Back when HBM host Jeff Emtman was a photographer, he used to solve his problems with walks in the woods. There, he’d see the ways that branches frame the sky. As an artistic concept, negative space gets hogged a lot by the visual arts. In this episode, Jeff attempts to wrestle the concept into the sonic world; address his current problems by listening to the spaces between words and by listening to the ambiences of a semi-empty, possibly haunted hotel.

Below are some excerpts from Jeff’s ~2011 photo series called Portraits without People and the original version of HBM021: Potential Energy…the version with words.

Producer: Jeff Emtman
Editor: Jeff Emtman
Music: The Black Spot

👇 Excerpts from Jeff Emtman’s 2011 Series, Portraits Without People 👇

Please note: This is an early episode of Here Be Monsters that aired in 2013. This episode no longer appears on the official HBM feed. However, you can still download it here.

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In 2006, Pete Brook moved from England to California to study the museum at San Quentin State Prison. Through his research, he learned of America's first-in-the-world rates of incarceration inside of prisons that are largely hidden from view.

In 2008, Pete began Prison Photography, a blog that dissects images of prisons and prisoners.

This week’s show is about Pete Brook’s 2011 journey across America to interview photographers, criminologists, and, most of all, the prisoners of New York’s Sing Sing Correctional Facility.

Look at photos from the Sing Sing Workshop by Tim Matsui.

Here Be Monsters is now on Stitcher!

Music: Phantom Fauna

Here Be Monsters

HBM112: Negative Space

HBM019: The Other One Percent