Episode 9

Creating Communities of Practice

In this episode Hanna-Katrina Jędrosz & Claudia Leisinger discuss the benefits of communities of practice and the power and function of these spaces within the photographic industry.


Hanna-Katrina Jędrosz - founder of Photo Scratch - and Claudia Leisinger - co founder of Collective Eye - are two documentary photographers who, within their photographic careers, have greatly valued communities of practice.

Both photographers shed light on the power and function of creative, grassroots communities, which challenge the established creative industry in hopes to make it more accessible for all.

(Image by Claudia Leisinger)

Hanna-Katrina Jędrosz is an award-winning documentary photographer and artist from London. Her work focuses on narratives about the place, people, history, and the environment. She completed her MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication in 2014. Since then her work has been recognized by The Royal Photographic Society Environmental Bursary and IdeasTap Innovators Award. She was recently nominated for the Leica Oskar Barnack Award by Brett Rogers OBE and has previously been nominated for the Tim Hetherington Trust Visionary Award by James Brabazon. Major clients include The New Statesman, The Royal Shakespeare Company, musicians Johnny Flynn, and Dry Cleaning, among many others. She is the founder of Photo Scratch, an Associate Lecturer at the University of the Arts London, and on the advisory committee of Women Photograph, and her print sales are represented by isle. As a freelance picture editor, she has worked for The Sunday Times, Reuters Wider Image, and most recently as commissioning visuals editor at Hyphen.

Claudia Leisinger is an award-winning freelance photographer and videographer focusing on portraiture, documentary photography, and audio-visual pieces. Since her MA in Photojournalism & Documentary Photography at the LCC in 2007, she has consistently worked for periodicals (Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg BuzzFeed, The Big Issue) charities, institutes and think tanks (Red Cross, BMW Foundation, Earth Security, Chatham House), commercial clients (Airbnb, Keds, Christie’s, Hunter) and various artists and galleries. She also works on self-initiated, long-term projects. Her audio-visual piece “The Last of the Billingsgate Fish Porters” was selected for Night Contact, London’s first-ever Multimedia Festival, and published in the Guardian UK. The photos were shown in a solo exhibition at the MAZ Gallery, Switzerland. Her portraits have been exhibited internationally as part of Portrait of Britain, Portrait of Humanity, KL International awards, and Eyes on Main Street. “In Common”, her latest series, was published as a zine in 2022 by Another Place Press. She is a founding member of the Collective Eye podcast team and part of Women Photograph and The Journal.

Episode Credits:

Conversation between Hanna-Katrina Jędrosz and Claudia Leisinger

Podcast Editor: Nicola Muirhead & Claudia Leisinger

Introduction: Lina Collado

Music: Ana Maria Arévalo Gosen (composition), Philipp Quante (piano), Bobby G (drums)

Podcast Team: Nicola Muirhead, Lina Collado, and Claudia Leisinger.

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Thank you for listening, from the Collective Eye Podcast Team.