Iterations

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 competition, or photographing abandoned televisions on the streets, interesting stories don’t just fuel his photography, they fuel his life.

LINKS
Tofino
Queen of the Peak

CONNECT WITH RYAN
Website: https://ryanstruck.com/
Instagram: @ryanstruck

MUSIC
Please Listen Carefully
 (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

A couple weeks ago, I got a text from my friend Sean who had just gotten out of the cinema seeing 1917, the new World War I epic from director Sam Mendes. The text simply read “so good.” I remember seeing the trailer for the film months ago and thinking that it looked incredible. But most of recent the buzz about the film seemed to center around the idea that it was all shot in one continuous take. In fact, the first plot keyword you’ll see in the IMDB listing for the film is “one take.” You’ll also read it or a variation of it in virtually every review of the film. The problem is it’s not true. 1917 was filmed to appear as one continuous shot, which it is a remarkable achievement on a film of this scale, but that doesn’t make it any more true. When I got the “so good” text from Sean, I remember asking him whether the one shot thing worked or if it came off as more of a gimmick. “I don’t know,” he responded. “I have mixed feelings I think.” Now that we’ve both seen it and had a chance to think about it, I thought it might be fun to talk about it. As you’ll hear, and as is often the case when Sean and I talk, the conversation went down a number of rabbit holes, which is one of the reasons I love talking to him.

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1917 on IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8579674/
Roger Deakins Filmography - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005683/
Making a Murderer - https://www.netflix.com/title/80000770
Don’t F**k with Cats - https://www.netflix.com/title/81031373
Cartel Land - https://www.amazon.com/Cartel-Land-Dr-Jose-Mireles/dp/B078SDYF83/
Kelly Slater 24/7 - https://www.hbo.com/specials/247-kelly-slater
Werner Herzog Masterclass - https://www.masterclass.com/classes/werner-herzog-teaches-filmmaking
Of Walking in Ice - https://www.amazon.com/Walking-Ice-Munich-Paris-November-14-December/dp/0816697329/

You can find Sean on Instagram @seantuck, or on his website at https://www.seantucker.photography. Also, be sure to check out his YouTube channel, where he has just released a brand new video called “Balancing Your Photography with a Busy Life.”

If you have an interesting story to share, I’d love to hear from you. Email me at [email protected] or connect with me on Instagram @jefferysaddoris.

Music in this episode: Take Me Higher (

The recent death of Rush drummer Neil Peart hit me like a ton of bricks. While I consider myself a visual artist, I can’t think of a single painter, or sculptor, or photographer whose death has or even would affect me as dramatically as Neil’s has and I can’t really reconcile why that is. It’s just not a simple answer. I’ve been a Rush fan since 1982, but as I’ve said before, it wasn’t the music that grabbed me initially, but the lyrics. Yes, the musicianship was superb, but the themes and the language that Neil used to explore those themes was unlike anything I’d ever heard or more to the point read before. There was also the timing of it all – that time in my life when who I was or was becoming had not yet solidified and I was still malleable and curious and full of wonder. All of this has gotten me thinking about the ways and degrees that others inspire us throughout our lives and I thought it might be interesting to spend some time unpacking it a little with Jon Wilkening, who always helps take the conversations in directions I wouldn’t have thought of.

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Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage
The Joe Rogan Podcast
Tim Ferriss
Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

You can find Jon on Instagram @jonwilkening or on his website at jonwilkening.com

If you have an interesting story to share, I’d love to hear from you. Email me at [email protected] or connect with me on Instagram @jefferysaddoris.

Music in this episode: Take Me Higher (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

I have a question for you, and the answer depends at least partly on the primary perspective you take – either as an audience member or a maker — when you think about how to answer. It centers around effort in art-making and to what degree the visibility of that effort affects how we connect to the work, both as the artist and as a viewer. Again, the answer is entirely subjective, but it’s something I’d like to continue to explore in multiple conversations over time. But before we get to that, we’re talking about culling our creativity — letting go of some of the distractions both literal and metaphorical and keeping — and really leaning into — the things that continue to challenge and inspire us to make.

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You can find Jon on Instagram @jonwilkening or on his website at jonwilkening.com

If you have an interesting story to share, I’d love to hear from you. Email me at [email protected] or connect with me on Instagram @jefferysaddoris.

Music in this episode: Take Me Higher (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

In the last Iteration I talked about the importance of giving yourself little victories in the work that you do — tiny wins that you can finish in a day or two that can often re-energize you or jumpstart your creative momentum on larger, more time-consuming projects. In this episode, I want to share a couple of examples of little wins that I’ve given myself in the last week. You may have noticed — or you may not have, and that’s okay too — but I’ve given the cover art for each of my three current podcasts a slight redesign. They still have a similar feel to the previous versions, but they all work together a bit better and feel more on point with my overall design aesthetic if that makes sense. I’ve also made some tweaks to my website — nothing really major, but I’ve tweaked the fonts and the color palette so there’s a bit more visual cohesion between the design of the show covers and the site.

My Blue Note playlist on Spotify

Orba by Artiphon

Dark and Stormy icebox cake

Music in this episode: The Wrong Way (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

We’re getting close to the end of the year and if you’re like me, you’re already looking ahead to 2020 – maybe you have been for a while – trying to come up with some great new project or maybe multiple projects that will make the next year better than this one.

I love the idea of big projects and in fact I’ve already started laying the groundwork for what’s looking more and more like the biggest solo project of my career – but while I’m more excited about it than I’ve been about anything in a while, I’m also terrified that I won’t be able to pull it off or that it will end up being less than what I think it could or should be. Big projects are great when you finish them but, man, they can be a slog. And typically the bigger the project, the more we hope or expect from it in terms of response once we actually do finish it.

https://www.charliecliftphotography.com

The Beastie Boys book

David Hurn Documentary on BBC Two

Music in this episode: The Wrong Way (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

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 way I think about my own work as well as the work of others. He’s recently entered the world of fine art photography with a project called UNIFORM that centers around his personal exploration of identity and, as he puts it, “a deep need to be seen.” In addition to a series of limited edition prints, UNIFORM is available as a book, John’s first in fact, and that’s where we begin in this episode.

LINKS
To purchase a copy of the UNIFORM book, visit https://www.johnkeatley.com. For pricing and availability on UNIFORM prints, email [email protected].

The Jim Morrison contact sheet that John mentioned was taken by Joel Brodsky and featured in a show called
CONTACT
at the Fahey/Klein Gallery. See the image at http://www.faheykleingallery.com/exhibitions/contact#5.

CONNECT WITH JOHN
Website: https://www.johnkeatley.com
Instagram: @johnkeatley
Twitter: @johnkeatley

MUSIC
Please Listen Carefully
 (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

My dad and I never really did a lot together when I was growing up. I mean, yes I spent summers with him and my stepmother Linda in Arizona but it was always with a group of people – and don’t get me wrong, it was a terrific way to spend the summer. But rarely was it ever just the two of us.

Charmolipi: joy making sorrow – Full FIlm

An Intimate Look Inside The Art Studio Of Scott Avett

Color Grading Netflix’s Mindhunter

Music in this episode: The Wrong Way (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

“Because I had really poor depth perception, everything in my world flattened into two dimensions. I struggle to incorporate depth into my work because that’s not how I engage with what I see.” — Jo Mackby

If you listen to any of my other shows—particularly Iteration 52—you know that earlier this year I had surgery on my eyes to correct a condition called Strabismus. About a month ago, I got an email from a listener and a photographer who recently had a similar surgery although I’ve since learned that her condition was much more dramatic than mine. I’ve never met anyone else with the same condition, let alone had the surgery to correct it. I responded to her email and asked if she would be willing to have a conversation about how her experience compared to my own, specifically around how it shaped her approach to art, both as a viewer and as a maker.

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You can find Jo on Instagram @jomackby or on her website at jomackby.com

If you have an interesting story to share, I’d love to hear from you. Email me at [email protected] or connect with me on Instagram @jefferysaddoris.

Music in this episode: Take Me Higher (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

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: Everything to get everything I produce, including Process Driven, In Between, Iterations, and of course A Day’s Work when it launches next year.

I hope you’ll join me for the next chapter in my podcasting journey. I can’t wait to share this with you.

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I’d love to hear from you. Email me at [email protected] or connect with me on Instagram or Twitter @jefferysaddoris.

Music in this episode: Algorithms (Chad Crouch) / CC BY-SA 3.0