Shows
Just The Photographer with David SwansonS1E14 When Liohn RoarsTHE BLURB: Andre Liohn is a conflict photographer (conflict being his specialty) who suddenly began asking himself "why am I doing this?" After risking his life to cover wars from Libya to Ukraine, Andre suddenly began asking himself if it was worth it. A fascinating, deep dive into an award-winning war photographer's internal process.SHOW NOTESYou can find Andre Liohn's project "Trauma" here and information about the documentary "You Are Not A Soldier" here. You can find this episode’s photos - and lots more at our IN...
2025-11-2040 min
Just The Photographer with David SwansonS1E13 Death Becomes HerTHE BLURB: Amanda Villegas has been a photographer most of her working life. But, when her partner Chris Davis developed a rare, aggressive bladder cancer, she went from being a decorative photographer to a documentarian, willing to look death head on. Her work is stark, absolutely honest and, often quite beautiful. It dares you to look away. In the episode, Amanda talks about the path that led her here and the working process in the face of loss that helps keep her sane.SHOW NOTESOne of our ongoing themes in...
2025-11-0729 min
John Kiriakou's Dead DropS1E3 Golden BoyTHE BLURB: Having been recruited into the CIA by legendary CIA officer Jerry Post - and by applying himself completely - John's CIA career took off with a bullet. If ever there was a CIA Golden Boy, John was it. That fact that he came up as a golden boy would prove ironic in the end. In this episode, John goes from briefing the President in the Oval Office to the theatre of war itself: Iraq. It's good to be a "Golden Boy". But it isn't all good.SHOW NOTESFor...
2025-11-0348 min
Just The Photographer with David SwansonS1E12 A River Runs Through MeTHE BLURB: One of the best ways to de-stress from covering war zones and natural disasters is fly fishing. In this episode, David tells how he first discovered fly fishing, how the movie "A River Runs Through It" baited the hook, and how just holding a fly rod in your hand can make the world a better place.SHOW NOTESYou can find this episode’s photos - and lots more at our INSTAGRAM –@just_the_photographer_podcasthttps://www.instagram.com/just_the_photographer_podcastIf you...
2025-10-2422 min
John Kiriakou's Dead DropS1E1 What Makes THIS Spy TickTHE BLURB: John Kiriakou knew when he was 9 years old that he wanted to be a spy. Plenty of people want to be spies but only a few ever actually become spies. In E1, John tells his origin story. Where he and his family came from had a lot to do with his success as an intelligence officer working in dangerous places. From wanting to be James Bond to actually becoming something a lot like Bond. It's "How To Be A Spy, Part 1".SHOW NOTESFor more great podcasts like...
2025-10-1057 min
Just The Photographer with David SwansonS1E11 What Noah KnowsTHE BLURB: Photographer Noah Berger stands out among photojournalists. He's got a great eye and an outside-the-box approach to finding the right angles. He also stands out because he stands six foot seven. Noah shares his stories of covering demonstrations in Portland, Oregon where he found himself on the inside (taking photos) looking out. Photography is all about perspective. So's Noah Berger.SHOW NOTESYou can find this episode’s photos - and lots more at our INSTAGRAM –@just_the_photographer_podcasthttps://www.instagram.com/just_the_photographer_podcast
2025-10-1032 min
Just The Photographer with David SwansonS1E10 Getting Shot To Get The ShotTHE BLURB: NICK STERN's no stranger to literal battle. Like David, he's covered war zones, natural disasters and civil unrest. Also like David, Nick's been wounded on the job. Multiple times, as you'll hear. In 2025, while covering the Battle Of LA (Episode 4) Nick ended up in the hospital for weeks after a piece of projectile lodged in his leg. There are costs to covering stories - but, they do come with great stories themselves. SHOW NOTESYou can find this episode’s photos - and lots more at our INSTAGRAM –@j...
2025-10-0334 min
Just The Photographer with David SwansonS1E9 Almost, Almost FamousTHE BLURB: In this episode, David takes you another kind of war zone - red carpets. Covering the Oscars may be less death-defying than covering a war, but there are challenges nonetheless. David also will take you backstage to "The Slap" with LA Times photographer Robert Gauthier - when actor Will Smith slapped Oscar presenter Chris Rock across the face for making a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith's shaved head. Red Carpets are another place where normal rules simply don't apply.SHOW NOTESYou can find this episode’s photos - and lo...
2025-09-2624 min
Just The Photographer with David SwansonS1E8 Line Of Fire, Part 2THE BLURB: Journalism requires people willing to run toward danger instead of away from it. In this episode, photojournalists Chelsea Lauren, Sean Beckner-Carmitchel, Mel Buer and Sergio Olmos return to describe the physical threats they face especially when covering civil unrest. That threat, shockingly, is coming from law enforcement.SHOW NOTESOur guests: SEAN BECKNER-CARMITCHEL has spent the last several years filming protests, counter-protests, rallies, sweeps, protests about sweeps, and rallies about counter-protests. His video work has been seen on Good Morning America, NBC, ABC, and other national and international outlets.T...
2025-09-1937 min
Just The Photographer with David SwansonS1E7 They Looked Like GhostsTHE BLURB: Even 25 years after it happened, 911 still haunts us. Photos from that day can still take us back to that day and all the complex emotions we felt. In this episode, David and photojournalists SPENCER PLATT and MARIO TAMA will discuss the photos they took that day that became iconic. While others rushed away from the twin towers as they burned and then collapsed, some people - first responders and journalists - ran toward the catastrophe. 911 changed everyone. It changed some people even more.SHOW NOTESYou can find this...
2025-09-1145 min
Just The Photographer with David SwansonS1E6 In The Line Of FireTHE BLURB: Always a dangerous job, photojournalism (journalism period!) has become exponentially more dangerous. In this episode, David discusses the newest danger - law enforcement and its confusion over who exactly IS a journalist these days. Joining David in the discussion are multimedia journalists Chelsea Lauren, Sean Beckner-Carmitchel, Mel Buer and Sergio Olmos. SHOW NOTESOur guests: SEAN BECKNER-CARMITCHEL has spent the last several years filming protests, counter-protests, rallies, sweeps, protests about sweeps, and rallies about counter-protests. His video work has been seen on Good Morning America, NBC, ABC, and other n...
2025-09-0547 min
Just The Photographer with David SwansonS1E5 City On FireTHE BLURB: In January 2025, two massive wildfires devastated two different Los Angeles neighborhoods - Pacific Palisades on the west side and Altadena on the east side, just above Pasadena. In this episode David describes the differences and similarities between covering a fire and covering a firefight. How exactly does a journalist go about covering a natural disaster like a wild fire without becoming the wild fire's victim? SHOW NOTES:We recommend checking out the WATCH DUTY APP. Especially if you live anywhere near a possible wild fire area - which, these days, is more...
2025-08-2926 min
Just The Photographer with David SwansonS1E4 Battle Of Los AngelesTHE BLURB: In June 2025, a war zone came to Los Angeles, the place David now calls home. Marines, ICE agents, LAPD and other law enforcement started grabbing people off LA's streets and the people of LA resisted and spoke up about it. What happens when your home town becomes a war zone and your job is covering it?SHOW NOTES:The journalist wounded on camera during the Battle Of LA is the US correspondent for Nine News Australia, Lauren Tomasi. The footage heard here is from their live coverage of the event. In the...
2025-08-2225 min
Just The Photographer with David SwansonS1E3 When A War Comes To YouTHE BLURB: In his new book "UNREMITTING", former USA Today journalist and editorial page writer GREGG ZOROYA tells the story of The Battle of Ramadi - the battle where David got shot in the arm. In fact, David is one of the characters in Gregg's amazing book. What's especially ironic - because David and a German photographer were the only journalists covering the story in real time, David didn't know many of the details of the battle until he read Gregg's compelling, moment-to-moment account of it.SHOW NOTESGregg Zoroya worked...
2025-08-1533 min
Just The Photographer with David SwansonS1E2 In CountryTHE BLURB: In this episode, David takes you "In Country" with him - right to the middle of war, chaos and danger. He shares the surprising joys and camaraderie that spring from war zones and the strangely disconnected experience of being shot in battle. In war zones, all normal rules of civility vanish. Normalcy itself vanishes. That's what makes being in country such an unpredictable, terrifying yet exhilarating experience.Show NotesBeing “in country” means literally being there. In the middle of whatever you were assigned to cover.Since we’re talkin...
2025-08-0828 min
Just The Photographer with David SwansonS1E1 Stories My Photos CAN'T TellTHE BLURB: Meet David Swanson, Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist. In this thumbnail introduction to the real world of photojournalism, David tells the stories of how he became a photojournalist and how being one has impacted every facet of his life. It's impossible to see and photograph wars, natural disasters and life's strange twists and turns without getting impacted in return. But, as crazy and chaotic as war zones can be, they can be surprisingly life-affirming, too.SHOW NOTESOver the course of his 40+ year Pulitzer Prize winning career, David Swanson has pointed his cameras...
2025-08-0136 min
Just The Photographer with David SwansonJust The Photographer: Who, What, Where, How - And Most Importantly WHYFor over 40 years, PULTIZER PRIZE winning photojournalist David Swanson has covered war zones (from Bosnia to Afghanistan to Iraq), natural disasters (the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, Hurricane Katrina, the LA Fires) and even red carpet events like the Oscars. But, while David's photos can tell you what it looked like standing where he stood in order to take those news photos, they can't tell you what it felt like. Those are the stories this podcast will tell! Journalism doesn't get any more personal than this. Or more compelling.David SwansonOver the course of his 40+ year...
2025-07-3002 min
Story-PowerHow NOT to Make a Movie
Over the course of his writing and producing career, Alan Katz has written movies and TV shows like HBO’s iconic Tales From The Crypt. Entertainment Weekly called the first season of his “The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast” the “Best Film Podcast of 2022”. He realized at that point that he’d become the thing he always wanted to be when he grew up: a podcaster.
Website, LinkedIn, Patreon
NOTE: My conversation with Alan was so extensive that I have chosen to publish only the most important people, agencies, and entertainment in these show notes.
2025-05-0700 min