Reuben Radding, a New York based street and documentary photographer whose work has become a distinctive voice within contemporary urban photography. Reuban has spent more than a decade walking the city with a camera, creating images that feel less like observations and more like encounters

His photographs have appeared in exhibitions and publications since the early 2010s, and his first photobook, Heavenly Arms, published by Red Hook Editions, has already earned international recognition, including a 2nd Place Prize in the 2025 International Photography Awards. The book distills ten years of wandering, witnessing, and wrestling with the idea of human interconnectedness.

In this episode Tim Bingham speaks with Reuban exploring how his artistic background shapes his approach to street photography. A central theme of the discussion is how photography became a form of personal healing. Reuben describes previously feeling separate from others, like an observer on the outside of life. Through photographing on the streets of New York, he began to feel part of the city’s flow—less detached and more connected. This shift not only changed his relationship to photography but also deepened his sense of belonging and engagement with people.

Ultimately, Reuben frames photography as a tool for understanding both himself and others. The practice has taught him to see people as complex and multifaceted, moving beyond simple judgments. Through this ongoing process, he recognises a shared human experience that connects everyone, making photography not just an artistic pursuit, but a way of engaging more deeply with the world.

Reuben Website

Reuben Instagram

Talking Frames Instagram

Song: Drip

Music by: CreatorMix.com

David Cossini is a documentary and street photographer whose work is grounded in immersion, connection, and honesty. Rather than chasing quick images, he invests time in the people and communities he photographs, building trust and creating images that feel raw, human, and deeply personal. His approach prioritises emotion and atmosphere over technical perfection, drawing viewers into the scene rather than positioning them as distant observers.

His work has been recognised through a number of photography awards and competitions, reflecting both his strength as a storyteller and his commitment to long-term, meaningful projects. He is also a member of the Revoke Photo Collective, a group dedicated to pushing the boundaries of contemporary street and documentary photography. Alongside his practice, David is an active voice within the photography community, speaking openly about process, ethics, and what it truly means to document people with respect.

In this deeply personal and wide-ranging conversation, Tim Bingham sits down with David to explore not just his photography, but the experiences and philosophy that shape it. David shares his non-linear journey into photography and explains why he rejects conventional, surface-level assignments in favour of long-term, immersive work. His focus often centres on people living on the margins, those navigating addiction, identity, and social exclusion by approaching these stories with a desire to understand rather than simply observe.

A recurring theme throughout the conversation is the importance of proximity. David places himself within the story, allowing relationships to develop over time and shape the narrative organically. Some of his most powerful work is rooted in personal experience, including reconnecting with his father after a 20-year estrangement, using the camera as both a bridge and a tool for understanding.

The discussion also explores his ongoing work with punk communities and individuals struggling with addiction, highlighting the ethical balance between honesty and dignity, the role of consent, and the emotional weight of sustained engagement with difficult realities. His commitment to these communities is long-term and non-transactional.

At the core of David’s perspective is a strong personal ethos. He draws a distinction between empathy and compassion, arguing that while bias is inevitable, compassion allows for a more honest and sustainable relationship with subjects. Forgiveness—particularly in relation to his father—emerges as a powerful theme, framed not as something done for others, but as a way of finding personal freedom.

Ultimately, this conversation reveals that for David, photography is not just a career but a way of living—one built on presence, patience, and emotional investment. Whether working in Uganda, Newcastle, or within subcultures closer to home, his focus remains the same: to tell stories with integrity and remain loyal to the people at the heart of them.

David Cossini Website

David Cossina Instagram

Revoke Photo Collective

Talking Frames Instagram

Song: Drip

Music by: CreatorMix.com

John Boaz is a portrait photographer whose work explores faith, community, culture, and place.

He has been recognized multiple times in the Portrait of Britain awards, and his work has been exhibited at respected venues such as the Saatchi Gallery in London. His editorial photography has appeared in major publications including The Telegraph Magazine, Financial Times, New Statesman, Le Monde, and Der Spiegel. 

In this conversation with Tim Bingham, he discusses his journey into photography, his slow and deliberate working process, and the ethical responsibility he feels toward the people he photographs.

John’s early relationship with art began in childhood when his mother regularly took him to museums and galleries. There he developed a deep appreciation for classical painters such as Rembrandt and Vermeer, whose use of light and quiet human presence continues to influence his photographic style. While studying, he discovered the work of photographers including Alys Tomlinson, Laura Pannack, and Alex Soth. Encountering their work shifted his understanding of photography from simple image-making toward storytelling and visual communication.

Much of John’s work focuses on long-term observational and portrait projects. His ongoing series Rivers of Living Water documents Christian faith communities across Britain while Our Father explores monastic life. Another deeply personal project, Hope in New Beginnings, turns the camera toward his own parents. Across these bodies of work, John emphasizes patience and relationship-building, often spending long periods with people and communities before making photographs.

His portrait practice is grounded in trust and authenticity. John prefers to photograph people in their own environments using natural light. This approach reflects his belief that portrait photography should celebrate and honour the people being photographed. 

Photographers mentioned 

Laura Pannack

Alys Tomlinson

John Boaz Website

John Boaz Instagram

Talking Frames Instagram

Song: Drip

Music by: CreatorMix.com

Marcin Kornacki is a photojournalist and documentary photographer whose work focuses on places and communities shaped by conflict, social inequality, and historical memory. He is based in London and studied photojournalism and documentary photography at the University of the Arts London. His practice is grounded in long-term projects and spending extended time with the people he photographs, combining visual storytelling with personal testimony.

In this episode, Tim  speaks with Marcin about his artistic development, working practice, and the ethical complexities of photographing communities affected by conflict and social marginalisation. The conversation traces Marcin’s journey from early inspiration through to his current, more contemplative approach to image-making.

His professional work has taken him to Haiti, Bolivia, Lebanon, Jamaica and Nepal, with Haiti becoming one of his most significant long-term projects. There he documented gang violence, displacement and political upheaval, including direct engagement with gang leader Jimmy Chérizier. Marcin reflected on working in Port-au-Prince during a period when gang control, humanitarian crisis and political collapse converged, describing both the risks and responsibilities that come with photographing conflict.

A major turning point in Marcin’s career was his year-long mentorship with acclaimed photographer Laura Pannack. This mentorship was described as profoundly transformative. Under Laura’s guidance, Marcin shifted from fast, reactive photojournalism toward a slower, more intentional way of working.

This slower, more reflective approach to image-making became visible in his exhibition “Outer Land”, which explored liminal spaces and transition. Preparing the exhibition highlighted the difficulty of editing one’s own work and reinforced the value of collaboration with trusted editors and curators — a lesson strengthened through Laura Pannack’s mentorship.

The episode also explored the realities of contemporary documentary photography, including self-promotion, audience connection, and the challenge of balancing artistic expression with journalistic responsibility. Marcin’s evolving practice points toward slower, more nuanced and collaborative storytelling, profoundly shaped by mentorship, field experience and ethical reflection.

Marcin Kornacki Website

Marcin Kornanki Instagram

Talking Frames Instagram

Song: Drip

Music by: CreatorMix.com

Meryl Meisler is an American photographer born in the South Bronx and raised on Long Island, New York, whose work offers a vivid, human-centred portrait of New York from the 1970s onward. She started taking photographs as a young student, influenced by photographers like Diane Arbus and Jacques Henri Lartigue.

In recent years a resurgence of interest in her archive has brought Meryl's work wider recognition. Exhibitions and books of her work present these photographic archives as cultural time capsules – “love letters” to New York’s chaotic energy, its people, and the fleeting, spontaneous moments that define community and identity. Her photography blends documentary grit with warmth, humour, and empathy, making her a significant voice in American street and social documentary photography.

This episode is a conversation about the long arc of an artistic life — about identity, joy, survival, and what it really means to stay with the work.Meryl shares how photography was never something she “discovered” — it was woven into her childhood. Growing up surrounded by her father’s printing business, typography, and her grandfather’s constant photographing, image-making felt as natural as breathing. That early immersion shaped a visual language that would later find formal ignition.

Meryl chose to photograph joy, resilience, and pride — a decision rooted not in denial, but in survival. Decades later, those images would bring her international recognition.

At its heart, this is a conversation about patience, community, and staying with the work. Recognition came late. The images lived quietly for decades before the world caught up. Meryl’s story is a powerful reminder that an artistic life is sustained not by speed or spectacle, but by attention, connection, and endurance.

Meryl  Meisler Website

Meryl Meisler Instagram

Video Meryl Meisler & Lisette Model

Dublin Street Photography Festival

Song: Drip

Music by: CreatorMix.com

Simon King began his photographic career in the world of fashion, focusing particularly on backstage photography. While this commercial work provided valuable experience, it was through documentary photography that Simon discovered his true calling. This evolution signified a shift towards authentic storytelling, where meaningful engagement with subjects took precedence over commercial interests.

A distinctive feature of Simon's approach lies in his clear separation between street photography and documentary work. He regards street photography as providing contextual imagery and B-roll material, serving to support the broader narrative. In contrast, documentary photography delivers the hero shots and A-roll content, encapsulating the central storyline of each project. This distinction allows Simon to maintain clarity and focus, ensuring that each project is grounded in the stories he wishes to convey.

As a teacher, Simon’s emphasis moves away from gear and toward self-understanding. He encourages photographers to examine their relationship with the world before worrying about cameras. Why you photograph, how you approach people, and what you bring into a space matters more than technical mastery. For Simon, photography becomes both purpose and permission — an excuse to enter communities, listen, and participate with care.

The New Exit collective embodies this same spirit of collaboration. Rather than privileging individual authorship, the group prioritises shared purpose when the work demands it. It becomes a support structure where photographers grow together, challenge each other ethically and creatively, and commit to projects that carry social and cultural weight.

Simon and Tim delve into the ethical responsibilities of documentary photographers, especially when working in enclosed or sensitive settings. Simon recounts his experience photographing inside a temple, where building trust and participating in the community were crucial. They question the notion of photographers as detached observers, with Simon advocating against simply "bruising the scene" and leaving. Instead, he emphasises the role of photographers as engaged participants, stressing the importance of representation, respect, and cultivating long-term relationships, which become as significant as the images themselves.

Simon Instagram

Blog

Publications

Talking Frames Instagram

Rich Gilligan is an acclaimed Irish photographer whose creative practice bridges Dublin and New York. His evocative images focus on skateboarders, subcultures, urban landscapes, and leading figures from art and music. His work has been internationally recognised, with publications including T Magazine from The New York Times and i-D Magazine.

His photography is rooted in real environments and real relationships. While skateboarding appears frequently in his pictures, his real interest lies in the culture that surrounds it: friendship, DIY creativity, community, rebellion, and the way skaters reimagine city space. Many of his images capture quieter reflective moments — empty spots after a session, fragments of conversation, or the textures and atmospheres of the urban landscape.

In this conversation, Rich paints a vivid picture of 1990s Dublin before gentrification, discovering the city through skate culture, and working with Bruce Kelleher on their DIY zine “Killing Time.” He discusses his philosophy of “shoot what you know,” his preference for natural light, and why authenticity matters more than technical perfection.

We also talk about “The First Draft,” his 20-year retrospective at Draíocht Gallery, the accompanying book, community workshops, and the importance of revisiting the places that shaped him. Throughout the episode, Rich reflects on photography as a way to process experience, build relationships, and balance commercial assignments with personal projects, including a growing interest in moving-image work.

A core thread in his practice is the exploration of place and mood. He often photographs peripheral or overlooked spaces — industrial edges, abandoned sites, coastlines, and transitional landscapes. These images move beyond straightforward documentation, evoking youth, identity, and belonging, with light and weather giving the work a cinematic, contemplative quality.

Rich Gilligan Website

Rich Gilligan Instagram

Talking Frames Instagram

Ekaterina Kutikova Bgantseva is a contemporary photographer working primarily in street photography, based in the Mediterranean city of Alicante, Spain.

She has received numerous awards and recognitions in international photography contests. These include winning the FUJIFILM “Día Mundial de la Fotografía 2025” award, several LensCulture Street Photography Awards Editor’s Picks, being named a top street photographer in the 35AWARDS, plaudits in the Paris International Street Photo Awards, and medals in the Black & White International Photo Awards.

Her work has appeared in various photography publications — including editions of Tokyo Streets and volumes of Photographize — and has been exhibited internationally, with shows such as Tokyo Streets in Tokyo and Calentamiento Global in Alicante.

Founder of the Street Lens Society collective, she reinforces the importance of street photography as an art form and is dedicated to showcasing the best artists in the field.

In this episode Tim and Ekaterina explored Ekaterina’s creative evolution as a photographer, tracing her shift from early conceptual and black-and-white work to her current cinematic approach to street photography. Today, her images focus on people’s emotions and inner worlds, often carrying a sense of mystery shaped through careful post-processing. Ekaterina shared how her artistic family background – a father in music, a mother working in theatre costume design, and a grandfather involved in documentary filmmaking – continues to influence her visual storytelling and drive for constant improvement.

The conversation also touched on authenticity in urban photography. Rather than confining herself to a single genre, Ekaterina enjoys experimentation, and a book by Joshua Jackson helped reignite her passion for photography in her twenties. She prefers spontaneous, unstaged city moments, believing they better capture the magic and unpredictability of urban life.

Tim and Ekaterina discussed photographing different cities, including Rome and her home city of Alicante. She noted how images from the same location can change completely depending on mood, time, and light. While fine art projects often require detailed planning, she finds that street photography thrives on walking, observing, and responding to the environment in real time.

Finally, they discussed inspiration. Ekaterina finds ideas through direct experience of life rather than staying at home, drawing from cinema, Renaissance art, and other photographers. Photography, she said, feels like “second nature” and a form of meditation that changes how she sees the world. While Instagram remains a powerful platform for sharing work, she also values exhibitions, networking, and book publishing as ways for photographers to build an audience.

Ekaterina Kutikova website

Ekaterina Kutikova instagram

Talking frames instagram

Laurence Bouchard is a street and urban photographer based in Tokyo, best known for his high-contrast black-and-white images that emphasise geometry, shadow, and silhouette. His work is characterised by strong structural compositions, often reducing complex city scenes into minimalist arrangements of lines, shapes, and negative space. Rather than focusing on overt narrative moments, Laurence’s photographs explore visual order, balance, and rhythm within the urban environment.

Overall, Laurence Bouchard’s photography is less about documenting events and more about seeing the city as a system of shapes, light, and movement. His images invite viewers to pause, slow down, and notice the quiet moments of order that exist within one of the world’s busiest urban environments.

In this episode  Laurence explores his long-term photographic relationship with Tokyo—a city he has called home for over 16 years. Known for his striking monochrome images, Laurence’s work focuses on geometry, shadows, silhouettes, and minimalism, seeking moments of calm and structure within one of the world’s most visually chaotic cities.

Laurence also shares practical insights into his street photography techniques, from using elevated poles to gain unusual perspectives to the psychological side of working in public spaces—reading body language, anticipating movement, and knowing when to wait. Photography, he explains, can feel like both an adrenaline-driven pursuit and a meditative practice, often influenced by music that mirrors the atmosphere of the streets he’s photographing.

The episode also explores the Tokyo street photography community, including the Tokyo Streets collective, which supports photographers through exhibitions, publishing, and collaborative projects. Laurence reflects on how rare negative encounters have been during his years shooting on the streets and how community has helped foster confidence and creative growth.

Photographers mentioned

Lee Chapman

Michael Kistler

Laurence Bouchard Website

Laurence Instagram

Wei Jian Chan is a Singapore-born photographer based in London, best known for his thoughtful black-and-white street photography and his exploration of migration, identity, and belonging. He moved from Singapore to the UK in 2012, and that experience of relocation has become a central thread running through his work.

His photography has been exhibited in various locations in the UK and Europe, and has been acquired to form part of the permanent collection of the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Art. His work has also been featured by numerous outlets, including The Guardian, Deutsche Welle, National Geographic, Amateur Photographer, and Leica Camera.

Wei Jian talked about moving from Singapore to the UK in 2012 and how that migration experience became central to his work. Adjusting to a new culture, language style, and pace of life created feelings of uncertainty and displacement. Photography became a way to process those emotions, helping him make sense of belonging and identity in a place that initially felt unfamiliar.

Much of the conversation focused on his street photography practice in London. Wei Jian primarily works in black and white, drawn to how light, shadow, and architectural structure shape the city. He shoots mostly with a 35mm lens and spoke about balancing instinctive reactions on the street with careful pre-visualisation. He also noted that photographers often return to the same areas over time, mentioning places like the West End, South Bank, and Shoreditch.

The interview explored the making of his photobook Journey to the West, a four-year project published by Satanta Books. The book uses street photography as a metaphor for migration, uncertainty, and adaptation. Wei Jian described the intense editing process, reducing tens of thousands of images into a tightly sequenced narrative, and emphasised the importance of the physical book, from paper choice to black pages and spot lamination.

Some Photographers mentioned 

Joshua K Jackson

Andrew Blowers 

Simon King 

Thoms English

Journey to the West book 

Wei Jian Website

Wei Jian Instagram

Talking Frames Instagram