Today’s show explores captivating encounters and stories that turn fleeting moments into meaningful connections with people through the lens. Four guests who are experts in the field help me on this mission. Paul Hutson is a writer and photographer who has spent decades recording the stories of everyday people he encounters in pictures and words. Gabrielle Motola discusses the philosophy of asking strangers for a portrait and rejection. Valérie Jardin talks about candid street pictures and how they can often lead to a more formal portrait, and former guest Mr Whisper discusses a project requiring him to change his reportage approach to engage with subjects for a set of commercial pictures. Also on the topic of photographing strangers, letters from Marilyn Davies who introduces us to a Flickr Group called 100 Strangers, Tony Lorenzo talks of how living with ADHD has been his superpower when it comes to photographing people he doesn’t know and Fred Ash finds there’s really no one way to make a portrait of a stranger. Links to all guests and features will be on the , my sincere thanks to  who sponsor this show and the  without whom we wouldn't be walking each week. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available&nbsp;.

#443 Encounters: How to make portraits of strangers

Summer Radio Harmony

Today, I spend time with Mike Crawford, a dynamic London photographer and master printer. For four decades he has worked with the world’s most highly regarded photographers, including Martin Parr and Brian Griffin, one of the music industry’s most prominent photographers. More recently, he was chosen to print hitherto unseen photographs for the celebrated late photographer Elliott Erwitt for his ‘Found, not Lost’ book. As a photographer, Mike Crawford’s captivating work, featuring urban landscapes and portraiture, is predominantly shot on film and crafted in the darkroom. I visit Mike on location at his company Lighthouse Darkroom, within the building that was once home to Russia’s Zenit UK operation. With the arrival of August, there’s a new assignment too, set this month by social and street photographer Emily Renier, one of Fujifilm’s newest ambassadors. Links to all guests and features will be on the&nbsp;, my sincere thanks to  who sponsor this show and the  without whom we wouldn't be walking each week. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available&nbsp;.

#444 Printing for Erwitt, Parr and Griffin!

Today on the show, two photographers, Patrick Stubbs and Sean Gallagher recount stories about the father-figure mentors in their lives and the pictures they made upon their passing. We discuss the mental health benefits of having photography during the more challenging times of our lives and how projects can bring meaning to our work. We also learn what it takes to make set photographs on some of America’s top-loved TV shows and why the everyday objects around us can be photographic gold. From the mailbag, one of our Extra Milers Mat Bobby has found a project that requires you to stay behind the safety fence at all times, bringing back a memory or three for me. There is the most incredibly potent story and picture from a good friend of the show, Marissa Roth. Hegaard the Dane has landed in Italy and found a snake in paradise, as have I, although many thousands of miles away in Miami, and there’s a reminder of this month’s assignment from Emily Renier. Links to all guests and features will be on the&nbsp;, my sincere thanks to  who sponsor this show and the  without whom we wouldn't be walking each week. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available&nbsp;.

#445 The FINAL photos we make...

My guest, Toby Binder is a German photographer renowned for his socially engaged documentary work. He focuses on marginalized communities and global social issues, capturing the raw realities of life in conflict zones and economically deprived areas. His photographs tell stories of fragility, authenticity and vulnerability. How important is vulnerability, and can it actually be a photographer’s superpower? From the mailbag as we walk together, Wallace Shackleton is on a motorbike with a camera, in howling wind and the kind of rain that makes you wish you’d stayed in bed that day, Bob Rose takes us to a lake in Nebraska at sundown, Corey Cooper shares a film about the why of this thing we do, Don Ridgway is in Ontario with William Shakespeare, Christopher Harrison shares his perspective on vulnerability and Susan Larsson is under a beautiful Northern Lights sky. Also, today, our street mentor Valérie Jardin returns with Visual Stories, and this month, she’s going to a state fair. Links to all guests and features will be on the&nbsp;, my sincere thanks to  who sponsor this show and the  without whom we wouldn't be walking each week. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available&nbsp;.

#446 Vulnerability is your SUPERPOWER

During the pandemic, international vocalist Gary Williams decided to retrain himself to become a professional photographer, building on existing street photographic skills and interests that he’d developed touring the world as a musician. During this time, closer to home in the UK he found Camden Passage, a charming, narrow street in Islington, London, known for its antique shops, vintage quirky boutiques, and market stalls. This place was to become Gary’s photographic playground where over a number of years he befriended the shoppers and shopkeepers of a unique famous street, eventually producing a book featuring those he met called The Litte Book of Camden Passage. Today he talks about designing, sequencing and producing a book, plus choosing a publisher. From the mailbag, Bill Marriott finds that photography can culturally connect in a magical way, Peter Upton is in a race against time to photograph some famous landmarks before the rising tides lay claim to them, Chris Hughes is embracing his inner Daidō Moriyama, Harriet Langridge has some street photography thoughts and I have some unexpected Scottish news so pack your travel bag, your camera bag with a fully charged camera. There’s a Shutter Sync and last opportunity to join in with August’s photo assignment set by Emily Renier. Links to all guests and features will be on the&nbsp;, my sincere thanks to  who sponsor this show and the  without whom we wouldn't be walking each week. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available&nbsp;.

#447: How to publish your first book

A special feature-length interview episode today featuring Jason Edwards. Having spent the last three decades travelling around over 70 countries being clawed, chased, shot at, diseased, lost, injured, incarcerated, and getting his finger stitched back on, twice, award-winning photographer, TV host, and conservationist Jason Edwards knows what it takes to get the perfect shot. And the photo editors at National Geographic agree, featuring his stunning photos time and time again. His imagery has also appeared in hundreds of other publications, including BBC Wildlife, Australian Geographic and The New Yorker. His new book, Icebergs to Iguanas features a collection of his National Geographic photographs and behind-the-scenes tales. Also on the show today, the winning images from the last two months of assignment pictures and a new challenge for September set by Gary Williams. Links to all guests and features will be on the , my sincere thanks to &nbsp;who sponsor this show and the  without whom we wouldn't be walking each week. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available&nbsp;.

#448: Clawed, chased, shot at, bitten, lost, injured and incarcerated!

For the next two weeks whilst I am on location with the 2024 Scottish Photowalk Retreat, a brace of special editions, where I revisit the archive to feature the work of women in photography. Guests include Nancy Borowick, an acclaimed photojournalist known for her deeply personal and emotional work, particularly the intimate documentation of her parents' simultaneous battles with cancer, which has resonated with audiences worldwide for its raw honesty and humanity. I also talk with Lynzy Billing, an investigative journalist and photographer known for uncovering untold stories in conflict zones and human rights crises, Susan Goldberg an influential American journalist who became the first female editor-in-chief of National Geographic, where she expanded its focus on science, the environment, and social issues like climate change and diversity and from the UK, Nicky Heppenstall who helped found Remember my Baby, a charity organisation that offers remembrance photography services to parents experiencing the loss of their baby before, during, or shortly after birth, providing them with cherished memories during a deeply difficult time. Links to all guests and features will be on the&nbsp;, my sincere thanks to &nbsp;who sponsor this show and the  without whom we wouldn't be walking each week. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available&nbsp;.

#449: Extraordinary Women Best Of

In celebration of those who inspire us, those who become either knowingly or unwittingly our mentors and greatest teachers, today’s episode revisits the show’s archive to take a photowalk with former British Army and documentary photographer Giles Penfound, my dear friend and mentor for two decades. Giles is currently on a sabbatical from social media and digital posting, although his projects such as Home Town Stories continue to be a feature of his personal photographic story; pictures made about the people of the town his lives in, often within walking distance of his home.&nbsp; We talk about that project, the ‘rules’ of documentary photography, his life making pictures in areas of conflict, plus his conflicted mind over some of the images he made and witnessed. Our conversation for the podcast was part-made walking the ridge above England's famous Watership Down and his garden exhibition space. This is the second special to air as I spend time in the Highlands on the Scottish Photowalk Retreat 2024. Links to all guests and features will be on the&nbsp;, my sincere thanks to &nbsp;who sponsor this show and the  without whom we wouldn't be walking each week. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available&nbsp;.

#450: Our greatest teachers

Today is our annual Scottish retreat edition, featuring the voices and thoughts of those who joined me across two weeks in the glorious Highlands. The fifth Photowalk Retreat revelled in, I think, the spirit of our podcast community, and I thought you might enjoy hearing what we all got up to. This year, we added some new experiences and micro-workshops into the weeks, such as a creative writing day led by a celebrated writer, Merryn Glover and a sound workshop to understand how potent images and sound can be as a storytelling tool together. We also went back into the darkroom and visited some of our favourite places including the beautiful Loch Maree. Links to all guests and features will be on the&nbsp;, my sincere thanks to &nbsp;who sponsor this show and the  without whom we wouldn't be walking each week. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available&nbsp;.

#443 Encounters: How to make portraits of strangers

Photography Daily

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