Prime Lenses

Davide De Martis is an Italian photographer known for his portraiture of cars and people. He is a student of the visual arts and a treat to spend time with. I tracked Davide down because when I was in Germany at the Leica event, someone had driven there in a very fancy Lamborghini with Italian plates. I posted a picture to socials and was challenged by a listener to find the owner of the vehicle and ask them what the story was. It turns out that Davide shoots for the famous Italian car brand and had pitched the idea of driving to the event in the car and then writing about it for Italian Rolling Stone. Wild eh? Once I had tracked him down it seemed like I should get him on the show, he obliged and here we are. Some conversations with new guests are like long chat with an old friend and this is most definitely one of those. I would drop everything to sit down with Davide again over a coffee in a heartbeat. I hope you enjoy this chat with Davide.More about this show:A camera is just a tool but spend enough time with photographers and you’ll see them go misty eyed when they talk about their first camera or a small fast prime that they had in their youth. Prime Lenses is a series of interviews with photographers talking about their photography by way of three lenses that mean a lot to them. These can be interchangeable, attached to a camera, integrated into a gadget, I’m interested in the sometimes complex relationship we have with the tools we choose, why they can mean so much and how they make us feel.

This week, a special extra episode with Phil Penman to talk about his new book, Street Scenes.More about this show:A camera is just a tool but spend enough time with photographers and you’ll see them go misty eyed when they talk about their first camera or a small fast prime that they had in their youth. Prime Lenses is a series of interviews with photographers talking about their photography by way of three lenses that mean a lot to them. These can be interchangeable, attached to a camera, integrated into a gadget, I’m interested in the sometimes complex relationship we have with the tools we choose, why they can mean so much and how they make us feel.

Jasper Fforde is a writer based in Wales. He writes absurdist fiction which I love, but I only recently discovered after 20 years of reading his books, that he’s also a photographer. Shooting film pretty much exclusively he has a collection of amazing vintage film cameras that rivals any selection I’ve ever come across.In the episode we talk about Alice Longstaff’s photos and you can find out more about her by listening to a previous episode. I couldn’t find the Red Square photographer unfortunately.More about this show:A camera is just a tool but spend enough time with photographers and you’ll see them go misty eyed when they talk about their first camera or a small fast prime that they had in their youth. Prime Lenses is a series of interviews with photographers talking about their photography by way of three lenses that mean a lot to them. These can be interchangeable, attached to a camera, integrated into a gadget, I’m interested in the sometimes complex relationship we have with the tools we choose, why they can mean so much and how they make us feel.

This week I was able to sit down with friend of the show Brandon Ruffin to talk about his new book, Migration Patterns. In this first book, Brandon shares images that help us to understand his family journey, his heritage and will encourage readers to reflect on where we come from and where we’re going.We also discuss Rahim Fortune’s book Hard Tack, Jamel Shabazz’s A Time Before Crack and Shin Noguchi’s In Color Japan.More about this show:A camera is just a tool but spend enough time with photographers and you’ll see them go misty eyed when they talk about their first camera or a small fast prime that they had in their youth. Prime Lenses is a series of interviews with photographers talking about their photography by way of three lenses that mean a lot to them. These can be interchangeable, attached to a camera, integrated into a gadget, I’m interested in the sometimes complex relationship we have with the tools we choose, why they can mean so much and how they make us feel.

Ellie Rothnie is an award winning wildlife photographer based in the UK but as you’ll hear spends more time on the road than at home. A passionate photographer, she picked up a camera along side a “real job” before ditching the nine to five of agency life for one making photos, leading workshops and experiencing the incredible beauty that our natural world has to offer.More about this show:A camera is just a tool but spend enough time with photographers and you’ll see them go misty eyed when they talk about their first camera or a small fast prime that they had in their youth. Prime Lenses is a series of interviews with photographers talking about their photography by way of three lenses that mean a lot to them. These can be interchangeable, attached to a camera, integrated into a gadget, I’m interested in the sometimes complex relationship we have with the tools we choose, why they can mean so much and how they make us feel.

This week I’m in London to speak to Mathieu Bitton, a photographer I’ve admired for some time and was lucky enough to meet in Germany earlier this year. He took time out from his work on tour with Dave Chappelle to talk to me about his love of vintage lenses and his home city of Paris as depicted in his new book, Paris Blues.More about this show:A camera is just a tool but spend enough time with photographers and you’ll see them go misty eyed when they talk about their first camera or a small fast prime that they had in their youth. Prime Lenses is a series of interviews with photographers talking about their photography by way of three lenses that mean a lot to them. These can be interchangeable, attached to a camera, integrated into a gadget, I’m interested in the sometimes complex relationship we have with the tools we choose, why they can mean so much and how they make us feel.

This week I was able to sneak in an extra episode, talking about the new Hektor lenses from Leitz Cine. Seth was gracious enough to sit down with me for a little bonus episode. More about this show:A camera is just a tool but spend enough time with photographers and you’ll see them go misty eyed when they talk about their first camera or a small fast prime that they had in their youth. Prime Lenses is a series of interviews with photographers talking about their photography by way of three lenses that mean a lot to them. These can be interchangeable, attached to a camera, integrated into a gadget, I’m interested in the sometimes complex relationship we have with the tools we choose, why they can mean so much and how they make us feel.

Like many folks I like to talk to on the show, Bil Brown is a multi-media artist. He studied writing and poetry but things changed for him when he saw a Leica round Allen Ginsberg’s neck. I was initially interested in how Bil’s commercial and political work coexisted but as you’ll hear, like me he loves to just dive in and our conversation is very wide ranging covering composition, motivation, gear, it’s a whole thing. This one’s densely packed and we keep returning to why we make photos and I really enjoyed it.More about this show:A camera is just a tool but spend enough time with photographers and you’ll see them go misty eyed when they talk about their first camera or a small fast prime that they had in their youth. Prime Lenses is a series of interviews with photographers talking about their photography by way of three lenses that mean a lot to them. These can be interchangeable, attached to a camera, integrated into a gadget, I’m interested in the sometimes complex relationship we have with the tools we choose, why they can mean so much and how they make us feel.

This week my guest is Laurence Bouchard, a British photographer based in Tokyo. He captures the rain soaked streets in incredible detail, his images are also most graphic illustration as much as they are photos and I wanted to speak to him about he approaches the futuristic city he calls home, what it was like to be in a short film shot on vintage glass, and whether he’s fully acclimatised now he’s 20 years into his time in Japan.More about this show:A camera is just a tool but spend enough time with photographers and you’ll see them go misty eyed when they talk about their first camera or a small fast prime that they had in their youth. Prime Lenses is a series of interviews with photographers talking about their photography by way of three lenses that mean a lot to them. These can be interchangeable, attached to a camera, integrated into a gadget, I’m interested in the sometimes complex relationship we have with the tools we choose, why they can mean so much and how they make us feel.

Pete Souza is a former Whitehouse photographer, serving during the latter part of the Reagan Presidency, but was better known to me as the head of photography for the Obama Whitehouse where he and his team made an archive of almost two million images, made history by capturing the first official presidential portrait on a digital camera, and captured moments big and small for posterity. Pete has also had an interesting post presidency, as a private citizen he is outspoken and uses his images to highlight issues he’s worried about in the current political climate.More about this show:A camera is just a tool but spend enough time with photographers and you’ll see them go misty eyed when they talk about their first camera or a small fast prime that they had in their youth. Prime Lenses is a series of interviews with photographers talking about their photography by way of three lenses that mean a lot to them. These can be interchangeable, attached to a camera, integrated into a gadget, I’m interested in the sometimes complex relationship we have with the tools we choose, why they can mean so much and how they make us feel.