The Photowalk

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.

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'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.

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.

This week, Steven Seidenberg is my guest, a photographer, philosopher, and writer whose work focuses on empty spaces, ordinary places, and the things most people pass by. His photographic books include The Architecture of Silence and Pipevalve: Berlin, and his work has been shown internationally, from Europe to the US and Japan. Alongside the photographs, he writes prose and poetry that explore similar themes, examining perception and what it means to truly notice what's in front of us. It's certainly one of our more thought-provoking conversations of late, as Steven even questions what a photograph actually is, if it's not a printed, tangible, tactile thing. From the mailbag, Andrew Larking writes about self-criticism, sharing a story that touches on depression and the instinct many of us have to try to push through it alone; Richard Rawlings writes about neurodiversity, and Jim Farmer reports on unexpected wildlife encounters that may or may not involve actual alligators a little too close to home! Also today, a chance to join in with a new community feature for 2026 called HERE AND THERE. 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, I talk with Craig Easton, and the conversation embraces AI, trust in photojournalism, and how a still photograph can still hold its own. But the heart of this chat sits on a Scottish island. Picture a house at the end of a single-track road, miles from anywhere, no shop, no pub, just weather, water, and time. This is Barnhill, on the Isle of Jura, where George Orwell came to live and work while writing Nineteen Eighty-Four. Craig travelled to this fabled place to make his new book 'An Extremely Un-Get-Atable Place'. This is a conversation about place, curiosity, and paying attention. On today's walk from the mailbag, Jade Lee discovers just how powerful it can be to swap pictures with people in other countries, Jean-Maurice Cormier shares some thoughts on travel and street photography, and Phil Ferris appears to be listening from the shower in what may or may not become a formal complaint, all while we pack coffee, biscuits, film, and a copy of 1984 into our camera bags. 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.

Late last Autumn, I asked you to send me one photograph you made in 2025. Not a greatest hit and not something that had done well online, just the one you kept coming back to when nobody else was watching. The one you might show a friend and say, "Yeah, this really means something." What arrived was more than I expected. Over a hundred pictures came in, each with a story attached, some short, some long, some so open it made me pause. The level of trust that this show evokes never feels normal, and this project really brought that home. THE ONE was never meant to be a competition. There was no ranking, no winners, no pecking order. The pictures we talk about are simply the ones that made me stop, sometimes because of the image, sometimes because of the story that sat behind it. I invited 10 photographers over two weeks to talk about their work, and this is the second of those two special editions. If your picture isn't included in these two episodes, it doesn't mean it was missed. This grew bigger than anyone expected, and THE ONE now has a home on the website, ready to be returned to throughout the year. John Lancaster talks about a health scare that pushed him to look at both life and photography differently. Wendy Brandon takes us out onto the water, finding calm among whales and ice. Jan van der Hooft shares a deeply personal story of love, loss, and what it means to keep making pictures. Michael Tenbrink brings his blurred, dreamlike landscapes into the mix, while Gene Westberg reminds us that some of the best images happen when you wander off the main path. 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's guest is Phil Sharp, a portrait photographer whose work has been on my radar for a while, and who was brought back into focus for me through a couple of prompts and a short film made by Sean Tucker. Phil's approach is considered, patient and personal. He creates a setting where people are given time, often during longer sessions in his London studio, to settle rather than perform. Music often plays a part in that process, helping to establish a mood that is very evident throughout his portfolio. This conversation isn't about cameras or lighting setups. It's about how you create the conditions for someone to feel comfortable enough to show whatever emotion arrives, whether that's openness, uncertainty, or anything in between. It's about trust, presence, and what can happen when a photographer is willing to slow things down, away from the watchful eyes of publicists in the corner of the room. If you're interested in portrait photography, there's plenty here. But if you're interested in how time, attention, and thoughtfulness affect the way people appear in photographs, a human approach, I think you'll find a lot to sit with in this one. From the mailbag, Phil Ferris clears up a curious fascination with bottoms, and no, it's not quite what it sounds like. There's a long service award for Morris Haggerty, a sunnier than usual update from Jack Antal in San Diego with a nudge towards making books, and Per Birkhaug checks in from the Norwegian mountains with a few thoughts about age and perspective. There are some thoughts about the end of the year as we look ahead to the show in 2026, and an invitation to come to Scotland in 2026 as we meditate a little in the middle of today's edition. 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.