Takeaways

1. Take everyone seriously but yourself.
2. Making art is an extreme sport.
3. Do the thing you'd wonder about the most if you didn't do it.
4. If you can’t see a way to solve a problem you have to trust that you’ll figure it out eventually. So don’t walk away, just keep looking.

Mentioned

Duncan Petrie

Duncan Petrie on Instagram

Birds with Hats on Instagram

Duncan Petrie on YouTube

Brian Eno on Broken Record

Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes

South West Coast Path

J. R. R. Tolkien

Duncan is a photographer using spare, striking composition and the best natural light to emphasize emotion over the literal image and truth over objectivity, in hopes that he might one day capture how it feels to truly see.

During our conversation Duncan talks about Sudoku and its relationship to being creative; being afraid of doing something poorly; why beginning is the hardest part; fear of stagnation; the relationship between good photography and enthusiasm and the magic of observing the little details that imply so much more than what they actually contain.