Street photography gets turned upside down in this conversation with documentary photographer and writer Ed Thompson, who reveals why some of the strongest photographs are often the ones you never planned to make.
Tom Warland and Tobias Beach-Wyld are joined by Ed to talk about coincidence, punctum, serendipity, documentary photography, street photography, and the strange moments that can make an image feel almost too perfect to be accidental.
At the centre of the episode is Ed’s new book project, The Photographer’s Grimoire — a hardback exploration of photographic coincidence and the unpredictable moments that make a frame come alive.
Ed has begun categorising the different ways coincidence appears in photographs, developing a taxonomy that forms the basis of the book. He explains how years of photographing on the street led him to recognise recurring patterns, and why trying too hard to find the perfect image can sometimes make it harder to see what is already happening in front of you.
He describes photographic coincidence as something close to the holy grail of street photography: those rare moments where people, objects, gestures, timing, background, and chance suddenly align.
The episode also looks at Ed’s route into documentary photography, from his early art college years to his move away from constructed fine-art approaches and towards observing the world as it already exists.
A major part of the discussion centres on what Ed describes as sagacity — the idea that sometimes you only find the thing you are looking for when you stop deliberately looking for it. This leads into a wider conversation about instinct, observation, experience, patience, and recognising significance when it suddenly appears.
In this episode:
- The idea behind The Photographer’s Grimoire
- Ed’s five categories of photographic coincidence
- Serendipity, punctum, instinct, and chance
- Why trying too hard to find a photograph can make you miss it
- Ed’s concept of sagacity
- Why solo photography can lead to better access and more natural encounters
- Stories behind some of Ed’s most memorable photographs
- A near-miss while photographing during the London riots
- What AI can and cannot replace in documentary and street photography
- Authenticity in a world of generated imagery
- Photography workshops, creativity, and education
- Why photographers need space to experiment, make mistakes, and discover images for themselves
Tom and Tobias also bring their own teaching experience into the conversation, questioning how much photographers should be told what to look for and how much they should simply be given the freedom to discover it themselves.
Running through the episode is a bigger question about authorship: if the photographer did not plan the moment, who or what created the photograph?
Is it chance, timing, instinct, preparation, or some combination of all of them?
Ed’s work suggests that photographers may not always create the most interesting moments — but they can become better at recognising them.
Ed Thompson’s new book project, The Photographer’s Grimoire, explores coincidence, punctum, serendipity, and the strange moments that appear when photography, timing, and chance collide.
The project is currently launching through Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gaddadaengand/the-photographers-grimoire?ref=discover_saved_projects&category_id=45
The Photographer’s Grimoire
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