Jim Stephenson

(sound on). No flashy camera moves, barely any movement actually. No trending audio, just the birds. No hooks and no hot takes. In my last reel I posted a 60 second clip of the waves of Lock Carron rolling into Plockton Harbour in Scotland. To my surprise, people seemed to love it and I said I’d make it a series, so here’s the second ‘quiet minute’. The morning mist rolling over Flat Creek near Jackson Hole in Wyoming as the sun rises over the hills. I spent a week here for @mcleanquinlan . Career highlight. (I know this is only 30s so not technically a quiet minute…) #wyoming #landscape #jackson

Oi Oi! A new mentorship opportunity! Following on from our mentorship programme that resulted in the film ‘No Building As Usual’ in 2022, @nyimamurry and I are doing a new architectural filmmaking mentorship for people from underrepresented backgrounds this Spring / Summer, alongside @studiointhewoods_official . Read on for how to apply… Studio in the Woods (SITW) is a long-running summer architecture workshop, where participants spend three days camping in the woods testing architectural ideas at 1:1. We will be creating a film of this years’ SITW and are looking to work with a small group of people from underrepresented backgrounds who are new to film making, but want to develop their skills in a real-world scenario as part of a mentorship programme. This year Studio in the Woods runs from 25th to 28th June at Hooke Park in Dorset. Additionally, Nyima and Jim will run two workshops before filming commences. One on May 13th (3pm to 5pm) and one on June 5th (1pm to 6pm). These will focus on the brief for the film, technical aspects of the equipment we will be using, as well as direction on storytelling and collecting usable footage. Finally, a post-processing workshop on editing will be held on July 8th (1pm to 6pm) to begin the assembly on the final film. All the workshops will be in London. Participants in the mentorship will need to be available on all these days, as well as being comfortable camping. No prior filming or camera experience is necessary, just an enthusiasm to learn and a desire to explore the making of films about design and architecture. There is no fee to apply or take part. Travel will be paid for all participants to and from Hooke Park as well as a small stipend of £250 each. Continues in the comments…

Instagram tells me to provide a hook in the first three seconds or people won’t watch the videos I post, and to use trending audio or my posts won’t reach a wider audience. Or to pay to boost my posts, or to do a grwm post, or a trending dance routine, or a stitch, or a hot take, or hire a bleeding private jet to take aspirational photos inside and tell people about my unique wealth building system. It’s Friday and I don’t want to do any of that, so here’s 60 seconds of the waves rolling in to Plockton harbour on the west coast of the Scottish Highlands, with the wind in the trees and the birds cheeping. Filmed from a clearing in the firs, up above the village after walking there with Colin from @bailliebaillie . No hooks, no tending audio, just a peaceful minute. I’m gonna start regularly posting a peaceful minute on here. Algorithm be dammed. #plockton #highlands #scotland #peace

‘How Did We Get Here’ is a new exhibition at Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire that features a new film by @nyimamurry called ‘Encounters’. I am super proud to have worked on this film with Nyima, interviewing members of the Tibetan community in the UK. The film traces the intertwined journeys of displacement experienced by both the historic artefacts and the diasporic community. Through our series of intimate and unfiltered interviews, the participants we worked with handle these objects for the first time, responding with personal memories, reflections and stories of exile. As the artefacts prompt moments of recognition, loss, and connection, the film reveals the entangled histories that link Britains Imperial history in India with its historic intervention in Tibet. Encounters is a moving exploration of memory, identity, ownership and the enduring legacy of empire. Again, I’m extremely proud I got to play a part in making Nyima’s film happen and it’s well worth the trip to Derby to see the exhibition. Let me know what you think!

I have full one post-holiday blues. Can’t shake it, so here’s a bunch of snapshots from our recent trip to Thailand. Got back a couple of nights ago, jet lag has me in a hazy place and I wish I was in Bangkok. Photos here from a boat tour along the canals of Bangkok with @twicelynamed , dinosaur crazy golf with my nephew and niece in Phuket, @dibbangkok and the incredible @jimthompsonhouse also in Bangkok. #thailand #bangkok #architecture #holiday #travel

Just a quick Sofia Kathryn Smith appreciation post because she looks so good riding along the beach in a tuk-tuk on holiday. Hashtag goths-at-the-beach @twicelynamed #thailand #phuket #tuktuk

Who are the members of COMMUNE? For our first year, we invited a group of artists, writers, researchers, and makers that we feel inspired by In December 2025, after months of secret planning, we posted out a ‘zine and membership form inviting people to join us. We didn’t tell them who the other invitees were (in fact, we still haven’t...until now) Once we received their completed membership forms, they were in We’re hoping to keep communications in-person/ via post, although we concede that some online meetings and emails will be necessary to connect the group (who are all dotted around the UK) For future years, current members will be able to invite new people. There’s no application process and the only requirement is a willingness to work collectively and to make something - just one thing - that’s for themselves each year Whilst we [Emily + Lou] put the foundations for COMMUNE in place, it now belongs to the members; to the community We’re overjoyed to announce the 2026 members of COMMUNE are: Roz Doherty @rozdoherty Bryony Good @bryonygood Curtis James @oswald808 Simon James @thesimonsound Emily Macauley @stanleyjamespress Lou Miller @_loumiller Sofia Smith @twicelynamed Jim Stephenson @clickclickjim Dream team 🪨

Between Christmas and New Year I sit down and look at all the photoshoots I did that year and I learn things about my work and myself. Noticing the things that I noticed. I missed it last year, but I usually spend Jan and Feb on Insta posting (at least) one image from each shoot. Often the images that didn’t get shared a lot at the time - details, small and quiet moments. This is a series of flowers from @on_the.sq when I documented it for @irenie.studio . As close to an architecture and design wonderland as you’ll find. It’s cold outside so a bit of a bloom and some sun can’t hurt. #flowers #fleurs #design #london #house

Handsome: we just finished Woolwich Market Pavilion and Gardens. The new civic building by the old Arsenal, it brings together a locally-owned cafe, utilities for the market and fountains and public toilets. Its strong form defines the square’s edge, helping to reconnect the area following the scarring effects of the 1980s dual-carriageway. Along with Tom Massey Studio, we have designed a resilient landscape that welcomes locals, visitors, commuters, and wildlife, boosting biodiversity and offering generous resting spaces for humans and non-humans. We share the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s ambition to make better public spaces affording more diverse civic space for all citizens to use. It was a great privilege to work on the redesign of this historic public space. We know that having a beautiful public place to eat your lunch is an incalculable luxury that all Londoners deserve. 📸 @clickclickjim Collaboration with @webbyates and @tommasseyuk part of a wider @ldadesign public realm

Many years ago (2016) I was still running @miniclicktalks and for our Christmas party that year we put on an exhibition of Martin Parr’s late 1970’s photographs taken inside Yates’ Wine Lodges in Northern England. We printed the photos on beer mats and (working with @thejameskendall who worked for a local brewery at the time), we stuck them in pubs around Brighton. The reaction was incredible - people who didn’t know Parr or his work got really into it (I’m convinced internet searches in Brighton for “who is Martin Parr” went through the roof that winter), people who did know his work went round collecting the beer mats and swapping them like football stickers. Plus they got used to soak up beer, folded up to prop wonky tables, used in bar games. The whole lot. I didn’t really know Martin at all, but I always thought it was pretty cool he let us do that. I still have a signed set somewhere in the archives. Very sad to hear he’s passed way - rest in peace MP. Pics here by @xcphotography_uk @pixelsonapage @martinparrstudio @martinparrfdn

Last week I spent the day at the V&A Storehouse, which is an entirely mad and brilliant set of ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark warehouse scene’ spaces. I was teaching a workshop there as part of the mentorship @mass.collective are doing. I created a series of exercising all based around ‘noticing’. The whole day was geared around finding a way to combine the structure and composition traditionally found in architectural photography with spontaneity and chaos - a way of documenting the life of a building as well as its form. We also did a listening exercise inspired by @thesimonsound and his deep listening practice, where the participants sat in one spot and just listened to all the sounds of the building. I really enjoy doing things like this, and the mentees we worked with were excellent and you should follow them all - @imaanawa @jstnwhite @mark_woulfe @takenyakholness Thanks for great day everyone! All pics by me and @mass.collective #london #workshop #mentorship #storehouse #architecture #design

The Kings Buildings campus at the University of Edinburgh didn’t have a heart. It’s a little out of town and students rarely stayed on site after lectures or tutorials. People living in the area rarely passed through the site either. Along came @sheppard_robson who worked with @edinburghuniversity to design and deliver the Nucleus building which provides lecture spaces, labs and teaching rooms but also social spaces, informal areas and a banging cafe. Now students and teaching staff have a reason to hang out on site, and local people also drop in to use the cafe. It was rammed when I was there filming with @kaimuir_ for a series of films I made with @riasmembership to showcase the Doolan Award shortlist for the best building in Scotland this year. The film is up on @dezeen right now! Link in bio #scotland #edinburgh #uni #university #architecture #design #doolan