13th May 2026
A check-in with previous guest, Australian photojournalist Stephen Dupont. And last week's guest, Ilvy Njiokiktjien, returns to answer the bonus questions...
THIS WEEK ON A SMALL VOICE PODCAST MEMBER-ONLY EPISODE...
Australian photojournalist Stephen Dupont, who I last spoke to on the main podcast in September 2020, joined me for a check-in to talk about a fascinating project he’s been working on for the past 18 months. In what would doubtless be considered something of a dream gig by many, he has been jetting around the world to talk to and make portraits of some of the world’s leading war photographers, with the whole process being filmed for a future documentary, with a book / exhibition also on the cards.
After which, last week’s guest, Ilvy Njiokiktjien, returns to the member episode to tackle the bonus questions.
Sample question:
If you could meet your 20 year-old self now, what advice would you give to that person?
“ I think I would have told myself, ‘Your career is gonna go skyrocketing soon without you now knowing it. Please also tend to your family, friends, and social life.’ I think that would have been it. I really catapulted into my career, winning an award at the Nat Geo right after I graduated, winning two awards at World Press, and then I just kind of went crazy - and still am - with assignments.
But you feel like you prioritized that and you neglected your sort of personal relationships?
Yeah, I did a bit. I’m still not 100%, for sure, because I love my family and I love my friends, and I always have made time for them, but I’ve missed countless birthdays, babies getting born, weddings, funerals, everything. All of those big days I missed”
Ilvy’s Picks for…
Significant Photobook(s):
Olifantenpaadjes (Elephant Paths), Jan Dirk van der Burg
Favourite photographer(s):
Recent Discoveries:
Become a member at pod.fan!
Also this week…
It’s that time of year again. Photo London, the UK’s leading international fair for photography and image-based art, takes place at a new venue this coming weekend. The event moves across town from its longstanding home at Somerset House to the Olympia exhibiton centre in west London. For the architecturally uninitiated, Somerset House is an elegant, majestic neo-classical building complex in the heart of central London, overlooking the River Thames and orignially designed by Sir William Chambers in 1776. Olympia is a vast,14,000 square metre aircraft hangar of a place with a glass roof in the arse end of Hammersmith. But then again this ain’t The Architectural Review folks, and in fairness, there are numerous other factors at play than the beauty of the surroundings when it comes to the staging of a large scale event. Either way, after many years of loyal attendance at Somerset House on behalf of you, my listener, I think A Small Voice podcast will be taking a sabbatical from the event this year. …But not for architectural reasons. …Or because I can’t be bothered to schlep across town on the tube… Have fun if you’re going!
Also this week…
The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2026 is announced on Thursday 14th May at the Photographers’ Gallery here in London, with the exhibition featuring the four finalists running there until the 7th of June. The 2026 artists are: Jane Evelyn Atwood, Weronika Gęsicka, Amak Mahmoodian and Rene Matić. Best of luck to all of them, but - not to be biased - especially to friend of the podcast and all round lovely human being, Amak Mahmoodian, who is shortlisted for her beautiful exhibition One Hundred and Twenty Minutes, which I saw at the Bristol Photo Festival in 2024.
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