TOTIM Exposures

Where professionals talk documentary photography—technique, ethics, and intent.
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Documentary
  • Updated Biweekly

TOTIM Exposures is a forum for photojournalists and industry adjacent professionals to interview featured contributors to the TOTIM app. Each episode covers the photographer’s background, career path, and approach to their work. Conversations focus on photographic technique, the purpose and intention behind each story, and a detailed debrief of how the story was produced and executed. The podcast is intended for anyone interested in the process and challenges of documentary photojournalism. totim.substack.com

  1. Sep 24

    Mohamed Mahdy / Tasneem Alsultan - “Moon Dust” Podcast

    In episode 030 of Exposures, Mohamed Mahdy and Tasneem Alsultan discuss the relationship between documentary photography, community participation, and social responsibility. Drawing on Moon Dust, his project in Wadi El Qamar, Alexandria, Mahdy explains how living with residents shaped his documentation of conditions near a cement factory. He describes the practical and ethical challenges of the work, including risks to participants, restrictions on publishing sensitive documents, and the need to establish trust over time. The discussion also addresses the project’s role in generating material support for residents through exhibitions, donations, and the provision of medication and respiratory equipment. Mahdy also discusses an ongoing project with the fishing community in Al-Max, Alexandria which extends this approach by incorporating residents’ written accounts as a vital element of the work. Their participation informs both the content and presentation of a project concerned with displacement and collective memory. The conversation situates these methods within the financial and institutional constraints facing locally based photographers, particularly the difficulty of sustaining extended projects while meeting personal obligations. It also considers how image selection and publication formats affect the representation of communities whose experiences exceed the scope of a brief photographic series. About Mohamed Mahdy Mohamed Mahdy is a visual storyteller and educator based in Alexandria, Egypt. He holds a degree in Arts and Design from Pharos University in Alexandria (PUA) and completed two diplomas at the Danish School for Media and Journalism (DMJX) in Aarhus, Denmark, supported by a scholarship from the Ecca Family Foundation. He is a 2021 Photography & Social Justice Fellow with the Magnum Foundation, and has participated in workshops and seminars with National Geographic, AFAC, PCF, and Mawred, as well as a residency at ESA — L’École Supérieure d’Art d’Aix-en-Provence. In 2018, Mahdy was named by the New York Times Lens Blog as one of twelve emerging photographers to watch. In 2022, The Guardian selected him as one of five emerging talents in photojournalism, and he received the Canon Student Development Program award that same year. His work has been exhibited internationally, including at Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, Altonaer Museum in Hamburg, Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, Geopolis in Belgium, Photoville in New York, and Sharjah Art Foundation. He has held three solo exhibitions in Egypt. About Tasneem Alsultan Tasneem Alsultan is a visual storyteller, investigative photographer and global mentor whose work focuses on social issues in the Arab Gulf region and challenges stereotypical perceptions of the Middle East. She is a regular contributor to National Geographic, National Geographic Travel and the New York Times. Tasneem became the first Arab female Global Ambassador for Canon in 2018, a Catchlight fellow in 2019, was voted the Princess Noura University Award for Excellence’ in the Arts Category and received honorable mention for the Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism. In 2020, she cofounded Ruwa Space, a platform to support visual creatives and offer education and consultation across the Middle East & North Africa. She’s a member of Rawiya women’s Middle Eastern photography collective. TOTIM is a new, nonprofit initiative built to support and amplify a global and diverse community of visual storytellers. We rely on your support to bring under-reported stories to light and sustain vital, independent documentary photography. Please consider a charitable, tax-deductible gift. RECENT EXPOSURES Toby Binder / Veejay Villafranca - “Youth of Belfast” Podcast K M Asad / DJ Clark- “Vanishing With the Waves” Podcast Yen Duong / Salgu Wismath - “Child Brides of China” Podcast MaryLynne Wrye / Yen Duong - “The Olive Grove” Podcast Noah Berger / Salgu Wismath - “Park Fire ‘24” Podcast Get full access to TOTIM at totim.substack.com/subscribe

  2. Sep 9

    Bradley Secker / Tracy Dong - “Kütmaan” Podcast

    In episode 029 of Exposures, Tracy Dong speaks with Istanbul-based photojournalist Bradley Secker about Kütmaan, his photographic project documenting displacement related to sexuality and gender identity. Their conversation considers a central tension in documentary photography around how visibility through documentation can amplify public recognition of an issue while exposing vulnerable communities to further risk. Secker also discusses consent with photographic subjects as an ongoing negotiation, shaped by participants’ safety, their control over identifying details, and their ability to withdraw from the project. Together, Dong and Secker consider how sustained relationships shape photographic practice, what responsibilities remain after an image is made, and how supporting language is necessary in providing context to images. To Experience “Kütmaan” DOWNLOAD TOTIM APP About Bradley Secker Bradley Secker is a British freelance photojournalist, based in Istanbul, Turkey. His personal work mostly focuses on the intersection of identity and migration, environmental adaption, and the long-term consequences of political and social change. Through traditional documentary practices, and more conceptual approaches, he attempts to expand the visual language of photojournalism, creating work that remains relevant beyond the news cycle. About Tracy Dong Tracy Dong is a Berlin-based, lens-based artist whose work is grounded in memory, resistance, and the poetics of diaspora. Drawing from her Southeast Asian heritage and diasporic lived experience, her practice examines how identity, belonging, and cultural memory are shaped and reshaped across borders and generations. With a principal focus on intimate depictions of marginalized subcultures, she proposes subversion and resistance to oppressive systems through deliberate documentation. TOTIM is a new, nonprofit initiative built to support and amplify a global and diverse community of visual storytellers. We rely on your support to bring under-reported stories to light and sustain vital, independent documentary photography. Please consider a charitable, tax-deductible gift. RECENT EXPOSURES Stephanie Keith / Camille Seaman - “Killing the Black Snake” Podcast Camille Seaman / Eros Hoagland - “Standing Rock 10 Years Later” Podcast Amber Maalouf / Ashlie Chavez - “Rarámuri of Chihuahua” Podcast Jocelyn Bain Hogg / Seamus Murphy - “An Education” Podcast Billy Miaron / Chona Mwemba - “Naidurra” Podcast O-Young Kwon / “At Her Brother’s Grave” Podcast Scott Wallace / Eros Hoagland “Covering El Salvador’s Civil War” Podcast Kris Graves / “LONG SUN DOWN” Podcast TOTIM is a bootstrapped nonprofit, please help us amplify these important voices by becoming a paid subscriber. 🙌 Get full access to TOTIM at totim.substack.com/subscribe

  3. Aug 27

    Stephanie Keith / Camille Seaman - “Killing the Black Snake” Podcast

    In episode 028 of Exposures, photographer Camille Seaman speaks with New York–based photojournalist Stephanie Keith about her career, her coverage of Standing Rock and her commitment to documenting injustice. Keith discusses how painting shaped her use of color, how living in Cairo led her to photography and how she built her career through assignments for The New York Times, Reuters and other major publications. The conversation centers on the six weeks she spent at the Oceti Sakowin encampment in 2016, where she photographed water protectors at Turtle Island and the violent confrontation at Backwater Bridge. Together, they examine the artistic, practical and emotional demands of photojournalism, the lasting lessons of Standing Rock, Keith’s continued coverage of social injustice and her advice for photographers pursuing consequential long-term work. To Experience “Killing the Black Snake” DOWNLOAD TOTIM APP About Stephanie Keith Stephanie Keith is a news photographer and videographer based in New York City. Her work focuses on social justice issues with an emphasis on Indigenous people’s experience and immigrant life in New York City. Working for Reuters and Getty, her work has been featured in many international publications and media outlets. The New York Times has published her photos on the cover of the newspaper 6 times from January 2015 to January 2022. Prior to moving to the New York City area, she lived in California, Germany and Egypt. She has been documenting the Brooklyn scene most of her photo career, doing stories about Coney Island, Drag Queen competitions, Muslim holidays, Caribbean street celebrations and the Haitian American practice of Vodou. Stephanie attended Stanford University, and received a Bachelor’s degree in Cultural Anthropology. Later she graduated from both the photojournalism program at International Center of Photography and the Master’s program in Photography at New York University. She lives in Brooklyn with her two kids and her two cats. About Camille Seaman Camille Seaman was born in 1969. She graduated in 1992 from the State University of New York at Purchase, where she studied photography with Jan Groover and John Cohen. Her photographs have been published in National Geographic Magazine, Italian Geo, German GEO, TIME, The New York Times Sunday magazine, Newsweek, Outside, Zeit Wissen, Men’s Journal, Seed, Camera Arts, Issues, PDN, and American Photo among many others, She frequently leads photographic workshops. Her photographs have received many awards including: a National Geographic Award, 2006; and the Critical Mass Top Monograph Award, 2007. She is a TED Senior Fellow, Stanford Knight Fellow as well as a Cinereach Filmmaker in Residence Fellow. Camille Seaman strongly believes in capturing photographs that articulate that humans are not separate from nature. TOTIM is a new, nonprofit initiative built to support and amplify a global and diverse community of visual storytellers. We rely on your support to bring under-reported stories to light and sustain vital, independent documentary photography. Please consider a charitable, tax-deductible gift. Get full access to TOTIM at totim.substack.com/subscribe

  4. Aug 13

    Camille Seaman / Eros Hoagland - "Standing Rock 10 Years Later" Podcast

    In this episode 27 of Exposures, photographer Camille Seaman joins Eros Hoagland to reflect on Standing Rock ten years after the 2016 protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline which is being commemorated this month. Seaman arrived at the Oceti Sakowin camp after hearing about Standing Rock while working on another Indigenous portrait project in South Dakota. She went on to spend a month documenting the camp, the more than 10,000 people gathered there, and the militarized response to the protest. To Experience “Standing Rock 10 Years Later” DOWNLOAD TOTIM APP Camille Seaman Camille Seaman was born in 1969. She graduated in 1992 from the State University of New York at Purchase, where she studied photography with Jan Groover and John Cohen. Her photographs have been published in National Geographic Magazine, Italian Geo, German GEO, TIME, The New York Times Sunday magazine, Newsweek, Outside, Zeit Wissen, Men’s Journal, Seed, Camera Arts, Issues, PDN, and American Photo among many others, She frequently leads photographic workshops. Her photographs have received many awards including: a National Geographic Award, 2006; and the Critical Mass Top Monograph Award, 2007. She is a TED Senior Fellow, Stanford Knight Fellow as well as a Cinereach Filmmaker in Residence Fellow. Camille Seaman strongly believes in capturing photographs that articulate that humans are not separate from nature. Eros Hoagland Eros Hoagland is a Los Angeles–based visual storyteller, photojournalist, and cinematographer. Hoagland began his career documenting communities and countries shaped by cycles of violence, working for more than fifteen years across North and South America, the Middle East, and Asia. In 2014, he expanded into film and entertainment photography after being invited to work with acclaimed directors Michael Mann and Alejandro Iñárritu. His clients include The New York Times, Netflix, HBO, National Geographic, Apple TV, TIME, Legendary Pictures, The New Yorker, Smithsonian Magazine, ESPN, Der Spiegel, the Los Angeles Times, and the American Red Cross. A California native, he spends his time outside of work surfing and diving in the Pacific Ocean. TOTIM is a new, nonprofit initiative built to support and amplify a global and diverse community of visual storytellers. We rely on your support to bring under-reported stories to light and sustain vital, independent documentary photography. Please consider a charitable, tax-deductible gift. Get full access to TOTIM at totim.substack.com/subscribe

  5. Jul 23

    Amber Maalouf / Ashlie Chavez - "Rarámuri of Chihuahua" Podcast

    In episode 026 of Exposures, Amber Maalouf speaks with her twin sister, Ashley Chavez, about the family history, personal relationships, and ethical considerations behind her photographs from Chihuahua. Their conversation moves through Maalouf’s photography work, the importance of sincerity as a prerequisite for access when documenting communities, the role commercial work often plays in supporting her personal projects, and her understanding of photography as a way to preserve the people, places, and experiences she loves. To Experience “Rarámuri of Chihuahua” DOWNLOAD TOTIM APP Amber Maalouf Amber Maalouf is a fine art photographer with a BFA in Creative Photography based in Los Angeles. Her Fine Art background allows her to pursue every photographic field imaginable, fusing her analogue upbringing with digital. As a second generation Chihuahuan artist, Amber has been transitioning to commercial work and photojournalism while maintaining integrity to her personal work. Her work has been featured in publications including Life & Thyme Magazine, Secret Menu Magazine, Air France Magazine, Dazed & Confused, VICE, JPG, Artistic Visions, GUP, BLISS, Sneeze Magazine, Ladygunn, LA Canvas, and We Are The Superlative Conspiracy among many others. Ashlie Chavez Ashlie Chavez is an Artist and Photographer with a BFA in Fine Art and emphasis in Creative Photography. She runs an online art store selling her own work at artforyourwalls.org and predominantly shoots film. Ashlie works collaboratively with her twin sister and is inspired by her son River. TOTIM is a new, nonprofit initiative built to support and amplify a global and diverse community of visual storytellers. We rely on your support to bring under-reported stories to light and sustain vital, independent documentary photography. Please consider a charitable, tax-deductible gift. Get full access to TOTIM at totim.substack.com/subscribe

  6. Jul 9

    Jocelyn Bain Hogg / Seamus Murphy - "An Education" Podcast

    In episode 25 of Exposures, Seamus Murphy speaks with Jocelyn Bain Hogg about An Education, a body of work made while Bain Hogg was a student at Lancing College in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The project began when photography became an escape from the pressures and social hierarchies of boarding school. Working first with an inherited Rolleiflex from his father, Bain Hogg used the darkroom as a refuge and the camera as a way to understand the closed world around him. As Bain Hogg and Murphy move through the images, An Education is revealed as the remarkably assured beginning of a career. Though started decades before his defining later work, the photographs already contain many of the sensitivites that would shape Bain Hogg’s practice of intimate access, private worlds and a wry examination of British life. To Experience “An Education” DOWNLOAD TOTIM APP Jocelyn Bain Hogg Jocelyn Bain Hogg is a British documentary photographer and member of VII. He studied Documentary Photography at Newport College of Art before beginning his career as a unit photographer on film sets and a publicity photographer for the BBC. He later worked across editorial, fashion, commercial, and documentary photography, with work published by Vogue, Vanity Fair, The Sunday Times, The Independent, The Observer, GQ, Le Monde, Granta, and The New Yorker. Seamus Murphy Seamus Murphy is a documentary photographer and filmmaker. Regardless of medium or subject, he strives for intimacy and a poetic realism. As a photographer he has won seven World Press Photo awards for his work in Afghanistan, Gaza, Lebanon, Sierra Leone, Peru, UK and Ireland. He undertakes long-term documentary projects and has been published and exhibited widely. He is in the collections of The Getty Museum, Imperial War Museum, National Gallery of Ireland, and FRAC, Auvergne, France. TOTIM is a new, nonprofit initiative built to support and amplify a global and diverse community of visual storytellers. We rely on your support to bring under-reported stories to light and sustain vital, independent documentary photography. Please consider a charitable, tax-deductible gift. Get full access to TOTIM at totim.substack.com/subscribe

  7. Jun 24

    Billy Miaron / Chona Mwemba - "Naidurra" Podcast

    To Experience “Naidurra” DOWNLOAD TOTIM APP In Episode 24 of Exposures, Kenyan documentary photographer Billy Miaron speaks with Chona Mwemba about Naidurra, his story from the Maasai Mara National Reserve. The project is rooted in pastoralist Maasai life, where livestock herding, movement, and preservation of the natural environment shape social and economic systems. Miaron traces his own path into photography, from growing up in Maasai community and discovering a love of images through National Geographic magazines, to studying software engineering and eventually recognizing photography as a personal practice for documenting community and the systems that shaped his own life. Billy Miaron Billy Miaron is a Kenyan documentary photographer whose work focuses on community, environment, public health, and social change. His photography has been recognized by Best Artworks of the Year 2019 and the 2022 “Water=Life” Global Photography Competition, which he won for his work with the World Health Organization documenting the effects of drought in the Horn of Africa on health and food security. His photographs have been published internationally by organizations and outlets including the Financial Times, the World Health Organization, and health and academic research publications. In 2023, he was selected for the Vital Impacts Photography Mentorship Program, further developing his documentary practice. He is currently working on a long-term project documenting community-led conservation efforts in the Amboseli ecosystem, with a focus on peaceful coexistence between the Maasai community and wildlife. Chona Mwemba Chona Mwemba is a self-taught Zambian photographer with a deep love for capturing everyday life moments that cannot be replicated. The rawness and richness of his subjects and their environments serve as a personal reminder to always see the beauty of life regardless of geography. His work has been featured on platforms such as the BBC and The Times (UK). Through his work he strives to portray Zambia in a positive light. With this series of images he aspires to bring to life the beauty and strength of the Zambian people across the country, highlighting their gracious, resilient and amiable nature. TOTIM is a new, nonprofit initiative built to support and amplify a global and diverse community of visual storytellers. We rely on your support to bring under-reported stories to light and sustain vital, independent documentary photography. Please consider a charitable, tax-deductible gift. Get full access to TOTIM at totim.substack.com/subscribe

  8. Jun 11

    O-Young Kwon / "At Her Brother's Grave" Podcast

    To Experience “At Her Brother’s Grave” DOWNLOAD TOTIM APP In episode 023 of Exposures, O-Young Kwon discusses the development of At Her Brother’s Grave. Kwon describes the project as an effort to examine the “psychological effects the war is leaving behind.” The conversation follows his movement through Poland and into western Ukraine, including his encounter with Tetiana on a train to Lviv and the subsequent decision to accompany her to the funeral of her brother. Kwon places the work within a broader critique of conflict photography, emphasizing the limitations of sensational imagery while identifying the “real power of visual journalism is to reveal hidden stories” and “that the role of good journalism is to achieve a more complete picture and not just a popular one.” Exposures 023 is Hosted by TOTIM Founder/ Director Luke Mertz O-Young Kwon O-Young Kwon is a multimedia documentarian based in Berlin and Athens. He explores subcultures and social issues often shaped by political realities. His documentary work focuses on injustice, human vulnerability, and resilience, combining empathy with critical reflection to amplify marginalized voices. His work continues to receive international recognition through renowned publications and visual art festivals worldwide. His recent project on the psychological impact of war in Ukraine marked his debut as a documentary theater author, commissioned by the state theater in Hamburg, Germany. TOTIM is a new, nonprofit initiative built to support and amplify a global and diverse community of visual storytellers. We rely on your support to bring under-reported stories to light and sustain vital, independent documentary photography. Please consider a charitable, tax-deductible gift. Get full access to TOTIM at totim.substack.com/subscribe

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About

TOTIM Exposures is a forum for photojournalists and industry adjacent professionals to interview featured contributors to the TOTIM app. Each episode covers the photographer’s background, career path, and approach to their work. Conversations focus on photographic technique, the purpose and intention behind each story, and a detailed debrief of how the story was produced and executed. The podcast is intended for anyone interested in the process and challenges of documentary photojournalism. totim.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Where professionals talk documentary photography—technique, ethics, and intent.
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    29
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © TOTIM
  • Show Website
    TOTIM Exposures