66. Back to Square One

One of us sold an old Nikon lens on eBay for $425 to a buyer in Switzerland. Then a stranger on TikTok pointed out it was a rare early version, with a very low serial number. He prices more carefully now, and it paid off: a sealed Donkey Kong 64 he paid $30 for turns out to sell for around $1,000. The gallery we spent two episodes planning has fallen through. The artist already working in the space got the chance to take it over, and sharing it would have meant every decision went through a committee. We stepped back, and we're still on good terms with the artist. What we'll miss is the community that came with that spot. The rest is about getting back to work. One of us hasn't loaded a single roll into the Leica he had overhauled. The other has joined a darkroom and wants to start loading his own Tri-X, so he asks listeners which reusable canisters hold up. With William Eggleston's Guide open on the table, one of us wants to pair his buying trips with time to shoot, maybe a portrait of every stranger he buys from. A Rick Rubin interview with George Saunders, about how the work only exists once you do it, leads to Tolstoy's definition of art as feeling passed from one person to another, and to the idea of finding your own definition instead of the right one. Mentioned in this episode: West Coast Choppers, Donkey Kong 64, Kodak Tri-X, William Eggleston's Guide, Garry Winogrand, Rick Rubin, George Saunders, Tolstoy's What Is Art? -Ai Support the show If you enjoyed this episode, please consider giving us a rating and/or a review. We appreciate and try to read all of them. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you in the next episode. Ask Us a Question: https://studiosessionspod.com/#ask Website: https://studiosessionspod.com