A Photographic Life

In the first of a new series of monthly conversations, UNP Founder Grant Scott speaks with award winning creative director and editorial designer Mark Porter, about visual storytelling, design systems and how photographers need to stand out, to be seen.

Mark Porter

Porter was born in Scotland in 1960, where he lived until he was 6 years of age, before moving to England. He studied Modern Languages at Oxford University and his first design job was on a magazine about wine, selling advertising to Spanish winemakers. From there he worked on a contract magazine titled Expression; a magazine for people with American Express cards. He subsequently worked as the art director on magazines such as Colors with the iconic art director Tibor Kalman and the UK version ofWired magazine, before becoming Creative Director of The Guardian, where he introduced a design philosophy and visual identity, which helped it become one of the world’s most recognisable news organisations. The redesign was voted best-designed newspaper in the world by the US-based Society for News Design in 2006. In 2010 he set up Mark Porter Associates, working for a list of high profile clients such as The Sunday Times, Domus, Bloomberg Television, L'Express and the V&A Museum, amongst others, across print, broadcast, and digital media. Porter's work has been been awarded multiple honours, including World's Best Designed at the SND awards, Gold at the SPD awards, and the legendary D&AD Black Pencil. His work has been shown in numerous international exhibitions and galleries, including the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Design Museum in London. Porter has also written on design for the prestigous Eye magazine. He lives and works in Bath, England. https://markporter.com

Dr.Grant Scott

After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is 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), What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020) and Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, (Orphans Publishing 2024). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.

© Grant Scott 2026

In episode 448 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is reflecting on the big and small things, that impact on the everyday engagement, we all have with photography.

Dr.Grant Scott

After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is 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), What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020) and Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, (Orphans Publishing 2024). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.

© Grant Scott 2026

In this week’s episode photographer, Alex Majoli takes on our ‘Proust Photo Quiz’…

The Proust Questionnaire is a set of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust. Proust answered the questionnaire in a confession album, a form of parlour game popular at the end of the 1890s. The album, titled An Album to Record Thoughts, Feelings, etc.was found in 1924 and published in the French literary journal Les Cahiers du Mois. Our ‘Proust Photo Quiz’ is an adaption of the original text.

Alex Majoli

Majoli was born in Ravenna, Italy, in 1971 and attended the Art Institute in Ravenna. His career began to develop after he photographed the closing of the notorious insane asylum on the island of Leros in Greece, which resulted in his first monograph, Leros. Majoli’s early interest in psychiatric care led him to Brazil, which marked the beginning of his twenty-year-long, ongoing project, Tudo Bom, a body of work documenting the multi-layered country, and the extremes found in the darker side of its society. The experience of photographing people in all kinds of circumstances led him to explore the idea that everyone is an actor in their own life. This is why he started the ongoing project, Scene in which his images become scenes in which people, through their performances, express themselves in what becomes a film set or a theater stage. Majoli’s work is held in various public collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, International Center of Photography, MUFOCO and Mucem. Among many honours, he has received the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund Fellowship for Humanistic Photography, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an ICP Infinity Award, a Getty Images Grant. He was NPPA Photographer of the Year and received an OPC Feature Photography Award. His books include One Vote (2004), Libera Me (2010), Congo (2015), Andante (2018), Scene (2019) and Opera Aperta (2021). Majoli joined Magnum Photos in 1996, becoming a full member in 2001 and lives in New York. www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/alex-majoli/

Dr.Grant Scott

After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is 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), and What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018. Scott continues to work as a photographer, writer and filmmaker and is the Subject Coordinator for both undergraduate and post graduate study of photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, England.

© Grant Scott 2026

In episode 446 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is reflecting on the big and small things, that impact on the everyday engagement, we all have with photography.

Mentioned in this episode:

www.youtube.com/@AlecSothYouTube

Dr.Grant Scott

After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is 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), What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020) and Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, (Orphans Publishing 2024). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.

© Grant Scott 2026

In episode 445 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is reflecting on the big and small things, that impact the everyday engagement we all have, with photography.

Dr.Grant Scott

After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is 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), What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020) and Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, (Orphans Publishing 2024). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.

© Grant Scott 2026

In this special episode of The Conversation series Grant Scott speaks with award winning photographer Marc Asnin. In an informal conversation they discuss photography in the first twenty-five years of the 21st century based on his project Act One: A Century in the Making.

Act One: A Century in the Making

Act One: A Century in the Making is a major new photography publication and exhibition examining the first twenty-five years of the 21st century that brings together the work of more than one hundred internationally recognized photographers alongside leading scholars, journalists, historians, writers, and public intellectuals to examine the defining political, cultural, emotional, and social realities of the first twenty-five years of the 21st century. Published by Other/Side Editions, the project positions photography not simply as documentation, but as a form of cultural memory, inquiry, and artistic testimony. Through themes including war and conflict, migration, race in America, political division, technology, identity, and environmental crisis, the publication reconstructs context around images at a moment when photography is increasingly experienced in fragmented and decontextualized ways. At a moment when images are increasingly consumed out of context and historical memory exists under constant pressure, Act One seeks to create a space for reflection, connection, and deeper public understanding. Contributors include photographers such as Andrea Bruce, David Maisel, Eugene Richards, Ken Light, Martin Schoeller, Peter van Agtmael, Platon, and Stephen Dupont, alongside essays by scholars including Joia Mukherjee, Lizabeth Cohen, Mark Danner, Nikhil Pal Singh, and Fred Turner. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/68b6bf3489b2866ff94dab74/t/68b748b17606c33219faf40a/1756842161214/Act+One+Project+Summary.pdf

Marc Asnin

Known for his long-term documentary work exploring memory, family, identity, and American life, Asnin is the author of Uncle Charlie and Final Words. Over the course of his career, he has received numerous honors, including the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Journalism Award, the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund Grant in Humanistic Photography, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. www.marc-asnin.com

Dr.Grant Scott

After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is 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), and What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.

©Grant Scott 2026

In the fourth and final part of our 'Summer Special Series' Grant Scott revists photographer contributions answering the question 'What Does Photography Mean to You?

Dr.Grant Scott

After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is 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), What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020) and Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, (Orphans Publishing 2024). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.

© Grant Scott 2026

In the third of a four part 'Summer Special Series' Grant Scott revists photographer contributions answering the question 'What Does Photography Mean to You?

Dr.Grant Scott

After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is 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), What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020) and Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, (Orphans Publishing 2024). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.

© Grant Scott 2026

In the second of a four part 'Summer Special Series' Grant Scott revists photographer contributions answering the question 'What Does Photography Mean to You?

Dr.Grant Scott

After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is 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), What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020) and Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, (Orphans Publishing 2024). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.

© Grant Scott 2026

In the first of a four part 'Summer Special Series' Grant Scott revists photographer contributions answering the question 'What Does Photography Mean to You?

Dr.Grant Scott

After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is 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), What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020) and Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, (Orphans Publishing 2024). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.

© Grant Scott 2026