Is It Good? - Photography, Approval, and the Fight for Creative Truth

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-stakes sets: watching client faces, parsing murmurs behind a monitor, riding the narcotic of approval.

We get into the modern authorities—clients, algorithms, mood boards—and the way we internalize them until we’re grading ourselves before anyone else can. We talk Gordon Parks, who lived the tension between immaculate Vogue spreads (noble, beautiful, necessary) and dangerous truth-telling (American Gothic, segregation, Malcolm X). We bring in Tolstoy’s blunt metric for art—sincerity that transmits feeling—and then admit the hypocrisy of needing authority to say “ignore authority.”

Finally, we bring it home with practical footholds for working photographers and every other creative human: how to hold the tension between survival and legacy, how to make room for truth without burning down your life, and what it looks like to start small, local, and personal—today.

Chapter markers (suggested)

• 00:00 — Cold open: the middle-school art room
• 03:20 — “When did we stop trusting the thing that made us create?” (Harter, Amabile)
• 06:10 — “How do we determine art’s value?” (the parent exchange)
• 012:00 — Act 1: LED volume in L.A., approval as a drug
• 17:41 — Act 2: Gordon Parks—safe vs. true, and why both matter
• 25:46 — Act 3: The new authorities—clients, algorithms, and the gatekeeper in your head
• 31:54 — Act 4: Returning to the first voice—practical ways to start
• 36:105— Closing benediction: “F*ck good. Make something true.”

Key takeaways

• Safe work isn’t the villain. It’s noble, beautiful, and necessary—it funds the life that makes true work possible.
• Truth-telling is risky by nature. It may not pay, but it’s the only work that lasts.
• Modern authority isn’t a red pen; it’s an algorithm—and the voice you internalized.
• You don’t need Tolstoy’s, your teacher’s, or Patrick’s approval. They don’t know you.
• Start where you are: one photo that feels like yours, even if no one ever sees it.

Practical prompts (do one this week)

• Wedding shooter (Denver): deliver the must-haves—then make one photograph no one asked for that tells an unglamorous, honest truth from the day.
• Parent (Dubuque): document the mess before you clean it. Title it. Date it. Keep it.
• Teacher (Phoenix): photograph the moment a student finally gets it—or doesn’t.
• Everyone: set aside 30 minutes for a “no-client walk.” One frame that’s yours.

Pull quotes

• “Safe pays the bills. Truth leaves scars.”
• “Good is the waiting-room soft pop of creativity.”
• “Don’t confuse survival with legacy.”
• “Stop chasing good. Make something true.”

References & shout-outs

• Gordon Parks — Vogue fashion work and American Gothic (Ella Watson).
• Leo Tolstoy, What Is Art? — art as sincere transmission of feeling.
• Susan Harter — self-concept shift (ages ~7–8); external evaluation enters.
• Teresa Amabile — external evaluation narrows creativity and originality.
• LED volume productions mentioned: The Mandalorian, The Batman.

New listener compass

New here? This isn’t “business hacks to win in 2025.” We go deep on the real life of making honest work while paying bills—sometimes deadly serious, sometimes ridiculous. Photographers, designers, teachers, parents—if you’re trying to lead a meaningful life, solve interesting problems, and make beautiful things, you’re in the right place. Try: Ep. 5 Still Here (hopeful), Ep. 19 The Job I Hate the Least (funny), Ep. 17 The Technician (identity & reinvention).

Credits

• Host/Writer: Patrick Fore
• Music: Licensed via Blue Dot Sessions & Epidemic Sound
• Support the show: Buy me a coffee → https://buymeacoffee.com/terriblephotographer