FEATURING TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHER EWEN BELL

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.

Email your stories, thoughts, and pictures to the show. If you can optimise/resize photos to 2,500 pixels wide, that’s always much appreciated. If you’d like to support this show and have access to further content and the midweek Extra Mile show, we’d welcome you as an EXTRA MILER. There’s also our Facebook group, a safe place to meet and talk with photographers of all interests, the Photowalk YouTube channel, plus the show is featured on Instagram and Substack.

As well as our Extra Milers, we’re also supported by our friends at ARTHELPER, who make marketing easier, help more people find your work, and keep your voice true, so you can get back to what you love most: making art. Enter PHOTOWALK at checkout to receive 30 days of the pro version free.

This episode is also supported by SILVERGRAIN PRESS. If you have photographs sitting on a hard drive that deserve a life beyond a screen, Silvergrain Press creates beautifully made photo books, fine art prints and handcrafted frames. Visit silvergrainpress.com/photowalk and use the code PHOTOWALK for 15% off your first order.

PLEASE HELP TO BUILD OUR COMMUNITY BY SHARING THIS EPISODE TO YOUR FAVOURITE SOCIAL PLATFORMS

LEARN:

MORE ABOUT names, words, THE MUSIC and places FROM TODAY’S SHOW

A friendly reminder: The links on this page will take you to external websites and platforms, and while I only point you towards places I think are worth your time, I have no control over their content and can't be held responsible for whatever you find when you get there.

Join us in Venice for the Venice ‘26 retreat, photographing a city built on water, light, and ritual as winter settles across the lagoon. Together we’ll wander through early-morning markets, quiet canal edges, hidden monasteries, and the weathered backstreets of Castello and Cannaregio, with time to slow down, take photographs, and build creative confidence in a city that reveals itself gently when the crowds disappear. Places limited.

Susan Sontag was an American writer, critic, and cultural commentator whose 1977 book On Photography became one of the most influential works on the medium. Rather than discussing cameras or technique, she questioned what photographs do to the way we see the world, and the moral questions involved in making and consuming images. She returned to many of those ideas in Regarding the Pain of Others, published shortly before her death in 2004.

Gompas are Buddhist monasteries or temples found across the Himalayan regions of Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and northern India. Traditionally they are places of worship, meditation and learning, often home to communities of monks or nuns. Some are substantial monastery complexes, while others are much smaller, and their interiors can contain Buddhist statues, murals, prayer halls and religious texts.

The Fediverse is a collection of social networks that can communicate with one another. Instead of one company owning the whole network, as Meta owns Facebook and Instagram, thousands of independently run servers can connect using a common protocol called ActivityPub. Think of the Fediverse as the overall network.

See Colin Mayer’s appreciation for the humble 500Kv pylon, in our Facebook community.

Petapixel’s article on how AI is being called out in photographic competitions.

See Adriano Henney’s book Beyond the Mask, today’s guest on the Extra Mile.

MUSIC LINKS: Stella wrote today's playout song Stairway to Stars. Further music on the show is sourced primarily from Artlist and also features in Michael Brennan’s Spotify playlist GoFoto. For Apple Music users, follow this playlist.

Kelvin Brown’s flickr Photowalk inspired group - join by invite by clicking on to THIS LINK.

THE SHOWPAGE GALLERY

EWEN BELL

DAVID F. GLANDON

The story of totality from David Glandon’s eyes this week.

VIDEO LIBRARY

The following videos or subjects are referenced within today’s show.

#544 BEING RESILIENT IN A NEW WORLD