Episodes

  • #509 The world went completely dark
    Nov 27 2025

    This week's edition is guest-focused. Paul Berriff OBE, has lived a life few could imagine. A filmmaker and photographer whose work spans more than 180 prime-time documentaries, he has survived a helicopter crash, escaped a sinking ship in a North Sea storm, crawled from the wreckage of a downed aircraft, and lived through the collapse of both towers on September 11 while filming inside the disaster zone. His tape from that day remains one of the most important visual records of the south tower falling.

    Before film came photography. In the 1960s, Paul made remarkably natural portraits of The Beatles and the Rolling Stones, long before fame turned them into myth. Later, with what he called a "clockwork camera," he moved into observational documentary and eventually built his own production company. Alongside all this, he trained as a firefighter and helped carry out more than 850 RNLI sea rescues.

    The conversation moved differently from how I imagined it might. Two major stories emerged. One is his account of filming inside the World Trade Center as the towers came down, surviving when the buildings collapsed around him. The other is the story of a rescue by helicopter in brutal conditions, a moment when a second narrow escape became part of his history.

    I'll also share a little more about the craft of photogravure that we'll be exploring on the new Scottish retreat in June. There's a reminder of this month's assignment, the last one of the year, before we shift our focus to THE ONE in December.

    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.

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    1 hr and 25 mins
  • Reflections: Who needs a professional anyway?
    Nov 24 2025

    REFLECTIONS is a short-form feature within The Photowalk podcast, offering thoughtful observations on a creative life and the themes that we often discuss on Fridays, including perfectionism, impostor syndrome, comparison, confidence, and more. It's a pause at the start of the week to recalibrate, recorded in the studio between the walks.

    Each Monday, you'll find Reflections on The Photowalk podcast feed, providing a creative reset to start the week. From Tuesday to Friday, it continues exclusively on our member-supported channel, The Extra Mile, for those who walk a little further with us.

    These professional people, highly overrated, I say. If you want a job done properly, just do it yourself, surely?

    My sincere thanks to Arthelper, who sponsor this show, plus our Extra Milers, without whom we wouldn't be walking each week.

    WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available here.

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    12 mins
  • #508 Silence, solitude and sanctuary
    Nov 21 2025

    Artist, writer and thinker Gael Hillyard joins me to talk about her creative life, from painting, writing and photography, to the deep-winter months she spent as artist-in-residence on Fair Isle, to the ten silent days she lived inside a retreat with no conversation at all.

    We explore how her work has been shaped by a childhood spent in a Victorian atelier, the two studios she now keeps in the Highlands, and the weather-beaten coastlines she keeps returning to as both muse and anchor.

    And in the mailbag this week, Spike Boydell, our man from the canoe down under, has been thinking about slowing down, and I mean really slowing down. Comedy-writer-in-chief Hegaard the Dane sends word about solitude and the small matter of spending a night or three in jail! John Kenny writes about trees and the Sycamore Gap, which has an unexpected local relevance for me this weekend, and Bill Frische has been photographing a 'monster'.

    I'll also share a little more about the craft of photogravure that we'll be exploring on the new Scottish retreat in June. There's a reminder of this month's assignment, the last one of the year, before we shift our focus to THE ONE in December.

    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.

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    1 hr and 37 mins
  • Reflections: Toxic Voyeurism
    Nov 17 2025

    REFLECTIONS is a short-form feature within The Photowalk podcast, offering thoughtful observations on a creative life and the themes that we often discuss on Fridays, including perfectionism, impostor syndrome, comparison, confidence, and more. It's a pause at the start of the week to recalibrate, recorded in the studio between the walks.

    Each Monday, you'll find Reflections on The Photowalk podcast feed, providing a creative reset to start the week. From Tuesday to Friday, it continues exclusively on our member-supported channel, The Extra Mile, for those who walk a little further with us.

    Today, Toxic Voyeurism. It's a real thing, although how do we notice it's happening?

    My sincere thanks to Arthelper, who sponsor this show, plus our Extra Milers, without whom we wouldn't be walking each week.

    WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available here.

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    11 mins
  • #507 What we hear, what we see, what we keep
    Nov 14 2025

    This week's Photowalk features Bil Repenning, a musician who's shifting his creative energy into photography. Music has shaped the way he sees the world, and you can hear that within our conversation. Following an accident five years ago, he began building a photographic practice rooted in documentary portrait work, taking the craft seriously as he moves into this next chapter. We talk about the music that shaped him, the radio that shaped us both, and what it's like to change course mid-career without the fanfare or drama, just a genuine desire to make good work. It's a conversation about starting later, learning on the move, and finding a new place to stand creatively.

    From the mailbag, John Anderton shares a deeply personal story about his mum, Winnie, and the way he chose to document her life as dementia changed their days. What he's written is a reminder of how powerful it can be to hold on to family stories in more than one way. There's also a note from Dominique Martel, who's wrestling with a familiar modern problem: subscription overload! We have this month's One Word assignment from Liza Gershman, and you're invited to join the show in Scotland for a new look Scottish Retreat in June 2026.

    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.

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    1 hr and 37 mins
  • Reflections: Delayed gratification
    Nov 10 2025

    REFLECTIONS is a short-form feature within The Photowalk podcast, offering thoughtful observations on a creative life and the themes that we often discuss on Fridays, including perfectionism, impostor syndrome, comparison, confidence, and more. It's a pause at the start of the week to recalibrate, recorded in the studio between the walks.

    Each Monday, you'll find Reflections on The Photowalk podcast feed, providing a creative reset to start the week. From Tuesday to Friday, it continues exclusively on our member-supported channel, The Extra Mile, for those who walk a little further with us.

    Today, an unexpected frame I made in London, comes back two years later with a message.

    My sincere thanks to Arthelper, who sponsor this show, plus our Extra Milers, without whom we wouldn't be walking each week.

    WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available here.

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    7 mins
  • #506 If you fall, get back on that horse!
    Nov 7 2025

    Former champion jockey Richard Dunwoody joins me to talk about how photography has become a part of his life after racing, and there are questions about the sport that defined him, too. A three-time Champion Jockey in the UK, Richard won two Grand Nationals and a Cheltenham Gold Cup on the legendary Desert Orchid. He helped define jump racing in Britain and Ireland during one of its most competitive eras.

    But that was only chapter one. After stepping out of the weighing room, Richard set out on endurance rides across South America and took on challenges that carried him far beyond the racecourse. Now, he travels with a camera, chasing stories in places a long way from grandstands and bookmakers. In this conversation, we talk about photography, adventure, and the discipline that links both worlds, plus what happens when the noise of competition finally stops.

    Also in the show, Lee Cobbs writes about retracing his roots and finding new angles in a familiar town, Arran Carter-Cheetham shares stories from his photographic adventures that took him halfway round the world to the so-called "Venice of the East," and on that note, I have news about a photographic retreat to the real Venice! Christopher Kincaid reckons he might just live in the best place in the world, and Matties Wesche is filming tandem parachute jumps from 10,000 feet.

    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.

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    1 hr and 48 mins
  • Reflections: Unaccustomed as I am...
    Nov 3 2025

    REFLECTIONS is a short-form feature within The Photowalk podcast, offering thoughtful observations on a creative life and the themes that we often discuss on Fridays, including perfectionism, impostor syndrome, comparison, confidence, and more. It's a pause at the start of the week to recalibrate, recorded in the studio between the walks.

    Each Monday, you'll find Reflections on The Photowalk podcast feed, providing a creative reset to start the week. From Tuesday to Friday, it continues exclusively on our member-supported channel, The Extra Mile, for those who walk a little further with us.

    Today, some thoughts about the wonderful mentors who help us along our creative paths.

    My sincere thanks to Arthelper, who sponsor this show, plus our Extra Milers, without whom we wouldn't be walking each week.

    WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available here.

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    11 mins