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Home → Interviews

PL Chronicles: Nasim and Spencer

By Spencer Cox 34 Comments
Last Updated On September 15, 2020

Now that we’ve started posting frequently on our YouTube channel, one overdue video is simply an introduction: who we are (Nasim Mansurov and Spencer Cox), and how we came to be running Photography Life. If you’ve ever wanted to know how we got started and who’s behind the articles you read – sit down, grab a coffee, and take a look:

And as we (fail to adequately) explain later in the video, YouTube doesn’t actually notify most subscribers of new videos unless you click the bell icon next to the subscribe button. You can find it at the top of the screen or under any video. For those of you who are subscribers, but have not been receiving notifications properly, just go to any of our videos on youtube.com and you’ll see it:

YouTube Bell Icon Subscription

It seems like many Photography Life readers have already subscribed to our channel, but if you haven’t yet, you can do so here.

Thanks for watching! If you have any questions about what it’s like to run a site like this, let us know below or in the comments section on YouTube.

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Filed Under: Interviews Tagged With: Interview, Photography Life Team, Video

About Spencer Cox

I'm Spencer Cox, a landscape photographer based in Colorado. I started writing for Photography Life a decade ago, and now I run the website in collaboration with Nasim. I've used nearly every digital camera system under the sun, but for my personal work, I love the slow-paced nature of large format film. You can see more at my personal website and my not-exactly-active Instagram page.

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David Powell
David Powell
June 10, 2019 1:38 pm

The video was a good idea – it’s nice to be able to add a bit of character to the faces! I remember being quite surprised when I discovered that Spencer was a decade or so younger than I had expected – and that is NOT a criticism – anything but!
I’ve been visiting the site for a couple of years or so, and I had noticed that some heavyweight contributors were less frequent than formerly. It’s the way of the world. I see that you still accept and publish submitted articles, and I think that is important. Not only to reduce the burden upon yourselves, but also to keep the site feeling fresh and accessible. Those that you publish generally have something to offer and at the moment I usually look forwards to seeing what’s coming next. I think that is the way that things need to be…

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Liz
Liz
June 6, 2019 10:45 pm

Ding, Ding, Ding!

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Tomáš
Tomáš
June 5, 2019 9:04 am

I can relate to Nasim on that point, at 14 I barely knew what I was doing, let alone develop a passion that’d last for so many years afterwards. I also am getting a bit more wary of Spencer, can someone who likes math really be entirely trusted? :)

It was really a nice video, kicking back and chatting about life especially for people who don’t know (or hadn’t known, really) much about either of you.
I haven’t been on PL since the Mansurovs time, but I agree with others that the website is somewhat missing the kind of impact that many different voices can have. I know I miss John Sherman, both because wildlife photography is something I’m interested in and because of his lighthearted, snarky and extremely entertaining personality and writing style, which “countered”, so to speak, Nasim’s more ponderate, calm and methodical way.

Nice watching and thanks for the video, keep the good content coming!

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Matthias
Matthias
June 5, 2019 12:17 am

“PL Chronicles: Nasim and Spencer.”

Hmm… after following PL closely for the last few years, there’s something amiss here.

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Spencer Cox
Spencer Cox
Author
Reply to  Matthias
June 5, 2019 6:15 am

Hi Matthias, not sure what you mean by that – are you referring to the fact that it’s only two of us in the video?

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Joachim
Joachim
Reply to  Spencer Cox
June 6, 2019 3:34 am

If one calls a video “chronicles” but starts in the recent present, your predecessors might feel a bit under-represented ;) but that’s just my guess.

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Rich
Rich
Reply to  Matthias
June 6, 2019 4:48 pm

Oh my, don’t overthink this thing. The founder/owner and his main writer/editor/business partner sat down and shared their respective stories. It was greatly informative and enjoyable.

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Zigman Zulkowski
Zigman Zulkowski
June 3, 2019 12:42 pm

Thanks Nasim and Spencer for sharing your interest with us. I appreciate your articles. I learn a lot from reading our article. My first camera was when I was in the Coast Guard in the 70’s and I had a Konica 35mm film. Thanks again!

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Kevin McLin
Kevin McLin
June 3, 2019 12:04 pm

Fun to learn how the site got started. I really appreciate the content you provide. I’m new to digital photography, so I learn a lot from your insights and experiences, and from those of your other contributors.

On a side note, it looks like Nasim and I overlapped at CU for a few years. I was there from 1995 to 2001 working on my doctorate. Maybe we passed each other in the Packer Grill a few times. ;-)

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Alexander Yakimov
Alexander Yakimov
June 3, 2019 11:42 am

Thank you, Nasim and Spencer! It is great to see you evolving and adapting for the new times. It seem that future would radically depart from DSLRs and MILSs. Who knows may be light array or some less exotic tech would radically change the way we capture images. I believe equipment is one of the major pillars, it heavily influences the grammar of imaging. But it is not everything. No matter what cam we use, we still need to maintain and cherish artistic inspiration – which could be easily lost without care. And that is what gives us hope that you wonderful enterprise would survive ups and downs of photo industry. Keep inspiring!
PS
Still sorry to see you selling your precious and very well balanced equipment collection. I hope that is for the best.

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G
G
June 3, 2019 12:09 am

Interesting video and very enjoyable to hear about how PL evolved.

On a side note, I am interested in macro photography tutorial showing how different Nikon compatible equipment can be used to get various degree of macro 1;1 2:1 and even 3:1. And comparison photos of the same subject with various setups and degree of magnification.

I have a micro Nikkor 105mm and this is great for 1:1. But I would like to explore higher magnification and the internet searching I have done so far is a bit convoluted with quite varying opinions.

I really value your input.

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Myron
Myron
June 2, 2019 10:31 am

So after all of these years of Photography Life, with so many great team members and articles, diversity of approaches, style, and opinions, the ‘Team’ has gradually been dwindled to a narrow operation of two. What happened to the rest of the Team? Very sad…

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Spencer Cox
Spencer Cox
Author
Reply to  Myron
June 2, 2019 3:03 pm

Myron, you’re completely right. The diversity of opinions is one of the hallmarks of early Photography Life, but that’s been harder to sustain in recent years.

I don’t know all the details, but each team member had his or her own reasons for writing less over the years. At the end of the day, most just had other commitments. If it is consolation, you’re not the only one to notice – it’s been one of the main topics Nasim and I have discussed and are working hard to fix. But we have to make sure we find the right group of people to do it.

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Michael Vail
Michael Vail
Reply to  Spencer Cox
June 2, 2019 8:23 pm

I don’t know that anything needs to be fixed, per se. It’s more like evolution/maturation, or ebb and flow. There used to be heated exchanges with personal attacks requiring Nasim’s intervention from time to time.
It is important to stay relevant and fresh; should diversity of opinion solely for diversity’s sake be a goal, or need fixing?

PL continues to provide a unique quality product firmly rooted in sharing knowledge, experience and technology, with the highest integrity.

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Spencer Cox
Spencer Cox
Author
Reply to  Michael Vail
June 2, 2019 8:33 pm

Thank you for the useful feedback, Michael. If the quality of the site goes down as a result, I’d much rather stay how we are right now.

At the same time, there’s something to be said for diversity of style, since both Nasim and I are mainly landscape photographers these days. So, we’re hoping to cover more wedding, portrait, street, wildlife, etc., just as thoroughly. Some of our contributors do write on these subjects, like Elizabeth. But the more we can do, the better. Even for those who only shoot landscapes, a lot can be learned from skilled photographers who write about other genres.

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Michael Vail
Michael Vail
Reply to  Spencer Cox
June 3, 2019 8:00 pm

Geez Spencer, I forget I’m not communicating with you only. I had hoped to accentuate some of the positives of the site and support your recent venture (youtube). I can’t get from sake to sacrifice (regardless of root word origin) in the sentence I wrote, so whatever. Semantics has certainly sparked a diversity of opinions in the exchange below. I’ll keep visiting, and keep any comments concise and precise. Keep up the good work.

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Joachim
Joachim
Reply to  Michael Vail
June 3, 2019 1:00 am

“…should diversity of opinion solely for diversity’s sake be a goal, or need fixing?”

I like to rephrase that question, Michael Vail. “Should uniformity of opinion solely for harmony sake be a goal, or need fixing?” The last part of the sentence, the “sake” part, appears to be a wrong conclusion for me. “Sake” has the same origins as “sacrifice”, and I’m sure nobody wants to sacrifice something he or she found out to be a good decision or proven knowledge.

I think anybody who doesn’t understand that people have different opinions needs to learn this fact of normality at first, before going into an exchange. Problems only start if someone wants to convince someone else to have the same opinion he or she has. The more reasons coming in why the other side of the hill has the greener gras, the more defense forces are mobilized as not everyone goes for gras.

That’s something I’ve seen a lot in (mostly American) forums: participants appear to be believe the world will be a better place if everybody believes in the same things and throws together facts and convictions. While I can agree on facts, I will not necessarily agree on convictions.

There’s no need for diversity’s sake as diversity is part of life already, we can’t switch that off by will.

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Elaine Lansdown
Elaine Lansdown
Reply to  Joachim
June 3, 2019 5:25 am

Joachim, The diversity of opinion mentioned by Myron and Spencer does not refer to opinions that differ in the commentary but to points of view about technique and method that are expressed by the authors of the articles. They are both saying that loss of diversity comes from not having different voices writing articles.

Regarding the opinions found in the commentaries, it is important to remember that the commentaries are not meant to be debates, but to be discussions of the subjects mentioned in the essay. Debate is a different idea, and can be what leads to anger and one-upmanship between posters, as many people find it necessary to show off their superiority of greater knowledge. Right from the start this is a combative way of expressing oneself. Mr. Vail mentions this kind of heated exchange. Discussion has a different purpose, more to express the experience a poster has about a subject, usually to impart a bit of information or to express a different way of looking at something, and would have nothing combative about it. At all times, civility and politeness are paramount and never to be discarded under any circumstances in a discussion. Without these norms, there can be no meaningful exchange of ideas, which is the point of these PL commentaries, as I think that Spencer and Nasim, you and I and most readers would agree. This paragraph, by the way, has no personal reference, but is just something we all ought to keep in mind when we express our thoughts here, in order to keep the PL discussions as excellent as they have always been, even in these strident times.

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Joachim
Joachim
Reply to  Elaine Lansdown
June 3, 2019 10:16 am

I’m not sure, Elaine, if it would not be better to let Michael, Spencer and Nasim speak for themselves.

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Elaine Lansdown
Elaine Lansdown
Reply to  Joachim
June 3, 2019 11:17 am

I am sure that I did not stop anybody from speaking for themselves. I merely stated that I thought some people would agree with what I wrote. That is me speaking for myself.

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Jon Cahill
Jon Cahill
June 2, 2019 8:04 am

Neat! I enjoy the feedback and learning from this site and your team, thank you. Especially now that I am playing with my new D850. A slight learning curve with its features but fun!

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Spencer Cox
Spencer Cox
Author
Reply to  Jon Cahill
June 2, 2019 2:55 pm

Absolutely, Jon, glad you’ve found the site useful! And thanks for your comments along the way – it definitely makes PL a more useful and interesting website. The D850 is a great one. Hope the curve goes smoothly for you, as I’m sure it will.

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