Ep 116 - Peter Andrew Lusztyk on Creativity, Commercial Photography & Seeing the Extraordinary

On this episode of The P.H.Y.S Podcast, I sit down with Steve Evans, an award-winning Canadian documentary and portrait photographer based in Wakefield, Canada, whose remarkable project, Life in the Ottawa Valley, has been more than 30 years in the making. Steve's photography has earned international recognition, including Editor's Choice in the Life Framer Photography Competition, finalist recognition from LensCulture, and Bronze Finalist recognition at the Exposure Awards. But what makes his work so special isn't the awards or recognition. It's the people. While so many photographers travel the world searching for interesting places and extraordinary subjects, Steve found something remarkable right in his own backyard. Armed with a camera, a recorder, and a genuine curiosity about the people around him, Steve began travelling through Ontario's Ottawa Valley, knocking on doors, introducing himself to complete strangers, and asking if he could hear their stories. What followed became a decades-long photographic record of a place, its people, and a way of life that has slowly been disappearing. Farmers, homesteaders, hunters, married couples, and people who had spent their entire lives in the same communities. Many were elderly. Some had never been photographed before. Others couldn't understand why anyone would want to take their picture in the first place. But Steve saw something worth preserving. He wasn't looking for celebrities, extraordinary accomplishments, or dramatic events. He was interested in ordinary people living ordinary lives, and the incredible stories that often go unheard simply because nobody takes the time to ask. Inspired by photographers like Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, August Sander, and Diane Arbus, Steve developed a documentary approach built around patience, trust, conversation, and respect for the people standing in front of his camera. There's something almost timeless about his portraits. The old wood-panelled rooms, worn furniture, family photographs, calendars, wood stoves, and faces that seem to belong to another era. You can spend ages looking at a single image, discovering little details that tell you something about the person and the life they've lived. But what really gets me about Steve's work isn't just the photography. It's the conversations. Steve has spoken about wishing he'd had the opportunity to sit down with his own grandparents before they passed away, to ask about their lives and hear their stories. Through this project, he found himself having those conversations with other people's parents and grandparents. And sometimes, the people he visited were simply grateful that someone had shown up and wanted to listen. That's a pretty powerful thing. In a world where we're constantly chasing the next photograph, the next destination, or the next piece of content, Steve's work reminds us that photography can be about something much more meaningful. It can give someone a voice. It can preserve a memory. And it can remind people that their lives matter. In this conversation, we get into documentary photography, approaching strangers, earning trust, photographing people in their own homes, and what happens when a project you thought might last a couple of years becomes a commitment spanning more than three decades. We also explore the photographers who inspired Steve, the importance of preserving local history, and why the connection you make with someone can be just as valuable as the photograph you walk away with.

New York City has been photographed a million different ways. So how do you make something that actually feels like your own?

Noel McIntyre has one hell of a résumé. But that’s not really why I wanted to talk to him.

On this episode of The P.H.Y.S Podcast, Tyson Martin sits down with Ryan Daniel, better known as Pale Blue Wave, a Portland-based street photographer, portrait photographer, filmmaker, and visual storyteller known for approaching complete strangers and documenting the people and stories he encounters. Ryan’s journey into photography began after years of chronic pain, hip surgery, depression, and a long recovery that changed the way he saw the world. As he slowly began walking again, he found himself noticing the small things around him differently. Eventually, picking up a camera gave him a way to capture those moments and reconnect with life. That experience evolved into Pale Blue Wave, a street portrait project built around spontaneous human connection. Ryan walks the streets of Portland, Oregon, approaches people he has never met, creates their portrait, and often spends 30–40 minutes simply talking and listening. Those encounters become photographs, short films, social media videos, and increasingly long-form documentary stories. In this conversation, Ryan and Tyson talk about street photography, portrait photography, creativity, mental health, chronic pain, overcoming fear, approaching strangers, documentary filmmaking, social media, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, viral videos, and the realities of trying to build a life as a full-time creator. Ryan also shares the story behind the name Pale Blue Wave, inspired partly by Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot, and why he sees life as moving between riding the top of the wave and occasionally getting smashed into the rocks. They discuss Ryan’s viral portrait of Portland artist Red Van Grove, what happens when millions of people suddenly see your work, the dangers of becoming obsessed with followers and analytics, and why long-form storytelling has become increasingly important to him. But underneath all of it is a much simpler philosophy: You either do the work, or you don’t do the work. You can be nervous. You can feel awkward. You can be afraid of rejection. You can still walk up to someone and ask to make their portrait. For Ryan, photography isn’t only about creating images. It’s about being present, documenting ordinary people, preserving a piece of Portland history, and creating something that might still mean something hundreds of years from now. This is a conversation about photography. But more importantly, it’s about creativity, resilience, human connection, and having the courage to start. In This Episode: • How Pale Blue Wave began • Photography as a tool for recovery and mental health • Ryan’s experience with chronic pain and hip surgery • Approaching strangers for street portraits • Getting past fear, awkwardness, and rejection • Photographing people on the streets of Portland • Building meaningful connections through portrait photography • Short-form video vs. long-form documentary storytelling • Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and creator burnout • The reality behind viral social media success • The story of the Red Van Grove portrait • Why follower counts eventually stop mattering • Creativity, struggle, discipline, and doing the work • Preserving everyday life through photography • Advice for anyone thinking about picking up a camera The P.H.Y.S Podcast explores photography, creativity, mental health, storytelling, and the people behind the images.

On this episode of The PHYS Podcast, I sit down with Wayne Simpson, an Ojibwe photographer from Aamjiwnaang First Nation, based in Elora, Ontario. Wayne is known for his dramatic portrait photography and atmospheric landscape work. His portraits have a cinematic, almost mythic quality—images that immediately make you wonder about the person in front of the camera and the story behind their face. But those photographs don't begin with lighting or camera settings. They begin with connection. Wayne actively seeks out many of the people he photographs, takes the time to build relationships with them, and uses photography to explore character, emotion and the stories we carry. We talk about Wayne's journey from working as a graphic designer in Calgary to becoming a full-time professional photographer, how he developed his distinctive visual style, and what he's learned about creating photographs that actually make people feel something. We also explore his Ojibwe identity, creativity, portraiture, landscape photography, visual storytelling, working with people, and the importance of finding your own voice as a photographer. As an educator, Wayne leads portrait and landscape photography workshops across Canada, from Banff National Park to Prince Edward Island, and contributes to the OFFBEAT photography community. His award-winning photography has appeared in Canadian Geographic, Outdoor Photography Canada, Outdoor Photography Magazine, Canadian Rockies Annual, Legion Magazine, Nature Photographers Network, Dark Beauty, and numerous books around the world.