A Small Voice: Conversations with photographers and filmmakers

Fortnightly in-depth interviews featuring a diverse range of talented, innovative, world-class photographers from established, award-winning and internationally exhibited stars to young and emerging talents discussing their lives, work and process with fellow photographer, Ben Smith. The most recent 50 episodes are on this free feed, 200+ more are in the archive!TO ACCESS THE FULL ARCHIVE OF PAST EPISODES + SPECIAL EXCLUSIVE CONTENT, BECOME A MEMBER FOR £5 PER MONTH!

A Small Voice: Conversations with photographers and filmmakers is a arts podcast hosted by Ben Smith, with 52 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Ben Smith hosts A Small Voice: Conversations with photographers and filmmakers, a arts show with 52 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #288

  288 - Aria Shahrokhshahi

  Aug 12, 20261h 13m

  Aria Shahrokhshahi (b. 1996) is a British-Iranian multi-disciplinary artist, whose practice has been shaped by a deep fascination with the intricate dynamics of diverse communities and the complexities of the human condition. With a focus on social structures and the human experience, Shahrokhshahi's work serves as a critical exploration of the relationships and power dynamics that inform everyday life. Aria’s debut photobook, Wet Ground , featuring images from Ukraine shot over a period of several years both before and after the Russian invasion in Feburary 2022, was published in April 2026 by Loose Joints. He is currently putting the finishing touches to a feature documentary film entitled While We Heal , which also focusses on the war in Ukraine and explores the themes of healing, loss, and resilience. On episode 288, Aria discusses, among other things: Formative experiences (11 different schools!) growing up in Nottingham How walking around the city with a camera was the start of his photography journey Negative feedback Facebook group / YouTube channel Early education at the Photo Parlour lab (later named Sequence ) from Dan Wheelan Using large format and why the decision to shoot B&W came out of the cost of film Falling in love with Ukraine It not being enough to just take pictures Why ‘Ukraine, I guess?’ was an informal category of picture during editing Having nothing to say about war but being interested in what happens around it The way in which war rearranges the social hierarchy Poem by Charlotte Shevchenko-Knight How the title ‘Wet Ground’, and the book itself, came about The importance of collaboration The feature length doc he is making in Ukraine The importance of having a commercial practice Referenced: Lee Friedlander Laytoya Ruby Frazer Don McCullin Tim Hetherington ( Which Way Is The Front Line From Here ) Shelby Lee Adams Minor White Alec Soth Gregory Halpern Nigel Shafran Alessandra Sanguinetti Myriam Boulos Sohrab Hura Lightwork Website | Instagram   Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £4 per month.   Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.   Follow me on Instagram here .   Need a new website? I will build you one with Squarespace. Details here .

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  Episode #287

  287 - Lorenzo Meloni

  Jul 29, 20261h 7m

  Lorenzo Meloni is an Italian photographer. He has documented some of the defining conflicts of the 21st century across the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. For more than a decade, he has worked in territories marked by wars, revolutions and profound political and social transformations, developing a visual practice that views conflict not merely as an event, but as a historical, material and cultural process. In recent years, his work has expanded beyond the battlefield. Revelation, an ongoing project, explores how science and technology are changing our relationship to the material world. In 2022, he published the monograph We Don’t Say Goodbye, a fragmented narrative on the rise, dominance and fall of the Islamic State as a territorial entity. TIME named it one of the 20 Best Photobooks of 2022. On episode 287, Lorenzo discusses, among other things: How he has changed his way of working 'Starting as a revolutionary and becoming a deserter' How his photography journey began in Yemen How the power of photography is metaphorical not descriptive His interest in borders and history His book, We Don’t Say Goodbye. The theme of repetition. And why the cover is orange The caliphate and Islamic State His now project, Revelation Focussing on one thing at a time Dealing with the instability of a freelance life and keeping some freedom   Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £4 per month.   Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.   Follow me on Instagram here .   Need a new website? I will build you one with Squarespace. Details here .

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  Episode #286

  286 - Ximena Borrazás

  Jul 15, 20261h 9m

  Ximena Borrazás is a Uruguayan photographer and documentary filmmaker born in Montevideo in 1992. She focuses on armed conflicts, migration, and humanitarian crises. Her work combines visual sensitivity with a strong commitment to social justice, often addressing the experiences of women and displaced populations. She has published with major international outlets, including National Geographic, The Guardian, BBC, CNN, DW, France 24, Al Jazeera, and the Associated Press, and has worked with institutions such as UNHCR, UNESCO, and IOM. Ximena’s project in northern Ethiopia documents the devastating aftermath of the Tigray conflict, one of the deadliest wars of the 21st century. Her images portray survivors of sexual violence, displaced families, and the enduring effects of famine and trauma. This work earned her the 2024 Tom Stoddart Award for Excellence, the Gentex Corp Personal Safety Award from the Ian Parry Photojournalism Grant, and the Africa Mundi Award for best photographic publication in Planeta Futuro of El País. Her long-term documentary project The Scars of War , which began in Tigray, combines photography, testimony, and documentation to investigate conflict-related sexual violence through a forensic lens. Rather than treating sexual violence as an isolated act, the project traces it as a weapon of war, examining physical, psychological, and social evidence left behind, and the systems, or lack thereof, that respond to it. Ximena is currently based in Ukraine where, aside from continuing to photograph, she has a full-time job as a Liaison and Communications Officer with the United Nations. On episode 286, Ximena discusses, among other things: Working for the UN in Ukraine Her first experience of visiting the Polish border The nature of working amidst drone warfare Challenges of being a freelancer in a conflict zone Why she doesn’t really want to be a photographer The experience of being in Kyiv on a daily basis Her life before photography Early forays into documentary work Her project in Tigray, Ethiopia and the context of the conflict there How she began The Scars of War , her work on conflict related sexual violence How serendipity on a HEFAT course led to publication in The Guardian How some X-rays changed everything and why they were so powerful How she has extended her project to other areas, and focussed on male victims How her job at the UN combines with her advocacy work Website | Instagram   Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £4 per month.   Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.   Follow me on Instagram here .   Need a new website? I will build you one with Squarespace. Details here .

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  Episode #285

  285 - Sam Faulkner

  Jul 1, 20261h 16m

  Sam Faulkner is a London-based photographer and the founder of Print Swap , an iOS app. where photographers and visual artists exchange gallery-quality physical prints directly. No buying, no selling, no follower counts. Sam came to photography the hard way, travelling into Afghanistan in 1994 with a battered Canon, a few rolls of film and very little plan. His work has since moved between reportage, portraiture and long-form photographic projects, including Unseen Waterloo , his battlefield portrait series exhibited at Somerset House. Print Swap began with a gap Sam’s own wall and a long-held habit among photographers: trading prints of each other's work. In a world of endless images and thin attention, it is built on a simple belief: a print on the wall changes the relationship. In episode 285, Sam discusses, among other things: How his new app., Print Swap , came to fruition. How he got into reportage photography in search of adventure. Kashmir and Afghanistan - talkng your way in and talking your way out. Coming back with the six rolls of film that won him the Ian Parry Award. The influence of Nick Danziger’s book Danziger’s Adventures. Changes in the industry. His global story about ‘the war on drugs’. Lessons learned from shooting Mario Testino. The threat of AI and the issue of trusted brands within the news media. His decision to step back from photojournalism. His new working life directing commercials. His Unseen Waterloo project. Referenced: David Hurn Jonas Bendiksen Ian Teh Omar Ashtawy Neil Burgess Nick Danziger Aidan Sullivan Mario Testino Stephen Dupont Website | Instagram   Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £4 per month.   Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.   Follow me on Instagram here .   Need a new website? I will build you one with Squarespace. Details here .

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  Episode #284

  284 - Harriet Logan

  Jun 17, 20261h 36m

  Harriet Logan is a multi-award winning photographer who spent the first half of her career working on international assignments in places such as Sudan, Angola, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and Somalia for a range of international newspapers and magazines. She subsequently turned her attention to working commercially on advertising campaigns for various big brand clients, including The Pictet Group and Canon, alongside some of the worlds largest advertising agencies. Today she curates the Incite Project , an issue driven collection of photographs broadly based around the subject of world events and conflict. Harriet is also the executive director of The Ian Parry Photojournalism Grant which has run for over 30 years and which she won in 1992. The grant has a mission to support young and emerging Photojournalists. She co-parents 4 boys with her husband Mark, an owl, a peregrine falcon, three dogs, a dressage horse, and a bunch of sheep, cows, chickens and pigs. On episode 284, Harriet discusses, among other things: Her journey into photojournalism from art college in the USA Her early project on an Aids patient, with whom she became close Beginners luck at the Poll tax riots in London in 1990 Ending up in southern Sudan…and then Somalia Winning the The Ian Parry Photojournalism Grant and how it changed everything The reality of being a female photojournalist in the 90’s An example of the danger of inadvertantly fucking over your subject He story about victims of rape in Kosovo during the Balkans conflict Being sent to Afghanistan for the first time by The Sunday Times… …And returning four years later to find the women and girls she had photographed there A close call on the road from Kabul to Jalalabad Motherhood, falling out of love with being a photographer, and the decision to quit photojournalism Becoming the Executive Director of the The Ian Parry Photojournalism Grant The new Tom Stoddart Award for Excellence How The Incite Project came about and how she defines what it is The fundamental strangeness of having graphic and disturbing photojounalism framed on your walls Referenced: Eugene Richards, Exploding Into Life Don McCullin Les Wilson Len Greener Josef Koudelka Cartier Bresson Robert Capa W. Eugene Smith Colorific Aidan Sullivan Tom Stoddart Michael Rand Jillian Edelstein Simon Norfolk Jenny Matthews Jeremy Clarkson AA Gill Mark Hix Tristran Lund Giles Duley, Legacy of War Foundation Laura Pannack Omar Ashtawey Trevor Paglen Richard Mosse Ed Burtynsky Luke Delahey Ed Clarke Network Photographers Simon Roberts Matt Black Lorenzo Meloni Chris Donovan   Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £4 per month.   Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.   Follow me on Instagram here .   Need a new website? I will build you one with Squarespace. Details here .

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