Photopocene

I love it when we get to meet (in an audio way) a photographic artist whose passion for plants melds with their passion for photography.

In this episode with Sammie Masters-Hopkins, you will discover more about the Pictory Garden she is nurturing to help create a circular means of creating images.

Plus there's chat about how we use and discard botanical tokens as part of our calendar-based celebrations and Sammie's burgeoning long-term photographic project based on these traditions.

After a six-month sabbatical from the Photopocene podcast, what a great way to start back!

I'm joined on the first episode of 2024 (and episode 40!) by the delightful Rachel Wright, a photographer whose practice mixes other disciplines, processes and collaborations.

She sums this up in her tagline, "photography, mainly".

We not only chat about her interests in relation to challenging habitual ways of seeing the world, but how her work responds to the potential of the arts to deconstruct notions of nature/culture dualism.

Rachel is keen to address the human tendency to see our species as separate from nature, and how this can influence our desire to care for it, with many of her photo series considering the multi-layers and entanglements of life.

We found much common ground in our conversation, such as sand and abstraction, with Rachel's work providing a means for those who view it to contemplate, consider and challenge their notions of nature.

Intuition, curiosity and play all inform Rachel's working style, and are reflected in her images - listen out for Barn Jam too.

Do take a look at her website but if you are close to Diss, Norfolk, head to the Corn Hall on St Nicholas Street (IP22 4LB) from 17 Feb - 16 March to see her work as part of a collectiveTransformative Nature (Conversations) exhibition.

This episode with award-winning photographer Jamie House is truly fascinating.

Jamie has an incredible practice which melds research, process and diverse disciplines to explore the intersections of art, science and nature through the lens of posthumanism (simply put, the decentralising of humans and accounting for nonhumans).

Our conversation goes from an 11-year-old Jamie discovering the joy of experimentation through pinhole photography to his recent creation, GHY-3 an immersive sound installation exploring insect communication and satellites at Goonhilly, Cornwall.

There's talk of what inspires Jamie from hidden histories to different realms and new ways of seeing and attentive listening to the world around us. Plus an upcoming book in progress.

Jamie is a British Photography Award recipient, and associate lecturer on MA Photography course University of Plymouth UK. He has presented his work at International and National symposia and has exhibited and published widely.

This podcast conversation has been one I'm so pleased to have had. Please, please do accept the tech glitches in this episode though - I don't know why the airwave Piskies were out and about but I'm sure they won't distract you too much for the wonderful conversation I had with photographer, Tess Zahn.

We go from art school to motherhood, from England to Greece, from juggling jobs to carving out time all in pursuit of photographic art. Tess shares some of the artists from myriad art disciplines who have inspired, and continue to inspire her and how life can impact on an artist's sense of being an...artist. Our conversation meanders in many ways, and comes back to how photography can help in relation to environmental matters.

It is a delight to speak with photographer Jo Bradford for this episode of Photopocene, especially as we have known each other for many years but lost touch in the ebb and flow of life.

She is super talented and her camera-less images sing with colour. But Jo is also an author, a university lecturer and workshop leader, and has a new collaborative photography book coming out later this year.

And, she has robots in her darkroom! Listen along to find out more.

This time, I'm fortunate to chat with the photographer, Maria Primo on the Photopocene podcast. 

I have been blown away by her work for El Libro de Arena (The Book of Sand). A fascinating look at a story of a sand dune, intertwined with history and intrigue in a place I know little about other than its well-known name. 

The long-term project acts as a "metaphor of the absurd will of humanity to dominate nature while remaining separate from her", while it delves into the social, environmental, and political issues behind the formation of the dune.

It's such an honour to learn more about Maria's work, and about Maria herself. I do hope I get to visit her in Madrid one day.

Listen along to the latest Photopocene conversation sharing eco-conscious photography in an audio way.

Experimental film photographer Oliveia Bartlett shares how she is starting out in her photographic career.

She talks about the people who have sparked and influenced her passion for photography and her plans for the future.

We touch on the environmental issues underpinning her series Uninhabitable and discuss the cliche-verre process she has used in much of her work.

The results are captivating.

Welcome to the latest Photopocene conversation with me, your host, Josie Purcell.

This time, I'm joined by an upcoming visual artist from North Devon, George Rayner. 

Graduating in 2021, and receiving an award from Format Festival for his final degree show work, I love the fact that George came to photography on a "whim".

We chat about his love for black and white photography, keeping cool in his (well ventilated) darkroom, what nature and the natural world mean to him, and, of course, his photo projects seeking to highlight environmental matters which need us to act now to divert long term ecological damage.

With an element of humour in some of his work, we chat about how that can draw someone in, and we talk about his connection to his coastal surroundings along with his collaborations with a musician and a textile artist, and his latest show.

Join me, Josie Purcell, your host of the Photopocene podcast as I chat with the fabulous emerging freelance photographer, Alice Mason.

Alice has a passion for photographing people which shines through in her work.

She started out studying film at university and experimented with different mediums before falling in love with photography. 

Her work has a strong documentary slant, with topics ranging from the BLM protests, street photography, stylised and thematic portraits and fashion, with representation a key focus. She often works with members of the LBGTQ+ community and/or with models who have black, Asian or mixed heritage.

Along with finding out more about her BLM protest coverage and the importance of telling the story of those you photograph, we also chat about our joint love of festivals and her long-form series, Glastonbury After Hours which looks at what's left behind at such an event.

Other editorial work includes her coverage of the World Naked Bike Ride in London; an event taking place globally in various cities to raise awareness of climate change and her experience photographing the event.

As ever, we talk about how photography has a role to play in shining a spotlight on environmental issues, which are most often linked to humanity in some way. 

Episode 30 with Harry is another delight for the podcast library. 

His career is fascinating, from his time as a photojournalist to his sustainable photography tourism business now. And his passion for photography is apparent.

Harry not only loves the medium, but he also loves sharing it with others too.

I am honoured our conversation prompted his recollection of family get-togethers around a slide projector, back before TV, and loved hearing about his time photographically supporting environmental and social causes in the days before social media.

Now, Harry can be found immersed in his local landscapes, using photography as a means to aid conservation and respect for our natural surroundings. His enthusiasm for natural heritage, the night sky, and much, much more is infectious.

This is a fab east of England meets west of England episode as I chat with Norwich-based photographic artist, Holly Sandiford.

It's great to learn more about Holly's practice and her passion for experimental photography.

She's keen to stay connected to her natural environment and her work relating to soil health helps her (literally) stay hands-on with the earth beneath our feet.

And it's brilliant to hear about how science and art can collide, with reference to Winogradsky columns and more.

But it's not just her MA and personal practice she is passionate about as Holly is also an educator and runs a community arts project, Arts at Work Norwich, too.

As with other podcast guests, learning about what motivates Holly is fascinating, including how it's important to her that her work remains accessible and can be found in spaces other than the gallery.

If you want to discover more about photography projects which consider light pollution, solography, how history is written into the lines of our land and so much more, then Giles W Bennett's practice is one to look out for.

We chat about how Giles found his way to photography via experimental film, environmental activism and even circus performance, while Giles also touches on how his dyspraxia, dyslexia and ADHD are a part of his creative process.

There's also a lovely surprise to celebrate in our conversation but listen along to find out what that is.

In this episode of Photopocene, I discuss artwork that makes my brain work.

That's because it is the impactful and intriguing photo collage work of Adam King.

We talk about how environment and ecology are referenced in his images, his creative beginnings in Norfolk, life in London at art school and beyond.

I learn how Argos catalogues played a role in his early, otherworldly photo collages and how charity shop finds are now informing his current creations.

All of this is driven by comment on consumerism, notions of value and appearance, and a chance to see what can evolve from the discarded.

In this episode of Photopocene, I chat with photography student Claire-louise Pitman.

She candidly spoke about how her health influences her relationship with her environment and her photography, and I certainly learned from her.

With an upcoming end-of-year show in June, her final project brings a new take on the memory box, and this, and other photo series, respond to living with Anosmia.

I hope you enjoy discovering more about Claire-louise's work.

All the links you need...

I’m joined in this episode by the artist Sophia Moffa.

Sophia works across multiple disciplines such as sculpture, performance, and photography.

We talk about how photography plays its part in her varied art responses, many of which are created with natural materials and eventually only remain in photographic form.

And we discuss her photographic series Western Waters which is turning the pollution issue in Birmingham’s canals ‘on its head’.

Nature has huge relevance to her making as she leans towards seasonal creation.

But she is also doing fabulous things for her local community, including through her grassroots CIC The Travellers’ Tree. This is supporting refugees and asylum seekers with art, nature and outdoor activities.

I’m so glad to have spent this time chatting with Sophia. I hope you enjoy finding out more.

This episode is a fascinating conversation with Karel Doing.

Karel is an independent artist, filmmaker and researcher whose practice investigates the relationship between culture and nature by means of analogue and organic process, experiment and co-creation.

He’s the mind behind a wonderful photographic process, Phytography.

We scratch the surface of how and why he creates work, how he shares his work and collaborates with others.

The key thing for him is that plants are expressive and creative in their own right and his work is made in collaboration with nature, not from nature.

With a very impressive artist CV, we could have chatted much more.

It is great to speak with Will Templeton about his work relating to people and the world in which we live.

This episode is a delightful conversation with photographer Robin Shelton (do please excuse the little hiccup near the start where my question about how he started out in photography seems to have vanished - it's still great to learn about Robin's lifetime photo love inspired by his father).

We go on to discuss "making with meaning' and how this relates to his work, discover a mutual love of allotments (Robin has written a book all about life pottering around an allotment), how he partakes in "plant torture", plus his plans to highlight sewage pollution in our rivers and seas via a portrait series using the salt printing process.

But there's so much more to Robin's story, so listen along to find out.

In this Photopocene episode, I get to share the intriguing work of Martha Gray.

Her most recent project creates sculptural photographic pieces using her 'biocyan' process - listen in to find out more.

Our chat also touches on a collaborative residency at the London Alternative Photography Collective, work relating to health and wellbeing and the growing interest in sustainable photography practices.

I am truly privileged to be speaking with so many talented artists with such an array of photographic ideas and interpretations.

And this Photopocene podcast is no exception as I am joined by the researcher, curator and photographer, Maica Gugolati.

Immerse yourself in her wonderful soundscape before listening along to our conversation about her work.

Maica talks about her project, Floating Tropics, which creates questions about the 'industrialscape' on the islands of Trinidad and Tobago. Through this, she plays with the suggestion that all is not what it seems, that what we see has already been shaped for us and we are shaping what will be seen in the future. 

Her collage images create fantastical other worlds and a "puzzle of fictionalities" - and this is all in relation to the oft-hidden extractive industries which play a big role in the economy and livelihoods of people on these islands.

To find out more about Maica, visit: 

Join in with my conversation with the very talented photographer, Ilya Fisher.

Learn more about her practice and how it relates to environmental issues and social injustice and how working collaboratively bolsters the ways she presents current world issues in creative and thought provoking ways.

We talk about the anxiety felt by many due to the climate crisis, and why Ilya's photographic offering provides a means to address the topic in a supportive and sometimes entertaining way.

I am delighted to be joined by Susa Solero for this episode of the Photopocene podcast.

Based in Germany, Susa has been detailing litter to help encourage people to think about the negative impact of littering.

We speak about how she makes use of time on train journeys to create painterly landscapes and her love for minimalism and abstract forms.

Although Susa doesn't class herself as a professional photographer, her strong style and interpretation across varied topics most certainly shows her eye for creating images to contemplate, both visually and through her creative use of words.

Find out how the word constipation makes us giggle.

I'm joined on this episode by street and documentary photographer, Jonathan Straight.

Jonathan doesn't specifically use his photography to raise awareness of environmental issues (his day job is heavily related to things such as water resources and waste management) but his topics do reflect or connect to them.

We chat about his latest photo book Vegans in Iceland. It's a great insight into the country, its vegans, and discussions around the benefit of a plant-based diet. 

We also chat about the ethics of street photography, how Jonathan gets so close to his subjects and how, on occasion, he has remained in touch with some of them like the woman from Russia who he still meets occasionally for a coffee since their random meeting on a London street some years ago.

In this podcast, photographic artist and host of Photopocene Josie Purcell is joined by the very talented Sarah Garrod.

A photographer and artist specialising in darkroom printing, portraiture, and experimental photography, Sarah is also a committed environmentalist and this informs her work which is often concerned with loss; the loss of green spaces and the loss of species. 

In this episode, we talk about Sarah's background and how she evolved her practice to where it is today. This takes us from her days working in community darkrooms to a recent commission recreating a living tree in large-scale cyanotype, and a new series, the Leaf Project. In this, she creates beautiful portraits connecting everyday people to their natural environments on found leaves - listen in to find out more.

We chat about what informs her work, including quantum physics, the importance of plants, and how understanding and valuing light sources has a huge influence on her work, whether using camera-less techniques or in the darkroom.

A mutual fascination with mermaids, the intriguing series title Here Be Dragons, a recycled darkroom and Sarah's artistic response in lockdown are uncovered too.

This is just a flavour of our conversation and Sarah's photographic art.

Zoran Dragelj is an award-winning filmmaker, photographer, producer/director based in Vancouver.

He describes himself as an auteur filmmaker, trying to formulate a delicate balance between appearances of things versus the hidden emotional reality in everyday life.

In recent short films and videos, he shows a panoramic view of contemporary experimental creations where the subject of physical motion and movement is tackled. He also tries to demonstrate how experimental films and videos can include some kind of storytelling.

In our chat, we spoke about 'flaneurship' and discovering new things in places you know well; about Vancouver, its history and surroundings; about his films, a new documentary with a self-taught Costa Rican artist, and an upcoming collaboration in the city.

But most importantly we looked at how Zoran's sense of place, whether local or global, influence the still and moving images he creates.

You can find out more about Zoran at:

To celebrate World Environment Day 2021, I'm joined by New Orleans-based photographic artist, Natasha Sanchez.

We recorded the podcast on Earth Day so it seems apt to share our chat on this day.

Our conversation touches on what influences Natasha's work such as how humans have moved around but home is often found inside oneself, the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and how we are nature and not separate from it.

We discuss some of her series including the Louisiana World Tour, which is a photographic & (mostly) philosophical road trip around the state of her world and inspired by a desire to find creative direction. We talk about the subsequent Ancient World Tour, which developed from the route taken in the Lousiana World Tour and reflects Natasha's love of ancient history and respect for the many Native American mounds she came across on her journey.

There are tales of termites, mention of mandalas, and frolics with fossils too.

We even talk about Betty the Bullhorn, but you'll need to listen in to find out more about that.

And it is delightful to discover another lumen-loving soul and fellow proponent of unfixed lumens with a black bag of originals hidden from the light.

This conversation will take you to the jungles of the Amazon, mountains in Spain, and the forests of Norway. There's even mention of a poisonous snake.

And you don't even have to leave home.

Stig Marlon Weston is a photographer based in Norway who often employs cameraless techniques and photographic materials to interpret his interest in how we/he see/s the world.  

We speak about how to let go to make art, challenge yourself to keep your work fresh, and how to still focus on short/long-term projects. 

Apologies for the little bit of echo and a few blips in this recording. Hopefully, it doesn't stop you from enjoying this fascinating chat with Stig.

Hello - glad you are here and listening to the Photopocene podcast with me, Josie Purcell.

This time, I'm joined by a photographer who is discovering a passion for pinhole photography, Sroyon Mukherjee. But to create the pinhole cameras, Sroyon takes household items and upcycles them. 

I love this idea and may well be raiding my recycling bins to see what items I can turn into a pinhole camera instead.

We also talk about water resources, vintage cameras, writing about photography, and even beekeeping.

Hope you enjoy it.

What a wonderful conversation with visual artist, Minna Kokko.

Her love for nature and deep appreciation of how we are nature is clear. 

Discovering more about what motivates her to create her artwork, and, by doing so, how her work can pose questions relating to the connection and/or disconnection people have to the natural world is fascinating.

Our chat weaves in Japanese culture, trees, calligraphy, Auvers-sur-Oise, Minna's daughter as muse, microscopes, and much more. 

You can find out more about Minna at:

It's been great to chat with self-taught photographer and passionate sustainable photo practice person, Holly Gilman.

We discuss topics from what sparked her interest in environmental issues to how she has recently taken the plunge with YouTube videos.

Holly also shares details of her peers who are inspiring her in this field and her work with 35mmc.com (including a photo book) plus much more.

You can find out more about Holly at:

Photography has had a significant impact on the world we live in.

Eco-conscious photographic artist Josie Purcell has created the Photopocene Podcast to chat with other photographers passionate about using their creative talents to raise awareness of environmental issues.

In the third episode, she is joined by David Crawford, a Northumberland-based photographer who explores the notions of 'Transience' both within ourselves as humans and the wider ecosphere. This chat includes great insight into David's work and what motivates him to create. He relates to scientific findings while retaining a sense of wonder and hope.

Photography has had a significant impact on the world we live in.

Eco-conscious photographic artist Josie Purcell has created the Photopocene Podcast to chat with other photographers passionate about using their creative talents to raise awareness of environmental issues.

In the second episode, she is joined by Stu Sontier, a New Zealand-based photographer, whose work has ranged from documentary to abstract, now with a focus on repurposing digital materials. He works experimentally and explores the materiality of photography in the digital era, informed by scientific and philosophical ideas around time, reality and existence, and environmental thinking related to the future.

Photography has had a significant impact on the world we live in. 

Eco-conscious photographic artist Josie Purcell has created the Photopocene Podcast to chat with other photographers passionate about using their creative talents to raise awareness of environmental issues.

In the very first episode, she is joined by Hannah Fletcher, a London-based artist, working with cameraless photographic processes, founder of The Sustainable Darkroom, Co-director of London Alternative Photography Collective, and a facilitator of sustainability within the arts.