The Photowalk

Twenty-five years after September 11th, a generation has grown up knowing that day through photographs, television footage and the recollections of those who were there. In this special edition, I walk with my friend, photojournalist Jason Florio, who at the time of recording, was preparing to return to New York, where in 2001 he found himself running up Vesey Street as one of the towers fell behind him. We talk about going back, what remains clear after a quarter of a century, what has blurred, and the importance of first-hand memories as an event passes further into history. Also in the programme, filmmaker and photographer Paul Berriff recalls filming alongside New York firefighters when the South Tower collapsed, knocking him unconscious while his camera continued to record. Two photographers who witnessed an extraordinary moment in history, and the stories behind images that, twenty-five years later, remain 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.

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

Passion is perhaps an overused word in photography and sport, but this week it earns its place within the show. German photographer and journalist Kai Behrmann joins me to talk about his long-term project exploring Argentina's extraordinary relationship with football and why the game runs so deep in the country's culture and identity. Valerie Jardin returns for this month's Teach Me Street, while the mailbag takes us to Finland with Juha Wikström, who has been photographing people completing one of the world's great pilgrimages. David Lloyd reports from Vapington-on-Sea, Giles Thurston writes with remarkable openness on Substack, and from Cornwall, there's reading under the covers by torchlight. 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

Australian travel photographer Ewen Bell has spent more than 25 years making pictures across the world, from the Himalayas and the Australian Outback to the Arctic. But what remains after all those journeys and all those photographs? Ewen joins me to talk about the why of travel. We also talk about his ReIMAGINE podcast, writing, making zines, and the changing online world for photographers. From the mailbag, David Higton has his own story of airborne resilience; Richard Rawlings is writing in the mist; and, after our recent eclipse infatuation, David Glandon takes us back to the great American eclipse of 2017. Colin Mayer is kneeling before the altar of electricity pylons in pictures, plus moments of silence and wonder from Adriano Henney and Mali Davies. 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

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

What is your why? It seems like the simplest question, and it's one I ask every guest, yet it's almost always the one that reveals the most. Why? Not just why do you make photographs, but why do you create, why do you keep going, why does any of it matter? In this special edition of The Photowalk, I turn that same question towards the people who walk with me each week through the show, you! Alongside thoughtful messages from the mailbag, you'll hear audio archive reflections from past guests. This is a show about purpose as much as photography. About the reasons that shape our work, our choices and, sometimes, the direction of our lives. It might just leave you thinking about your own why. I'm joined by my good friend Giles Penfound for part of the walk, to talk about his own why, and his recent road trip across Australia. 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

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

This week, The Photowalk explores the story of Notting Hill Carnival through the people who have lived it, photographed it and helped shape it over the decades. My lead guest is photographer Wayne Crichlow, co-author of Carnival of Resistance, a remarkable new book documenting Carnival through the eyes of those who know it best. Along the way, our conversation takes some unexpected turns. We meet London documentary photographer Sam Shervington, whose grandmother, Barbara, was there during Carnival's formative years, and Wilf Walker OBE, a music promoter whose story spans from the early days of Notting Hill Carnival to the fields of Glastonbury. Also today, we talk of Charlie Phillips, whose camera created one of the most important visual records of London's Caribbean community. We look back at the Mangrove Nine, discover the traditions behind J'ouvert and Jab Jab, and meet some of the people whose lives have become woven into the history of Carnival itself. 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

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

Harry Borden has spent more than four decades photographing some of the world's most recognisable faces. His portraits of actors, musicians, business leaders and every UK Prime Minister from Margaret Thatcher onwards have appeared in publications including The Observer, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Magazine and Vanity Fair. But behind those well-known portraits is a photographer equally drawn to quieter, more personal work. In the first of a two-week conversation, Harry joins me to talk about photographing celebrities, captains of industry, and Prime Ministers; how he approaches portraiture when the clock is ticking; and why curiosity has always mattered more than reputation. We also begin exploring some of the personal projects that have shaped his career, before next week's episode turns more towards the story of Harry himself. The mailbag is in particularly good form this week, too. Michael Assmann writes a thoughtful and moving letter about fatherhood, Paul Holdorf shares a photo essay on darkness. Sandro Correia wonders how to rediscover his love of photography. Paul Eaves pens an unexpectedly poetic tribute to his washing machine, we unveil a brand-new Biscuit Tin Question, bring the latest quarterly photo assignment to a close, and hand over the next challenge to none other than portrait photographer Platon. 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

What makes someone spend years restoring a traction engine, collecting children's bicycles, or keeping an old British car on the road when most of us would have given up long ago? This week, The Photowalk heads to the Dene Rally, where members of our community join me for a weekend of photography, conversation and a series of photographic challenges. We meet those who dedicate their lives to the magic of steam, there are family stories attached to classic cars, cowboys looking for new horizons in sleepy Hampshire, spooky fairground attractions, portraits with strangers and a story that proves the power of legacy negatives. 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.

This week, The Photowalk returns to the Scottish Highlands for a special show recorded during our latest 2026 retreat in Scotland. Together, we follow the Black Water as it gathers pace through the woodland gorge at Rogie Falls, find historic scenes in Cromarty, explore the wartime shoreline of Roseisle Beach, and spend time beside Loch Maree, one of Scotland's most celebrated lochs, where the mountain of Slioch rises directly from the water, just shouting for pictures to be made! Along the way, there are conversations about photography, friendship, creativity, large-format cameras, and the unexpected power of writing, not simply as a way of recording thoughts, but as a way of discovering them. Joined by Lynn Fraser, Michael Assmann, John Anderton and Giles Penfound, this journey takes you through a part of Scotland that has become deeply woven into the story of The Photowalk. 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.

This week, The Photowalk heads indoors to the Highland Print Studio in Inverness for an experience that's a world away from the instant gratification of modern photography. Over two days, we learn the centuries-old art of polymer photogravure, transforming digital photographs into richly textured fine art prints through a process of light, water, ink and an extraordinary amount of patience. Guided by master printmaker John McNaught, and joined by Lynn Fraser, Michael Assmann, John Anderton and Giles Penfound, we discover why so many photographers become captivated by this tactile craft. Along the way, we explore the history of photogravure, meet some of the artists who have embraced it, and find out why, in an age of endless scrolling, there is still something magical about slowing down and making a photograph you can truly hold in your hands. 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 .

While I'm away in Scotland leading the Scotland 2026 retreat, I thought it would be fitting to bring you a special edition from The Photowalk archive. So, it's an interview-only special where I'm revisiting two conversations with Scottish photographers whose work has left a lasting impression on me, and whose careers have taken them in very different directions. Albert Watson was born in Edinburgh and has spent more than five decades producing some of the most recognisable photographs ever made. From portraits of actors, musicians and world leaders to fashion and commercial work, his images have appeared on countless magazine covers and gallery walls around the world. Kieran Dodds grew up in the Highlands and is known for thoughtful long-term documentary projects that explore people, place and identity. We revisit his fascinating Gingers project, which saw him travel the globe photographing red-haired people in countries where you might least expect to find them. Two photographers, two very different careers, and a chance to hear again from a pair of Scots whose work continues to inspire photographers around the world. The NEW Zine is launched: 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 .

This 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 .

This 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 .

This 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 .

I'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 .

Today 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 .

This 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 .