Brent Valentine and Keller Kramer are seniors at UC Davis. In March 2023 Brent came up with an idea to start a podcast series where he interviewed professors about their research projects so future graduate students could learn more about programs, they were interested in applying to. Keller is one of Brent’s closest friends and had experience interviewing people. They discussed the concept and created the Discovering Academia Podcast. UC Davis featured them in their campus magazine, check here for that link. Below is their official description of their podcast has become:
Discovering Academia is an interdisciplinary podcast, with some of the world’s greatest thinkers and researchers. Brent and Keller sit down with these academics to have conversations about their background, research, passions and ways for others to get involved. Episodes last for roughly an hour, and they cover a plethora of topics. We launched in March 2023 and are now releasing weekly episodes. We started at our home institution, UC Davis, and have expanded to the London School of Economics, Utrecht University, UC Berkley, University of Geneva, National University of Singapore, University of Hong Kong, Nankai University*, and Zhejiang A&F University* (*Mainland China)
If you had not guessed by now, Brent is my son. We made an investment to help Brent create the podcast as an actual business, and during that process one condition I asked Brent to agree to was to include some photography related podcasts and I specifically suggested interviewing Becky Senf. I have gotten to know Becky fairly well over the last ten years and she is one of the most incredible photography curators / scholars in the world today (and also a wonderful person). I know I have written about her before in this blog, but I need to say this again. She has an incredible talent to be able to communicate concepts or knowledge about the medium which everyone can understand. I don’t care if you have a casual interest in the medium or you hold a PhD in Photographic Studies if you listen to her talk about the medium, you will understand the topic and you will learn something. It is an amazing talent. Last fall Brent and Keller were able to arrange a time to fly down to Tucson to interview Becky. Brent and Keller released the podcast of Becky’s interview last week and I think it is outstanding. Yes, I admit that I am absolutely biased, but I encourage you to listen to the podcast and form your own opinion. I am confident you will take something away from the experience.
Brent, Keller, and Becky at the Center for Creative Photography
Additional Link:
During this podcast Becky spoke in depth about an Edward Weston portrait of his wife, Charis. I was pretty sure I remembered seeing the image, but I wanted to sure I was thinking of the right image. I found it on-line; and confirmed I was thinking of the correct image. I wanted to share the link here for everyone else. I agree with Becky, it is an Amazing Image!