Stories & Series

Some of my favorite stories and photographic series

What We Made Possible Together This Year

Year-End Reflections from Walk Around Philadelphia & my other community practices There is so much bad news out there. And things are so hard on so many fronts: polarization, alienation, loneliness – nevermind technological disruptions and economic struggles. And yet, this year, I kept seeing something else. So here’s the good news: This year I…

Lee & Amy’s Secret Surprise Wedding…

Lee had only just proposed that morning, and then Amy found out that the wedding would happen that very same day. She got married on two hours notice, and it was amazing. Here’s the whole story……

Delaware days: Recap of 3rd weekend of Fall 2021 walk.

Segment 6:Torresdale towards Bridesburg We started off this weekend’s iteration of Walk Around Philadelphia having already walked halfway ’round the city, from 61st & Baltimore up Cobbs Creek, along City Ave, up the Schuylkill and around Chestnut Hill all the way to Fox Chase (recap of first 3 days) and then all the way around…

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…

Shale Gas Outrage 2012

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

Shale Gas Outrage

That’s Dana Dolney. Those breasts of hers are fake. I first met Dana in the airport in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, back in 2002, long before her battle with breast cancer. I was thrilled to see her back in good health, joining the throng of citizens in the streets of Philadelphia for last week’s Shale Gas Outrage,…

An invitation to Interfaith work

“Religion” & “Faith” are complex topics, and it’s often hard to have productive conversations with people whose beliefs differ from our own. Here are some folks who’ve figured it out.

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…

First weekend of 10 x 10 Walk complete…

The first weekend of this fall’s 10 x 10 edition of Walk Around Philadelphia is was pretty fantastic. Each route offered surprises, challenges, contrasts and unexpected delights (as expected!) There’s seven more segments open for you to join (Sept 18/19, 25/26/27 and Oct 2/3) alongside an option to organize your own group, so head on…

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.

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…

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.

Radical Hospitality

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

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…

Le Grand Continental

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

“Could even I be photogenic?”

I got an email today that blew my mind a little bit. It simultaneously made me so sad and so happy. I could talk your ear off about why I think that the idea that everyone is photogenic is important, but really this email that I got today pretty much crystalizes exactly why this project…

How Philly Moves

Philadelphians who love to dance – a few images from the series.

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…