Exploring Creativity - Episode 22 - John Puziss - Summary

Host Rich Pfeifer interviews Branford, Connecticut photographer John Puziss about his path into photography, from a teen with a film camera and high school darkroom work to digital tools. Puziss, a scientist by profession, cites influences including Ansel Adams, Galen Rowell, Jimmy Chin, Cartier-Bresson, Margaret Bourke-White, and Mitchell Funk, and says the biggest challenge today is editing, selecting frames, and printing for gallery display. He focuses on landscapes and wildlife, recounting photographing foxes during COVID lockdowns and osprey in Branford, and also photographs sculpture, including his black-and-white image of the “Jesus the Homeless” sculpture in Dublin shown at the BACA gallery. He discusses golden-hour light, phone-camera strengths, defining “done” through cropping and refinement, the thrill of early sales, and views AI as acceptable for editing but requiring disclosure when generating entire images. He advises studying composition and light, taking many photos, and practicing regularly.