Zack Canepari // “It is so easy to get illegal guns. There are loopholes, and the way these illegal guns come into these communities is so much a product of poorly thought out gun laws. That to me is just hair pulling…because why is this so complicated. I resent that there is this one, uncompromising line of the constitution that was made so long ago under such different circumstances, and that we are completely incapable of talking about it in a common sense way.”

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Welcome to @thesearcherpodcast

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On this episode of the show, I speak with Zack Canepari, an independent photographer and filmmaker specializing in documentary storytelling. His photography career began in India/Pakistan, and after living in the region for three years Zack moved to California and teamed with filmmaker Drea Cooper, to create ZCDC. In 2010, ZCDC launched “California is a place”, a documentary film series about the Golden State. Next, the duo directed their debut feature documentary T-REX, about Olympic gold medalist boxer Claressa Shields, which premiered at SXSW and went on to win audience and jury awards around the country including San Francisco International and Hot Docs.

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Later, ZCDC’s Netflix Original Doc series, FLINT TOWN, opened to critical acclaim and earned nominations from Critic’s Choice Awards and the IDA. The series takes an unflinching look at a struggling city through the eyes of the police and community. Their latest film, FIRE IN PARADISE, also released on Netflix, was shortlisted for the 2020 Academy Awards and received multiple Emmy nominations.

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As a photographer, Zack’s first monograph, titled REX, focused on Flint through the experiences of Shields and her sister, Briana. REX was named one of TIME Magazines top photography books of 2016 and was awarded Best Photography Book at the Pictures of the Year International. A series of short films, photo projects and exhibitions followed, all part of an ongoing interactive web series titled "Flint is a place". In 2017, Canepari won a World Press Photo Award and was awarded Multimedia Photographer of the Year at Pictures of the Year International for his work in Michigan.

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We centered our discussion on much of the aforementioned work, Zack’s experience of working both as a still photographer and a filmmaker, the covid and post-covid work environments, his current film with @jessicadimmock exploring gun violence in America, and how these projects have shaped his views on everything from policing to parenting his daughter.

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This conversation was recorded late last year, so there may be some comments and comments regarding covid-19 and politics that are a bit outdated.

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Follow Zack Canepari:

Instagram: @canepari_til_i_die

Web: http://www.zcdc.tv/

Web: http://flintisaplace.com/

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Additional links:

Searcher Instagram: @thesearcherpodcast

Searcher website: http://michaelchristopherbrown.com/searcher/

Ramon Pez // “Most of the time when we are doing a book, we are creating a mirror….A space where the reader and author can reflect on what happened and what is happening….In the best cases, you give enough space to a reader for infinite interpretations of the story.”

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Welcome to @thesearcherpodcast, conversations with storytellers, creatives, healers, and others in search of what it all means. On this episode of the show, I speak with Ramon Pez, an award-winning art director of magazine, book-making, and exhibition design as well as illustration. Currently the head of art direction at Thames & Hudson, his design springs from a content-driven and detail-oriented approach based on the idea that design is the architecture of storytelling, and that every project’s design must express the content as powerfully as possible. Ramon and I collaborated on the design for my first two books, Libyan Sugar and Yo Soy Fidel. His other book projects include Santa Barbara, On Abortion, Ponte City and Afronauts.

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We centered our discussion on the photographic monograph, why photographers make books and the thinking behind the process of making books such as Kivu, a series of in-progress Congo books, and other books including RFK Funeral Train (Paul Fusco), Liberia Retold Bit by Bit (Tim Hetherington), Open See (Jim Goldberg), On Abortion (Laia Abril) and Afronauts (Cristina de Middel).

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Follow Ramon Pez:

Instagram: @ramon.pez

Web: http://www.ramonpezstudio.com/

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Additional links:

Searcher Instagram: @thesearcherpodcast

Searcher website: http://michaelchristopherbrown.com/searcher/

Ramon Pez // “Most of the time when we are doing a book, we are creating a mirror….A space where the reader and author can reflect on what happened and what is happening….In the best cases, you give enough space to a reader for infinite interpretations of the story.”

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Welcome to @thesearcherpodcast, conversations with storytellers, creatives, healers, and others in search of what it all means. On this episode of the show, I speak with Ramon Pez, an award-winning art director of magazine, book-making, and exhibition design as well as illustration. Currently the head of art direction at Thames & Hudson, his design springs from a content-driven and detail-oriented approach based on the idea that design is the architecture of storytelling, and that every project’s design must express the content as powerfully as possible. Ramon and I collaborated on the design for my first two books, Libyan Sugar and Yo Soy Fidel. His other book projects include Santa Barbara, On Abortion, Ponte City and Afronauts.

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We centered our discussion on the photographic monograph, why photographers make books and the thinking behind the process of making books such as Kivu, a series of in-progress Congo books, and other books including RFK Funeral Train (Paul Fusco), Liberia Retold Bit by Bit (Tim Hetherington), Open See (Jim Goldberg), On Abortion (Laia Abril) and Afronauts (Cristina de Middel).

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Follow Ramon Pez:

Instagram: @ramon.pez

Web: http://www.ramonpezstudio.com/

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Additional links:

Searcher Instagram: @thesearcherpodcast

Searcher website: http://michaelchristopherbrown.com/searcher/

Delphine Diallo // “The photography world is a new world for the world itself….We must realize the limitations we have created within the form….We are often taking more than we give.”

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Welcome to @thesearcherpodcast, conversations with storytellers, creatives, healers, and others in search of what it all means. On this episode of the show, we speak with Delphine Diallo, a Brooklyn-based French and Senegalese visual artist and photographer. Delphine’s intention is to change the gaze in photography, empowering black women while creating new narratives and experiences for consciousness to expand. Diallo combines artistry with activism, challenging the norms of representation in our society by immersing herself in the realms of anthropology, mythology, religion, science and martial arts.

For this second episode with Delphine, we explore in detail some of the underlying ideas driving her vision, including integrity and consciousness, awareness and trauma, community and connection.

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Follow Delphine Diallo:

Instagram: @delphinediallo

Web: http://www.delphinediallo.com/

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Additional links:

Searcher Instagram: @thesearcherpodcast

Searcher website: http://michaelchristopherbrown.com/searcher/

Delphine Diallo // “I put myself in a risky place all the time….Because I am not going to compromise…..This is what happens when you wake up.”

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Welcome to @thesearcherpodcast, conversations with storytellers, creatives, healers, and others in search of what it all means. On this episode of the show, we speak with Delphine Diallo, a Brooklyn-based French and Senegalese visual artist and photographer. Delphine’s intention is to change the gaze in photography, empowering black women while creating new narratives and experiences for consciousness to expand. Diallo combines artistry with activism, challenging the norms of representation in our society by immersing herself in the realms of anthropology, mythology, religion, science and martial arts.

For this first episode with Delphine, we discuss her rise, development and vision as an artist. We discuss her mentorship with artist Peter Beard. We discuss the past, present and future state of the industry, America and the World. This episode is a general look inside Delphine’s work and practice. As a side note, we recorded this podcast last summer, so some of the news mentioned, such as Covid-19, immigration and election related news, may be and/or is somewhat outdated.

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Follow Delphine Diallo:

Instagram: @delphinediallo

Web: http://www.delphinediallo.com/

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Additional links:

Searcher Instagram: @thesearcherpodcast

Searcher website: http://michaelchristopherbrown.com/searcher/

Afshin Ismaeli // “I initially wanted to be a politician….Becoming a journalist was a way to become a politician, to fight for civil society….I stayed in journalism to show people the problems, not to become a part of the problems….Without journalism there will never be democracy in the region.”

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Welcome to @thesearcherpodcast, conversations with storytellers, creatives, healers, and others in search of what it all means. On this episode of the show, I speak with photographer Afshin Ismaeli, a Kurdish war photojournalist, writer and researcher based in Oslo, Norway. Afshin has not only spent much of his life documenting war, but was born into it. When we met last year in Dubai, his presentation of children surviving in a previously ISIS occupied city of Mosul just blew my mind. He shares his story of growing up in the no man’s land between Iran and Iraq, why he became a journalist and photographer and the life changing experiences he’s had while documenting ISIS and the middle east these past 15 years. In addition, we explore war-related subjects ranging from PTSD to the publication of imagery of children in war.

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Follow Afshin Ismaeli:

Instagram: @afshinismaeli

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Some of the organizations Afshin mentions, who work with the children of war, are:

@doctorswithoutborders

@icrc

@refugees

Barzani Charity Foundation

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Additional links:

Searcher Instagram: @thesearcherpodcast

Searcher website: http://michaelchristopherbrown.com/searcher/

Robert Clark // “If i could do one thing in my career over, i would have moved there for a year.”

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Welcome to @thesearcherpodcast, conversations with storytellers, creatives, healers, and others in search of what it all means. On this episode of the show, I speak with National Geographic photographer Robert Clark, a dear friend and mentor. Robert was one of the first occupants of a Brooklyn, NY, building known in the photo world as the Kibbutz, which after 9-11 became a temporary home for some of the best photojournalists in the world. Not long after meeting Rob, he found me a place inside this building, where I met some of these photographers. It was one of the most magical and inspiring periods of my life, and it was all thanks to Rob. Based in New York City, Robert Clark has photographed more than 50 stories for National Geographic and is the author of five monographs.

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In 1988, when Robert Clark was in his early twenties, he traveled to Odessa, Texas, to create a visual element for a book about a high school football team. That book was Buzz Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights―the chronicle of a season with the Permian Panthers, one of the state’s winningest teams of all time.

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About twenty photos appeared in Bissinger’s book, but Clark shot 137 rolls of film during his time with the Panthers. Friday Night Lives collects dozens of the never-before-seen images, taking us back to the team, the city, and that dramatic season. The archival photos, published in 2020 on the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of Bissinger's bestseller, capture intimate moments among the players and their families and classmates, as well as the wider world of Odessa.

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Now the players have grown up. Friday Night Lives also includes Clark’s portraits of key Panthers figures at a later age, documenting complex lives of beauty and struggle. Boobie Miles, the star fullback sidelined by injury, is here, along with Coach Gaines and others. In his heartfelt foreword, best-selling author Hanif Abdurraqib describes how Clark's photos rehumanize the players, reminding us of the truth of their young lives before their stories became nationally known in print, film, and television.

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Follow Robert Clark:

Instagram: @robertclarkphoto

Web: http://www.robertclark.com/

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Buy Friday Night Lives:

https://www.amazon.com/Friday-Night-Lives-Caldwell-Endowment/dp/1477321195

Buy Friday Night Nights:

https://www.amazon.com/Friday-Night-Lights-25th-Anniversary/dp/0306824205/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=friday+night+lights&qid=1605221093&s=books&sr=1-1

Watch the series Friday Night Lights:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B00C158CJS/ref=atv_dp_b00_det_c_UTPsmN_1_1

Watch the film Friday Night Lights:

https://www.amazon.com/Friday-Night-Lights-Billy-Thornton/dp/B001NI24OI/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=friday+night+lights&qid=1605220997&sr=8-3

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Additional links:

Searcher Instagram: @thesearcherpodcast

Searcher website: http://michaelchristopherbrown.com/searcher/

Gina Martin // “I've always loved different things about books. Sometimes it is the photographer or the actual work, sometimes it's just the way the book is made. I love little boutique books. I love little unique books, how they're made, if they're different. I usually don't love the typical hardcover coffee table book, unless the work just blows me away. But it's usually not what grabs me with a book.”

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Welcome to @thesearcherpodcast, conversations with storytellers, creatives, healers, and others in search of what it all means, so we may understand why it is we do what we do. For our first episode, I would love to introduce my good friend Gina Martin. I met her more than 16 years ago when I was a photo intern at @natgeo magazine. Gina has an amazing photo book collection – wait until you hear how many she has, my guess was way off. I love her passion for photography books, and at the 27:06 mark, Gina shares one of her favorites. “It doesn’t have to be super complicated,” shared Gina. “This is the epitome of that. It is literally in his backyard.” Go to the link in our profile to listen to @thesearcherpodcast.

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We also talk about her nonprofit, the Bob and Diane Fund, which supports visual storytelling that documents Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Their annual grant of $5,000 USD supports the completion, publication, exhibition, and/or screening of photography that increases a visual understanding the disease. The application deadline is October 25, 2020 at 11:59PM EST. For more information about this annual grant, go to http://www.bobanddianefund.org/. The grantee will be announced in mid-November during National Caregiver’s Month.

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Gina Martin // “The Bob and Diane Fund is nonprofit I started five or six years ago in memory of my parents. My mom passed away of Alzheimer's in 2011 and then my father, who was her loyal caregiver – they were married for 49 years – he passed away three months later on his 71st birthday. So, I wanted to do it in both of their names because my dad took care of her so well and it affected his life as much as hers. We give a grant of $5000 every year to a photographer working on a story related to Alzheimer's or dementia, and then we work to get that published worldwide to bring kind of a visual understanding of what the disease is. We gave money this year for a mentorship. We've paid for a photographer to go to a workshop, we pay their airfare and registration and they work on a story for that week. We did a photo contest last year called Still Living, it was for people who were living with the disease to send in a photo. We've done different things, but our main is the grant each year is to help them either publish it into a book or to exhibit the work. We've given about $45,000 so far.”

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Follow Gina Martin:

Instagram: @ginamartindc

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Follow Bob and Diane Fund:

Instagram: @bobanddianefund

Twitter: @bobanddianefund

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Follow Stephen Gill:

Instagram: @stephen_gill_

“The Pillar” by Stephen Gill available at: https://www.nobodybooks.com/

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Additional links:

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Searcher Instagram: @thesearcherpodcast

Searcher website: http://michaelchristopherbrown.com/searcher/

Hello, and welcome to Searcher.

I began this podcast to have conversations with storytellers, creatives, healers and others, in search of what it all means. So we may understand why it is we do what we do, and build stronger foundations of understanding, empathy and expansion, both within and beyond our communities.

I began this podcast to continue with conversations of change inspired by three 2020 events that helped shift my consciousness: the global pandemic, the aftermath of George Floyd, and a personal threat and associated attacks on social media, which respectively caused me to feel mortal, angry, and misunderstood.

But they also led to a rebirth. As social media did not provide a space for meaningful discourse, I felt a desire to publicly share the insight gained through ongoing discussions with friends, colleagues and mentors. Because as communities, we rarely have the conversations needed to cope with our experiences. These sometimes hard conversations may help refocus, and strengthen, our mission as connectors.

This podcast is a space for understanding, for reflection, so that we may understand where we are to go.

As Carl Jung said, “Keep your shadows in front of you—they can only take you down from behind.”

Thanks for listening, and welcome to Searcher.