In episode 173 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on the importance of respect and authenticity in documenting tragedy, explaining best practice to clients and finding connections when finding and creating new work.

Plus this week photographer Steve Reeves on the challenge of supplying Grant with an audio file no longer than 5 minutes in length in which he answer’s the question ‘What Does Photography Mean to You?’

Steve Reeves was born in Ilford, Essex but has lived for most of his life in South London. He studied for a year at art school in the East End of London before securing a job at a large American Advertising agency as a copywriter where he worked for several years before moving into film directing.  He has directed several short films, commercials and a feature film titled Keeping Rosy starring the British actor Maxine Peake. Steve continues to work as a director but has become interested in photography and documenting the diverse community around his home in South London, with street portraits and accompanying interviews that celebrate the spirit and humanity of the strangers that he meets. His images are spontaneous, taken as soon as he meets the person he wishes to photograph, with the accompanying interviews written from brief notes taken while talking to and photographing the subject. Reeves says that these interviews are as important as the images themselves, and he hopes to produce and publish a book of these street portraits and the accompanying interviews. https://stevereevesphotographer.com

Dr. Grant Scott is the founder/curator of United Nations of Photography, a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, a working photographer, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019).

Grant’s book What Does Photography Mean to You? including 89 photographers who have contributed to the A Photographic Life podcast is on sale now £9.99 https://bluecoatpress.co.uk/product/what-does-photography-mean-to-you/

© Grant Scott 2021