I think it’s critical for artists to expand their awareness and views of the world. Inspiration can come from anywhere. I like to scan for information outside the photography world on a daily basis.

Ironically, as a visual artist I find radio is a more actively engaging for my imagination as the images have to be created by me in mind vs. being fed to me on TV. Additionally I find most TV a very poor choice for unbiased news information as it’s now no longer news, but rather infotainment. Therefore, I’ve become a self-admitted NPR junkie. In addition to hearing news from outside the US (e.g. the BBC news broadcasts) there are programs that I find consistently fascinating and informative, so most of my audio recommendations come from NPR. 

I’m a big fan of these three NPR regular programs:  Ideas by Paul Kennedy and Krysta Tippet’s On Being.

Here are a few of the Ideas episodes I found particularly thought-provoking:

Eureka! Mapping The Creative Mind 

The Best Is Yet To Come

Walking Matters, Part 1

Walking Matters, Part 2

Imagination, Part 1 (Oct.2012 encore) 

High Culture

 

And some good ones from On Being

The Anatomy of Gratitude