The MOOD Podcast

This week I'm joined by Damien Daufresne, a French photographer and painter living in Berlin, whose photobooks Undertow (Blow Up Press, 2022) and The Overmorrow (Lamaindonne, 2025) bring black and white film photography together with charcoal drawing. We talk about why a photograph can only ever be a question, why he shoots film so he can forget why he took a picture, and how almost 20 years of images became Undertow. Damien opens up about years of rejection, losing Robert Delpire before their book was ever made, his fear of repeating himself, and why every photographer should fight for the work and not for themselves.
If you're making photographs nobody has asked for, this conversation might show you why patience, doubt and repetition matter more than being seen.
Other things we discussed: 
An internship in the Magnum archives at 15
10 years of meetings with the publisher Robert Delpire 
The Malcolm Lowry line at the heart of Undertow 
The child who asked him to stay home 
Showing a box of photocopies to Blow Up Press in Arles 
Why charcoal drawings sit inside Undertow 
The single colour photograph that closes Undertow 
The Overmorrow and telling the same bedtime story every night 
Why the book that waited became the better book 
Why every photograph is a self-portrait 
Paris Photo with Galerie Camera Obscura
Damien on his website and Instagram: 
https://www.damiendaufresne.com/
https://www.instagram.com/damiendaufresne/
Undertow from Blow Up Press: 
https://blowuppress.eu/products/undertow-special-edition
The Overmorrow from Lamaindonne: 
https://www.lamaindonne.fr/auteurs/damien-daufresne/
Message me, leave a comment and join in the conversation!
Support the show
_________________________________
Thank you for listening and for being a part of this incredible community. You can listen and watch full extended and ad-free episodes in my community - The MOOD Insiders - where I also share insights, photography tips and behind-the-scenes content on my channel as well as meet with the community on book club weekly events, special guest features, bonus content, open forum access, free resources and so much more.

Join The Community - extended episodes & bonus features
https://www.mattjacob.co/insiders
The App That Transformed My Art & Mind
https://wakingup.sjv.io/c/7738181/3958771/54965
Website:
https://themoodpodcast.com
Socials:
IG | X | TikTok | Threads | YouTube | @mattyj_ay

In this solo episode I bring together 3 recent conversations: with photographer Matthew Genitempo, author of Jasper, psychologist Zahra Ciardi and photographer Emiliano Zúñiga Hernández, whose photobook Paraíso grew out of the hardest chapter of his life. Without knowing it, all 3 described the same obstacle: the version of you that holds the camera too tightly and needs every photograph to prove you're a real photographer. I talk about why that grip makes your photography look like everyone else's, why new gear, presets and trips don't fix it, and what actually loosens it: going back to one place close to home, being less precious with your pictures, sharing your work slowly, changing what fuels it and coming back to yourself every day.
If you know what you should be doing with your photography but still aren’t doing it, these 5 shifts will change where your photographs come from.
Other things we discussed:
The critique where Todd Papageorge told Matthew Genitempo to stay in 1 place
Carrying hundreds of prints to reviews and learning they weren't saying what I thought
Why the photos you don't remember taking are the threads worth following
The advice I've given for years that Zahra says could be wrong
Do you have to suffer to make great photography?
Emiliano's 3 daily questions and 3 gratitudes
What would you photograph this week if you weren't trying to prove anything?
Find Matthew here:
https://www.matthewgenitempo.com/
https://www.instagram.com/genitempo/
Find Zahra here:
https://zahraciardi.com/
https://www.instagram.com/zahra_ciardi/
https://ascendantbali.com/
Find Emiliano here:
https://www.instagram.com/emilianozunigah/
Message me, leave a comment and join in the conversation!
Support the show
_________________________________
Thank you for listening and for being a part of this incredible community. You can listen and watch full extended and ad-free episodes in my community - The MOOD Insiders - where I also share insights, photography tips and behind-the-scenes content on my channel as well as meet with the community on book club weekly events, special guest features, bonus content, open forum access, free resources and so much more.

Join The Community - extended episodes & bonus features
https://www.mattjacob.co/insiders
The App That Transformed My Art & Mind
https://wakingup.sjv.io/c/7738181/3958771/54965
Website:
https://themoodpodcast.com
Socials:
IG | X | TikTok | Threads | YouTube | @mattyj_ay

In this episode I’m joined by Emiliano Zúñiga Hernández, a Costa Rican photographer whose photobook Paraíso, published by Trespasser in 2023, grew out of one of the hardest chapters of his life. We talk about the healing community he helped to build in the hills of Costa Rica, how it fell apart, and how photography gave him his purpose back when depression had taken it away. Emiliano opens up about feeling like a fraud, the question at the Chico Review that changed how he saw his own work, and why he believes the most meaningful photography comes from knowing yourself rather than from pain.
If your photographs feel like they’re circling something you can’t yet name, this conversation might show you why honest work comes from knowing yourself, not from suffering.
Other things we discussed:
The question that started it all: what would your life look like with no obstacles?
Who am I, what am I doing, where am I: the 3 questions he still asks every day
Giving a ride to a barefoot stranger who became his mentor
Turning down Trespasser, and how it still led to the book
Editing Paraíso in Paradise Valley with Bryan Schutmaat, Matthew Genitempo and Harrison Miller
Shooting intuitively, before you know what the story is
A daily practice of 3 questions and 3 gratitudes
His new project photographing strangers while they sleep
Emiliano’s links:
https://www.instagram.com/emilianozunigah/
https://trespasser.co/shop/paraiso
Message me, leave a comment and join in the conversation!
Support the show
_________________________________
Thank you for listening and for being a part of this incredible community. You can listen and watch full extended and ad-free episodes in my community - The MOOD Insiders - where I also share insights, photography tips and behind-the-scenes content on my channel as well as meet with the community on book club weekly events, special guest features, bonus content, open forum access, free resources and so much more.

Join The Community - extended episodes & bonus features
https://www.mattjacob.co/insiders
The App That Transformed My Art & Mind
https://wakingup.sjv.io/c/7738181/3958771/54965
Website:
https://themoodpodcast.com
Socials:
IG | X | TikTok | Threads | YouTube | @mattyj_ay

I'm joined again by Zahra Ciardi, a registered psychologist and the founder of Ascendant Bali, for a second conversation about the psychology behind photography and creativity. We talk about what happens when a photographer's identity becomes fused with their work, and why that turns making, editing, sharing and feedback into a constant threat. We also talk about how to hold a sense of self that is clear but flexible. Zahra explains the difference between creating from the wound and creating from wholeness, why healing can mean grieving the emotional charge your photographs once carried, and how to train attention, presence and boredom tolerance when the world runs on 6-second focus.
If criticism of your photography feels like a verdict on who you are, this conversation may helps you how to separate yourself from your work so you can create it, finish it and share it again.
Other things we discussed:
The chameleon effect: borrowing pieces of everyone around you when your sense of self is empty
Non-attachment, and being the blue sky behind the rainbows and the rain
What gives a photograph its charge
The Body Keeps the Score, and small ways to practise presence
Shame, the defectiveness schema and the 3 ways we cope: surrender, avoidance and overcompensation
MDR, schema therapy, compassion focused therapy and internal family systems
The question Zahra would ask to open the door to all of this inner work
Listen to the first conversation here:
https://youtu.be/keUo-Sq5sh8
Zahra's Links:
https://www.zahraciardi.com/
https://www.instagram.com/zahra_ciardi/
https://www.ascendantbali.com/
Message me, leave a comment and join in the conversation!
Support the show
_________________________________
Thank you for listening and for being a part of this incredible community. You can listen and watch full extended and ad-free episodes in my community - The MOOD Insiders - where I also share insights, photography tips and behind-the-scenes content on my channel as well as meet with the community on book club weekly events, special guest features, bonus content, open forum access, free resources and so much more.

Join The Community - extended episodes & bonus features
https://www.mattjacob.co/insiders
The App That Transformed My Art & Mind
https://wakingup.sjv.io/c/7738181/3958771/54965
Website:
https://themoodpodcast.com
Socials:
IG | X | TikTok | Threads | YouTube | @mattyj_ay

This is a Q&A with questions sent in by photographers from my community. I answer whether your audience needs to understand your photography, if a project shot in a few days can have real depth, how to deal with perfectionism, the small steps behind my own work that nobody saw, and what to do when your work feels stagnant. 

If your photography feels stuck or you can’t say what it’s about, some of these answers might help.
Message me, leave a comment and join in the conversation!
Support the show
_________________________________
Thank you for listening and for being a part of this incredible community. You can listen and watch full extended and ad-free episodes in my community - The MOOD Insiders - where I also share insights, photography tips and behind-the-scenes content on my channel as well as meet with the community on book club weekly events, special guest features, bonus content, open forum access, free resources and so much more.

Join The Community - extended episodes & bonus features
https://www.mattjacob.co/insiders
The App That Transformed My Art & Mind
https://wakingup.sjv.io/c/7738181/3958771/54965
Website:
https://themoodpodcast.com
Socials:
IG | X | TikTok | Threads | YouTube | @mattyj_ay