The Photo Life Podcast: An Interview with Ananda Shorey

I Dwell in Possibility

In this week’s episode we speak with Bay Area photographer and owner of Bliss Fotography, Ananda Shorey, about how she has spent life embracing her fears and charging into the future with trust in experience to deliver her to the place she belonged and how that trust brought her to a life-long dream of living by the shutter.

About Ananda Shorey

Ananda ShoreySeveral years ago while sitting in a coffee shop in Tempe, Arizona, I realized I needed to make a change in my life. I had been working as a reporter for The Associated Press for years, covering immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border, which I loved. I felt though that it wasn’t enough. The world is huge and I couldn’t wait to explore it for another second. Within about an hour, I found a photography school in Spain on the Internet that I decided I wanted to attend.  I quit my job as a reporter and a year later I was studying documentary photography in Madrid. I was taught, while spending entire days chatting in cafes and lounging with bottles of wine in parks with my professors, like Magnum photographers Chris Anderson and Antoine D’Agata, that life is about living in the moment — enjoy them before they disappear. Moments ARE fleeting and I absolutely desire nothing more but to capture them with my camera. I received a Master’s degree in documentary photography in 2006. After returning to my journalism roots for several years working as an editor at a news agency in San Francisco, I decided to take a leap of faith into the unknown and quit my day job. I then opened Bliss Fotography – a Bay Area boutique destination wedding and portrait studio specializing in artistic lifestyle images.

Photos below courtesy of Ananda Shorey.

Sumieya & Asif

Kelly & Brad Wedding

Byron Boudoir

Aerial

About the Host – Travis Schreer

The Photo Life Host Travis SchreerTravis is a wanderer who has a life-long passion for helping creative people realize their ambitions. While studying at the Kendall College of Art and Design and Eastern Michigan University, simultaneously pursuing a BFA in fine art and a Masters in creative writing, Travis rediscovered his fascination with photography and began working as a product photographer. After a brief stint studying poetry in Paris and years of developing his own artistic identity from the comforts of various midwestern cities, Travis packed his wool socks and moved to the chilly climes of Alaska. When he realized wool socks weren’t enough, it was on to Portland, Oregon where he endeavors to make The Photo Life a powerful resource on the virtual airwaves. Next time you’re in Portland, stop by Irving Park, where Travis can be found most evenings. He’s the scruffy guy playing with Collignon Quincampoix, the coolest dog you will ever meet.

Photo of Travis courtesy of Jessica Hill Photography.

Aerial

The Photo Life Podcast: An Interview with Ananda Shorey

I Dwell in Possibility

In this week’s episode we speak with Bay Area photographer and owner of Bliss Fotography, Ananda Shorey, about how she has spent life embracing her fears and charging into the future with trust in experience to deliver her to the place she belonged and how that trust brought her to a life-long dream of living by the shutter.

About Ananda Shorey

Ananda ShoreySeveral years ago while sitting in a coffee shop in Tempe, Arizona, I realized I needed to make a change in my life. I had been working as a reporter for The Associated Press for years, covering immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border, which I loved. I felt though that it wasn’t enough. The world is huge and I couldn’t wait to explore it for another second. Within about an hour, I found a photography school in Spain on the Internet that I decided I wanted to attend.  I quit my job as a reporter and a year later I was studying documentary photography in Madrid. I was taught, while spending entire days chatting in cafes and lounging with bottles of wine in parks with my professors, like Magnum photographers Chris Anderson and Antoine D’Agata, that life is about living in the moment — enjoy them before they disappear. Moments ARE fleeting and I absolutely desire nothing more but to capture them with my camera. I received a Master’s degree in documentary photography in 2006. After returning to my journalism roots for several years working as an editor at a news agency in San Francisco, I decided to take a leap of faith into the unknown and quit my day job. I then opened Bliss Fotography – a Bay Area boutique destination wedding and portrait studio specializing in artistic lifestyle images.

Photos below courtesy of Ananda Shorey.

Sumieya & Asif

Kelly & Brad Wedding

Byron Boudoir

Aerial

About the Host – Travis Schreer

The Photo Life Host Travis SchreerTravis is a wanderer who has a life-long passion for helping creative people realize their ambitions. While studying at the Kendall College of Art and Design and Eastern Michigan University, simultaneously pursuing a BFA in fine art and a Masters in creative writing, Travis rediscovered his fascination with photography and began working as a product photographer. After a brief stint studying poetry in Paris and years of developing his own artistic identity from the comforts of various midwestern cities, Travis packed his wool socks and moved to the chilly climes of Alaska. When he realized wool socks weren’t enough, it was on to Portland, Oregon where he endeavors to make The Photo Life a powerful resource on the virtual airwaves. Next time you’re in Portland, stop by Irving Park, where Travis can be found most evenings. He’s the scruffy guy playing with Collignon Quincampoix, the coolest dog you will ever meet.

Photo of Travis courtesy of Jessica Hill Photography.

Tomcod fishing in Kivalina, Alaska. 2007

The Photo Life Podcast: An Interview with Brian Adams

Hip to Be Square

In this week’s episode we speak with photographer Brian Adams, about how listening to his intuition led him to medium format film photography and encouraged him to start a company of his own at a young age. This same intuition turned to action has carried him through a career with Getty Images and has informed his work bringing attention to the tragedy of the disappearing Alaskan Native coastal villages, being stolen by the erosion of global warming.

About Brian Adams

Brian AdamsBrian Adams is a freelance photographer based in Brooklyn, New York specializing in environmental portraiture and medium-format photography. His work has been featured in both national and international publications, such as The New York Times, Newsweek, Time, The Guardian, The Observer, and many others, and his work documenting Native Alaskan villages has been showcased in galleries across the U.S., including the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, the Alaska House Gallery New York, and the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts in Princeton, NJ.

Photos below courtesy of Brian Adams.

Basketball Hoop. Shishmaref, Alaska, March 2010.

Tomcod fishing in Kivalina, Alaska. 2007

Elise Vatsvaag in New York City.

Coney Island treasure hunter. 2011

About the Host – Travis Schreer

The Photo Life Host Travis SchreerTravis is a wanderer who has a life-long passion for helping creative people realize their ambitions. While studying at the Kendall College of Art and Design and Eastern Michigan University, simultaneously pursuing a BFA in fine art and a Masters in creative writing, Travis rediscovered his fascination with photography and began working as a product photographer. After a brief stint studying poetry in Paris and years of developing his own artistic identity from the comforts of various midwestern cities, Travis packed his wool socks and moved to the chilly climes of Alaska. When he realized wool socks weren’t enough, it was on to Portland, Oregon where he endeavors to make The Photo Life a powerful resource on the virtual airwaves. Next time you’re in Portland, stop by Irving Park, where Travis can be found most evenings. He’s the scruffy guy playing with Collignon Quincampoix, the coolest dog you will ever meet.

Photo of Travis courtesy of Jessica Hill Photography.


David & Brody

The Photo Life Podcast: An Interview with Brody Dezember & David Salomone

They Bailed But They’re Back

In this week’s episode, we speak with photographers Brody Dezember and David Salomone about their roller coaster relationship with Pictage. We examine all the ups and downs of that relationship in our investigation of how a company can cast off past failings and regain the trust of its displaced evangelists.

About Brody Dezember

Brody DezemberBrody is a Utah native, but dreams of living someplace in Montana.  There is something about the rivers and mountains that makes him love being there.

He stepped into photography when he was an early teen and has loved photographing everything from landscapes to some of the most outrageous weddings all over the country.  Over the past 7 years he has grown his business to being one of the most sought after studios in the state, but it hasn’t always been easy.  In the beginning he worked overnight shifts at a retail job and spent the days in the studio’s first location in Roy.  It wasn’t until the birth of his one and only son that finally made him realize that photography was what he wanted to do with his life.

About David Salomone

David SalomoneDavid Salomone, co-owner of The Studio Photographers, is a second generation photographer in the NY/NJ area.

Starting at the age of fourteen, David has crafted a style of his own with a flair for bridal fashion portraits and emotional photojournalistic images. Davidʼs talent has created a tremendous following in his area. This has made referrals from past clients his number one source of new business.

Still keeping a family owned environment with his father, Frank, and wife, Tami, the business has now grown to three locations targeting the high end wedding market.

His images have now appeared in many publications including multiple cover images for local bridal magazines, but he is most proud of being fortunate enough to have photographed a live televised wedding for the CBS Early Show. Recently, David was honored to photograph his first celebrity wedding of Discovery Channel star, Paul Tuetel Jr. of American Chopper whose images were televised by TMZ.

Photos below courtesy of Brody Dezember and David Salomone.

The center diptych represents an image from each photographer.

Portrait

Wedding

Wedding

David & Brody

Wedding

Wedding

Wedding

About the Host – Travis Schreer

The Photo Life Host Travis SchreerTravis is a wanderer who has a life-long passion for helping creative people realize their ambitions. While studying at the Kendall College of Art and Design and Eastern Michigan University, simultaneously pursuing a BFA in fine art and a Masters in creative writing, Travis rediscovered his fascination with photography and began working as a product photographer. After a brief stint studying poetry in Paris and years of developing his own artistic identity from the comforts of various midwestern cities, Travis packed his wool socks and moved to the chilly climes of Alaska. When he realized wool socks weren’t enough, it was on to Portland, Oregon where he endeavors to make The Photo Life a powerful resource on the virtual airwaves. Next time you’re in Portland, stop by Irving Park, where Travis can be found most evenings. He’s the scruffy guy playing with Collignon Quincampoix, the coolest dog you will ever meet.

Photo of Travis courtesy of Jessica Hill Photography.

JohnstonCanyonCabins

The Photo Life Podcast: An Interview with Kirstie Tweed

A Better Place to Be

In this week’s episode we speak with photographer Kirstie Tweed, owner of Orange Girl Photographs, about how a small town can surprise you with a turn of events you couldn’t have imagined. Kirstie shares the decisions that brought her to a small town in rural Canada and how following her heart and intuition has yielded far greater results than all the planning and logic in the world could have.


About Kirstie Tweed

I was given the name Orange Girl in high school for driving a 1973 orange superbeetle, dying my hair orange and wearing orange everyday, the name and my love of orange has stuck with me. I attended art school in Canada before moving to San Francisco to work in an art galley and exhibit my fine art work. I moved to New York for a brief year to work for a fashion photographer and photograph musicians before meeting my husband and moving back to California where I discovered what became my true photographic passion, weddings! My husband and I moved to beautiful Banff, Canada in 2004 where I specialize in mountain weddings and spend our free time walking our quirky dog Leroy in the place we love and call home.

Photo of Kirstie and her husband Kevin courtesy of Bebb Studios.

Emerald Lake

Wedding Rain

The Juniper

Johnston Canyon Cabins

Self Portraits

About the Host- Travis Schreer

The Photo Life Host Travis Schreer

Travis is a wanderer who has a life-long passion for helping creative people realize their ambitions. While studying at the Kendall College of Art and Design and Eastern Michigan University, simultaneously pursuing a BFA in fine art and a Masters in creative writing, Travis rediscovered his fascination with photography and began working as a product photographer. After a brief stint studying poetry in Paris and years of developing his own artistic identity from the comforts of various midwestern cities, Travis packed his wool socks and moved to the chilly climes of Alaska. When he realized wool socks weren’t enough, it was on to Portland, Oregon where he endeavors to make The Photo Life a powerful resource on the virtual airwaves. Next time you’re in Portland, stop by Irving Park, where Travis can be found most evenings. He’s the scruffy guy playing with Collignon Quincampoix, the coolest dog you will ever meet.

Photo of Travis courtesy of Jessica Hill Photography.

Blurb Book

The Photo Life Podcast: An Interview with Eileen Gittins (part 2)

King Harvest Will Surely Come

In this week’s episode, we continue our discussion with Founder and CEO of Blurb, Eileen Gittins about keeping a company forward-facing and embracing the future. We also examine why the printed page is far from obsolete and how the things that we move from the virtual to the tangible world matter more to us as a culture.

About Eileen Gittins
Eileen GittinsEileen Gittins is the founder and CEO of Blurb, the creative publishing and marketing platform that enables anyone to design, publish, market and sell bookstore-quality books. She has been at the intersection of the Internet, consumer and enterprise software, imaging systems, search, and digital photography throughout her career.

Eileen wanted to create a beautifully designed and produced photo essay book – something that looked like a book you’d buy at the bookstore – but she only needed 40 copies. This turned out to be remarkably painful, expensive, and time-consuming– and she thought that was just wrong. So she founded Blurb.

Since launching at DEMO in 2006, Eileen has led Blurb from a startup to a high-growth company, reaching profitability with revenues of more than $45MM in 2009. Blurb was ranked the #1 fastest-growing media company on the Inc. 500 list in 2010. With over one million books produced, well over one million registered users, and a global footprint that extends to 72 countries, Blurb continues to experience high growth amidst challenging economic times.

Eileen says this is the most fun company she’s ever run, which is saying a fair amount as she has lived and worked all over the world with Kodak and as VP at Wall Data before and after the IPO, CEO of Personify and Verb, outside Board Director at Qbiquity and Popular Demand, and even a stint at a boutique investment bank.

She does all this and has time for hobbies too. In her spare time she still photographs, is a voracious reader, avid traveler (both physical and virtual), and former competitive swimmer who occasionally dips back into the pool.

Photos courtesy of Blurb.

Blurb Book

Blurb Book

Blurb Book

About the Host – Travis Schreer

The Photo Life Host Travis SchreerTravis is a wanderer who has a life-long passion for helping creative people realize their ambitions. While studying at the Kendall College of Art and Design and Eastern Michigan University, simultaneously pursuing a BFA in fine art and a Masters in creative writing, Travis rediscovered his fascination with photography and began working as a product photographer. After a brief stint studying poetry in Paris and years of developing his own artistic identity from the comforts of various midwestern cities, Travis packed his wool socks and moved to the chilly climes of Alaska. When he realized wool socks weren’t enough, it was on to Portland, Oregon where he endeavors to make The Photo Life a powerful resource on the virtual airwaves. Next time you’re in Portland, stop by Dawson City Park, where Travis can be found most evenings. He’s the scruffy guy playing with Collignon Quincampoix, the coolest dog you will ever meet.

Photo of Travis courtesy of Jessica Hill Photography.

Blurb Book

The Photo Life Podcast: An Interview with Eileen Gittins

Sowing Seeds

In this week’s episode, we speak with Founder and CEO of Blurb, Eileen Gittins about endeavoring to make a book of one and how this led her to create the company that is a true culmination of all her life’s experiences. In the first of our two part conversation, we discuss the strategy and planning that led to the rise of Blurb and the importance for any fledgling company to find and answer that one question that will see you through to success.

About Eileen Gittins

Eileen GittinsEileen Gittins is the founder and CEO of Blurb, the creative publishing and marketing platform that enables anyone to design, publish, market and sell bookstore-quality books. She has been at the intersection of the Internet, consumer and enterprise software, imaging systems, search, and digital photography throughout her career.

Eileen wanted to create a beautifully designed and produced photo essay book – something that looked like a book you’d buy at the bookstore – but she only needed 40 copies. This turned out to be remarkably painful, expensive, and time-consuming– and she thought that was just wrong. So she founded Blurb.

Since launching at DEMO in 2006, Eileen has led Blurb from a startup to a high-growth company, reaching profitability with revenues of more than $45MM in 2009. Blurb was ranked the #1 fastest-growing media company on the Inc. 500 list in 2010. With over one million books produced, well over one million registered users, and a global footprint that extends to 72 countries, Blurb continues to experience high growth amidst challenging economic times.

Eileen says this is the most fun company she’s ever run, which is saying a fair amount as she has lived and worked all over the world with Kodak and as VP at Wall Data before and after the IPO, CEO of Personify and Verb, outside Board Director at Qbiquity and Popular Demand, and even a stint at a boutique investment bank.

She does all this and has time for hobbies too. In her spare time she still photographs, is a voracious reader, avid traveler (both physical and virtual), and former competitive swimmer who occasionally dips back into the pool.

Photos courtesy of Blurb.

Blurb Book

Blurb Book

Blurb Book

Blurb Book

About the Host – Travis Schreer


The Photo Life Host Travis SchreerTravis is a wanderer who has a life-long passion for helping creative people realize their ambitions. While studying at the Kendall College of Art and Design and Eastern Michigan University, simultaneously pursuing a BFA in fine art and a Masters in creative writing, Travis rediscovered his fascination with photography and began working as a product photographer. After a brief stint studying poetry in Paris and years of developing his own artistic identity from the comforts of various midwestern cities, Travis packed his wool socks and moved to the chilly climes of Alaska. When he realized wool socks weren’t enough, it was on to Portland, Oregon where he endeavors to make The Photo Life a powerful resource on the virtual airwaves. Next time you’re in Portland, stop by Dawson City Park, where Travis can be found most evenings. He’s the scruffy guy playing with Collignon Quincampoix, the coolest dog you will ever meet.

Photo of Travis courtesy of Jessica Hill Photography.