The Terrible Photographer Podcast

A New York–based commercial portrait photographer (big clients, covers, immaculate work) asked to talk. What came out wasn’t a portfolio review—it was a confession: he hasn’t made anything for himsel…

One meditation. One burning question. One reminder you’re not alone. Every Wednesday in your inbox — shorter, sharper, and more honest than I could ever be in a long essay.

Subscribe to Pub Notes: ter…

Every kid asks their art teacher, “Is it good?”—and most of us never stop. In this episode, Patrick sits in Lucy’s middle-school art room and realizes he’s still chasing the same answer on high-stake…

A podcaster recently told me this show was "really dark." So today, we're leaning into that darkness—because that seemed way more fun.

This episode is about shadow work. Not the Instagram version. The…

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Sometimes creativity has fuck-all to do with your job title.

In this episode, Patrick explores why the most dangerous creative minds often don't call themselves artists—they're teachers buying classro…

Every photographer needs permission to suck. And I mean that literally. In this episode, I explore the difference between accidental failure and strategic failure, and why that difference will determ…

One phone call. One late invoice. One moment of controlled but very real rage. In this episode, I unpack a recent client conflict that left me feeling powerful, anxious, vindicated—and deeply uncomfo…

There are shoots where everything clicks.

The light is magic. The client is chill. The work feels effortless.

This episode isn’t about those.

Instead, we’re going into the plumbing.

Literally.

From overfl…

What happens when the thing you made in the dark suddenly ends up in the spotlight? This week, Patrick gets personal about the strange pressure of being “featured,” and why attention might be the mos…

"I thought the work would save me. I was grossly mistaken."

What happens when a stranger on Clubhouse calls you a technician instead of an artist? Patrick breaks down the brutal midnight conversation …

Everyone loves a comeback story. But what about the part where you’re just… sitting in a garage at 2 a.m., surrounded by half-charged batteries, broken gear, and a growing sense that something inside…

What happens when you still love photography but start to wonder if there’s any place left for you in the industry?

In this raw, vulnerable episode, Patrick Fore gets brutally honest about what it mea…

Episode Title:

Why Shapes How

On Intention, Execution, and the Lie of Objectivity

Description:

You can nail the lighting. Get the shot. Hit all the settings.

But if you don’t know why you’re making the im…

This episode wasn’t planned.

But with federal troops deployed in Los Angeles, students arrested, immigrants targeted, and journalists silenced — it felt dishonest to pretend everything was normal.

In t…

At some point, every artist has to choose:

Keep making work that gets likes.

Or make work that actually says something.

This is an episode about the quiet uprising.

The moment you stop painting for the a…

This week, I throw out the episode I was planning and respond to an email from Carri, a baby photographer from Michigan, whose words hit like a punch in the face. We’re talking about a different kind…

You ever clean your entire house and still smell something rotting?

This episode is about that. Except the smell is coming from your portfolio.

In Episode 10, we’re talking creative decay — that slow, …

Some nights, what keeps you up isn't anxiety,  it’s the quiet ache of misalignment. In this episode, we dive into the emotional and economic toll of creative work: the burnout, the spirals, the slow …

We all start by imitating. That’s human. But somewhere along the line, many of us stopped making work we love — and started making work that just looks like it belongs to someone else.

In this episode…