The MOOD Podcast

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1. Why Your Photography Looks Like Everyone Else’s, and It’s Not a Lack of Ideas

   5 november 2026 · 23 min

   Afspelen
   In this solo episode I bring together 3 recent conversations: with photographer Matthew Genitempo, author of Jasper, psychologist Zahra Ciardi and photographer Emiliano Zúñiga Hernández, whose photobook Paraíso grew out of the hardest chapter of his life. Without knowing it, all 3 described the same obstacle: the version of you that holds the camera too tightly and needs every photograph to prove you're a real photographer. I talk about why that grip makes your photography look like everyone else's, why new gear, presets and trips don't fix it, and what actually loosens it: going back to one place close to home, being less precious with your pictures, sharing your work slowly, changing what fuels it and coming back to yourself every day. Lees meer

   If you know what you should be doing with your photography but still aren’t doing it, these 5 shifts will change where your photographs come from.

   Other things we discussed:

   The critique where Todd Papageorge told Matthew Genitempo to stay in 1 place

   Carrying hundreds of prints to reviews and learning they weren't saying what I thought

   Why the photos you don't remember taking are the threads worth following

   The advice I've given for years that Zahra says could be wrong

   Do you have to suffer to make great photography?

   Emiliano's 3 daily questions and 3 gratitudes

   What would you photograph this week if you weren't trying to prove anything?

   Find Matthew here:
   https://www.matthewgenitempo.com/
   https://www.instagram.com/genitempo/

   Find Zahra here:
   https://zahraciardi.com/
   https://www.instagram.com/zahra_ciardi/
   https://ascendantbali.com/

   Find Emiliano here:
   https://www.instagram.com/emilianozunigah/

   Message me, leave a comment and join in the conversation!

   Support the show

   _________________________________
   Thank you for listening and for being a part of this incredible community. You can listen and watch full extended and ad-free episodes in my community - The MOOD Insiders - where I also share insights, photography tips …

2. Feeling Like a Fraud Doesn’t Make You One, Says Photographer Emiliano Zúñiga Hernández

   29 oktober 2026 · 2 uur 14 min

   Afspelen
   In this episode I’m joined by Emiliano Zúñiga Hernández, a Costa Rican photographer whose photobook Paraíso, published by Trespasser in 2023, grew out of one of the hardest chapters of his life. We talk about the healing community he helped to build in the hills of Costa Rica, how it fell apart, and how photography gave him his purpose back when depression had taken it away. Emiliano opens up about feeling like a fraud, the question at the Chico Review that changed how he saw his own work, and why he believes the most meaningful photography comes from knowing yourself rather than from pain. Lees meer

   If your photographs feel like they’re circling something you can’t yet name, this conversation might show you why honest work comes from knowing yourself, not from suffering.

   Other things we discussed:

   The question that started it all: what would your life look like with no obstacles?

   Who am I, what am I doing, where am I: the 3 questions he still asks every day

   Giving a ride to a barefoot stranger who became his mentor

   Turning down Trespasser, and how it still led to the book

   Editing Paraíso in Paradise Valley with Bryan Schutmaat, Matthew Genitempo and Harrison Miller

   Shooting intuitively, before you know what the story is

   A daily practice of 3 questions and 3 gratitudes

   His new project photographing strangers while they sleep

   Emiliano’s links:

   https://www.instagram.com/emilianozunigah/
   https://trespasser.co/shop/paraiso

   Message me, leave a comment and join in the conversation!

   Support the show

   _________________________________
   Thank you for listening and for being a part of this incredible community. You can listen and watch full extended and ad-free episodes in my community - The MOOD Insiders - where I also share insights, photography tips and behind-the-scenes content on my channel as well as meet with the community on book club weekly events, special guest features, bonus content, open forum access, free resources and so much more.

   Join The Community - ext…

3. What If a Photographer’s Fear of Failure Isn’t Fear at All? Psychologist Zahra Ciardi Explains

   22 oktober 2026 · 1 uur 8 min

   Afspelen
   I'm joined again by Zahra Ciardi, a registered psychologist and the founder of Ascendant Bali, for a second conversation about the psychology behind photography and creativity. We talk about what happens when a photographer's identity becomes fused with their work, and why that turns making, editing, sharing and feedback into a constant threat. We also talk about how to hold a sense of self that is clear but flexible. Zahra explains the difference between creating from the wound and creating from wholeness, why healing can mean grieving the emotional charge your photographs once carried, and how to train attention, presence and boredom tolerance when the world runs on 6-second focus. Lees meer

   If criticism of your photography feels like a verdict on who you are, this conversation may helps you how to separate yourself from your work so you can create it, finish it and share it again.

   Other things we discussed:

   The chameleon effect: borrowing pieces of everyone around you when your sense of self is empty

   Non-attachment, and being the blue sky behind the rainbows and the rain

   What gives a photograph its charge

   The Body Keeps the Score, and small ways to practise presence

   Shame, the defectiveness schema and the 3 ways we cope: surrender, avoidance and overcompensation

   MDR, schema therapy, compassion focused therapy and internal family systems

   The question Zahra would ask to open the door to all of this inner work

   Listen to the first conversation here:
   https://youtu.be/keUo-Sq5sh8

   Zahra's Links:
   https://www.zahraciardi.com/
   https://www.instagram.com/zahra_ciardi/
   https://www.ascendantbali.com/

   Message me, leave a comment and join in the conversation!

   Support the show

   _________________________________
   Thank you for listening and for being a part of this incredible community. You can listen and watch full extended and ad-free episodes in my community - The MOOD Insiders - where I also share insights, photography tips and behind-the-scenes content on my channel as wel…

4. Q&A: Why Your Photos Might Feel Stagnant (And How to Fix It) - Moments of Mood, 4.2

   15 oktober 2026 · 51 min

   Afspelen
   This is a Q&A with questions sent in by photographers from my community. I answer whether your audience needs to understand your photography, if a project shot in a few days can have real depth, how to deal with perfectionism, the small steps behind my own work that nobody saw, and what to do when your work feels stagnant. Lees meer

   If your photography feels stuck or you can’t say what it’s about, some of these answers might help.

   Message me, leave a comment and join in the conversation!

   Support the show

   _________________________________
   Thank you for listening and for being a part of this incredible community. You can listen and watch full extended and ad-free episodes in my community - The MOOD Insiders - where I also share insights, photography tips and behind-the-scenes content on my channel as well as meet with the community on book club weekly events, special guest features, bonus content, open forum access, free resources and so much more.

   Join The Community - extended episodes & bonus features
   https://www.mattjacob.co/insiders

   The App That Transformed My Art & Mind
   https://wakingup.sjv.io/c/7738181/3958771/54965

   Website:
   https://themoodpodcast.com

   Socials:
   IG | X | TikTok | Threads | YouTube | @mattyj_ay

5. Why Photobooks Will Outlast the Internet - Matthew Genitempo (Part 2)

   8 oktober 2026 · 1 uur 11 min

   Afspelen
   THIS IS PART 2 OF A 2 PART CONVERSATION WITH MATTHEW GENITEMPO. Lees meer

   In Part 2 of my conversation with photographer and publisher Matthew Genitempo, we go deep into his photobooks Mother of Dogs and Dogbreath, and into Trespasser, the small press he runs with Bryan Schutmaat and Cody Haltom. We talk about making Mother of Dogs on lockdown walks, why its pages are held together with packing tape, and the 3 smashed pennies on the cover. Then we turn to Dogbreath: photographing teenagers in the heat, and Dove, the boy whose words narrate a photobook he never appears in. Matthew also shares what he has learned about self-publishing, how Trespasser decides which books to make, and why he keeps his photography close to his chest until it is ready.

   In the second half of our chat you might just learn how to stop forcing your photography projects and let them find their own shape, and how to get a photobook into the world when no publisher is waiting for you.

   Other things we discussed:

   Why lockdown was a gift for him and his wife Ada

   How Trespasser started between friends

   Portfolio reviews, and shifting your expectations about book deals

   Why the photobook world is more reachable than it looks

   Pacing a photobook so people slow down

   The dead internet theory and the future of photobooks

   His 1 piece of advice for emerging photographers

   Listen to part one here:
   https://youtu.be/5io0kDgrdcs

   Links:
   https://matthewgenitempo.com/
   https://www.instagram.com/genitempo/
   https://trespasser.co/
   https://www.instagram.com/trespasserbooks/

   Message me, leave a comment and join in the conversation!

   Support the show

   _________________________________
   Thank you for listening and for being a part of this incredible community. You can listen and watch full extended and ad-free episodes in my community - The MOOD Insiders - where I also share insights, photography tips and behind-the-scenes content on my channel as well as meet with the community on book club weekly events, special guest f…

6. If You Still Question Your Photography, You Are Not Alone, So Does Matthew Genitempo (Part 1)

   1 oktober 2026 · 1 uur 5 min

   Afspelen
   THIS IS PART 1 OF A 2 PART CONVERSATION WITH MATTHEW GENITEMPO. Lees meer

   I sat down with photographer Matthew Genitempo, the graphic designer turned photographer and publisher behind the photobooks Jasper, Mother of Dogs and Dogbreath.

   In part one we go deep into Jasper, the photobook he made largely in the forests of the Ozarks as his MFA thesis at the University of Hartford: the critique that told him to stay in one place, the Frank Stanford poems that shaped how he saw the landscape, the men who had cut themselves off from society, and how throwing out his shot lists and learning to shoot a slow large format camera fast changed his photography.

   If you're a photographer who keeps getting in your own way, your work feels scattered, or your most carefully planned pictures keep coming back flat, Matthew shows what can happen when you stop forcing it, dropping the idea of what your photography should be and trusting it to find its own way.

   Other things we discussed:

   Why the photographs that interest him most are the ones he doesn't remember taking

   Moving from graphic design into photography

   What Fugazi taught him about doing things his own way

   The 5-minute critique that told him to keep going

   The story behind the mysterious animal photograph everyone asks about

   Why he sees Jasper as fiction rather than documentary

   Matthew's links:
   https://www.matthewgenitempo.com/
   https://trespasser.co/
   https://www.instagram.com/genitempo/

   Message me, leave a comment and join in the conversation!

   Support the show

   _________________________________
   Thank you for listening and for being a part of this incredible community. You can listen and watch full extended and ad-free episodes in my community - The MOOD Insiders - where I also share insights, photography tips and behind-the-scenes content on my channel as well as meet with the community on book club weekly events, special guest features, bonus content, open forum access, free resources and so much more.

   Join The Community - e…

7. Andrea Modica's answer to the question every photographer asks eventually: what's the point? E134

   24 september 2026 · 1 uur 1 min

   Afspelen
   I sat down with Andrea Modica, the ‘Italian Story’ photographer (as well many other books) who has made every photograph since 1980 with an 8x10 view camera and prints all her work herself. Andrea studied with Richard Benson at Yale, teaches photography at Drexel University, and has just published ‘Italian Story’ with L'Artiere, 40 personal years of large format photographs made in and about Italy. Lees meer

   We talked about what makes a good photograph and why complexity matters more than beauty, how the 8x10 camera changes both the pictures and the way people behave in front of it, why she hands her editing and sequencing to people like Larry Fink, who curated her book 'As We Wait', and why she believes photography is a profession that is largely about failure.

   Other things we discussed:

   Why she left painting and sculpture for the rules of the large format camera

   Loading film holders as a grounding ritual inside a process full of unknowns

   Doing everything by hand, from developing by inspection to platinum printing, and why she never hires assistants

   Teaching analog photography to 18 and 20 year olds who want it

   Editing Italian Story from hundreds of negatives down to about 70 photographs

   The personal stories inside the book that the viewer will never know

   Larry Fink's foreword to As We Wait: sensual love aligned with darkness

   Why the print still matters in a world of screens and AI

   The myth of the suffering artist, and why trauma alone isn't complex

   Living inside the confusion of unfinished work

   Andrea has 2 exhibitions showing in New York: Catholic Girl at AMR Art DUMBO, Brooklyn, until 22 October 2026, and Italian Story at the Alice Austen House, Staten Island, until February 2027. Andrea will also be signing books at the L'Artiere table at Paris Photo on Saturday 14 November at 4pm.

   See Andrea’s current exhibitions:
   https://aliceausten.org/italian_story/
   https://www.amrartdumbo.com/

   Get the book, Italian Story (L'Artiere):
   https://www.lartiere.com/en/prodo…

8. Your Worst Thoughts Arrive Dressed as Your Best Ideas - Moments of Mood, 4.1

   17 september 2026 · 19 min

   Afspelen
   In this week’s Moments of Mood episode, you’ll learn why I believe meditation is the most direct route to a photographic voice that is unmistakably yours, and exactly what it does to your attention, your creativity and the way you see. Lees meer

   I make the full case for meditation as a photography practice. I share my own history with depression, anxiety, loneliness and cancer, the years of therapies and frameworks that never stuck, and how Sam Harris's Waking Up finally gave me a tool I could use anywhere, in any state. I break down what the research says about a meditating brain: the Harvard study showing our minds wander almost half the time we're awake, the 8-week programmes that change grey matter density, and the studies linking open, receptive meditation directly to divergent thinking, the mode where new photography ideas come from. Then I explain why your voice cannot be built, only noticed, and why that makes attention the whole discipline.

   Other things I talk about:

   The 10-breath test most photographers will fail

   Why meditation is not about emptying your mind or ignoring your thoughts

   How to tell a useful idea from noise wearing an idea's clothing

   Being present as a photographic skill nobody teaches

   The honest caveats: what meditation will not do for your photographs

   How to start with a few minutes a day

   Message me, leave a comment and join in the conversation!

   Support the show

   _________________________________
   Thank you for listening and for being a part of this incredible community. You can listen and watch full extended and ad-free episodes in my community - The MOOD Insiders - where I also share insights, photography tips and behind-the-scenes content on my channel as well as meet with the community on book club weekly events, special guest features, bonus content, open forum access, free resources and so much more.

   Join The Community - extended episodes & bonus features
   https://www.mattjacob.co/insiders

   The App That Transformed My Art & Mind
   https…

9. Richard Sharum On 600 Deaths And His New Book 'American Homicide', E132

   10 september 2026 · 1 uur 51 min

   Afspelen
   In this week’s podcast episode you'll learn why the photographs you're most proud of are probably the ones hiding you, and what a documentary photographer who has stood at 600 deaths says it actually costs to make work that changes something. Lees meer

   I sat down with Richard Sharum, the American documentary photographer behind Campesino Cuba, Spina Americana and the forthcoming American Homicide, all published by GOST Books, to talk about photography as an act of empathy, why he believes the photo industry has abandoned the general public, and what happened to him after a year embedded with 4 homicide squads and 8 prisons. We go from his childhood in a mixed-race, low-income Texas neighbourhood to the night police framed him at 16, the week in a children's cancer ward that raised over $1,000,000, the Magnum editor who threw out 45 of his 50 best Cuba photographs, and the depression that stopped him shooting for a while. Richard is direct about team mirror versus team window, about why he refuses to go to Paris Photo, and about the sacrifice he tells every student to expect before they pick up a camera for documentary work.

   Other things we discussed:

   Why he says photography was invented too early in our evolution

   Hurricane Katrina, 7 months after everyone left

   Cancer as an equaliser: a $10,000,000 house next to a trailer park

   Objectivity is a fallacy; photographing like jazz

   The grocery store practice for connection

   Childhood photos of victims and murderers in the same book

   The image is the receipt, not the experience

   The famous photographer who admitted lying for access

   How a documentary photographer actually earns money

   Of Thee I Sing: the American trilogy and American Avenue (2028)

   Find Richard on his website and Instagram:
   https://richardsharum.com/
   https://www.instagram.com/richard_sharum/

   American Homicide Book:
   https://gostbooks.com/products/american-homicide

   Message me, leave a comment and join in the conversation!

   Support the show

   __________________…

10. Work Does Not Speak For Itself - Moments of Mood, 4.0

    3 september 2026 · 13 min

    Afspelen
    In this week’s Moments of Mood episode, you'll learn the 4 questions curators, juries, and publishers silently ask about every photography project, and how to answer them in 100 words so your work actually gets seen. Lees meer

    I take apart the idea that photography speaks for itself, starting with the Vivian Maier story everyone gets backwards, and share what Shana Lopes, photography curator at SFMOMA, told me she actually needs to hear from an artist: why she has to defend every acquisition in front of a committee, her test of whether she can write about a project, and why "I just thought it looked good" ends the conversation. Then I get into the difference between explaining an image and articulating a body of work, and why keeping the mystery in your pictures means taking it out of your artist statement.

    Watch my full conversation with Shana Lopes here:
    https://youtu.be/XCSvy5AIGsA

    Watch part one of this commentary here:
    https://youtu.be/bURDv2Jps4M

    Message me, leave a comment and join in the conversation!

    Support the show

    _________________________________
    Thank you for listening and for being a part of this incredible community. You can listen and watch full extended and ad-free episodes in my community - The MOOD Insiders - where I also share insights, photography tips and behind-the-scenes content on my channel as well as meet with the community on book club weekly events, special guest features, bonus content, open forum access, free resources and so much more.

    Join The Community - extended episodes & bonus features
    https://www.mattjacob.co/insiders

    The App That Transformed My Art & Mind
    https://wakingup.sjv.io/c/7738181/3958771/54965

    Website:
    https://themoodpodcast.com

    Socials:
    IG | X | TikTok | Threads | YouTube | @mattyj_ay

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