In this episode, Sam Bell speaks with Daniel Epstein about Portraits in Faith, developing faith through listening, sacred stories, photography, Uncle Bob and Aunty Barbara Randall, Mutitjulu, behaviour change, gratitude, love and becoming more whole.
Daniel Epstein is an author, photographer, founder of Portraits in Faith Foundation, and founder and principal of Daniel Epstein & Associates. He spent 21 years at Procter & Gamble, including as a marketing director, before building a consulting practice focused on behaviour change, marketing and innovation. He travelled the world for business and for faith. Along the way, he began adding personal days to photograph and interview people about faith, spirituality and their direct experience of a higher power.
What began as Daniel’s own spiritual exercise became Portraits in Faith: 500 people in 30 countries, with black and white portraits, video interviews, a website, YouTube channel, coffee table book, museum exhibition and Sacred Listening workshops.
Thank you to Barbara Schacht Randall for introducing us.
Content note:
This conversation includes references to the Stolen Generations, colonisation, mission schools and sexual violence. Some listeners may find parts of this conversation distressing.
What you’ll hear:
• How Daniel began Portraits in Faith from his own search for faith
• Why his first portrait was with a church janitor, not clergy
• Meeting Uncle Bob and Aunty Barbara Randall through the Parliament of the World’s Religions
• Staying in Mutitjulu and the shift from humanity’s journey to all creation’s journey
• Faith, doubt, gratitude and love across religions and beyond formal religion
• Sacred Listening workshops and the healing possibility of receiving another person’s story
• How this work changed Daniel’s marketing, behaviour change and client work
Guest links:
• Daniel Epstein: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielkepstein/
• Portraits in Faith: https://portraitsinfaith.org/
• Portraits in Faith Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/portraitsinfaith/
• Background Story: https://portraitsinfaith.org/about/
• Exhibition: https://portraitsinfaith.org/exhibit/
• Sacred Listening workshops: https://portraitsinfaith.org/news/sacred-listening-workshop-with-the-breaking-chains-group/
Conversation mentions:
• Uncle Bob and Aunty Barbara Randall’s Portraits in Faith: https://portraitsinfaith.org/bob-randall/
• Barbara Schacht Randall’s Natural Genius: https://youtu.be/ww08BIyQEGg
• Mutitjulu and Uluru: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mutitjulu+NT+0872
• Ken Burns, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea: https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-national-parks
• Rose B. Simpson: https://www.rosebsimpson.com/
• SpiritualSingles.com: https://www.spiritualsingles.com/
Chapters:
00:02 Introduction to Daniel and Portraits in Faith
02:06 Meeting Uncle Bob and Aunty Barbara Randall at Mutitjulu
04:59 Marketing, behaviour change and global travel
06:34 Feeling like “the other” and beginning Portraits in Faith
08:00 The faith questions that never changed
10:11 Website, book, exhibition and Ken Burns’ advice
12:36 Gratitude, love and developing faith
15:20 Stories from Portraits in Faith
20:55 Atheism, buffalo spirit and unexpected theology
23:03 Becoming more whole through listening
25:09 Sacred Listening and receiving someone’s story
29:40 Workshops, healing and sharing sacred stories
32:05 Indigenous elders and one-to-one connection
Explore further:
Discover Natural Genius: https://naturalgenius.com.au
Learn more about Sam: https://samanthabell.com.au
Other platforms: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2568387
Subscribe to hear future episodes.
Credits:
Hosted by Samantha (Sam) Bell in Kiama and Cincinnati, Ohio, 5 June, 2026.
Produced at the Kiama and Prahran offices, 5 - 30 June, 2026.
Natural Genius Podcast https://naturalgenius.com.au
