Cancel Culture, An Email From Stephen Shore & Future Plans For The Best Photography Podcast Around
Hollis & Stephen from Emulsions Pod are back to answer all my burning questions...
Housekeeping
Welcome to this weeks newsletter.
This week I chat with the duo behind Emulsions Podcast, who are without a doubt my favorite photography pod and I never miss an episode and neither should you!
The pair share their thoughts on a few things like working professionally in photography, cancel culture and how it effects art and also future plans for the pod and personal projects. Read more below.
I have been busy sorting through 9 rolls of film for work and filming lots of reels for clients so I haven’t had much time to work on my website, my new free resource or shoot for myself, but hey that’s okay. I love the work stuff I do so I feel very lucky!
I was recently on the Funny Business podcast and had such an awesome little chat with the legends over there. You can listen to it here!
I also did an IG live with the amazing Kaylene Langford at Start Up Creative so go check that out for all things social media, content creation and staying consistent.
If you are wanting a little extra Lucy Lumen action I am sharing some posts for subscribers on Instagram as well as an “ask me anything perk” which will show up at the top of my DM’s so I can get back to you ASAP!
For now though, enjoy the interview…
Hey guys, thanks for joining us again here at Love Lucy. Can you start by telling us who you are, as well as a little bit about your background in photography and the arts?
Stephen K. Schuster: I’ve been a photographer since 1999. I went to liberal arts undergrad and decided to be an artist. I did some curating with emerging art foundations, was a Photo Editor and a Photo Director at an independent magazine, had a non-paying Creative Direction Partnership and went to grad school for photography. I have numerous personal photo projects but I also help photo direct other people’s work and consult on book making.
Hollis Monk Thayer: I live and work in NYC and I do film photography and write fiction. A year ago I released a photo zine called “NYC To Bama” in independent bookstores. I’m also working on a few more projects right now.
On the podcast, you guys discuss many famous, iconic photographers as well as interviewing new ones who interest you. Do you feel like becoming a household name as a photographer these days is kind of impossible?
HMT: I don’t think so at all, in fact I believe it’s easier to get your work out to casual fans of photography now more than ever. Mainly because of social media. Especially people who do really interesting street photography. All in all, I think real artists who have a singular voice will always stand out and now they can use a lot of different tools for outreach that weren’t available to them decades ago.
SKS: I was going to come at it from a different perspective, but I I think I tend to agree. Although, other than Alec Soth and maybe Daniel Arnold or Collier Schorr — I can’t think of many household name photographers, because almost everyone I can think of probably had their career start before 2005.
Stephen, I loved hearing you speak about working with film professionally back in the day and you offered some great advice towards the end of the episode that really stuck with me. What kind of actionable advice can you offer the readers who want to break into doing commercial work?
SKS: Commercial advice is tough, because in some ways you really just have to think about how to commodify yourself into a couple of different styles and I don’t always like encouraging people to do that. But I would say that Art Directors and Photo Editors have very little time to be able to delve into peoples work and oftentimes, if you want to be used, you have to give them something that’s pretty approachable and not too varied. So, oftentimes, branding or commercial work in consistent styles is easier to get work out of, even if it generates a less interesting work practice.
I’m interested to know your thoughts on cancel culture when it comes to art. Do either of you feel like art is at risk of becoming safe and bland due to fear of being misunderstood and labelled as something negative?
HMT: I love artists who are fearless when it comes to expressing themselves. Sometimes what they fearlessly express can be received as controversial and sometimes it can be received as just plain boring. But, the audience can decide for themselves on whether or not the work is something that interests them. That’s my stance on the work itself. When it comes to someone’s personal life, I also think the audience can decide for themselves on whether or not they want to support an artist. But, ultimately, when you’re studying and becoming inspired by art from the past and present, I think it would be pretty bland to only include work from people who are considered “safe.”
SKS: In some ways, I’ve kind of been waiting for it to blow over like it eventually will. I like the idea of holding shitty people accountable for their actions, but I am excited to see the next change in culture, ‘cause I do think it limits a lot of creativity and artistry.
The first time I Interviewed you guys, the Emulsions podcast had only just started. How is it all going now you are in full swing and are there any plans for the future of the pod that you would like to share?
HMT: It’s going really well and we’ve been lucky that the feedback has been great. Stephen Shore is one of my favorite photographers of all time and hours after the episode we did on him came out, he surprisingly sent us an email saying that he listened to and enjoyed the episode! That was so overwhelmingly supportive and nice of him. I know in the future we’d like to do some live shows and visit art institutions of various types to do the podcast at.
Finally, are you guys working on anything personal that you would like to share?
SKS: I’m still grinding on my 15 years in the making project that, hopefully in the next six months to a year, I’ll start showing people. I’ve also been scanning my film archive and I went through and scanned every contact sheet that I didn’t get Noritsu scanned. I think I might basically have a frame a day for 10 years without including any editorial or commercial work.
HMT: I’m actually trying to finish a project where I only use my “Texas Leica” and slide film. I mainly want to capture my surroundings with maybe just a few stand-alone portraits mixed in.
A huge thank you to the Emulsions team for jumping on and sharing their thoughts with us all. If you aren’t a listener of their show you should become one and consider leaving a review if you enjoy it so the podcast can help spread to more photogs and creatives!
If I ever head to NYC I will be asking politely to be a guest on the Emulsions Podcast.
Thank you to you, kind reader, for sharing your time with me and opening this letter. I love Substack and having this go out every Friday morning keeps me on track and gives me structure so I hope it does the same for you.
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