Stories & Series

Some of my favorite stories and photographic series

Trees

Studies in movement & nature

If you cook it, they will come…

Here’s one of my recipes for community building… It’s not top secret; please go right ahead and replicate or adapt it for your own neighborhood. I guarantee nourishing results.

Walk AROUND Philadelphia

The beginning of an epic pilgrimage around the city’s perimeter. Here’s the story of our first day on the walk…

We made it! The February 2021 Walk Around Philadelphia is complete…

I set out on February 7th for my 6th annual (and 7th total) pilgrimage around the city’s edge. One week later, after ~110 miles through snow and ice, detours and discoveries, setbacks and surprises, challenges and connections, I found my way back to the beginning, yet again amazed by the wonder of this city, and…

CIW & Fair Food

Images from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Campaign for Fair Food

Swirls

Explorations of abstract forms…

The Million-Picture Giveaway…

I’ve begun making my archive available to the communities that I’ve photographed for unlimited free high res downloads. Here’s why.

Airport & Southwest: Recap of final weekend of Fall 2021 walk

Segment 9:Around the airport (Hog Island Road) It’s the final weekend of this fall’s Walk Around Philadelphia and we’re headed into the home stretch, circumnavigating the airport today and then following the creek back up to 61st & Baltimore where I started a few weeks ago. (If you’ve missed the earlier blog posts, you might…

Community Radio

Building low-power radio stations so that we can hear our neighbors…

Fear not the rain…

We’ve had a lot of storms and rain lately, and Philadelphians are probably relieved to see sunshine on the forecast. While I like the sun, I’m always a little bit surprised to see how upset people can be by rain. I was recently shooting in Manayunk, where we had a storm roll through our outdoor…

Le Grand Continental

Chasing after a wild dance performance by a citizen ensemble at the foot of the Philadelphia Museum of Art…

Why do we compete?

Two interesting experiences from this weekend that I’d like to share: I spent Saturday evening onstage at the Kimmel Center, acting as a judge in Southeast Philadelphia Collaborative‘s talent show. While I’d originally been asked to act as a judge for the visual arts exhibit, I ended up being roped into judging the performance component…

Feb 2021 Walk Around Philadelphia: Day 5

The Navy Yard, Platt Bridge, Hog Island. We’d arrived back at Pier 68 before 7am in hopes of a sunrise over the river, but this morning was overcast. The forecast was calling for a potential ice storm hitting in the ~1pm range, and we were hoping it would hold off long enough for us to…

Shale Gas Outrage 2012

My friends at Protecting Our Waters continue to organize against fracking, because we all live downstream…

My first Truth Tour – Everyone Is Photogenic

One more trip down memory lane for JJ Tiziou Photography’s 10yr anniversary… That last post told you about how an invitation to document the creation of an LPFM radio station for a farmworker community in Florida first plugged me into the community media movement; this post is about how I got involved with the Coalition…

Feb 2021 Walk Around Philadelphia: Day 6

Heinz Wildlife Refuge, Darby & Cobbs Creek, Mt Moriah Cemetery… The final day of the walk started with a bit of a mad scramble of physical and logistical challenges: The ice storm had continued overnight, and the whole world was coated in ice in the morning. Just walking out the door was a challenge. Getting…

A prison visit… [sort of]

Here’s a story about trying to support a friend who was incarcerated. The system seems pretty broken; I’m grateful to those who are working to fix it…

Radical Hospitality

How I learned the right way to make a breakfast burrito. Three hundred times in one morning.

Feb 2021 Walk Around Philadelphia: Day 4

The Delaware, from Glen Foerd to Pier 68… Day 4 begins where we’d left off, at the Torresdale regional rail station, with a train that was scheduled to get in at 7:09am. There’s more folks joining the walk today, and I’d told those who were intercepting us at Glen Foerd to get there earlier if…

Invisible River – preview!

An amazing shoot on the Schuylkill river in preparation for choreographer Alie Vidich’s ‘Invisible River’ performance…

Feb 2021 Walk Around Philadelphia: Day 2

Chestnut Hill zigzag, Cheltenham Ave, Tacony Creek to Fox Chase… Rising early to meet Day Two lets us catch some beautiful early morning light. (I’m not always out and about this early, but it’s always a treat to catch the sunrise, and the walk is a good motivator…) We’re intercepted by Kathy & Chloe who’re…