It's 3 AM. You're scrolling through infomercials. A televangelist is selling "Miracle Spring Water" for $50—promising financial breakthroughs, healing, transformation. All you have to do is send money and believe.

Fast forward to 2026. A YouTube thumbnail: "This CAMERA changed EVERYTHING 📷🔥" Description: "Amazon affiliate links below."

Same hustle. Different spring water.

In this bonus heresy, we examine why gear influencers are the modern-day televangelists of photography—how they've built an entire industry around keeping you perpetually inadequate, how they've changed what we value when we look at photographs, and why most of them can't actually shoot.

This isn't about hating content creators. It's about understanding the incentive structures that teach us to worship what we lack instead of what we hold. And it's about recognizing our own complicity in building this machine.

Warning: This episode names names and makes uncomfortable arguments. If you've ever upgraded your camera when you didn't need to, this one's going to hit close to home.

IN THIS EPISODE

The Peter Popoff Parallel
How a disgraced televangelist who sold "Miracle Spring Water" to desperate people is using the exact same business model as gear influencers—just with better production value and no FBI investigation (yet).

The Gospel of the Spec Sheet
Why the prosperity gospel and gear culture are built on identical psychological architecture: the promise that transformation is a transaction you can complete with your credit card.

The Liturgy of Inadequacy
How the inadequacy spiral works: You buy a camera. You're excited. Two weeks later, the algorithm shows you why it's not good enough. And the cycle begins.

"Almost" Is the Most Profitable Emotion
Why we stay in perpetual "almost"—almost ready, almost equipped, almost prepared. Because "almost" feels productive while keeping us from the actual work of making images.

The Confession
Patrick turns the mirror on himself—and on all of us. How we participated in building this system because buying something feels like progress, even when it's not.

The Influencer-as-Career Problem
Why an entire generation of photographers is learning that building a YouTube channel is more profitable than building a portfolio—and what gets lost when content about photography replaces the practice of photography.

The Mirror Moment
Patrick examines his own position: Does he have a podcast? A book? A newsletter? Isn't he doing the same thing? And why his one exception to the "no sponsorship" rule is Guinness beer.

Redefining "Good"
How gear culture changed what we see when we look at photographs—from "Does this make you feel something?" to "Can you see every eyelash at 100% crop?"

The TikTok Critique
A live Instagram feed critique where technical feedback (sharpness, color consistency, dynamic range) completely replaces any conversation about vision, intent, or what the photographer is actually trying to say.

The Scott Kelby / Jeremy Cowart Story
A moment from a photo walk where Scott Kelby interrupts Jeremy Cowart mid-shoot to ask about his settings—perfectly illustrating how we've been conditioned to believe the technical information is what matters, not the seeing.

What Actually Gets Lost
Not just taste or vision, but the willingness to sit with uncertainty. How photographers stop trusting their own eyes and start Googling "best composition for portraits" mid-shoot.

The Portfolio Problem (The nuclear option)
Why most gear influencers can't actually shoot—and how we've given authority to people who can measure corner sharpness but can't make a compelling photograph. Includes the uncomfortable truth about test shots masquerading as sample images.

What Doesn't Matter (And What Does)
Corner sharpness. Dynamic range. Color science. Megapixels. None of it matters if you can't see. And how the camera you have right now is enough—not "enough to start," but enough to make extraordinary work.

The Ending
Not permission, but presence. What Patrick stopped clicking. What he's sitting with. What he's letting stay unresolved. And why his three-year-old scratched camera isn't getting upgraded.

KEY QUOTES

"Almost is the most profitable emotion in the world. Because almost lets us feel like photographers without the risk of making photography."

"Your satisfaction is their bankruptcy."

"The camera didn't change. Your faith did. You were taught to worship what you lack instead of what you hold."

"Transformation is not a transaction. It's something you build."

"We've given authority to people who know how to measure corner sharpness but can't make an interesting photograph."

"Certainty is the enemy of vision. Because vision lives in the uncertainty."

"The thing I'm looking for isn't in the next camera. It's in the next thousand frames. And you can't buy those. You have to make them."

REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE

Peter Popoff
Televangelist exposed by James Randi in the 1980s for using hidden earpieces to fake divine revelations. Declared bankruptcy in 1987. Came back in the 2000s selling "Miracle Spring Water" via late-night infomercials. Ministry pulled in $23 million by 2015.

Inside Edition Investigation (2015)
Confrontation with Popoff showing his $2.1M home, $100K Porsche, and $600K+ salary funded by donations from desperate people.

James Randi Exposure
Magician and skeptic who revealed Popoff's wife was feeding him information through a hidden earpiece during "healing" crusades.

Peter McKinnon
YouTube creator, Canon ambassador, camera backpack designer. Used as example of distinction between content creator and working photographer (with explicit acknowledgment of his talent and intentional career choice).

Scott Kelby / Jeremy Cowart Photo Walk
Venice Beach incident where Kelby interrupted Cowart mid-shoot to ask about camera settings—illustrating the assumption that technical information is what matters.

Ofcom (UK Broadcasting Regulator)
Fined broadcasters in 2018 for airing Popoff's infomercials with health claims that crossed from religious expression into fraud.

MENTIONED PHOTOGRAPHERS & ARTISTS

(For the "what to study instead" section)

• Alec Soth
• Sally Mann
• Saul Leiter
• Robert Frank
• Nadav Kander
• Gregory Crewdson
• Ansel Adams ("Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico")

AUDIO CLIPS USED

Peter Popoff "Miracle Spring Water" Infomercial (2018)
Clips of testimonials, pitch, and call-to-action from late-night infomercial

Inside Edition Confrontation (2015)
Matt Meagher attempting to question Popoff about taking money from desperate people

EPISODE THEMES

• Inadequacy as a business model
• Prosperity gospel vs. gear culture
• The economics of content creation
• Technical language replacing aesthetic language
• Learning to see vs. learning to shop
• Vision vs. specs

Rochester, 1888. George Eastman releases the Kodak camera with a brilliant slogan: "You press the button, we do the rest." Serious photographers immediately panic, calling new users "Button-Pressers" and "Kodak Fiends." One writer declares photography dead: "When everyone is a photographer, then no one is an artist."

Same fear. Same argument. Different century.

This is Episode 2 of Heresies—where we say the things the photography industry would prefer you not think too hard about.

Today: Why your camera brand doesn't care if you're a good photographer. Why brand ambassadors are unpaid marketing departments. And what happens when you mistake ownership for mastery.

We'll talk about the spreadsheet behind "partnerships." The ROAS calculations that determine who gets loaned gear. And why musicians like Benny Blanco make billion-stream hits on outdated Macs with wired keyboards while photographers argue about megapixels in forums.

This isn't another "gear doesn't matter" sermon. Gear absolutely matters—but only if you already know what you're doing. The R5 makes you more capable, not better. And there's a difference.

If you've ever felt like you needed the "right" camera to be taken seriously, this one's for you.

What We Cover

• The 1890s moral panic about "Button-Pressers" and "Kodak Fiends"
• Why I felt cheated when a beginner showed up with the same $10K camera setup
• What I learned working in Taylor Guitars' marketing department about brand partnerships
• How ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) and Brand Lift actually work
• Why camera ambassadors are conversion rates, not artists
• Benny Blanco making hits on gear that looks like a dorm room liquidation sale
• The difference between gear that enables vs. gear that replaces skill
• Why musicians fetishize sound while photographers fetishize newness
• Where pride should actually live (spoiler: not in your kit)

Quotable Moments

"When everyone is a photographer, then no one is an artist." — 1890s photography critic

"Ownership feels like mastery. That if you just have the right tool, the hard parts quietly disappear."

"I wanted the gate to exist. I wanted the years to mean something visible. I wanted effort to leave a mark you could recognize on sight."

"You're not a partner. You're a line item. An asset on a balance sheet. A tactic in a marketing plan."

"The R5 doesn't make me a better photographer. It makes me a more capable photographer—but only if I already know what I'm doing."

"The tool enables. But it doesn't create. Vision creates. Mastery creates. And you can't buy either of those."

"Musicians fetishize sound. Photographers fetishize newness."

"Pride is expensive. You can put pride in your work. Or you can put pride in your kit. One costs time. The other costs money."

"If the most interesting thing about your work is what you shot it on, you didn't make work. You made a purchase."

For Photographers Who:

• Feel pressure to upgrade every time a new camera drops
• Wonder if they need "better" gear before they can do "real" work
• Have ever felt embarrassed showing up with older equipment
• Are curious what brand ambassador programs actually are
• Struggle with gear acquisition vs. skill development
• Want permission to master what they already have
• Need to hear that the camera they own is enough

Referenced in This Episode

Benny Blanco - Mix with the Masters
"Benny Blanco producing 'Eastside' and 'Younger And Hotter Than Me' | Trailer"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gnRFrJ3ytY
(Audio clips used with reference to educational context)

Historical Context:

• George Eastman & the Kodak Camera (1888)
• The Hartford Courant warnings about "Kodak Fiends" (1890s)
• Photography industry panic about "Button-Pressers"

Musicians Referenced:

• Benny Blanco (producer: "Eastside," Selena Gomez, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber)
• Willie Nelson and "Trigger" (Martin N-20 guitar, 50+ years)

Gear Theory:

• ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
• Brand Lift metrics
• Attribution modeling in influencer marketing

Links & Resources

The Terrible Photographer
Website: http://terriblephotographer.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terriblephotographer/

Lessons From A Terrible Photographer (The Book)
https://www.terriblephotographer.com/the-book
(Features full chapter: "Gear, Fear, and Peers")

Support the Show (Buy Me a Coffee)
https://www.terriblephotographer.com/support

Subscribe to Pub Notes (The Newsletter)
https://the-terrible-photographer.kit.com/223fe471fb

Patrick Fore
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patrickfore/

Get in Touch

Have a question? A story? Hate mail?
I respond to everything.
Email's in the show notes.

Credits

Podcast written, produced, and hosted by Patrick Fore
Music licensed through Epidemic Sound & Blue Dot Sessions
Episode photography by Michael Soledad | Instagram: @michsoledesign
Audio clips from "Benny Blanco producing 'Eastside' and 'Younger And Hotter Than Me'" courtesy of Mix with the Masters

Recorded from my garage in San Diego, California

Stay curious. Stay courageous. Stay terrible.

Most photographers drown in the edit.

Not because they can't see what's good. Because they can't choose what matters.

This episode is about the violence of editing—the courage it takes to kill good images, the ego that dies in the process, and why great portfolios are built on rhythm, not range.

I tell the story of a La Jolla shoot where I took 1,900 frames in two hours and couldn't figure out which ones to keep. About losing my sense of up and down. About the underwater feeling of staring at 300 good images and having no idea which one cuts through.

And about what happened when I finally admitted I was too close to see.

This isn't about workflow. It's about authorship.

Topics:

• Why volume doesn't equal value
• The question that kills most of your images
• What actually gets destroyed in the edit (spoiler: it's not the photos)
• Editing as storytelling, not inventory
• When to admit you're too underwater to choose

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Walter Murch – Film editor (Apocalypse Now, The English Patient, The Conversation)

LINKS & RESOURCES

Website: http://terriblephotographer.com

Lessons From A Terrible Photographer (The Book): https://www.terriblephotographer.com/the-book

Support the show, buy me a coffee: https://www.terriblephotographer.com/support

Subscribe to Pub Notes (The Newsletter): https://the-terrible-photographer.kit.com/223fe471fb

Terrible Photographer on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terriblephotographer/

Patrick Fore on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patrickfore/

CREDITS

Podcast written, produced, and hosted by Patrick Fore

Music licensed through Epidemic Sound & Blue Dot Sessions

Recorded from my garage in San Diego, California

CONTACT

Questions? Thoughts? Hate mail?
Email me. I respond to everything.
[email protected]

Stay curious.
Stay courageous.
Stay terrible.

When a client says "I want exactly this," are they hiring you to execute their vision—or are they asking you to solve a problem they can't articulate?

This is the first episode in a five-part series called Heresies—where we say the uncomfortable things the industry doesn't want you to think too hard about.

In this episode: Why listening to your client might be killing your work. Why taste is a technical skill, not a preference. And the difference between being a problem-solver and being an expensive tripod.

We'll talk about threading the needle between "authentic" and "amateur." About knowing when you're hired as an artist versus a technician. And about the clients who want you to recreate their blurry iPhone photos of tennis racquets at impossible angles.

(Yes, that's a real story. No, I don't want to talk about it.)

This isn't about ignoring your clients. It's about knowing when to translate what they're asking for into what they actually need.

What We Cover

• Why your job isn't just to press the button
• The difference between consumer clients (hiring your taste) and commercial clients (hiring problem-solving)
• How to build a visual vocabulary (and why scrolling Instagram doesn't count)
• Red flags that signal a client wants a proxy, not a photographer
• What "taste as a technical skill" actually means
• The museum exercise: 20 minutes, one painting, no phone

Quotable Moments

"You're not an equipment rental with legs."

"Clients don't hire us to give them what they want. They hire us to give them something beautiful. Something effective."

"If you don't have a vision, you can't translate someone else's vision."

"You're not a photographer. You're just someone with a camera, waiting for instructions."

"The cost of saying yes to the wrong client isn't just time and money. It's the slow, quiet erosion of why you started doing this in the first place."

For Photographers Who:

• Struggle with confidence when clients have "very specific ideas"
• Default to saying "yes" even when the request doesn't make sense
• Haven't developed their visual voice yet (and don't know where to start)
• Are tired of being treated like a vending machine
• Need permission to trust their expertise
• Want to know how to spot bad clients before signing the contract

Links & Resources

The Terrible Photographer
Website: http://terriblephotographer.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terriblephotographer/

Lessons From A Terrible Photographer (The Book)
https://www.terriblephotographer.com/the-book

Support the Show (Buy Me a Coffee)
https://www.terriblephotographer.com/support

Subscribe to Pub Notes (The Newsletter)
https://the-terrible-photographer.kit.com/223fe471fb

Patrick Fore
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patrickfore/

Get in Touch

Have a question? A story? Hate mail?
I respond to everything.
Email's in the show notes.

Credits

Podcast written, produced, and hosted by Patrick Fore
Music licensed through Epidemic Sound & Blue Dot Sessions
Episode photography from Adobe Stock & Unsplash
Recorded from my garage in San Diego, California

Stay curious. Stay courageous. Stay terrible.

There's a woman in Bangkok who's been selling noodles from the same corner for 43 years. She turned down Bon Appétit. Not because she's shy. Because she didn't want to cook for strangers with expectations.

This episode started with a voicemail from Jason, a listener in North Carolina who shoots photos of his kids and has no interest in going pro. He called me out for ignoring non-professionals. And he was right.

What I didn't expect was how much his email would make me confront something I've been avoiding: I'm envious of amateur photographers. Not because they're bad at what they do. Because they still have the thing I traded away.

This is about the cost of professionalization. About the difference between making work because you have to versus making work because the work demands to be made. About freedom, money, and what happens when you refuse to let the transaction define the craft.

If you've ever felt like you're not a "real" photographer because you don't charge... this one's for you.

And if you're a pro who's forgotten why you started... this one's for you too.

Key Themes:

• Transactional Legitimacy (the belief that payment equals worth)
• The cost of going professional vs. staying amateur
• Creative envy and what it reveals
• Being "unowned" in a world where everything is for sale
• The difference between a career and a practice

Episode Timestamps:

0:00 - Cold Open: The Noodle Queen of Bangkok
1:15 - Handshake & Episode Intro
2:00 - Jason's Voicemail (Part 1): "I'm not a professional nor do I want to be"
3:00 - Confession: Why I avoid amateur photographers (and the envy underneath)
4:30 - Bellingham, 2012: When I was Jason
6:00 - Jason's Voicemail (Part 2): "We doubt our abilities because we are not getting paid"
6:30 - Alison's Story: The physical therapist photographing her mother's Alzheimer's
16:00 - Naming The Enemy: Transactional Legitimacy
19:00 - The Pivot: What professionals can't do (that amateurs can)
22:30 - The Resolution: Neither path is pure. Both cost something.
28:00 - The Restoration: What the professional world needs from non-professionals
30:30 - The Light Leak: Being unowned

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Episode 39: Creative directing your own life (referenced when discussing overthinking)
• Lake Padden, Bellingham WA
• Fairhaven, Bellingham WA
• Mount Baker, WA

Key Quote:

"You are not beneath professionals. You are adjacent to freedom they lost."

For Jason:

Thank you for the email. Thank you for the voicemail. Thank you for calling me out. This episode wouldn't exist without you.

LINKS & RESOURCES:

The Terrible Photographer:
Website: http://terriblephotographer.com
Subscribe to Pub Notes (Newsletter): https://the-terrible-photographer.kit.com/223fe471fb
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terriblephotographer/

Lessons From A Terrible Photographer (The Book):
https://www.terriblephotographer.com/the-book

Support The Show:
Buy me a coffee: https://www.terriblephotographer.com/support

Connect:
Patrick Fore on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patrickfore/
Email: [email protected]

CREDITS:

Podcast written, produced, and hosted by Patrick Fore
 Music licensed through Epidemic Sound
Intro Song: Free Spirit by Max Volante
 Episode photography from lucas.george.wendt
Recorded in my garage in San Diego, California

A NOTE FOR NON-PROFESSIONALS (Amatures):

If you're listening to this and you don't charge for your work—if you shoot because you love it, not because you're building a business—please know this:

Your work matters.
 Your perspective matters.
 Your freedom matters.

You're not less than. You're not waiting to become real.

You're already real.

And some of us wish we still had what you have.

SHARE THIS EPISODE:

Know someone who needs to hear this? A parent with a camera. A hobbyist who doubts themselves. A pro who's forgotten why they started.

Send them this episode. Let them know they're not alone.

EPISODE DESCRIPTION:

Three hundred years. That's how long my family has been in America. Jamestown. Virginia. Colonial laborers. Post-Civil War homesteaders in Missouri. And not one of them—not one—ever owned anything that lasted.

In 1726, when a British clerk wrote "Fore" instead of "Fauer," my family's name changed. But the pattern didn't.

This episode isn't about New Year's resolutions or fresh starts. It's about lazy rivers, tubes, and boats. It's about realizing you're floating in a system you never chose—and that everyone in your family has been floating for centuries. It's about being the first one to try to get out, even when you don't know how to swim.

I talk about my MIT PhD brother who doesn't know how to freelance. A wedding photographer who realized he became his father. And why I'm angry at ancestors I've never met for never trying to break a pattern I now have to fight.

If you've ever felt like you're working hard but never building anything. Like you're trapped between staying comfortable and risking everything. Like you're the first person in your family trying to do something different with no map and no model—this one's for you.

Not because I have answers.

Because I'm in the middle of the same fight.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• The 300-year pattern: Jamestown to Missouri, laborers to homesteaders—and why nothing changed
• Why "legally free but economically pinned" explains my entire family history
• Boats, tubes, and swimmers: understanding the lazy river of life
• My brother's phone call: when an MIT PhD doesn't know how to freelance
• Why I'm angry at dead people who had no choice
• What it means to labor for yourself vs. labor for someone else's dream
• The question: Do you see the river? And if you do, what are you going to do about it?

WANT A SEAT AT THE TABLE?

The Table is a small, email-based conversation space for creative people in the long middle. No apps. No feeds. No pressure. No posting requirements. Just occasional emails about the real stuff—and the option to reply, or not.

Some weeks you'll get a reflection. Some weeks a question. Some weeks nothing. Sometimes it's about creative existential dread. Sometimes it's about whether gaffer tape smells different depending on the brand.

It's a pub table. But everyone's wearing sweatpants. And nobody has to drive home.

If you want a seat, email: [email protected]
Subject line: "I'd like a seat at The Table"

LINKS:

Website: http://terriblephotographer.com

The Newsletter: Sign up for Pub Notes – Musings, updates, and things I probably shouldn't say in public.
terriblephotographer.com/newsletter

Support the Show: Help keep the lights on
terriblephotographer.com/support

Email the Host: [email protected]
Questions, thoughts, rage at your own ancestors—I respond to everything.

You've mastered the craft. You've built the business. You're successful. But you're still lonely. You're Joshua Bell in the subway—playing a Stradivarius while everyone walks past. You've taken off the costume, rejected the hierarchy, and you're still isolated.

So now what?

In the finale of "The Long Middle" series, Patrick explores sociologist Ray Oldenburg's concept of "The Third Space"—the pubs, coffee shops, and barbershops where community used to happen naturally. He examines why these spaces disappeared, how COVID delivered the final blow, and why digital spaces (Reddit, Discord) might be Third Space for some people while remaining incomplete for others.

This episode is both diagnosis and prescription: why we're lonely, why it's gotten worse, and the uncomfortable truth that you can't find community—you have to build it. One vulnerable conversation at a time.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Ray Oldenburg's Third Space theory: First Space (home), Second Space (work), Third Space (community)
• Why Third Spaces disappeared: suburbanization, work-from-home, social media performance culture
• How COVID killed Third Space culture permanently (not just temporarily)
• The death of Meetup.com and "social atrophy"—we forgot how to be together
• Why your friend who says "Reddit is my Third Space" isn't wrong (but it's incomplete)
• The difference between performing and being seen in digital spaces
• Why networking events are Second Space disguised as Third Space
• The Leslie paradox: Patrick's only Third Space relationship is digital and 2800 miles away
• You can't find Third Space, you have to build it—starting with ONE person
• Vulnerability first: Be vulnerable → See who responds → Build from there
• Why you need 2-3 real connections, not 100 photographer "friends" (Dunbar's number)
• Consistency over intensity: weekly coffee > annual epic meetup
• The five steps to building your own Third Space (reach out, show up without costume, witness don't fix, make it regular, expand carefully)
• What to talk about (the real stuff: struggles, jealousy, exhaustion, the work you're hiding)
• What NOT to talk about (how busy you are, your big clients, industry gossip)
• Introducing The Table: Patrick's email-based Third Space experiment for people in the long middle

THE CHALLENGE: Reach out to ONE person this week. Not to network, not to collaborate. Just: "I've been thinking about creative loneliness lately. Want to grab coffee?" Then show up without your costume and talk about what you're actually struggling with.

KEY QUOTES: "Third Space doesn't exist until someone creates it. And it doesn't start with a community. It starts with one person."

"Digital-only Third Space is incomplete. You need to look someone in the eye. You need to sit across a table from another human. You need to exist in a room where you can't edit yourself before you speak."

"You can't outsource belonging. You can't scroll your way to community. You can't consume your way to connection."

"COVID didn't pause Third Space culture. It killed it. And we're still living in the wreckage."

WANT A SEAT AT THE TABLE?

The Table is a small, email-based conversation space for creative people in the long middle. No apps. No feeds. No pressure. No posting requirements. Just occasional emails about the real stuff—and the option to reply, or not.

Some weeks you'll get a reflection. Some weeks a question. Some weeks nothing. Sometimes it's about creative existential dread. Sometimes it's about whether gaffer tape smells different depending on the brand.

It's a pub table. But everyone's wearing sweatpants. And nobody has to drive home.

If you want a seat, email: [email protected]
Subject line: "I'd like a seat at The Table"

LINKS:

Website: terriblephotographer.com

The Newsletter: Sign up for Pub Notes – Musings, updates, and things I probably shouldn't say in public.
terriblephotographer.com/newsletter

Support the Show: Help keep the lights on
terriblephotographer.com/support

Email the Host: [email protected]
Questions, thoughts, rage—I respond to everything.

CREDITS:

• Music: Licensed through Epidemic Sound and Blue Dot Sessions
• Written and Produced by: Patrick Fore
• Episode Image by Mason Dahl - https://www.instagram.com/masondahlphoto/

Why does a $600 light get dismissed while a $3,000 light gets respect, even when they produce identical results? Why do wedding photographers apologize by saying “I’m just a wedding photographer”? And why do we hide the work we’re actually doing because it’s not the “right” kind of work?

In Part 3 of The Long Middle series, Patrick examines the hierarchies that divide creative professionals, and admits his own complicity in enforcing them.

From a tense Zoom call about Profoto versus Godox, to being dismissed in Clubhouse rooms, to looking down on other photographers while feeling looked down upon himself, this episode pulls no punches about how gatekeeping actually works, who it serves, and why we keep it alive.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• The Profoto story: when "professional standards" are actually access standards
• What gatekeeping actually means (and the Kurt Lewin research that defined it)
• Why the kitchen brigade system is the perfect metaphor for creative hierarchies
• A scene from Pixar's Ratatouille and how it quietly becomes the emotional center of the episode
• How wedding, portrait, and fashion photographers face different versions of the same dismissal
• The pattern across all creative fields: writers, musicians, filmmakers, designers
• Patrick's confession: the times he's been the gatekeeper
• Why the hierarchy survives (it's not the people at the top—it's the people in the middle)
• The Clubhouse dismissals and the Taylor Guitars "cool kids table"
• How hiding your "wrong" work keeps you complicit in the system
• What leadership actually looks like: extending an arm instead of pulling it up behind you

THE CHALLENGE: The next time someone asks "What are you working on?"—tell them the truth. Not the impressive version. Not the potential job. The actual work you're doing right now. Say it like it's legitimate work. Because it is.

KEY QUOTE: "The hierarchy doesn't survive because the people at the top enforce it. It survives because the people in the middle enforce it. Because we're so afraid of being dismissed, we dismiss someone else first."

LINKS:

Website: terriblephotographer.com

The Newsletter: Sign up for Pub Notes – Musings, updates, and things I probably shouldn't say in public.
terriblephotographer.com/newsletter

Support the Show: Help keep the lights on
terriblephotographer.com/support

Email the Host: [email protected]
Questions, thoughts, rage—I respond to everything.

CREDITS

• Music: Licensed through Epidemic Sound and Blue Dot Sessions

• Written and Produced by: Patrick Fore

• Episode Image: Licensed through Adobe Stock

When Vanity Fair published Christopher Anderson’s portraits of the White House’s inner circle, the internet reacted to the politics. But as photographers, we need to look closer. We need to look at the framing.

In this bonus episode, Patrick Fore deconstructs the word "Framing." It’s not just the rule of thirds or leading lines—it’s authorship. It’s the decision to show truth over comfort, and humanity over "hero energy." Patrick opens up about his own struggle with "cowering" to the moment and why we’ve all become a little too good at making the world look beige.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The difference between geometry (composition) and power (framing).
• Why Christopher Anderson’s refusal to "smooth" his subjects is an act of courage.
• The "Light Switch" metaphor: How small, boring details tell the biggest stories.
• How to stop being a decorator and start being an author again.
• Why being a "Terrible Photographer" means being terrible at following the rules that kill your voice.

ABOUT CHRISTOPHER ANDERSON

Christopher Anderson is a member of Magnum Photos and is widely considered one of the most influential photographers of his generation. He first gained international recognition for his work documenting the Haitian refugee crisis, where the boat he was traveling on sank in the Caribbean—work that earned him the Robert Capa Gold Medal.

Whether he is documenting conflict, the streets of Shenzhen, or the corridors of power in D.C., Anderson’s work is defined by an intense, emotional intimacy and a refusal to provide a "clean" or "commercial" version of reality.

Find his work here:

• Website: christopherandersonphoto.com
• Instagram: @christopherandersonphoto
• Monographs: Approximate Joy, STUMP, and Pia.

LINKS

• Website: terriblephotographer.com
• The Newsletter: Sign up for Pub Notes – Musings, updates, and things I probably shouldn't say in public.
• Support the Show: Help keep the lights on
• Email the Host: [email protected]
  • Questions, hate mail, and existential spirals are all welcome.

CREDITS

• Music: Licensed through Epidemic Sound and Blue Dot Sessions.
• Written and Produced by: Patrick Fore

Why do photographers wear so much black? Why do we feel confident on stage but panic at networking events? And why is it so hard to find real community in the creative industry?

In Part 2 of "The Long Middle" series, Patrick explores the costumes we wear—not just the black clothes and gear, but the professional roles and personas that keep us safe and isolated at the same time.

From 17th-century Japanese Kabuki theater to APA mixers in San Diego, this episode examines why we choose invisibility, what happens when we need established roles to feel legitimate, and the five-second decision that keeps us from connection.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• The Kurogo: Japanese stagehands who dress in black to become "invisible" on stage
• Why confidence comes from established roles (the stage, the call sheet, the contract)
• A painful story about leaving a networking event after two minutes
• How neurodivergence affects ambiguous social spaces
• Why fifteen years of mastery on set doesn't translate to confidence at a mixer
• The difference between avatars (who have followers) and humans (who have friends)
• What happens when you choose the beach over the risk

THE CHALLENGE: The next time someone asks "How's it going?"—tell them one true thing. Not "busy." Not "crushing it." One honest thing. Drop the shield for ten seconds.

LINKS:

Website: terriblephotographer.com

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Email the Host: [email protected]
Questions, hate mail, and existential spirals are all welcome.

CREDITS:

Music licensed through Epidemic Sound and Blue Dot Sessions.

Episode Artwork Photo by @erwimadethis

Written and Produced by Patrick Fore

NEXT WEEK: Part 3 – "The Enemy"
If the Costume hides us, Envy divides us. We're talking about scarcity mindset, comparison, and why we see our peers as threats instead of allies.