Awareness and stories at the intersection of business, communication and art.
Welcome to the Firestarters Podcast, where stories come alive at the crossroads of storytelling, entrepreneurship, music and creativity. Through deep conversations with entrepreneurs, artists and thinkers, we explore how personal stories shape identity, direction and impact.
But Firestarters is no longer just about stories.
Season 2 introduces The Anatomy of a Shift.
A framework that reveals the phases people move through when their beliefs, identity or direction start to change. From the first moment of awarenes
Why He Walked Away From Nightlife Photography | Mats Claus (Part 1) Something drastic needs to change. Where do you start?
You love what you do. So why does it feel like you’re going nowhere?
Mats Claus was photographing the DJs he grew up listening to, working at big events and building a name in Belgium’s nightlife scene. From the outside, it looked exciting. Behind the scenes, the pressure was growing and the business wasn’t sustainable.
Eventually, he walked away from nightlife photography. He still loved the camera. He had no idea what to do next.
In Part 1 of our conversation, we follow the years that came after: factory work, another attempt at education, travelling through New Zealand and Australia, relationships ending and unexpected friendships beginning.
We talk about taking photographs without clients or expectations. About a long drive alone after a breakup. About a parking lot that became a community, and the people whose stories changed what Mats wanted to photograph.
Through all those different chapters, he kept returning to the same thought: “I’m a photographer.”
Coming back meant getting practical. A healthier relationship with money. Wedding work that could pay the bills. Portraits and plans for personal projects. Finding a way to keep doing what he loved.
For me, this conversation brings together the questions running through Season 2, The Anatomy of a Shift. How do you recognise what needs to change? What follows you when you leave? And how do you use what you’ve learned to make your next move?
Mats also reflects on preparing his story through the season’s framework, revisiting earlier experiences and changing the order to fit his own life.
If you’re questioning your direction, trying to make a living from something you love or wondering whether to start again, there might be something here you recognise.
Have you ever walked away from something you still loved? What would need to change for you to try again? Tell us in the comments.
In Part 2, we take a look behind the scenes of our studios. Mats through photography, me through podcasting: how we create a space for people to feel comfortable, open up and tell their own stories.
Subscribe to follow both parts and the continuation of Season 2.
MAKE SENSE OF YOUR STORY AND FIND YOUR NEXT MOVE
The Shift Mirror gives you a way to explore what these conversations bring up for you. Through guided questions, examples and an AI reflection tool that works with your own words, you can look for patterns, choose one step to try and return to see what changed.
Explore The Shift Mirror:
https://www.firestartershub.io/the-shift-mirror (https://www.firestartershub.io/the-shift-mirror)
Explore Firestarters and the studio:
https://www.firestartershub.io (https://www.firestartershub.io/)
17 Sept 2026
Shadow Ownership (responsibility) - With Alex Verhalle
Alex Verhalle photographs crowded dance floors while trying to stay unseen himself. In this conversation, we explore how his height, insecurity and love of music became part of his photographic signature.
For Episode 7 of The Anatomy of a Shift, I sit down with Alex to explore Responsibility through the idea of shadow ownership: recognising the parts of yourself that shape your choices and learning how to work with them.
Alex shares how feeling unnoticed influenced the way he moves through a crowd, holds his camera and captures people. We talk about black and white photography, the deliberately imperfect stop motion that became his signature, and the years of practice behind it.
The conversation moves through solitude, feeling judged, finding your own creative identity, and the tension between personal art and earning a living.
We also discuss an exhibition Alex was planning in Moscow at the time of recording, including the questions it raised around artistic freedom and political responsibility.
What is mine to do now, and what is not mine to control?
Firestarters Podcast with Sander Tilsley
Season 2: The Anatomy of a Shift
Episode 7: Responsibility | Alex Verhalle
Explore the conversations and ask your own questions with Ask the Podcast:
https://www.firestartershub.io/library
Want to record your own story? Book the studio:
https://www.firestartershub.io/book-the-studio
Wondering what chapter you’re in yourself?
Explore The Shift Mirror:
https://www.firestartershub.io/the-shift-mirror
CHAPTERS
00:00 Welcome to Alex Verhalle’s world
05:01 Waiting for the right photograph
07:18 Why black and white?
13:00 Photography as an expression of love
18:02 The photographer who tries to stay unseen
20:47 How height and insecurity shaped his technique
24:54 Where his love of music began
30:15 Solitude, silence and feeling judged
38:38 Working with your insecurities
45:42 Finding a signature through stop motion
52:45 Why imperfection fits the music
55:11 Watching Alex’s work
1:03:29 Personal art, time and putting a price on your work
1:07:16 The idea for an exhibition in Moscow
1:10:19 Social media and the changing dance floor
1:19:32 Why the Moscow experience stayed with him
1:23:40 Artistic freedom and political responsibility
1:32:18 Bringing photography onto the dance floor
1:39:33 What talking about an idea can change
1:44:07 Inside the Firestarters studio
#AlexVerhalle #FirestartersPodcast #TheAnatomyOfAShift
27 Apr 2026
Friction - With Jeroen Franssens
You’re not lost. You’re in a shift.
Most people feel it.
Something in their life no longer fits, but they cannot explain why.
In this Firestarters episode, Jeroen Franssens shares how that feeling started for him. Growing up with religion, following a path that made sense at the time, until a personal loss forced him to question everything.
That moment did not just change what he believed.
It changed how he saw the world.
From there, the conversation opens into something much bigger.
Why are so many people today searching for meaning again?
Why do music, festivals, and community feel almost like modern rituals?
And why does the “main narrative” no longer feel as solid as it once did?
At the core of this episode lies one central tension:
The story you were given
versus
the story you are meant to live
We explore how the external world often mirrors what is happening internally, how people project their fears outward, and why more and more individuals are starting to question the narratives they grew up with.
This is not just a conversation about society.
It is a conversation about identity.
If something in your life feels like it is shifting,
this episode might help you understand why.
Contact Firestarters Podcast
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Firestarters Podcast?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
