Tricky Thoughts: Encountering Photography In New York City Podcast

OK, that’s kind of a click-baitey title, but it’s true! I brought my Leica film MP out into a NYC blizzard and watched it get covered in ice as I took pictures - was it worth it? Yep. Sometimes you (and your camera) have to suffer to get the good stuff. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thetrickness.substack.co...

New York Fashion Week 2026 was COLD - maybe that's why it was so sleepy? I got some great photos anyway, which I share in this video - 35mm and 120 Medium format film only! Plus, I've got a special guest, the incredible Scottish photographer Paul Reid. Check out Paul Reid's work and photography classes at his website https://www.paulreidphotography.com This is a public episode. If you would like t...

What's it like to shoot 35mm film in a massive snowstorm in New York City? Watch this video and find out! We had a massive snowstorm in late January in NYC. I met up with some friends and we walked through Chinatown, the Lower East Side, and Soho and dealt with the freezing cold, camera issues, wet foggy eyeglasses, and general misery. I share the photos and talk about the experience. This is a pu...

In this episode, recorded at the Guggenheim Museum (and the streets of NYC) on Robert Rauschenberg’s 100th birthday, I was thinking a lot about growth. Not the kind that makes our pants tighter, which is really easy, but artistic growth. Is creative growth something you think about? Give this a listen and let’s get into it. Artists mentioned on this podcast: Rauschenberg Guggenheim show: https://w...

Hello! I’m back with another episode, it’s been a while and I’m sorry about that. Had lots of family obligations in August, and when I wasn’t herding kids I was taking pictures like a fiend. I’ve run through dozens of rolls of film this summer, shooting all kinds of different subject matter. The work is so varied, I don’t think any algorithm would be able to make sense of it all. And that’s ok wit...

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, no matter how myopic it may be - here’s mine! This is a podcast about Diane Arbus “Constellation” show at Park Avenue Armory , which closed August 17th. This show has been fairly controversial, because of the way the work is presented (for example, read this post by photographer Dita Livotsky or this particularly soggy review of the show (Arbus’ work is n...

Hello there! Thanks for looking and listening. For this episode, I’m in Queens (the borough with the best food in NYC) - sitting on the bank of the East River and talking about growth - all the work we do to build our social profiles and community, and whether or not it is worth all the effort. In a way, this is the complete opposite of one of those posts that are so pervasive on Substack which pr...

Hello everyone! Back at you from NYC and this time I’m walking ACROSS a bridge and talking about why mistakes and failure are good things. This is a bit of a noisy podcast as I’m walking right next to speeding cars and subway trains - so you’ll get some real NYC vibes on this one! Some things I refer to in this episode: Queensboro Bridge Pedestrian Path: https://qns.com/2025/05/queensboro-bridge-p...

Sorry it’s been a couple weeks since I posted an audio note, but I did have an excuse: I went on a family vacation to Paris. I used to go to the City Of Lights about 5 or 6 times a year for work and fun, starting in the late 90’s, but I haven’t been since around 2005 - TOO LONG. Paris really is my favorite city in the world - no place is perfect but Parisians really seem to have a better grip on w...

So - I don’t really do deep dive explorations of camera gear here, there are plenty of people doing that on YouTube, especially for Leica cameras and accessories. I’ve been using the Leica M camera system on and off for about 30 years, so it is a photographic tool I know quite well. Leica is celebrating their 100th Anniversary in 2025, and the M turned 70 years old last years, I thought I’d talk a...

This episode comes on a very heavy week (aren’t they all heavy these days?) and I’m under the Queensboro Bridge thinking about creative motivation because I saw someone pissing against a trashcan as I was walking my kid to camp this morning. No, really! If you’re bummed out, pissed off, depressed, can’t bother to create - give this one a listen, it might make you feel better. Thanks for listening...

Hello again! In this episode I discuss choosing the more difficult option creatively - and then finding out what the up and downsides of that are, with the backdrop of the absolutely wonderful 2025 Coney Island Mermaid Parade. This episode is kind of gear oriented, but not the typical YouTube style fetish crap. If you’re curious about TLR cameras, medium format photography, drug-addled opossums, m...

Welcome to episode six of Under The Bridge, recorded on June 18th under the Queensboro Bridge, the day after I attended the Bild expo at the Javitz Center - which organizer B&H Photo calls “NYC’s largest gathering of video/photo storytellers”. In this episode, you’ll hear about: * The last thoughts that will rush through my mind as I am dying * Photographer Mark Mann * Human Connection * And of co...

Happy Father’s Day 2025! OK first off: this episode was NOT recorded under a bridge, it was recorded under a boardwalk - and on a boardwalk - at Coney Island, on June 14th, which was just crappy, cold rainy day. Hardly anyone was out. I knew this before I even got on the Q train - but I wanted to get some photos of the Coney Island Sideshow (the photo above was taken on a much nicer day in Coney!)...

In this episode, I talk about Dave Chappelle (thought he did the bit in DC, it was actually Detroit), Fan Ho , Evel Knievel , The Girl In The Coffee Shop Window, and Colon Blow. And believe it or not, this all has something to do with photography. Recorded as per usual, under a bridge (this time the Queensboro Bridge), with no edits, audio verite. This is a public episode. If you would like to dis...

What is visual signature and why is it important for photographers, or really any creative, to make the pursuit of visual signature a maxim? Join me in the latest episode of my unedited audio chats recorded beneath the Manhattan Bridge in NYC for some fragmented thoughts and foul language about the ultimate goal for any artist. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other...

A brief chat about film photography, consumerism, the digital economy, Wim Wenders and enjoying one raisin. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thetrickness.substack.com

Join me under the Manhattan Bridge, and listen to the trains booming overhead while I talk about silencing the inner voice that makes artists doubt ourselves. Recorded in one take with no edits on the streets of NYC. . This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thetrickness.substack.com