Ian Poh Jin Tze – Not Chasing the Shot, But the Feeling: A Journey Through Wild Places and Unseen Lives | Episode #273

In this episode, Perrin sits down with Neil Selkirk, a London-born, New York-based photographer who assisted Richard Avedon, took Diane Arbus’s masterclass, and went on to become the only person authorized to print her photographs since her death. They talk about his career and his new book, Why Photographs? Neil talks about how a job with Irving Penn that fell through over a visa led him into Avedon’s studio, the Arbus photograph he saw on a wall in London that devastated him and took fifteen or twenty years to live with on his own wall, and the winter he spent searching through 7,000 rolls of film to find her negatives. He gets into why he believes photography is about discovery rather than creation, what the camera reveals that we never notice when we press the shutter, why he considers composition deadly to a photograph, and why he thinks photographers should keep it simple and keep it straight at a time when no one knows which images to trust. Want to talk photography with me outside the show? Join the Great Big Photography World community. I'm in there regularly, and you'll get your own free photography listing page for others to discover you too. Free through December 2026: https://greatbigphotographyworld.com/ Want to help us build new features and steer the direction of the community? Don't forget to check out our Founders Deal which gives the first 100 people 50% off the yearly membership as long as they are a member. It comes with a direct line to our team to help shape the culture of the new GBPW. Offer ends November 30th or when the last spot is gone.

For 300 episodes, you've been listening. Now you're in the room. Episode 300 is a big one, for two reasons. Perrin says thank you to every guest and every listener who got the show here, and he takes you on a first look inside the new Great Big Photography World: what we built, why we took our time, and how you get to decide what comes next. He talks about where it all started with Photographycourse.net, why the community works like a camera system (the community is the body, the podcast, Prime Classes and the directory are the lenses), and why a good print comes up slowly in the tray. He walks through the Great Big Photography Directory, where photographers are found by their work and not their ad budget, Prime Classes taught by working photographers in about 45 minutes, and the Roadmap, where members propose, vote, and we build. He also shares why the community runs on TribeCrafter. Founding Member deal: the first 100 Founding Members get 50% off the yearly paid tier, for as long as they stay a member. Open until 30 November 2026, or until the 100 spots are gone: greatbigphotographyworld.com/deal Want to talk photography with me outside the show? Join the Great Big Photography World community. I'm in there regularly, and you'll get your own free photography listing page for others to discover you too. Free through December 2026: https://greatbigphotographyworld.com/

In this episode, Perrin sits down with Craig McGowan, a Brisbane-based landscape photographer who balances a career spent in offices and meetings with a passion for some of the world's most remote places, from the frozen landscapes of Ellesmere Island to the old growth forests of Tasmania. Craig talks about how a teenage Olympus OM-1 and a library full of technical books first drew him to photography, the free Saturday morning photo walks in Fremantle that introduced him to a community of fellow photographers, and the Patagonia workshop where a woman using a camera she barely knew how to operate completely changed how he thought about composition. He gets into why he heads out when the forecast looks bad, the morning his fingers stopped working while photographing musk oxen at minus 30 degrees, and how printing his work during COVID became the single biggest influence on his photography. He also shares why he states that every image is made without AI, the little jetty he has photographed hundreds of times, and the multi-year forest project that keeps drawing him back to Tasmania. Check out the episode article here Want to talk photography with me outside the show? Join the Great Big Photography World community. I'm in there regularly, and you'll get your own free photography listing page for others to discover you too. Free through December 2026: https://greatbigphotographyworld.com/

In this episode, Perrin sits down with John Shephard, a panoramic landscape photographer who has spent over 30 years shooting exclusively on slide film with swing lens and rotating lens cameras, a format that has all but disappeared from serious landscape work today. John talks about his four year apprenticeship under renowned panoramic photographer Ken Duncan, including a trial by fire two week trip that taught him what real dedication to the craft looks like, and the moment Ken sent him to shoot the closed Statue of Liberty with a single instruction: figure it out. He gets into what makes his swing lens Noblex and fixed lens Hasselblad X-Pan 2 so different from standard cameras, why he still shoots on Velvia 50 slide film for its rich saturation despite how difficult it is to source, and the decades-long America Wide book project that has taken him across all 50 states. He also opens up about his closing philosophy on photography: staying out of his own way, remaining open to what a place wants to show him, and never wanting to feel like he has mastered anything at all. Check out the episode article here Want to talk photography with me outside the show? Join the Great Big Photography World community. I'm in there regularly, and you'll get your own free photography listing page for others to discover you too. Free through December 2026: https://greatbigphotographyworld.com/

In this episode, Perrin sits down with Felix Inden, a German landscape and nature photographer who has spent over a decade chasing dynamic weather and demanding conditions around the world, building a career that blends photography expeditions, workshops, and years of patience in the field. Felix talks about why some of his favorite images sit unedited for up to ten years before he's finally ready to work on them, how a background in mountain biking taught him to stay out in rough weather rather than retreat from it, and the field method he developed for quickly reading a scene, from finding a dominant anchor subject to keeping distracting elements away from the edges of the frame. He gets into what it means to be full time in photography without necessarily being a full time photographer, the imposter syndrome that creeps in when a shot doesn't turn out the way he pictured it, and why he has learned to let go of Plan A and embrace whatever the day actually gives him. Check out the episode article here Want to talk photography with me outside the show? Join the Great Big Photography World community. I'm in there regularly, and you'll get your own free photography listing page for others to discover you too. Free through December 2026: https://greatbigphotographyworld.com/