Kai McBride is a photographer, teacher, musician, and maker who recently uprooted from Brooklyn to sunny Santa Fe, New Mexico. He spent ten years teaching photography and managing the photo facilities at Columbia University, his alma mater, where he received an MFA in 2008.

Born on the island of Kauai in 1972, by his 18th birthday Kai had lived in California, Oregon, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Texas, Oahu, North Carolina, and Massachusetts. He sharpened his powers of observation while adjusting to life between suburban ranch-style homes, cabins with no running water, and a twenty foot teepee in the field of a commune.

In 2021, Kai and Corn Wagon Thunder finished creating a small off-grid cabin on a mesa east of downtown Santa Fe which he named ATARAXIA. Solar power. Captured rainwater. Built with their own two hands. In 2025, they completed constructing a small art studio building on the property.

To make ends meet, he teaches photography classes online for StrudelmediaLive and can be found behind the counter at photo-eye santa fe three days a week.

https://kaimcbride.com

https://bsky.app/profile/kaimcbride.com

This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club

Begin Building your dream photobook library today at

https://charcoalbookclub.com

Vann Thomas Powell, Lisa Beard, and Micah McCoy remotely joined Michael Chovan-Dalton and Dani Paglione at the JKC Gallery at Mercer County College to talk about their newly formed photography collective, Disparate Projects. We will also discuss the process of publishing their first book, Fractured by Christiaan Lopez-Miro.

Vann Thomas Powell is a photographer, curator, and researcher. Vann received his MFA in Experimental and Documentary Art at Duke University (2023) and has been featured in solo exhibitions, books, and periodicals in the United States and abroad including The Independent (UK), Glitterati Editions (New York, NY). His books and works can be found in private and public collections including the Rubenstein Rare Books and Manuscripts Library (Duke University) and the Museum of Fine Art Special Collections (Tufts University). Vann is a Photolucida Critical Mass 2023 Top 200 Finalist.

Lisa Beard is a photo-based artist, writer, teacher, and curator. Featured in national and international exhibitions, her work has appeared in group and solo shows, recently as a featured exhibitor for Head On Photo Festival in Sydney, AU. She has also been included in publications for The International Center of Photography, The Hand Magazine, Float Magazine, and Broad Magazine. She is a 2024 Klompching Fresh Finalist and Photolucida Critical Mass 2024 Top 200 Finalist. Lisa received her MFA in Media Arts from Maine Media College (2022).

Micah McCoy is a photographer, curator, and poet based in Northwest Arkansas. He received his MFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago (2022) and has exhibited work in solo and group exhibitions both in the United States and abroad. His work explores issues of religiosity, anxiety, and social detachment. Micah’s editorial photography has been featured in publications including NBC News, The New York Post, and others.

https://disparateprojects.com

Disparate Projects is an evolving collective and platform dedicated to the exploration of contemporary photography. Founded by Lisa Beard, Micah McCoy, and Vann Thomas Powell, we are committed to thoughtful photographic curation, engaging critical discussions in photographic theory, and nurturing collaborations with photographers of disparate approaches.

This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club

Begin Building your dream photobook library today at

https://charcoalbookclub.com

The Real Photo Show is hosted and produced by Michael Chovan-Dalton

The JKC Gallery Artist Talks are hosted and produced by:

Real Photo Show/Michael Chovan-Dalton, Julia Colonna, and Dani Paglione.

Amani Willett is a Boston-based photographer whose practice is driven by conceptual ideas surrounding family, history, memory, and the social environment. Working primarily with the book form, his three monographs have been published to widespread critical acclaim. Disquiet (Damiani, 2013), The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer (Overlapse, 2017) and “A Parallel Road (Overlapse 2020)” were selected by Photo-Eye as “best books” of the year and have been highlighted in over 70 publications including ​Photograph Magazine, PDN,​ ​Hyperallergic, Lensculture, New York Magazine, The New York Times, 1000 Words, NPR, The British Journal of Photography, Collector Daily and Buzzfeed and recommended by ​Todd Hido,​ ​Elisabeth Biondi (former Visuals Editor of The New Yorker), Vince Aletti and Joerg Colberg (Conscientious), among others.

https://www.amaniwillett.com/invisiblesunbook

https://www.instagram.com/amaniwillett/

INVISIBLE SUN is a visual meditation on survival, transformation, and fragility by artist Amani Willett. The project traces the impact of childhood medical traumas and the ways they continue to reverberate through the present.

Slideshow from book:

https://youtu.be/dl5-nDcpfoc

Confronting these early challenges amid new chronic health challenges, Willett turned to intensive therapies. Within this process he encountered vivid, unsettling memories, often of his younger self, that became a generative source for the work.

This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book ClubBegin Building your dream photobook library today athttps://charcoalbookclub.com

Amani’s photographs are also featured in the books​ American Geography (SF Moma/Radius Books, 2021), Bystander: A History of Street Photography (2017 edition, Laurence King Publishing), ​Street Photography Now​ (Thames and Hudson), ​New York: In Color​ (Abrams), and have been published widely in places including The Atlantic, A​merican Photography,​ Newsweek​,​ Harper’s,​ ​The Huffington Post, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine and The New York Review of Books​.​ His work resides in the collections of the Tate Modern, The Library of the Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Sir Elton John Photography Collection, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Oxford University, and Harvard University, among others.

Anika Burgess | Flashes of Brilliance, The Genius of Early Photography and How It Transformed Art, Science, and History

WW Norton & Co

Anika Burgess is a writer and photo editor. She has been published in The New York Times and Atlas Obscura. Anika has won a Front Page Award from the Newswomen’s Club of New York and has presented at Photoville New York. She holds degrees in law and history from the University of Sydney, and qualified as a lawyer before changing careers to journalism. Anika lives in New York with her husband, son, and an obstinate schnauzer called Sigmund. 

Photo credit: Amir Hamja

The eighth and final installment of attendee recordings from the 2025 Chico Review with those who came to Chico to share their work and their stories with incredible reviewers. This year I recorded with over 40 attendees! I’ve also linked to the guest’s Instagram and Websites so you can see the work. And again this year, I was recording in a variety of spaces at the beautiful Chico Hot Springs resort so there may be a number of different ambient sounds across the recordings.

The Chico Review is the country’s premier Photobook Retreat. Organized by Charcoal Book Club, The Chico Review takes place over six nights at Chico Hot Springs Resort, near Livingston Montana. Sixty-four applicants will spend the week with over twenty of the most influential and creative photographers, book makers, gallerists, museum curators, and photobook publishers in the industry.

The 2026 Chico Review is now open for applications.

https://www.charcoalworkshops.com

03:28 - Giovana Schluter Nunes

https://www.giovanaschluter.com

https://www.instagram.com/giovanaschluternunes

12:01 - Robert Stone

https://robertarthurstone.com

https://www.instagram.com/robertarthurstone

20:47 - Stephanie Schwiederek

https://www.schwiederek.com

https://www.instagram.com/steph.schwiederek

29:24 - Valerio Geraci

https://valeriogeraci.com

https://www.instagram.com/valeriogeraci

This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club

The seventh installment of attendee recordings from the 2025 Chico Review with those who came to Chico to share their work and their stories with incredible reviewers. This year I recorded with over 40 attendees! I’ve also linked to the guest’s Instagram and Websites so you can see the work. And again this year, I was recording in a variety of spaces at the beautiful Chico Hot Springs resort so there may be a number of different ambient sounds across the recordings.

The Chico Review is the country’s premier Photobook Retreat. Organized by Charcoal Book Club, The Chico Review takes place over six nights at Chico Hot Springs Resort, near Livingston Montana. Sixty-four applicants will spend the week with over twenty of the most influential and creative photographers, book makers, gallerists, museum curators, and photobook publishers in the industry.

The 2026 Chico Review is now open for applications.

https://www.charcoalworkshops.com

02:05 - Anastasia Davis

https://www.anastasiadavisphoto.com

https://www.instagram.com/anastasiadavis_

09:16 - Chris Mammone

https://www.chrismammone.co.uk

https://www.instagram.com/chrismammonephotographer

17:55 - Christina Diaz

https://www.christinamdiaz.com

https://www.instagram.com/christina___diaz

24:14 - Jesús Umbría

https://umbriabrito.com

https://www.instagram.com/milton_bananas

This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club

Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ave Pildas worked early in his career as a photo stringer for Downbeat Magazine in the Ohio Valley and Pennsylvania in the 1960's, and has been a successful photographer and educator for the past 40 years. 

http://www.avepildas.com

https://deadbeatclubpress.com/products/ave-pildas-star-struck

This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club

APPLY NOW OR SOON:

https://www.chicoreview.com/2026

https://www.homecomingbiennial.com/submit

https://photowork.foundation/photowork-junior-fellowship/

The sixth installment of attendee recordings from the 2025 Chico Review with those who came to Chico to share their work and their stories with incredible reviewers. This year I recorded with over 40 attendees! I’ve also linked to the guest’s Instagram and Websites so you can see the work. And again this year, I was recording in a variety of spaces at the beautiful Chico Hot Springs resort so there may be a number of different ambient sounds across the recordings.

The Chico Review is the country’s premier Photobook Retreat. Organized by Charcoal Book Club, The Chico Review takes place over six nights at Chico Hot Springs Resort, near Livingston Montana. Sixty-four applicants will spend the week with over twenty of the most influential and creative photographers, book makers, gallerists, museum curators, and photobook publishers in the industry.

The 2026 Chico Review is now open for applications.

https://www.charcoalworkshops.com

02:59 - Felix Denomme

https://www.instagram.com/godspeed.felix/

10:23 - Gregory Jundanian

https://www.jundanianphotography.com

https://www.instagram.com/gjundanian/

16:37 - Michelle Arcila

https://www.michellearcila.net

https://www.instagram.com/michelle.arcila/

22:30 - Owen Davies

https://www.owen-davies.com

https://www.instagram.com/owendaviesphoto/

32:26 - Susan Weiss

https://www.susanweissart.com

https://www.instagram.com/susanweissart/

This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club

The fifth installment of attendee recordings from the 2025 Chico Review with those who came to Chico to share their work and their stories with incredible reviewers. This year I recorded with over 40 attendees! I’ve also linked to the guest’s Instagram and Websites so you can see the work. And again this year, I was recording in a variety of spaces at the beautiful Chico Hot Springs resort so there may be a number of different ambient sounds across the recordings.

The Chico Review is the country’s premier Photobook Retreat. Organized by Charcoal Book Club, The Chico Review takes place over six nights at Chico Hot Springs Resort, near Livingston Montana. Sixty-four applicants will spend the week with over twenty of the most influential and creative photographers, book makers, gallerists, museum curators, and photobook publishers in the industry.

https://chicoreview.com

https://www.charcoalworkshops.com

02:50 - Alana Perino

https://www.alanaperino.com

https://www.instagram.com/lanapino/

12:00 - Francesco Aglieri Rinella

https://www.francescoaglieri.com

https://www.instagram.com/francesco.aglieri

24:34 - Eileen Meny

https://eileenmenyphotography.com

https://www.instagram.com/meny.photo/

33:53 - Paul Fong Bothwell

https://www.paulfongbothwell.com/

42:20 - Pie Aerts

https://www.pieaerts.com

https://www.instagram.com/because.people.matter/

Nat Ward lives in Queens, NY. His work is collected by the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Parrish Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. His previous book of photographs and poetry, Big Throat, was published by +KGP in 2020. Ward founded the collaborative photographic project space A New Nothing with Ben Alper in 2014 and has had features on his photographic work published in Aperture, Interview, Collector Daily, Photobook Journal, Photography & Culture, C4, The British Journal of Photography, Unseen, Vogue, Vogue Italia, Vice, and Juxtapoz. He has exhibited photographic and text-based installations at Nathalie Karg Gallery, New York Live Arts, Hampshire College, and The Jewish Museum. Ward has been awarded residencies and fellowships from Yaddo, The Cooper Union Professional Development Fund, the Edward F. Albee Foundation, and The Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program. His poetry and critical writing have appeared in publications from Wendy’s Subway, 1080Press, The Brooklyn Review, and Beautiful Days Press. Ward’s poems appear alongside photographs by Sara J. Winson and Aaron Canopy in Shades, published by Push Pull Editions (2024). Ward holds an MFA in Visual Art from Columbia University and an MFA in Poetry from Brooklyn College.

https://nat-ward.com

https://www.instagram.com/mrnatward/

https://powerhousebooks.com/books/ditch-montauk-new-york-11954/

This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club