A Photographic Life

In this monthly conversation series Grant Scott speaks with art director, lecturer and creative director Fiona Hayes. In an informal conversation each month Grant and Fiona comment on the photographic environment as they see it through the exhibitions, magazines, talks and events that Fiona has seen over the previous weeks.

Mentioned in this episode:

https://photolondon.org

www.peckham24.com

https://tomwoodarchive.com

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2026/may/07/twiggy-bella-freud-steven-meisel-london-portraits-in-pictures-photo-london

Ute Mahler www.ostkreuz.de/en/photoseries/photographer/ute-mahler/

Mona Lisas of the Suburbs” by Ute Mahler & Werner Mahler here.

Jane Evelyn Atwood, "Women in Prisons": https://agencevu.com/en/serie/women-in-prison-1990/

https://agencevu.com/en/photographer/jane-evelyn-atwood/

Fiona Hayes

Fiona Hayes is an art director, designer, consultant and lecturer with over 30 years’ experience in publishing, fashion and the art world. She has been a magazine art director ten times: on Punch, Company, Eve, the British and Russian editions of Cosmopolitan, House & Garden,GQ India (based in Mumbai), MyselfGermany (in Munich), and Russian Vogue (twice). Between 2013 and 2019, as Art Director of New Markets and Brand Development for Condé Nast International, based in London and Paris, she oversaw all the company’s launches – 14 magazines, including seven editions of Vogue. She still consults as Design Director at Large for Vogue Hong Kong. In 2002 she founded independent photography magazine DayFour, publishing it continuously until 2012. She is Co-Author and Art Director of The Fashion Yearbook, and creative director of books for South African media consultancy Legacy Creates. Outside the publishing world, she has been Art Director of contemporary art auction house Phillips de Pury in London and New York, and Consultant Art Director of Russian luxury retail group Mercury/TSUM. (Fiona would like to point out she is not Russian: she is proudly Irish and studied Visual Communication and History of Art and Design at NCAD Dublin.) She currently divides her time between design consultancy for commercial clients, and lecturing at Oxford Brookes University, the Condé Nast College of Fashion and Design, London, Nottingham Trent University, Ravensbourne University, and Leeds University. She lives in West London. @theartdictator

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’s next book is Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, Orphans Publishing, is on sale now wherever you buy your books.

© Grant Scott 2026

In episode 418 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:

David Sylvian 'Red Guitar' www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tTX49CjAgo

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 graphic designer Mike Dempsey. In an informal conversation they discuss the importance of understanding design, what is successful design and how this can be applied to photobooks.

Mike Dempsey

From the late 1960s, Dempsey worked in British book publishing houses. He has created stamps for the Royal Mail, the brand identity for English National Opera, and the South Bank Centre, London. After a decade in publishing, Dempsey formed the highly successful design consultancy Carroll, Dempsey and Thirkell in 1979, which he ran for 27 years. In 2007, he left to set up Studio Dempsey. His awards include the New York Art Director’s Club Silver Cube, the CSD Minerva Award, the Reginald M. Phillips Medal for Postage Stamp Design, ten D&AD (Design and Art Direction) Silvers, the coveted Gold award, and in 2012, he received a unique D&AD Black Pencil for the most awarded designer in their 50-year history. He is a member of Alliance Graphic International, a past President of D&AD, a past Master of The Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry, and in 1994, he was made a Royal Designer for Industry. Dempsey's expertise also encompasses design for posters for art exhibitions, theatre and dance to film titles. He is a writer, photographer, broadcaster, painter, blogger and he studied acting at the Method Studio, London. Today, he lives and works in London and Dorset. https://studiodempsey.co.uk

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.

©Grant Scott 2026

In episode 416 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:

Cengiz Yar www.cengizyar.com

Sayuri Ichida www.sayuriichida.com

Angine de Poitrine - Full Performance (Live on KEXP) https://youtu.be/0Ssi-9wS1so?si=6ThZCxvnFibNcu0j

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica [Full Album] https://youtu.be/aF0g-2SeoMM?si=I8hFqowFRJzUsqb8

The Fall - Eat Y'Self Fitter https://youtu.be/yFCOt6wbm80?si=s6tMQgV8VolqKavU

Can - Future Days [Full Album] https://youtu.be/wQxMB4Wk_y8?si=v_OVCxUY3e3IhIO8

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 monthly conversation series Grant Scott speaks with art director, lecturer and creative director Fiona Hayes. In an informal conversation each month Grant and Fiona comment on the photographic environment as they see it through the exhibitions, magazines, talks and events that Fiona has seen over the previous weeks.

Mentioned in this episode:

https://nederlandsfotomuseum.nl/en/

www.edvanderelsken.nl

www.vivianesassen.com

https://antoncorbijn.com/index.html

Charles Bukowski https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bukowski

Bas Jan Ader www.meliksetianbriggs.com/artists/bas-jan-ader

Stacii Samidin www.staciisamidin.com/videography/

Hans Poley www.imdb.com/title/tt1691153/

Fiona Hayes

Fiona Hayes is an art director, designer, consultant and lecturer with over 30 years’ experience in publishing, fashion and the art world. She has been a magazine art director ten times: on Punch, Company, Eve, Cosmopolitan, House & Garden, GQ India, Myself, Germany and Russian Vogue (twice). Between 2013 and 2019, sh was Art Director of New Markets and Brand Development for Condé Nast International, and oversaw 14 magazines, including seven editions of Vogue. She still consults as Design Director at Large for Vogue Hong Kong. In 2002 she founded her photography magazine DayFour. She is Co-Author and Art Director of The Fashion Yearbook, and creative director of books for South African media consultancy Legacy Creates. She has been Art Director of contemporary art auction house Phillips de Pury in London and New York and currently divides her time between design consultancy for commercial clients, and lecturing. @theartdictator

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.

© Grant Scott 2026

In this week’s episode photographer Lynn Goldsmith takes on our ‘Proust Photo Quiz’…

Lynn Goldsmith’s photography has appeared on and between the covers of Life, Newsweek, Time, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, National Geographic Traveler, People, Elle, Interview, and the The New Yorker amongst many others. Her subjects have varied from entertainment personalities to sports stars, from film directors to authors and her work is held in numerous museum collections and personal art collections. Fifteen books of Goldsmith's imagery have been published and she has also received two New York Art Direction awards. In 1971, she was a director for the first company to present video magnification for rock groups entertaining at large venues and in 1972, she became a director for the first rock show on late night television titled In Concert. In 1973, she stopped directing TV to co-manage the band Grand Funk Railroad. In 1976 Goldsmith left management to focus on a career as a photographer and founded a photo agency that licensed her work and others to publications across the globe. By the early 80’s she expanded her creativity as 'Will Powers', and wrote and produced the album Dancing For Mental Health. Working with noted musicians Sting, Steve Winwood, Todd Rundgren and Nile Rodgers, the album won critical acclaim. In 2016 a lawsuit was brought against her by the Andy Warhol Foundation for her studio portrait of Prince. For seven years she fought to protect her copyright, and that of all artists, to their work. The legal battle went to the Supreme Court, and 2023, she won a 7-2 victory.

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 413 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:

https://fwo3.com

www.mattmahurin.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 this monthly conversation series Grant Scott speaks with editor, writer and curator of photography Bill Shapiro. In an informal conversation each month Grant and Bill comment on the photographic environment as they see it. This month Bill and Grant take on the photo competition.

Bill Shapiro

Bill Shapiro served as the Editor-in-Chief of LIFE, the legendary photo magazine; LIFE’s relaunch in 2004 was the largest in Time Inc. history. Later, he was the founding Editor-in-Chief of LIFE.com, which won the 2011 National Magazine Award for digital photography. Shapiro is the author of several books, among them Gus & Me, a children’s book he co-wrote with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and, What We Keep, which looks at the objects in our life that hold the most emotional significance. A fine-art photography curator for New York galleries and a consultant to photographers, Shapiro is also a Contributing Editor to the Leica Conversations series. He has written about photography for the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, the Atlantic, Vogue, and Esquire, among others. Every Friday — more or less — he posts about under-the-radar photographers on his Instagram feed, where he’s @billshapiro.

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 this week's episode photographer Perry Ogden 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.

Perry Ogden

Perry Ogden was born in Shropshire, England, grew up in London and now lives in Dublin, Ireland. His photographs have appeared in countless magazines worldwide including Italian Vogue, Luomo Vogue, British Vogue, W, The Face and Arena. He has photographed advertising campaigns for Ralph Lauren, Chloe and Calvin Klein amongst many others. These have supplemented his personal projects including his Pony Kids body of work, which was published by Jonathan Cape/Aperture in 1999. His photographs of the artist Francis Bacon’s studio,7 Reece Mews, were published by Thames and Hudson in 2001 and exhibited widely at galleries and museums including The Hugh Lane in Dublin, the Fondation Beyeler in Basle and the Fondation van Gogh in Arles. His first film Pavee Lackeen (The Traveller Girl) premiered in 2005 and won numerous awards around the world including the Satyajit Ray award for Best First Film at the London Film Festival and the Irish Film & Television Award for Best Film. Exhibitions of his work since 2010 include: Inspiration at the Sebastian Guinness Gallery, Dublin, 2010. Twenty at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2011, a group show celebrating the first twenty-years of the museum and Reined In, 2020, at The National Gallery of Ireland. Ogden's most recent book Paddy & Liam documenting two Traveller brothers Paddy and Liam Doran was published in 2018. In 2019 his 16 minute film FÍ made for the Design and Craft Council of Ireland was screened in Dublin, Paris, Tokyo and New York. A film about Perry's work Skin & Soul:The Life and Work of Perry Ogden was premiered at the Dublin International Film Festival in March 2020. www.perryogden.com and www.ifiinternational.ie/film/skin-soul/

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), Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012) and Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories (Orphans Publishing 2024). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.

© Grant Scott 2026

In this monthly conversation series Grant Scott speaks with art director, lecturer and creative director Fiona Hayes. In an informal conversation each month Grant and Fiona comment on the photographic environment as they see it through the exhibitions, magazines, talks and events that Fiona has seen over the previous weeks.

Mentioned in this episode:

Don Mcullin https://holburne.org/opening-in-january-don-mccullin-broken-beauty/ and https://www.hauserwirth.com/hauser-wirth-exhibitions/don-mccullin-90/

Gordon Parks https://alisonjacques.com/exhibitions/gordon-parks-we-shall-not-be-moved

Catherine Opie https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2026/catherine-opie-to-be-seen

Jack Davison https://www.cobgallery.com/exhibitions/131-portraits-1416-november-jack-davison/

Fiona Hayes

Fiona Hayes is an art director, designer, consultant and lecturer with over 30 years’ experience in publishing, fashion and the art world. She has been a magazine art director ten times: on Punch, Company, Eve, the British and Russian editions of Cosmopolitan, House & Garden,GQ India (based in Mumbai), MyselfGermany (in Munich), and Russian Vogue (twice). Between 2013 and 2019, as Art Director of New Markets and Brand Development for Condé Nast International, based in London and Paris, she oversaw all the company’s launches – 14 magazines, including seven editions of Vogue. She still consults as Design Director at Large for Vogue Hong Kong. In 2002 she founded independent photography magazine DayFour, publishing it continuously until 2012. She is Co-Author and Art Director of The Fashion Yearbook, and creative director of books for South African media consultancy Legacy Creates. Outside the publishing world, she has been Art Director of contemporary art auction house Phillips de Pury in London and New York, and Consultant Art Director of Russian luxury retail group Mercury/TSUM. (Fiona would like to point out she is not Russian: she is proudly Irish and studied Visual Communication and History of Art and Design at NCAD Dublin.) She currently divides her time between design consultancy for commercial clients, and lecturing at Oxford Brookes University, the Condé Nast College of Fashion and Design, London, Nottingham Trent University, Ravensbourne University, and Leeds University. She lives in West London. @theartdictator

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’s next book is Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, Orphans Publishing, is on sale now wherever you buy your books.

© Grant Scott 2026