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B&H Photography Podcast

Rodney Smith’s Leap of Faith: An Intimate Chat with Leslie Smolan & Terence Falk

B&H Photography Podcast

Jill Waterman

Podcast, Photography, Arts, Visual Arts, Bh, Photo

4.62K Ratings

🗓️ 6 September 2023

⏱️ 89 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Rodney Smith was a photographic visionary, with an allegiance to the image above all else. Long acclaimed for his iconic black-and-white pictures—not to forget his later jewel-like color scenes—Smith captured enchanted worlds full of subtle magic and lighthearted humor. Using only analog film and the aesthetics of natural light, his dream-like photographs are matched in quality by the craft and physical beauty of his prints.

Smith died in 2016, yet the enduring precision, elegance, and whimsy of his world view is nowhere more evident than in our conversation with Leslie Smolan, his widow and executive director of his estate; and his long-time assistant, master printer Terence Falk.

Listen in as Smolan discusses key aspects of Smith’s career development and describes her recent collaboration with the J. Paul Getty Museum on the book, Rodney Smith: A Leap of Faith. And Falk provides firsthand anecdotes about the unique experience of working on a Rodney Smith shoot—an experience that led one powerful New York executive to call his secretary from a midtown pay phone and exclaim, “I feel like I’m in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off!”

As New York Fashion Week ushers in the fall season, we’re looking back on the career of one of the most distinctive photographers to infuse business and fashion with a timeless sense of style and grace.

Guests: Leslie Smolan and Terence Falk

For more information on our guests and their gear they use, see:
The Estate of Rodney Smith Website: rodneysmith.com/
The Estate of Rodney Smith Facebook: www.facebook.com/rodneysmithphotography/
The Estate of Rodney Smith Instagram: www.instagram.com/_rodneysmith/
The Estate of Rodney Smith Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/rodneysmithpics/
Rodney Smith Lecture at the B&H Event Space: www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photog…mith-1970-2016
Conversation about Rodney Smith at FIT Amphitheater: www.fitnyc.edu/museum/events/index.php
Rodney Smith Exhibition at Staley Wise Gallery in New York: www.staleywise.com/exhibitions/rodney-smith2
Rodney Smith: A Remembrance with Dr Rebecca Senf: santafeworkshops.com/creativity-con…-rebecca-senf/
Rodney Smith: A Leap of Faith book: shop.getty.edu/products/rodney-s…th-978-1606068465

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This week's episode is sponsored by Lyca.

0:04.0

You're listening to the B&H Photography podcast.

0:06.5

For 50 years, B&H has been the professional source

0:09.7

for photography, video, audio, and more.

0:12.7

For your favorite gear, news, and reviews,

0:14.8

visit us at bnh.com

0:16.6

or download the B&H app to your iPhone or Android device.

0:20.4

Now here's your host, Alan Whites.

0:24.4

Greetings and welcome to the B&H Photography podcast.

0:27.1

My name is Alan Whites.

0:28.8

And I'm Jill Waterman.

0:30.4

And as always, don't be surprised

0:32.3

if our audio engineer, Mike Weinstein,

0:34.1

pops his head in with a question or comment

0:36.2

or two along the way.

0:37.8

In today's show, we're going to revisit

0:39.7

a time and place inhabited by manicured lawns

0:42.3

and pristine landscapes.

0:44.1

It's a place where dapper men and bowlers

0:46.1

and top hats engage in gravity defying feats

0:49.1

and demoral women are caressed by soft light.

0:52.1

We're going to travel to a time and place

...

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