Stories & Series

Some of my favorite stories and photographic series

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…

Feb 2021 Walk Around Philadelphia: Day 3

Pine Rd, the Northeast / Poquessing Creek / Knights Rd… This might be the longest and most ambitious segment of the six-day itinerary, at least for those of us coming from W. Philly / Center City. I was up by 4:15 in order to leave enough time to get ready and make it to the…

Mongolian Landscapes

Images from travels in a vast land…

Everyone Is Photogenic: A story from Togo…

Does having a grapefruit-sized tumor on your face mean that you’re not photogenic? Certainly not.

Community Radio

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

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…

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…

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……

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.

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…

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…

Radio-activism: Everyone Is Photogenic

One weekend invitation that shaped the course of my life… along with a story about work that is shaping our culture and our country.

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…

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…

Mercy Ships Screening Day

What does it look like when 4,000 people come seeking medical care all at once?

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…

Music

Live music – it’s good for the soul.

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…