Podcast
The Photowalk
Hosted by Neale James · EN
The Photowalk is a mailbag-driven podcast where we walk and make pictures together, and meet with special guests along the trail. For anyone who likes to take pictures. Available wherever you get your podcasts.
33episodes
Episodes
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#533 Welcome aboard the TIME MACHINE
1w ago01:39:20Tap to summarizeThis week on The Photowalk podcast, I'm joined by photographer and collector Tim Rice, whose remarkable archive of cameras, lenses, film stocks and photographic memorabilia has become something of a museum dedicated to photography's past. From rare equipment to historically important oddities, we talk about the stories attached to the machines that once documented the world. Also returning to the show is independent curator and photography historian Hilary Roberts, former Head Curator of Photography at the Imperial War Museums, as we explore the idea of curation through photographs, archives, memory and history. In the mailbag, Phil Ferris writes from Oregon reflecting on place, stillness and impermanence before returning home to Cornwall, Don Ridgway follows the ancient stone circles of Britain and Tyler Cahoon shares thoughts from his Camino walk between Porto and Santiago, where photography became less about documenting others and more about understanding himself. There's also the return of The Photo Assignment, plus news about the launch of the very first Photowalk zine, REFLECTIONS. Read more about our photographic adventures on our photography travel website, The Journey Beyond. Links to all guests and features will be on the show page, my sincere thanks to our Extra Milers, without whom we wouldn't be walking each week and Arthelper.ai, giving photographers smart tools to plan, promote, and manage your creative projects more easily. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available HERE.
Transcribe →#532 Finding solace in the symphony of sunrise
2w ago01:43:17Tap to summarizeThis week's guest is Paul Sanders, who returns after a long absence to talk about his latest move to seek 'still'. Paul spent years operating at the sharp end of British newspaper photography as Picture Editor of The Times, living among relentless deadlines, pressure, and the pursuit of tomorrow's front page. Somewhere within that world, though, he began to realise that achievement and contentment don't always arrive hand in hand. Over time, photography became less about proving himself and more about paying attention again. His pictures now are often shaped by solitude, weather, atmosphere, and the Cornish landscape. He speaks honestly about burnout, depression, creativity, and rebuilding a sense of purpose through time spent alone with a camera. We also discuss his new book, Still, which sold out within weeks of its initial publication. In the mailbag today, Adriano Henney discovers that his toughest critic may in fact be living under the same roof, David Munro is beginning a photographic project that lets him follow the beautiful game wherever his travels happen to take him, Glenn Sowerby finds himself among the black velvet and eyeliner of a Goth festival, our own Neil Ford is photographing people dressed in foam costumes while attempting half marathon world records, and Bob Demers, (Bob of the Desert) is asking the world to stop shouting! Read more about our photographic adventures on our photography travel website, The Journey Beyond. Links to all guests and features will be on the show page, my sincere thanks to our Extra Milers, without whom we wouldn't be walking each week and Arthelper.ai, giving photographers smart tools to plan, promote, and manage your creative projects more easily. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available here.
Transcribe →#531 "Failing is a big part of photography, I LOVE to fail!"
3w ago01:40:34Tap to summarizeThis week's guest is American photographer Tim Rice, whose career has covered everything from social photography and headshots to branding and commercial work, the sort of varied, real-world photography that has supported generations of working professionals behind the camera. Tim began his journey running a one-hour photo lab before the arrival of digital photography changed the industry almost overnight. Our conversation explores that transition, alongside his enduring affection for film, analogue processes, vinyl records, and cinema. In the first part of this extended conversation, we talk about photography's changing landscape, craftsmanship, and the value of physical media in an increasingly digital world. We also discuss Tim's upcoming photographic road trip across America's "middle ground", inspired by the observations and journeys of photographers Todd Webb and Robert Frank during the 1950s. In this week's mailbag, R.J. Campbell reflects on a photograph of his father and on how certain pictures seem to take on more meaning as the years pass. The biscuit tin question produces a wonderfully inventive collection of answers, Kari Price writes in from Australia with a letter that somehow manages to connect macro photography, street observation, Honeybrown beetles and burnt Basque cheesecake, Kelvin Brown is tempting us with barge life and Dennis Muir reflects on the hidden realities of photography, including muddy parking spots and creaking joints. Read more about our photographic adventures on our photography travel website, The Journey Beyond. Links to all guests and features will be on the show page, my sincere thanks to our Extra Milers, without whom we wouldn't be walking each week and Arthelper.ai, giving photographers smart tools to plan, promote, and manage your creative projects more easily. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available here.
Transcribe →#530 Sean Tucker on writing: What pictures cannot say
4w ago01:43:57Tap to summarizeI'm joined by photographer, writer and philosophical YouTuber Sean Tucker for a conversation about writing as a creative act; a way of noticing, a way of understanding yourself, and perhaps even a way of staying awake to life. What began as a listener letter about creative block and photography has become a much bigger conversation about expression itself and how sometimes words can unlock parts of our creativity that pictures alone cannot reach. Sean talks beautifully about the role writing now plays in his daily life and creative practice, how it sharpens observation, and why putting thoughts onto a page can become far more than simply "content creation." Along the way, we wander into philosophy, memory, creativity, identity, grief, and the strange human need to make sense of our experiences by shaping them into stories. The conversation also touches gently and honestly on personal loss and suicide, particularly toward the latter part of the episode. And because writing has increasingly become part of my own creative life too, I also share a deeply personal audio essay from the series Halfway to Maybe about gratitude, existence, loss, and the sheer improbability of being alive at all. This is a thoughtful edition, most certainly, a reflective one, and a conversation about creativity. In the mailbag, Tomas Nilsson is thanking Holga for his newfound vigour for photography, appreciating that sounds a little like an interesting cheese and wine party from the 70s, Kelvin Brown has essential viewing homework for a weekend film, and Adam Flack solves the strange barking in the woods that unnerved me in an earlier episode. Read more about our photographic adventures on our photography travel website, The Journey Beyond. Links to all guests and features will be on the show page, my sincere thanks to our Extra Milers, without whom we wouldn't be walking each week and Arthelper.ai, giving photographers smart tools to plan, promote, and manage your creative projects more easily. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available here.
Transcribe →#529 "Don't ever lose these pictures"
May 101:29:57Tap to summarizeToday I feature Fran May, a British photographer whose black-and-white work from the 1970s captures a version of Britain that has largely vanished: northern towns, street markets, pubs, kids playing out, and Brick Lane in London. What makes the photographs remarkable is how unforced they feel. Nothing is staged, nothing is trying too hard. They are just honest slices of ordinary life, made by someone who came to England from the wide open spaces of Canada and Hawaii and found something worth documenting in the terraced streets and shop fronts of a country that still had one foot firmly in the post-war years. Fran worked under the mentorship of Bill Brandt, and it shows in the seriousness with which she approached the everyday. There's a touch of street about the show because Valerie Jardin returns for another edition of Teach Me Street. The mailbag is as wonderfully unpredictable as ever: Margaret Ellison in New Zealand writes about losing her way photographically and finding it again through writing; Robin Taylor-Hunt, Maurice Webster and Colin Mayer send postcards from India, Venice and what appears to be a particularly chilly beach in Blackpool, respectively; and Gene Westberg is celebrating our profanity-free zone. We'll remind you of this quarter's photo assignment, and you're invited to join the show for this year's Photowalk meet-up at a country fair to make photographs of people. Read more about our photographic adventures on our photography travel website, The Journey Beyond. Links to all guests and features will be on the show page, my sincere thanks to our Extra Milers, without whom we wouldn't be walking each week and Arthelper.ai, giving photographers smart tools to plan, promote, and manage your creative projects more easily. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available here.
Transcribe →#528 Mike Tyson and the pigeon
Apr 2401:35:44Tap to summarizeThis week's guest is Paul Mobley, one of America's most accomplished portrait photographers, a man who has spent his career looking people in the eye to tell their stories through photography. He trained under Annie Leibovitz in New York, went on to shoot for some of the biggest names in advertising and editorial, and has pointed his lens at everyone from Adam Sandler and Daniel Radcliffe to Amy Schumer and Bill Burr, as well as major brands like Apple, Ford and American Express. But it's his personal work that sets him apart. Paul has spent years driving across the United States, well over 100,000 miles of it, making four books that document ordinary Americans living lives most people never stop to notice. Farmers, firefighters, everyday heroes, and centenarians in all fifty states who've lived through world wars, the space age and the digital revolution and still have something to say. He shares stories about how he puts sitters at ease, plus a tale where it could have all gone wrong with Mike Tyson, until a pigeon showed up. Also, in the mailbag as we walk, between my chat with Paul, you are about to be introduced today by Phil Ferris to an Australian urban poet who is the gem in my life I didn't know I needed, but now I've found him, I need to share his name with you. Wallace Shackleton shares his memory of the Camino by bike, a slight warning for reasons that will become clear; Richard Rawlings' letter is most likely to make you itch, and we check in with Raja Bhagavatula, who has found his own magical place on earth, in Scotland, next to an oil rig. Read more about our photographic adventures on our photography travel website, The Journey Beyond. Links to all guests and features will be on the show page, my sincere thanks to our Extra Milers, without whom we wouldn't be walking each week and Arthelper.ai, giving photographers smart tools to plan, promote, and manage your creative projects more easily. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available here.
Transcribe →#527 A society of the Endless Image
Apr 1701:39:24Tap to summarizeThis week's guest is Ruth Guest, a photographer and cyberpsychologist who's spent a lot of time thinking about what's really going on when we make pictures in a world that never seems to stop producing them. We explore the topics of losing your spark with photography, the pressure of everything we see online, and what happens when you start copying others without even realising it. It's less about cameras and more about what's happening in your head when you pick one up. We also touch on why we shoot in the first place, whether it's for work, for memory, or just to hold on to something that matters, plus what changes once those images are shared with the world. If you've ever questioned your own reasons for taking pictures or felt a bit lost in all the noise, this is an episode for you. In the mailbag this week, Jeff Smeraldo writes in about photographing family and why it matters more than we often realise, especially when it comes to legacy. Hegaard the Dane is stepping into what he calls a "proper grown-up job," which somehow leads us to news of a brand-new meet-up. Dennis Linden introduces a YouTuber who came to photography later in life, someone who didn't follow the usual path, and the photo assignment returns, set by photographer and artist Gael Hillyard. Read more about our photographic adventures on our photography travel website, The Journey Beyond. Links to all guests and features will be on the show page, my sincere thanks to our Extra Milers, without whom we wouldn't be walking each week and Arthelper.ai, giving photographers smart tools to plan, promote, and manage your creative projects more easily. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available here.
Transcribe →#526 The India Photowalk Special 2026
Apr 202:23:41Tap to summarizeIndia is not a country that eases you in gently. It doesn't really do gentle. It's a place of somewhere between 1.4 and 1.5 billion people, the most populous nation on earth, having overtaken China in 2023, and it carries that scale in everything: the noise, the colour, the traffic, the sheer press of human life happening all around you at once. It is the world's largest democracy, has a space programme, a film industry that dwarfs Hollywood, and somewhere in excess of twenty official languages. It's not a country so much as a civilisation that happens to have borders around it. In this special, we go to two cities. Kolkata, in the east, formerly Calcutta, and Varanasi, on the Ganges, which may well be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world and which confronts you, very directly, with questions about life and death that most of us spend considerable energy avoiding. Into all of this walked eight photographers, Anne, Bill, Fraser, Lloyd, Mercedes, Nicola, Owen and Peter, along with my travelling partner, in The Journey Beyond Lynn Fraser, and our Indian mentors and guides: Shivam, Shubh, Mohit and Arvind. What you're about to hear is an India special edition of the Photowalk Podcast, and honestly, as you'll hear, it affected us in ways we weren't expecting. It's a long episode, and for that I make no apology… but I hope that, with the music, the characters, the surprises, and the scenes described, you will feel you have photowalked there with us. Read more about our photographic adventures on our photography travel website, The Journey Beyond. Links to all guests and features will be on the show page, my sincere thanks to our Extra Milers, without whom we wouldn't be walking each week and Arthelper.ai, giving photographers smart tools to plan, promote, and manage your creative projects more easily. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available here.
Transcribe →#525 How to change your life profoundly
Mar 2701:24:26Tap to summarizeAfter a handful of specials, four weeks away from the studio, and a journey that took me from Austria to Bangladesh and on into India, it feels a little overdue, and very welcome, to make this a mailbag week, walking one of my favourite photowalk paths with camera and Sir Barkalot, spending a good hour and a bit with the letters you've been sending in, some contemplative music, the wind doing its thing along the path, and the welcome return of Valerie Jardin, our street photography mentor, fresh from her own travels in Mexico, for TEACH ME STREET. Letters and stories today from Martyn Cox, who wonders if exotic places and travel lead to making better photographs, Paul Morgan has some thoughts on Bangladesh and her workforce, Andreas Noeh shares a super project from New York where loft life rules for artists, Jon Otis has me diving for cover behind the sofa of flattery, Dennis Linden is researching family history and creating his own, Tom Cavness practices Haiku, and Monika Adler finds profound beauty and peace with her photography and a famous English backdrop. Read more about our photographic adventures on our photography travel website, The Journey Beyond. Links to all guests and features will be on the show page, my sincere thanks to our Extra Milers, without whom we wouldn't be walking each week and Arthelper.ai, giving photographers smart tools to plan, promote, and manage your creative projects more easily. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available here.
Transcribe →#524 The Bangladesh Photowalk Special
Mar 2001:34:17Tap to summarizeToday, the show travels to Bangladesh. It's the first of two specials, as we visit India too in the coming weeks. Bangladesh is roughly the size of England, with a population of between 170 and 200 million people. Dhaka is one of the busiest, loudest, most relentlessly alive cities you are ever likely to walk through. The city runs on noise, an orchestra of car, bus, rickshaw and tuk-tuk horns and beeps that never quite stops, layers of sound that, after a while, start to feel almost normal. We walk the riverbanks of the Buriganga, explore the shipyards of Keraniganj, lose ourselves in the markets of Old Dhaka, and find ourselves unexpectedly invited through a wall into a Krishna festival in full swing. Along the way, we photograph the sand carriers of the river and spend time in a city that rewards anyone willing to look past the surface. Into all of this walked my travel partner, Lynn Fraser, and I, with cameras and the great fortune of having GMB Akash as our guide, a World Press Photo winner who has spent his career photographing lives on the margins in a way that gives people back their dignity rather than reducing them to their hardships. This isn't a formal interview with him, more time spent together in his city, with his people. You'll get a very clear sense of who he is. We certainly did. Read more about our photographic adventures on our photography travel website, The Journey Beyond. Links to all guests and features will be on the show page, my sincere thanks to our Extra Milers, without whom we wouldn't be walking each week and Arthelper.ai, giving photographers smart tools to plan, promote, and manage your creative projects more easily. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available here.
Transcribe →