135. James Popsys
What if the goal isn't to make photography easy - what if the difficulty is the whole point?
Guest: James Popsys. Photographer, YouTuber and author based in Snowdonia, North Wales · jamespopsys.com · YouTube and Instagram: search "James Popsys" (P-O-P-S-Y-S)
In this episode
James has been on my list of dream guests for ages, so I was thrilled to finally sit down with him. We start, as these things do, with lawnmowers and film scanners, before getting into the real story: a marketing job in London, weekend photo walks, a conceptual composite of the London Eye as a bicycle wheel, and a move to Sydney that somehow led to a YouTube channel he started almost by accident in New Zealand. James talks about guarding his own individuality by deliberately not watching other photographers' videos, connecting the dots backwards to find the worldview running through his work, and what it took to commit thousands of prints to paper for his book Human Nature. We get into his one-lens, one-body philosophy, why he thinks difficulty is a feature of photography rather than a bug, and why he'd still rather be surprised by an ordinary place than get the photo 3,000 other people already have. He's off to East Greenland in a few days to experiment with a more hybrid, video-forward workflow, and this conversation is a lovely primer for anyone who wants to know how he got there.
Highlights
[Opening] Film scanners, darkroom chemistry, and a cold open about finding surprise in unremarkable places
[Opening] A very serious digression into battery-powered lawnmowers
[First third] The London Eye as a bicycle wheel, and the Sydney-to-YouTube origin story
[First third] "You can't connect the dots going forward" - finding the worldview that was there all along
[Middle] Making Human Nature: watching the zeroes stack up on a 15-metre printer
[Middle] The horses-through-the-window print, and why James is a "one body, one lens" traveller
[Middle] A Leica SL3's peeling grip, and 21-year-old Leica R8 and R9 bodies that still work
[Second half] Guarding individuality by not watching other people's videos
[Second half] AI, disclosure scandals, and why nobody's asking for more of it
[Late] Street photography, Britt Bradley's Gen-AI-vs-wet-plate test, and heading to East Greenland
Chapters
Positions are approximate. The transcript has no timestamps.
Opening Cold open: finding surprise in unremarkable places
Opening Film scanning setups and darkroom chemistry
Opening Kit Young's 400-roll film habit
Opening North Wales weather and the lawnmower tangent
First third James's origin story: London, Sydney, and an accidental YouTube channel
First third Connecting the dots backwards to find a worldview
First third Guarding individuality; avoiding other photographers' and podcasters' work
First third Human Nature: starting the book, and the RISD-style question of what comes after book one
Middle Printing day: watching thousands of pounds turn into ink
Middle The horses-through-the-window print and limited-run prints
Middle A 140kg Canon PRO-2600 printer in the house
Middle Exhibitions, introversion, and whether James should "try anything once"
Middle Why a photo feels finished when it's printed
Second half The New York school-bus photo, 40mm, and shooting at "imperfect" times of day
Second half Not doing YouTube gurning thumbnails
Second half Dabbling in filmmaking and switching to DaVinci Resolve
Second half One body, one lens, and heading to East Greenland with Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove
Second half Gear rules, a Leica SL3's peeling grip, and the Leica R8/R9
Late AI disclosure scandals and the Ricoh promotional-material controversy
Late Britt Bradley's Gen-AI vs wet-plate test
Late Running a business to sustain people, not to maximise returns
Close Where to find James, and lawnmowers revisited
Mentioned in this episode
People
Thomas Heaton - landscape photographer and one of the first photography YouTubers James watched early on · YouTube · [First third]
Joe Allam - travel and street photographer and YouTuber James cites as an early influence · joeallam.co.uk · [First third]
Nigel Danson - landscape photographer and friend who reassured James his printer inks would last for years · nigeldanson.com · [Middle]
Ed Smith - photographer local to me, mentioned for his exhibition work · [Second half]
Josh Edgoose - London street photographer known for finding humour in the everyday, featured in a video with Sean Tucker that stuck with me · Fujifilm profile · [Second half]
Sean Tucker - photographer and YouTuber who filmed the Josh Edgoose video I mentioned · [Second half]
Jack Lodge - former guest and South Coast photographer known for returning to the same spot across every season · [Second half]
Cal Henderson - former guest whose film street photography I mentioned · [Second half]
Britt Bradley (Nitrate Fox) - former guest and wet-plate collodion artist who posted a Gen-AI-vs-real comparison that fooled me completely · Lens Culture profile · [Late]
Kit Young - former guest, film photographer who buys film in 400-roll packs and views his work exclusively as prints · [Opening]
Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove - landscape photographer and workshop leader James is running an East Greenland trip with · jvn.photo · [Second half]
Books
Human Nature by James Popsys - his first photo book, self-published in 2024, exploring the relationship between man-made structures and nature · [First third]
Tools and products
Valoi Easy120 - the film scanning rig Iain is using and James is considering · Valoi · [Opening]
Ilford XP2 Super - the black-and-white film James shoots that develops in a standard colour C-41 process · Ilford · [Opening]
Kodak Portra - the colour film Iain is buying more of · [Opening]
Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-2600 - James's 140kg, 24-inch-wide print studio-in-a-house · Canon · [Middle]
Leica SL3 - the camera James used briefly before its grip started peeling · Leica · [Middle]
Leica R8 / R9 - Iain's 21-year-old film SLRs, one fitted with a 10-megapixel digital back · [Middle]
Panasonic Lumix GX1 - a small Micro Four Thirds camera James recently rediscovered with an added viewfinder · [Second half]
DJI Osmo Pocket - the compact camera both James and Iain use for lightweight, all-in-one shooting · DJI · [Second half]
Peak Design sling - the camera bag both James and Iain independently landed on · Peak Design · [Second half]
DaVinci Resolve - the video editor James switched to after leaving Adobe's subscription model · Blackmagic Design · [Second half]
Ricoh GR - the viewfinder-less compact camera at the centre of a promotional-material AI controversy · Ricoh · [Late]
Places and events
Ammassalik / Tasiilaq, East Greenland - where James is headed days after this recording, to experiment with a hybrid stills-and-video workflow · jvn.photo workshop listing · [Second half]
New Zealand - where James shot his first, unplanned videos before starting his YouTube channel · [First third]
Chinatown, London - setting for the Josh Jackson/Josh Edgoose street photography video James remembered · [Second half]
Quotes
I found most joy in getting something that I think is really interesting in a place that isn't particularly interesting.
James Popsys, [Opening]
The idea of one day can quite easily slip away, can't it?
James Popsys, [Second half]
What if we just ran the business to sustain the people that work there and that's it, and we didn't worry about maximising returns?
Iain Farrell, [Late]
Mentioned but not linked
"The name of the car is a little bit." [Close] - the transcript's final line is garbled and I couldn't reconstruct it. Please check the audio.
Rico / Ricoh promotional-material story [Late] - James says he "heard" about this but didn't know the details; I couldn't independently verify which campaign is meant.
The Hasselblad competition "coke bottle" story [Late] - referenced in passing; I couldn't confirm the specific competition or year.
GoPro disclosure controversy [Late] - mentioned without a name attached, so I couldn't research or link it.
Credits
Hosted and produced by Iain Farrell.
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