# Photography Hot Takes - Photography is Nothing with Zach Dobson & Courtney McCracken

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/photography-is-nothing-7391177/photography-hot-takes-photography-is-nothing-with-zach-dobson-courtney-mccracken
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/photography-is-nothing-7391177/photography-hot-takes-photography-is-nothing-with-zach-dobson-courtney-mccracken.md
Podcast: [Photography is Nothing](https://stenobird.com/podcast/photography-is-nothing-7391177)
Published: 2026-03-11T13:31:48+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/photography-is-nothing/episodes/Photography-Hot-Takes---Photography-is-Nothing-with-Zach-Dobson--Courtney-McCracken-e3g8t99
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/fd036364/podcast/play/116732649/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-2-11%2F419758913-44100-2-9c496d9ac3dba.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/photography-is-nothing-7391177/episodes/photography-hot-takes-photography-is-nothing-with-zach-dobson-courtney-mccracken
Duration seconds: 3520

## Resource

Episode 26 - Photographers are a passionate bunch and always have hot takes about our beliefs and convictions surrounding our art. And this goes all the way to the beginning of photography with the original hot take: Is photography art? Zach and Courtney discuss some of the biggest hot takes throughout the history of photography. In this episode we talk about current & historical photography hot takes like… Photography isn’t art Photography should only reflect reality Color photography isn’t art Film is better than digital Plus Zach & Courtney give their own personal photography hot takes. “Photography is nothing–it's life that interests me.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson Index 0:00 - They said my high school photography was better 0:48 - Photography hot takes: past & present 1:40 - When should photographers volunteer their time 5:21 - Photography is not art 7:11 - Henry Peach Robinson wrote the book on Pictorialism 12:44 - Eugene Atget showed how documentary photography could be art 17:01 - Edward Steichen - The Flatiron (1904) 18:09 - Ansel Adams hated pictorialism 20:03 - f64 was a group of photographers advocating for realism 26:00 - Color photography is vulgar 27:03 - Don’t colorize black & white photos 34:10 - Film is better than digital 40:14 - Street photography hot take: wait to share your photos 43:38 - Zach says photographers are content creators 51:11 - Courtney cares who is behind the camera 54:46 - The internet preferred Zach’s high school photography Find Zach Website: https://zachdobson.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zachdobsonphoto/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zachdobsonphoto Threads: https://www.threads.com/@zachdobsonphoto Find Courtney Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/courtneymccracken_/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@h…

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