Paul Phillipson from Feelings With Strangers podcast recently interviewed Stephen. Here’s what he said:
It’s not often I feel nervous. I worked for many years as a photographer and met people from every stratum of society, from the wealthy and famous to the outcast and downtrodden. One thing I learnt early on is that nerves resulted in bad imagery. So when it came time for this podcast with Stephen Jenkinson, a man whose work I’ve followed for nearly a decade, I was nervous. It’s not that Stephen is difficult to talk to or combative; it’s because Stephen is a master of the English language, and each word he uses is carefully chosen based on its etymology. He also doesn’t let you get away with anything if he believes you’ve incorrectly identified something. My nerves quickly abaited once I felt Stephen’s generosity of spirit.
This is one of the most meaningful conversations I’ve had. Stephen traverses:
– What we have lost in our modern societies, if there is a way back, and if there were, to what we think we are to return to.
– Death and our lack of education around the ultimate which every life faces.
– What it truly means to cultivate a mindset that sees us creating genuine connections to one another to create communities that will benefit future generations.Most of all, Stephen reminded me that our lives are shaped by the questions we ask rather than the answers we seek—in his own words, “I’m far more in favour of the wonder of the question than the certainty of the answer.” As the great poet E.E. Cummings phrased it, “Always the most beautiful answer to he who asks the most beautiful question.”
It was an honor to speak with Stephen, and I know you’ll get something significant from his life-long pursuit of asking the most beautiful questions.
