A Small Voice: Conversations With Photographers

Michael Ackerman was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1967. When he was seven years old his family emigrated to New York City, where he grew up and began photographing at the age of eighteen. Michael has exhibited internationally and published five books, including End Time City, by Robert Delpire, which won the Prix Nadar in 1999. His other books are Epilogue (Void, 2019) Half Life (Delpire, 2010) Fiction (Delpire, 2001) and Smoke (l'axolotl, 2023). His work is in the permanent collection of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Brooklyn Museum, and The Biliothèque National, France among others, as well as in many private collections.“In Michael Ackerman’s work, documentary and autobiography conspire with fiction, and all of the above dissolve into hallucination. His photography explores time and timelessness, personal history and the history of places, immediate family and love, with all it’s complexities and contradictions. “ Jem Cohen. Michael currently lives in Berlin and is represented by Galerie Camera Obscura, Paris, Spot Home Gallery, Naples and MC2 Gallery, Milan. In episode 229, Michael discusses, among other things:A little family historyWhy he put that info on his websiteCollating family photos on becoming a fatherWhy he loves New YorkHow he started photography thereBeing ‘very, very slow’Why he uses cheap plastic camerasWhat he likes about photographing animalsMoodAnders PetersenLonging being the human conditionPhotographing ‘life’Text and contextTranscending the facts while keeping a strong hold on a deeper truthHis life in Berlin with an impossible ‘to do’ list Referenced:Teru KuwayamaSylvia PlachyLorenzo CastoreAnders PetersenRobert FrankMasao YamamotoBoris MikhailovJem Cohen Website | Instagram“For me photography is always a negotiation between confrontation and avoidance. And I think my pictures show that. I think my pictures are very intimate and they do get close to something and they are an attempt at getting close, but there’s also a lot of fear in them I see, because I know it in myself, and a lot of solitude.” Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

A student at the École Beaux-arts de Versailles (1983–1985), and then at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Art de Bourges (1985-1988), French artist Valerie Belin obtained the French higher national diploma in visual expression in 1988 and also holds a diploma in advanced studies (DEA) in the philosophy of art from the Université de Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne (1989). Initially influenced by various minimalist and conceptual tendencies, Valérie became interested in the photographic medium in its own right; this is at once the subject of her work and her way of reflecting and creating. Light, matter and the “body” of things and beings in general, as well as their transformations and representations, constitute the terrain of her experiments and the world of her artistic ideas. Her work is articulated in photographic series, each one produced within the framework of a specific project. Valérie’s work has been exhibited around the world and is held in numerous public and private collections. Winner of the Prix Pictet in 2015 (Disorder), she was made an officer of France’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2017. This same year, a touring exhibition was co-produced by the Three Shadows Photography Art Center in Beijing, the SCôP in Shanghai and the Chengdu Museum. In 2019, Valérie unveiled a major new series at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and this year, 2024, she has been named as Master of Photography at Photo London where she will have a major career retrospective.Valerie lives and works in Paris. In episode 228, Valerie discusses, among other things:Her father being an artist at heartThe influence of a particular teacherThe dual influence of American minimal art and Italian baroque artHow she discovered photography and was inspired by a misogynistic teacherNot photographing people initiallyPresence and absenceWhy she chose bodybuilders as her first foray into shooting peopleThe theme of beautyHow women are ‘attacked’ by stereotypesAI being paradoxical to what she wants to showThe importance of Photoshop to her practiceWhere the ideas come fromUse of comic booksMaking a livingRecent series’ ‘Heroes’ and ‘Lady Stardust’. Referenced:Carl AndreRobert MorrisTony Smith (sculptor)Richard Serra Website | Instagram“I think it’s still true to say I’m very close to my medium and to the hybridation, because if you think of it what is photography today when with the same camera you can make videos, you can make whatever you want? I think we are in a time when you always have a kind of superimposition in your mind, you have several channels on all the time in your mind and maybe my pictures are showing that way of thinking or way of living.” Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

Linda Troeller’s art projects focus on self-portraits, women's and social issues. For 20 year she lived in the legendary Chelsea Hotel in New York City, curating an exhibition for the 125th Anniversary, “Chelsea Hotel Through the Eyes of Photographers”, and publishing a monograph of her own entitled Living in the Chelsea Hotel.Other publications include Healing Waters, The Erotic Lives of Women and her newest book of self-portraits taken over almost fifty years, Sex, Death, Transcendence, published earlier this year (2024) by TBW books. Linda was also the subject of a 2023 feature-length documentary film, also entitled Healing Waters, directed by Derek Johnson and Ali Scattergood.She has lectured at the School of Visual Arts, NYU, Parsons, Yale, Salzburg Summer Art Academy, New Orleans Photo Alliance, and Ryerson University, Toronto and was a professor of photography at Stockton College of New Jersey, Indiana University, and Bournemouth College, England. She has a MFA, School of Art, and MS, Newhouse School, Syracuse University and BS from Reed School of Journalism, West Virginia University.Linda lives in New York City and New Jersey.     In episode 227, Linda discusses, among other things:Modelling on an Ansel Adams book making workshopThe experience of being nude in front of strangersThe spirit of the 60s in the 70s + women’s libHealing watersSocieties expectations of women and ageingHer book, The Erotic Lives of WomenLiving in the Chelsea Hotel for 20 yearsHow Alexander MacQueen influenced her visual paletteHow she has earned a living over the yearsHer TB/Aids project Referenced:Lucien ClergueEikoh HosoeGeorge TiceJudy DaterImogen CunninghamJack WelpottRobert HeineckenLee FriedlanderMelissa Shook Website | Instagram“You have to do some work to build up your self confidence, to be your most youness. ‘You’. Youness, herness, hisness, theirness, whatever it is that you wanna to be your most of you can make some strides by looking at yourself and understanding yourself. And if you want to do some more in your presentation you can. And you should.” Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

Nicole Tung is a freelance photojournalist. She graduated from New York University, double majoring in history and journalism, and freelances for international publications and NGOs, working primarily in the Middle East and Asia. After covering the conflicts in Libya and Syria extensively from 2011, focusing on the plight of civilians, she spent 2014 documenting the lives of Native American war veterans in the US, as well as former child soldiers in the DR Congo, the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, and the refugee crisis in Europe. She is also a grantee of the IWMF Grant for Women’s Stories, and a fellow of the IWMF Great Lakes Reporting Initiative (D.R. Congo, Central African Republic). She has received multiple awards for her work from the International Photo Awards, Society of Professional Journalists, PX3, and was named PDN's 30 Under 30 Emerging Photographers (2013), among others. Nicole was given the honorable mention for the IWMF 2017 Anja Niedringhaus Awards, and awarded the 2018 James Foley Award for Conflict Reporting from the Online News Association. Her work has been exhibited + screened at the Annenberg Space for Photography, Tropenmuseum Amsterdam, Visa Pour l'Image, and most recently at the Bayeux Calvados-Normandy award for war correspondents in France (2019), with Save the Children in Hong Kong (2019), and at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong (2020). Nicole has also given keynote speeches and contributed to panels on photojournalism and journalist safety, at events including the International Journalism Festival (Perugia, 2019), TEDx in Sweden, the Adobe Make It Conference in Sydney, and Creative Mornings at the National Geographic Auditorium in Washington D.C., among others. She served on the board of the Frontline Freelance Register (2015) and is has undergone HEFAT training with Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues (RISC) and Global Journalist Security. She is based in Istanbul, Turkey. In episode 226, Nicole discusses, among other things:Notable differences between the war in Ukraine and previous conflicts she has coveredThe modern use of drones in warfareStories she has covered in UkraineThe way she works with publicationsManaging and thinking about riskThe question of whether journalists in conflict zones are more likely to be targeted now than in the pastReactions to her from ordinary people in conflictsThe question of whether photojournalism is an ‘important’ jobThe impacts of social media both negative and positiveApproaching photojournalistic stories in a different wayPotential ways to earn a living other than from commissions Referenced:Chris HondrosTim HetheringtonMarie ColvinRemi OchlickJames Foley Website | Instagram“If you don’t become trapped in this idea that what you do is so precious and be real about the impact and the degree to which images and photojournalism can go, especially if your intentions are good, you’re based in reality at least. Your grounded in a certain reality where you go “I know my images aren’t going to stop a war tomorrow but at least I can be a part of that documentation process.” And to me that is important. Why shouldn’t we be showing a reflection of our collective humanity that is both ugly and beautiful at the same time? There are so many grey areas. The world is not black and white.” Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

Mitch Epstein helped pioneer fine-art color photography in the 1970s. His photographs are in numerous major museum collections, including New York's Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Whitney Museum of American Art; The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Tate Modern in London.In October 2024, Gallerie d’Italia in Turin, Italy will present a major multi-media exhibition of Mitch’s project, Old Growth; and in September 2024, Old Growth will be shown in NYC at Yancey Richardson Gallery. Mitch’s Indian photographs and films (Salaam Bombay! and India Cabaret) were exhibited in 2022 at Les Rencontres d'Arles festival in France. Mitch has had numerous other major solo exhibitions in the USA and worldwide.Mitch’s seventeen books, all published by Steidl Verlag, include Recreation (2022); Property Rights (2021); In India (2021); Rocks and Clouds (2017); New York Arbor (2013); Berlin (Steidl/The American Academy in Berlin 2011); American Power (2009); and Family Business (2003), which was winner of the 2004 Kraszna-Krausz Photography Book Award.In 2020, Mitch was inducted into the National Academy of Design. In 2011, he won the Prix Pictet for American Power. Among his other awards are the Berlin Prize in Arts and Letters from the American Academy in Berlin (2008), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2003).Mitch has worked as a director, cinematographer, and production designer on several films, including Dad, Mississippi Masala, and Salaam Bombay!. He lives with his family in New York City. In episode 225, Mitch discusses, among other things:New YorkJohn Szarkowski at MOMAEditingIndiaGarry Winogrand and his influenceGoing to LA in ‘74Working on the films of his then wife Mira NairTrial and errorFamily BusinessAmerican PowerOld Growth Referenced:John SzarkowskiEugene AtgetDiane ArbusWilliam EgglestonTodd PapageorgeRaghubir SinghJonas MekasHollis FramptonWebsite | Instagram“Through disorientation, through not knowing, through being uncomfortable, things happen. And I think some of the most important periods for me in my life as an artist have been those periods where I have ultimately not known what I was doing or where I was going next. Now I’m a little bit better at just listening to the signals that come along, even though they may not give me the full-fledged answer they’ll just point in a direction. And I’m a little bit more patient with the process.” Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

Edward Burtynsky is regarded as one of the world's most accomplished contemporary photographers. His remarkable photographic depictions of global industrial landscapes represent over 40 years of his dedication to bearing witness to the impact of human industry on the planet. Edward's photographs are included in the collections of over 80 major museums around the world, including the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa; the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York; the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid; the Tate Modern in London, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in California.Edward was born in 1955 of Ukrainian heritage in St. Catharines, Ontario. He received his BAA in Photography/Media Studies from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) in 1982, and has since received both an Alumni Achievement Award (2004) and an Honorary Doctorate (2007) from his alma mater. He is still actively involved in the university community, and sits on the board of directors for The Image Centre (formerly Ryerson Image Centre).In 1985, Edward founded Toronto Image Works, a darkroom rental facility, custom photo laboratory, digital imaging, and new media computer-training centre catering to all levels of Toronto's art community.Early exposure to the General Motors plant and watching ships go by in the Welland Canal in Edward’s hometown helped capture his imagination for the scale of human creation, and to formulate the development of his photographic work. His imagery explores the collective impact we as a species are having on the surface of the planet — an inspection of the human systems we've imposed onto natural landscapes.Exhibitions include: Anthropocene (2018) at the Art Gallery of Ontario and National Gallery of Canada (international touring exhibition); Water (2013) at the New Orleans Museum of Art and Contemporary Art Center in Louisiana (international touring exhibition); Oil (2009) at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. (five-year international touring show), China (toured internationally from 2005 - 2008); Manufactured Landscapes at the National Gallery of Canada (toured from 2003 - 2005); and Breaking Ground produced by the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (toured from 1988 - 1992). Edward's visually compelling works are currently being exhibited in solo and group exhibitions around the globe, including at London’s Saatchi Gallery where his largest solo exhibition to-date, entitled Extraction/Abstraction, is currently on show until 6th May 2024.Edward’s distinctions include the inaugural TED Prize (which he shared with Bono and Robert Fischell), the title of Officer of the Order of Canada, and the International Center of Photography’s Infinity Award for Art. In 2018 Edward was named Photo London's Master of Photography and the Mosaic Institute's Peace Patron. In 2019 he was the recipient of the Arts & Letters Award at the Canadian Association of New York’s annual Maple Leaf Ball and the 2019 Lucie Award for Achievement in Documentary Photography. In 2020 he was awarded a Royal Photographic Society Honorary Fellowship and in 2022 was honoured with the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award by the World Photography Organization. Most recently he was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame and was named the 2022 recipient for the annual Pollution Probe Award. Edward currently holds eight honorary doctorate degrees and is represented by numerous international galleries all over the world. In episode 224, Edward discusses, among other things:His transition from film to digitalStaying positive by ‘moving through grief to land on meaning’Making compelling images and how scale creates ambiguityDefining the over-riding theme of his work early onThe environmental impact of farmingWhether he planned his careerWhy he started a lab to finance his photographyAnd how being an entrepreneur feeds into his work as an artistVertical IntegrationExamples of challenging situations he has facedThe necessity for his work to be commoditisedHis relative hope and optimism for the future through positive technologyThe importance of having a hopeful component to the workHow he offsets his own carbon footprint Referenced:Joel SternfeldEliiot PorterStephen ShoreJennifer BaichwalNicholas de Pencier Website | Instagram“The evocation of the sense of wonder and the sense of the surreal, or the improbable, or ‘what am I looking at?’, to me is interesting in a time where images are so consumed; that these are not for quick consumption they’re for… slow. And I think that when things reveal themselves slowly and in a more challenging way, they become more interesting as objects to leave in the world. That they don’t just reveal themselves immediately, you can’t just get it in one quick glance and you’re done, no, these things ask you to look at them and spend time with them. And I discover things in them sometimes that I never saw before. They’re loaded with information.” Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

Italian photographer Lorenzo Castore’s work is characterised by long term projects focusing on his personal experience, memory and the relationship between individual stories, history and the present time.In 1992 at the age of 19 Lorenzo moved from Rome to New York where he began to photograph in the streets. After a formative trip to India in 1997, he had a brief foray into photojournalism, covering the conflicts in Albania and Kosovo in 1999, afte which he decided to quit photojournalism and deepen his personal research.Since then has worked extensively in Poland, Cuba and Sardinia among other places and has produced several photobooks and a short film entitled No Peace Without War.In 2019 his lifelong work Time Maze began to be published by L’artiere in progressive chronological volumes. The first entitled A Beginning, 1994-2001 and the second Lack and Locking, 2001-2007. The next two volumes are already in the works or planned.Lorenzo’s is represented by Galerie S. in Paris, Galerie Anne Clergue in Arles, Alessia Paladini Gallery in Milan, Spot Home Gallery in Naples and Guido Costa Projects in Turin.In episode 223, Lorenzo discusses, among other things:His formative yearsHis journey into photographyHis time in New York……and the photograph that changed everythingThe importance of finding stories and making life an adventureHis project Time Maze - first book A BeginningHis brief foray into photojournalism in KosovoWhy he went to shoot in PolandHIs interest in minersThe forthcoming sequels to A BeginningReferenced:Michael AckermanAnders PetersenRamon PezJosef KoudelkaSaverio CostanzoHenri Cartier BressonGeorgio MortariEloi GimenoChristain CajouleWebsite | Instagram“I was postponing because of this embarrassment that I have when we say you talk about your personal life. It’s a really strange feeling, I really want to do it and at the same time I feel I have to do it very carefully.” Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

Brian Griffin was born in Birmingham in 1948 and grew up in the neighbouring Black Country, in the English midlands. He started his working life at 16 working in a factory, where he remained for 5 years, before finally making his escape to Manchester Polytechnic where he took a degree in photography, shortly after which he left for London in pursuit of a photographic career as a fashion photographer. It was there that he met and was mentored by Roland Schenk, the charismatic art director on Management Today magazine, who offered him a job as a corporate photographer. The rest, as they say, is history. Brian was later considered 'the photographer of the decade' by the Guardian Newspaper in 1989; 'the most unpredictable and influential British portrait photographer of the last decades' by the British Journal of Photography in 2005 and 'one of Britain’s most influential photographers' by the World Photography Organisation in 2015. In 1991, his book Work was awarded the ‘Best Photography Book in the World’ prize at Barcelona Primavera Fotografica. Brian is patron of the Format Photography Festival in Derby; in September 2013, he received the ‘Centenary Medal’ from the Royal Photographic Society in recognition of a lifetime achievement in photography; and in 2014 he received an Honorary Doctorate from Birmingham City University. Brian Griffin’s photographs are held in the permanent collections of many major art institutions and he has published twenty or so books, including his latest, Pop which features some of the highlights of his album artwork and band photography from decades working in the music industry with such artists as Iggy Pop, Elvis Costello, Depeche Mode and Kate Bush. In other words, he’s a bit of a legend. Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

Natalie Keyssar is a documentary photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work focuses on the personal effects of political turmoil and conflict, youth culture, and migration.  She has a BFA in Painting and Illustration from The Pratt Institute. Natalie has contributed to publications such as The New York Times Magazine, Time, Bloomberg Business Week, National Geographic and The New Yorker, and been awarded by organizations including the Philip Jones Griffith Award, the Aaron Siskind Foundation, PDN 30, Magenta Flash Forward, and American Photography. She has taught New Media at the International Center of Photography in New York, and  has instructed at various workshops across the US and Latin America with organizations such as Foundry, Women Photograph, The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and the IWMF. Her work has been supported by The Pulitzer Center, The Magnum Foundation, The National Geographic Society, and the IWMF among many others, and she is the winner of the 2018 ICP Infinity Emerging Photographer Award, the 2019 PH Museum Women Photographer's Grant, and is a winner of the 2023 Aperture Creator Labs Photo Fund. She is a Canon Explorer of Light and Co-Founder of the NDA Workshops series with Daniella Zalcman. She speaks fluent Spanish and is available for assignments internationally, as well as teaching and speaking engagements.  In episode 222, Natalie discusses, among other things:The conflict in GazaHow the internet and social media is clumsily creating a hive mindHer Jewish identity and how it shapes her perspectiveHer Ukrainian roots and covering the war in UkraineWanting her work to tell you what it feels likeHer first trip to Venezuela and how it was love at first sight Referenced:Daniella ZalcmanAnastasia Taylor LindYelena YemchukBen MakuchStephanie SinclairChristina PiaiaScout TufankjianKatie OrlinskyAmie Ferris-RotmanCarlos RawlinsAna Maria ArevaloAndrea Hernandez BriceñoLexi Grace ParraIWMF Website | Instagram“There’s this psychological cocktail of rage and grief and desire to act, and since I don’t have any actual useful skills, I’m not a doctor or psychologist or aid worker or fighter, or any of the things I sometimes wish I was, I felt the need to do something. And then there is also a totally selfish need to see it for myself. It feels compulsive. And not like in ‘this is my calling and I’m gonna save the world’, but like it’s compulsive enough to make you get on a plane to go to a country that’s quite dangerous and in horrific turmoil. ” Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

Ambiguity is at the forefront of Richard Kalvar’s photography. Richard, who describes context as the “enemy”, seeks mystery and multiple meanings through surprising framing and meticulous timing. He describes his approach as “more like poetry than photojournalism – it attacks on the emotional level.”Richard has done extensive personal, assignment and commercial work in the United States, France, Italy, England, and Japan, among others, has published a number of solo books including Earthlings (Terriens) in 2007 and his most recent title, Selected Writings, published in 2023 by Damiani, and he has had important exhibitions in the US, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.His work has appeared in Geo, The Paris Review, Creative Camera, Aperture, Zoom, Newsweek, and Photo, among many others. Editorial assignments and even commercial work have given Richard an additional opportunity to do personal photography. He did many documentary stories that allowed him to disengage from documentary mode when the occasion arose.Richard joined Magnum Photos as an associate member in 1975, and became a full member two years later. He subsequently served several times as vice president, and once as president of the agency. In episode 221, Richard discusses, among other things:How he ended up settling in ParisHis introduction to photographyHow humour is an intrinsic element of his photographshow he is playing with things he has trouble dealing withWhy he called up Robert DelpireVU agency becoming VivaHow he ended up in MagnumHis favourite cities to shoot inThe legal restrictions on shooting in public in different placesPublic attitudes towards taking photographs of strangers in publicHis new book, Selected WritingsWhy his interest is in single images that stand alone Referenced:Jérôme DucrotAndré KerteszHCBRobert FrankLee FriedlanderElliott ErwittRobert DelpireViva AgencyGuy LeQuerecGilles PeressMary Ellen MarkAlex MajoliJonas BendiksenPaolo PellegrinOlivia ArthurWebsite | Instagram“I’m most interested in having pictures stand alone, and each one is something you can get into and is a story in itself and is also an imaginary story. I’m working with reality, that’s what’s really interesting to me and it’s also what’s interesting about photography in general, that you’re doing something that looks like real life but obviously isn’t. that’s the edge I like to work on. Where you have the impression that things are going on and not necessarily going on. If I have to tell a story, I feel a certain moral obligation to respect the truth or respect the feelings of the people that are in it. I think that’s a noble thing but for my kind of work it’s a break.” Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

Featuring:Aaron SchumannEugene RichardsMartin ParrGregory CrewdsonNick BrandtEmma HardyAntoine D’AgataIgor PosnerStacy KranitzIvor PrickettBertrand MeunierCurran HatlebergTrish MorrisseyMoises SamanYelena YemchukBenjamin RassmussenIan BerryLuca LocatelliCorinne DufkaMax PamLeonard Pongo Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

Leonard Pongo is a Belgian-Congolese photographer and visual artist. His long-term project The Uncanny, shot in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has earned him several international awards and world-wide recognition and was published as a book by GOST earlier this year (2023) as a result of Leonard receiving the ICP GOST First Photo Book Award in 2020.Leonard’s work has been published worldwide and featured in numerous exhibitions including the recent IncarNations at the Bozar Center for Fine Arts and the The 3rd Beijing Photo Biennial at CAFA Art Museum. He was chosen as one of PDN’s 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch in 2016, is a recipient of the Visura Grant 2017, the Getty Reportage Grant 2018 and was shortlisted for the Leica Oskar Barnack award in 2022.Leonard’s latest project, Primordial Earth, was shown at the Lubumbashi Biennial and at the Rencontres de Bamako where it was awarded the “Prix de l’OIF”. It was exhibited at the Brussels Centre for Fine Arts for Leonard’s first institutional solo show in Belgium in 2021, at the Oostende Museum of Modern Art and is currently feartured as part of a group show entitled A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography at Tate Modern until January 14th 2024.Leonard divides his time between pursuing long term projects in Congo DR, teaching and assignment work and is also a member of The Photographic Collective. His work is part of institutional and private collections.In episode 219 Leornard discusses, among other things:Early creativity encouraged by his architect fatherHis first experience with photographyHis early desire to go to the DRCHis first trip in 2011 against the backdrop of an electionSensory overwhelmPlaying with mood and ambiguityWinning the Unseen-Gost Books Publishing AwardEditing down from 70,000 imagesHis Primordial Earth projectHis short film The Necessary EvilWebsite | Instagram“I think behind all the constructions and expectations, right or wrong, that I might have had, there was behind it at the core a very intense need for experience... the only way I could create relations to the land and the environment itself - not the people because that was easy, that was natural - but to the rest, the context, was through experiencing it. It felt to me that was the only way I could ever have anything to say about it.” Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

Featuring:Andrea ModicaJesse LenzMelissa DeWittTodd HidoKristen Joy EmackAnastasia SamoylovaMimi MollicaMimi PlumbJane Evelyn AtwoodChristopher AndersonTim CarpenterSofia KrysiakNelson ChanTom Booth WoodgerSilvana TrevaleGianluca GamberiniGregory BarkerDewi Lewis Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

Max Pam is an Australian photographer born in 1949 in suburban Melbourne, which as a teenager he found to be grim, oppressive and culturally isolated. He found refuge in the counter-culture of surfing and the imagery of National Geographic and Surfer Magazine and became determined to travel overseas.Max left Australia at 20, after accepting a job as a photographer assisting an astrophysicist. Together, the pair drove a VW Beetle from Calcutta to London. This adventure proved inspirational, and travel has remained a crucial and continuous link to his creative and personal development. As Gary Dufour noted in his essay in Indian Ocean Journals (Steidl, 2000): “Each photograph is shaped by incidents experienced as a traveller. His photographs extend upon the tradition of the gazetteer; each photograph a record of an experience, a personal account of an encounter somewhere in the world. Each glimpse is part of an unfolding story rather than simply a record of a place observed. While travel underscores his production Pam’s photographs are not the accidental evidence of a tourist.”Max’s work takes the viewer on compelling journeys around the globe, recording observations with an often surrealist intensity, matching the heightened sensory awareness of foreign travel. The work frequently implies an interior, psychic journey, corresponding with the physical journey of travel. His work in Asian counties is well represented in publications as are his travels in Europe, Australia, and the Indian Ocean Rim cultures including India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Yemen, The Republic of Tanzania, Mauritius, Madagascar, the Cocos and Christmas Islands. The images leave the viewer, as Tim Winton said in Going East (Marval 1992), “grateful for having been taken so mysteriously by surprise and so far and sweetly abroad.”Max’s first survey show was held at the Art Gallery of Western Australia in 1986, and was followed by a mid-career retrospective at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1991. He was also the subject of a major exhibition at the Comptoir de la Photographie, Paris in 1990, which covered the work of three decades. He has published several highly acclaimed photographic monographs and 'carnets de voyage', including Going East: Twenty Years of Asian Photography (1992), Max Pam (1999), Ethiopia (1999) and Indian Ocean Journals (2000). Going East won Europe’s major photo book award the Grand Prix du Livre Photographique in 1992. In the same year Max held his largest solo show to date at the Sogo Nara Museum of Art, Nara. He has published work in the leading international journals and is represented in major public and private collections in Australia, Great Britain, France and Japan.In episode 217 Max discusses, among other things:How he adopted the visual diary as his photographic approach.The influence of Diane Arbus.Why he chose such a specific period of his life to explore in his new memoir.How Arbus inspired him to shoot 6x6.How surfing in Australia introduced him travelling.How he ended up in India and why it fascinates him.The magic of film vs. digital.Working with book designers… or not.The time he failed to get into Magnum Photos.Surviving financially, teaching, and the importance of ‘marrying up’.Travel and family.Returning to Australia in a poor mental state, post typhoid.His wife’s Alzheimer’s and eventual death.Referenced:Philip Jones-GriffithDon McCullenLarry BurrowsDavid BaileyDiane ArbusEdward WestonTina ModottiRoger BallenGeorge OrwellBernard PlossuRamon PezSarah MoonOne Flew Over The Cuckoos NestPeter Beard Website | Instagram“I’m a very curious person and ultimately having the camera amplifies that curiosity in a really profound way. And it also gives you carte blanche to stick your head into areas where normally you’d think ‘ah, it’s a bit dodgy, maybe not, I could get my head cut off it I stuck it in the hole…’ But often then you think, ‘well come on man, you’ve got a camera there, isn’t this part of your self image?’ And so it’s like this ticket to ride on something that is actually quite dangerous.” Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

Corinne Dufka is an American photojournalist, human rights researcher, criminal investigator, and psychiatric social worker.Following completion of her master's degree in social work, Corinne worked as a humanitarian volunteer and social worker in Latin America. She volunteered with Nicaraguan refugees during the country's revolution, and with victims of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake. She then moved to El Salvador as a social worker with the Lutheran church. While in El Salvador, Corinne became close with local photojournalists, and was asked by the director of a local human rights organization to launch a program to document human rights abuses through photography.Over the course of her subsequent twelve year career as a photojournalist she covered more than a dozen of the world’s bloodiest armed conflicts across three continents and was honored with the Robert Capa gold medal; a World Press Club Award; a Pulitzer nomination; and the Courage in Journalism Award.In 1998 Corinne went to Nairobi, Kenya to cover the bombing of the American Embassy. She arrived hours after the blast, and was deeply frustrated by 'missing the scoop.' Later, upon watching the news coverage of the attack, Corinne realized that she had lost “compassion” for the subjects of her work, and resolved to end her career as a photojournalist.After leaving photojournalism, Corinne joined Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental organization. In 2003, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, alternatively known as a ‘genius grant’, for her journalistic and documentary work documenting the 'devastation' of Sierra Leone and the conflict's toll on human rights.Corinne left HRW in 2022 and is now an independent researcher and advisor, focusing on helping countries mitigate the risk of armed conflict. Corinne has a daughter and a foster son and lives in Maryland with her four dogs. Corinne’s new book This Is War: Photographs from a Decade of Conflict is out now, published by G Editions. In episode 216 Corinne discusses, among other things:Her reasons for publishing a book of her photograhsThe experience of revisiting her archiveHer transition from psychiatric social worker to photojournalistHow she learnt the basics of photography in El SalvadorHow her family history and a challenges in childhood formed her independenceGetting badly injured in BosniaThe relative dangers of different types of conflictHer experiences of violence in LiberiaThe epiphany that led her to walk away from photojournalismHer work with Human Rights Watch‘Curiosity and compassion’Making an impact“I just don’t do ‘hopeless’. I constantly try to find a way of having impact. And photography has so much impact. Using people’s voices through testimony has so much impact. And one has to believe that people are inherently good and they inherently care and that they can be moved when presented with these images. People in positions of influence. So that is a given in everything I’ve done. That this work will have an impact. It may have to be repeated again and again and again, multiplied by other practitioners in photography or human rights, but it will have an impact.” Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

Italian photographer Luca Locatelli describes himself as an environmental visual storyteller. For more than a decade Luca has aimed to open a debate about the environment and our future with his work by synergizing art, science, and journalism to explore the world’s most promising solutions to the climate crisis. As an artist, Luca is concerned with trying to translate complex scientific data into visually engaging images and distribute them on social networks, in publications and at events. His work has been published in international media such as National Geographic, The New York Times, and TIME. It has also been displayed in prominent global venues, including the Guggenheim Museum of New York, the Shangai Center of Photography, and others. In addition, for over two years, Luca has been working on a significant and immersive cultural project about the Circular Economy with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which is now an exhibition entitled The Circle at Gallerie D’Italia Museum of Turin, Italy, until February 2024. Since 2004 Luca has been a founding partner of a non-governmental association that contributes to protect 600 thousand hectares of tropical forest in the Amazon. In episode 215 Luca discusses, among other things:How it started with a trip up the AmazonTrying to do 2 things and failingHow he discovered a talent for generating good story ideasExploring his interest in ways that technology can help solve the environmental crisisHis project about food, Hunger SolutionsHow he became interested in the circular economyThe End of Trash - Circular Economy SolutionsStealing the idea of ‘Think Week’ from Bill GatesHow he thinks about his own carbon footprintThe problem of fast fashionDeveloping economiesFuture generationsHopes that his work can have an impactCreating ‘disorientation’ in the viewerThe hope of nature-based solutionsReferenced:Kathy RyanChe GuevaraBill Gates Website | Instagram“When we think about photography and changing the world we always think in one direction… we think that photography is about the last flood, about the last fire, the last tremendous things happening in the world with climate change. It’s not the only perspective. What if we can give to young people pictures that can show them solutions and a way of imagining and opening a debate about the future?” Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

In episode 214:An audio clip from each of the top 10 most downloaded episodes of all time (as of September 2023).10 - Tom Craig (Episode 130)09 - Martin Parr #2 (Episode 197)08 - Tom Wood (Episode 160)07 - Todd Hido (Episode 103)06 - Chris Killip (Episode 094)05 - Paul Graham (Episode 149)04 - Alex Webb & Rebecca Norris Webb (Episode 105)03 - Stephen Shore (Episode 192)02 - Mark Steinmetz (Episode 112)01 - Martin Parr (Episode 091)And a swift tour of the Bonus Questions which all guests now answer for the member-only podcast:What has photography taught you about yourself or life in general?What is your greatest strength and your main weakness as a photographer?If you could meet your 20 year-old self now, what advice would you give to her/him?What’s the one most essential lesson you would pass on to someone considering a photography ‘career’ today?How has a failure, or what seemed like a failure at the time, set you up for later success? Do you have a “favourite failure” of yours?Can you think of any ideas or beliefs - whether about photography or anything else in life - that you have now reversed or totally changed your position on?Is there a photobook that has a special place in your heart or a particular significance, or that has been especially influential or inspiring to you?Do you have a favourite photographer, if you absolutely had to pick someone? Why them?Are there any notable photobooks or photographers that you have only just discovered for the first time in recent years?If and when you feel creatively exhausted, uninspired or blocked what do you do to get yourself moving forward again?How do you deal with self doubt if and when it arises? Do you have any strategies or habits that you come back to?What other artforms or cultural output, either highbrow or popular, do you consume, enjoy or take inspiration from?What is the thing you like most about photography or about being a photographer? What is the thing you like the least?How do you deal with juggling the need to make a living with finding time to pursue personal projects that don’t necessarily earn you any money?How do you manage a work/life balance and deal with juggling career with relationship/home/family life?What do you think you might have ended up doing if you hadn’t become a photographer and would you have been good at it?What are you hopes for the future? Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

Ian Berry was born in 1934 in Lancashire, England. He made his reputation in South Africa, where he worked for the Daily Mail and later for Drum magazine. He was the only photographer to document the massacre at Sharpeville in 1960, and his photographs were used in the trial to prove the victims' innocence.Henri Cartier-Bresson invited Ian to join Magnum in 1962, when he was based in Paris. He moved to London in 1964 to become the first contract photographer for the Observer Magazine. Since then assignments have taken him around the world: he has documented Russia's invasion of Czechoslovakia; conflicts in Israel, Ireland, Vietnam and the Congo; famine in Ethiopia; and apartheid in South Africa. The major body of work produced in South Africa is represented in two of his books: Black and Whites: L'Afrique du Sud and Living Apart (1996).Important editorial assignments have included work for National Geographic, Fortune, Stern, Geo, national Sunday magazines, Esquire, Paris-Match and Life. Berry has also reported on the political and social transformations in China and the former USSR. Recent projects have involved tracing the route of the Silk Road through Turkey, Iran and southern Central Asia to northern China for Conde Nast Traveler, photographing Berlin for a Stern supplement, the Three Gorges Dam project in China for the Telegraph Magazine, Greenland for a book on climate control and child slavery in Africa.Ian’s recent book, Water (GOST Books, 2022), brings together many classic images from Ian’s extensive archive with material shot over the course of 15 years travelling the globe to document the inextricable links between landscape, life and water. This new book brings together a selection of the resulting images which collectively tell the story of man’s complex relationship with water — at a time when climate change demonstrates just how precariously water and life are intertwined. In episode 213, Ian discusses, among other things:How all the pics in Water came to be used as B&WHow the project came aboutHow he got into photographyHow he came to be the only photographer at the Sharpeville MassacreThe importance of luckGetting into Magnum after a tea with HCB and a disasterous first meetingChanges in Magnum over the years - and photography in generalThe controversy over David Allan Harvey and the subsequent action by MagnumEverything being ‘too woke’Learining from other people and looking at contact sheets Referenced:Stuart SmithAbbasRoger MaddenDrum MagazineTom HopkinsonThe Sharpeville MassacreMichele Chevalier (Visa)Marc RiboudReni BurriHenri Cartier BressonBurt GlinnPeter DenchDavid Allan HarveySteve McCurryBruce DavidsonPhilip Jones GriffithsGilles PeressBruno BarbeyWerner Bischof Website | Instgram“I brought along my contact sheets which Henri spent ages going through. And he said ‘great, good to have you’. And I went back upstairs afterwards and they said ‘fine, you’re in Magnum.’ And that was it…” Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

Benjamin Rasmussen is a Faroese/American photographer living in Denver, Colorado.After growing up in the Philippines and studying photography at Ateneo de Manila University, he moved to the United States to explore contemporary American identity. His practice is research and photography based and centers on the intersection of law, history and sociology.Benjamin works for magazines including Time, The New Yorker and The Atlantic. He is also the founder of Pattern, an exhibition and educational space in Denver, Colorado that works to spark dialogue and acts as a meeting place for the art and documentary worlds.  Benjamin’s debut photobook, The Good Citizen, which explores how American society came to be what it is today, was published last year by GOST books. In episode 212, Benjamin discusses, among other things:His origin story growing up in the Philipines and then moving to the USA for collegeGrowing up amidst his family’s deeply religious rootsBy The Olive Trees projectFaroese hunting pilot whales - storyFaroe islands being too picturesqueThe dark side of his American familyThe origins of The Good Citizen projectThe five chapter structure of the bookBook banning in the USATrumpHis optimism re. photojournalismThe implications of AI Referenced:Michael BrownDred ScottStuart SmithFrank H WuTa-Nehisi CoatesJuan Fuentes“I’ve survived largely off editiorial commissions for the past 10-15 years. It’s been really interesting.You have a lot more complex voices who are involved even in my short history of it. The reality is that in my entire career rates haven’t changed. It’s getting increasingly difficult to survive financially, but I think in terms of the conversations that are happening it’s gotten so much more interesting. ” Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.  

Yelena Yemchuk's output as a visual artist is immediately recognizable, regardless of medium. Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, Yelena immigrated to the United States with her parents when she was eleven. She became interested in photography when her father gave her a 35mm Minolta camera for her fourteenth birthday.Yelena went on to study art at Parsons in New York and photography at Art Center in Pasadena. Yelena has exhibited paintings, films and photography at galleries and museums worldwide. She has shot for the New Yorker, New York Times, Another, ID, Vogue, and others.Yelena released her first book Gidropark, published by Damiani in April 2011, followed by Anna Maria, published by United Vagabonds in September 2017. Yelena had her first institutional debut with her project Mabel, Betty & Bette, a photography and video work at the Dallas Contemporary Museum. A monograph with the same title was released by Kominek Books in March 2021. Her newest book Odesa was released in May 2022, by Gost Books.In episode 211, Yelena discusses, among other things:The relevance of her book to the current warThe “immigrant parent bullshit story”Moving to New YorkThe influence of her uncle and her dad’s best friendDiscovering her calling at art school doing photographyHer early career success, including working with Smashing PumpkinsReturning to Ukraine in 1990Gidropark projectDeciding to focus on her personal workMabel, Betty & BetteYYY, published by Depart pour l’imageOdessa being “love at first sight”Deciding to focus on the youthForthcoming book, Milanka“It was very clear to me that I needed to tell the story of these people. Not just the cadets, but the story of the people in Odesa. And it was like an urgency. I wanted to go back all the time. If i didn’t have kids I probably would have just stayed there. I couldn’t get enough… I was going back and forth. I couldn’t stop. I had to tell this story. I had to shoot these people. It was like a romance. It was like I had a lover over there.” Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.