A Conversation with Don Springer and Oliver Duong

I’m a big fan of the Inspired Eye Magazine and podcast, and even more so the of the individual blogs written by its creators, Oliver Duong and Don Springer. It’s no easy task to create new and compelling content on a regular basis and they both do it consistently.

The Inspired Eye guys are an interesting team. Oliver, a young Haitian-French-Vietnamese freelance photographer and graphic designer living in Florida, and Don, a Vietnam veteran and street photographer from Philadelphia. Although they couldn’t be more different, their chemistry works.

Together they produce Inspired Eye a fantastic magazine about photographers and their work. Each week they take a short time to converse on their podcast by the same name about their thoughts on photography. Since they’re both avid street photographers much of their talk revolves around it.

Both are prolific bloggers who approach it in their own unique way. Through their blogs you not only get to see their work, but you also get to know them, what makes them tick, how they work and why they do what they do.

We are routinely overwhelmed by ‘firehose’ blogs and websites full of content designed to capture and keep our attention for underlying commercial purposes. These guys are different. They use the medium to tell their own personal stories and take us along for the ride. In the process we learn how to be better, more mindful photographers. Both deserve a slice of your time and attention (and your RSS feed if you’re so inclined).

They were kind enough to provide us with a selection of their images to include with this article. Each photo is part of a story on the photographer’s blog. We’re pleased to include them here but these images are best viewed within the context of the posts where they appear. I encourage you to visit their blogs to enjoy the content in its entirety.

Both of them speak (and shoot) from the heart, during the interview, in their blogs and on their podcast. On a personal note, I have learned some important lessons from following their work. Listen to the interview and hear them say it for themselves.

Use the player below to listen to my interview with Don Springer and Oliver Duong.

A Selection of Images

The photos below were originally published on the individual photographers’ blog. Because each photo is part of a story they’re best viewed within the context of the original post.