Talking Frames

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

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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

Zula Rabikowska is a London-based documentary photographer, specialising in community-based portraiture and documentary storytelling. She focuses on themes of migration, Eastern Europe, and the LGBTQI+ communities, drawing inspiration from her Polish heritage and upbringing. Through her photography, Zula aims to amplify voices often overlooked, using an intentional approach to explore the complexity of identity and the power of human connection.

She works closely with communities to create intimate portraiture that reflects their stories and experiences. Whether through multimedia, film, digital, or analogue photography, her projects prioritise authenticity and emotional depth. Zula’s collaborative approach to portraiture fosters authentic, empowering representations, using photographic storytelling to amplify diverse human experiences.

Her work has been exhibited internationally and published in prominent outlets. Zula’s accolades include the AOP Talent Award, PDN Award, and the Getty Images Grant. As a recipient of the MEAD Fellowship, she has focused on documenting gender identity in Eastern Europe, bringing attention to often marginalised communities in the region. She has also received the Centre for British Photography Grant and won the Earth Photo Moving Image Award.

In this episode Zula’ shares how her  life and work are deeply shaped by her migration from Poland to the UK at age ten. Growing up between two countries and cultures created a sense of rupture and constant negotiation of identity, reflected in her unusual accent and experiences of stereotyping at school. This dual existence became central to her artistic practice, informing her exploration of belonging, displacement, and identity through photography and multimedia work.

Zula’s major projects include Nothing But a Curtain, which explored gender identity across Eastern Europe and is now being published as a sculptural book; her documentation of the Vietnamese diaspora in Poland, tracing historical ties between the two countries; and I Thought You’d Be Gayer, a performance-based exploration of gender identity. Her ethical approach emphasizes trust, consent, and transparency, particularly when working with vulnerable communities. Despite challenges such as difficult travel and the emotional toll of participants’ stories, she continues to push the boundaries of documentary photography, believing that human storytelling will remain vital even in the digital age.

Book Launch 4th December 2025

Photographers and artists mentioned

Laura Pannack

Gem Fletcher

Carolyn Mendelssohn

Marina Abramovich

Madeline Yale Preston

Zula Rabikowska website

Zula Instagram

Talking Frames Instagram

Knox Bertie is a photographer who is drawn to film for its tactile and aesthetic qualities, he continued using it even as digital photography became mainstream. Though often labelled a street photographer, Knox prefers a more introspective and deliberate approach, blending experimental and portrait styles. His background as a chemistry teacher informs his methodical darkroom work, balancing technical precision with artistic expression.

His early Sydney work remains his most cherished, created without external pressures. International experiences in England, Dubai, and Malaysia shaped his style, but his visual signature—marked by thoughtful composition and use of light—remained consistent.

Knox’s work often captures quiet, reflective moments and has evolved from standalone images to narrative-driven series like “Anika,” which explores themes of impermanence. He documents Sydney’s transformation over two decades, focusing on commuter fatigue and urban density. Writing is integral to his creative process, with daily journaling helping him refine his vision.

As a Leica ambassador, Knox appreciates the brand’s support for creative freedom and the distinctiveness of Australian light. Influenced by George Orwell’s writings, especially during the pandemic, Knox resonates with themes of memory, change, and acceptance as these are ideas that echo throughout his photography.

Knox Bertie Instagram

Talking Frames Instagram

Laura Pannack is an award-winning British photographer known for her intimate portraiture. Her work explores themes of youth, vulnerability, and connection, blending fine art and psychology to create intimate visual stories. Recognised by Leica Society International , the Sony World Photography Awards, World Press Photo, and the British Journal of Photography, Laura’s long-term projects, including The Journey Home from School and Separation, reveal her unique ability to capture trust and authenticity through the camera.

In this episode Laura shares her journey into photography She reflects on early lessons learned while assisting other photographers Her interest in psychology drew her to portraiture where she could explore empathy, trust, and human connection in a more personal way.

The conversation dives into the meditative process behind Laura’s portraits from creating safe, cocoon-like spaces with her subjects to using silence, stillness, and sound to cultivate authentic emotion. Tim and Laura discuss the power of natural light, vulnerability, and long-term collaboration, and how curators, editors, and awards shape the public reception of photographic work.

Laura also talks about her Sony Award-winning “the journey home from school  ” project, exploring childhood memory, nostalgia, and everyday resilience, and her recent transition into mixed-media and sound-based practice. Together, they reflect on self-doubt, resilience, and the ongoing balance between artistic growth and emotional openness.

Some of the photographers mentioned in this episode are 

Mark Power @marktpower

Pippa Healy @pippahello

Simon Roberts @simoncroberts

Hannah Watson @ tjboulting

Stuart Pilkington @pilkington

Monica Allende @monica.allende

Carolyn Mendelshon  carolynmendelsohn

Alys Tomlinson @ alystomlinson

Laura Pannack Website

Laura Pannack Instagram

Talking Frames Instagram

Music by: CreatorMix.com

Chris Harrison, a talented photographer and designer based in Brighton, UK. Chris's creative practice seamlessly bridges the realms of street photography, visual storytelling

Chris’s street work often focuses on Brighton’s seafront and off-season atmosphere, capturing moments of absurdity, solitude, and human quirkiness. His philosophy is rooted in patience and observation: waiting for a scene to unfold rather than chasing it. He has described his process as “finding interest in the ordinary,” photographing everything from crowded promenades to his own kitchen sink — guided by the belief that everything is interesting if seen with attention and curiosity.

His design background strongly influences his photography. The clean lines, colour harmony, and attention to visual rhythm in his images reflect a designer’s eye for structure and simplicity. He often talks about the crossover between the two disciplines, describing how principles of layout, typography, and visual hierarchy inform how he frames a shot or sequences images in a series.

In 2024, Chris self-published his first photobook, Sideshow, an eight-year project documenting Brighton beyond its tourist veneer — particularly during quieter, off-season periods. The book received widespread praise, quickly sold out, and reached collectors around the world. He has since become an active presence in the UK street photography community, running workshops, speaking at events, and serving as a competition judge.

Chris's work is characterised by its clarity, humour, and human warmth. Through a combination of patience, design sensibility, and curiosity, he invites viewers to see the familiar with fresh eyes — reminding us that even the most ordinary moments can hold unexpected visual poetry.

The conversation in this episode provides insight into the disciplined and honest approach of Chris. Through his dual sensibility as a designer and photographer, he demonstrates how embracing creative limitations, practising patience, and striving for visual clarity can result in genuinely original and impactful work.

The conversation also addresses broader themes in contemporary photography, including the role of artificial intelligence, the importance of authenticity, and the ways in which social media is reshaping the photographic landscape. Chris discusses the balance between his commercial design work and personal creative projects, offering practical advice to emerging photographers: stay patient, trust your instincts, and focus on developing a unique visual voice rather than following fleeting trends.

Chris Harrison website

Chris Harrison Instagram

Tim Bingham ( Host ) Instagram

Talking Frames Instagram

Song: Drip

Music by: CreatorMix.com

Brad Jones brings a rare perspective to street photography, shaped by his background in illustration, studio work, and forensic photography. With a painter’s eye, Brad uses the classic principles  to transform everyday life into visually striking compositions. Instead of chasing fleeting moments, he finds evocative spaces and patiently waits for life to unfold—allowing the street itself to tell the story. For Brad, street photography carries an ethical responsibility. He avoids images that might exploit or embarrass subjects, particularly those in vulnerable situations. This principle extends into his long-term project, “Dos Mundos,” which explores the cultural ties between Spain and Puerto Rico. His perspective highlights how respect and dignity can coexist with documentary truth.

Throughout the episode, Brad’s insights reveal a deep respect for both the craft and the people he photographs, blending artistic discipline with emotional sensitivity to produce compelling, ethical, and visually rich street photography.

Brad Jones website

Brad Jones Instagram

Tim Bingham Instagram