patterns and make sense out of chaos. 19:12: The influence of Gestalt psychology when interpreting abstract patterns and photographing the bare bones of the earth. 24:55: Differences between making pictures with the aid of pre-visualization vs going in empty and refining ones’ vision in post using digital tools. Plus insights about getting beyond the imitation phase to find a path to originality in your work. 35:58: How do you know when your unique vision from the pictures you make are ready to be released into the world? 42:12: Episode Break 43:24: John Paul’s approach to post-processing—using the tools as a laboratory to make multiple iterations. 47:00: Joel describes the discoveries he made when finessing photos of a wonderous landscape from Zhangjiajie, China. 50:21: How does AI factor into crafting an authentic vision, plus the mind as the original AI. 1:03:18: Using photography to tap into things that haven’t yet been discovered and elicit a sense of wonder from viewers’ responses. 1:06:50: Joel and John Paul talk about the places that inspire their respective photographic projects.   Guest Bios: John Paul Caponigro is a digital media pioneer, combining his painting background with a variety of photographic processes using the latest in digital technology. His work is about the perception of nature and the nature of perception. Widely respected as an authority on creativity, photography, and fine art printing, John Paul’s images and writings are widely published in periodicals and books, and he’s been a contributing editor to a variety of magazines and websites. He’s also author of the video training series R/Evolution and the book “Adobe Photoshop Master Class,” now in its second edition. As a highly sought-after speaker and educator, John Paul has presented lectures and workshops around the globe. His art has been exhibited internationally, and his prints are housed in numerous public and private collections. Select clients include Adobe, Apple, Canon, Kodak, and Sony, and he is a member of the Photoshop Hall of Fame, Epson’s Stylus Pros, and X-Rite’s Coloratti.   Joel Simpson began making pictures as a teen in the 1960s, turning pro in 2002. Since that time, he’s had more than 50 exhibitions in the US and abroad. His work has also been widely published and received numerous awards, including a Nautilus Gold Award for Art and Photography for his 2019 book Earthforms: Intimate Portraits of our Planet. His new book, Faces in the Rocks: Beyond Landscape to Psycho-Geological Photography, organizes his discoveries about the aesthetics of abstract and figurative forms in the earth, concluding with a tongue-in-cheek collection of imagined extra-terrestrial landscapes and future cityscapes. In addition to his career in photography, Simpson holds a PhD in comparative literature, and spent 22 years as a professional jazz pianist. He lives in Union, New Jersey.   Stay Connected: John Paul Caponigro Website Instagram Facebook YouTube 1980’s Guardian advertisement “Multiple Points of View”   Joel Simpson Website Instagram YouTube   Credits: Host: Derek Fahsbender Senior Creative Producer: Jill Waterman Senior Technical Producer: Mike Weinstein Executive Producer: Richard Stevens

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• Shuang Hu Tells All: Starting Out, Collaborations & Viral Growth Hacks

  We’re kicking off the B&H Creators Green Room with the very talented Shuang Hu. Shuang is a renowned actress, writer, director, producer, and viral content creator with over 12 million followers. Tune in to learn about her creative journey, inspiration, and what it takes to grow as a modern creator.   Guest Bio: Shuang Hu is a talented Chinese-Australian actress, writer, director, producer, and content creator who has gained over 12 million followers since starting her online content in March 2020. Her YouTube channel, THEONESHU, was listed as one of the top 50 most viewed US channels by Tubefilter.com, and her most viral short-form video has received over 298 million views. Shuang has appeared in various TV shows, films, and plays. She also co-wrote, co-created, produced, and starred in Amazon Prime's first original feature film, "Five Blind Dates," launched in February 2024, and she aims to continue sharing engaging stories across different platforms.   Stay Connected   TikTok  Instagram YouTube   Credits  Host & Creative Producer: Deanna Tesa  Creative Producer: Elena Maidebura Creative Editor: Larissa Mattei Technical Producer: Mike Weinstein Executive Producer: Richard Stevens   Click here to Subscribe

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• Next Frame: From Boxing Rings to Media Stages with Josh Nass

  The photo world is filled with remarkable young and up-and-coming talents. They often don’t get the visibility they deserve, so we created Next Frame—a new monthly series aiming to shine a light their way. These bite-sized episodes are equally inspired by the guests we speak with and the invaluable contributions of local creative arts programs that have played a key role in their development. We’re launching this series with photographer, filmmaker, and boxing & music aficionado Josh Nass, an alumnus of Baltimore’s Wide Angle Youth Media programs. From nailing his Photoshop skills while still in middle school to trading in his boxing gloves for a camera during college and beyond, Josh regales us with practical tips about both the successes and challenges all young creatives must face as they transition from trading pictures for access to molding media skills into a profitable career. Looking back on his early days chasing both music and fashion scenes, Josh notes, “Your main role as a photographer—especially with talent and famous people—you know, I thought I was just making them look cool, but I'm making them money. I'm marketing them for their next tour, for their current tour. Looking back, I've learned a thing or two about how to get users’ attention online.” Guest: Josh Nass   Episode Timeline: 2:04: Baltimore/DC-based photographer Josh Nass talks about first picking up a camera to fill his time after hanging up his boxing gloves. 3:40: Leveraging social media to get on stage and photograph his favorite Caribbean singer, then trading free pictures for ongoing access. 7:25: Navigating one’s comfort level as an up-and-coming photographer, plus making a distinction between comfort with gear and social ease with subjects and clients. 9:08: Making pictures of cool moments, creative editing decisions to draw out the cool factor, and being first to deliver the files are all key to Josh’s success. 14:02: Street hustling at New York Fashion Week to gain access to photograph top artists and celebrities, and the tough lessons Josh learned in the process. 19:06: Josh’s connection to Baltimore’s Wide Angle Youth Media and the formative role their programs have played in his early photography success. 22:50: Being referred by Wide Angle for a Comcast commercial, and the backstory to what transpired behind-the-scenes.  29:49: Josh weighs future career options and whether he’ll choose to pursue photography full time.  35:40: Essential advice for emerging photographers: Prioritize building your skills and don’t overvalue your work early on. Plus, a look at Josh’s first big paid gig for a Keke Palmer concert and marketing campaign.    Guest Bio: Josh Nass is a Baltimore/DC-based freelance photographer and a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he’s pursuing a bachelor’s degree in information science. As a high school graduate of The Baltimore School for the Arts and a participant Baltimore’s Wide Angle Youth Media non-profit, he’s honed his subject-based style to give each of his shoots, whether its celebrities, musicians, athletes, or models, a unique “wow” factor.   Stay Connected: Website Instagram Facebook Wide Angle Youth / Comcast Video   Host: Derek Fahsbender Senior Creative Producer: Jill Waterman Senior Technical Producer: Mike Weinstein Executive Producer: Richard Stevens

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• BILD 2025 Recap, with CJ Wolfe, Maria Clinton & Benjamin Von Wong

  Above Photograph © Matt Emond Summertime is the season for travel. With that theme in mind, in today’s show, we’re taking you on a short trip around the block to revisit a few of our favorite encounters from B&H’s 2025 Bild Expo. During two days in June, we engaged with the many thousands of Expo attendees who converged at New York’s Jacob Javits Center for the show. From our sleek podcast console/recording station adjacent to the Bild stages, we shared our favorite listens and offered advice to the many inquisitive creatives wanting to start up a podcast of their own. Amid all the noise and excitement, we also found the chance to record short interviews with a few of our visitors who had inspiring stories to tell, three of which we’re presenting today. So, sit back and enjoy these conversations with Philadelphia-based photographer, entrepreneur, and community organizer CJ Wolfe; New York-based filmmaker, producer, and podcaster Maria Clinton; and Canadian-born, globetrotting visual engineer and environmental activist Benjamin Von Wong.   Guests: CJ Wolfe, Maria Clinton, & Benjamin Von Wong Episode Timeline: 2:32: Philadelphia-based photographer, entrepreneur, and community organizer CJ Wolfe talks about how a camera changed his life, leading him to found Immortal Vision Studios, and a related creative agency. 7:58: Reminiscing about how CJ’s early love of coding inspired him to customize MySpace profiles for his friends as a youth. 12:58: CJ’s creative goals for the future and the inspiration to get his studio on wheels to expand. 14:34: CJ talks about business shifts and the new ideas he gets from interns—rather than thinking, look to AI. 21:27: New York-based filmmaker, producer, and podcaster Maria Clinton riffs about generational shifts in the realm of content creation. 27:00: The underlying question of who you’re creating for and why? 29:05: The difference between content creation and filmmaking. 32:21: Maria talks about The Little Souvenirs podcast, the types of stories she and her co-host tell, and where you can find the show.  33:45: Bild speaker, visual engineer, and environmental activist Benjamin Von Wong reminisces about his previous conversation with the podcast and the challenges he faced back then about continuing his journey as an artist. 38:06: Ben’s recent projects, and his theory of activating change by finding the nexus of the right place, the right time and the right people.  43:02: Ben’s accidental path to becoming an environmentalist, plus the need to shift his activism from a burden of duty to a place of love. 46:28: Ben talks about how community involvement has evolved within his work, to create engagement greater than the sum of its parts—what it takes to fix the world. 50:18: The economics of large-scale production and how fundraising has changed Ben’s relationship to his art by helping him believe in his own work.   Guest Bios: CJ Wolfe picked up a camera eight years ago, while pursuing college studies as a student-athlete. Since that time, he has made an impact both globally and within the Philadelphia creative scene, where he first got his start. A true staple in the city’s culture, CJ has influenced sports, music, and lifestyle through his creativity behind the scenes and, most importantly, behind the camera. Wolfe has produced work for Red Bull, Footlocker, Ethika, Block Inc, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Baby, Meek Mill, and Allen Iverson to name a few. Throughout his journey, Wolfe recognized a major gap in Philadelphia—a lack of safe, inspiring spaces for photographers to refine their craft, showcase their talents, and build professional networks. In response, he founded Immortal Vision Studio in 2020, which has grown into a cornerstone of the city’s creative community. Now operating two boutique studios totaling 6,000 square feet and booking over 2,000 appointments per year, Wolfe has built Philadelphia’s most trusted rental powerhouse for photo and video production. Wolfe also has another layer to the business besides studio rentals and community. Immortal Vision Agency—a creative firm producing high-impact content for brands and businesses—bridging the gap to provide professional opportunities and elevate talent from his hometown to the world stage. Maria Clinton is a New York-based filmmaker, podcaster, and educator.  Her past freelance clients include About.com, Hudson Group, and various nonprofit organizations. As a filmmaker Maria’s work focuses on finding and sharing untold stories that shed light on underrepresented groups of people, shattering stereotypes and reconstructing narratives. She co-directed the Emmy-Award winning documentary short The Love Bugs—about an entomologist couple who amassed the world’s largest private collection of insects. As a podcaster, Maria is co-creator and co-host of The Little Souvenirs Podcast. She and co-host/writer Kimberly Mallory discuss a variety of topics with their guests including life’s moments that gift us impressionable little souvenirs. They believe each episode is a reminder to celebrate the moments that matter most. It’s time to enjoy the journey! Benjamin Von Wong’s work lies at the intersection of fantasy and photography and combines everyday objects with shocking statistics. It has attracted the attention of corporations like Starbucks, Dell, and Nike and has generated over 100 million views for causes like ocean plastics, electronic waste, and fashion pollution. In 2018, he was named one of Adweek’s 11 content branded masterminds. He is also a creative advisor for the Ocean Plastic Leadership Network and the Sustainable Ocean Alliance.   Stay Connected: CJ Wolfe Website Instagram Tiktok   Immortal Vision Studio Website Instagram Youtube   Maria Clinton Instagram The Little Souvenirs Podcast   Benjamin Von Wong Website Instagram Facebook X YouTube Benjamin Von Wong on the B&H Photography Podcast: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcasts/building-and-maintaining-your-web-presence-alex-vita-ben-von-wong      Host: Derek Fahsbender Senior Creative Producer: Jill Waterman Senior Technical Producer: Mike Weinstein Executive Producer: Richard Stevens  

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• Path of Liberty: That Which Unites US, with Daniella Vale & Scott Beardslee

  “That which unites us is far greater than what divides us.” The first four words of this sentence are subtitle, and subtext, for “Path of Liberty,” an immersive outdoor photo and media experience on view through fall 2025 at Freedom Plaza on Manhattan’s east side. The creative groundwork for this project was a mammoth effort involving an extensive crew both on the road and behind the scenes. In today’s podcast, we catch up with two principals of this project’s creative team—creative director Daniella Vale and director of photography, Scott Beardslee—to learn more about their daily lives during two months spent traversing the country by van to interview a broad group of everyday Americans. From the founding idea of capturing the diversity of people across America to the curiosity and resilience of the crew when working on the road to the complexities of orchestrating the many sensory elements for an immersive experience in exhibition, our discussion is rich with creative insight. As Daniella shares during our chat, “I always tend to make three films. There's the film I write, the film I shoot, and then, usually, I rearrange everything and make a totally different film in the edit. So, I've gotten pretty accustomed to non-attachment and rolling with things. That's where the magic happens too.” Guests: Daniella Vale & Scott Beardslee   Episode Timeline: 3:28: The inspiration behind Path of Liberty and Daniella’s role as creative lead. 6:59: Daniella and Scott’s respective backgrounds in photography and film, plus being curious and distinctions between finding the moment vs creating the moment. 12:02: Daniella and Scott’s first introduction in the New York film world. 15:14: Building the crew for Path of Liberty and the challenges of traveling and conducting interviews on the road. 21:35: Daniella describes the three films she makes in the process of writing, shooting, and editing, plus the importance of learning to adapt on the fly. 26:54: Memorable stories from the Path of Liberty road trip. 30:56: Episode Break 31:30: We all want to be happy, but there’s a difference between freedom and taking advantage of freedom 34:42: Daniella discusses her time in Japan, and the cultural contrast between American individualism and societies that put the group over the individual self. 41:00: The gear Daniella and Scott traveled with and how it affected the project. 47:59: The interview process with portrait subjects, plus making natural portraits in the moment. 58:32: The Path of Liberty installation in midtown Manhattan, the pride of subjects gathered from across the America, plus the complexities of the post-production process 1:05:39: The immersive aspects of the installation—from the sound design of the audio to the visual continuity between the photographs and the on-site terrain. 1:14:19: Scott and Daniella offer career advice for developing as a creative—leave room for being curious.   Guest Bios: Daniella Vale is a New York City-based photographer, film director, and producer. Her creative passions began early, influenced by her uncles in Pittsburgh’s avant-garde film movement. While attending university in Tokyo, Daniella worked on photography and documentary projects. She later moved to Bollywood, where she collaborated with Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment and Cannes-winning director Manish Jha. In New York, Daniella has worked for brands such as VICE, MTV, Google, and Prada, and with talent such as Alicia Keys, Deepak Chopra, and Lucy Liu. Her portfolio includes work in fashion, branded content, docu-series, and narrative films across various global locations. Career highlights include participating in the 2018 Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner and being featured in Allure magazine for her directing work. And of course, most recently, Daniella headed up the creative team for the immersive outdoor installation, Path of Liberty: That Which Unites Us, which we’re here to talk about today. Scott Beardslee began his career in photography, working as a 1st and 2nd assistant. Yet his passion for narrative filmmaking soon inspired him to take a different career route, focusing on shooting films, commercials, and music videos. Upon graduation from San Francisco State University with a film theory and production degree, he pursued cinematography and later attended graduate school at The American Film Institute in Hollywood. Before he became serious about filmmaking himself, Scott worked as a gaffer for many established A.S.C. cinematographers. Currently, Scott is a Director of Photography in the Union Local 600, working on commercials, music videos, and television.   Stay Connected: Path of Liberty Website Instagram Daniella Vale Website Instagram Youtube Vimeo   Scott Beardslee Website Instagram Vimeo Tiktok   Host: Derek Fahsbender Senior Creative Producer: Jill Waterman Senior Technical Producer: Mike Weinstein Executive Producer: Richard Stevens

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