065-Can Podcasts Save Photography? (And What We Should Be Building)
CAN PODCASTS SAVE PHOTOGRAPHY?
Photography conferences used to launch careers. Now they're expensive reunions that most photographers can't afford.
After watching traditional photography education collapse and virtual summits turn into forgettable cash grabs, I realized we need something different. Not another conference. An actual system.
This is a solo episode where I break down what's broken. Photography conferences are becoming inaccessible. Virtual summits have become content dumps nobody remembers. Associations stopped leading. The sponsorship model that funded everything fell apart. And educators are stuck trading their time for exposure while photographers pay more and learn less.
So I'm building a photography podcast network. Not just a collection of shows. An ecosystem where podcasts feed community, community feeds virtual conferences, conferences create premium content, and that content incubates new talent that cycles back. Everything feeds everything else. It's a flywheel, not a one-off event.
This isn't about replacing what exists or competing with anyone. It's about filling the gap they left behind. Creating ongoing conversation instead of annual events. Building sustainable revenue for educators instead of asking them to work for free. Giving photographers a place to stay connected, keep learning, and stay in the work they love.
This is the way forward.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Why photography conferences became expensive reunions instead of career-launching opportunities for working photographers
How virtual summits turned into forgettable content dumps and why nobody remembers what they learned
The difference between one-off events and an ongoing ecosystem that actually keeps photographers connected
Why the traditional sponsorship model collapsed and what sustainable revenue for educators looks like instead
How a podcast network flywheel creates value at every stage instead of just extracting it from creatives
If this resonated with you, hit subscribe and drop a comment below. Tell me what you need from a photography community. And if you want more Generator episodes, check out the full playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzasfyiMDyZ1ZhVsRmr4620ecEQItlqW0
INTERESTED IN JOINING THE NETWORK?
If you're a podcaster with a different voice and perspective, reach out.
If you're an educator tired of trading time for exposure, let's talk.
DM me on Instagram or email through the website.
#PhotographyPodcast #CreativeBusiness #PhotographyEducation #ContentCreation #PodcastNetwork #CreativeCommunity #PhotographyConference #ArtistLife
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Transcript
Welcome back to Generator.
Speaker A:You know, photography conferences used to launch careers.
Speaker A:Now they're really just expensive reunions for people who can afford the ticket.
Speaker A:The entire photo industry is slowly collapsing, and the people who are supposed to be leading it, well, they have no idea how to save it.
Speaker A:So let's talk about it.
Speaker A:All right, so let's start with conferences themselves.
Speaker A:You'd save up all year.
Speaker A:You fly across the country, you drop a few thousand bucks for flights in a hotel room.
Speaker A:Then you sit in dark ballrooms watching the best in the business break down their process.
Speaker A:You network in the hallways, you trade cards.
Speaker A:You make connections that turn into collaborations or friendships or sometimes entire business pivots.
Speaker A:And that was the model for a long time.
Speaker A:And for a long time, it worked.
Speaker A:But something changed, and I've seen it firsthand.
Speaker A:Attendance at conferences is down.
Speaker A:Costs keep going up, and for most photographers, the ROI is getting harder and harder to justify.
Speaker A:Now, I'm not saying that conferences are dead.
Speaker A:I'm just saying that they're not enough anymore.
Speaker A:Not for the price, not for the frequency, and not for the people who can't afford to take three days off and spend three grand to maybe learn something useful.
Speaker A:Meanwhile, the industry keeps moving.
Speaker A:AI is here, and it certainly ain't going anywhere.
Speaker A:Client expectations are shifting faster than we can keep up with.
Speaker A:Business models that worked five years ago don't work now.
Speaker A:Pricing structures are collapsing in some markets and exploding in others.
Speaker A:And most of us, well, we're just kind of figuring it out alone.
Speaker A:We're googling and we're scrolling and we're asking questions in Claude and in Facebook groups and hoping someone credible answers before the algorithm buries the thread.
Speaker A:So here's what I've learned.
Speaker A:After more than a decade in this business, isolation is killing more photography careers than bad lighting ever could.
Speaker A:When you don't have people to talk to, people who understand what you're going through, you start to think that your problems are unique.
Speaker A:You start to think that you're the only one struggling.
Speaker A:And you start to believe the highlight reel that you see from everyone else is better than your own.
Speaker A:And that's when people quit.
Speaker A:Not because they weren't talented or they didn't care, but because they couldn't see a way forward and they didn't have anyone else to help them find it.
Speaker A:And that's the problem we don't talk about.
Speaker A:Let me back up for a second.
Speaker A:For decades, education and photography happened in very specific places.
Speaker A:Conferences and workshops and magazines and trade publications, those were the gatekeepers if you wanted to learn from the best, you had to be in those rooms.
Speaker A:You had to subscribe to those magazines.
Speaker A:You had to be part of the world.
Speaker A:And honestly, that worked.
Speaker A:It created a shared language and a shared set of standards.
Speaker A:You knew who the educators were.
Speaker A:You knew who to trust.
Speaker A:And then the Internet happened.
Speaker A:Suddenly information just wasn't scarce anymore.
Speaker A:YouTube tutorials and Facebook groups and Instagram tips, free PDFs, email courses.
Speaker A:You could learn just about anything you wanted without leaving your house or spending a dime.
Speaker A:It was incredible.
Speaker A:It democratized the access in a way that nothing ever else had.
Speaker A:But here's what we curation community conversation.
Speaker A:We traded mentorship for things like algorithms, and we swapped genuine connection for comment sections.
Speaker A:We went from learning in rooms full of people who cared about the same things that we did to learning alone in front of screens, hoping that the next video would finally be the one that clicked.
Speaker A:And now we're drowning in content, but we're starving for context.
Speaker A:There's more information available than ever before, but less clarity and less direction, less sense of what actually matters.
Speaker A:You can watch a hundred YouTube videos on off camera flash and still have no idea how to price or shoot.
Speaker A:You can follow 50 photographers on Instagram and still feel like you're doing everything wrong.
Speaker A:Because access to information isn't the same as access to growth.
Speaker A:Growth happens in conversation.
Speaker A:It happens when someone who's been where you are tells you what they learned.
Speaker A:And it happens when you hear someone else struggling with the same thing and realize that you're not alone.
Speaker A:That's what we lost when education went online.
Speaker A:And that is what we need to build back.
Speaker A:So here's what happened next.
Speaker A:New media podcasts exploded.
Speaker A:YouTube channels turned into full time businesses.
Speaker A:Newsletters replaced magazines.
Speaker A:Photographers started building their own audiences and their own platforms and their own ways of teaching and connecting.
Speaker A:In the traditional industry organizations, they're still selling the same old model.
Speaker A:Annual conferences and trade show floors and keynote speakers flown in from all across the country.
Speaker A:Big ballrooms, big budgets, big barriers to entry.
Speaker A:Don't get me wrong, these can be great.
Speaker A:I've spoken on stage, I've attended conferences.
Speaker A:I've learned from them.
Speaker A:But they're not enough anymore.
Speaker A:The world moved to on demand, ongoing, accessible learning.
Speaker A:People want to consume content when it fits their schedule.
Speaker A:They want conversations, not lectures.
Speaker A:They want to hear from people who sound like them, who struggle like them, who are building businesses like them in the same mentality, messy, uncertain reality that they are.
Speaker A:And the industry associations didn't move with it.
Speaker A:They're still acting like gatekeepers when the gates are already open.
Speaker A:They're still charging thousands of dollars for access to information that you can find for free.
Speaker A:And they're still prioritizing the people who can afford to show up instead of the people who are doing the work every single day but can't take time off or spend the money.
Speaker A:The industry didn't fail because people stopped wanting to learn.
Speaker A:It's failing because it stopped meeting people where they are.
Speaker A:And that gap right there, that's where new media came in.
Speaker A:Podcasts and virtual events, online communities.
Speaker A:It's a whole different landscape now.
Speaker A:Here's where things get interesting, because the industry did try to adapt.
Speaker A:Well, sort of.
Speaker A:Virtual summits started popping up everywhere.
Speaker A:And the model was simple.
Speaker A:Get a bunch of educators together, record presentations, offer the first round for free, then put everything behind a paywall after the event ends.
Speaker A:It sounds good on paper, but I've attended a lot of these summits over the years.
Speaker A:Photography summits and business summits, creative summits.
Speaker A:And I'm going to be honest with you, they're almost all forgettable.
Speaker A:The production quality is usually pretty poor.
Speaker A:Half the time you're watching someone talk to their webcam, with really bad lighting and even worse audio.
Speaker A:The information's rarely new.
Speaker A:They're reading it to you.
Speaker A:It's the same people saying the same things that they've been saying on Instagram for the past six months or a year or two years.
Speaker A:And the structure is built for the organizer, not the attendee.
Speaker A:You get flooded with all these sessions at once.
Speaker A:You can't possibly watch them all during the free window, so you feel pressured to buy the All Access Pass just so you don't miss out.
Speaker A:But then you buy it, and you realize most of the content isn't actually relevant to where you are right now.
Speaker A:It's not education, it's FOMO packaged as professional development.
Speaker A:Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the people running these summits have bad intentions.
Speaker A:Most of them are really trying to solve a true problem.
Speaker A:But the model itself is broken.
Speaker A:Because here's what's missing.
Speaker A:There's no ongoing conversation.
Speaker A:There's no community.
Speaker A:There's no feedback loop.
Speaker A:You watch a session, maybe you take some notes, and then what?
Speaker A:You're back to being alone with your questions?
Speaker A:Virtual summits aren't the answer.
Speaker A:They're just conferences in a cheaper format.
Speaker A:What we need is something that actually builds community over time, something that creates ongoing conversation, something where the content gets better because the people creating it are learning from the people consuming it.
Speaker A:We need a system, not an event.
Speaker A:So here's what I've been working on.
Speaker A:It's not a conference, it's not a summit.
Speaker A:It's not even just a podcast network.
Speaker A:It's an ecosystem.
Speaker A:Think of it like a flywheel.
Speaker A:Everything feeds everything else.
Speaker A:And the more it spins, the more value it creates for everyone involved.
Speaker A:Here's how it works.
Speaker A:Step one.
Speaker A:The Podcast network hub.
Speaker A:This is a roster of shows focused on photography and creativity.
Speaker A:News, interviews, deep dives, micro stories.
Speaker A:Each show has its own voice, its own angle, its own audience.
Speaker A:And I want to be clear about something here.
Speaker A:This isn't about collecting a bunch of shows that all sound the same.
Speaker A:I'm not looking for 10 versions of generator.
Speaker A:I want different voices from all over the place.
Speaker A:Different perspectives, different specialties.
Speaker A:Portrait photographers, landscape shooters, sports photographers, commercial photographers, fine art artists.
Speaker A:People talking about gear, people talking about business, People talking about the mental health side of this work.
Speaker A:The strength of a network is in its diversity.
Speaker A:If every show sounds like mine, we're not serving the community.
Speaker A:We're just creating an echo chamber.
Speaker A:But here's the key.
Speaker A:Hosts are constantly inviting guests, instructors, emerging voices, industry pros.
Speaker A:Every episode introduces people worth hearing from, and that becomes the talent pool for everything else.
Speaker A:Step two, Audience and community growth.
Speaker A:Listeners start gathering.
Speaker A:Not just passively consuming, but actually connecting through discord channels or newsletters or niche communities for portrait photographers, landscape shooters, gear nerds, business builders.
Speaker A:You're not just listening to a show.
Speaker A:You're part of something.
Speaker A:And that segmented, warmed up audience is now primed for the next step, which is step three, Virtual trade show and conference.
Speaker A:Now, this isn't the same as a virtual summit.
Speaker A:This is a multi day online event.
Speaker A:Live keynotes, panel discussions, sponsor booths, product demos, portfolio reviews.
Speaker A:But here's the difference.
Speaker A:The speakers are podcast hosts and their best guests.
Speaker A:People the audience already knows and trusts.
Speaker A:And every session is recorded in broadcast quality, not someone just talking to their webcam with poor lights.
Speaker A:Real production value.
Speaker A:I've been building shows for years now.
Speaker A:I know what good production looks like.
Speaker A:I know how to set up a studio and light a subject and capture clean audio and edit into something people actually want to watch.
Speaker A:Because that matters here.
Speaker A:If we're going to compete with Netflix and YouTube for people's attention, we can't show up with amateur hour production that creates a library of long form videos and slides and transcripts and Q and A sessions, all of it usable and searchable and valuable.
Speaker A:That leads me to step four.
Speaker A:The premium content library.
Speaker A:Now, all of these recorded sessions get clipped and annotated and stored.
Speaker A:You can buy individual sessions.
Speaker A:You can subscribe to bundles.
Speaker A:You can get a tiered membership that gives you access to everything.
Speaker A:And the revenue from that, it goes back into better production, better speakers, better content, better.
Speaker A:It attracts new educators who want a cut of the pie instead of just doing it for exposure.
Speaker A:Step five, education and talent.
Speaker A:Now, up and coming creatives submit workshop proposals.
Speaker A:They pitch guest spots, offer mini courses.
Speaker A:They get mentorship, they get revenue share.
Speaker A:They get help polishing their content until it's actually good.
Speaker A:And then those fresh voices graduate into the podcast guest spots.
Speaker A:Or they launch their own shows.
Speaker A:They bring new energy, new perspective, new ideas.
Speaker A:That's step six is back into the podcast loop.
Speaker A:New instructors appear on existing podcasts.
Speaker A:They share insights from their courses.
Speaker A:They talk about what they learned at the conference.
Speaker A:They bring their audience with them, and then that restarts the cycle.
Speaker A:More engaging episodes, larger audiences, bigger events, better content, more revenue, more opportunity.
Speaker A:It's this circular economy.
Speaker A:Everything feeds everything else.
Speaker A:Now, let's talk about money, because none of this works if we can't figure out the business side.
Speaker A:Here's the reality.
Speaker A:The traditional model of podcast sponsorship is really broken.
Speaker A:For small shows, sponsors want guaranteed numbers, and that's okay.
Speaker A:They want to see that you're getting a thousand or ten thousand or fifty thousand downloads per episodes, but before they'll even talk to you.
Speaker A:And if you're a photography podcast, well, you're probably not hitting those numbers.
Speaker A:The audience is just too niche.
Speaker A:The market's too small.
Speaker A:So most photography podcasters either don't have sponsors at all, or they're doing affiliate deals that pay pennies on the dollar.
Speaker A:Meanwhile, those same sponsors are dumping money into Instagram ads that get scrolled past in, like, half a second.
Speaker A:They're buying booth space at conferences where half the attendees walk right by without even stopping.
Speaker A:They're spending thousands and thousands on placements that deliver no real engagement.
Speaker A:And here's what they're missing.
Speaker A:Smaller audiences are often better audiences.
Speaker A:A listener who's been following a podcast for months, who trusts the host, who values their opinion.
Speaker A:That person is way more likely to actually buy something than someone who saw an ad on Instagram for three seconds.
Speaker A:But sponsors don't know how to evaluate that.
Speaker A:They don't understand the model.
Speaker A:They're used to buying eyeballs, not building relationships.
Speaker A:So here's what changes in a network model.
Speaker A:Instead of sponsoring One show with 5,000 listeners, they sponsor a network with 50,000 listeners.
Speaker A:Across 10 shows, their dollars get spread across multiple voices, multiple audiences, multiple touch points.
Speaker A:They're not betting on one host, they're betting on a system.
Speaker A:And for smaller shows, that changes everything.
Speaker A:A show that could never attract a sponsor on its own becomes part of a package that makes financial sense for brands.
Speaker A:But here's the risk for sponsors.
Speaker A:They have to trust shows and hosts that aren't big names yet.
Speaker A:They have to believe that emerging voices can deliver value.
Speaker A:They have to be willing to invest in the network, not just the stars.
Speaker A:And that's a harder sell.
Speaker A:But it's really the only way that this works long term.
Speaker A:Because if we evaluate and elevate the people who are already famous, we'll see that we're just recreating the same gatekeeping system we're trying to replace.
Speaker A:So why does this work when virtual summits don't?
Speaker A:Because it's not built around a single event.
Speaker A:It's built around an ongoing conversation.
Speaker A:The podcast creates the relationship, the community deepens it.
Speaker A:The conference delivers concentrated value.
Speaker A:The content library extends the learning.
Speaker A:The incubator brings in new voices, and the whole thing keeps spinning.
Speaker A:You're not buying access to a weekend of content that you'll never finish watching.
Speaker A:You're joining a system that gets back better the longer you're part of it.
Speaker A:And for creators, this changes everything.
Speaker A:Right now, if you want to teach photography, you have a few options.
Speaker A:You can pitch yourself to a conference and hope they accept you.
Speaker A:You can run your own workshop and hope people show up.
Speaker A:You can create an online course and hope someone buys it.
Speaker A:All of these are one off bets.
Speaker A:You're starting from zero every single time.
Speaker A:But in this model, you start with a podcast appearance.
Speaker A:You build credibility with an audience that's already listening.
Speaker A:You test your ideas in real time.
Speaker A:You get feedback.
Speaker A:You refine your message.
Speaker A:Then you teach at the virtual conference.
Speaker A:Now you have video content that people can buy.
Speaker A:You have proof that you're teaching works.
Speaker A:You have testimonials.
Speaker A:Then you launch a course through the incubator.
Speaker A:But you're not launching to strangers.
Speaker A:You're launching to people who already know you, trust you, and have been asking for exactly what you're offering.
Speaker A:That's not just easier, it's sustainable.
Speaker A:And for the network, every new voice makes the whole thing more valuable.
Speaker A:More perspectives, more niches, more reasons for people to stay engaged.
Speaker A:So why me?
Speaker A:Why now?
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:I've been in the industry for a little over a decade.
Speaker A:I've built a photography business or two from the ground up.
Speaker A:I've worked with clients ranging from corporate executives to artists to people just trying to see themselves clearly.
Speaker A:I've also built Generator, a podcast that's been running for a few years now.
Speaker A:I know what it takes to produce a show week after week.
Speaker A:I know how to find guests and conduct interviews and edit episodes and build an audience from scratch.
Speaker A:I understand the photography industry.
Speaker A:Not just the technical side, but the business side, the mental health side, the community side.
Speaker A:I've seen what works and what doesn't.
Speaker A:I've made plenty of mistakes, and I've learned from most of them.
Speaker A:Most of them.
Speaker A:And I know production.
Speaker A:I know how to set up a studio.
Speaker A:I know how to light subjects and capture good audio.
Speaker A:I know how to take this raw footage into something people actually want to watch.
Speaker A:And that combination matters here, because building a network isn't just about having a good idea.
Speaker A:It's about execution.
Speaker A:It's about understanding what photographers actually need, not what we think they need.
Speaker A:It's about building systems that work, not just concepts that sound good on paper.
Speaker A:I'm not saying that I have all the answers.
Speaker A:God knows I don't.
Speaker A:I'm just saying I've been doing this long enough to know the right questions to ask, and I'm willing to do all the work now.
Speaker A:Here's why I think this matters.
Speaker A:Right now, the photography industry is at a crossroads.
Speaker A:AI is changing what's possible.
Speaker A:It's changing what clients expect.
Speaker A:It's changing what it means to be a photographer in the first place.
Speaker A:Some people are terrified.
Speaker A:Some people are excited.
Speaker A:Most people are kind of somewhere in between, just trying to figure out what this means for their business overall and for the craft of photography.
Speaker A:And for those of us that are photographers, well, we need each other more than ever.
Speaker A:Not just for business tips or lighting tips.
Speaker A:We need to talk about what it means to stay creative when everything is commoditized.
Speaker A:What it means to really stay sane when the algorithm punishes you for just taking a week off.
Speaker A:What it means to stay human in an industry that increasingly feels like it's run by robots.
Speaker A:And that's not a conference topic.
Speaker A:That's an ongoing conversation.
Speaker A:And that's what this entire ecosystem creates.
Speaker A:It's a place where those conversations can happen, where people can find their community, where new voices can emerge without having to fight their way through traditional gatekeepers.
Speaker A:The future of this industry isn't about who has the best gear or even the biggest following.
Speaker A:It's about who stays connected to the work and to each other.
Speaker A:It's about who builds a system that lets them keep going when things get hard.
Speaker A:It's about who finds their people and holds on.
Speaker A:Now, like I said, I've been doing this for a while, and I've seen people come and go.
Speaker A:I've seen incredible talent leave the industry because they couldn't figure out the business side.
Speaker A:And I've seen brilliant business minds burn out because they lost touch with why they started in the first place.
Speaker A:The ones who stay, well, they have people, they have conversations.
Speaker A:They have a network, formal or informal, that keeps them grounded and keeps them moving forward.
Speaker A:And that's what this is about.
Speaker A:It's not growth hacks.
Speaker A:It's not viral moments.
Speaker A:It's not getting famous.
Speaker A:It's just building something that helps people stay in the work that they love.
Speaker A:So here's what I'm doing.
Speaker A:I am building this.
Speaker A:A photography podcast ecosystem.
Speaker A:I don't have all the answers.
Speaker A:I'm figuring this out as I go on my own.
Speaker A:But I know this.
Speaker A:We're better together than we are scattered across the industry.
Speaker A:If you're a podcaster and this resonates, reach out.
Speaker A:Let's talk about what this could look like, what you need, what you're willing to contribute, what scares you about it, and what excites you.
Speaker A:I want to be clear.
Speaker A:I'm looking for different voices.
Speaker A:If your show sounds exactly like mine, this probably is not the right fit.
Speaker A:But if you're covering a different angle, a different specialty, a different perspective on this industry, well, let's talk.
Speaker A:If you're an educator and you're tired of pitching at conferences or running free webinars for exposure, talk to me.
Speaker A:There's a better way to build your audience and your business.
Speaker A:If you're a listener and you want to see this happen, tell me what you need.
Speaker A:What topics are not being covered, what questions are not being answered.
Speaker A:What would make this valuable to you?
Speaker A:I'm just trying to start this, and then I'm trying to build it with the people who care enough to make it great.
Speaker A:This isn't about just me.
Speaker A:It's about what we can create when we stop competing and start collaborating.
Speaker A:Let's build something new, something that matters.
Speaker A:Are you with me?
Speaker A:Well, let me know in the comments, or drop me a line.
Speaker A:I read everything, and as this whole thing grows, I'll keep you updated.
Speaker A:But for now, I'm just grateful that you stayed until the end.
Speaker A:Thanks, as always, and I'll catch you next week.
