The Thinking Photographer's Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

As AI technology seeps into more and more corners of our lives, Niall makes the case for nature photography to remain real - and describes hurdles AI just can’t cross.

See Boris Eldagsen’s image.

See Mid journey-created images.

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Written, presented and produced by Niall Benvie, www.foodandphotographyretreats.com

Natural sounds recorded in the field by Niall Benvie

Music provided by Epidemic Sound. 

© Niall Benvie, 2025. All rights reserved.

In recent years, Niall has made a side-gig of urbex photography. But is this really any surprise for a nature photographer? This episode encourages you to re-evaluate your concept of “nature photography” and appreciate the fragility of culture.

The transcript.

A history of urban exploration.

The law and urbex.

Colour grading templates.

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Written, presented and produced by Niall Benvie, Food and Photography Retreats Ltd.

Natural sounds recorded in the field by Niall Benvie

Music provided by Epidemic Sound. 

Is “fine art photography” a term bandied around to make generic photography seem more serious - or just a sales ruse. Niall probes this question and describes why most of his own work is certainly not “art” - but some might be.

Art and money laundering.

Tracey Emin’s Crucifixion.

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Written, presented and produced by Niall Benvie, Food and Photography Retreats Ltd.

Natural sounds recorded in the field by Niall Benvie

Music provided by Epidemic Sound. 

You can probably think of many, but this week, Niall describes what he sees at the two fundamentally different types of photograph that arise from a desire either to tell a story or, simply, to describe the appearance of things. It pays to know which you’re making before you release the shutter.

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Written, presented and produced by Niall Benvie, Food and Photography Retreats Ltd.

Natural sounds recorded in the field by Niall Benvie

Music provided by Epidemic Sound. 

Niall asks why there is a fascination with lifeless planets while life on Earth is so gravely imperiled - and gains an insight into miracles in the process.

Earthrise photograph.

Curiosity Rover images.

Jostein Gaarder’s Maya.

Francis Fukuyama’s End of History.

Elon Musk’s wish to settle Mars.

Stay, learn and eat with Charlotte and Niall

Get MENUette- our newsletter - for free.

Written, presented and produced by Niall Benvie, Food and Photography Retreats Ltd.

Natural sounds recorded in the field by Niall Benvie

Music provided by Epidemic Sound. 

Niall and Charlotte moved from Scotland to live in France at the height of the pandemic. In the final episode of this first series you can learn about the creative challenges and opportunities such a move creates.

South Morvan Natura 2000 site.

Stay, learn and eat with Charlotte and Niall

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Written, presented and produced by Niall Benvie, Food and Photography Retreats Ltd.

Natural sounds recorded in the field by Niall Benvie

Music provided by Epidemic Sound. 

This is a long one today, folks, because there is a lot to say about communication and how and why it fails. And I’m going to talk about it in the context of self preservation, or, if you prefer the term, nature conservation. Now, I know it’s not fashionable nowadays, but I try not to pontificate on things I have no experience of. This, as it happens though, is one that I do, although not always with great success. Fortunately, there are lessons to be learned from failure `and I’ve had a chance to learn a lot this way over the years.

If you’re wondering what all this has to do with photography, I’d say everything, really. Photography is the world’s universal language now, the most ubiquitous way of sharing ideas and experiences. So, I think it pays for you and me, as photographers to understand how to connect with the people we want to hear us and for you to learn from some of my mistakes.

Today, I’ve an interesting proposition for you. It’s the sort of thing that when someone first floats the idea, you’ll probably think it’s a lot of nonsense. After all it goes all against that the magazine, the books, the experts… tell us. I’m going to argue that imperfect photographs are actually more believable than ones where everything is , just so. Just as they’re meant to be. I’m going to make a case for photographing nature as it is - rather than as we want it to be.

You’ve got to be a little careful online these days when you bandy-about words like “addiction”. So let me assure you, and those all, ever-vigilant AI bots on the trail of miscreants, that the only drugs I’m talking about here are hormones our own bodies produce. And when it comes to the consequence of the addiction to them, well, I think you’ll find that they are a big factor in driving personal growth. And where’s the harm in that?

What a lovely day it is here; it’s the toadflax end of summer now. The bee eaters and hoopoes have flown south but the sun is beating down and the sky’s the colour of a cornflower. Just perfect. It’s not the sort of day you’d want to spend inside a gallery but galleries do crop up in today’s chat. And that’s kind of inevitable whenever you discuss art. Especially art with a capItal A. Ever happy to put my head above the parapets, I’m going to layout ideas on how we might critique nature photography, why it’s not taken seriously by the galleries and why some, at least, I think should be.

As always, I’d love it if you’d share your ideas on this topic, on the Show webpage. Oh and, please, help us along the way , would you, with a review and a rating, ideally a 5 star one. It all helps other folks to discover our place down by the stream.