THE IDLE HANDS SOCIETY

Merry Christmas, Idle Handers! I hope you’re all having a good one. We hope you enjoy this episode of the Idle Hands Society Podcast. I’d love anybody reading this to take a moment to jump over to Instagram and leave us a comment on our latest post to let us know you read the show notes. The reason I’m asking is I spend a lot of time pulling all this together, I worry that I’m wasting my time researching and linking if no one is looking at them. Big love, Dan & Paul.

Welcome to the lost episode of the Idle Hands Society Podcast. This episode was recorded on the 14th June 2022. Dan & Paul talk to Welsh designer, Tom Collins. We discuss his creative journey, from childhood his parents encouraged him to be artistic, from music to photography to design and recently back to photography and how they all link together. We talk about the muscle memory of art and good and bad habits. How being creative helps our mental health.

Today’s episode is the first one we’ve ever filmed. We’ve released the video on YouTube. We don’t often ask for things from you, but we’d appreciate as many subscriptions to our YouTube channel as we can manage. It’ll let us know if this colossal effort is worth it in the future. We have a slightly slower, more awkward start because this is the first for us. Please bear with us; we relax into it after a while. In our first ‘in-person-pod’, we discuss learning as a mature student. Dan has accepted a place for a BA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography. We talk about Dan’s motives and feelings about the move and whether going to university as a mature student is worth the time and money. And, of course, we wander off-topic more times than we realise.

Welcome to the Idle Hands Society Podcast - After a break, Dan and Paul are back. We catch up and share some of our plans for The Idle Hands Society. Then we completely lose focus and discuss the ethics of street photography and photography assignments before finding our way back to our topic for the day.

Happy new year and welcome to the Idle Hands Society Podcast - in this episode, Dan and Paul briefly catch up after the chaos of the festive season. We’ve both had Covid on the run-up to Christmas and the last couple of weeks have been a blur. We look back at 2021 and spitballed some things we’re working on this year.

Welcome to The Idle Hands Society Podcast - in this episode, Dan and Paul talk to vocalist, songwriter, producer, Kevin Mark Trail We discuss Kevin's new album 'Heart String', working and touring with Mike Skinner as a member of The Streets, how his writing process starts, being self-critical, dik-diks, creating from the heart, learning by teaching, Kev's approach to collaborations, the magic of language, we nerd out about sci-fi, Paul's horrendous confession, planning The Idle Hands Christmas Party, Disney musicals, the feeling of purpose when creating for your children, how striving for material things will change us.

Welcome to the Idle Hands Society Podcast - in this episode, Dan and Paul talk about Paul’s current project, Not So Far. Strap yourself in for a looser than usual chat. You can see the photographs he’s made for this project on his Instagram @paulbenceuk.

Dan talks to the Visual Artist, Sarah-Jane Field. We talk about SJ’s shift from photography to broader visual arts, starting a creative career in acting, how doing a degree gave SJ structure in her work, recently starting a MA at Central St Martins, collaboration on creative projects, how living through historic events could shape art, sometimes having a playlist for a specific project, trying to make sense of the world through art, photographing actors, and SJ’s tiny thing that brings her joy.

Dan and Paul talk to the photographer, Dan Baker. We talk about the nostalgia of seaside towns in the UK, enlarging from acetate, the problem with doing a degree, how a lady named Deb taught Dan to loosen up, ripping around Cleethorpes on an electric skateboard, trying to avoid the inevitable connections with Martin Parr, Paul’s new project ‘not so far’, what we look for when we start our creative process, a breakdown of one of our favourite Dan Baker images, Paul asks a great question, and Paul and Dan Higginson prepare to shoot a wedding together.

Dan and Paul talk to photographer, philosopher, filmmaker, Sean Tucker. We discuss moving to Yorkshire, coping with adversity, mindfulness, the church, learning to talk in public, Sean's new book 'The Meaning in the Making', where ideas come from and getting inspired, whether Paul is an artist, and burning photographs.

Dan and Paul reminisce about some of the lessons they’ve learned by chatting for a whole day in today's episode. We share the difficulty of sharing these conversations publicly every week, announcing our move to a fortnightly release schedule. Reach out if you want to sell your work through the Idle Hands Shop. You can now support with The Idle Hands Tip Jar. We dive back down the UFO rabbit hole; maybe we live in a simulation? We get back on track give you a sneak peek at some upcoming guests. And you’ll be rewarded with an exceptional treat if you listen to the very end!

This week, Dan and Paul talk to London based photographer, Josh Edgoose. We talk about being shambolic, his first book Brilliant Parade, Josh’s early commitment to colour photography, long coffee-fuelled photo walks in London, Paul’s views on his own personal work, having someone else reviewing your work, photographing strangers without being creepy, Framelines on Youtube, the power of categorising your work, being inspired by gear, Josh’s love of his city, humour in photography, clawhammer banjo, how Dan and Paul’s work has changed since starting the Idle Hands Society Podcast, our two pence on the film versus digital debate, each of our photograph’s that could have been, and Pauls Wandle Trail project.

Welcome to the Idle Hands Society Podcast - a community for creatives. Today, Dan speaks with Idle Hands Society friend Romain. We dive deeply into how we manage clients exceptions through the way you talk about our work and interact with clients, our very considered client journey, the way we discuss budgets, how we maintain a portfolio, and by staying true to yourself as above all else.