Hi, this is Ebody and X.

As you know, this is the eighth year that I've been producing the show.

And this morning, I decided to take a listen to the very first episode that I did, which was a conversation with photographer John Isaac, who at the time was a former United Nations photographer, who had known for quite a few years as a result of my work as an editor of the magazines.

And I've been avoiding listening to those earlier episodes because I've been very self-conscious about the sound quality that they experienced during the first couple of years.

I was experimenting and trying a lot of different things.

And to be quite

frank, the shows don't sound as good or as consistent as they do now, for which I'm really,

really grateful. But nevertheless, I kind of sat down this morning and took a listen to that very

first episode. And I was pleasantly surprised that not only did it sound pretty good, but that the way I envisioned the show eight years ago is really where the show is now.

At the time, I described the show as wanting it to be an alternative to all the magazine, podcast, online content that focused so much on gear.

I wanted a show that focused more on what it means to be a photographer and more about

creativity and the process. And I'm glad to say that the show has really lived up to that

initial dream that I had for the show.

I knew even before I recorded the same, the very first episode, that the show would be a success.

I don't think I really had an idea of what that success would look like or feel like.

I just knew that the concept of it would resonate with a lot of people.

I had no idea that I would have as many listeners as I have now.

I couldn't even have imagined that I would get emails from people from all over the world

telling me what the show means to them, or that I would have an app,

or that I would have so many of the professional

opportunities that I've experienced over the last few years as a direct result of producing

the podcast. And it was really exciting to see how far I've come and the show has come. And

...