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The Candid Frame: Conversations on Photography

The Candid Frame #157 - Brian Smith

The Candid Frame: Conversations on Photography

Ibarionex R. Perello

Arts, Visual Arts

4.8768 Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2012

⏱️ 46 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Brian Smith is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer who for the past thirty years has created iconic portraits of famous athletes, celebrities, politicians and business people. His images have appeared in countless books and magazines, not least of which are Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine, Time, Forbes, New York Times Magazine, Elle and British GQ. He won the Pulitzer for Spot News Photography for his photography of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. He was also won awards from both World Press Photo and the Picture of the Year competitions for his image of Greg Louganis hitting his head on the diving board at the Seoul Olympics. His personal project have included images of Burlesque performers from today and the past. He is also the author Secrets of Great Portrait Photography: Pictures of the Famous and the Infamous. www.thecandidframe.com info@thecandidframe.com

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi, this is anybody in X, and this is the Candid Frame.

0:19.9

A lot is made about lighting and technique and equipment when it comes to portrait photography.

0:26.6

But in the end, once the equipment stuff is out of the way, it's really about the rapport between two people that really makes the difference between a snapshot and a great portrait.

0:37.2

And today's guest, Brian Smith, is a photographer who knows about that.

0:41.0

He's photographed some of the most famous celebrities, politicians, performers, and his images

0:47.5

are really unique in the way that they evoke a sense of the personality.

0:52.9

And you get a sense of that person even within a single frame,

0:56.5

which is not an easy thing to do.

0:59.3

And it's especially a challenge when you literally sometimes only have minutes with your subject.

1:05.4

And I've always been very intrigued about stories behind some of the photographs.

1:10.2

So we get into that in some of today's episode.

1:13.3

But I think more importantly, if you're into portrait photography and your life, love

1:16.7

photographing people, today's interview should give you a lot of food for thought.

1:35.2

Okay. O'Brien, welcome to the candid frame.

1:36.5

Thank you.

1:37.4

Thanks for having me on.

1:45.5

I've liked your work for a while, so it was kind of neat to have a chance to meet you in person at Photoshop World, though I didn't have as much time to sit down and talk to you as I would have liked, but I'm glad that we're having

1:49.5

an opportunity now to sit down and chat a bit.

1:52.7

Absolutely, likewise.

1:53.9

It's fun when those things bring people together who we've kind of known each other from

1:58.3

the Internet for a while now, but it's always nice to meet face to face.

2:03.1

You were kind enough to send me a PDF of your latest book, which is Secrets of Great Portrait Photography.

...

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