It’s no exaggeration to say that we are living in a time of great information overload. Bitesize hot takes, floating fragments of information and easily-digestible summaries jostle for attention on our screens. This is a problem when it comes to talking about photography. An unruly medium, in flux since its birth, continuing to surprise us as it shapeshifts through this visually-stimulating, post-truth world where even our understanding of reality has come under scrutiny… There’s simply nothing simple about it. Enter the world of photography podcasts!
“It’s not this; it’s this.” When Chat GPT is making the world sound more and more like it’s being narrated by the same person, the human voice—along with all the digressions, emotions and embodied knowledge that it holds and its ability to be in true dialogue with another—starts to feel very powerful.
But where to start? What can audio contribute to a visual medium? The answer is a lot. From interviews with artists to historical reflections on the artists that have shaped the medium to in-depth discussions about ethics via reports from festivals and gatherings across the world, there is something out there for everyone.
Community has always been an incredibly vital part of what can often feel like a solitary craft. After all, photography is a relational artform. But the question of access can often be a complicated one. For the past 10 years, podcasts about photography have mushroomed with many hosts focusing on what they’d like to hear. What was once a relatively empty landscape has now grown from the ground up into an extensive and responsive terrain that reflects photography’s lively global network—and opens the door to it no matter where you are based. Mostly free, or with a small subscription fee to help support independent creators, they give us unprecedented access to some of the industry’s most interesting voices while celebrating and nurturing the communal aspect of photography.
Surprisingly, a medium that hinges on the act of speaking—and the invitation to listen—works wonders for one that is silent and relies on looking. Occurring off-screen (sometimes with video options for those who like to watch along) there is space for the mind to wander and listen closely. For those ‘on air,’ the unpredictable nature of conversation allows room for the intimacies, intricacies and contradictions that photography produces to remain alive. In this period of great change and turmoil, the podcast space feels almost like a salon where interesting people in the know get together to tackle the big questions as they arise. And what a joy it is to listen along.
We’ve listened to lots of photography podcasts. Here is our curated list of what’s playing on our headphones.
The Messy Truth
Hosted by British photo director, writer and editor Gem Fletcher, The Messy Truth is focused on the world of contemporary photography—and the changes it’s undergoing. Fletcher is a curious guide whose questions are those of a passionate insider with their finger on the medium’s pulse, grounded in many years of experience supporting artists. Driven by finding out “what makes artists tick,” discussions circle around themes like truth, audience, consent, working in a “two-screen” image culture, misinformation, balancing art and commerce to reflect the image world as it is, in all its mess. Guests are varied, including Carolyn Drake and Andres Gonzalez, Jack Davison, curator Vince Aletti and photo editor Kathy Ryan. To mark her 100th episode, Fletcher collaborated with ICP to host an invaluable one day salon called Between Two Worlds, as “an attempt to describe the feeling of existing in two image worlds, the one we think we know, and the new one emerging.”
Listen if you’re curious about the issues affecting photography today and where we might be headed tomorrow.
The Magic Hour
This podcast grew out of Magic Hour Press, an independent publisher based between Montreal and New York run by Jordan Weitzman. As a consequence, it starts from an acute understanding of photography as a language and an interest in how image and text speak to one another, explored through a well-curated list of singular artists, editors and publishers. The archive of 61 episodes is full of different approaches to the magic of editing, featuring many charmers. Duane Michals, the show’s first ever guest, sets the tone by talking about his “prose portraits.” There’s Jason Fulford talking about balancing logic and emotion and Dayanita Singh recounting how she once laid out an entire photobook exhibition in her hotel room. Many of the conversations offer an intimate look into the artists’ early career moves—a refreshing insight into the winding, idiosyncratic paths a life in photography may lead you if you take matters into your own hands.
Listen for inspiration from some greats on how to nurture creativity and chart your own course through photography.
Right Eye Dominant
In the trailer for the podcast, Nick Tauro Jr. explains his passion for the longevity of photographs—from prints to a birthday card sent to your grandma to a zine or a self-published book. This love for the lasting nature of photography and its materiality underlies the themes explored in Right Eye Dominant. In our digital society of “1s and 0s on screens,” the podcast pays attention to the past as well as the present. Naming Robert Frank as the “patron saint” of the podcast (and subject of its 100th episode), it features deep dives into the work of important historical figures such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Daido Moriyama and Peter Hujar with Tauro Jr. often inviting experts in to bring these artists to life. There are also essayistic episodes on themes such as Route 66, death and photography and cameraless work, as well as interviews with contemporary photographers like Anastasia Samoylova and Jeff Cowen.
This cabinet of curiosities is for fans of analog photography and those who want to know more about the history of the medium.
Emulsions, hosted by Stephen K. Schuster and Hollis Monk Thayer, is also one for analog film lovers with an interesting twist. Grounded in New York City—and more specifically the scene of photographers working with film towards the edge of the millennium—the pair often discuss analog’s proliferation in the digital world. There’s an episode on the Tumblr era and Instagram as well as hands-on, in-depth conversations about testing and experimenting with developing film at home. They talk about craft to a range of guests from Stephen Shore and Daniel Arnold to Alfred Bradshaw, who shares some indispensable technical darkroom wisdom that comes from developing a quarter million images in the past eight years. In addition to deep dives into the work of historical artists such as Vivien Maier, Gordon Parks and William Eggleston, they also explore topics like the benefits of working with film, shooting with the seasons and thinking in black and white.
Listen if you’re interested in meeting New York’s lively photo community and picking up some tips on your analog practice.
Light Work Podcast
You might already be familiar with Light Work, an artist-run non-profit in Syracuse, New York that hosts residencies, makes publications and exhibitions and runs a community lab in support of artists working in photography and media. Its podcast hands the mic directly to the artists it works with to talk briefly—each one usually runs under 10 minutes—about their process and practice. These mini-pods offer a great, more intimate alternative to the written artist statement, which is a notoriously difficult form to pull off in an interesting way, as well as introducing us to a diverse bunch of artists working today.
Listen if you’re short on time, or struggle with longer formats, and want to make some new discoveries.
Eyeshot 50MM
Describing itself as a “slow read, not a hot take,” the audio branch of Italian street and documentary photography publisher Eyeshot certainly revolves around questions rather than answers. What kind of agency do we have at this moment of great technological change? How can photographers keep integrity in the age of AI? What happens when you land in a new place to work? In a series of in-depth interviews with a varied list of photographers, thinkers, editors and writers, host Lucrezia Bonarota guides her guests into exploring both the ethical and the practical concerns that shape the documentary practice today—as well as its unpredictable future. The result informs listeners on workflow and process as well as chewing on big topics head-on like the status of truth, the importance of image literacy and what words bring to pictures.
Check out if you’re interested in the big questions or are curious about the “on the ground” experience of being a documentary photographer navigating an increasingly complicated terrain.
Host Michael Choven-Dalton founded Real Photo Show with the aim of creating a space for “photographers to build community among photographers.” With this in mind, the show focuses on the origins and inspirations of photo work but also teaching, learning, distribution and other facets of the industry. As well as artists like Raymond Meeks and Vanessa Winship, Choven-Dalton speaks to interesting projects that support them, such as founders of the residency space the Wassaic Project, NY, or Jackie Battenfield author of a book called The Artist’s Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love. For some time now, the podcast has been affiliated with, and present, at a photobook retreat called Chico Review. The episodes recorded in Montana are a valuable resource, inviting us into the conversations that take place at such an event.
Listen for photobook inspiration and to travel to events you might not be attending otherwise.
A Small Voice
Photographer Ben Smith started the podcast he wanted to listen to back in 2015: one that sounds like an interesting chat between friends about work. The archive is now at around 300 episodes. Smith asks the questions he is curious about, which make for natural conversations that touch on both the content of people’s work and practice, how they make a living and the state of the industry. If you don’t have the funds or energy to visit fairs and festivals, the podcast covers events such as Paris Photo, BoP Festival in Bristol and Photo London widening their accessibility and providing an energetic snapshot of what’s happening on the ground. A special episode about the Netherlands Foto Museum extends the principle to institutions too, as Smith tours the space interviewing the staff as he goes.
Listen if you want to get to know the photo community, making some trips along the way, in a casual setting.
Hosted by gallerist-turned photography advisor, editor and educator Sasha Wolf, PhotoWorks is billed as the “talky, touchy, feely” version of her book which interviews 40 photographers about their practice and process. A “recovering artist,” Wolf makes for a great confidante, asking all the right questions shaped by her experience of having been intimately involved in the creative process of many of her interviewees. The podcast has a strong editorial vision of wanting to share and capture the knowledge arising from the conversations Wolf was having with the artists she represents—its success confirmed in the 100th episode by a listener calling in to thank her for the “education” it had provided them with. As well as individual interviews, Wolf has a knack for bringing interesting people into dialogue to talk about shared themes.
Listen if you’re feeling adrift and looking to learn that there is no “right” way to live and work as an artist while getting inspired along the way.
Hosted by New Delhi-based photographer Priyanka Chharia, this show started with a 10-episode first season that captures the journey of a photobook from conception to reality. Since, it has widened the adventure to include conversations with bookmakers, curators and publishers from all over the world. Positioning the book as a “portable portal” for connection, encounters and exchange, the podcast does a great job of shining light on the strong community at the heart of the photobook world. In addition to covering the art of “thinking in series” rather than single images and not being too precious about making a dummy, Chharia chooses guests that are also navigating what happens after a book is made to talk about distribution and audience. How can photobooks create informal spaces of friendship and care?
This one’s for you if you’re interested in the social possibilities of the photobook beyond its form and getting some advice from photobook experts.
The Photo Ethics Podcast
Dedicated to nurturing ethical literacy in photography, the Photo Ethics Centre runs courses and workshops that research and bring awareness to the impact imagemakers have on the world. But what exactly are ethics? Hosted by Dr. Savannah Dodd, these podcast interviews explore that question through the work of many different practitioners, asking what the word means to them and how they enact it. Themes like collaboration, co-authorship, agency, sustainability, inclusivity and responsibility are discussed, making the conversations a wonderful and inspiring educational resource—one episode even distills many different conversations into eight lessons. The call is to become aware of your assumptions, be ready to make mistakes and, above all, always stay open to learning in order to keep your practice responsive. As guest writer and professor Fred Ritchin, who draws on “half a century of knowledge” dealing with images, puts it, it’s about thinking past the photography bubble to consider how your images might contribute to making the world a better place.
An important resource for anyone and everyone thinking about and making photographs today.
