The Thinking Photographer's Podcast

A few years ago, I thought i’d had my Dragon’s Den moment. I would dazzle the sceptical venture capitalists, save lives and win acclaim. You see, in places with high populations of moose, or elk as we call them in Europe, places such as Newfoundland and Sweden, people die every year in collisions with these tall, lanky animals. When a car strikes one, the elk doesn’t go underneath- it comes throug...

It’s funny, isn’t it, how there is a world of difference being in a rut and being in the groove? In one, your life is going nowhere. In the other you’ve struck some sort of creative vein, and mining it is pure joy. Well, normally. But in the case of my project, Dispatches from the Collapse, the ideas and images that came together in 2019, were anything but joyful. I found myself as midwife to a pr...

If you think that composition is only about creating balance between the elements of a photograph, I’ve got news for you: it can be about an awful lot more. And today, I’m going to make make the case for placing the subject in the part of the frame that is appropriate - rather than correct. On composition Niall Benvie Bob Holmes, veteran travel photographer Joe Cornish , photographer Clive Bell’s...

Over the last 30 years or so, I’ve visited and revisited an idea I stumbled upon at the very start of my career. You might even call it an insight - it certainly helped me to understand what I was doing. It’s an idea I’ve revisited, many times over the years to see if it still holds water. And you know what? I think it does! I’m talking about the concept of edges and how we, as people, as well as...

What a lovely day it is here; it’s the toadflax end of summer now. The bee eaters and hoopoes have flown south but the sun is beating down and the sky’s the colour of a cornflower. Just perfect. It’s not the sort of day you’d want to spend inside a gallery but galleries do crop up in today’s chat. And that’s kind of inevitable whenever you discuss art. Especially art with a capItal A. Ever happy t...

You’ve got to be a little careful online these days when you bandy-about words like “addiction”. So let me assure you, and those all, ever-vigilant AI bots on the trail of miscreants, that the only drugs I’m talking about here are hormones our own bodies produce. And when it comes to the consequence of the addiction to them, well, I think you’ll find that they are a big factor in driving personal...

Today, I’ve an interesting proposition for you. It’s the sort of thing that when someone first floats the idea, you’ll probably think it’s a lot of nonsense. After all it goes all against that the magazine, the books, the experts… tell us. I’m going to argue that imperfect photographs are actually more believable than ones where everything is , just so. Just as they’re meant to be. I’m going to ma...

This is a long one today, folks, because there is a lot to say about communication and how and why it fails. And I’m going to talk about it in the context of self preservation, or, if you prefer the term, nature conservation. Now, I know it’s not fashionable nowadays, but I try not to pontificate on things I have no experience of. This, as it happens though, is one that I do, although not always w...

Niall and Charlotte moved from Scotland to live in France at the height of the pandemic. In the final episode of this first series you can learn about the creative challenges and opportunities such a move creates. South Morvan Natura 2000 site. Stay, learn and eat with Charlotte and Niall Get MENUette- our newsletter - for free. Written, presented and produced by Niall Benvie, Food and Photography...

Niall asks why there is a fascination with lifeless planets while life on Earth is so gravely imperiled - and gains an insight into miracles in the process. Earthrise photograph. Curiosity Rover images. Jostein Gaarder’s Maya . Francis Fukuyama’s End of History. Elon Musk’s wish to settle Mars. Stay, learn and eat with Charlotte and Niall Get MENUette- our newsletter - for free. Written, presented...

Is “fine art photography” a term bandied around to make generic photography seem more serious - or just a sales ruse. Niall probes this question and describes why most of his own work is certainly not “art” - but some might be. Art and money laundering. Tracey Emin’s Crucifixion. Stay, learn and eat with Charlotte and Niall Get MENUette- our newsletter - for free. Written, presented and produced b...

You can probably think of many, but this week, Niall describes what he sees at the two fundamentally different types of photograph that arise from a desire either to tell a story or, simply, to describe the appearance of things. It pays to know which you’re making before you release the shutter. Stay, learn and eat with Charlotte and Niall Get MENUette- our newsletter - for free. Written, presente...

In recent years, Niall has made a side-gig of urbex photography. But is this really any surprise for a nature photographer? This episode encourages you to re-evaluate your concept of “nature photography” and appreciate the fragility of culture. The transcript. A history of urban exploration. The law and urbex. Colour grading templates. Stay, learn and eat with Charlotte and Niall Get MENUette- our...

As AI technology seeps into more and more corners of our lives, Niall makes the case for nature photography to remain real - and describes hurdles AI just can’t cross. See Boris Eldagsen’s image. See Mid journey-created images. Stay, learn and eat with Charlotte and Niall Get MENUette- our newsletter - for free. Written, presented and produced by Niall Benvie, www.foodandphotographyretreats.com Na...