Welcome to the Negative Influence Podcast!

Here to Ruin Your Photography Routine

Congratulations. You’ve stumbled into Negative Influence—a new photography podcast that isn’t here to teach you how to grow your brand, monetize your edits, or finally figure out what “color science” actually means.

This podcast is for the rest of us.
The ones who shoot a roll of film, forget to rewind it, open the back, and call it “experimental.”
The ones who scroll through their Lightroom catalog at 2am wondering if they’ve ever actually taken a good photo, or if they’re just really good at presets and self-deception.

Negative Influence is my excuse to talk about photography the way photographers actually experience it: messy, obsessive, and frequently plagued by dust spots. It’s about film and digital. Creativity and burnout. Gear lust and gear regret. And why we keep doing this thing that constantly disappoints us and yet somehow still feels like magic.

Each week (or close to it), I’ll be dropping interviews with photographers I admire, fear, or simply enjoy arguing with. We’ll talk about process. We’ll talk about failure. We’ll talk about how to keep shooting when everything in your brain is saying “just sell the camera and become a barista.”

This isn’t a tutorial show. It’s not a marketing funnel. It’s not brought to you by Squarespace. Yet, at least. (I’m listening, Squarespace.)
It’s just Negative Influence. A place to hear real conversations about photography without the glossy sales pitch or forced optimism.

If you shoot film, digital, medium format, iPhone, or just vibes: this is for you.
If you’re a seasoned pro or a total beginner who accidentally loaded Portra backwards, this is also for you.
If you’ve ever described your work as “moody” because you underexposed the whole roll: especially for you.

New episodes are coming in hot. Or at least in lukewarm fits of creative panic.

Subscribe here to get new episodes, behind-the-scenes rants, guest extras, and the kind of thoughts that are too unhinged for the actual podcast feed.

Thanks for listening. Or reading. Or at least not clicking away immediately.

— Justin Allen
Host of Negative Influence
Recovering perfectionist. Full-time grain enthusiast.