Slices of Time Episode 025 Frederic Paulussen

Posted on by Frederic Paulussen

Today, I’m joined by… well, myself. For episode 25 at the end of 2025, I wanted to have a little talk about the past year on this podcast and in my street photography. But also about the upcoming year. Some ideas I have and would like your input on.

Listen to the episodes on:

You can follow me on several social media for updates about the episodes:

Timestamps of this episode with Frederic Paulussen

00:00 Introduction to the Podcast and Personal Reflections
02:44 Growth and Changes in the Podcast
05:55 Personal Growth in Street Photography
08:53 Future Plans for the Podcast
11:40 Social Media Challenges and Content Creation
23:39 Reflections on Street Photography and Future Directions
32:26 Curating Personal Consumption
33:50 Engagement with Quality Content
35:12 Audience Interaction and Future Plans

Slices of Time Street Photography podcast episodes of 2025

Thank you for listening to this monologue. Don’t forget to subscribe to be updated about upcoming episodes. Feel free to reach out via social media if you have any questions or ideas you’d like to share.

Don’t miss any episode by subscribing to the podcast on Spotify!

Podcast Transcript

Frederic Paulussen (00:00)
Welcome to the slices of time street photography podcast. Today I’m joined by well myself. I’m a street photographer from Antwerp. I’m usually joined by another guest talking to me about their street photography work. But today I felt like doing an episode on myself, by myself.

also on the topic of myself but also on the topic of the podcast my personal street photography and a bit of social media struggles let’s call it it’s also because today the day this is released so it’s it’s

few days from now but the day this is going to be released is the 25th of December usually a day people spend with their families not really listening to podcasts so I felt having a guest on would be a bit of a waste of their time since I’m assuming less people will listen to this episode

So yeah, that’s that’s kind of also why I wanted to do this episode also because it’s the 25th episode So it’s the 25th episode on 25th of December 25, which is It doesn’t mean anything but I think it’s a funny rhyme coincidence So anyway, that’s why I wanted to do this this little episode by myself. I’m not sure how long it’s going to take I have some bullet points ⁓

I have written down some bullet points I want to discuss, but nothing too rigid to be honest. So the things I want to discuss is first of all the past year of this podcast, so everything I did in 2025 ⁓ surrounding this podcast. I also want to talk about some…

I’m not gonna say plans, but ideas for the coming year because there’s things that I want to have your input on as the listener. So feel free, of course, like with any episode, by the way, just feel free to reach out, send me DMs on Instagram, emails, ⁓ whatever platform you find me on.

Then I also wanted to talk about the past year on my personal street photography, my growth in that sense. Of course also what I want to do the coming year. And also some thoughts about social media and content or online content which I’m struggling with. I want to give my ideas, my thoughts.

And also I want to open the discussion. So I want to hear from you. So really just feel free to reach out to, you know, like in the comments under the podcast, if you’re listening on Spotify or YouTube, just send me DMs, emails, whatever with your ideas, your insights, maybe, because this is just how I feel at the moment. And of course, it might be totally wrong. So first of all, the podcast this past year.

There’s been a good growth in the amount of listeners of course in the amount of plays but also in the amount of subscribers Which I’m happy because it’s nothing major. There’s like I’m not sure like on Spotify it said I don’t know that

but it’s like around 200 subscribers which I think is huge. Well it’s not huge but it’s huge to me. I’ve also been doing my best this past year to diversify the guests both in style and locations in all aspects because I do think that growth comes in talking to different people. People who might not do things like they would

like I would do them because that’s the most insightful like there’s more inspiration there than just getting confirmation about what you’re doing already so that’s why I’m doing that. I also stepped away from just using ⁓ Google Meet as my recording tool so the first I think like six or seven episodes are all on Google Meet or even ten I think.

⁓ I think Matt Hall was the first episode ⁓ on this new tool that I’m using, that I’m using today as well, which is called Riverside. I’m not necessarily promoting their work or their tool. It’s a good tool. I enjoy it because it helps me. ⁓ Well, it records instead of Google Meet recording just like one audio, one video in which I have to, well, see cuts.

This records the audio of me and of the guest separately, which is easier for me because I make a lot of confirmation noises that I can then edit out so it doesn’t bother the listener too much. I want to make those sounds just to make sure the other guest is aware that I’m still listening in and I’m…

agreeing or hearing what they’re saying instead of just silence. But as a listener it’s easier or it’s more it’s nicer to hear if you’re not constantly hearing me say like yeah hmm ⁓ hmm. So it’s yeah that’s why this tool is so much easier also because there’s like some AI involved that transcribes the entire episode which makes it easier to me. It also makes like these little snippets which I’ve

I’m not really using anymore, but later on that in the social media chapter I want to discuss. So yeah, the tool helped me get my workflow more efficient a lot. ⁓

It’s still a lot of work because you have to, well, the finding of the guests, the researching them, emailing them, of course, ⁓ making sure we have a time to meet up. Because of course, if people like, for example, Betty Goh recently, ⁓ she was in China, so it’s a totally different time zone than I was. Recently also had… ⁓

Melissa O’Shaughnessy who was in New York. Also totally different time zone than I am in. So that’s also kind of a strain on the calendar because remember I don’t do this as a full-time job. This is just a hobby project or a project that I do take seriously, but ⁓ yeah, take some strain. that’s kind of in a nutshell the past year. ⁓

I have to learn to motivate you guys to share more, to comment more, because I really value your input. I received several DMs. I’m not gonna say a lot, but it’s still a decent amount of DMs of people telling me like, really enjoyed this episode, but…

For example, a topic that they really enjoyed or maybe something that they wanted to hear more from that person, which is also very interesting to me because it’s very insightful. For example, I was talking to Wei Jian I forget the episode number, but Wei Jian was talking about the book he published.

And then I got some DMs about, know, would have been interesting to hear more about how he got to his publisher, how that process went, like finding a publisher instead of just, you know, creating the book. But of course, it’s also, I have to see if it’s within the scope of the podcast, of course, but it’s yeah, like do send me your input. I do really value it a lot.

So I think yeah, that’s been this past year for the coming year the podcast the slice of time podcast in 2026 I’m gonna keep using the Riverside tool because it’s like a good tool. It helped me a lot Because it’s it does help me Get my workflow down a bit. I was thinking about maybe Doing an episode every two weeks instead of every three weeks which I think

would help me speed up, of course, the amount of people I can talk to, the amount of people I can highlight, also the amount of people I can learn from, because that’s actually the main goal of this podcast, is just to be able to learn from these people, as the questions that come up when I see their work. So I’m…

going back and forth between two weeks because some periods of time like in the summer or like the period right now over the holidays, it’s more quiet so I can usually work ahead, do like several interviews, do the other thing, get them done for publishing over a few months. But same time I want to keep consistent and if there’s like busy periods, it really gets harder for me to do this because it’s like…

I’ve never really ⁓ calculated the time it takes me for one episode, it’s gonna be like a working day. It’s gonna be eight hours, I think, total, spread out over a period, of course. But it does take some work. I edit these episodes as well. It’s not that much work anymore, but it’s still like listening to the full episode again, plus some extra time, because you have to go back and forth sometimes on some things.

Creating visuals creating social content. It all all takes some time. But yeah So I’m thinking like do you like? Just get back to me. Do you think the three week? Time frame is good or do you would you like to hear more? Is that? Maintainable because I’m also again. I’ll talk to that in the next you know Yeah, the chapter about social media. I don’t want to overflow the internet with too much content. I think

devalues it a bit. So that’s the thing. So yeah, the posting schedule is one of the things that I’m thinking about. Also, I want to, of course, improve my interviewing skills. I’m not sure how I should do that. There’s not really like specific books or books so specifically about this topic.

It’s also, you know, depends on my knowledge and my skills in street photography to see which questions I can ask. So maybe like if there’s questions you often struggle with, feel free to just mail them to me so I can so I know what you’re struggling with and maybe there’s like the right guest to ask you that. Maybe it can be like a general question in like for every guest that might come up. So

I do have those questions myself as well, I write them down. I find them in other interviews sometimes as well that I find like listening to, you know, there’s of course some other street photography podcasts as well. I’m forgetting their names, but there’s like really good ones. One with two guys from Australia that I can’t think the name of right now. But anyway, sometimes they talk to a guest and I find like, I want to go deeper on this. ⁓ So yeah, feel free to let me know if that comes up.

⁓ I’m also thinking because this tool allows me to have like guests listening in on the conversation so it won’t be like, you know, like as if you would be in a webinar but you can ask questions ⁓ live to the guests. So maybe that’s something I might do at some points but it’s…

That’s a lot of extra work because there’s of course the public, the promotion of getting people to listen into the live streams, finding right moments. So that’s maybe something that might happen in 2026. Maybe not. So yeah, I’m also thinking about adding video. So I do record all of these as video, but I actually never use them apart from sometimes snippets.

The main thing is because I think if you’re listening on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or whatever, the video, you’re not gonna watch your smartphone all the time. I think a lot of people also listen to podcasts while walking the streets, while driving the car, so moments you’re not looking at the screen, so it’s less interesting to have a video there.

But I do think that sometimes there’s some guests ⁓ that have been on the show which…

We talk a lot about their specific photos. So I think it might be interesting to show those photos at the same time instead of just putting them in the show notes. But it’s like, yeah, it’s a sensitive balance. maybe that’s an interesting second question I think we’re at right now. Like, let me know, where do you listen, where and when do you listen to this podcast or podcasts in general? Is it like when you’re driving the car? Is it when you’re walking around town, when you’re doing street photography? Is it when you’re cooking? Is it… ⁓

you’re editing photos there’s a lot of these moments that can be ⁓ where a podcast can be added into the mix to make it more interesting but yeah so just let me know maybe that and if so if you would be interested in the video part or not because I do think it might add value but at the same time and like as I said this is a passion project so I don’t want to overwhelm myself in extra work if it’s not valuable to others as well

So yeah, that’s the podcast part done. Then I want to talk about my street photography this past year first. this year I feel I’ve been growing a lot. I’ve been trying a lot of new things. Let’s start. Well, I don’t have really like a set timeline, but I felt like I’ve been struggling a lot this year, which I don’t think is all bad.

like at first like until the summer or even during the summer i wasn’t feeling like i was making any good work which kind of sucks to to feel that way kind of like it’s not imposter syndrome but it’s it’s it’s ⁓ i don’t know i’m sure how to call it but like none of the photos that i made really satisfied me

But then I started printing my photos, I think in September, like the photos of the entire year that I made. looking back on them that way, I started to feel back in love or fall back in love and feel the photos again. And I noticed that I did make some good photos, well, to my skills, great photos. So I think…

that was a good insight like print your photos and look at them that way also kind of let the photos sink in before you or you know so i get home i edit my photos immediately so like the the photos at the end of the evening are done sometimes in the morning if it’s getting late but my photos are done by the time and sometimes it takes me then two or three months to really appreciate them for what they are

So I think that that’s a good practice to review your own photos after some months again. I’ve also been trying new stuff in general. I followed a workshop with Chris Harrison for example in I think May or June which was kind of… it was very insightful.

Over the summer I was telling myself that it kind of broke me because it took me in totally new direction and I needed to learn to see differently again, which was a good thing of course, but at same time it did, well it didn’t set me back, but it did feel like I was setting myself back two steps again. ⁓ But I think that that’s…

the interesting like the most interesting part. That’s also kind of why I followed his workshop. It was on the Brussels Street photography festival and there were several photographers you can follow a workshop with and they were all priced similarly I think maybe even exactly the same. So to me it wasn’t like a what

which workshop can I afford because they were all the same. To me, it was kind of like looking for someone whose work I enjoyed, but it was still totally different than mine because I didn’t want to have that affirmation of my, or confirmation of my ⁓ photography. I wanted to try new things, see if I ⁓ include that in my style. ⁓ So I think, yeah, that’s a valuable lesson I learned this year as well.

I also followed ⁓ a new workshop two days ago now. No, yesterday. It was yesterday, ⁓ With Mark Pennartz from locally here, which also was very interesting because it was also totally different to me. I learned that patience does pay off more than I thought because I’m very much a hunter. I don’t stick along.

in one place for more than two or three minutes. But I’ve learned like push it like five or six minutes even is can be worth the wait. So yeah, that’s one thing I learned. I also start to believe that we should learn from each other more. That’s also of course why I started this podcast. But I think…

Like up to now I’ve been mostly self-taught and I think it does work. I do think you have to do the work yourself as well. But same time, I do believe that having someone, someone who is knowledgeable, course, point out your flaws and your strengths, obviously also your strengths, can help you improve even more than just hustling, as some people would call it. So yeah.

I do feel this year has been kind of like an awkward moment for me, as in that my style was growing, showing itself to me, but I’m not entirely there yet, I think, but it’s definitely insightful and I do think it’s worth the struggle. I also started to see, this wasn’t the bullet point, but now that I’m talking about it, it comes up. I do also…

started to notice that I love street photography for the fact of doing it. Not because I can publish the photos, like if I as soon as I hit export on Lightroom, I’m kind of done with the photos already almost. It’s just for me it’s going outside, it’s watching the world, it’s making these photos, it’s making these compositions, it’s editing or selecting the photos down in Lightroom.

editing, know, doing the color grades, ⁓ contrast adjustments, all these things is what I enjoy and I do feel the part after it of promoting the photos on Instagram especially, which will come up of course in the social media part, kind of… ⁓ I’m kind of done with that to be honest. Because I don’t see any value in it anymore.

So yeah, that’s the part of my street photography the past year. The coming year I do have some ideas of how I want to go. Because I’ve been growing by experimenting a lot, I want to try more zone focusing, also getting up more close to people which…

involves the zone focusing. I spent the last week now in London where people do not give a fuck, sorry for the language, but do not give a fuck about being photographed. Like you can really get up close and be obvious in photographing them. Of course, a respectful matter, which is totally different than here in Antwerp or in Belgium in general. So yeah, that was to me kind of like ⁓ an eye-opener. So that’s something I want to try more even here in Belgium.

Maybe I’m thinking about doing more street portraits as well, but it’s more of… Yeah, I’m not sure if I… It’s not gonna be a main thing. It’s gonna be like 5 % or even less of my work, I think. But it be fun sometimes just to ask someone, like, hey, can you pose for a second? I think it can be a nice addition. I don’t wanna make it my style. I don’t wanna do like, for example, Amy Horowitz, who does it…

a lot, which I enjoy, but it’s not really my thing I think. And of course I would love to do more workshops around, well, in Belgium and around the world. I’m also going to try to visit more festivals, I have a list of them on my website by the way, so if you are looking

festivals in your neighborhood or anywhere else. I try to update it regularly enough, like every quarter or something, to make sure the dates are all correct. But yeah, I have my eyes on Dublin Street Photography Festival, Oslo, Stockholm, Brussels of course. There are a few that I think would be very nice to attend because of connecting with people, people that I know maybe even.

listening to the talks, following the workshops. But of course, you it can get quite expensive if you have to book flights, book ⁓ hotels, pay the workshops, of course. So it’s, I’m gonna have to look because these workshops seem to tend to fall in, or these festivals seem to tend to fall in my busy periods in work. So that’s a bit of a struggle to combine them.

Now that I’m talking about it, actually, I want to go back to like past year. I did notice past year if I had to work a lot because I do photography full time as well. it’s like headshots and corporate event photography. ⁓ I do find if I’m exhausted and I do a lot of photography. I feel that I’m kind of like empty like my, my ⁓

My artistic vessel to call it that way is empty. it’s, to me, it gets harder to do more of headshots or street photography or event photography because I’m, so there’s a sort of pacing. do think even if I do too much street photography as well, which is of course ⁓ something that I enjoy a lot, there’s like, ⁓ at some point it feels like I’m empty, like I’m done for a second. Like I don’t have, like as if you have nothing to say anymore.

kind of that way. It’s like I’ve said everything that I wanted to say and now it’s time to just listen again, I guess I would call it. But anyway, that’s the tangents. That’s a bit of a detour on what I wanted to say. Maybe it doesn’t even make sense, but yeah. So yeah, the coming year I’ll try to visit more festivals. If you have any ideas or if you’re coming to one yourself, let me know. It would be super fun to meet up.

Have a coffee maybe even do a photo walk and then ⁓ maybe the heavy part of this ⁓ This episode is the social media and contents use abuse There’s this big trend going on in which you have to Like you’re not showing off your work isn’t good enough

Like I saw a real, think recently or like a blog post maybe, which we like literally said, showing your work isn’t good enough as a photography. need to show it behind the scenes. Like how did you create a photo? Like film behind the scenes in the studio or like put a GoPro on your camera if you’re doing street photography, blah, blah, blah. And I feel that’s ridiculous, crazy.

⁓ unhealthy maybe even because I’m not doing street photography to make content I’m going out to make photos I’m going to out I’m going out to make photos that I enjoy that I think are interesting that I think maybe teach me more about myself maybe even more about teach me more about the world around me it’s a very personal thing and I think the photos are

Well, they’re the end product, they’re also like the… they are the behind the scenes almost. ⁓

If that, yeah, I’m not sure if that even makes sense, but it’s like for Instagram to use Instagram, like Instagram isn’t about promoting your work anymore. It’s about feeding Instagram. Instagram isn’t, I believe Instagram and a lot of other social media platforms stopped working for us in general. Like it’s not just me. just see that it’s not working for us. It’s, we’re working for Instagram.

we’re just creating content, endless streams of reels and well mostly reels because like feed posts are a bit of waste of time these days. There’s too many stories. You have to feed stories every 24 hours to keep on. So it’s a full-time job, a job that no one needs, a job that no one asks for. And to be honest, like how many, like if I…

If I look at my own Instagram use, I publish photos and I don’t even get the time to enjoy other people’s work, which is not the purpose. I want to follow people and I want to see their work. now you have to, course you have several feeds and I’m aware you have a chronological feed in Instagram.

which I do recommend because it’s just everyone you follow in a chronological order, which is the best, which is why I like, for example, Blue Sky still which is why I like Photo App, which is why I like, I’m not sure what, or ⁓ Substack. But I do think Instagram, especially, ⁓ has become a waste of time.

if you’re a photographer, if you’re an artist ⁓ or maybe just even in general, it’s gone way beyond the point that it should have been. ⁓ It’s also because in this coming year, I’m going to try to make my content more…

direct kind of like it was 10 or 15 years ago like you follow me and you get every piece of content that I make and I’m not gonna abuse it I’m not gonna send you updates every day I’m not gonna send you you know like random posts just because I need to feed the beast it’s really like this is what I want to say kind of like for example my blog post if you go to my website

You can just go to my website and see what the newest post is and like, and read it and enjoy it. Well, with Instagram, especially for example, I feel like I post something and not even like 2 % of my followers see it. Well, I do believe if I follow someone, I want to see all their work. Not just what Instagram thinks, this is worth your time. I want to be the curator of my own input.

which I do think is so important. So I’ll talk about that in a minute. First of all, I want to be more like direct. If you subscribe to me, I want you to get that content. So for example, with this podcast, for example, if you follow it on Spotify or whatever platform you’re on, you will get every episode.

and it’s up to you to decide, I want to listen to this episode or not, or know, halfway, this is not for me or whatever. But I do think that’s very important that you get to decide that and not just have Instagram feed you random ⁓ episodes of the podcast you follow and podcasts you don’t follow, but that they think might be interesting to you. Because I think that’s, I don’t think.

the having an algorithm decide what you consume is helping you grow as an artist, helping you grow as a photographer. ⁓ Like if you don’t like these podcasts, that’s totally fine. If you do like it, I do think you should listen to every episode or even, you know, like most of the episodes. But on Instagram, if you like the podcast, you might only see like one in five episodes, which is ridiculous because I have to create more episodes then to get to you.

if that makes sense. So that’s kind of how I see Instagram. And I do think that’s a bit of a toxic way to, to treat people following content and people creating content. So that’s why, you know, the more direct approach is something that I will follow, work on, these coming years of this podcast on Spotify and other platforms.

For example, also a sub stack, is a newsletter. So if you subscribe, you get every update I do in your inbox, which might be, you know, probably not weekly, but bi-weekly, sometimes maybe monthly, but you do get everything that I have to share in your inbox. And then it’s up to you again to decide.

straight to the trash or yeah I want to read this or I want to forward this to friends who I think might enjoy this and I think this way of looking at content which is something that you actually subscribe to which actually makes it valuable to you because you’ll be picky like you can’t for for example on Instagram you can follow like 5 000 people but you won’t see all posts from those 5 000 people which is

which I don’t find that interesting. I want to follow maybe 100 people, but see everything of their posts. Follow their entire journey, follow their stories, maybe 500 people even, and really be mindful of this person isn’t for me anymore, or this person is great and I wanna keep supporting them. So I think if that makes sense, I’m hoping and I think that I’m making sense.

I want to, it’s kind of like, you know, like if you buy books, you don’t buy every book and you don’t have, you just, you don’t just go into the bookstore and they have like, here’s a new book for you. We think you like it based on what you bought before. But if they always gave you the previous book, they are sending you in a certain direction and you’re not taking control of the direction you’re going in.

you’re letting someone unconsciously decide that for you. If that makes sense.

Frederic Paulussen (32:27)
that’s how I look at it. It’s like you have, I don’t want someone else decides what I consume. I wanna be the person, you know, making mistakes. Maybe some people are interesting at first and then you find like, oh, not at all. But I think that should always be a conscious decision.

I think the book example really works there. Same with movies. I know everyone watches Netflix. For me, I try to curate what I see as much as possible and not just have follow the you might also like tab too much. Sometimes it works, but if you watch action movies like Three in a Row, it will only give you action movies at that point. Which can be good movies, of course, but maybe you would like Romcom for once.

So yeah, that’s at least going to be my approach this coming year. That’s why I also like there’s this photo app which is an independent company or like I think it’s like tree guys somewhere in the US who make this app and it’s really like aimed at photographers how Instagram should be. So it’s chronological, it’s really just about quality, you don’t have to make like silly reels to promote your photos, it’s just your photos.

So that’s what I like about it. ⁓ And so yeah, ⁓ I hope this episode, like I’m gonna start wrapping up there, I think. So I hope this episode made sense to you. So what I wanna hear from you is kind of like, ⁓ about this upcoming year, do you want me to put more episodes out, like every two weeks instead of every three weeks?

Do you live episodes might be interesting? Do you think the video ⁓ addition might be interesting? ⁓ Also like do you have any ⁓ observations about yourself for the past year? Are there things you want to try the coming year? And what’s your vision on the content while consuming and creation? Sorry are you are you gonna

ramp up your social media use? Are you going to tone it down? Is there like something that bothers you? Like I really want to hear your vision on that. So let me know if you think this episode was helpful. Give it like a like if on the platform if that’s possible because we’re still dependent on those algorithms. I still need those likes to further the content which I think is dumb.

to feed the algorithm, to tell the algorithm that this is good episode. If you enjoy it think someone might benefit from listening, feel free to share it. Please feel free to reach out. I would love to hear your input. ⁓ That’s it for me. I hope you have a good Christmas, good holidays and I see you next year.

3 thoughts on “Slices of Time Episode 025 Frederic Paulussen”

  1. Hi!

    I’ve been following you for a good while now. I have a subject idea for you: how to photograph crowds.

    I want to capture how crowded the Meir is now with the Christmas market and shopping. My eyes say “over de koppen lopen” but the photos always tell “it’s okay”.

    Reply

    1. Hey Timothy, very good question. The Meir is especially is a place I often avoid for that reason. But I do get the alure.
      Last Sunday I followed a workshop with Mark Pennnartz and we passed the Meir for a minute. It makes me thing I should do more with it for sure.

      I think maybe studying the work of photographers in these busy places could work best. Looking at for example Melissa O’Shaughnessy.

      It can also help to give yourself a focus to shoot for. For example people in red or another particular color you like.
      Or people carrying a specific item (maybe dogs can work too).

      Reply

      1. Ah thank you!

        I ended up positioning myself in the middle, choose ‘portrait’ on iPhone, zoom in to x5 and then I had a blurry crowd. With the lights for Christmas, it works.

        Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.