A Small Voice: Conversations with photographers and filmmakers

Jon McCormack is - as plainly stated on his Linked-In profile - a Photographer, Nerd, Educator and Conservationist

His photographic work is deeply informed by his upbringing in the stark, untamed landscapes of the Australian Outback, where early life among sheep and cattle fostered a profound respect for nature’s rhythms of resilience and fragility. Beginning as a teenager photographing quiet, often-overlooked moments in the bush, he developed a photographic voice rooted in patience, attention, and ecological empathy. Today, his images explore the intricate patterns and emotional textures of wild places, seeking to inspire both wonder and a sense of responsibility, and are widely published and used by global conservation organizations to advocate for the protection of fragile ecosystems.

In addition to photography Jon is also actively involved in conservation and social good organizations. He is a member of The Explorer’s Club, a founding board member of Sealegacy, co-founder of his non-profit in Kenya, The Kilgoris Project and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Alongside his creative work, Jon has a day job as a tech nerd. He is Vice President of Camera & Photos Software Engineering at Apple in California, leading the software team responsible for the iPhone camera.

His new photobook entitiled Patterns: Art Of The Natural World, is published by Damiani and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Vital Impacts, the non-profit founded in 2021 by photographer Ami Vitale and visual journalist Eileen Mignoni to advance conservation through visual storytelling, community partnership, and strategic investment in local solutions.

On episode 280, Jon discusses, among other things:

His formative experiences on a remote Australian farm and how that influenced the person he became

Discovering his love of mathematics… and of nature… and photography

How his ‘impossible to predict' career in tech began at a conference in Manchester, UK

How is current role with Apple allows him to ‘live photography’ for his day job

A couple of major technical advances in mobile phone photography

His thoughts on the impact and implications of AI

His new book, Patterns, and how it came from his experience of shooting during Covid

The challenge of trying to resolve the tension between his environmentalism and working in the tech industry

His close connection to Vital Impacts, to whom he is donating 100% of the proceeds from the book

His level of optimism vs. pessimism re. the chances of environmental armageddon

Referenced:

Ernst Haas

Edwin Land

Nick Brandt

Edward Burtynsky

Ami Vitale

 

Website | Instagram

 

 


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Dragana Jurišić is a photographer, writer and filmmaker. She has exhibited extensively and won numerous awards.  Dragana’s work is in several significant collections, including the National Gallery of Ireland, the Arts Council Collection, the Irish State Art Collection (OPW), the Bank of Spain, and others.

Her first book, YU: The Lost Country, received accolades worldwide. Her second book, Museum, a collaboration with Paula Meehan, was published in July 2019 and is now in its 2nd edition. Her Own, published in December 2022, received outstanding reviews in El País, The Irish Times and RTE Culture. Dragana is currently working on her first feature-length documentary, The Last Balkan Cowboy (working title).

In episode 279, Dragana discusses, among other things:

Her forthcoming debut documentary.

How everything she’s done is an attempt at making sense of her experience during the Balkan war

Her book YU: The Lost Country

The influence of Rebecca West’s book Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia

How she would measure the success of the new film

Wanting to reach as large an audience as possible

The imposter syndrome she felt as a first time film maker

Being ‘ergonomic’ about the way she approaches making

The story of her Aunt and her book Her Own

Website | Instagram


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Featuring:

Sjef van Duin, Librarian

Roderick van der Loos, Interim Director

Zippora Elders, incoming General & Artistic Director

Grace Wong-Si-Kwie, Head of Presentations and Public Outreach

Guinevere Ras, Curator of opening exhibition Awakening in Blue

Martijn van den Broek,  Head of Collections

Joop De Jong, Guest Curator of opening exhibition, Rotterdam In Focus

Website | Instagram


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Zackary Canepari is an Emmy Award–winning filmmaker and Guggenheim Fellow whose work moves between documentary film and photography.  He began as a photojournalist in India and Pakistan before creating the Sundance-screened series California Is a place, a portrait of the golden state unraveling at the edges.

He later co-directed the feature documentary T-Rex (SXSW), following teenage Olympic boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields as she fought her way toward gold; the film was adapted by MGM into the narrative feature The Fire Inside. His Guggenheim-supported project Flint Is a place expanded documentary storytelling across film, photography, archival material, and immersive media, earning a World Press Photo Award and recognition as Multimedia Photographer of the Year at POYi.

His monograph REX won POYi Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the Paris Photo–Aperture First PhotoBook Prize.

Zackary's documentary Fire in Paradise won an Emmy and an Edward R. Murrow Award and was shortlisted for an Academy Award. He received a second Emmy for directing The Gallagher Effect for The New York Times Presents (FX/Hulu).

Instagram

In episode 277, Zackary discusses, among other things:

How he started in photography

The experience of cutting his photographic teeth in India

The complicated question of whether it's a good time to be a filmmaker

His early project California Is a place, with his collaborator Drea Cooper

Learning the ropes through experience

His first feature documentary, T-Rex, and being smiled upon by the documentary gods

Flint Town

Thoughts & Prayers

Fire in Paradise


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Jessica Dimmock’s work focusses on humanistic and intimate storytelling. She is the recipient of numerous international awards for her photography and video work, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, three World Press Photo Awards for short films, The Inge Morath Award from Magnum, the F Award for Concerned Photography from Forma and Fabrica, The Infinity Award for Photojournalist of the Year from the International Center of Photography, and The Kodak Award for Best Cinematography at the Hamptons International Film Festival. She is a Sundance Edit and Story Lab Fellow, and her first feature film The Pearl was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Dallas International Film Festival and was executive produced by Impact Partners. Her clients include HBO, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Microsoft, The UNFPA, Aperture, Showtime and PBS. She is the co-director of the Netflix series Flint Town as and directed on the reboot of Unsolved Mysteries and AppleTV’s Home.

In 2007 Jessica produced a photobook entitled The Ninth Floor (Contrasto). 

Her most recent film, co-directed with her partner Zackery Canepari, is Thoughts & Prayers: How to Survive an Active Shooter in America, focussing on the USA's $3 billion active shooter preparadness industry and its effects on teachers and students, released in 2025.

In episode 276, Jessica Discusses, among other things:

Current projects

Her attraction to dark subject matter

Her TV mini series Captive Audience

Forming close relationships with her subject

The random coffee shop interaction that changed her direction forever

The chance encounter that led to her first big photography project and subsequent book, The Ninth Floor

How the musician Moby played a part in her journey

Serendipity and her project The Pearl

The challenge of landing lucrative commercial work

The Netflix series she co-directed, Flint Town

Her most recent film Thoughts & Prayers: How to Survive an Active Shooter in America

Website | Instagram


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