In episode 280 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on the need for photographic education, how having heroes does not have to be negative and a new event concerning photography and the commonwealth.

Plus this week, photographer Ave Pildas takes 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?’

Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ave Pildas worked as a photo stringer for Downbeat Magazine in the Ohio Valley and Pennsylvania in the 1960's. In 1971 he began working as the Art Director at Capitol Records in Hollywood and designed and photographed album covers for the label's recording artists. He then launched a career as a freelance photographer and designer soon after, specialising in architectural and corporate photography. His photographs have been exhibited in one man shows at the: Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Photographers Gallery, London, Janus Gallery, Los Angeles, Gallerie Diaframma, Milan, and in numerous group shows. Photographs by Pildas are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Bibliotheca National, Paris; the University of Arizona as well as numerous other public and private collections. He is a Professor Emeritus at Otis College of Design, Los Angeles and currently lives in Santa Monica, CA in a solar powered, zero-scaped home and studio he collaborated on with W3 Architects. He is digitally archiving his vintage work, and continues with new projects while mentoring young talent. www.avepildas.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). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was first screened in 2018 www.donotbendfilm.com. He is the presenter of the A Photographic Life and In Search of Bill Jay podcasts.

Scott’s next book Condé Nast Have Left The Building: Six Decades of Vogue House will be published by Orphans Publishing in the Spring of 2024.

© Grant Scott 2023