A Small Voice: Conversations With Photographers

Mike Brodie’s first monograph, A Period of Juvenile Prosperity was published by Twin Palms more than a decade ago in 2013, depicting his fellow rail-riders and drifters in a rebellious and wildfire pursuit of adventure and freedom. “Brodie leapt into the life of picture-making as if he was the first to do it,” Danny Lyon wrote about the book in Aperture. Next came Tones of Dirt and Bone, a collection of earlier SX-70 pictures Brodie made when photography first led him to hopping freights, when he was known as “The Polaroid Kidd.” And then Brodie seemed to disappear from the art world as suddenly and mysteriously as he’d first appeared. Maybe his vanishing was another myth. Maybe it was just a necessary retreat. “I was divorcing myself from all that,” he says. “I was growing up. I was pursuing this other life.”In Nashville he became a diesel mechanic. Fell in love. Moved across the country again. Got married. Bought land on the long dusty Winnemucca road Johnny Cash sang about. Started his own business. Built a house. Put down roots. And when that life exploded, the open road called again. Throughout almost all of it, his cameras were with him, and at last those pictures are coming to light.If Michael Brodie’s first monograph was a cinematic dream, his latest, Failing, again published by Twin Palms in 2024, is the awakening and the reckoning, a raw, wounded, and searingly honest photographic diary of a decade marked by love and heartbreak, loss and grief — biblical in its scope, and in its search for truth and meaning. Here is the flip side of the American dream, seen from within; here is bearing close witness to the brutal chaos of addiction and death; here are front-seat encounters with hitchhikers and kindred wanderers on society’s edges, sustained by the ragtag community of the road. Failing often exists in darkness but is tuned to grace. Brodie’s eye stays forever open to the strange and fleeting beauty that exists in forgotten places — the open country and the lost horizons that sweep past dust-spattered windows in a spectral blur.Mike worked on and features in a recently released hour long documentary eponymously entitled Slack, the nickname of his one time girlfriend, Mia Justice Smith, who sadly died of a drug overdose, and to whom the film is dedicated. The film, which is directed by Mike’s friend and collaborator Cyrill Lachauer., revisits the freighthopping years and delves into Mike's creative collaboration with Mia.In episode 266, Mike discusses, among other things:The documentary he helped to make about his freighthopping years - SlackHow train hopping and photography went hand in handRomanticism vs. miseryTrain hopping as a performanceLosing his girlfriend, Mia Justice Smith, to a drug overdoseHis attempt at a ‘normal’ life and how that impacts his creativityThe success of A Period of Juvenile Prosperity and its downsideHow the title came aboutThe darkness of the pictures in latest book, FailingTussling with the question of exploitation and ethical responsibilityAmbitions to make a feature film one dayThe ongoing push/pull of art v. home lifeThe desire to photograph machines and ways of life and ways of working that are passing awayNext steps in the USA - projects vs. photographing lifeWebsite | Instagram  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

Merlin Daleman (b.1977) is a British photographer who has spent most of his adult life living in the Netherlands. He attended South Devon College, Torquay, the University of Central England (now Birmingham City University) in the UK, and graduated from The Royal College of Art in The Hague, the Netherlands. He works as a freelance documentary photographer for leading Dutch publications, including NRC Handelsblad, Dagblad Trouw, Financieel Dagblad, and De Groene Amsterdammer. He is the recipient of awards including the Silver Camera awards for Documentary Photography in the Netherlands in 2008 and 2010 and had received grants from the EU Journalism Foundation Grant and the Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship. His debut photobook, Mutiny, published by GOST Books in August 2025, builds on his long-term projects, such as the new black lung epidemic in Kentucky, USA and exploring the lives of families separated by labour migration in Ukraine.In episode 265 Merlin discusses, among other things:How the Mutiny project came aboutHow he funded it and set about shooting itSome of the stories behind images in the bookBlack lung story in AppalachiaHow a major motorycle accident helped his photographyWebsite | Instagram  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

Eli Reed was born in the US in 1946 and studied pictorial illustration at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts, graduating in 1969. In 1982, he was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. At Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, he studied political science, urban affairs, and the prospects for peace in Central America.Eli began photographing as a freelancer in 1970. His work from El Salvador, Guatemala and other Central American countries attracted the attention of Magnum, he was the first African American photographer, and indeed the first person of colour, to join the agency, becoming a full member in 1988.In the same year, Eli photographed the effects of poverty on America’s children for a film documentary called Poorest in the Land of Plenty, narrated by Maya Angelou. He went on to work as a stills photographer for major motion pictures. His video documentary Getting Out was shown at the New York Film Festival in 1993 and honored by the 1996 Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame International Film and Video Competition in the documentary category.Eli’s special reports include a long-term study which became his first, highly acclaimed book, Beirut, City of Regrets; the ousting of Baby Doc Duvalier in Haiti (1986); US military action in Panama (1989); the Walled City in Hong Kong; and, perhaps most notably, his documentation of African American experience over more than 20 years. Spanning the 1970s through the end of the 1990s, his book Black in America includes images from the Crown Heights riots and the Million Man March. In 2015, he published his first career retrospective, A Long Walk Home.Eli has lectured and taught at the International Center of Photography, Columbia University, New York University, University of Texas and Harvard University and is a member of Kamoinge, the collective of black photographers founded in 1963 and the longest continuously running non-profit group in the history of photography. On episode 264, Eli discusses, among other things:His ongoing mentoring of former studentsHow working in a hospital was good prep for the kind of work he doesGrowing up in the Delaney Homes housing project in Perth Amboy, NJHow a visiting art critic gave him early encouragement at schoolLosing his mum at 12 years oldThe importance of certain teachers and mentors, especially Donal GreenhouseHow his project Black In America came aboutWorking for the San Francisco ExaminerJoining Eugene Smith’s workshop after a long waitHow Philip Jones Griffiths invited him to join MagnumWhether he is still an optimist?Photographing TrumpKamoingeA teaser about the book he is writingBeing the first person of colour to join Magnum PhotosReferenced:Jaqueline KennedyRoy De CaravaW Gene SmithBruce DavidsonEugene RichardsSusan MeiselasSon of SamGordon ParksGilles Peress  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

Magnum legend Chris Steele-Perkins was born in Burma in 1947 to a Burmese mother and an English father, who brought him back to England when he was 2 years old. He published his first photobook The Teds in 1979 and shortly after that joined Magnum photos after an invitation to apply from none other than Josef Koudelka. He subsequently travelled all over the world, covering many of the major global conflicts of the 80’s and 90’s in between working extensively in his home country, and producing a number of books of that work, along with those from Afghanistan and later from his wife’s native country of Japan. He has won, to name but a few awards, The Oscar Barnack Prize, The Robert Capa Gold Medal and a number of World Press awards, and all that despite the fact that he doesn’t really consider himself to be a photojournalist.  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

Tony Dočekal (Amsterdam, 1992) is a photographer and visual artist. Her work explores identity, belonging, and the friction between autonomy and societal expectations. Working intuitively, she combines personal encounters with quiet observations. Her images balance intimacy and distance, often showing how personal stories and landscapes reflect larger systems.Tony’s first book, The Color of Money and Trees, was published by VOID in 2024 and launched at Paris Photo. The work was also exhibited at Biennale Images Vevey alongside her debut short film, Pearls on Credit. She holds a BA in Fine Arts from ArtEZ University of the Arts. In episode 263 Tony discusses, among other things:Her Czech dad and Dutch mum’s historyDealing with the ‘weight’ of the photographic history of the American road trip genreThe advantage of being an outsiderGetting a dream gig early on - a photobook book about alternative schoolsGoing to Lesbos to cover the refugee crisisWorking with the unhoused for Dutch non-profit the Sheltersuit FoundationThe story behind her picture of a man in a pink frilly dress…… And the one of 9-year-old Lyric in front of a plate of beansThe short film she madeThe amazing 70’s-built house she has bought with her partnerReferenced:Josef Koudelka Website | Instagram  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

John Rankin Waddell, or just Rankin, as he is more commonly known, is a British photographer, publisher, and film director. Best known for work that is on the cultural cusp and leading future trends, he has produced rule-breaking campaigns for brands such as Rolls Royce, Unilever, L’Oréal, Lego, and Samsonite; created wide-reaching projects for charities including Women’s Aid and Macmillan; and shot music videos for the likes of Miley Cyrus, Rita Ora, and Kelis.As a photographer, Rankin’s portfolio ranges from portraiture to documentary. He has shot The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Kate Moss, Kendall Jenner, Zendaya and Queen Elizabeth II, to name only a few. In 2023, Rankin photographed King Charles III to mark the monarch’s 75th birthday for The Big Issue magazine.As a publisher, Rankin co-founded the seminal magazine Dazed & Confused with Jefferson Hack in 1990, and has since published the likes of AnOther and AnOther Man, alongside over 40 books and the fashion and culture publication Hunger.His photography has been published everywhere from his own publications to Elle, Vogue, Esquire, GQ, Rolling Stone, and Wonderland, and exhibited in galleries globally, including MoMA, New York, and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.Rankin lives in London with his wife Tuuli and their dogs.In episode 262 Rankin discusses, among other things:The magazine and show Faik, a first foray into AIHis love/hate relationship with AI imagery and why he uses it anywayThe way in which AI will also transform the music industryThe importance of critical thinkingThe early days - starting Dazed & ConfusedUsing the magazine as a ‘Trojan Horse’Being confrontationalBeing a ‘dick’ and taking cocaineBeing saved by photography and fatherhoodImposter syndrome and the benefit of losing itMaking a conscious decision not to be an ‘artist’Teaching himself photographyCollaborationRankin Live - photographing 'normal' peopleBeing prolificPersonal ProjectsWebsite | Instagram EPISODE SPONSORS:CHARCOAL WORKSHOPS. THE ‘SUMMER SERIES’ TAKING PLACE IN PORTLAND, MAINE, SEPTEMBER 15-19, 2025. FEATURING: ANTOINE D’AGATA, TODD HIDO AND CHRISTIAN PATERSON. SIGN UP AT THE LINK!  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

Marjolein Martinot is a Dutch photographer, based in France. She was always been drawn to photography from an early age, and has continued using and exploring the medium throughout her life, while raising a family of six children. Her photography touches on the poetic, while striving to remain authentic and true at the same time. She aims to evoke sentiments by using and mixing different photographic approaches and analogue cameras. The prime focus of Marjolein’s work is on everyday life: family, friends, and the places and things that touch her. She currently works on personal projects and commissions. Her debut photobook, Riverland, was very recently published by Stanley Barker. On whose website the blurb states:“During times of darkness and moments of deep turmoil in her personal life, Dutch photographer and mother of six, Marjolein Martinot, found herself lost, searching for a renewed sense of self. Each evening, she sought solace in nature, walking to a nearby river in the South of France with her camera in hand. There, she captured the quiet beauty of the natural world in the golden light of dusk, forming connections with the animals and families she encountered at the river’s edges—jumping, splashing, climbing, and swinging from the trees.What began as a ritual of aimless wandering and photographing soon became a form of visual journaling—a quiet meditation on healing and transformation. The water, ever-flowing and unpredictable, mirrored her own emotional state, while the families she met, however briefly, embodied the warmth and belonging she longed for.Through these intimate, unguarded moments—children mid-leap, ripples catching the last light of day, trees bending towards the water, and horses galloping in the fading glow—Martinot began to piece together a new sense of self. Her photographs, though deeply personal, transcend autobiography, offering a universal reflection on resilience, connection, and the subtle magical beauty of the everyday.” In episode 261, Marjolein discusses, among other things:The beginnings of her book project, Riverland.How her mum ran a circus when she was a kidWhat makes a good portraitSeeking comfort in nature during difficult timesThe project having a fairy tale elementPhotographing her six childrenThe end of her relationshipWhat she took away from the workshops she’s attendedFeedback she’s received about the bookReferenced:Vanessa WinshipGeorge GeorgiouIsrael AriñoJH EngstromSally MannEmmet GowanWebsite | Instagram EPISODE SPONSORS:CHARCOAL WORKSHOPS. THE ‘SUMMER SERIES’ TAKING PLACE IN PORTLAND, MAINE, SEPTEMBER 15-19, 2025. FEATURING: ANTOINE D’AGATA, TODD HIDO AND CHRISTIAN PATERSON. SIGN UP AT THE LINK!PICDROPTHE EASIEST WAY TO SHARE PHOTO AND VIDEO SHOOTS. CREATE HIGHLY PROFESSIONAL PHOTO GALLERIES IN SECONDS AND LET YOUR CLIENTS DOWNLOAD, SELECT AND COMMENT ON THEIR FAVOURITE SHOTS. SIGN UP WITH THE CODE “ASMALLVOICE” FOR A TWO-MONTH FREE TRIAL!  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

Anna Arendt is a photographer and visual artist living and working in Berlin whose images explore memory, silence, loss, and the invisible links between personal history and larger events. Her work often moves between personal, historical, and symbolic worlds, shot in black-and-white to capture places where the past and present meet.Anna was born in the German Democratic Republic and was 24 when The Wall fell, at which time her daughter was two. Her parents were born 1940 in Germany, children of war. Both of her grandfathers had been soldiers, who had been in Poland between 1940 and 1942. One came back 2 years after the war was over, the other one never returned.As a child Anna found a secret shelf that contained photo albums of her family. "It is where I discovered the power of a picture. A picture taken in summer 1940. A young family, my grandmother, her baby and my grandfather in a German uniform. A picture full of contradictions, carrying ambivalent feelings even today."Anna graduated with a degree in Fine Arts and Set Design and then received a one-year grant from the DAAD to study photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York. For 15 years, she worked as a set and costume designer for opera, drama, and puppet theater, collaborating with directors at theaters across Germany and Switzerland.Anna recently published her first book, Vanishing, with Charcoal Press. Photographed mostly between Germany and Poland over 15 years, the work slides back and forth through time like a blood memory. Walking naked through the dark forest, wolves circling, howling. A daughter becoming a mother becoming a grandmother becoming a child. Haunted villages, and souls in jeopardy. The harsh reality of the past merges seamlessly with moments of rapture that feel plucked from a Grimm fairy tale.Photography has now become the center of Anna’s creative life. She continues to develop long-term projects that reflect her search for meaning in places marked by beauty, pain, and the mysteries of time. Alongside her artistic work, she also works with disabled people in an art workshop, sharing the joy of creative expression.In episode 260, Anna discusses, among other things:The origins of her photographyGrowing up in East GermanyBeginning to understand her family historyThe fall of the Berlin wall in 1989Being ‘connected to pictures’The importance of visiting Poland and its significance for her familyThe cast of characters in the book, including wolves…….And her friend, who sadly diedAllowing the photograph to tell her what it wants to be (and where)How Charcoal Press came to publish the bookHer collaboration with publisher Jesse LenzHaving a day job and a change of identityWhat she’s currently up to in the darkroom EPISODE SPONSORS:CHARCOAL WORKSHOPS. THE ‘SUMMER SERIES’ TAKING PLACE IN PORTLAND, MAINE, SEPTEMBER 15-19, 2025. FEATURING: ANTOINE D’AGATA, TODD HIDO AND CHRISTIAN PATERSON. SIGN UP AT THE LINK!PICDROPTHE EASIEST WAY TO SHARE PHOTO AND VIDEO SHOOTS. CREATE HIGHLY PROFESSIONAL PHOTO GALLERIES IN SECONDS AND LET YOUR CLIENTS DOWNLOAD, SELECT AND COMMENT ON THEIR FAVOURITE SHOTS. SIGN UP WITH THE CODE “ASMALLVOICE” FOR A TWO-MONTH FREE TRIAL!  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

Mohamed Bourouissa is an Algerian-born French artist (b. 1978) who lives and works in Paris. Mohamed's practice moves between photography, video, sculpture, and installation, often blurring the lines between these mediums. His work explores social issues, power dynamics, and the representation of marginalized communities.He often engages with or embeds himself into specific communities for extended periods, spending significant time with individuals and groups to understand their experiences and perspectives before then creating collaborative works that challenge societal structures and explore the complexities of identity. Mohamed's work frequently addresses the tensions between different social contexts, particularly those related to race, class, and immigration, often questioning how different social groups are represented in media and art, challenging stereotypes and seeking to offer alternative narratives. His work has been exhibited in major museums and biennials worldwide, and in 2020 he received the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize for his retrospective exhibition featured in the Arles Festival the previous year.Mohamed currently has a major solo show at Fondazione MAST in Bologna Italy, curated by Francesco Zanot. The exhibition is entitled Communautés and features four notable works produced over a twenty year span between 2005 and this year - Péripherique, Horse Day, Shoplifters and Hands. In episode 259, Mohamed discusses, among other things:The sense of community growing up in the Parisian suburbsHis early experiences as a graffiti artistHis first project, Nous Somme HallesThe 2005 riots that preceded PéripheriqueWhy he decided to stage images… and why he sketches the images out firstThe theme of masculinity and his own experience of growing up without a father presentThe challenges of being a dadKnowing that he wanted to be an artistHow artists must value their own work and learn to say noHis project Horse Day and how it came aboutArt as a playgroundHis new project, HandsHow he arrives at the choice of medium and the factors that inflence that choiceWhy he is, in his own words, an ‘extremely bad photographer’ Referenced:AnoushkashootJamel ShabazzEmma-Charlotte GobryFletcher Street by Martha Camarillo Website | Instagram EPISODE SPONSORS:CHARCOAL WORKSHOPS. THE ‘SUMMER SERIES’ TAKING PLACE IN PORTLAND, MAINE, SEPTEMBER 15-19, 2025. FEATURING: ANTOINE D’AGATA, TODD HIDO AND CHRISTIAN PATERSON. SIGN UP AT THE LINK!PICDROPTHE EASIEST WAY TO SHARE PHOTO AND VIDEO SHOOTS. CREATE HIGHLY PROFESSIONAL PHOTO GALLERIES IN SECONDS AND LET YOUR CLIENTS DOWNLOAD, SELECT AND COMMENT ON THEIR FAVOURITE SHOTS. SIGN UP WITH THE CODE “ASMALLVOICE” FOR A TWO-MONTH FREE TRIAL!  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

Paul Seawright is Professor of Photography and Deputy Vice Chancellor at Ulster University in Northern Ireland. His photographic work is held in many museum collections including The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Tate, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, International Centre of Photography New York, Arts Councils of Ireland, England and N.Ireland, UK Government Collection and the Museum of Contemporary Art Rome. In 2002 he was commissioned by the Imperial War Museum London to undertake a war art commission in Afghanistan and his photographs of battle-sites and minefields have subsequently been exhibited in North America, Canada, Ireland, Spain, France, Germany, Korea, Japan and China. In 2003 he represented Wales at the Venice Biennale of Art and in 1997 won the Irish Museum of Modern Art/Glen Dimplex Prize. He is represented by the Kerlin Gallery Dublin.Paul was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to higher education and the arts. In episode 258, Paul discusses, among other things:The influence of studying at Farnham..and Martin Parr……And being at NewportNot taking a position‘Allusive documentary’The danger of losing the meaningThe ethical considerations of working on foreign soilThe essential business of researchHow do you find your next project?His USA projects Volunteer and Things Left UnsaidThe importance of titlesHis work from Rwanda, Beasts of Burden Referenced:Thomas Joshua CooperAnna Fox (Ep. 166)Ken Grant (Ep. 128)Chris ShawMartin Parr (Eps. 91 & 197)Peter Fraser (Ep. 172)Paul Graham (Ep. 149)Jem Southam (Ep. 174)Chris Killip (Ep. 94)Victor BurginAnne WilliamsNewportDaniel Meadows (Ep. 116)Clive LandenIvor Prickett (Ep.204)Anastasia Taylor Lind (Ep.68)Rich GilliganJames MollisonPaul VirilloParr and BadgerRobert Adams, The New WestIan Walker, Desert Stories, or Faith In FactsBaudrillardCalvino, Invisible CitiesGilles Peress The SilenceAlfredo JaarFergal KeaneBrian Keenan Website | Instagram EPISODE SPONSOR: CHARCOAL WORKSHOPS. THE ‘SUMMER SERIES’ TAKING PLACE IN PORTLAND, MAINE, SEPTEMBER 15-19, 2025. FEATURING: ANTOINE D’AGATA, TODD HIDO AND CHRISTIAN PATERSON. SIGN UP AT THE LINK! “‘Allusive documentary’ is probably a good way to think about it. For me, it’s really about - and this is the bit that goes back to my experience of photography in Northern Ireland, which was all about dramacentric imagery - how you can make photographs that have a documentary subject (that might be the closest I come to being a documentarian, that I work with the subject of documentary photography) but with the methodology of an artist. That’s kind of the way I like to frame it, and I think that follows through to the work which is nearly always conceived for the gallery wall.”  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

Featuring:Francis HodgesonMaria SukkarSophie ParkerAmi BouhassaneTom HunterSilvana Trevale (but not Gabriel Pinto).Zed Nelson Featured in the Positions exhibition:Adam Rouhana (@adam.rouhana), Aikaterini Gegisian (@aikaterini_gegisian), Babak Kazemi (@babakkazemi1), Bibi Manavi (@bibimanavi), Ippolita Paolucci (@ippolitapaolucci), Kalpesh Lathigra (@kalpeshlathigra), Karim El Hayawan (@karimelhayawan), Mieke Douglas (@miekedouglas) and Roberto Conde (@robconde33) Photo London Website | InstagramPeckham24/A Bigger Book Fair Website | Instagram  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

London-born British photographer Marc Wilson’s images document the memories, histories and stories that are set in the landscapes that surround us. His long term documentary projects include The Last Stand (2010-2014), A Wounded Landscape - bearing witness to the Holocaust (2015-2021) and The Land is Yellow, the Sky is Blue (2021-2023).Marc’s aim is to tell stories through his photography, focusing at times on the landscape itself, and the objects found on and within it, and sometimes combining landscape, documentary, portrait and still life, along with audio recordings of interviews and sounds, to portray the mass sprawling web of the histories and stories he is hoping to tell.Marc has published 6 photo books - Travelogue 2 (2024), The Land is Yellow, the Sky is Blue (2023), Remnants (2022), A Wounded Landscape - bearing witness to the Holocaust (2021), Travelogue 1 (2018), and The Last Stand (2014).Solo exhibitions include those at Impressions Gallery, Bradford, Side Gallery, Newcastle, The Royal Armouries Museum and Focal point Gallery in the UK and Spazio Klien in Italy.Marc’s work has been published in journals and magazines ranging from National Geographic, FT Weekend, Leica LFI, Source, Raw Magazine, Wired, Dezeen and others, he also works as a visiting lecturer at various universities in the UK and has given talks about his work both in the UK and abroad.In episode 256, Marc discusses, among other things:What he’s working onGetting arrested in MoldovaHis work in UkraineNew book Travelogue 2 - A Thousand Days of LongingTravelling 25,000 miles for his project The Last StandHis initial failed attempt at shooting his holocaust project A Wounded LandscapeHis adventures in self-publishing and tips for those considering itHis route into photographyLoneliness and ‘wandering lost’His project RemnantsWebsite | Instagram  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

Mackenzie Calle is a freelance documentary photographer and National Geographic Explorer based in Brooklyn. In 2024, she was awarded first prize in the World Press Photo Open Format category award (North & Central America) for her project the Gay Space Agency, and was a finalist for the Sony World Photography Awards.She was selected as a Magnum Foundation Counter Histories Fellow in 2022. That same year, she was named one of the Lenscratch 25 to Watch and was shortlisted for the PhMuseum Women Photographers Grant. In 2023, she was named as a Lens Culture Emerging Talent Award winner and received the Dear Dave Fellowship.Mackenzie is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in Cinema Studies and was awarded the Director’s Fellowship to attend ICP’s Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism Program. She was selected to Eddie Adams Workshop class XXXV. She is an Adjunct Lecturer at CUNY’s College of Staten Island. Prior to her freelance career, she was a photo producer at NBC Universal. Her work has been exhibited at Fotografiska Stockholm, Photoville, Pride Photo Festival, and Noorderlicht International Photo Festival. Clients include National Geographic, The Washington Post, GAYLETTER, Discovery, MSNBC, and The Wall Street Journal.  In episode 255, Mackenzie discusses, among other things:Winning the WPP open categoryTangible and intagible benefits of winningHer journey to photographyHow the idea for the Gay Space Agency came aboutHow she set about making images to tell the storyThe goal to disseminate the story as widely as possibleHer experience of doing the Eddie Adams WorkshopLetting the story tell her what it wantsExperimentation being the fun partHer love of sport......and TV Referenced:Sally RideFrancis FrenchBillie Jean KingChristina De MiddelErika Larson Website | Instagram“For me, it’s letting the story tell me what it needs. So it’s not so much going in with a preconceived notion. You obviously go into most stories with some idea of what you’re going to do, but every idea I have, that work in itself almost reveals or tells me kind of what it should be. So sometimes that means fiction, sometimes that does mean straight photojournalism, sometimes that means entirely imagined and staged projects…”  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

Tomasz Tomaszewski has a Ph.D from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and is a member of the Union of Polish Art Photographers, the Visum Archiv Agency of Hamburg, Germany, the National Geographic Creative Agency of Washington D.C., and the American Society of Media Photographers.He specializes in journalistic photography and has had his photos published in major newspapers and magazines worldwide including National Geographic Magazine, Stern, Paris Match, GEO, New York Times, Time, Fortune, Elle, Vogue. He has also authored a number of books, including Remnants: The Last Jews of Poland, Gypsies: The Last Ones; In Search of America, In the Centre, Astonishing Spain, A Stone’s Throw, Overwhelmed by the Atmosphere of Kindness, Things that last, and has co-illustrated over a dozen collective works.He has held numerous individual exhibitions in the USA, Canada, Israel, Japan, Brazil, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Indonesia and Poland. Tomasz is the recipient of many Polish and international awards for photography. For over thirty years he has been a regular contributor to National Geographic Magazine USA in which eighteen of his photo essays have been published. Tomasz has taught photography in Poland, the USA, Germany and Italy.Tomasz’s most recent book, The World Is Where You Stop was published in 2023 by Blow Up Press. In episode 254, Tomasz discusses, among other things:His insecurity about his EnglishTruthThe wisdom of ageHis father’s advice ‘don’t forget about art’ProgressHis discovery of photographySpending five years working on his first book, smuggled to the states and published in NY.Spending time in the USAHis new book The World Is Where You StopMetaphorPhotography not being dialecticalThe appeal of a good single maltHis teaching academyBravery as the mother of all qualitiesHis dream to play the piano and how music is pure mathematicsReferenced:Raymond ChandlerAristotleUffizi MuseumSusan SontagNasim TalebJames NachtweyGarry WinnograndCartier BressonKeith Jarrett Website | Instagram | Interview in ‘Hot Mirror’ “Most of the time when I was working for Geographic, I wanted my photographs to serve a purpose, to tell a story, or explain a person to another human being. But this time I only wanted to capture surprise, maybe, wonder, occassionally joy, amusement, but also discomfort. In short, anything but a desire to tell a story.”  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

Katrin Koenning is a visual artist from Germany whose work travels across still and moving images and text, at times including found materials, painting and collage. Pursuing intimacy and interconnection her work centres around practice as relational encounter. Most stories evolve through years and use returning as a way of drawing closer. Different series often intersect, merging in and out of each other. In her extended image-dialogues, Katrin uses fragments and slippages to suggest narrative spaces, communities and lived experiences that are allied, fluid and multiplicit. Many of her series render non-human human entanglement and intimate kin, positing imaginaries with a greater-than-human world.Katrin has been the recipient of multiple awards, such as the Bowness Photography Prize. Her work is regularly exhibited in Australian and international solo and group exhibitions including presentations at Ishara Art Foundation Dubai, Chobi Mela, Paris Photo, Hamburg Triennial of Photography, Museum of Australian Photography, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Australian Centre for Photography and the National Gallery of Victoria (2023). Koenning’s images have been published in The New Yorker, Vogue.com, Zeit Magazine, The Guardian, New York Times, Esquire Italy, Der Spiegel, Yucca Magazine, California Sunday and many other places. Her work is held in numerous institutional and private collections both in Australia and abroad; most recently her large-scale installation While the Mountains had Feet [2020 — 2022] was acquired in whole by the National Gallery of Victoria.Katrin regularly teaches workshops in photographic practice and thinking, working closely with many institutions and festivals locally and across the Asia-Pacific region such as Angkor Photo Festival (Siem Reap Cambodia), Photo Kathmandu (Kathmandu, Nepal), The Lighthouse (Calcutta, West Bengal), Myanmar Deitta (Yangon, Myanmar), Australian Centre for Photography, Perth Centre for Photography, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Museum of Australian Photography,  Palmtree Workshops (Santorini Greece, forthcoming),  and others.Katrin lives and works in Naarm (Melbourne) on unceded Boon Wurrung Woi Wurrung Country. In episode 253, Katrin discusses, among other things:Ankor Photo Festival in CambodiaWorking on her practice dailyComing out of “the most difficult year of her life”Why she chose to shoot Polaroids during that timeResponding to the suicide of her cousin’s husbandHow the sudden death of her best friend put her on the path of photographyHow she took pictures with the camera she inherited from him which were all blankHaving a ‘web’ of ‘projects’Her practice as a relational encounterHer new book Between The Skin and SeaHer engagement with environmental issuesYounger photographers being more inward lookingHer current engagement with the indigenous community of Riverdale Referenced:Photo KatmanduChobi MelaRMITNational Gallery of Victoria Website | Instagram “This is always the way that I work, I look at what the thing is that is at stake, and what am I trying to talk about? And actually also very much like I’m listening to the thing that I’m trying to talk to. So what does it want from me? You know, what does the story want from me and what does the situation around it ask of me? And therefore how do I need to approach it?”  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

Ian Macdonald (b. 1946) is an internationally acclaimed photographer born and raised in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, UK. He studied Graphic Design and Printmaking at Teesside College of Art in 1968 and went on to study Painting and Photography at Sheffield School of Art, Photography and Graphic Design at Birmingham Polytechnic and Education at Lancaster University. He pursued photography alongside drawing – his first love - painting and printmaking.Since 1968, Ian has consistently photographed the people and places of Teesside, one of Europe’s most heavily industrialised areas in the north east of England. His love of the region, the beauty of the landscape – great expanses of wildness nestling among industrial settings - and his solid admiration for the people working and living amongst this environment has resulted in a completely honest and passionate depiction of a place and its community.“The most successful of my photographs seem to be a product of an exploration into my environment and the people I live and work amongst and an excitement generated in me by what I confront. Sometimes by-product would seem a more appropriate term, because only rarely do images really come near to saying anything about the strength, humour, vitality, atmosphere, pathos and despair which seems to make up what goes on around us all. Always, I am spurred on by a tingling sensation at the possibility, this time, perhaps, the image may really say something”.Ian’s work has been included in various publications, such as England Gone, Smith’s Dock Shipbuilders, Images of the Tees, Eton and The Blast Furnace. His work has been exhibited internationally and is included in many private and public photography collections around the world. In 2024 Ian had a major retrospective entitled Fixing Time, covering the first twenty years of his work, displayed across two venues in the north east of England - Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens and Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art.Ian is currently working on a series of forthcoming books with GOST Books. In episode 252, Ian discusses, among other things: His recent dual exhibitions, Fixing Time, in the North East of EnglandHow his fascination for drawing took him to art collegeHis discomfort with his work being put in the documentary pigeonholeFinding it hard to approach your subjectsA brief description of the area he grew up and photographed inHis transition from drawing to photographyGreatham Creek and the portrait (above) that made him excitedHis early memories of his grandfather and father and wanting to celebrate and document their historyHis year spent as artist in residence at Eton CollegeHis reasons for choosing to teach in a school and not at art college Referenced:Len TabnerCesare PaveseBruce DavidsonBill BrandtVic Allen, Dean Clough GalleryGraham SmithMartin ParrChris KillipTom WoodMax BeckmanGoyaTitianDelacroixWebsite | Short film about Ian by Jamie Macdonald“When I first went to Greatham Creek, there was no history anywhere about it. I couldn’t find anything written down. So I wrote a lot down. I talked to people. I went into pretty deep research into archives in the local library and stuff like that. And I guess this was part of the drive for [photographing] both the shipyard and the furnace. Because maybe I did have an inkling, because there was nothing about the creek - where’s the stuff about the furnace?… about the men who worked there, like my dad and granddad? Where is their history? And I wanted to celebrate their history. I wanted to celebrate what they were. I wanted a record, a document, a memory of them. And that’s what drove me to do it.”  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

British photographer Mike Abrahams has worked as a freelance photographer for over 40 years having become renowned for his sensitive eye in documenting the lives of ordinary people often in extraordinary situations.In 1981 he was a cofounder of Network Photographers the Internationally renowned picture agency and his work has taken him around the world. His photographs have been published in all the major international news media. In 2024, Mike’s much anticipated book This Was Then, was published by Bluecoat Press and has been described as a lyrical portrait of humanity in adverse circumstances. It features photographs taken from 1973 to 2001 in cities from Liverpool to Glasgow. Blackburn to Bradford, Northern Ireland to the coalfields of Kent and London.Mike’s work on Faith - A Journey with Those Who Believe, published in 2000, was the culmination of five years work, documenting the extremes and passion of Christian devotion throughout fourteen countries. Awards for this work included the World Press Photo Award in 2000, and the book Faith designed by Browns, was a finalist in the Design Week - Editorial Design: Books. It has been widely exhibited throughout the UK and Europe.Colin Jacobson, picture editor of The Independent Magazine, described Mike’s body of work from the conflict in Northern Ireland and published in the book Still War, in 1989 as "Documentary photography at its best - imaginative, comprehensive, confident and concerned". His coverage of the troubles in Northern Ireland was the subjects of a Television documentary Moving Stills.Other important assignments have included coverage of the division of Cyprus, Migrant labour in Southern Africa, the Intifada in the Occupied Territories, the Berlin Wall, the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, the rise in the influence of the religious in Israeli politics, the Cult of Assad in Syria, Northern Ireland and documenting Another Britain. In episode 251, Mike discusses, among other things:Discovering the darkroom at 12Growing up in post-war LiverpoolThe infamous Toxteth Riots of the early 80sNetwork Photographers agencyThe story of the IRA bombingHis interest in religious ceremonyGoing back to his archive of British work for the new book, This Was ThenThe impetus behind itThe sustainability of of a long-term careerPersonal work that he is still doingReferenced:Eugene SmithDavid Douglas DuncanLarry BurrowsTim PageNetwork PhotographersJohn SturrockMike GoldwaterJudah PassowChris DaviesLaurie SparhamSteve BenbowMartin SlavinBarry LewisRed SaundersSid SheltonRoger HutchinsChris KillipDaniel MeadowsPeter MarlowPeter Van AgtmaelWebsite | Instagram“You can go here, there and everywhere, and I have travelled a lot and it’s been interesting and fascinating, but you’re always the outsider coming in. You don’t really know the story. It’s glamorous, it’s exotic, it’s fascinating, but I think it’s much harder to photograph your home turf. You come to it with quite an honest perspective. It’s the land you’re living in, you’re conscious of the differences in the country between the north, south, east and west, the regions… it’s kind of embedded in you, the differences.”  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

Joseph Michael Lopez - JML, (b. 1973) is an independent photographer born in New York City to a Puerto Rican father and a mother who escaped the Cuban Revolution in 1967. He earned his MFA in 2011 at Columbia University. Lopez began his career as an analog cinematographer on the critically acclaimed Bruce Weber film, Chop Suey (2001). Currently, Joseph divides his time between long-form projects, teaching, and commercial work. His photographs have appeared on the covers of M, The Magazine for Leica M Photography, Leica Fotografie International, The Sunday Review of The New York Times, New York magazine and The New Yorker, among others.Joseph’s photographs were on exhibit in “Cuban Photography after 1980: Selections from the Museum’s Collection”, at The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. In 2016, a commissioned series of his photographs of New York neighborhoods, “New York at Its Core: Future City Lab”, was installed at The Museum of the City of New York. Photographs from JML NYC, the series from which this commission originated, have also been published in the book Bystander: A History of Street Photography, by Colin Westerbeck and Joel Meyerowitz. JML’s first book JML NYC 02-23 was published by GOST in the fall of 2024.  In episode 250, Joseph discusses, among other things:Relocating to Rome from NYCHis intro to NYC via assisting Bruce WeberHis early career as a professional assistantShooting with his Leica as a ‘coping mechanism’The challenge of creating a cohesive narrative from 20 years of single imagesHis Dear New Yorker projectWhy B&W is where his heart is atHow what we see is who we areHis approach towards light and sunUsing digital vs. filmAssisting Mitch EpsteinHow his opinion on grad school has changedControversy surrounding Columbia University prof. Thomas RomaHis plans for working in Rome and going forward Referenced:Bruce WeberDanny Lyon, Knave of HeartsTod PapageorgeChuck Kelton’s darkroomMitch EpsteinThomas RomaMohammad Rasoulof Website | Instagram“Essentially, it’s about saying something and having a voice and having a perception of the world that is, like singing a loud song you know, your pictures have to say something. And how do you separate yourself from all the noise that’s out there already? You have to have an obsessive, emphatic way to perceive things. I think to a certain extent what we see is who we are in a way.”  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

Dina Litovsky is a Ukrainian-born photographer living in New York City since 1991. Dina's imagery can be described as visual sociology. Her work explores the idea of leisure, often focusing on subcultures and social gatherings.Dina is a regular contributor to National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine, TIME, New Yorker, GQ and New York Magazine. In 2020 Dina won the Nannen Prize, Germany's foremost award for documentary photography. Other awards include the PDN 30, New and Emerging Photographers to Watch; POYi; NPPA Best of Photojournalism, International Photography Awards and American Photography.Selected exhibitions include group and solo shows at the Museum of the City of New York; Noordelicht Festival, Netherlands; Annenberg Space for Photography, LA and the Anastasia Photo Gallery, NYC.In 2022 she started writing the Substack newsletter In The Flash, an ongoing dialogue about the art and craft of creating and thinking about images. In her weekly posts, she discuses the creative process, focusing on the WHY of photography — intent, meaning, and inspiration. She shares her insights into the world of a professional photographer as well as all the things that make her tick and inspire her to create, from photography to art to music.Dina holds a bachelor in psychology from NYU and an MFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts, NY. In episode 248, Dina discusses, among other things:Moving to the U.S. from Ukraine at 12 years oldThe immigrant dream of her parents for her to study medicineThe formative experience of earning her first $40 for shooting a portraitWhy she couldn’t hold down a job in her early lifeComing out of wedding photography retirement to write a piece about itHow working on personal work was the key to getting good editorial clientsUntag This Photo and Bacherolette being the projects that got her attentionHow her background in psychology plays into the way she approaches shooting her projectsHer experience of being questioned in a classroom setting - why she does the newsletterHer post about why photographers should stop calling themselves artistsHer approach to Instagram and how she set out to build a huge audienceHow her Substack newsletter began with an invitation from MetaHer strategy around building community rather than earning incomeWhy working for exposure is photography’s bigges Ponzi schemeThe importance of pursuing personal workHer projects Fashion Week and MeatpackingWebsite | Instagram“I’m an introvert with a social phobia. So I would never draw attention to myself. But with a camera I could actually go where I wanted to go and photograph and confront people, with a shield. And so I think I was using it more as my own self therapy, like I wanted to be in the middle of the party, and I wanted to be on this dancefloor with the young women, but I couldn’t. And so with a camera I was there just photographing it.”  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

Ian Howorth is a documentary photographer based in Brighton, UK. His work deals with themes of identity and culture. Through Setanta Books, Ian sold out his first book, Arcadia, in 2019 and published his second, A Country Kind of Silence, in 2023. Ian’s work has been featured in publications including The Guardian, The New York Times, It’s Nice That and Huck.In episode 248, Ian discusses, among other things:Striving to spend as much time as possible not compromisingThe benefits of having a full-time jobHis Instagram strategyHis previous life as a videographerAn early fascination for film stockInfluence of cinemaThe contrast between his trips to Peru and CubaHis first book ArcadiaHis origin story in which he lived in 9 homes across 3 countriesHis adventurous dad’s influence on him (and his brothers)Having to adapt to a move from Peru to Miami at 12His relationship with England and the things he is drawn to photograph thereCombining documentary with fiction and not wanting to feel constrictedHis second book A A Country Kind of Silence Referenced:Zed NelsonPhil ToledanoRobbie LawrenceMax MiechoswskiStephen ShoreWilliam EgglestonJohn DivolaGregory CrewdsonSean TuckerWillam VerbeeckNational Film & Television SchoolParis TexasTania Franco KleinBill Callaghan Website | Instagram“Wim Wenders and Robby Müller [In Paris Texas] happened to hit on something that made sense artistically but also looks beautiful aesthetically, and that for me is the perfect marriage. Not everyone can achieve it, but that to me became very important. I wasn’t doing that. I wasn’t smart enough to do that. But at the same time I knew the power of colour - I knew what it did, I understood my emotional response to it. And that was enough for me to pursue it at the time, and I would figure it out later.”  Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.