Seven years ago I paused this podcast. Life moved, and Authentic Storytelling went quiet. Today it’s back, and I couldn’t have chosen a better person to begin again with.
Graham Uden has photographed almost everything a camera can point at: conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq, oil rigs and airlines, weddings, and Hong Kong Disneyland. A life spent behind the lens has made him think harder than most about what an image actually tells us… and what it leaves out.
We sat down in Hong Kong and talked about truth. About growing up in a funeral home, and what that taught him about facing fear. About the strange calm of working in a war zone, where every sense is heightened and ordinary life feels grey by comparison. And about this odd new moment we are all living in, where you look at a photograph and have to ask yourself: is this real, or is it AI?
“You’re not going to find the truth watching CNN or the BBC. You have to go and see it for yourself.”
What stayed with me is the thing underneath all of it: the story we are told shapes what we believe far more than the facts do. As storytellers, that is both our responsibility and our gift. We don’t simply record reality. We frame it.
This is the first of two conversations with Graham. The second goes behind the scenes at Disney, and the craft of immersive storytelling. This one is about truth, fear, and the courage to go and see for yourself.
Watch the full conversation below. And if it speaks to you, follow along. There is much more coming.