Almost Everything with Jeffery Saddoris
Society & Culture
About
I released my first podcast in 2009. I was hooked and have been recording deep-dive conversations with interesting and creative people about what they do and why they do it ever since. I’m taking cues from some of my interview heroes like Dick Cavett, Johnny Carson, and Studs Terkel and distilling the conversations I record into one show. I’m calling it Almost Everything with Jeffery Saddoris and on each episode, I’ll be talking to both creatives and everyday people about their unique stories and lived experiences.
Episodes
- What Rust Remembers
In "What Rust Remembers," Jeffery Saddoris reflects on his painting practice, moving from routine to a more intentional approach by putting things down and observing what surfaces.
- Small Is Still Significant
Jeffery Saddoris explores the unsettling feeling that small efforts and conversations may seem insignificant due to the overwhelming scale and complexity of the world. He questions the "real" impact of individual contributions.
- You Have to Start Making Decisions
Jeffery Saddoris explains his decision to build a personal website to archive his career work and share thoughts, moving away from social media engagement. He aims to focus on his creative process and writing about the work of others.
- Let Go Lightly
In this episode, Jeffery Saddoris shares his personal journey of starting therapy 18 months ago, encouraged by his partner, to address a dark place he found himself in. He details the process of unlearning past behaviors and releasing limi…
- The Weight of Waiting
The episode "The Weight of Waiting" on "Almost Everything with Jeffery Saddoris" revisits childhood memories tied to a 1974 Ford F100 truck. The host recalls waking up in the truck at Buckskin State Park and the sensory details of a cool m…
- Style, Stunts, and a Tiny House
Jeffery Saddoris shares a story about photographer Jay Maisel suggesting one needs to be a more interesting person to take interesting pictures. He advocates for seeking inspiration outside of familiar artistic circles and provides links t…
- Making and Money
Jeffery Saddoris reflects on the belief that creative work deserves monetary compensation, examining how this aligns with or deviates from capitalist principles of exchange for goods and services.
- I Buried Another Bird
In this episode, Jeffery Saddoris describes finding and burying a bird during a walk with Adrianne and Cooper, an experience he found painful. He shares this vignette, considering such quiet moments significant.
- Little Beasts and Other Pleasures
In this episode, Jeffery Saddoris recounts a conversation with his friend Michelle from the National Gallery of Art about the film "Little Beasts" and other art exhibitions. Saddoris shares his positive experiences with various art shows a…
- The Ballad of the Benches
Jeffery Saddoris recounts the nearly nine-year journey to build studio benches, a project he delayed after purchasing a house with maker spaces in 2016. He references photos of the benches on Substack.
- It’s Still Just a Tool
In "It's Still Just a Tool," Jeffery Saddoris reflects on his 2014 blog post about not using a favorite camera and how photographers can fetishize equipment. He emphasizes that purposeful practice with any gear, rather than just owning the…
- It’s Okay to be Disappointed
Jeffery Saddoris reflects on the creative process, acknowledging the privilege of making art and conversations. He states it is acceptable to feel disappointed not with the creation itself, but with its reception by others.
- Going Back to Move Forward
NOTE: To see the photos that I reference in this episode, see the post on my Substack . On one of our recent morning walk and talks, a group of photographers and I were talking about how much worse Instagram has gotten over the past few ye…
- Get Out of Your Way
Reinvention is tough. Disrupting old patterns of beliefs or behaviors is tough. Even when we finally decide to disrupt the flow of familiarity, the fear of the unknown that awaits us can be paralyzing. I know that it has been for me. But o…
- Gather Ye Rosebuds
Yesterday, Adrianne and I went out to one of favorite little coffee shops to have breakfast and spend the morning working. About an hour in, I had this urge to check Instagram, which I rarely do, especially lately. In fact, I haven’t reall…
- A Different Kind of Perfection
I’ve held off on posting this Iteration because I just didn’t feel like it was that important in light of what’s happening in California. But after some reflection, I actually think that it is important, because art and making are still im…
- Time for Deeper Work
I don’t know about you, but this is by far my least favorite time of year. It really starts around Thanksgiving, but this stretch between Christmas and New Year’s Day is particularly brutal — and it’s not just because I spent the first 48…
- The Marrow is in the Process
A few weeks ago, I took the train down to DC to meet up with my friend Richard Boutwell to walk through a show at the National Gallery called The '70s Lens . The show features the work of a bunch of fantastic photographers, many of whom I’…
- Kubrick on the Morning Zoo
Recently, I picked up a copy of Barry Lyndon on Blu-ray. It’s one of those movies that I’ve had on my watchlist forever, but for whatever reason it just kept slipping through the cracks. As I was researching some of the other Criterion mov…
- The Ritual of It All
Saturday night, Adrianne and I spent the evening at the home of our neighbors Raj and Trupti helping them, along with about 60 other friends and family members, celebrate Diwali, which is the Hindu festival of lights. It’s hard to explain…
- The Other Brave Thing
On Saturday, Adrianne and I took an impromptu trip into DC after seeing an interesting post pop up in my Instagram feed . The post was about an open studio event at the 52 O Street Artist Studios , which is a four-floor building that featu…
- When the Thing is the Thing
What you’re hearing (if you’re listening, rather than reading this) are the sounds of me unboxing a new keyboard — specifically, an Apple A1048 , commonly known as simply the Apple Keyboard. What makes this keyboard especially interesting…
- How Does it Feel?
Last week, I released a video review of a new book from Prestel about Gregory Crewdson . It was significant for me, not just because Gregory is one of my photographic heroes — although yes, that is part of it — but because it was the first…
- Modern Master of Mood
This is the audio track from my video review, which I encourage you to watch on YouTube or read on Substack . In a new book from Prestel , simply titled Gregory Crewdson , editor Walter Moser — the head of the department of photography at…
- Permission Granted
Last week, I gave myself permission to do something that was a: pretty far outside of my comfort zone and b: completely unnecessary. If you read or listened to my last Iteration, you know I’ve been wanting an Elektron Digitakt for years, b…
- The Illusion of Control
Sunday was my birthday and as I begin my 58th trip around the sun, I’ve been reflecting on some of the things I’ve learned over the past half-century or so. I’m not talking about skills per se, though I have racked up a fairly impressive l…
- It’s Time to be Self-Centered
I’ve been thinking about something for a while and I’m not sure whether or not it’ll land, but I’d like to try stringing together a few ideas. I think it’s time for us to embrace being self-centered, but not in the way that you might think…
- The Joy of [Re]Discovery
Whether you call it a slump, a funk, a downturn, a slowdown, a struggle, a breakdown, a nosedive, a stall, a meltdown, a plunge, or just stagnation, I’ve been in one for a while. While I have multiple journals that are dappled with notes,…
- Know Thy [Creative] Self
For the past few weeks, maybe even the past month or so, I’ve been on sort of an Ethan Hawke deep dive. I like Ethan Hawke as an actor and while I haven’t seen everything he’s ever done, I really like Training Day and I would probably put…
- The Five-Pointed Star of Why
The other day I was on the phone with my friend Neale James and we were talking about a recent episode of his podcast The Photowalk , on which he was talking to our mutual friend Sean Tucker about creativity. “I invite you,” Neale begins t…
- Connection, Collaboration, and Creative Maturity
If you’ve been subscribed for a while, you probably know I’m a big Nine Inch Nails fan and have been since 1990 when I saw them open up for Peter Murphy . The other day, I was watching a terrific video with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross br…
- Can a Podcast Change Your Life?
Last week, we recorded the last episode of On Taking Pictures . If you’re a longtime listener, you may think you’ve heard this before, and you’re right, you have. But this time it’s different. I’ll get to why in a minute, but first I need…
- Art as a Verb
The artist Richard Serra died recently, and I know he’s considered a big deal in the art world, but honestly I’ve never really gotten what all the hype is about. I suppose I can appreciate the scale and the forms of some of the work in the…
- Can AI and Artists Coexist?
After recording last week’s episode of On Taking Pictures , Bill sent me a link to a video that’s both fascinating and deeply disturbing, called “ AI vs Artists: The Biggest Art Heist in History .” The video presents some of the grim facts…
- Tool Up!
About a week ago, I jumped back into using Photoshop for the first time since 2018 and I’ve got to tell you, it was kind of like putting on a favorite pair of jeans. Yes, the interface has changed a little and a bunch of terrific new tools…
- Swimming in Molasses
I started this Iteration on February 29th—Leap Day—and for me it was a good day, which, frankly, I really needed. In the last Iteration , I talked about how difficult 2023 was for me and in the week or so since I shared it a lot has happen…
- A Sabbatical in Retrospect
I’m not going to bury the lede—2023 was not a great year for me, especially financially. In fact, I think it was one of the worst years I’ve had since I became a solo creative, and for the most part, it was nobody’s fault but mine. One of…
- Another February 5th
Today is February 5th and it would have been my dad’s 83rd birthday. I normally mark the day by posting a simple message like “I miss you, Dad” on Instagram or Twitter, when Twitter was still a thing and I was still on it. Today, I want to…
- Details, Obstacles, and Opportunities
A couple weeks ago, I finally bought a set of wireless mics . I had been wanting and maybe even needing a set for a long time as a way to record the random conversations I seem to have with people out in the world on any given day. I’d bee…
- Starting Out Heavy
If you’ve spent any time around me at all, you know that I have opinions—lots of them—and I have since I was a kid. Sometimes when I would offer my unsolicited thoughts on various things, my mom would respond with “Oh, there he is…my littl…
- Have Yourself a Holly Jolly…
Well here we are again, nearing the end of one more trip around the sun and I for one cannot wait for it to be over. Christmas used to be my favorite time of year, but that was really because of my mom. She would start decorating the house…
- It’s Not Always an Obvious Connection
Back in the late 70s, there was a terrific documentary on the BBC called Connections . It was hosted by historian and author James Burke and now that I think about it, I don’t remember whether I watched it on PBS or I borrowed VHS copies o…
- Remapping the Road Ahead
As we get into this Iteration, I’d like to take a minute to let you know about some changes that I’m working on that will be rolling out in the coming weeks and months. Iterations will still be weekly (mostly), but I’m going to mix up the…
- Learn to Love the Process
Over the past few days, the photography world has been buzzing about the “global shutter” on Sony’s new flagship A9 III. I’ve listened to various YouTubers andinfluencers talk about it as if it’s the second coming. They’re saying “it’s the…
- Let It Incubate
They say that one of the best ways to solve a problem—at least a creative one—is actually not to think abut it. After all, how many times have you been doing something like taking a shower or going for a long walk and you find yourself hav…
- Revisiting My Infrastructure
As I was working through the recent redesign of my website —which you can read about or listen to in the last Iteration —I started to look at some of the other software I was using to see whether what I was using still made sense for the p…
- Go Forward, Move Ahead
Last week I did a soft-launch of my newly redesigned website , which in an of itself isn’t all that unique since I’ve resigned my website dozens of times over the years. What is unique—or at least different—is the overall focus of the site…
- The Time I Designed a Dog Backpack
Next month is the tenth anniversary of my dad’s death, so naturally I’ve been thinking about him a lot. Last year, I completely forgot about it, which I tried to tell myself was actually healthy, but I just ended up feeling guilty about fo…
- Objects in Motion
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about inertia and motion and how it applies to my creative practice. We know that Newton’s First Law of Motion says that an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless some sort of external force acts a…
- A Bunch of Potential Somethings
Are you overwhelmed? Do you ever get overwhelmed? Man, I do. All the time. My brain is always on and processing—either trying to process existing ideas or trying to figure out where to put all of the new ones that I haven’t had time to rea…