The Photowalk

Neale James

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.

  1. 1 day ago

    #546 Honesty, vulnerability and inspiration

    There have been some extraordinary photographers walking with me on The Photowalk over the years, sharing their work, their lives, what they've learned and the reasons they continue to pick up a camera. But this programme has always belonged to you as well. Every week, photographs and stories arrive from around the world: places you've stumbled across, people you've met, pictures that have come to mean more than you expected, and walks taken because you simply needed to get out for a while. The Photowalk became as much about what happens while we're out there as the pictures we bring home. Photography gives us a reason to look, and walking gives us the time to notice. From there we find ourselves talking about creativity, friendship, family, loss, confidence, getting older, curiosity, mental health and all the other stuff that finds its way into life. I've always been more interested in why you pressed the shutter than which button you pressed to do it. Why you stopped. Why something caught your attention. Why you went out that morning with a camera in the first place. So today I'm handing the show over to you: your pictures, your letters, your walks and the things you've noticed along the way. 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. BUY THE NEW SHOW ZINE, REFLECTIONS

  2. 14 Aug

    #543 The day we chased the moon

    Following this week's solar eclipse, which brought a partial eclipse to the UK, much of Europe and parts of North America, we return to The Photowalk archive for one of the most extraordinary stories ever told on the show. Photographer Jon Carmichael wanted to photograph a total solar eclipse from 39,000 feet aboard a commercial airliner. That meant calculating where the Moon's shadow would fall, finding a flight capable of meeting it, and somehow securing exactly the right seat. What followed is a remarkable story of planning, persuasion, good fortune and photography, beginning with the influence of a geography teacher and eventually leading to an image bought by Elton John. Even if you've heard Jon tell parts of this story elsewhere, including in his TED Talk, this is one worth pulling up an imaginary bar stool for and hearing again. It's a genuine dine-out-on-it-for-the-rest-of-your-life story about being in precisely the right place, several miles above the Earth, at precisely the right moment. Also today, from our Facebook community, Pascal Bernandon shares Shared Loneliness. Over in the mailbag, Per Birkhaug finds his photographic 'why' with a little help from three reindeer, while Gert Van Cole wonders why so many photographers stray into other creative pursuits. Plus, our new feature Moments officially begins, with next week's guest, travel photographer Ewen Bell. 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. BUY THE NEW SHOW ZINE, REFLECTIONS

  3. 24 Jul

    #541 Stories from beside the road

    We pass roadside memorials every day. A cross, a handful of fading flowers, a photograph weathered by the sun. Most of us glance at them for a moment before driving on. Photographer Miranda Remington did something different. She stopped. What began as a simple act of curiosity became a deeply personal project, introducing her to families who continue to care for these places of remembrance and sharing the stories behind them. In this conversation, we explore photography's unique ability to preserve memory, the trust required to tell someone else's story, and why some acts of love don't end with goodbye. It's a remarkable reminder that every memorial marks not just a loss, but a life that continues to be remembered. Plus, in the mailbag, Adam Flack and Mark Mackay reveal their dream portrait photographers, though one choice may require a time machine. Dan Langer finds himself inadvertently ruffling military feathers, Gordon Oliver shares a rabbit hole that completely hijacked my evening, and Mark Christensen has found the new collective noun for a 'gaggle' of photographers. 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. BUY THE NEW SHOW ZINE, REFLECTIONS

  4. 10 Jul

    #539 "A life worth living"

    This week, the conversation with Harry Borden moves beyond the portraits that made his name and into the ideas that continue to drive him. We talk about his "why", his growing YouTube channel and the deeply personal 4 Hugs Wide project. Harry also reflects on the detached retina that changed his outlook on life and speaks openly about a particularly difficult period, so just a gentle note that this part of the conversation touches on mental health. It's an honest, thoughtful and optimistic discussion with one of Britain's most respected portrait photographers. From the mailbag, we have some Hoptimism from Denmarkland too... and with an H. All will be revealed in a letter from Hegaard the Dane. If you don't believe in the power of a photograph, then Jim Farmer just might change your mind with today's opening letter. Chris Rawlings puts photography, AI and digital art into the same boxing ring with a question that's sure to divide opinion. We've got some biscuit tin answers to the question, "Which photographer, past or present, would you choose to make your portrait?" Valerie Jardin returns with this month's Teach Me Street, where she's very happily disappearing into a world of black and white, and the last letter of the show has a tortoise theme. 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. BUY THE NEW SHOW ZINE, REFLECTIONS

About

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.

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