The Talking Pictures Podcast

Gone with a tip of his cap

We are back after our three month hiatus. Thank you for sticking with the Talking Pictures Podcast we really appreciate it. If you are a regular listener you already know we moved to new offices in late Decemeber 2017. The combination of getting situated in our new digs and a busy high school sports season conspired to keep us from taping any new episodes. We returned to the studio this week just in time to say goodbye to one of our own. Tune in and find out which member of the Talking Pictures Podcast is walking into the sunset wearing a cowboy hat and Nikes.

Max-imum portraits

We apologize for the delay in posting a new episode. We have been busy moving to our new offices but before we moved out we recorded one last episode in our old photo studio before moving to our new offices. Max Gersh, of The Villages Daily Sun photographer, calls into the show to talk about his fantastic sports portrait project. The elaborately staged portraits were shot for the Villages Daily Sun’s high school basketball kick-off issue.

Thanks for the 1720 memories

The real estate listing for our soon to be former home at 1720 5th Avenue in Moline reads as follows; "Current Daily Dispatch Property. Now available for purchase. Over 53,000 SF of office and warehouse space……Will be vacated within the next 120 days.’ Well those 120 days are just about up, so we decided to gather six current and former Dispatch/Argus photographers to take a hilarious and heartfelt trip down memory lane about life at 1720. 

As for our new home, the Jefferson’s theme said it best - “Well we're movin' on up to the east side.”  We will be moving into a beautiful new building just down the road in East Moline. But before we go forward, we take a look back. We hope you in enjoy the show. Our panel includes Todd Welvaert, John Greenwood, Gary Krambeck, Paul Colletti, Todd Mizener and on the phone from Kansas City, Dan Videtich.

He broke the internet and survived

Our guest this week is Kyle Grantham, the National Press Photographers Association clip contest chairman. In addition to giving us an inside look at the monthly clip contest, Kyle weaves some great stories from his days as a photojournalist in Delaware, Indiana and Wyoming.  Tune into the podcast and find out what body part freezes first when it is -27 degrees in Casper, Wyoming and much, much more.

Betty Sample - My Old Friend

During the course of your career you come across those unique characters on assignment that just stick with you. 100-year-old Betty Sample is one of those people for me (Todd M). This week’s podcast is about Betty and the portrait I shot for her 100th birthday. The portrait will be posted on the Talking Pictures Podcast blog.

Tintype: Better photography through chemistry

Todd Welvaert returns to his co-host seat to talk about his new photographic passion - tintype photography. The early form of photography dates back to 1853. Todd talks about how a great deal at a priest's estate auction and his desire to try something new, albeit old, very old, has turned into a full blown obsession to make 100 great tintype portraits. To see a video of Todd making a tintype go to our blog - http://bit.ly/2fNrDup

Hurricanes and Riots

In a recent Facebook post former Dispatch/Argus reporter, Brian Krans, wrote: “To any journalist friends who are covering Hurricane Harvey: one, remember your stay in a hotel room makes one less for evacuees. Two, go into counseling immediately after your assignment is done. You're going to see things you wouldn't normally expect and then go home to people acting like everything is normal. The juxtaposition can be jarring.  I learned the latter the hard way covering Katrina from the ground. It changed me forever.” Brian talks candidly about his experience covering Katrina and his more recent experience covering the violent protests in Berkley. We also talk to Brian about the state of journalism in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Brian, who left the Dispatch/Argus in 2009, is currently working on a Master’s Degree in Journalism at the University of California, Berkley. The veteran reporter also hosts The Rock Town Podcast

Solar Eclipse....totally stoked

Alan Sheidler, the President of the Quad-Cities' Popular Astronomy Club, is excited about witnessing his first total solar eclipse on Monday, August 21, 2017. Before leaving for Columbia, Missouri he was kind enough to chat about photographing and witnessing the eclipse.

Intern Take Over

The summer is coming to a close and our interns are going back to school soon. Before they head back to campus we wanted to sit down for a chat with reporter interns Hannah Rodriguez, Luke Cummings, Jessica Moon and photo intern Nate Manley. They were one of the best crop of interns we have ever had here at the paper. Tune in and learn all about the Breakfast Club for Magicians and the weird and wacky world of a door to door salesman. (Thumbnail composite photo by Meg McLaughlin)

Pardon Our Interruption

This week’s episode is an quick status update on the podcast and an explanation for our unexpected hiatus. Rest assured the podcast isn’t going anywhere and we have some new episodes in the works.