Join me on the next Photowalks shoot!

Just raise your hand, please

I’ve recently returned from beautiful Bakersfield, California (Yes, really) where I had the pleasure of working with Pete Yackley for two days on a Photowalks shoot. Just like I worked with Debbie Lindemann in San Francisco and Linda Quackenboss in Las Vegas.

What do they have in common? They’re all watchers of Photowalks, who reached out and said they’d love to come on a shoot with me. I love when this happens!

Pete wanted me to visit Bakersfield and see the town that’s best known for oil wells, country music and basque food through his eyes. I was happy to do, it was just fitting it into the schedule, which finally came through. An added bonus: he said he wanted to help me shoot and introduce me around town.

As you probably know, Photowalks, despite being a weekly TV series (Scripps News every Sunday at 10 a.m. ET) is a mostly DYI production. I shoot most of it, but always depend upon the kindness of others, whether that be my wife Ruth helping out with camera work, working with interns (Kenzie and Jake shot the upcoming Catalina Island and Manhattan Beach episodes) utilizing help from a Scripps station (Cincinnati and New York!) or getting some other good samaritan to pinch in.

Linda helped me shoot in Las Vegas, Debbie in San Francisco, and Pete was a yeoman, putting in Jeff type hours (7 a.m. til after sunset) in Bakersfield.

With Linda at one of my favorite Las Vegas locations

The beauty of the Photowalks series for me is traveling around, getting to meet new people and make new friends, and to see their places through their eyes. It’s why I do it. Plus, I’m on a journey to see the world’s most photographanle places, right?

That’s my perspective: What did Pete get out of it? Here’s his take.

“I wasn’t about to hold my breath when I asked Jeff to consider an episode in my hometown of Bakersfield, California.

Just a few months later, not only was he here on the Streets of Bakersfield (to quote a Dwight Yoakam/Buck Owens hit song), but I was invited to show Jeff around, capture moments on one of his many iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max rigs and show what this Central Valley town has to offer.

Of course, I learned a lot about how to get great pictures, but was surprised by the places and people I too was discovering during his two days here.

Bakersfield is not Las Vegas, Washington D.C. or Osaka (all recent episodes). So it was a pleasant surprise when Jeff said there was so much good material he was making this a rare 2-episode show.”

This is all true. And Part 1 debuts on May 3. I hope you’ll check it out.

What did Pete learn from the experience?

“I was impressed that shooting on the iPhone was so quick and spontaneous. No big gear bags, just a few phones, small selfie stick and maybe a cage to hold a portable light was all that was needed.

Over the two days, I was surprised how flexible the shooting schedule was, sometimes ahead, sometimes running late. But, the folks Jeff interviewed didn’t seem to mind a bit.

The iPhone is it’s own secret weapon. While scheduling one popular venue, the owner admitted later she was hesitant about a “big film crew” coming in. Once the smart phone format was explained she was relieved and thankful to be included in the show.

Jeff makes producing PhotoWalks seem too easy, yet a lot of prep, shooting hours and post go into the finished product you see on TV or YouTube. Taking photos is, ultimately, with a few tips the easiest part.”

AI graphic of the nest stops. Ignore the dates!

Next stop are the backroads of Indiana and Kentucky, and we’ll be in Indianapolis and Louisville too. Later this year, it’s Sioux Falls, Fargo, ND, Minneapolis, Columbus, Ohio and we’re headed back to San Francisco. Please raise your hand if you’d like to join me there.

Debbie in San Francisco

And speaking of the City by the Bay:

I first met Debbie when I did live photowalk events in San Francisco, courtesy of our then sponsor Flipboard and we’ve remained in touch. When I needed a hand for a local episode at Crissy Field, (where I would never shoot solo—and you know why, right?) I knew just who to call.

Her take:

“At Crissy Field, I saw how you shoot the opening scenes of the show and that you had a storyboard outline and just talked to include those points which makes Photowalks so natural feeling! And that the show is not random. You have a list of all the shots/places you want to include and have done your research ahead of time including lining up people to interview. And traveling from place to place, I learned about how you use Final Cut to edit and that’s motivated me to up my game on home movie editing!!

And the Insta 360 selfie stick—used it since the first time I met you. Millions of steps and photos taken with that invaluable accessory!! Because I’ve been on an in person walk a few times, I find it easy to insert myself on any Photo Walk show and see why you chose the angle or position for your photos and to second guess where you might take the iconic shots from places I’ve been! And I’m nearly always right after all the practice!”

Which brings us to Todd W. This week he wrote:

“Is there a chance you’ll offer a Jefferson Graham led Photowalk for your fans to come and join you on a Photowalk? Many of your peers do this and you have the fan base that it would probably fill up quickly. What do you think? “

I’m up for it. Are you guys?

What would you like to do? A day outing to a place like Venice Beach, Santa Monica, a weekend in Las Vegas, a visit to Catalina Island with time to sit and edit afterwards? A one day affair, a weekend trip?

Let’s craft this together and make it happen!

A.I. Music

For the upcoming Bakersfield episode, I really needed to produce some country music for the soundtrack, and everything I was trying DIY style sounded inferior. Then I came across this AI music website called SUNO (if I told how I heard of it you wouldn’t believe me*) that can create music based on a prompt.

As in: “Instrumental country upbeat Bakersfield sound type song with Fender Telecaster in lead and pedal steel in the chorus.” What came out sounded absolutely amazing. (You can hear a sample in the above video clip)

Part of me felt like a sub-human for doing this—I mean, the charge was only $10 for a monthly subscription, and the music is so good, I could imagine using it all the time. But I won’t.

Because luckily for me, my brilliant brother Jez Graham and pal Paul Ellis contribute human made music for me that fits the soundtrack perfectly and I think having original music is one of the selling points of Photowalks.

But in this case, I made the deal with the devil. One time only, I hope.

What do you think about A.I. music everyone? Yay or nay?

*How’d I hear about Suno? ChatGPT actually recommended it!

From Las Vegas, thanks as always to everyone who reads the newsletter, comments and offers the kudos. If you’re in town and attending the NAB, I’ll be speaking Saturday at 1:30 about…would you believe AI? Come say hi.

Jeff