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The Terrible Photographer

The Terrible Photographer

Di: Patrick Fore
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 The Terrible Photographer is a storytelling podcast for photographers, designers, and creative humans trying to stay honest in a world that rewards pretending2025 Patrick Fore Photography, LLC Arte Scienze sociali
Episodi
  • Amature - Why I Envy Photographers Who Don't Get Paid

    Amature - Why I Envy Photographers Who Don't Get Paid
    Jan 13 2026
    The war is internal, not technical.Lessons From a Terrible Photographer is a book for creatives who feel stuck, burned out, or disconnected from their work, even though they know what they’re doing.It’s not about gear or technique. It’s about the internal stuff no one talks about, and focusing on why we make work, not just how.Preorders help determine the first print run. Copies ship once printing begins.Preorder here:https://www.terriblephotographer.com/the-bookThere's a woman in Bangkok who's been selling noodles from the same corner for 43 years. She turned down Bon Appétit. Not because she's shy. Because she didn't want to cook for strangers with expectations.This episode started with a voicemail from Jason, a listener in North Carolina who shoots photos of his kids and has no interest in going pro. He called me out for ignoring non-professionals. And he was right.What I didn't expect was how much his email would make me confront something I've been avoiding: I'm envious of amateur photographers. Not because they're bad at what they do. Because they still have the thing I traded away.This is about the cost of professionalization. About the difference between making work because you have to versus making work because the work demands to be made. About freedom, money, and what happens when you refuse to let the transaction define the craft.If you've ever felt like you're not a "real" photographer because you don't charge... this one's for you.And if you're a pro who's forgotten why you started... this one's for you too.Key Themes:Transactional Legitimacy (the belief that payment equals worth)The cost of going professional vs. staying amateurCreative envy and what it revealsBeing "unowned" in a world where everything is for saleThe difference between a career and a practiceEpisode Timestamps:0:00 - Cold Open: The Noodle Queen of Bangkok 1:15 - Handshake & Episode Intro 2:00 - Jason's Voicemail (Part 1): "I'm not a professional nor do I want to be" 3:00 - Confession: Why I avoid amateur photographers (and the envy underneath) 4:30 - Bellingham, 2012: When I was Jason 6:00 - Jason's Voicemail (Part 2): "We doubt our abilities because we are not getting paid" 6:30 - Alison's Story: The physical therapist photographing her mother's Alzheimer's 16:00 - Naming The Enemy: Transactional Legitimacy 19:00 - The Pivot: What professionals can't do (that amateurs can) 22:30 - The Resolution: Neither path is pure. Both cost something. 28:00 - The Restoration: What the professional world needs from non-professionals 30:30 - The Light Leak: Being unownedMentioned in This Episode:Episode 39: Creative directing your own life (referenced when discussing overthinking)Lake Padden, Bellingham WAFairhaven, Bellingham WAMount Baker, WAKey Quote:"You are not beneath professionals. You are adjacent to freedom they lost."For Jason:Thank you for the email. Thank you for the voicemail. Thank you for calling me out. This episode wouldn't exist without you.LINKS & RESOURCES:The Terrible Photographer: Website: http://terriblephotographer.com Subscribe to Pub Notes (Newsletter): https://the-terrible-photographer.kit.com/223fe471fb Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terriblephotographer/Lessons From A Terrible Photographer (The Book): https://www.terriblephotographer.com/the-bookSupport The Show: Buy me a coffee: https://www.terriblephotographer.com/supportConnect: Patrick Fore on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patrickfore/ Email: patrick@terriblephotographer.comCREDITS:Podcast written, produced, and hosted by Patrick Fore Music licensed through Epidemic SoundIntro Song: Free Spirit by Max Volante Episode photography from lucas.george.wendt Recorded in my garage in San Diego, CaliforniaA NOTE FOR NON-PROFESSIONALS (Amatures):If you're listening to this and you don't charge for your work—if you shoot because you love it, not because you're building a business—please know this:Your work matters. Your perspective matters. Your freedom matters.You're not less than. You're not waiting to become real.You're already real.And some of us wish we still had what you have.SHARE THIS EPISODE:Know someone who needs to hear this? A parent with a camera. A hobbyist who doubts themselves. A pro who's forgotten why they started.Send them this episode. Let them know they're not alone.
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    42 min
  • The Fresh Start Fallacy - Are You Building a Boat or Just Floating in a Tube?

    The Fresh Start Fallacy - Are You Building a Boat or Just Floating in a Tube?
    Jan 6 2026

    The war is internal, not technical.


    Lessons From a Terrible Photographer is a book for creatives who feel stuck, burned out, or disconnected from their work, even though they know what they’re doing.


    It’s not about gear or technique. It’s about the internal stuff no one talks about, and focusing on why we make work, not just how.


    Preorders help determine the first print run. Copies ship once printing begins.


    Preorder here:

    https://www.terriblephotographer.com/the-book


    EPISODE DESCRIPTION:

    Three hundred years. That's how long my family has been in America. Jamestown. Virginia. Colonial laborers. Post-Civil War homesteaders in Missouri. And not one of them—not one—ever owned anything that lasted.

    In 1726, when a British clerk wrote "Fore" instead of "Fauer," my family's name changed. But the pattern didn't.

    This episode isn't about New Year's resolutions or fresh starts. It's about lazy rivers, tubes, and boats. It's about realizing you're floating in a system you never chose—and that everyone in your family has been floating for centuries. It's about being the first one to try to get out, even when you don't know how to swim.

    I talk about my MIT PhD brother who doesn't know how to freelance. A wedding photographer who realized he became his father. And why I'm angry at ancestors I've never met for never trying to break a pattern I now have to fight.

    If you've ever felt like you're working hard but never building anything. Like you're trapped between staying comfortable and risking everything. Like you're the first person in your family trying to do something different with no map and no model—this one's for you.

    Not because I have answers.

    Because I'm in the middle of the same fight.

    IN THIS EPISODE:

    • The 300-year pattern: Jamestown to Missouri, laborers to homesteaders—and why nothing changed
    • Why "legally free but economically pinned" explains my entire family history
    • Boats, tubes, and swimmers: understanding the lazy river of life
    • My brother's phone call: when an MIT PhD doesn't know how to freelance
    • Why I'm angry at dead people who had no choice
    • What it means to labor for yourself vs. labor for someone else's dream
    • The question: Do you see the river? And if you do, what are you going to do about it?

    WANT A SEAT AT THE TABLE?

    The Table is a small, email-based conversation space for creative people in the long middle. No apps. No feeds. No pressure. No posting requirements. Just occasional emails about the real stuff—and the option to reply, or not.

    Some weeks you'll get a reflection. Some weeks a question. Some weeks nothing. Sometimes it's about creative existential dread. Sometimes it's about whether gaffer tape smells different depending on the brand.

    It's a pub table. But everyone's wearing sweatpants. And nobody has to drive home.

    If you want a seat, email: patrick@terriblephotographer.com
    Subject line: "I'd like a seat at The Table"


    LINKS:

    Website: http://terriblephotographer.com

    The Newsletter: Sign up for Pub Notes – Musings, updates, and things I probably shouldn't say in public.
    terriblephotographer.com/newsletter

    Support the Show: Help keep the lights on
    terriblephotographer.com/support

    Email the Host: patrick@terriblephotographer.com
    Questions, thoughts, rage at your own ancestors—I respond to everything.
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    42 min
  • The Long Middle - The Third Space - How to Actually Build Community When Traditional Third Spaces Are Dead (And Why We Have to Try Anyway)

    The Long Middle - The Third Space - How to Actually Build Community When Traditional Third Spaces Are Dead (And Why We Have to Try Anyway)
    Dec 30 2025
    The war is internal, not technical.Lessons From a Terrible Photographer is a book for creatives who feel stuck, burned out, or disconnected from their work, even though they know what they’re doing.It’s not about gear or technique. It’s about the internal stuff no one talks about, and focusing on why we make work, not just how.Preorders help determine the first print run. Copies ship once printing begins.Preorder here:https://www.terriblephotographer.com/the-bookYou've mastered the craft. You've built the business. You're successful. But you're still lonely. You're Joshua Bell in the subway—playing a Stradivarius while everyone walks past. You've taken off the costume, rejected the hierarchy, and you're still isolated.So now what?In the finale of "The Long Middle" series, Patrick explores sociologist Ray Oldenburg's concept of "The Third Space"—the pubs, coffee shops, and barbershops where community used to happen naturally. He examines why these spaces disappeared, how COVID delivered the final blow, and why digital spaces (Reddit, Discord) might be Third Space for some people while remaining incomplete for others.This episode is both diagnosis and prescription: why we're lonely, why it's gotten worse, and the uncomfortable truth that you can't find community—you have to build it. One vulnerable conversation at a time.IN THIS EPISODE:Ray Oldenburg's Third Space theory: First Space (home), Second Space (work), Third Space (community)Why Third Spaces disappeared: suburbanization, work-from-home, social media performance cultureHow COVID killed Third Space culture permanently (not just temporarily)The death of Meetup.com and "social atrophy"—we forgot how to be togetherWhy your friend who says "Reddit is my Third Space" isn't wrong (but it's incomplete)The difference between performing and being seen in digital spacesWhy networking events are Second Space disguised as Third SpaceThe Leslie paradox: Patrick's only Third Space relationship is digital and 2800 miles awayYou can't find Third Space, you have to build it—starting with ONE personVulnerability first: Be vulnerable → See who responds → Build from thereWhy you need 2-3 real connections, not 100 photographer "friends" (Dunbar's number)Consistency over intensity: weekly coffee > annual epic meetupThe five steps to building your own Third Space (reach out, show up without costume, witness don't fix, make it regular, expand carefully)What to talk about (the real stuff: struggles, jealousy, exhaustion, the work you're hiding)What NOT to talk about (how busy you are, your big clients, industry gossip)Introducing The Table: Patrick's email-based Third Space experiment for people in the long middleTHE CHALLENGE: Reach out to ONE person this week. Not to network, not to collaborate. Just: "I've been thinking about creative loneliness lately. Want to grab coffee?" Then show up without your costume and talk about what you're actually struggling with.KEY QUOTES: "Third Space doesn't exist until someone creates it. And it doesn't start with a community. It starts with one person.""Digital-only Third Space is incomplete. You need to look someone in the eye. You need to sit across a table from another human. You need to exist in a room where you can't edit yourself before you speak.""You can't outsource belonging. You can't scroll your way to community. You can't consume your way to connection.""COVID didn't pause Third Space culture. It killed it. And we're still living in the wreckage."WANT A SEAT AT THE TABLE?The Table is a small, email-based conversation space for creative people in the long middle. No apps. No feeds. No pressure. No posting requirements. Just occasional emails about the real stuff—and the option to reply, or not.Some weeks you'll get a reflection. Some weeks a question. Some weeks nothing. Sometimes it's about creative existential dread. Sometimes it's about whether gaffer tape smells different depending on the brand.It's a pub table. But everyone's wearing sweatpants. And nobody has to drive home.If you want a seat, email: patrick@terriblephotographer.comSubject line: "I'd like a seat at The Table"LINKS:Website: terriblephotographer.comThe Newsletter: Sign up for Pub Notes – Musings, updates, and things I probably shouldn't say in public.terriblephotographer.com/newsletterSupport the Show: Help keep the lights onterriblephotographer.com/supportEmail the Host: patrick@terriblephotographer.comQuestions, thoughts, rage—I respond to everything.CREDITS:Music: Licensed through Epidemic Sound and Blue Dot SessionsWritten and Produced by: Patrick ForeEpisode Image by Mason Dahl - https://www.instagram.com/masondahlphoto/
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    40 min
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