Almost in Focus

A year into Almost in Focus, Toby and Tom are joined by Khandie, Laura, Sam, and Ben for a loose, lively conversation about photography, creative practice, and what actually makes work worth paying attention to.

The discussion moves through street photography, AI, social media, zines, books, education, ethics, and the growing appeal of physical, tactile work. Along the way, the group question why some photography feels empty, how online platforms shape what gets rewarded, and whether controversy and criticism can be useful rather than destructive.

Topics include:

• Why some street photography can become disposable content
• How AI may change what audiences value in photography
• The renewed appeal of zines, books, and printed work
• Ethics around photographing vulnerable people and public spaces
• The value of criticism, feedback, and having a clear point of view
• Brand gifting, influencer culture, and the pressures of social media

There is also plenty of first-birthday chaos, including cake, candle jokes, duck cameos, nostalgia, and discussion about whether Almost in Focus should become even more opinionated in year two.

A relaxed anniversary episode about making work with purpose, developing a point of view, and creating photography that matters beyond likes and algorithms.

Street photography gets turned upside down in this conversation with documentary photographer and writer Ed Thompson, who reveals why some of the strongest photographs are often the ones you never planned to make.

Tom Warland and Tobias Beach-Wyld are joined by Ed to talk about coincidence, punctum, serendipity, documentary photography, street photography, and the strange moments that can make an image feel almost too perfect to be accidental.

At the centre of the episode is Ed’s new book project, The Photographer’s Grimoire — a hardback exploration of photographic coincidence and the unpredictable moments that make a frame come alive.

Ed has begun categorising the different ways coincidence appears in photographs, developing a taxonomy that forms the basis of the book. He explains how years of photographing on the street led him to recognise recurring patterns, and why trying too hard to find the perfect image can sometimes make it harder to see what is already happening in front of you.

He describes photographic coincidence as something close to the holy grail of street photography: those rare moments where people, objects, gestures, timing, background, and chance suddenly align.

The episode also looks at Ed’s route into documentary photography, from his early art college years to his move away from constructed fine-art approaches and towards observing the world as it already exists.

A major part of the discussion centres on what Ed describes as sagacity — the idea that sometimes you only find the thing you are looking for when you stop deliberately looking for it. This leads into a wider conversation about instinct, observation, experience, patience, and recognising significance when it suddenly appears.

In this episode:

• The idea behind The Photographer’s Grimoire
• Ed’s five categories of photographic coincidence
• Serendipity, punctum, instinct, and chance
• Why trying too hard to find a photograph can make you miss it
• Ed’s concept of sagacity
• Why solo photography can lead to better access and more natural encounters
• Stories behind some of Ed’s most memorable photographs
• A near-miss while photographing during the London riots
• What AI can and cannot replace in documentary and street photography
• Authenticity in a world of generated imagery
• Photography workshops, creativity, and education
• Why photographers need space to experiment, make mistakes, and discover images for themselves

Tom and Tobias also bring their own teaching experience into the conversation, questioning how much photographers should be told what to look for and how much they should simply be given the freedom to discover it themselves.

Running through the episode is a bigger question about authorship: if the photographer did not plan the moment, who or what created the photograph?

Is it chance, timing, instinct, preparation, or some combination of all of them?

Ed’s work suggests that photographers may not always create the most interesting moments — but they can become better at recognising them.

Ed Thompson’s new book project, The Photographer’s Grimoire, explores coincidence, punctum, serendipity, and the strange moments that appear when photography, timing, and chance collide.

The project is currently launching through Kickstarter:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gaddadaengand/the-photographers-grimoire?ref=discover_saved_projects&category_id=45

The Photographer’s Grimoire

And don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel @almostinfocuspodcast. We’ll be live on 3 October at 8:00pm UK time for a special Almost in Focus live episode. Join us in the chat and be part of the show.

Tom Warland and Tobias Beach-Wyld examine how AI is being used within documentary and photographic practice, asking whether it can support storytelling without pretending to be traditional photography.

Looking at work by Magnum photographers including Carl De Keyzer, Philip Toledano and Jonas Bendiksen, they discuss where AI becomes a creative tool, a form of collage, or perhaps an entirely new visual language.

Rather than approaching AI through moral panic, the conversation considers what happens when photographers use it critically: to construct alternate realities, explore events that cannot be photographed, question the reliability of images, and challenge our ideas of photographic truth.

• Tom and Tobias frame AI as a creative tool rather than simply a threat to photography.
• Magnum Photos, documentary tradition, and the tension between human-made photographic archives and AI-generated imagery.
• Carl De Keyzer’s Putin’s Dream and using AI to depict a reality that cannot be photographed directly.
• Is AI image-making closer to photomontage, collage, constructed fiction, or photography?
• How AI storytelling relates to poetry, propaganda, and assembling meaning from fragments.
• Philip Toledano’s Another America and AI as a way of constructing a convincing alternate reality, rather than simply imitating the existing world.
• Jonas Bendiksen and questions around photographic truth, authorship, and our willingness to believe images.
• How bias, race, and existing media representation can influence AI-generated imagery.
• Why AI doesn't necessarily replace photography, but may instead create something adjacent to it.
• Can AI become a genuine creative collaborator rather than simply an automation tool?

For the Podaversary Live be sure to subscribe to https://www.youtube.com/@AlmostinFocuspodcast

This episode is a guestless catch-up between TBW and Tom Warland, covering summer travels, film and digital camera adventures, alternative processes, and a long conversation about photographic theory.

The main discussion looks at the photography books that have stuck with us: the texts that changed how we think about photographs, meaning, context, and making work. From Susan Sontag and John Berger to Geoff Dyer, Stuart Franklin, P. H. Emerson and beyond, we talk about theory at university, the books that can feel impenetrable when you first encounter them, and the more accessible writing we still recommend today.

We revisit some of the dense texts frequently encountered during photography degrees — including Roland Barthes' Camera Lucida and Susan Sontag's On Photography — and contrast them with more immediately accessible books such as John Berger's Ways of Seeing and Geoff Dyer's The Ongoing Moment.

We also discuss how engaging with theory changed our own approaches to photography: moving beyond technical concerns and mimicry towards thinking about semiotics, context, representation, intention, and how photographs construct meaning.

To finish, we've each picked five books that we think are worth returning to — or discovering for the first time.

1. P. H. Emerson — Poetry in Photography
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=P+H+Emerson+Poetry+in+Photography

2. Stuart Franklin — The Documentary Impulse
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Stuart+Franklin+The+Documentary+Impulse

3. David Levi Strauss — Between the Eyes: Essays on Photography and Politics
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=David+Levi+Strauss+Between+the+Eyes

4. Geoff Dyer — Working the Room: Essays and Reviews 1999–2010
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Geoff+Dyer+Working+the+Room

5. Geoff Dyer — The Ongoing Moment
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Geoff+Dyer+The+Ongoing+Moment

1. Geoff Dyer — See/Saw: Looking at Photographs
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Geoff+Dyer+See+Saw+Looking+at+Photographs

2. Annette Kuhn — Family Secrets: Acts of Memory and Imagination
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Annette+Kuhn+Family+Secrets+Acts+of+Memory+and+Imagination

3. John Tagg — The Burden of Representation: Essays on Photographies and Histories
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=John+Tagg+The+Burden+of+Representation

4. Gerry Badger — The Pleasures of Good Photographs
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Gerry+Badger+The+Pleasures+of+Good+Photographs

5. David Campany — On Photographs
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=David+Campany+On+Photographs

We finish with a preview of a future episode tackling AI and documentary photography — what it means for photographic truth, authorship, trust, and the future of documentary practice.

In this episodePhotographic theoryTom's Reading ListToby's Reading ListComing next

This week, Tom and Toby explore the value of collaboration in photography—how working together can strengthen projects, challenge creative assumptions, and build communities that are greater than the sum of their parts.

The conversation ranges from exciting new collaborative initiatives such as Tri This and the Baby Holga Project, through funding opportunities for photographers, documentary practice, and reflections on competition, creativity, and photographic culture.

• Tri This – exploring a new collaborative initiative built around trying ideas, sharing creative experiments, and learning from one another.

• The Baby Holga Project – a global community analogue photography project, how it works, and how photographers around the world can get involved.

• Collaboration Opportunities – why collaboration matters in photography, different ways photographers can work together, funding opportunities, and how community-led projects can lead to stronger, more meaningful work.

• Summer holidays finally providing time to work on long-term personal projects.

• Designing and 3D printing accessories for analogue photographers.

• The creative possibilities—and challenges—of collaborative photographic practice.

• Why grants often provide more meaningful support for photographers than competitions.

• Documenting illness, recovery, and the everyday moments that often go unseen.

• Building trust and access within documentary projects.

• The REMEDY Photo Festival open call and other funding opportunities.

• The growing Baby Holga Project and other international collaborative initiatives.

• Simon Norfolk's evolving photographic practice and how photographers' visual styles develop over time.

• New developments in analogue photography, including Dragon Film.

REMEDY Photo Festival
https://remedyphoto.com/

Simon Norfolk
https://www.simonnorfolk.com/

Dragon Film
https://dragonfilm.co.uk/

Vintage Visual – FRANK Crowdfunder
https://www.indiegogo.com/en/projects/arnopeever/frank-film-processor-motion-picture-film-development-made-easy?utm_source=vintagevisual&utm_medium=frank_page&utm_campaign=prelaunch

Website:
https://tombobwarland.com

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/tombobwarland/

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@tombobwarland

Website:
https://www.tobiasbeachwyld.com

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/tobiasbeachwyld/

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a rating or review on your favourite podcast platform. It really helps other photographers discover the show.

You can also follow Almost in Focus on Instagram for updates on new episodes, guests, photowalks, and future community projects.

There are photographers who make images, and there are photographers who shape the way we think about photography itself. Pete Davis is undoubtedly one of the latter.

For more than sixty years Pete has photographed the landscapes, communities and everyday rituals of Wales with curiosity, generosity and quiet attentiveness. His photographs ask us not only to look, but to look again—to slow down, to spend time with an image and to discover something new each time we return to it.

In this episode of Almost in Focus, Tom Warland and Tobias Beach-Wyld sit down with Pete to discuss a lifetime in photography. From making photographs as an eleven-year-old in Cardiff to leading the renowned Documentary Photography course at Newport, Pete reflects on the people, places and experiences that have shaped his practice as both photographer and educator.

The conversation comes at a particularly fitting time, as Pete’s latest exhibition, Impressions of an Ancient Landscape, is currently on display at MOMA Cymru in Machynlleth. Together, Tom, Tobias and Pete explore documentary photography, teaching, large format cameras, platinum printing and the importance of remaining curious throughout a lifetime of making work.

Pete shares stories behind landmark projects including The Great Little Tin Sheds of Wales, discusses the role of place and personal history within his photographs, and explains why some images demand both patience and particular processes to truly become themselves.

More than anything, this is a conversation about photography as a lifelong practice. About making meaningful work, remaining authentic and understanding that our relationship with photographs can continue to evolve long after the shutter has been pressed.

• Documentary photography as a process of curiosity, observation and asking questions.
• Why photographs should reward repeated viewing and invite audiences to spend time looking.
• Pete’s remarkable journey from leaving school at fifteen to becoming an internationally exhibited photographer, researcher and educator.
• The influence of teaching and mentorship on generations of photographers.
• Large format photography as a deliberate, contemplative and patient practice.
• Platinum and palladium printing and the enduring relationship between process and subject matter.
• The lasting influence of The Great Little Tin Sheds of Wales and photographing the extraordinary within everyday life.
• Landscape, autobiography and understanding our connection to place.
• The importance of authenticity, humour and generosity within photographic practice.
• Technical mishaps, podcasting remotely and embracing the unexpected moments along the way.

Pete’s latest exhibition, Impressions of an Ancient Landscape, is a collaboration with painter Philip Huckin. Bringing together photography and painting, the exhibition explores the ancient Welsh landscape through two complementary visual practices, inviting viewers to consider place, memory and the passage of time from different perspectives.

Museum of Modern Art, Machynlleth (MOMA Cymru)13 June – 19 September 2026

Exhibition:
https://moma.cymru/en/e/philip-huckin-pete-davis-impressions-of-an-ancient-landscape/

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/petedavisphoto/

Website
https://www.pete-davis-photography.com/

Books & Prints
https://petedavisphotography.bigcartel.com/

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Laura Noble on Curating Photography, Collecting Art & Why Presentation Matters | Almost in FocusWhat makes a photograph worthy of a gallery wall? How do curators decide what gets exhibited? And in a world increasingly influenced by AI, what role does human creativity still play?In this episode of **Almost in Focus**, we're joined by **Laura Noble**—curator, gallery director, writer and author of *The Art of Collecting Photography*. Laura shares decades of experience working with photographers, collectors and galleries, offering practical advice for anyone looking to exhibit, collect or simply better understand photographic art.From building meaningful collections to creating exhibitions that truly connect with audiences, this conversation explores the decisions that happen long before a photograph reaches the wall. We discuss approaching galleries, portfolio reviews, photography books and zines, exhibition design, and how emerging technologies are changing the landscape of contemporary photography.Whether you're an emerging photographer, an experienced artist, curator, student or someone who simply loves photography, this episode is packed with thoughtful insights into how photographs are presented, appreciated and remembered.In this episode* Why curation is about storytelling, not just selecting images* How to start collecting photography with confidence* What galleries really look for from photographers* Practical advice for presenting and exhibiting your work* The importance of exhibition design and gallery space* Photography books, zines and evolving publishing trends* AI, digital technology and the future of photographic practice* Why less can often be more when displaying work* Portfolio reviews, mentorship and developing a sustainable creative career Resources & Links📚 **Laura Noble's book – *The Art of Collecting Photography***https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=The+Art+of+Collecting+Photography+Laura+Noble🌐 Laura Noble Galleryhttps://lauranoblegallery.com📷 InstagramLaura: https://www.instagram.com/lauraannnoble/ (@lauraannnoble)Gallery: https://www.instagram.com/lanoblegallery/ (@lanoblegallery)📸 Spectrum Photographichttps://spectrumphoto.co.uk/🖨️ Genesis Imaginghttps://genesisimaging.co.uk/🏛️ Rencontres d'Arles Photography Festivalhttps://www.rencontres-arles.com/💡 Duncan Wardle TED Talk – *What If We Reimagined Creativity?*https://www.ted.com/talks/duncan_wardle_what_if_we_reimagined_creativity---If you enjoyed this conversation, please **like**, **subscribe**, and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. It really helps more people discover the show.Follow **Almost in Focus** for more conversations with photographers, artists, curators and creative professionals exploring the craft, culture and future of photography.

Join Tobias and Tom as they explore the fascinating world ofstereoscopic photography, from its historical significance in wartime to modern artistic and scientific applications. Along the way they share anecdotes, technical insights, and their own experiments with 3D imaging, all in their usual relaxed and humorous style.

In This Episode

·     The origins of stereoscopy and its inventor, Sir Charles Wheatstone

·     How stereoscopy was used during WWII for intelligence gathering and camouflage detection

·     The science of binocular vision and how our brains perceive depth

·      Simple demonstrations you can try yourself to understand stereoscopic vision

·      DIY projects, including camera obscuras and outdoor studio setups

·     The use of stereo photography in space exploration, including Apollo lunar missions

·     Modern 3D imaging techniques, from View-Master to smartphone apps

·     Artistic applications of stereoscopy and experimental photographic processes

·      The challenges and limitations of current stereoscopic technologies, including VR and 3D glasses

·     Creative projects involving imaginary worlds, fake documentaries, and Aerochrome-inspired imagery

·      Upcoming stereoscopy events and opportunities to get involved  

Stereoscopy Apps

i3DSteroid (iPhone/iPad)[https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/i3dsteroid/id467945370]

3DSteroid (Android)[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.suto.stereoroid]

Projects & Resources

Tom Warland – Stereoscopic Projects and Resources[https://www.tombobwarland.com]

Jim Naughten – Mountains of Kong[https://jimnaughten.co.uk/]

Chris Levine [https://chrislevine.com/]

London Stereoscopic Company [https://www.londonstereo.com]

Stereoscopic Events

London Stereoscopic Photowalk '26 18 October 2026[https://www.photowalk.me/photowalk/the-london-stereoscopic-photowalk-26/]

Other Resources

Phlogger Episode 49 – Quinn Jacobson

[https://phlogger.co.uk/tooth-fairies-kevin-costner-massacres-with-quinn-jacobson/]

Photography and Health: Exploring the Remedy Photo FestivalDiscover how the Remedy Photo Festival is transforming the way we see health through lens-based storytelling. This episode explores the intersection of photography, lived experience, and social engagement, providing insights into a groundbreaking project that is making health narratives more visible and equitable.In this episode:

• Introduction to the Remedy Photo Festival and its focus on health-related photography
• The journey from open call to exhibition, highlighting rapid development in 18 months
• The importance of health photography in reflecting societal and personal experiences
• How the festival promotes collaborative and equitable approaches with participants
• Featured work from international artists documenting chronic illness and mental health
• Discussions on the challenges and opportunities in funding and showcasing health photography
• The role of storytelling, with examples of photos that foster human connection and understanding
• The impact of COVID-19 on the visibility of health issues in photography
• Future plans: expanding collaborations, training, and grassroots engagement

To find out more about events and exhibitions in the festival, go to https://remedyphoto.com/

Print Swapping, Photography Evolution, and the Power of Prints

In this episode, we speak with photographer Sam about his journey from award-winning documentary photography in Afghanistan to a career spanning art, editorial, and fashion work. We explore how the photography industry has evolved in the digital era and why physical prints continue to hold a unique power in an increasingly digital world.

A major focus of our conversation is print swapping as both a concept and a practice. We discuss the value of exchanging physical photographs, the connections that can be formed through sharing prints, and how these ideas led to the creation of Print Swap, an app that enables photographers around the world to exchange their work. Along the way, we explore how the platform works, its origins, and the challenges and opportunities of building photographic communities online.

• Sam's photographic journey from documentary photography to art and fashion

• Winning the Ian Parry Award and working in Afghanistan

• How digital technology transformed photojournalism and image distribution

• The decline of traditional publishing opportunities for photographers

• Print swapping as a way of sharing and experiencing photography

• The origins and development of the Print Swap app

• How Print Swap works and connects photographers worldwide

• Why physical prints create a different relationship with photographs

• Building photographic communities in the age of social media

• Instagram, emerging photography platforms, and the future of image sharing

• The value of collecting, exchanging, and living with photographs

• Sam reflects on his early documentary work and formative experiences in Afghanistan

• The transition from photojournalism into commercial and creative photography

• How technology changed the way photographers share and monetise their work

• The inspiration behind print swapping and the creation of Print Swap

• How the app works and what photographers gain from participating

• The emotional impact of receiving photographs through the post

• Memorable projects involving portraiture, reenactment communities, and cultural documentation

• The opportunities and challenges presented by modern photography platforms

• Thoughts on where photography communities may be heading next

Download Print Swap and start exchanging physical prints with photographers and visual artists around the world.

📱 iOS (App Store):
https://apps.apple.com/pl/app/print-swap/id6752863046?utm_source=chatgpt.com

🤖 Android:
https://print-swap.com/