Every Photo Is a Crime Scene - Brad Zellar on How He Reads Photography and Inspects an Image, E111
3/19/20261 hr 47 min
In this episode of The MOOD Podcast, I sit down with writer Brad Zellar, whose deep relationship to photography, photo books, storytelling, and visual culture makes this one of the most thought-provoking conversations I’ve had on the show. We talk about the future of photography, why obsession matters more than concept, the role of text in photo books, what makes an image unforgettable, how portfolio reviewers really think, and why the internet may be training a generation not to care about art in the same way.
Other things we discussed:
Brad’s childhood in a smal...
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsBrad Zellar· Guest0:00
I think all of the great photographers can write about their work, they can talk about their work, and so words matter. I love books, and the library was my refuge. When I have a photo book I'm really engaged with, I can just be lost in it for hours. Every photo is a crime scene. What happened in the picture before? What happened in the picture after? What's outside the frame? I just write down everything I notice. I interrogate them.
Matt Jacob· Host0:23
"I despise the twenty-first century and what it's done to me." Can you elaborate a little bit more? Are you pessimistic generally about the future of the written word as much as the, the, the photographic word?
Brad Zellar· Guest0:35
You can train a whole generation of people not to care about it, which is the more dangerous thing we're, we're dealing with. So here's what I wish happened in literature.
Matt Jacob· Host0:43
So let's talk about writing. Um, we-- If you're happy, we'll kind of just go, go into it 'cause we've already, like- Yeah, yeah.
Brad Zellar· Guest1:01
I'm ready anytime ...
Matt Jacob· Host1:01
talked about some stuff earlier. Yeah, yeah. Um, I actually... I think this was from your Instagram page, 'cause obviously I looked in a little bit more detail on your Instagram, just, just putting some notes and questions together, and there was something that you wrote. Uh, I mean, there's so much that you've written that I don't own, but I've read or I've seen snippets of and, you know, the... Let me, let me, let me give you a preamble because I wanna m-make sure you know why I want you on the show. Although you're- Sure ... kind of this writer first,