Andrea Modica's answer to the question every photographer asks eventually: what's the point?
Andrea Modica's answer to the question every photographer asks eventually: what's the point?  
Podcast: The MOOD Podcast
Published On: Thu Sep 24 2026
Description: I sat down with Andrea Modica, the ‘Italian Story’ photographer (as well many other books) who has made every photograph since 1980 with an 8x10 view camera and prints all her work herself. Andrea studied with Richard Benson at Yale, teaches photography at Drexel University, and has just published ‘Italian Story’ with L'Artiere, 40 personal years of large format photographs made in and about Italy. We talked about what makes a good photograph and why complexity matters more than beauty, how the 8x10 camera changes both the pictures and the way people behave in front of it, why she hands her editing and sequencing to people like Larry Fink, who curated her book 'As We Wait', and why she believes photography is a profession that is largely about failure.Other things we discussed:Why she left painting and sculpture for the rules of the large format cameraLoading film holders as a grounding ritual inside a process full of unknownsDoing everything by hand, from developing by inspection to platinum printing, and why she never hires assistantsTeaching analog photography to 18 and 20 year olds who want itEditing Italian Story from hundreds of negatives down to about 70 photographsThe personal stories inside the book that the viewer will never knowLarry Fink's foreword to As We Wait: sensual love aligned with darknessWhy the print still matters in a world of screens and AIThe myth of the suffering artist, and why trauma alone isn't complexLiving inside the confusion of unfinished workAndrea has 2 exhibitions showing in New York: Catholic Girl at AMR Art DUMBO, Brooklyn, until 22 October 2026, and Italian Story at the Alice Austen House, Staten Island, until February 2027. Andrea will also be signing books at the L'Artiere table at Paris Photo on Saturday 14 November at 4pm.See Andrea’s current exhibitions: https://aliceausten.org/italian_story/https://www.amrartdumbo.com/Get the book, Italian Story (L'Artiere):https://www.lartiere.com/en/prodotto/preorder-italian-story-andrea-modica/https://www.lartiere.com/en/Find Andrea on her website and Instagram:https://www.andreamodica.com/https://www.instagram.com/andreamodica.photo/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 featureshttps://www.mattjacob.co/insidersThe App That Transformed My Art & Mindhttps://wakingup.sjv.io/c/7738181/3958771/54965Website:https://themoodpodcast.comSocials:IG | X | TikTok | Threads | YouTube | @mattyj_ay