Just The Photographer with David Swanson is a storytelling-focused podcast that explores the personal realities behind a life in photojournalism. Hosted by Pulitzer Prize–winning photojournalist David Swanson, the podcast goes beyond published images to reveal the experiences, risks, and emotional impact of covering major news events around the world.

Through first-person narratives and conversations with fellow journalists, Swanson shares stories from decades spent documenting war zones, natural disasters, civil unrest, and breaking news — offering insight into moments that never make it into captions or headlines. Episodes focus on the ethical decisions, psychological challenges, and human cost of visual storytelling.

Rather than discussing gear or technique, Just The Photographer examines what it truly means to witness history as a photojournalist, making it a compelling listen for documentary photographers, journalism students, and anyone interested in the lived experience behind powerful images.

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Episode 1 — Stories My Photos Can’t Tell

Meet David Swanson, Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist. In this thumbnail introduction to the real world of photojournalism, David tells the stories of how he became a photojournalist and how being one has impacted every facet of his life. It’s impossible to see and photograph wars, natural disasters and life’s strange twists and turns without getting impacted in return. But, as crazy and chaotic as war zones can be, they can be surprisingly life-affirming, too.

Episode 2 — In Country

In this episode, David takes you “In Country” with him – right to the middle of war, chaos and danger. He shares the surprising joys and camaraderie that spring from war zones and the strangely disconnected experience of being shot in battle. In war zones, all normal rules of civility vanish. Normalcy itself vanishes. That’s what makes being in country such an unpredictable, terrifying yet exhilarating experience.

Episode 3 — When a War Comes to You

In his new book “UNREMITTING”, former USA Today journalist and editorial page writer GREGG ZOROYA tells the story of The Battle of Ramadi – the battle where David got shot in the arm. In fact, David is one of the characters in Gregg’s amazing book. What’s especially ironic – because David and a German photographer were the only journalists covering the story in real time, David didn’t know many of the details of the battle until he read Gregg’s compelling, moment-to-moment account of it.

Episode 4 — Battle of Los Angeles

In June 2025, a war zone came to Los Angeles, the place David now calls home. Marines, ICE agents, LAPD and other law enforcement started grabbing people off LA’s streets and the people of LA resisted and spoke up about it. What happens when your home town becomes a war zone and your job is covering it?

Episode 5 — City on Fire

In January 2025, two massive wildfires devastated two different Los Angeles neighborhoods – Pacific Palisades on the west side and Altadena on the east side, just above Pasadena. In this episode David describes the differences and similarities between covering a fire and covering a firefight. How exactly does a journalist go about covering a natural disaster like a wild fire without becoming the wild fire’s victim?

Episode 6 — In the Line of Fire

Always a dangerous job, photojournalism (journalism period!) has become exponentially more dangerous. In this episode, David discusses the newest danger – law enforcement and its confusion over who exactly IS a journalist these days. Joining David in the discussion are multimedia journalists Chelsea Lauren, Sean Beckner-Carmitchel, Mel Buer and Sergio Olmos.

Episode 7 — They Looked Like Ghosts

Even 25 years after it happened, 911 still haunts us. Photos from that day can still take us back to that day and all the complex emotions we felt. In this episode, David and photojournalists SPENCER PLATT and MARIO TAMA will discuss the photos they took that day that became iconic. While others rushed away from the twin towers as they burned and then collapsed, some people – first responders and journalists – ran toward the catastrophe. 911 changed everyone. It changed some people even more.

Episode 8 — Line of Fire (Part 2)

Journalism requires people willing to run toward danger instead of away from it. In this episode, photojournalists Chelsea Lauren, Sean Beckner-Carmitchel, Mel Buer and Sergio Olmos return to describe the physical threats they face especially when covering civil unrest. That threat, shockingly, is coming from law enforcement.

Episode 9 — Almost, Almost Famous

In this episode, David takes you another kind of war zone – red carpets. Covering the Oscars may be less death-defying than covering a war, but there are challenges nonetheless. David also will take you backstage to “The Slap” with LA Times photographer Robert Gauthier – when actor Will Smith slapped Oscar presenter Chris Rock across the face for making a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith’s shaved head. Red Carpets are another place where normal rules simply don’t apply.

Episode 10 — Getting Shot to Get the Shot

NICK STERN’s no stranger to literal battle. Like David, he’s covered war zones, natural disasters and civil unrest. Also like David, Nick’s been wounded on the job. Multiple times, as you’ll hear. In 2025, while covering the Battle Of LA (Episode 4) Nick ended up in the hospital for weeks after a piece of projectile lodged in his leg. There are costs to covering stories – but, they do come with great stories themselves.

Episode 11 — What Noah Knows

Photographer Noah Berger stands out among photojournalists. He’s got a great eye and an outside-the-box approach to finding the right angles. He also stands out because he stands six foot seven. Noah shares his stories of covering demonstrations in Portland, Oregon where he found himself on the inside (taking photos) looking out. Photography is all about perspective. So’s Noah Berger.