The ACL Podcast 004: Noah Kalina

Noah Kalina takes beautiful photos of beds, rivers, old factories, Zuckerbergs, motel rooms, this tree, chickens, bagels and many other interesting things. His wonderful eye and talent shine through in whatever big or small project he is doing. I love his photography, but it’s his newsletter that I find the most fun. Every edition delights me with his quirky adventures and wit.

If someone asked me to describe Noah Kalina’s newsletter the words might not come to me very easily. It’s sort of about photography, his life upstate, with plenty of random other things mixed in. He has an unconventional approach and an ability to make the mundane (like upstate deli coffee or DIY quarter car washes) interesting. In a sea of newsletters it stands out for its lightheartedness and ability to amuse its readers. If it were a physical thing it would be one of those beautiful little surprise gifts wrapped in ribbon that you don’t know what’s inside until you open it.

Noah also has a podcast with Adam Lisagor called All Consuming where they order all of the bland DTC things that are pushed on Instagram and review them. It’s a fun listen and the whole production is pretty down to the website design.

Noah is probably best known for his project Everyday where he took a photo of himself for exactly 20 years. At one point he made it into a video and it went viral. He was doing that before selfies were a thing and the fact that he could keep it going over two decades is incredible. Especially considering I can’t keep a journal for longer that two weeks. Noah has a habit of doing habitual things and I like that about him. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

The ACL Podcast is more of an add-on to the newsletter than a full fledged podcast. You can listen in Spotify or on Apple Podcasts directly if you prefer that to Substack. If you enjoy this edition, please consider subscribing and sending to a friend who you think would like this. I appreciate your support.

Thanks to Al James for lending me his music. The song is: Hard Working Dogs by Dolorean.