… Spring is construction time for those feathered friends whose nest did not survive the year and these nests are either constructed or repaired twig by twig … and the great egret above is carrying one such small branch back to the construction site. Nothing good comes easy in this life and all we need to do is look around us at the enormous effort creatures everywhere put into their lives.

Below the daily search for food is on display as the paths of a great egret and a snowy egret cross in the very shallow waters of a bay on the north end of Lake Pleasant … no work, no food.

A beautiful weekend … time spent with friends and a special treat with lunch at T Cook’s in the Royal Palms Resort this afternoon … five star dining and ambiance. If you make a reservation request either Megan or Kim to be your server!

Into a new week and time for a little rest before I continue the day. Keep breathing and smile … what a privilege to be here and share the beauty that is life!

Cheers,

Ted

In an interesting and unconventional approach to capturing dynamics displayed during a DJ set, a new project by photographer Kat (real name Fabrice Caterini) aims to blur the lines and broaden the lens of conventional music photography.

In Caterini’s latest short film and photo series titled “We Own The Night“, audiences are placed front and center to the part animation-part techno and electro fever dream that are Caterini’s distinctive stylized images and storytelling.

“With this project, I aim to shatter the way we are looking at and represent music photography and specifically DJs. Using the computational possibilities of the high-key mono portrait mode of smartphones, I’m isolating DJs from their background and instrument.” Caterini says speaking to PetaPixel.

See video below:

Caterini, who has a background in photojournalism and cinematography, has spent years utilizing photos as tools for change. A personal compass that has been further energized by the works of photographers such as Eugene Smith or Stanley Greene.

When working on a previous project to capture and document the atmosphere of the electro-music scene, Caterini had mixed feelings about the kinds of images he or others were capturing. Finding many lacking the honesty of the kinds of dynamic moods often displayed in the electro-techno scene — particularly of DJs — Caterini then stumbled upon the idea for “We Own The Night”

“Henri Cartier Bresson was saying, ‘To make a good picture, you have to be available’; well, interestingly enough this project started by accident and I exploited it: one friend of mine was playing in Berlin and I decided to photograph her live on YouTube, with my phone. My finger had slid on the ‘wrong’ mode and the result surprised me a lot. I stuck on and on to the idea,” Caterini continues.

“Using the computational possibilities of the high-key mono portrait mode of smartphones, I’m isolating DJs from their background and instrument. Every chosen DJ set is specific, whether it’s archival footage or live, and has its own inner energy, genre, and singularity encapsulated in sixty-four squares, like a chessboard, to figure its endless possibilities.”

64 images are arranged, edited, and put through an augmented reality software which in turn creates lively animated musical sequences activated by the software.

This ambitious undertaking of the Lyon-based photographer is also an ode to cinematic greats such as Edward Muybridge.

His process, which includes numerous scouting sessions, and vetting of performances, both live or in archival footage, is a lengthy and thoughtful curation of the energetic atmospheres or ‘characters’ he thinks will best translate well, once animated.

“[…] If I’m shooting archival content, I’m scouting dozens of specific DJ sets to find the one that fits the energy I’m looking for […] When I’ve found it, I’m shooting it as if it’s live: focusing on finding expressions and key moments that matter to tell the story. For [actual] live shootings, I’m going to clubs or venues, mainly in Lyon where I live. It’s one of the best cities in Europe for electronic music with a very good curation every weekend and I work in collaboration with clubs and artists.” Caterini shares with PetaPixel.

“Once the 64 pictures are selected, I edit them in Lightroom (mainly crop and minimal adjustments) and then create the video. I finally edit an augmented reality sequence using a desktop app. The ideal conditions are a front angle with sufficient lightning…and a good beat.”

As for the challenges surrounding this project, Caterini spends a lot of time combing the internet to find just the right kinds of high-quality, dimensionally favorable videos to use.

“Obviously for archival content, it’s not an easy task to find the right set for the right DJ, as the recording quality is sometimes quite poor […] you have to find a well-lit HD video if possible […] During live shooting, the high-key mono mode has difficulties triggering in low light environment such as clubs.”

Also, when filming in person —as one would presume—the photographer has to quickly adapt to an extremely active unsteady environment during his shoots,

“[…] sometimes you have to do a 2- or 3-second-long exposure and wait for the results. Three seconds where you have to follow the movements of the DJ, almost like a dance. Another challenge is that people don’t understand why I stick in the front row for 20 or 30 minutes with a smartphone so I get a lot of haters until I show them the results. Plus, it’s a club, so it’s not really a quiet and steady environment!”

Although the photographer has perfected his process, he admits the newness of the technique still provides a fair amount of challenge.

“[…] this photo mode is still in its infancy and is tricky, especially in such lighting conditions,” he says. “But after years of practice, I know the pros and cons and easily get over it.”

As for equipment, Caterini’s love of experimentation has led to an offbeat utilization of his iPhone 13Pro to capture the shots for the current series. But his usual go-to’s remain as a SonyA7s3 and Leica lenses.

“ […] I’m using an iPhone 13Pro. It’s small, inconspicuous, and it’s the only camera that has the technology I need for this particular project […] I’ve got a scientific background and always try to push the boundaries of tools. I love to experiment […]Given my background in photojournalism, there is no way I’m willing to do this rendering in post. Truly I’m using the phone as just a tool, I don’t even use Photoshop in my workflow. A tool is just a tool. I want it straight.”

With each effervescent image and photo in the series that Caterini manifests, he hopes that not only do they raise questions and encourage excitement and surprise, but that the offerings of this series will last the tests of time. It’s a vision that he also wants to share with future collaborators,

“My vision is clear and I’m sticking to it because I know it’s original, unique, and has an impact. I’ve already photographed many DJs using my process and every week my list gets bigger because people suggested new ones to me. Now I feel empowered to continue and I’m looking for collaboration. ”

Feedback on ‘We Own The Night’ has been positive and very encouraging for Caterini.

“After seeing other people’s reactions to my work, especially in the techno scene, it has comforted me in my endeavors. I remember a Spanish DJ, backstage at an event, he was calling me ‘the magician’ and wanted to know everything about the technology […] This [and other comments’] are both uplifting and exciting. If traditionalists see my process from a bad eye or otherwise, well, I think you’d better evolve, or you slowly gonna fade. ”

Currently, Caterini is staying busy and learning new tools and fine tuning techniques to further his ambitions and visions for the photo genre. From platinum/palladium printing to more augmented reality and dabbling into the NFT arena, the photographer is also preparing a book and working on a photo essay titled “The End of Sight”.

For more from Caterini, make sure to visit his website and Instagram

Image credits: Fabrice (Kat) Caterini

Artificial intelligence images have the potential to misinform the future. For the first time in the technological present, we are on the cusp of a life-and-art-altering explosion of intentionally created dis-informational imagery.

The Rise of Artificial Intelligence

Prompted art by artificial intelligence (A.I.) is a fact of modern life. Millions of computer-generated images and “art” propagate daily across the internet. A.I. is shared on social media and stored in vast memory banks. A.I. has quickly become part of our digital history but at an enormous emotional and commercial cost to those who still prize the individualism and creativity of image-making.

With its creation in 1987, Photoshop, some argue, delegitimatized photography with this new ability to completely manipulate digital images. Many of these concerns were realized when heavily manipulated images were confused for reality. A.I. takes these concerns to an elevated level which makes even heavy-handed Photoshop look like child’s play.

In 1950 the famous mathematician Alan Turing described the Turing Test, which is a method of inquiry to determine if a computer is capable of sentient thinking. Turing proposed that a computer can possess artificial intelligence if it can mimic human responses. In 1955, Stanford professor John McCarthy is credited with being one of the founding fathers of artificial intelligence. He defined A.I. as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines”.

Seventy years later, with the recent development of the large language model ChatGPT and image creation programs like Midjourney and DALL-E, the lines between reality and imagination have started to blur…and reality is at stake.

History Unalterably Altered

As a photographer on a 20-year journey to photograph a thousand Native Americans in the present day, I am concerned about the fact that history, itself, will become unalterably altered. Tribal Judge Andew Lester Laverdure from the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa recently stated “We are already nearly invisible, we’ve been negatively caricatured, romanticized, and systematically erased. A.I. manipulation and misrepresentation are just a continuation of the erasure. I am saddened by this. I feel a sadness that is hard to describe. I am angry.”

For example, Midjourney is one of today’s most popular A.I. prompted image generators. With just a few simple words of input, the A.I. is capable of generating a myriad of images in just a few seconds. By typing the phrase “Tintype of lost New Mexico tribe circa 1800’s” the problem becomes very evident. The images below were generated in exactly this manner.

To the random researcher or student, these images look legitimate. But to the trained eye of both historian and portrait photographer, something seems obviously amiss. The hands are often a tell-tale sign of the incompetence of an A.I. program. The software does not comprehend that the human hand should have five digits. The generator is simply finding patterns from previous images and reshuffling them into a new rendition of the keywords with which it was programmed.

The majority of today’s images race through our social media thread. These images are rather convincing as the manner in which they are produced is technologically impressive. The ability to differentiate fiction from reality is further compounded when viewed on the small screen of a smartphone. Few take the time to study the number of digits on the hands of a Native American portrait that was supposedly taken over 100 years ago.

The World is Not Ready

What is both interesting and at the same time terrifying is that these applications improve at an exponential rate. Photographers have watched their progress in a matter of weeks. A year ago, it would be hard to find a convincing A.I. generated portrait image. Today, even the field’s experts are easily duped.

Self-styled ‘photomedia artist’ German Boris Eldagsen recently won the prestigious World Photography Organization’s Sony World Photography Awards, which he entered to make a point: photography needs to be aware of the change that is coming. Respectfully, emphasizing the fact that his entry was an A.I. generated image, he declined the award but the reality is that the future is now. New terminology will evolve to describe these images. Eldagsen coined the term “promptography” because an A.I. image takes a sufficient amount of time to create using several or hundreds of ‘prompts’.

Herein lies the problem: exactly what purpose do these images serve? Analog and digital photography previously presented a window into, and proof of, the distant past. A.I. contrived people do not exist: they have never existed and they will never exist except in the digital ether. The people depicted in these images never lived and they will never die. The human condition of the past is no longer relevant.

Will future generations archive these fake images as historically significant? Will historians mistakenly believe these are depictions of real regalia, dances, and ceremonies performed by authentic tribes? And if so, how does that impact today’s tribes that actively document their real history and heritage? Many experts have already voiced major concerns about “deep fakes” and the troubles they will cause for historians in general.

Eventually, these programs will be training on new imagery as it is made available in real time. At that moment, A.I. will reference previously created A.I. images and incorporate them into its new output. This cannibalistic-type training will result in the further dilution of the truth. At some point in the future, it is conceivable that there could be more fake images on the internet than real photographs…remembering that we produce more digital photographs in one single day than all the analog photographs made in the first 150 years of photography.

History in the Future

The question then arises: is this the end of recorded history as we know it? “Digital material including key historical documents could be lost forever because programs to view them will become defunct,” said Google Vice-President Vint Cerf back in 2015. Our digital photographs face the technological reality of becoming obsolete, further complicated by A.I. flooding the internet with fake visual documents. In the future who, or even what, will be able to separate legitimate from created history?

Austrian analog photographer Markus Hofstaetter recently proposed that all A.I. images have digital watermarks baked into the digital file. Doing so would make the task of identifying computer-generated images versus real images effortless. This would also create immediate transparency by which we would no longer have to rely on the honesty of A.I. creators. We can also develop A.I. programs that detect the presence of A.I. generated images which would inhibit A.I. created images from invading our news cycle.

Pogo, the eponymous anti-hero of Walt Kelly’s comic strip of the same name, famously declared ‘We have met the enemy, and he is us.’ French painter Paul Delaroche, upon seeing his first daguerreotype in 1840 purportedly exclaimed ‘From today, painting is dead!’

Artists have been, and will always be, surprised and challenged by the advances of technology as it applies to their specific arts, but we continue to evolve as, indeed, everything changes. The chaos wrought upon the creative community by A.I. will eventually subside through assimilation, internalization and eventually control. Now, as ever, what is feared will eventually be embraced as a creative tool – with legitimate boundaries – which will move us another step in the direction of artistic control.

A.I. can be as powerful a tool as it is a legitimate scourge. We have a definite cultural, creative, and contextual problem with this unleashed giant running amok. But as with any advancement, the hardest part of learning is living through the experience, of learning.

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.” —Robert F. Kennedy

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

About the authors: Shane Balkowitsch is a wet plate collodion photographer. He has been practicing for over a decade the historic process given to the world by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851. He does not own a digital camera and analog is all that he knows. He has original plates at 64 museums around the globe including the Smithsonian, Library of Congress, The Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford, and the Royal Photographic Society in the United Kingdom. He is constantly promoting the merits of analog photography to anyone who will listen. His life’s work is “Northern Plains Native Americans: A Modern Wet Plate Perspective” a journey to capture 1,000 Native Americans in the present day in the historic process.

Herbert Ascherman (b. 1947) is Cleveland, Ohio’s, most prominent portrait photographer. Since opening his portrait studio in 1975, Herb has photographed three presidents, more than 200 local artists, 750 Northern Plains Native Americans, and for twenty years, served as the portrait photographer to the Cleveland Orchestra. Herb has produced well over 9,000 black and white film-based portraits in his 47-year career. For the past twenty – three years, Herb has worked with an 8 x 10 Deardorff field view camera, and prints in the resurgent art of hand-made platinum, originally patented in England in 1871. Herb has a library of 2,385 books on photography. He also has a marvelous collection of Daguerreotypes of people and dogs. Throughout his career, Herb has lectured to more than 350 organizations internationally. He has exhibited in more than 150 venues throughout the US, Europe, India, Australia and Japan.

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Welcome to Ways of Seeing, an interview series that highlights outstanding talent in photography and film—the people behind the camera whose work you should be watching. In this week’s edition, senior content editor Michael Beckert chats with the Colombian, Madrid-based photographer Felipe Romero Beltrán on his latest project.

When I saw pictures from your new book, Dialect (published by Loose Joints), months ago, I was immediately drawn to their bewitching nature. But I kept asking myself, “What is going on in these images?” So what, in your opinion, is this project about?

Dialect started in 2020 with this group of young migrants who crossed the Mediterranean Sea from Morocco, to arrive here in Spain. Because of very specific political bureaucracies in Spain, these migrants have to spend a long time—usually three years—waiting for papers, which will allow them to live and work here. I met these guys during a talk I was giving on my experience as a migrant, because I’m originally from Colombia. At first it was just that—trying to make a connection with these guys and speak to them, and a real relationship formed.

From there, I proposed the project and explained that I wanted to take photographs of them in this limbo state, documenting the years of waiting. The guys started taking Spanish-speaking classes, workshops to develop skills to integrate into society, and this project we shot was also a way for them to integrate. For me, it’s been quite a learning experience—not just in terms of my technical approach to photography, but also in regards to my ability to conceptualize an entire project.

One of the reasons this project stood out to me is because it’s technically documentary photography, but it feels like fashion imagery.

Absolutely. When I first met these guys, I was just taking photos of them for their WhatsApp and Instagram accounts while getting to know them. Because they were minors, I had to wait for formal permission to photograph them for the project. During that time, I heard a ton of stories about their experiences coming from Tangier, Morocco, and then to Seville. When I proposed the project, I asked them to reenact, in the photographs, some of the experiences they had on their journey from Morocco to Spain. In the case of Youssef (pictured below), he was talking a lot about how he traveled to Seville on a boat with 80 other people. I asked the guys to approach this reality through a straight photographic image, but with a twist on the reenactment, since I was not able to be there at the time. This kind of reenactment leads to conversation about their experiences and to accept them in a way—and the photograph is a way to remember them.

It’s almost like the process of making the photographs is a form of therapy, then? How did you come up with this approach to documentary photography? I’ve never heard of anything like it.

I’ve always been connected to education and to academics. In school, I started to think critically about what documentary means, exactly—how we categorize what is documentary and what is not. I wanted to play with that.

Is this project also partly a study of masculinity?

Yeah, absolutely. It was part of the project because these men were living together 24/7 while waiting for their papers and they had a specific situation as migrants. They were trying to make a living in Spain with the same background, the same experience. And of course, everyone has a different role and each person has to make a position on what they wanted to become afterwards. It was kind of unconscious for me, because I felt like part of this group. We made this bond and this relation that you can feel in the pictures.

How do you light your work?

Normally, I mostly use flash, especially for the interiors. And I use digital mostly, but it’s an old camera, so I can’t change much of the parameters.

I can’t believe these images are digital—they don’t feel that way at all.

That’s the thing: at the beginning, I said, “Let’s do it in digital,” because of money. But at the same time, it was easier to show the guys the pictures right after I shot them, to see if they liked it. If they didn’t, we’d repeat the picture and make edits to how we photographed them. So we shared our thoughts on the session when I was working with them.

Can you tell me a bit more about your own story and how you got into photography?

As I told you, I’m from Colombia. Socially and politically, Colombia is a complicated place. At the beginning, I was meant to study more on the journalistic or anthropologic side of things, but I discovered photography when my sister coincidentally brought a camera to our place. In an instant, I was like, “What the hell is this thing?” We build our relation with the world through words, through sentences, through this verbal experience. And with photography, it’s completely different. That’s what really struck me about it. At 17, I got a scholarship in Argentina, and moved there by myself, because I needed to find a job. I studied there for five years, then I moved between Israel and Palestine for another scholarship that I got from the university. I applied for another scholarship here in Madrid for a master’s degree, and now I’m finishing my PhD in photography.

Quite a long, long path—but fortunately, I could attach all my education to my practice.

Is there a photographer whose work you find particularly inspiring?

I’ve always pulled references, not just from other photography, but also paintings and movies; one of the references for this project was Pier Paolo Pasolini, the Italian filmmaker. I found it interesting, how he approached not only the visuals, but also the narrative itself. So that’s one instance, but photographically speaking, I’m keen on a lot more.

On one hand, I’m really interesting in photographic surface—like Wolfgang Tillmans, for example, who’s really sophisticated, educated, and respectful with the photographic medium. But at the same time, I’m fascinated by the conceptual approach: one of the references from the development phase of the Dialect project was [painter] Diego Velázquez, because he was from Seville. He has this relation with the Baroque that you can still feel in the city: in the architecture, in images, and in the religion.

What are you most proud of when it comes to your career and journey as an artist?

That’s a complicated question. But the thing that makes me happiest is that every project is a learning path, and it’s always connected with my next thing. For example, we are now working on a different project with two of the guys from Dialect that has to do with dance and movement. This is an example of that organic path.

At the same time, the thing I’m most proud of is that each project allows me to learn and be more precise, not only when it comes to the concept, but also in the photography. I’m trying to improve every single day that I’m doing pictures.

Laurie Friedman’s father passed down two important traits to his daughter: an artistic eye and a love of travel. Nearly four decades ago, she bought a single-lens reflex film camera and zoom lens for a tour of ancient civilizations of Mexico, starting in Mexico City and ending in Yucatán. Friedman has now visited 90 countries, always bringing a camera along to capture scenes of landscapes and life. “I tend not to be shy,” she says. “I’m happy to ask people, ‘May I take your photo?’ I always ask if I’m close, and every once in a while they’ll say no, I’d rather not. But most of the time it’s just fine. I also love little artistic details, like rooflines. Graphic images are my favorite, if I had to pick, but I’m kind of known for my portraits.”

Friedman—whose career was spent in hospital labs and sciences at UC Davis—had a wedding and portrait business, at one point shooting up to 25 weddings a year. Most of her photography these days is purely for enjoyment.

She is a founding member and program chair of the Gold Rush Chapter of the Photographic Society of America. The volunteer-run Sacramento club hosts workshops for photographers looking to develop their skills in areas such as portraiture, still life, smartphone, black and white, and flower photography. Gold Rush is one of many resources across Sacramento that serve photographers looking to learn the craft or boost their skills. Others include shops and galleries, formal education at local colleges and online tutorials.

While everyone may see themselves as photographers nowadays thanks to smartphones, and whether someone is a hobbyist or a professional, one of the most critical steps to actually possessing real talent is learning the camera. Justin Sotelo, an adjunct professor of photography at Sacramento City College, says, “There is no substitute for having knowledge, technical expertise and full control of the equipment you are using.”

OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY—When Roberta McClellan joined Viewpoint Photographic Art Center in midtown Sacramento as executive director in 2014, she already had many years of nonprofit arts management experience. She recognized that one way to advance Viewpoint, a member-oriented organization (now in its 32nd year), was to invite in the larger community, making its artwork and workshops more accessible.

“Viewpoint was started by photographers for photographers,” she says. “It was just this idea of a group of people saying, well, we love photography . . . and then it just evolved into what you see today.”

Viewpoint hosts two or three workshops monthly, about 22 exhibits a year in its 2,300 square feet of gallery space, artists receptions, Second Saturday gatherings and a student educational program. It also organizes Photography Month Sacramento each April. This celebration brings together between 20 and 30 partner organizations across five local counties to host about 40 events.

One workshop planned for this April is on NFTs (nonfungible tokens), which are “just blowing up” in the photography space, McClellan says. Viewpoint tries to stay up-to-date with the art form, because photography “is changing every day.” She sees growing interest in a return to old techniques, like alternative process, which developed in the mid-1800s and uses large glass plates, cyanotype and other tools.

Other Viewpoint workshops throughout the year include topics like composition, lighting, street photography and how to edit in Lightroom (a type of Adobe software); post processing topics tend to be popular. One-day photo outings are also well-attended. Past destinations have included Cosumnes River Preserve, Tahoe and Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. The opportunity to learn from peers makes these outings successful, McClellan says. “People have their peers with them and talk a little bit about what they’re doing and how people are capturing an image, what they’re doing with that image.”

Viewpoint’s 500 members get special privileges like attendance at “print and portfolio nights,” when experienced photographers facilitate a small gathering where everyone presents one or more images and a discussion follows. “Some of these people have been doing this for 30 or 40 years. You can learn so much in an hour’s sitting with a seasoned photographer,” McClellan says.

Friedman, of Gold Rush, describes Viewpoint as a “tremendous educational resource in the community.” She is also a member of Sierra Camera Club in Sacramento. (A local monthly meetup group called Beers and Cameras stopped gathering during the pandemic.) There’s also Professional Photographers of America, a national organization that provides educational resources for members. Many photographers and videographers say they rely on internet platforms and software tutorials to develop technical skills, such as CreativeLive, Phlearn, Skillshare, You-Tube and Adobe Photoshop.

After a hiatus from in-person instruction, Gold Rush is returning to this format in April with a program on abstract photography. Attendees will gather for instruction, then depart to take photos of wall art around the city. Friedman says there are benefits to being able to turn to a person next to you to ask for advice. “I found photographers are very generous at sharing their expertise,” she says.

Sotelo agrees that a valuable way to develop one’s skills is to seek constructive criticism from peers. “It’s really easy to have tunnel vision as you’re working on your content,” Sotelo says. “You have a different relationship with it. Maybe you’re just really focused on one aspect of it. I think it’s extremely important to have other people look at your work because it’s important to see what they see first.”

There’s no shortage of help offered to photographers who visit PhotoSource in East Sacramento or Mike’s Camera in midtown. “I teach people over the counter all the time. It’s just what I do,” says PhotoSource owner Michael Kallweit. “When people come in, we help and guide people for whatever they need.”

These businesses dole out advice and answer questions, sell gear and supplies, and in some cases have processing services and facilities available. For instance, customers can rent the darkroom at PhotoSource. The business opened in 2001 as a working photo lab where people can bring boxes of old media to get developed or converted to digital. Now it does much more. The shop buys, refurbishes and sells old cameras. It offers high-end rentals, which attracts professionals. Customers also include “the kids, as I call them, who are shooting film again,” Kallweit says.

“We have experienced what we call a revival in the industry,” he adds. “The young people are finding film and analog attractive for a number of different reasons. It’s probably, for one, just the opposite of their phones.” The anticipation of waiting to see their developed photographs is a big part of the appeal, unlike the instant gratification of cellphones and other digital technologies.

PhotoSource no longer holds workshops, and Kallweit says the best way to learn photography or expand one’s skills is through college courses. He describes schools within the Los Rios Community College District and Sacramento State as having some of the best photo programs in the nation. “That’s the place to learn,” he says.

ALWAYS MORE TO LEARN—Sotelo has had many careers—in music, education and for the state of California for about 16 years, while he also periodically took photography classes at Sacramento City College. In 2019, the college hired him as an adjunct professor for the department. He is now able to make a living through his craft.

“Collectively, the classes and just the program in general allowed me to develop the necessary skills to feel like I was ready to move forward with doing more professional or freelance work,” Sotelo says. “We’re always learning. I think we’re students for our lifetime. Things are always evolving. There’s always new technology.”

Over the years, he has taught beginning and intermediate digital photography (which cover topics such as camera operation, flash photography, post-processing, digital print
preparation, video capture and editing) and portfolio development. This spring semester, he is co-teaching California coastal photography—with a field trip to Point Reyes National Seashore—with Ryan Angel Meza, another adjunct professor and freelance photographer (who has photographed for Sacramento Magazine).

Angel Meza’s road to becoming a professional photographer involved a six-year detour working for the state government. Classes at City College and then a photography degree from Sacramento State gave him the education and confidence to make the career leap. “It’s been a really long journey to really develop the craft and be patient with getting my foot in the door,” he says.

These City College professors say their broad spectrum of students includes those enthusiastic about pursuing a career in the field and retirees who do photography as a
hobby but want to refine their skills. Some students want to merge photography and social media as a career opportunity; social media, Angel Meza says, “has made photography as a career really reachable” because there’s an endless demand for this type of creative content.

The students who will be best equipped to succeed in the industry will be those who have a multitude of skills, agree the professors. They both have also undertaken some degree of self-education in video and drone photography to make themselves more marketable. It’s about layering skill sets, Kallweit says. Just taking pictures doesn’t cut it.

Ultimately, a big part of growing as a photographer is simply creating habits and muscle memory—and the most critical ongoing step in one’s development is regular practice. “If you don’t really invest the time on a daily basis, if possible, you’re not going to progress,” Sotelo says. “I don’t pretend that I know everything. Every time I shoot, I walk away with some sort of knowledge.”