424 episodes listed below
Practical photography lessons with real mentor energy.
Gina Milicia and Valerie Koo turn photography lessons into practical, friendly conversations about making better images and building confidence. The show moves between technique, business, guest stories, and the small lived details that shape a photographer’s eye.
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So You Want to Be a Photographer is a practical photography education show with a strong mentor-and-community feel. It is built around conversations between Gina Milicia and Valerie Koo, with episodes that move easily from technical instruction into anecdotes, guest interviews, and encouragement. The teaching is concrete. Listeners hear about lighting, posing, composition, product photography, flash, editing, portraits, and the business habits that help photographers keep going. The show is not just about settings and gear. It pays close attention to the photographer behind the camera, especially the confidence needed to approach strangers, direct people, try unfamiliar techniques, and recover from creative nerves. Gina’s explanations often start with a specific problem, such as changing daylight, intimidating group portraits, or making entry-level gear look polished, then work toward an achievable method. Valerie’s role keeps the show conversational, especially for listeners who are learning while still finding their footing. Guest episodes add texture. Luci Valentine talks through learning off-camera flash and the power of being able to control light. Kerri Setch’s episode turns fear, introversion, and workshop growth into a larger conversation about creative courage. Joel Alston brings the world of elopement and adventure wedding photography into view. Nancy Floyd’s 40-year self-portrait series gives the show one of its more reflective, art-minded moments. The archive also has plenty of casual detours, from favorite shows to small observations about beautiful seasonal light. Those digressions make the teaching feel less sterile. They also make the show feel like a long-running classroom where regulars know the rhythm. A recurring commercial thread points listeners toward workshops, membership, feedback, and resources, but the best parts remain the practical demonstrations and the confidence-building stories around them. The final episode changes the emotional weight of the archive. Valerie Koo explains that Gina Milicia died on February 6, 2022, and closes the podcast with gratitude, grief, and a clear sense of legacy. That ending makes the earlier episodes feel less like disposable tips and more like a preserved body of teaching. For photographers who want instruction with warmth, personality, and real-world examples, the show still has plenty to offer.
Made for: For beginner, amateur, and working photographers who want clearer portraits, stronger lighting skills, and a more confident way to approach shoots. It especially suits listeners who like technique explained through stories and examples.
What sets it apart: The show pairs nuts-and-bolts photography teaching with candid conversations about confidence, community, and the realities of working behind the lens. Its archive now also carries the weight of Gina Milicia’s legacy, giving the lessons a personal continuity most tutorial shows do not have.
Leading celebrity and portrait photographer Gina Milicia discusses how to get the most out of your photography, including all the gear and gadgets you need. She chats to photography enthusiast Valerie Khoo on how to pose people, scout the best locations, and more. Useful tips, practical advice – and even some gossip – to help you get ahead, behind the lens!
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Concrete technique, thoughtful questions and candid guest accounts make photography's practical and psychological challenges easier to grasp.
Gina Milicia and Valerie Khoo turn photography instruction into a working conversation, moving between technique, professional practice and the confidence required to photograph people.
A garage becomes a lighting lab, and suddenly bad weather loses its veto over your portraits.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A tender goodbye turns Gina Militia's professionalism and unlikely author path into a grounded lesson in creative purpose.
Valerie Koo closes So You Want to Be a Photographer after seven years with a farewell shaped around Gina Militia, whose death gives the final episode its quiet force.
A grounded photography episode about lighting, creative control, and the business lessons that come with practice.
Episode 373 frames lighting as more than a technical upgrade. It follows a photographer moving from lucky results to deliberate choices, with the real shift coming when she understands how to create light instead of waiting for conditions to cooperate.
Kerry Setch recalls how a workshop lesson and dragonfly tattoo helped her grow more confident about photographing strangers.
Fear of photographing strangers gives this conversation its starting point, as Kerry Setch describes learning to worry less about other people's judgment.
A warm, practical conversation about making photography work as part of a creative business.
PHOTO 369 looks at photography not just as a craft, but as something that has to survive contact with real work, real clients, and the pressure of building a business around a creative skill.
Gina Milesha makes portrait composites feel approachable, from doll-scale practice to a moodier Last Supper setup.
Portrait photography becomes a lesson in patience and control as Gina Milesha shows Valerie Koo how a composite can grow from repeated shots in the same setup.
Art historian Tamar Avishai interviews critics, curators, and writers about single paintings and ideas.
Russell Tovey and Robert Diament interview artists about their materials, biography, and process.
Cinematographer Roger Deakins and James Deakins interview film crew about the craft behind specific shots.
Robert Bound interviews artists and reviews new film, book, and music releases with critics.
Sound art from places, recordings, and memory.
Leading portrait photographer Gina Milicia joins host Valerie Khoo to discuss posing, lighting, and composing portraits.
Gina Milicia and Valerie Khoo host pet photographer Janine Meyer on episode 369 of So You Want to Be a Photographer.
Valerie Koo uses episode 374 of So You Want to Be a Photographer to mark the final episode after seven years and to honour Gina Militia, who died on 6 February 2022.
PHOTO 373 on So You Want to Be a Photographer follows Lucy Valentine and Gina Milesha as they trace Lucy’s shift from daylight-only shooting to off-camera flash control.
Valerie Koo interviews Brisbane photographer Kerry Setch about moving beyond fear of strangers, leaving corporate work, and building a full-time photography career.
Gina Milesha and Valerie Koo discuss photography careers before interviewing Chicago photographer and former attorney Carla Livni.
Gina Milesha tells Valerie Koo that photographers should become “match fit” through daily 30-minute practice rather than relying on tutorials when a major job arrives.
Gina Milicia and Valerie Khoo discuss photography techniques, gear, and building a profitable photography business, with a screen share demo of editing apps.
Gina Milicia and Valerie Khoo discuss photography techniques, gear, and building a profitable photography business.
Gina Milicia and Valerie Khoo discuss photography tips, techniques, and building a photography business, with a preview of an interview on elopement wedding photography.
Gina Milicia and Valerie Khoo interview photographer Nancy Floyd about her 40-year self-portrait series and discuss photography techniques and business insights.