Brooke Shaden is one of a select few artists who manages to consistently create work that is so visceral and resonates so deeply that it makes me want to step into the picture so I can inhabit that world, even for a moment. Her work is sometimes haunting, sometimes dark, sometimes disturbing, but always interesting and challenging enough, both conceptually and technically, that I’ve been a fan for years and am always eager to see what she comes up with next. I’ve wanted to talk to her for a...

 I think Ben Horne and I first talked about recording together in 2018, not long after I was introduced to his work. But as John Lennon famously said, “Life is what happens when you’re making other plans” and for one reason or another, we just couldn’t get our schedules in sync, but I am so grateful that we were able to circle back around and make this happen. I am a huge fan of Ben’s work. I think one of his superpowers as a landscape photographer is capturing the quiet drama of big...

While I’ve never really done one myself — not intentionally anyway — I am fascinated by long-term creative projects. I find the whole idea of intentionally and purposefully immersing yourself in something you know is going to take years to realize both inspiring and a little terrifying. But I guess if you find the right project, the challenges, obstacles and accidents both happy and unhappy make the journey of bringing whatever it is to life that much more rewarding. Marc Wilson is a...

In the middle of 2019, Netflix launched a show called Blown Away, which is a competition show for glass artists. The promos looked terrific and I think Adrianne and I were hooked from pretty much the first episode. We binged the whole season and it became our go to recommendation for our Netflix-watching friends. I even reached out to Alex Rosenberg, one of the contestants on the show, who I sat down with for an episode of Process Driven. Fast forward to the beginning of this year when...

As many of you know, I currently produce three different podcasts, each with a different format and purpose. Process Driven is a deep-dive conversation with a single artist to talk about what they do and why they do it. In Between is a conversation with a recurring group of co-hosts around a single topic or theme. Iterations is my audio journal — it’s shorter than the other two shows and it’s just me offering up thoughts or reflections around what I’ve recently been thinking about or trying...

In Process Driven 37, I had part one of this two-part conversation with Documentarist, Jack Lowe. And while you don’t need to have listened to part one to enjoy this conversation, I invite you to go back and listen to it if you haven’t. Among other things, we talked about the origins of Jack’s Lifeboat Station Project, which has him traveling to all 238 lifeboat stations around the UK in his mobile darkroom Neena to make photographs with his 12x10 inch wet plate camera. In this conversation,...

Like many of you, I could not be happier to finally be rid of the raging dumpster fire that was 2020. I know the next year will be anything but easy, but I am cautiously optimistic that 2021 will be filled with new possibilities and chances to do things a little differently than last year. I started doing yoga about a month ago and Adrianne reminded me that there’s a concept in yoga about setting an intention at the beginning of a practice and while I’m not a fan of resolutions per se, I...

 There are only a handful of photographers whose work is instantly recognizable and fewer still who have become a genre unto themselves. I was first introduced to the pictures of Gregory Crewdson through a body of work called Beneath the Roses. I felt instantly connected to that world he so meticulously crafted and I’ve been a huge admirer of his work ever since. In 2016, I had the opportunity to sit down with Gregory for a conversation about his body of work called Cathedral of the...

 I don’t remember how it came up but I was talking to Sean Tucker a while back and we ended up talking about different photographers that we had found recently and he asked me whether I’d seen the work of Maria Lax. Maria is a Finnish photographer based in London who had published a book called Some Kind of Heavenly Fire. Honestly the title alone was enough to pique my interest but what I found beyond it was a fantastic set of images that were inspired by a book her grandfather wrote...

There’s something about wet plate photography that I can’t get out of my head. Maybe it’s the process, maybe it’s the unpredictable nature of it - Sally Mann calls it “the angel of uncertainty.” Or maybe it’s the permanence of the objects themselves. When you look at a plate by Matthew Brady or Timothy O’Sullivan, for a moment you’re no longer part of the present. And I would argue that that sense of timelessness is one of the reasons a handful of modern photographers still choose to embrace...

As much as I love working with acrylics in my paintings, because many of them are literally dozens of layers of pigment, collage, found objects, and thick layers of acrylic medium, it can take weeks to finish a single piece just waiting for layers to dry. A few years ago, I began looking into using encaustic, which offers the ability to create work with a similar aesthetic to my acrylic work in a fraction of the time. In doing the research, I came across the work of Lisa Pressman. Lisa is a...

"Light is almost like some sort of magical quantity that I get to work with — and I'm fascinated by it." This might be one of the most process-driven episodes of Process Driven yet. I’ve known Karl Taylor for more than a decade. I was introduced to his work by my friend Patrick in the form of a DVD of Karl‘s Photography Master Class. What struck me straight away was Karl‘s enthusiasm for photography – that and his encyclopedic knowledge of the medium. 12 years after its initial release, Karl...

"The best way to be in the moment behind the camera is to be in the moment in life." When I saw the work of photographer Ryan Struck, particularly his surf and lifestyle photography, I knew I wanted to talk to him. From the first photo, it was obvious that Ryan wasn’t just an outsider simply documenting this lifestyle, he was living it and I bet he had an interesting story to tell. Turns out, whether he’s self-funding a documentary about the community surrounding an all-female surf...

One of the first photographers I reached out to when I started recording conversations and podcasting was John Keatley. I was introduced to his work by my friend Kevin and what struck me straight away was how seamlessly John’s commercial work fit with his conceptual photographs. Though each body of work is distinct, John’s eye for detail and his love of ambiguity runs through all of it. While we don’t talk often, when we do I find that the conversations stick with me and often they inform the...

In 2020, I’m launching a brand new show that will be my most ambitious project to date. A Day’s Work is a podcast about how we spend our time when we’re not with family and friends. Inspired by the landmark work of Studs Terkel, I’m having conversations with everyday people and going beyond the small talk to really explore the deceptively simple question: “So, what do you do?” Subscribe to A Day’s Work to get the first episode the day it drops. Or you can subscribe to Jeffery Saddoris:...

“We are all unique in the way we see things — the worst thing is to copy. The best thing is to be who you are.” As I sat down to write the intro to this episode of Process Driven, I struggled a little trying to come up with words that would convey some of my thoughts and feelings about the work of photographer Olga Karlovac. I then realized that the words had already been written by Koci Hernandez in his beautiful foreword for Olga’s latest book, the disarray. “You’re about to embark on...

“I used to think art with a capital ‘A’ had to be about these big ideas. I started finding work that was really playful and finding that quality in myself.” Have you ever sat down to watch something on Netflix only to spend whatever time you set aside just trying to find something to watch? It’s amazing how often I find myself in that exact situation. A few months ago, Adrianne and I were scanning though the myriad of options, and a promo for a show called Blown Away popped up. If you...

Last week, I asked a deceptively simple question on Instagram: What are some of your fears around creativity? Dozens of responses came in ranging from fear of running out of creative gas, to being judged by an audience to not being seen or heard at all. Your responses reinforced how much I miss interacting with an engaged community around making art. I’ve been noodling around what to do about it for quite a while and I think I have something that may be interesting, but it doesn’t work...

“With each of the studies we’ve talked about, I’ve had to have the motivation, the passion, the interest, the fascination with the subject and I’ve needed to go out and make those photographs.” My introduction to the work of Richard Beaven came via a text message from Jon Wilkening, which read simply “you need to talk to this guy” with a link to his Instagram. I think it took all of two images to realize he was right. Richard’s latest project is called All of Us. It’s a beautiful body of...

I want to give you a quick update to some of the changes I’m making to my shows over the next several weeks. If you’ve listened to any of the recent episodes of Iterations, In Between, or Process Driven, you’ve heard me mention my new Everything feed. For those of you who may have missed it, subscribing to the new feed gets you everything I do. Every Iteration, every In Between and every Process Driven. Plus, you’ll also get special one-off conversations and any new show that I happen to do...

Kevin Mullins never planned on being a wedding photographer – or any kind of photographer really. His daily routine was a two and a half hour tube ride each way to an IT job in central London. One one particular ride home, he flipped open a magazine someone had left on the seat to an article about wedding photography. The candid black and white photos struck a chord with Kevin and when he got home to his wife, he told her that’s what he wanted to do. I’ll let Kevin fill in the details, but...

I have been fascinated by photojournalism and specifically combat or conflict photojournalism since first seeing the work of Larry Burrows when I was in high school. His photographs of Vietnam showed a side of war that I hadn’t seen before — not just the atrocities, but also the personal stories and the human cost of conflict. A few months back, Sean Tucker and I were having a conversation about conflict photography and he told me about a friend of his who had gone to Ukraine to photograph...

This is going to be a terrific season of Process Driven and I’m starting it off with a conversation with one of my favorite people, author and photographer, David duChemin. I first spoke to David in 2009 after reading his book Within the Frame. Since then, we’ve recorded a number of conversations together and in addition to being a fan of both his words and his pictures, I’m proud to call him a friend. We begin the conversation talking about David’s new book Pilgrims & Nomads — a body of...