Making use of "dead time" with Podcasts

I spend two hours, every weekday, in my car while travelling to work. I consider these two hours "dead time" because it's time spent not improving as an individual. I am not stating that I have to spend every minute of my life improving myself, but if I can't then I would at least like to enjoy myself. I could continue to listen to music, but spending 10 hours a week on the road has driven (pardon the pun) me to boredom with my music collection.

I listen to podcasts about photography while I drive to work; this has been so valuable to my growth as a photographer. I think I have at least doubled my knowledge on the subject; this is because the small anecdotes I pick up from other photographers are gems that can often be missed when reading a book or article on photography. It is easy to underestimate the power of the spoken word; especially when it is repeated. There are three types of repetition I am talking about:

1. The speaker often repeats themselves to make what they are saying clear; this is rarely attempted in writing because it would be annoying and perceived as a mistake.
   
2. Specific topics come up on a podcast several times; this means there are many opportunities to increase your understanding on the subject. Some example of topics that occur repeatedly are exposure, shooting raw vs jpg, using histograms, backup of photos, off camera flash, workflow and lens aperture.
3. Listening to the episodes again; this is so much easier to do than reading the same article over and over until it makes sense.

I recommend the following podcasts based on my personal experience:

• This Week in Photography (TWIP) - this is my favourite; it covers news, technique, interviews of inspiring photographers, reviews of gear, Q&A and much more. The hosts of the show make it entertaining and after a few episodes they feel like buddies that you have known for years.

• Photo Focus - this is purely Q&A on photography and is hosted by Scott Bourne and Rick Sammon. Scott helped found TWIP and has now left the show to focus on his own podcast. Rick happens to be the author of the first ever photography book I read.

• Martin Baily Photography Podcast - I recently discovered this podcast when Scott Bourne invited Martin to help answer questions on the Photo Focus podcast; on this episode I learned that it was Martin's voice used to the intro and outro the PF podcast. Martin is a british photographer based in Japan and his podcast covers many subjects with the intent to share his knowledge based on his experience. I find the podcast episodes more focused on a current topic which make it easier to select which ones to listen to (there are over 200 already recorded).

All of these podcasts have show notes that document the specifics of the show; this is especially handy for referring to websites mentioned during the show. Martin references a lot of his own photos by number and there is a feature on his website that allows you to view theses photos based on the number reference.

I am sure there are more podcasts out there and I may post some more as I come across them.