As the B&H Photography Podcast wraps up its first decade of educating and inspiring the photo community, we’re honored to present you with our top five episodes from 2025. Featuring a diverse spectrum of voices and visions that define contemporary image-making, these conversations are at the cutting edge of photographic discourse.
From Mary Virginia Swanson & Rick Smolan’s comprehensive discussion about photo book publishing to Matt Payne & Sean Tucker’s introspective search for deeper meaning beyond the frame, our guest pairings shed light on essential questions that drive photographers to create, connect, and evolve in their craft.
Bridging artistic vision and professional practice, high-end assistants Mike Foley & Alex Savidis pull back the curtain on the realities of working in an elite photo studio, while street photography legend Jamel Shabazz reveals the profound human connections behind his iconic urban portraits.
Rounding out the year’s most compelling listens, Phil Penman and Kristof Ramon explore the adrenaline-fueled world of competitive cycling photography, where split-second decisions and calculated risks mesh with the raw emotion of athletic triumph and suffering.
All told, these selections offer invaluable insights for photographers at every stage of their creative journey, from technical mastery to finding purpose in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
To delve deeper into our archive or revisit past favorites, browse the B&H Photography Podcast’s entire ten-year catalog here.
A Master Class in Photo Book Publishing, with Mary Virginia Swanson & Rick Smolan
Every photographer dreams of publishing a book of their photographs. But what exactly does that entail? In this episode, we peek behind the scenes of this complex and daunting process in a chat with two complementary figures who’ve spent their respective careers helping to redefine what a photo book can be.
Starting with three basic questions—Why a book? Why now? And what is the role of a book in your career at this time?—our discussion expands to cover a broad range of concerns. From distinguishing between the many different publishing models available today, to insights on sponsorship and publishing contracts, to tips about marketing and getting people onboard with your project, you’ll come away with inventive strategies for publishing your work in book form. We’ve envisioned this show as an impromptu master class, so get ready to take some notes!
Photo Industry Tips from High-End Assistants, with Mike Foley & Alex Savidis
As any established photographer will tell you, forging a career can be a long and arduous journey, with no instruction manual to guide you through the process. The lofty world of top-notch pros is often shrouded in mystery and full of things they don’t teach in photo school. In this show, we get to peek behind the scenes of this complex, and often chaotic environment with two colleagues who’ve found a way to balance their freelance careers as independent creators with lucrative work assisting in a high-profile photo studio.
Learn how a casual job application through LinkedIn landed Mike Foley an interview, ultimately resulting in a salaried role as first assistant to a world-class portrait photographer. While technical mastery counts for a lot, we discuss the critical importance of soft skills like personality and work ethic to success in such environments. We also distinguish between salaried full-time work and more common freelance roles, and the juggling required to coordinate the complex planning involved.
As freelance lighting assistant (and longtime café owner) Alex Savidis admits, “the juggle becomes quite hard at times, but I think it's a necessity, especially when you're trying to pursue something that you're passionate about. You can't just become a successful photographer overnight. It takes years to build up to that.”
The Alchemy of Urban Street Portraits, with Jamel Shabazz
When it comes to his iconic street portraits, Jamel Shabazz is all about building relationships and spreading joy. Yet, beyond the rich tapestry created with both the neighbors and strangers, friends and rivals he’s encountered across New York’s five boroughs, Jamel’s most meaningful role might be that of a street teacher, touching the lives of the people in front of his lens and inviting them to mark their place in history.
Learn from the master while tracing his career path, from early observational learning at the side of his father—a professional photographer in his own right—to his first street portraits of classmates and friends. Jamel also shares how his singular vision was shaped by outside forces, including three years overseas in the Army and 20 years as a New York City corrections officer.
Incredibly, Jamel was able to take his camera along inside, and he describes the fine line he walked in our chat. “So, it was illegal,” he admits, “but I was known to have done it throughout my entire career. As time went on, I became known as that photographer within the department that photographed everybody. You know, the brass, the officers. And I gave everybody the photographs. So, yes, I killed them with kindness.”
The Art of Competitive Cycling Photography, with Phil Penman & Kristof Ramon
The dynamic arena of competitive cycling photography is not for the faint of heart. This grueling specialty requires a mix of split-second reaction times, intuitive technical mastery, and the ability to anticipate—and even more important—embrace risk. It takes a special breed of photographer to continuously capture every ounce of emotion packed into this sport, from bruising injuries and bitter disappointments to the exaltation of a win.
For this episode, we’ve brought together two passionate cycling aficionados, former competitive cyclist and renowned street photographer Phil Penman and Kristof Ramon, a cycling photography specialist who recently released his first book on the subject. While they’re introduced as strangers, get ready to be wowed by the synchronicity of their shared experiences, and the remarkable chemistry that grows between them over the course of the show.
Most people’s awareness of competitive cycling revolves around coverage of the Tour de France or other major races shown on TV. Our conversation delves much deeper than this, to reveal what happens behind the scenes, and show both the intensity of purpose and the many stages of suffering that are a hallmark of this sport. Kristof’s book is titled The Art of Suffering for a reason. As he aptly sums up in the book’s opening quote: “Where the conditions get grimmer and the riders start to suffer, that’s when the more interesting stories begin.”
Finding Purpose in Your Pictures, with Matt Payne & Sean Tucker
How often do you think beyond the photos you make to consider the larger purpose they serve—both for yourself and, ideally, for a wider audience? In this episode, we explore this idea while connecting the dots between picture making, process, and purpose. Our guides for this conversation are nature/landscape photographer and mountaineer Matt Payne, and street photographer, portraitist, and YouTube storyteller Sean Tucker. While Matt and Sean have widely different photographic specialties, they share much in common, from educational backgrounds in psychology to a profound commitment in using photography to find purpose in life.
Taking Matt’s 567-mile through-hike of the Colorado Trail as a jumping off point, we explore how balancing such a mammoth feat of endurance with a creative pursuit led him to look inward and see the world around him anew.
Beyond the how of making pictures, we discuss the all-important why’s of photography—from being more intentional in your image making to forging connections between learning and failure so to grow creatively. By the end of this chat you’ll gain valuable insights about living and working with intention in world oversaturated by social media—where digital fatigue is a valid concern, and AI looms on the horizon.
As Sean Tucker notes, “We've been given this gift that can also be a poisoned chalice. And we each need to decide for ourselves how we want to use it, beyond the addictive qualities. We need to take some responsibility and say, ‘how much do I want this in my life so that it's useful? And where do I need to draw a line?’”
Host: Derek Fahsbender
Senior Creative Producer: Jill Waterman
Senior Producer: Mike Weinstein
Executive Producer: Richard Stevens
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