4 Podcasts Photographers Should Be Binge-Listening to Right Now

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Smartphone displaying a photography education website with course listings and instructor profiles.

Here are five podcasts you should be listening to right now. Hit play, grab your coffee, and get inspired. When I am walking or driving, I’ve got five that I always snare in my podcast catcher. You’ll love them no matter what kind of photography you do.

The following podcasts are general podcasts, often featuring other photographers. All feature lively, intelligent, animated conversations. All of them cover general photography topics. And this works, as often the discussion is either universal or covers behind-the-scenes issues, creative decisions, technology, gear, education, and workflows that can be applied to almost any photographer.

Two of these podcasts feature more technology- or gear-related discussion. But even here, the podcast hosts include general philosophical approaches toward using the technology or photographing.

And I’ve even spoken to people who are not photographers but nevertheless enjoy the podcasts due to their interesting, engaging nature!

The gateway to fantastic podcasts begins here!

Behind the Shot

Behind the Shot is one of those podcasts that, as host Steve Brazill says, will “get inside the mind of great photographers by taking a closer look behind one of their shots.” It’s a full interview, getting to know the photographer, then examining the creative process occurring, well, behind the shot.

No matter what sort of photograph it is, the episodes are enthralling. It doesn’t matter if I know anything about the genre of photography being discussed. It’s largely because Steve is extremely engaging and personable. But it’s also because Steve chooses compelling images. The shows crackle with vibrancy and enthusiasm.

Furthermore, each show comes with a lengthy blog description of each photo, what he found appealing about the photos, and a small gallery of the featured photographer’s photos.

And the guests are often very sought-after photographers at the top of their game, often Canon Explorers of Light or photographers who shoot for Disney, Ford, arena-playing rock bands, or experts in their field. You’ll be fascinated by the creative process and the person, whether it’s bird, car, concert, wedding, portrait, sports, or photojournalistic photography.

Full disclosure: I have been interviewed for this podcast twice, once for an abandoned airplane night photo from my Abandoned Southern California book, and once for an unusual night photo of a barn from my Abandoned Roadside Attractions book.

A very similar photo to this, featured in my 4th book, was discussed on "Behind The Shot" audio and video podcast with Steve Brazill.

Photo Geek Weekly

Don Komarechka is a self-described geek and one of the preeminent macro photographers. His macro photography is absolutely stunning and inventive. As he is also quite knowledgeable about technology, Photo Geek Weekly absolutely delivers on its title. This show dives into the minutiae, taking a close, often tech-oriented look at photography-related items. 

There’s always a co-host, and therefore, there’s often lively banter. Don and his co-host discuss technology, of course. But they also describe legal matters, social media, post-processing, and more. Don can take a long time introducing the topic. It may seem like Don is dominating the conversation. However, he’s typically setting the table for each topic at hand.

Don moved from Canada to Bulgaria a while back. In Bulgaria, he has become involved in various things, including helping to raise awareness of Ukraine, all while continuing to teach about technology, macro photography, and much more. Sometimes, his shows are released slowly. But it’s such a high-quality show that it is well worth your time subscribing and listening.

By the way, Steve Brazill from “Behind the Shot” is often the co-host, and those are some of the liveliest, most interesting shows, as they have a special rapport and chemistry.

A very long exposure photo at night in Zion National Park, Utah.

F-Stop Collaborate and Listen Podcast

The very likable Matt Payne hosts F-Stop Collaborate and Listen Podcast. Matt creates a very conversational vibe with each of the photographers. It just so happens that these photographers are some of the leading landscape photographers and industry pundits, full of insight and wit.

He sometimes moderates a discussion panel on his podcast, filled with top-notch photographers offering insightful, lively opinions on everything photography-related and more.

The conversation touches upon the dos and don’ts of landscape photography, creative workflow, business, finding the motivation to shoot, social media, and even how Matt doesn’t like his speaking voice. However, that doesn’t stop him from turning in a darned good podcast.

One of my earliest photos to get recognized, this was featured in Smithsonian, National Geographic, and more. Photographed with a modest Nikon D7000 in 2013.

Big Photo Hunt

Like many of these podcasts I've mentioned, host Ken Deckinger of Big Photo Hunt is extremely personable and enthusiastic. His approach is a textbook example of how to create an easy, fascinating conversation that flows. Whether the guest photographer does van life, sports, travel, film, boudoir, street photography or more, you find yourself captivated by the stories and descriptions of the process.

If you contact Ken for any reason, please tell him, "Handsome Ken says hello to the other Handsome Ken." It'll be fun.

Full disclosure: I have been on two Big Photo Hunt podcasts. One was Capturing the Night: Ken Lee's Approach to Night Photography (and Colorblindness), which was particularly interesting since we are both colorblind, so we discussed some of the strategies for that. And the other was Photographing Abandoned Roadside Attractions with Ken Lee, a discussion of photographing abandoned places at night.

The auditorium of an abandoned mental state hospital in Pennsylvania. The site has since been demolished.

Bonus Podcast

This is like a baker's dozen. Um, except that it's one more than four. But that's okay! I should mention that I am one of three photographers who do the admittedly very sporadic Nightaxians video podcast on YouTube. While we do all use Pentax gear and are night photographers, the video podcast extends to other gear, composition, adventures, and much more.

That’s now five podcasts, all for the price of four. But shhhhh…don't tell anyone. It'll be our little secret.

What Photography Podcasts Do You Love?

The timeless stars streaking past the brontosaurus slide at Bedrock City in Arizona.
Lay it on us in the comments, and let us know why you love them.

Ken is a night photographer with four books of night photography of abandoned locales. His images have been in National Geographic Books, Omni, LA Times, Westways, & elsewhere. Ken had exhibits at La Quinta Museum & Hi-Desert Nature Museum in CA. He loves teaching creative weirdos about night photography in his workshops (see website).

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4 Comments

Ken Lee asked,

"What Photography Podcasts Do You Love?"

I watch / listen to several photography-related podcasts, all on their YouTube versions because I want to see who is talking and not just hear them:

Beyond The Wild is a podcast that a few of my friends do. I've known these guys for years and we have met in the field often. Their podcast is about nature photography, with the majority of their content being specifically about wildlife, although on rare occasions they may have a guest that is more macro or landscape oriented. The episodes are almost all long format of about an hour or longer:

https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheWildPodcast/videos

Angela Zuniga is a California based commercial and people photographer who speaks largely about motivation, mindset, time/energy management, and creativity. Her episodes are rather short, so therefore easy to fit into smaller windows of time. Her personality is very likable and humble and relatable, and that makes her very easy to listen to:

https://www.youtube.com/@AngelaZuniga/videos

Wildlife Inspired is run by Scott Keys, and features all things related to wildlife photography - photography techniques, ethics, editing techniques, gear reviews, gear discussions, wildlife behavior, etc. I will admit it is a bit gear heavy, but you can look through older episodes to find ones that are about wildlife and not about gear. Scott has churned out a lot of great content over the years, so it is worth going back and looking through his older videos to find titles that interest you:

https://www.youtube.com/@WildlifeInspired/videos

I have appeared on one podcast, with my friend John, a couple years ago. It was on the Wild Shutter Podcast, which is Matthew Gehly's podcast/video channel about wildlife photography,:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPH7q-Oa0hY&t=15s

Wow, Tom, thanks!! That's quite a list. Also, as a bonus, you managed to list four podcasts that I've never heard of as well, which I greatly appreciate (although I have heard of Angela Zuniga). I am going to be on the road soon, teaching a night photography workshop and then driving around the desert with my friends doing - what else? - more night photography. Getting to and from the locations, I'll be able to fire up some podcasts. Greatly appreciated, thanks!

What did you speak about on the Wild Shutter Podcast?

"and then driving around the desert with my friends"

Oh wow! I'm jealous! Was not able to get to the desert this summer and I miss it so much. Hope you have a wonderful and productive time there!

"What did you speak about on the Wild Shutter Podcast?"

Photographing Whitetail Deer, Sage Grouse, and how our faith affects the way we photograph God's creation.

Thanks. The trip went well! We had fun teaching the participants, then went on a five-night trip with friends. A day after that, I left for Japan (which is why this response is so sloooooowwwww…).

Cool angle to how to approach photographing!