Episode 0018: Interview with Melvin Sokolsky, Canon Explorer of Light and Fashion & Advertising Photographer

LensFlare 35 is a weekly show brought to you by Dave Warner. In this week’s episode, Dave interviews Canon Photographer Melvin Sokolsky. Melvin was born and raised in Manhattan’s Lower East Side during the lean years of the pre-war era. Here he witnessed the entire spectrum of the human condition played out across a tough and tight-knit community. With no formal training, his photographic education came purely from instinct, desire, and careful observation. Upon learning that photographers could make money for “just taking pictures,” Sokolsky was seized by visions of a previously unimaginable career path. He took up an all-consuming regimen of photographic experimentation with a singular focus and determination that have since become his trademark process.

This is a pretty unusual episode, in that it is MUCH longer than normal – one hour and almost 23 minutes long! The video itself is an additional 45 minutes in length. But, at 75 years old, Melvin has a LOT to say, and I just had to record it all. I have almost another hour worth of his discussions, that I COULD put in an out-take reel if enough people make a comment (below). In this episode, he talks about how he got started, what his first break was, about the fashion and advertising world of photography, Harper’s Bazaar, Photoshop, and so much more!

List of Questions (PDF format)

Equipment and Software mentioned in this podcast: Adobe Photoshop CS4, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon 7D, Canon 1DS Mark III.

Show Sponsors: ExpoImaging, Inc., ScanCafe

To listen to the full podcast interview, click on the player’s forward arrow below. You can also play the Podcast in a popup window, download it OR subscribe to it via iTunes. We created a special video of Melvin’s images with his explanation of each that opens in a popup window, just click, watch and listen.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:22:34 — 37.8MB)

Tagged as: advertising, advertising photography, camera, canon camera, canon dslr, Canon Q&A, digital camera, digital photography, dslr, fashion, fashion photography, melvin sokolsky, photography