Photographer Daniel Arnold joined me at the 2025 Chico Review. We discussed how photography became a compulsion and a means of connection, transforming his life and leading him to leave his writing job at Nickelodeon. Additionally, we talk about Daniel’s approach to assignment work and how his photo addiction has evolved over the years.

https://www.secondname.agency/photographers/daniel-arnold/portfolio_/ |||
https://www.instagram.com/arnold_daniel

This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club Begin Building your dream photo-book library today at: https://charcoalbookclub.com |||
https://www.chicoreview.com

Daniel Arnold's work is deeply human, with a sense of intrigue and humor that breathes fresh air into an age of extreme curation and editing. With a dynamic and versatile voice, he has covered everything from home births to high fashion, from the Met Gala to the 2016 campaign trail and multiple inaugurations. Arnold began his career documenting the streets of New York City with an innate curiosity and a wry smile that quickly gained him a cult following and frequent collaborations with the New York Times and Vogue. In 2022, he was profiled by the New Yorker in conjunction with the release of "Pickpocket," a collaborative monograph compiled by the Safdie Brothers' Elara Press. His odd, enduring photos can also be found in art galleries around the world. Arnold is based in New York.

Here are some of the recordings I made in 2025 for my second year at the Chico Review with the wonderful attendees who come to Chico to share their work and their stories with incredible reviewers. This year I recorded with over 40 attendees! I’ve also linked to the guest’s Instagram and Websites so you can see the work. And again this year, 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

02:00 - Joe Reynolds https://joereynoldsphotographs.com

09:55 - Darby Routtenberg

https://www.instagram.com/jointheclubsandwich/ |||| https://www.darbyrouttenberg.com

16:20 - William Stock https://www.instagram.com/stock_/

27:30 - Shin Ono

https://www.shinono.com |||| https://www.instagram.com/shin_ono/

34:40 - Sean Stout

https://www.seanfstout.com |||| https://www.instagram.com/seanfstout/

This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club Begin Building your dream photobook library today at https://charcoalbookclub.com

Brad Zellar | Till the Wheels Fall Off

Author, editor, and photo collaborator Brad Zellar joined me at the 2025 Chico Review to talk about his life as a writer, including his work with Alec Soth and Little Brown Mushroom, and his novel, Till the Wheels Fall Off (Coffee House Press). We discussed Brad’s love of photography and how Chico and Montana have become a second home for him. Brad also shared how his early struggles with addiction and an unintentional photography grant helped him to refocus on his writing and clarify his relationship to photography. (Cover photo: Eric Ruby)

https://www.instagram.com/bradzellar/ ||| https://coffeehousepress.org/products/till-the-wheels-fall-off

This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club Begin Building your dream photobook library today at https://charcoalbookclub.com ||| https://www.chicoreview.com

Brad Zellar has worked as a writer and editor for daily and weekly newspapers, as well as for regional and national magazines. A former senior editor at City Pages, The Rake, and Utne Reader, Zellar is also the author of Suburban World: The Norling Photos, Conductors of the Moving World, House of Coates, and Driftless. He has frequently collaborated with the photographer Alec Soth, and together they produced seven editions of The LBM Dispatch, chronicling American community life in the twenty-first century. Zellar’s work has been featured in the New York Times Magazine, The Believer, Paris Review, Vice, Guernica, Aperture, and Russian Esquire. He spent fifteen years working in bookstores and was a co-owner of Rag & Bone Books in Minneapolis. He currently lives in Saint Paul.