When Jeff Sonnabend, an Intellectual Property attorney from New York City, moved to Arkansas near the geographical center of the lower 48, he decided to follow his passion as a documentary photographer. Inspired by the work of German filmmaker / photographer Wim Wenders, he began photographing American communities for his project “Interstate Magazine”, a project roughly modeled on the work of the Farm Security Administration (the FSA) of the 1930s and 1940s. Like the work of the FSA, all of his documentary photography is meant to “show America to Americans”. As such, Jeff’s photography captures a detailed, truthful view of America as it really is. Early in 2023 Jeff published his second book, “The Route 66 Primer, An Uncropped View of the Mother Road.” He recently published an article in the January 2023 issue of Street Photography Magazine that tells the story of his book with a sample of his favorite images. His previous book, “Bowling the American Dream, America’s Bowlers and Their Bowling Alleys”, was published in 2019. In today’s episode, Jeff shares his personal story about how and why he travels the American heartland in search of its soul.A selection of Jeff’s project photosLinks from the showInterstate Magazine The Route 66 Primer Bowling the American Dream by Jeff Sonnabend Written in the West by Wim Wenders Paris Texas – Film by Wim Wenders

LeighAnn Edmonds is a freelance documentary photographer in Birmingham, Alabama. Her work focuses on the rural regions of the American South, the people, their culture and the land that has often passed down through generations. Her conviction to break away from mainstream photography led to her retirement as a professional wedding and family portrait photographer, allowing her to focus on her personal work and photography projects. She primarily shoots 35mm black & white film with a 1955 vintage NIKON S2 rangefinder and her first camera, a Nikon N80 SLR. LeighAnn penned an article for Street Photography Magazine about her return to film which will be published in the magazine on March 19, 2023. In addition she will be the featured photographer in the May 2023 issue of SPM. Be sure to read that article to learn more about LeighAnn and her work.Links from the showLeighAnn’s website Instagram FacebookRead more about Leigh Ann in the feature article “Stepping Away from the Superficial,” in the May 2023 issue of Street Photography Magazine.

We’re doing something a little different this week. Instead of our usual monthly newsletter we decided to publish our interview with Brian Lloyd Duckett in our podcast feed. That’s because Brian is the featured photographer in the March 2023 issue of Street Photography Magazine and we wanted to share our very lively conversation with everyone.You can listen to our conversation with Brian here (or iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher and most other podcast directories) then SPM subscribers can read more about him and see his work in the March feature article which is scheduled to publish on Sunday, March 5.Brian is a documentary and street photographer from London. He has a very quirky and humorous style that is very refreshing. Brian says he is more interested human behavior than random photos of people walking down the street. Look at his work and you’ll see what I mean.He is also operates StreeSnappers, a London-based street photography hub. There he offers a variety street photography workshops both locally and around Europe.Brian is also a prolific writer, having penned six books about street photography including his most recent ‘OBSERVED’ – OBSERVATIONAL STREET PHOTOGRAPHY. All of his books are available on his website.When he’s not practicing or teaching street photography, Brian shoots editorial portraits for newspapers and magazines and is a partner in a commercial photography business.One more thing…his YouTube channel is an excellent resource for all street photographers.A selection of Brian’s street photosBrian Lloyd Duckett, Venice street photographer, Venice photography workshop 2022Links from the showBrian’s Website StreetSnappers Website Instagram Facebook YouTube

Lewis Sandler originally trained as a lawyer, decided to move to China to explore a different world. There he spent nearly He spent nearly 30 years 30 years there working teaching English in high schools and later college. During his time in China, he photographed the world around him creating a huge body work.When he returned to the US Lewis settled in Presque Isle, Maine. Newly retired, he decided to find a way to show his photographic work in a gallery. This is something many of us would like to do but most never take the first step. Lewis was not deterred.Without any knowledge of how to find a gallery and create work for display he made a contact at the local library who agreed to give him space to show his work. He then set to work culling his photographs and contracted with a printer to print his selections on fine art paper. He then framed them (over 80 prints in all) and created supplemental material about life in China. It became a huge undertaking.He made it happen by taking digital images that only existed on a hard drive and making them real. In the process he made many mistakes which he shared during our conversation. But rather than let them defeat him, instead he learned and adapted for the next time. He has another show scheduled for this spring in a nearby town.Lewis shows us that no matter where you live, no matter what you photograph, opportunities exist to show your work to the public. You only have to look for them, ask and deliver. Which isn’t easy.You don’t ask…you don‘t get.A selection of Lewis’s China street photosLewis’s work on display in the library gallery spaceLinks from the showFacebookPinterest

After I finish an interview I write down two or three things I learned from our guest. That’s why the title of this episode is “It’s about the story.” Nancy Kaye is a photojournalist and educator from Los Angeles. During her career she has been based in New York City and London, shooting for The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Associated Press. During our conversation Nancy said something that really resonated with me. She said that a single image can be strong on its own, but when sequenced in a group with a common theme the synergy it creates is much more powerful. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Nancy’s photos have been widely exhibited in juried shows and included in numerous books and documentaries. Her portrait of author Ralph Ellison is in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. In 1988 Nancy photographed a group of young girls in a rough Brooklyn neighborhood for The NY Times; a generation later she collaborated on a project, “Jump Rope Girls,” documenting the girls’ lives as adults with children of their own, and presented it at Duke University’s Documentary Study Center. As an educator she’s taught at LA Valley College and Santa Monica College Continuing Education, and American Jewish University’s Whizin Center where she worked with Rotem Rosental. She has mentored youth at Venice Arts and developed an after school photo program for teens in Culver City. She leads independent street photo workshops, guiding photographers to define their personal projects. Recently, she has served as a photo judge and curator for Photoville LA, ASMP-LA calls for entry, and the Orange County Fair. She’s currently President of the Los Angeles chapter of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP.) Editor’s note: Nancy Kaye was the featured photographer of the month in the July 2023 issue of Street Photography Magazine. For an in-depth look at her work, read the article “Thinking in Stories.”A selection of Nancy’s street photosLinks from the showNancy’s website Book Recommendation: André Kerté André Kertész On Reading Mark Greenberg J Ross Baughman Maggie Steber

Matt Nickles of Dayton Ohio is a new type of explorer. An Urban Explorer…Urbex for short. Rather than photograph people, he photographs the effects of people by documenting the things they leave behind by entering abandoned buildings, schools, churches and even subways. Basically Matt is an historian. These places can be dangerous, so it’s not for the foolhardy. Personally I find it fascinating.Here’s an explanation from Matt, in his own words, about what he does and why he does it. Plus more than a few words of caution for those of us who want to try it ourselves.“Take only photos, leave only footprints” a motto that would take a hold of my life! Hi there, my name is Matt Nickles(OhioRed). They say good things can come from bad situations and that is exactly what happened to me. Let me explain! Prior to Covid I was an avid hiker and nature will always be my first love! Then Covid happened. I noticed the trails quickly became packed with other people looking to escape the confinement of home. To me, nature was my escape from people. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an extrovert to the bone. But, we all need a break from the world and society and nature was mine. Now, I was stuck looking for a hobby without the cluster of people. I had always had this fascination with the Cincinnati Subway. So, to Google and Facebook I went. Took me just a couple days but I had set up a trip to get in and explore the remains of the forgotten subway. Before I go forward, I don’t condone any trespassing. I do this to capture the history before Mother Nature takes over. Next thing you know, I’m standing beneath the city of Cincinnati and can hear the foot traffic and cars on the street above me. Now, I find myself chasing light to capture that moment in time. The greatest joy I get from this is the moment to stand at the center of some of these structures and just listen and smell and imagine what it was like in its prime with all the busy people and loud machines running. I make sure to respect all places I visit and to leave only footprints. I’ve found myself from coast to coast and from Michigan to Destin Florida in my travels. I’ve also found there isn’t a place that I’ve encountered that doesn’t have a story to tell. I welcome you to take a look at my work and see if you may recognize any of these locations and may have a story of your own to tell? Safe explores!A selection of Matt’s Urbex photosLinks from the showMatt’s Urbex Facebook

Carlos P. Beltran is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, producer and photo journalist originally from Caracas, Venezuela.Recently Carlos completed a 12-year documentary project, It Suddenly Occurred to Me, serves as an experimental biography that explores the life and work of Yarida Silva, a woman who found peace and redemption writing from within some of the worst prisons in Latin America.The book, documentary and photography exhibit are a collaboration between writer Yadira Silva and Carlos that offers an intimate view of a troubled, yet hopeful life.In today’s episode Beltran tells the story of how he and Yarida connected, how she wrote her story while imprisoned, how she hid her writing from the Venezuelan authorities and the dramatic rescue of her handwritten drafts from an abandoned apartment in Venezuela.Carlos’ documentary work focuses on socio-political issues, civil rights, migration, LGTBQ+ and human-interest stories in Latin America and the U.S. His work has been featured in leading news outlets including, NBC News, ABC News, National Geographic, Discovery Networks, Univision, The New York Post, Telemundo, Fusion, The Atlantic and AJ+ among others.A selection of Carlos’ Venezuela documentary photosLinks from the showCarlos Beltran website Suddenly it Occurred to Me book website

Matt has worked as a creative nearly his entire professional career. He started as a visual designer but by the end of his 20-year tenure in that field his focus and expertise had shifted toward language and narrative. It’s no surprise that he ended up in the creative industry in that his parents were both artists and continue to create to this dav. Though from a family of modest means Matt was always supplied with instruction and professional level art supplies. His father was both a painter and a writer, but Matt’s early interests were, like his mother, entirely visual. She is an accomplished artist to this day. Having studied under Xavier Ironsides in her youth and heavily influenced by the work of Andrew Wyeth throughout her life, she has a solid command of form and composition and is an absolute master of the use light, shadow and texture.Matt’s formal training was initally in the area of theology. After a brief stint as a chaplain and teacher, however, he decided to pursue a degree in visual communications that evolved into a career in advertising. For multiple reasons does not consider his work in theology to have been a waste of time. In addition to applying the knowledge gained to his own spiritual journey it served to shape his creative vision as well. It’s his belief that the essence of true art is, fundamentally, the essence of humanity. and that human nature is most clearly revealed in its search for the divine.Currently he owns a small company that creates destination art for retailers across the United States. And while he enjoys his work as a small business owner and illustrator he continues to pursue photography as a deeper from of creative expression. His photographic work has been featured on multiple occasions in Street Photographer Magazine and a piece he did for National Parks Magazine won awards from both the Society of American Travel Writers and the North American Travel Journalists Association.A Selection of Matt’s Street PhotosLinks from the showMatt’s photography website Smoky Outfitters – Matt’s business website Instagram Facebook AbeBooks Resurrection City, 1968 by Jill Freedman The Unseen Saul Leiter  Gordon Parks: Segregation Story The Candid Frame Interview with David Ulrich The Mindful Photographer by David Ulrich

Matt Jerrams is an executive producer who creates television commercials in London. He has a passion for street photography in one of the best cities in the world to shoot. It seems like we have Matt on the show every year so it like this is his turn in 2022.We had plenty to talk about including Matt’s post purchase dissonance after switching from Fuji to Sony and his successful experiment selling his own prints through Etsy. He even volunteered to help our listeners thinking about giving it a try themselves.And of course he’s a Cleveland Browns fan…why is still a mystery to me. But we’re glad he’s a member of the fraternity. Don’t worry,we didn’t use the precious podcast time to talk football.A selection of Matt’s recent street photosLinks from the showMatt’s InstagramMatt’s Vero: @capitalfacesMatt’s EtsyRobert Blomfield: Edinburgh 1957 – 1966The Mindful Photographer by David UlrichShane Taylor InstagramJimmy Lee Instagram

Brooklyn based photographer, Amy Touchette, explores themes of social connectedness through street portraiture. Amy trained at the International Center of Photography and began her artistic career as a writer and painter, earning a BA in Literature and Studio Art and an MA in Literature. She is represented by ClampArt in New York City and Little Big Galerie in Paris, France. Amy’s second monograph, Personal Ties: Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, was published in January 2022 by Schilt Publishing (Amsterdam) and garnered a Critical Mass 2021 Top 50. Her first monograph, Shoot the Arrow: A Portrait of The World Famous *BOB*, was published by Un-Gyve Press (Boston, 2013). Other publications include The New York Times, the New York Observer, and the books Women Street Photographers (Prestel, 2021) and Brooklyn Photographs Now (Rizzoli, 2018).Her photographs have exhibited nationally and internationally, including at MoMA-Moscow, Leica Gallery-Warszawa, Hamburg Triennial of Photography, and in the U.S. Embassies in Vienna, Austria, and Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Images from her latest series, Personal Ties: Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, debuted at the National Portrait Gallery in London, England, 2019-2020, as part of the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition and were included in an article on Artsy about Amy’s approach to street photography. An image from Personal Ties: Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn was made into a 8’ x 5’ flag and flown at the iconic Rockefeller Center rink in 2021 as part of Aperture’s “The Flag Project.”Amy is currently at work on several medium-format street photography series, as well as Street Dailies, her ongoing series of impromptu portraits of strangers, which are released regularly on Instagram. A selection of Amy’s street photosLinks from the showAmy’s WebsiteInstagramFacebook