Welcome to episode 609 of the Perceptive Photographer. In this episode, we’re gonna be digging into a quote by Pablo Picasso that I found really interesting as I was putting new quotes into the cookbook. Before we dug into that topic, I offered up a little congrats and hugs and wanted to make sure they made it intot he shows notes/. So, congratulations on whatever was awesome that happened to you this week. If it was a horrible week, know that there’s a virtual hug coming to you from the studio to make you feel a little bit better.

As for the podcast this week, as I was putting new quotes into my quote book, I stumbled across one of my favorite Picasso quotes.

“It took me four years to paint like Rafael, but a lifetime to paint like a child”

I think one of the interesting things about this quote is Picasso’s separating how quickly, while four years may not seem quick to some of us, we can learn technical elements for our work. And how hard it is for us to be who we really are our authentic self, our kid-like self and that we spend a lifetime basically chasing back to have that “real” expression.

I think a lot of photographers end up in this camp, where we spend so much time mastering technical elements and then struggle to make our photographs feel like our photographs. They lack the essence of who we are. They often feel like they’re missing our voice or our vision.

I also think that there are amazing artists who struggle less with presenting their authentic selves, but yet feel like they technically can’t get the expression they want because they don’t know how to go about it.

I also think it’s always easier to feel like the other side has it better, but no matter how we slice it, it’s always frustrating when we can’t create the work that allows us to express what we’re truly thinking and feeling.

So as I was working through how to do this and what would make this easier, I was reminded of the great philosopher and Sage, Opus the penguin from Bloom County and how Opus would often wish for things. And I think when we look at our work, if we start to engage with the language of not what’s right or wrong, what’s good or bad, but what we wish for the work, because wishing is something we could embrace from our childhood; we could embrace from our more inner self to see. Do I wish it was more technically correct, or do I wish it was more expressive? And if it was more expressive, what do you really wish would happen? Does it mean that things are purple? Does it mean things are green? Does it mean things are whatever they need to be, and then what would happen if we actually made that work?

That’s what we’re digging in today on the podcast. Hope you find it interesting and insightful. Have a wonderful week, and thanks again for being so much a part of the podcast community.

In this episode of The Perceptive Photographer, I sit down with Leica Ambassador Greg Hatton for an amazing conversation on what it means to be a photographer in the age of AI and Generative AI imagery. I met Greg about a year ago when he was in Seattle hosting this Process workshop at the Leica store in Bellevue in conjunction with PCNW. Greg and I spent an afternoon talking all things photography, from gear to mentors to making work that means something.

To give you a little more background, Greg is an award-winning documentary photographer and filmmaker whose work is all about people, connection and the stories that surround us. At his core, he is a storyteller. I have really appreciated learning all about his wonderful and thoughtful approach to image-making. He encourages us to look beyond the camera and really consider how we see the world, how we connect with our subjects and what we want our photographs to communicate. As you will hear, his work is deeply connected to curiosity, observation, connection and a genuine interest in people. I think he talked to at least three photographers when we were recording. He believes photography is about much more than taking a picture; it’s about learning to see, being present and understanding the story in the image.

As I said, I met Greg when he was up for his PROCESS workshop. Those workshops are all about opening up the creative journey behind photography, sharing experiences, insights and an approach to developing a more intentional and personal photographic practice. If you ever get the chance to attend, it is worth your while.

I’ve really got a lot of things to think about and process from our conversation a few weeks ago. I hope you enjoy it. You can find Greg on his site, Impaci and on Instagram. You can also see video work on YouTube and Vimeo.

Thanks for joining me this week for the Perceptive Photographer podcast. Today is November 2, 2026, which is always a rough day for me. It’s the anniversary of the day I learned about my brother’s passing. It is hard to believe that it has been nine years.

So this week’s podcast is a little random because I was struggling to figure out the motivation to record anything last week. It finally hit me that I was thinking a lot about those first days. One of the things I have been learning is that while I feel like I have done lots of work to process the emotional and psychological impacts of his passing, there is always a physical toll on me this time of year. Most years, I either get really sick or have some health issues that result in ER visits. These always seem to come up in November and December. Part of what I’m learning is that there is more that needs to be taken care of where the body remembers and hasn’t processed the grief as much as my mind has.

In learning this sum of the parts, I got to thinking about the depth of the images that resonate with me from that time in my life or anytime, for that matter. I think that’s one of the things about our photographic process that can be applied from what I’m learning every year that I go through this. That there is a depth and complexity to who we are as people and the more we are willing to understand, share and process the entirety of that complexity, the more interesting we are as individuals and therefore the more interesting we are as community members and ultimately the more interesting our art and photographs become.

This was all pretty interesting because part of what I wanted to talk about before starting to struggle with figuring out why I was having a hard time recording a podcast last week was that I was going to be talking about a quote from the book Photographers on Photography by Henry Carroll, from an interview he did with Ron Jude. He asked Ron what his favorite Photographic quote was and why, and the quote that he came up with was by Lewis Baltz.

“Anyone can take pictures; what’s difficult is thinking about them, organizing them and trying to use them in some way so that some meaning can be constructed out of them. That’s really where the work begins for an artist”

Ron then goes on to say, “What I offer as an artist doesn’t lie solely in craft or visual acrobatics. It’s in the context I create for individual images”

What really struck me with this overlap was that so much of the meaning we create, so much of the work we create, is in the understanding of the complexity in context by which we want our work to be viewed and in the context by which it was created. So I’m thinking about the multi-layered way. Grief has impacted my life. I’m also realizing how important it is for me to recognize that when my photographs have that multi-layered complexity, the more interesting they are, the more honest they are, and the more engaging. They are so, hopefully, as we talk about that podcast this week, that it’ll be something for you to get out of it that you can enjoy and apply to your own process.