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Aunty Janet tries to put a brave face on the fact she's been stuck next to Uncle John most of the night - it's a tough job but someone has to do it.
As the leaves begin to turn the Union Chapel is ready to open its doors for the autumn season of Daylight Music. Taking place most Saturday lunchtimes (12-2pm) these free events offer the opportunity to sample 3 different acts each week in the beautiful gothic surroundings of one of the finest music venues in London. There are no genre barriers either, our most recent programme ranged from looped flute and suitcase to harp based singers, big choirs and cello quartets and we’ll be opening up this time round with a lederhosen inspired bang courtesy of the Oompah Brass.
After being socked in in clouds all day Mount Stuart finally started peaking out when the cloud bank began breaking up in the afternoon.
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www.stuarthogbenphotography.co.uk
Stuart has for many years been working on this creation. Connecting his constructions with the amazing features of this challenging site... Huge rocks, steep inclines, Stuart leads the eye to the beauty all around. I had a ball taking photos as I explored the site (again)
I first met Toby Stuart fifteen years ago, and even back then, it was clear he had a different kind of mind—one that instinctively searched for the hidden architecture beneath institutions, ideas, and human behavior. Now a professor at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Toby has built a career studying the social and organizational networks that quietly shape how innovation happens.
His research has helped redefine how we think about entrepreneurship. Early in his career, he showed that in industries like biotechnology, the success of a startup often hinges less on its core technology than on the social capital of the people involved—who they know, where they’ve worked, and how they’re perceived by others. That insight—that reputation and network connections are as fundamental to a venture’s prospects as its product—has become foundational in the study of entrepreneurship and innovation.
Over the years, Toby’s work has expanded into adjacent domains: strategic alliances, venture capital, academic careers, and the structural forces that govern who gets funded, who gets mentored, and who gets left out. He’s particularly interested in how networks distribute not just opportunity but also exclusion—how they can reinforce inequality even as they create value. At Berkeley, and previously at Harvard, Columbia, and the University of Chicago, Toby has trained generations of students to look beyond the surface of business to the deeper, often invisible dynamics that drive outcomes.
When we met for this portrait session on April 7, 2025, it felt more like a long-overdue catch-up than a formal shoot. We made the photos in my library in Noe Valley—surrounded by books, quiet light, and a few old cameras. He arrived relaxed but sharp, with the same curious glint I remembered from when we first met. We talked about the resilience of cities, the friction in collaboration, and the importance of asking better questions.
Toby’s style is deeply analytical, but never abstract for abstraction’s sake. He has a way of grounding big ideas in concrete realities. He’s not selling grand theories; he’s building a toolkit—ways of thinking that his students and collaborators can carry with them into the complex, messy systems they’ll inhabit.
He’s also a generous listener. In a world often obsessed with speed, Toby remains tuned to nuance and context. He has no need to be the loudest voice in the room. Instead, he creates space—space for inquiry, for conversation, for real thinking.
His impact extends well beyond academia. He’s worked closely with startup founders, investors, and policymakers, helping them see the levers and feedback loops they might otherwise miss. He understands that innovation isn’t just about the next big idea—it’s about the social scaffolding that helps that idea survive, grow, and spread.
Fifteen years on, I still find conversations with Toby leave me thinking differently. More aware of the systems at play. More attentive to the stories we tell about success, and the ones we overlook. There’s clarity in his vision, but also humility—a sense that the world is complex, and our job is not to control it, but to understand it a little better each time we look.