Real Photo Show with Michael Chovan-Dalton

Jake Benzinger (Wych Elm) and Tabitha Barnard join me to officially launch my series on publishers and authors where I explore the relationship that builds between publishers, editors, designers, and photographers and to hopefully provide some insight as to how photobooks are being made. Tabitha’s book, Dead Trees Speak to Me, was Jake’s first photo book that was not his own and Jake and Tabitha will share how they came to know each other and why Jake wanted to publish Tabitha’s work. We will talk about the editing and sequencing of the book as well as some of the more traditional questions about how they both got to where they are. https://wychelm.press  |||    https://jakebenzinger.com   |||      https://www.tabithabarnard.com This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club Begin Building your dream photobook library today at https://charcoalbookclub.com Tabitha Barnard was born in Freedom, New Hampshire in 1994. She is a photographer who grew up in rural Maine with three sisters. Growing up in a very Christian female-dominated family has had a huge influence on her work. Barnard works primarily in digital color photography exploring themes of femininity and religion. She received her Bachelor of Fine Art from Maine College of Art in the Spring of 2016 and a Master of Fine Art from Massachusetts College of Art in the Spring of 2021.  She has worked in both commercial studio settings, as a shooting assistant, and as the media technician for the photo department at the Maine College of Art. She currently works in Portland Maine, teaching at the Maine College of Art and the University of Southern Maine.  Jake Benzinger (he/him) is a photographer, book artist, and writer based in Rockland, Maine; he received his BFA in photography from Lesley University, College of Art and Design in Cambridge, MA. His work has been shown nationally and internationally in solo and group exhibitions at the Griffin Museum of Photography, Haute Photographie Rotterdam, Center for Fine Art Photography, Glasgow Gallery of Photography, 82Parris, Panopticon Gallery, RIT City Space Gallery, and more. He has been featured by numerous platforms including GUP Magazine, Lensculture, Float Magazine, Lenscratch, Transference Magazine, and Fraction Magazine. His publications are held in collections at the National Gallery of Art, School of Visual Arts, SMFA at Tufts, and Griffin Museum of Photography, and his monograph, Like Dust Settling in a Dim-Lit Room (Or Starless Forest), was shortlisted for the 2023 Lucie Photobook Prize.

Daniel Power of PowerHouse Books and Yolanda Cuomo of Yolanda Cuomo Design join me for my 200th episode to talk about their famed collaborations including their latest, Larry Fink: Hands On / A Passionate Life of Looking (PowerHouse). This was a really fun and enlightening episode. It is filled with great history and great humor from two incredibly influential figures in photography who also happen to be two great friends. Daniel and Yo talk about their own histories and achievements as well as the love and dedication that went into this last book they worked on with Larry Fink before he passed. https://powerhousebooks.com ||| https://yocuomo.com This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club Begin Building your dream photobook library today at https://charcoalbookclub.com Founder and Publisher Daniel Power started powerHouse Books in 1995, and was joined by Craig Cohen in 1996. The early years had Power and Cohen tag-teaming on a few books at a time, raising the bar each season when, in 1998, powerHouse Books had its first best-seller, Women Before 10 A.M. by Véronique Vial. Power and Cohen followed up that success in 1999 with the critically-acclaimed cult monographs X-Ray, by François Nars, and Life is Paradise, by Francesco Clemente and Vincent Katz. In Fall 2006, powerHouse Books launched The POWERHOUSE Arena, a laboratory for creative thought: exhibitions, installations, presentations, displays, viewings, performances, readings, and retail therapy—all drawing upon photography and popular culture as sources of inspiration. Located at 28 Adams Street in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn, the 10,200–square foot marquis showroom and retail space is unlike any other in New York City, featuring a soaring 24-foot ceiling on the 5,000–square foot ground floor, and an equally impressive 5,000–square foot mezzanine, with over 175 feet of glass frontage, designed by esteemed architect David Howell Design. Attached by a central staircase is the Arena Skylounge, a 560 square-foot, mezzanine-level, multifunctional gallery, VIP lounge, and green room. These stunning spaces have hosted a series of landmark exhibitions and events, and are now available for private hire. Yolanda Cuomo is an experienced art director and avid educator. As Principal of Yolanda Cuomo Design, she provides the creative vision, direction, and passion behind all of the Studio’s work. Cuomo and her team work collaboratively with their clients, which include leading publishers, museums, authors, editors, artists, and photographers, to develop memorable and meaningful cultural and commercial projects. Cuomo’s recent projects include the design of two books with photographer Pete Souza OBAMA, An Intimate Portrait and SHADE, A Tale of Two Presidents, a seven hundred page book entitled An Anthology about Paolo Pellegrin curated by Germano Celant that accompanied an exhibition at the Maxxi Museum in Rome, Italy, a book about Bob Dylan called DYLAN BY SCHATZBERG and the book A Life In Pictures: Steve McCurry. Throughout 2013, Cuomo edited and designed a two-volume nine-hundred-page limited-edition box set, The Library of Julio Santo Domingo, which also included a special-edition iPad and private app celebrating this collection. In fall 2012, Cuomo co-authored with Norma Stevens the book New York at Night, a collection of photographs published by PowerHouse Books. In 2011, Cuomo’s studio designed the enormously successful Diane Arbus retrospective which was organized by the Jeu de Paume in Paris, and traveled internationally.

Artist Shen Wei joins me to talk about his book, A Season Particular (TBW Books). We talk about Shen's mixing of body and flora as representative of his own cultural identity and exploration of desire and intimacy. Shen and I discuss the process of editing and making this book with Paul Schiek as well as what Shen had learned when he worked with Lesley A. Martin on his first monograph, Chinese Sentiment (Charles Lane Press). We also talk about Shen's suggested assignment in The Photographer's Playbook (Aperture) which involves self-portraiture in a hotel room. https://shenwei.studio https://tbwbooks.com/products/a-season-particular This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club Begin Building your dream photobook library today at https://charcoalbookclub.com @charcoalbookclub Shen Wei is a Chinese-American artist based in New York City. He is known for his intimate self-portraiture and contemplative images of people and nature, highlighting the understated beauty of his surroundings. He also works in painting, sculpture, and video. Shen Wei’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Museum of the City of New York, the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Power Station of Art in Shanghai, China, La Triennale di Milano in Italy, the North Carolina Museum of Art, and the Morgan Library & Museum in New York. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Yorker, Aperture, ARTnews, Paris Review, ArtReview, Financial Times, and The Burlington Magazine. Shen Wei’s work is included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Getty Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Library of Congress, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Morgan Library & Museum, the CAFA Art Museum, and the Ringling Museum of Art, among others. He holds an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York, and a BFA from Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Reuben Radding | Heavenly Arms Photographer and educator, Reuben Radding, joins me to talk about his book, Heavenly Arms (Red Hook Editions). We cover the entire process of producing this book beginning with selecting and sequencing the photos, working with a publisher, crowdsourcing funds, and finally, how the process will impact Reuben's future work. http://www.reubenradding.com ||| https://www.redhookeditions.com/books-1/heavenly-arms This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club Begin Building your dream photobook library today at https://charcoalbookclub.com Reuben Radding is a photographer, teacher, writer, and musician based in New York City. His photographs are made from a mix of street wandering and discovered moments from his personal life, which intentionally provoke unanswerable questions in his viewers' minds. Since 2019 he has published 14 limited edition 'zines of his photographs, including the three-volume series Corona Diary. Radding’s first book of his photographs, Heavenly Arms, was published in October 2024 by Red Hook Editions. Radding's work has been exhibited internationally in galleries, and in publications like Hamburger Eyes, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, The Sun, The New Republic, Downbeat and many others. Radding is on faculty at the International Center of Photography, and since 2017 has been leading his own popular series of street photography workshops from his Brooklyn studio throughout the year. Radding has also been a guest speaker at New York University, The School of Creative and Performing Arts, Marble Hill Camera Club, and others, as well as having been a guest on many podcasts and vlogs. Reuben Radding has also had a long career as a bassist and composer, performing around the world and appearing on over 100 recordings. He graduated from Goddard College with an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts in 2019.

Here are the final recordings I made at the 2024 Chico Review with the wonderful attendees who come to Chico to share their work and their stories with incredible reviewers. I had the opportunity to spend a short amount of time with over 20 attendees. These conversations come from our first interactions for me and the guests with each other and I did not see the work before the recordings. That meant the description of the work had to be fine tuned just as it does for a portfolio review. So what you will here is similar to a portfolio presentation. I’ve also linked to the guest’s Instagram and Websites so you can see the work. One last note, I was recording in a variety of spaces at the beautiful Chico Hot Springs resort so there may be a number of different ambient sounds across the recordings. The Chico Review is the country’s premier Photobook Retreat. Organized by Charcoal Book Club, The Chico Review takes place over six nights at Chico Hot Springs Resort, near Livingston Montana. Sixty-four applicants will spend the week with over twenty of the most influential and creative photographers, book makers, gallerists, museum curators, and photobook publishers in the industry. https://chicoreview.com ||| @chicoreview @charcoalbookclub Dom Marker: 01:10 https://dommarker.com ||| @dommarker John Bonenberger: 08:30 http://www.johnbonenberger.com ||| Judson Womack: 16:40 @judwomack Justin Gibson: 25:10 @justinlgibson Mariana Mendoza: 32:05 https://www.marianamendoza.com ||| @marianamendozam Mike Hazard: 37:25 https://www.mikehazard.org ||| @mediamikehazard Sarah Mei Herman: 43:35 https://www.sarahmeiherman.nl ||| @sarahmeiherman Susan Weiss: 50:25 https://www.susanweissart.com ||| @susanweissart Tejasvir Singh Rekhi: 56:40 https://www.tejasvir.com ||| @tejasphotos Todd Cooper: 01:07:40 https://jasontoddcooper.com ||| @toddcooper

Here are some of the recordings I made at the 2024 Chico Review with the wonderful attendees who come to Chico to share their work and their stories with incredible reviewers. I had the opportunity to spend a short amount of time with over 20 attendees. These conversations come from our first interactions for me and the guests with each other and I did not see the work before the recordings. That meant the description of the work had to be fine tuned just as it does for a portfolio review. So what you will here is similar to a portfolio presentation. I’ve also linked to the guest’s Instagram and Websites so you can see the work. One last note, I was recording in a variety of spaces at the beautiful Chico Hot Springs resort so there may be a number of different ambient sounds across the recordings. The Chico Review is the country’s premier Photobook Retreat. Organized by Charcoal Book Club, The Chico Review takes place over six nights at Chico Hot Springs Resort, near Livingston Montana. Sixty-four applicants will spend the week with over twenty of the most influential and creative photographers, book makers, gallerists, museum curators, and photobook publishers in the industry. https://chicoreview.com ||| @chicoreview @charcoalbookclub Angie Terrell - 1:15 https://www.angieterrell.com ||| @angieterrell Cam McLeod - 10:55 https://cammcleodphotography.com ||| @cammcleod Bryan Birks - 23:10 https://www.bryanbirks.com ||| @bryanbirks Barry Munger - 29:45 Dan Carew - 40:35 https://www.cheungchauwave.com/portal-features/dan-carew ||| @dan.carew

My guest today is photographer JF Bouchard. JF and I talk about his book, The New Cubans (powerHouse Books) and how he became aware of and how he approached photographing a lesser known subculture in Cuba that consists of younger Cubans who are non-conformist and more gender diverse. JF describes his goal towards collaborating in a way in which he is both working for himself but also, in a way, working for the people in his photographs by providing them with social media content during the rist of social media in Cuba. We also talk about how the people he was working with were also migrating away from Cuba during a large migrant crisis. https://www.jfbouchard.com - https://www.instagram.com/jfbouchard1/ - https://powerhousebooks.com/books/the-new-cubans/ This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club Begin Building your dream photobook library today at https://charcoalbookclub.com Jean-François Bouchard has worked in lens-based visual art since 2003. He travels the world and seeks out people whose interests and lifestyles are out of the ordinary. He celebrates difference by focusing on marginalized, misunderstood, and often ostracized groups of people. Working at the intersection of documentary work and subjective cinematic conceptual storytelling, he aims to immerse viewers into the lives of his collaborators while sharing his own emotional journeys into these worlds. His practice blends photography, video installations, and occasionally found objects. His work has been exhibited in galleries, museums, and festivals in Canada, the United States, and France. His projects have been shown at Arsenal Contemporary Art in New York, Montreal, and Toronto. His works are featured in a book published by The Magenta Foundation. Artnet selected the In Guns We Trust exhibition as a “Must-see show in NYC,” while ArtForum selected his Exile from Babylon exhibition as an “Editor’s Pick” in early 2023.

Here are some of the recordings I made at the 2024 Chico Review with the wonderful attendees who come to Chico to share their work and their stories with incredible reviewers. I had the opportunity to spend a short amount of time with over 20 attendees. These conversations come from our first interactions for me and the guests with each other and I did not see the work before the recordings. That meant the description of the work had to be fine tuned just as it does for a portfolio review. So what you will here is similar to a portfolio presentation. I’ve also linked to the guest’s Instagram and Websites so you can see the work. One last note, I was recording in a variety of spaces at the beautiful Chico Hot Springs resort so there may be a number of different ambient sounds across the recordings. The Chico Review is the country’s premier Photobook Retreat. Organized by Charcoal Book Club, The Chico Review takes place over six nights at Chico Hot Springs Resort, near Livingston Montana. Sixty-four applicants will be selected by our jury and invited to spend the week with over twenty of the most influential and creative photographers, book makers, gallerists, museum curators, and photobook publishers in the industry. One full scholarship and five partial scholarships will be awarded. Student discounts and need-based scholarships will be available to those selected who qualify. Apply Now: https://www.chicoreview.com/2025 Kent Andreasen 01:13 https://www.kentandreasen.com ||| https://www.instagram.com/kentandreasen/ Andrew D. McClees 10:22 https://andrewmcclees.com ||| https://www.instagram.com/andrewdmcclees/ Zillah Bowes 15:32 https://linktr.ee/zillahbowes ||| https://www.instagram.com/zillahbowes/ Jack McLain 27:01 https://thepenandthelens.smugmug.com

Visual Artist and educator, Lydia Panas and I have a wonderful conversation about her work including her books, Falling from Grace (self published), The Mark of Abel (Kehrer Verlag), and Sleeping Beauty (MW Editions). We talk about her use of allegorical themes as a way of pushing back against them and we talk extensively about how she works with and connects with her models and how all her work has a deep personal connection to her own epxeriences. http://www.lydiapanas.com ||| https://www.instagram.com/lydiapanas_/ ||| https://www.facebook.com/lydia.panas ||| https://www.kehrerverlag.com/en/lydia-panas-the-mark-of-abel-978-3-86828-229-0 ||| https://mweditions.com/books/lydia-panas-sleeping-beauty/ This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club Begin Building your dream photobook library today at https://charcoalbookclub.com Lydia Panas is a visual artist working with photography and video. A first-generation American, she was raised between Greece and the United States. Panas’ work looks at identity and what lies below the surface, investigating questions of who we are and what we want to become. Her work is made in the fields, forests, and studio of her family farm in Pennsylvania. The connection she feels to this land is the foundation of her work. Panas’ work has been exhibited widely in the U.S. and internationally. Her photographs are represented in public and private collections including the Brooklyn Museum, the Bronx Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Palm Springs Art Museum, Michener Art Museum, Allentown Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago, Museum of Photographic Arts San Diego, the Sheldon Museum, Zendai MoMA Shanghai, among others. Her work has appeared in periodicals such as The New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, The Village Voice, French Photo, Hyperallergic, Photo District News, Popular Photography, San Francisco Chronicle, Rain Taxi Review of Books, Flavorpill, WSJ Blog, GEO Wissen, Die Volkskrant, Haaretz, and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Abelardo Morell joins me to talk about his storied career and incredible passion for photography and art history. We talk about Flowers for Lisa, published by Abrams Books and Tent-Camera, published by Nazraeli Press, including the inspiration and the inventiveness of these works and the work that came before and after. Abe's work has long been fundamental to my teaching practice and his love of the process and the possibilities of photography as an art form still drive him today long after retiring from 30 years of teaching at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. https://www.abelardomorell.net In the Company of Monet and Constable - Nov 23, 2024 – Feb 17, 2025 https://www.clarkart.edu/exhibition/detail/abelardo-morell-in-the-company-of-monet-and-consta This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club Begin Building your dream photobook library today at https://charcoalbookclub.com Abelardo Morell was born in Havana, Cuba in 1948. He immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1962.  Morell received his undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College and his MFA from The Yale University School of Art. He has received an honorary degree from Bowdoin College in 1997 and from Lesley University in 2014. He was professor of Photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston from 1983 to 2010. His publications include a photographic illustration of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland(1998) by Dutton Children’s Books, A Camera in a Room(1995) by Smithsonian Press, A Book of Books (2002) and Camera Obscura (2004) by Bulfinch Press and Abelardo Morell(2005), published by Phaidon Press. The Universe Next Door(2013), published by The Art Institute of Chicago.  Tent-Camera (2018), published by Nazraeli Press. Flowers for Lisa (2018), published by Abrams Books. His latest show, Abelardo Morell: In the Company of Monet and Constable, will be at the The Clark Institute in Williamstown, MA, on view November 23, 2024 - February 17, 202