A Photographic Life

In episode 131 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering technology and photography, marking the passing of Frank Horvat, and reflecting on the portrait photograph as a historical document.

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

Olivia Rose graduated in 2008 from the fashion photography course at the London College of Fashion. She was one of 100 photographers selected for the British Journal of Photography’s ‘Portrait of Britain’ award in 2017 and was the WBW Awards photographer of the year 2016.

Olivia balances freelance picture editing for major mainstream press, with her personal projects and commissions for magazines such as i-D and Vogue with a portfolio of portraits including Mary J Blige, Drake and Jorja Smith. In 2016 her extensive documentation of the UK’s grime scene developed into and award-nominated book This is Grime created together with journalist Hattie Collins. Her clients include Nike, McQ, Timberland, The Kooples, Dazed and Confused, and The Fader amongst many others. www.oliviarosephotography.co.uk

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, and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Taylor Francis 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Taylor Francis 2019). His next book What Does Photography Mean to You? will be published in late 2020.

© Grant Scott 2020

In episode 130 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed marking the passing of Chris Killip, reflecting on the relationship between photography and travel, and encouraging photographers to network for creative and mental wellbeing.

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

Robin Schwartz is a 2016 Guggenheim Fellow in photography with her work being held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum and the Bibliothéque Nationale, France, among others. Schwartz was a short-listed finalist at the Hyeres Festival de Photographie 2010, France, a two-time recipient of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Grant, and a Ford Foundation Individual Artist Grant as a graduate student at Pratt Institute. Her work has been published in a number of monographs including  LIKE US: Primate Portraits, 1993, Dog Watching, 1995, Amelia’s World, 2008, and Amelia and the Animals, 2014. Schwartz’s photographs have been published in the New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Stern, The Telegraph and The  Guardian. She is a Professor in Photography at William Paterson University of New Jersey and has taught at The International Center for Photography, New York City. www.robinschwartz.net

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, and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Taylor Francis 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Taylor Francis 2019). His next book What Does Photography Mean to You? will be published in late 2020.

© Grant Scott 2020

In episode 129 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed stating that it's okay not to understand everything, reflecting on the excessive interpretation of images, and noting how Zoom is taking over our lives, but not in a negative way.

Plus this week photographer Yael Martínez 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?’

Yael Martínez's studied at the Graphic Arts Institute of Oaxaca. His work explores the connections between, poverty, narcotraffic, organised crime, and the effects they have on the communities in his native Guerrero in southern Mexico. In 2015 he was selected in the Joop Swart Master Class 'Latinoamerica' and received the Magnum Emergency Fund in 2016. In 2017 he was named one of PDN´s 30 new and emerging photographers. Martínez was a Finalist for a Eugene Smith Grant in 2015 and 2016 and in 2019 he was named as the winner of the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography. In 2019 he received second prize, in the World Press Photo Long-Term Projects, for his work The House That Bleeds. He has also been nominated for the Foam Paul Huf Award, the Prix Pictet and the ICP Infinity Award. In 2020 Martínez was accepted as a member of the Magnum agency. He is based in Guerrero, Mexico.

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, and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Taylor Francis 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Taylor Francis 2019). His next book What Does Photography Mean to You? will be published in late 2020. www.yaelmartinez.com

© Grant Scott 2020

In episode 128 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering PHD's in photography, yet more 'pay to play' scams, and photography's response to social distancing. 

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

Nancy Borowick is an internationally renowned photographer, author, teacher and speaker, delivering over 50 speaking engagements each year around the world, bringing her personal story to universities, hospitals, oncology units and community groups globally. Nancy is a graduate of the International Center of Photography and has exhibited her work in over 100 cities. Working regularly with the New York Times since 2013, she has told the intimate stories of people and places from every corner of the globe winning her major accolades and awards, such as World Press Photo, Pictures of the Year International and most recently the 2018 Humanitarian Award from the organization Women That Soar for her photography and recent monograph, The Family Imprint. She is a Sony Artisan of Imagery and in 2019 was invited to become a Kickstarter Thought Leader.  Over the last decade, Nancy has narrowed the focus of her work, telling stories of health, struggle and personal relationships, using compassion, humility and trust as tools to connect with and explore the lives of her subjects. Her work has been featured in numerous newspapers and magazines, including National Geographic, Time Magazine, CNN, PDN, O the Oprah Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Audubon Magazine and Glamour Magazine.

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, and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Taylor Francis 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Taylor Francis 2019). His next book What Does Photography Mean to You? will be published in late 2020.

© Grant Scott 2020

In episode 127 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed marking the death of Harry Evans and his importance to photography, rejecting the need to label photographers by practice and celebrating the serendipity of consequence. 

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

Clare Strand is a British conceptual photographer based in Brighton and Hove, England. Her photography has been published in the Gone Astray, 2003, Clare Strand: Photoworks Monograph, 2009, Skirts, 2013 and Girl Plays with Snake, 2016. Strands work has been widely exhibited in venues such as The Centre Pompidou, Tate Britain, Salzburg Museum of Modern Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Her work is held in the collections of MOMA, SFMoma, The Center Pompidou, The British Council, The Arts Council; The NY Public Library and Cornell University.  In 2019 she was nominated for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize and awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society. Clare is also one half of the collaborative partnership MacDonaldStrand  and Head of the Intangiable for The Institute of Unnecessary Research.

Clare Strand is a British conceptual photographer based in Brighton and Hove, England. Her photography has been published in the Gone Astray, 2003, Clare Strand: Photoworks Monograph, 2009, Skirts, 2013 and Girl Plays with Snake, 2016. Strands work has been widely exhibited in venues such as The Centre Pompidou, Tate Britain, Salzburg Museum of Modern Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Her work is held in the collections of MOMA, SFMoma, The Center Pompidou, The British Council, The Arts Council; The NY Public Library and Cornell University.  In 2019 she was nominated for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize and awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society. Clare is also one half of the collaborative partnership MacDonaldStrand  and Head of the Intangiable for The Institute of Unnecessary Research.

In episode 126 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed questioning the need to deconstruct photography, considering the state of art photography, setting up your own photo talks and revealing how the podcast is constructed. 

Plus this week photographer Seamus Murphy 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?’

Seamus Murphy grew up in Ireland and is now based in London. He is the recipient of seven World Press Photo awards for his photographic work in Afghanistan, Gaza, Lebanon, Sierra Leone, Peru and Ireland. Seamus received The World Understanding Award from POYi in the USA for his work from Afghanistan and a film he made based around this work was nominated for an Emmy and won the Liberty in Media Prize in 2011. His work has been published and exhibited widely. He has made films for The New Yorker and Channel 4 Television in the UK and is the author of four books including A Darkness Visible: Afghanistan in 2008 and I Am The Beggar of the World in 2014. Seamus has collaborated with the musician PJ Harvey on her projects Let England Shake and The Hope Six Demolition Project, for which he won a Q Award for Best Music Film in 2016. Murphy and Harvey collaborated on The Hollow of the Hand published in 2015, a book of his photography and her poetry. An exhibition and live presentation of The Hollow of the Hand work took place at the Royal Festival Hall, London in 2015 and at Les Recontres d’Arles in France in 2016. His latest book The Republic is an immediate and personal portrait of Ireland and was exhibited at The Little Museum in Dublin in 2017. www.seamusmurphy.com

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, and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Taylor Francis 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Taylor Francis 2019). His next book What Does Photography Mean to You? will be published in late 2020.

In episode 125 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering the importance of seeing, the personal and history to photography, and how to avoid drowning in the ordinary. 

Plus this week photographer Greg Marinovich 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?’

Greg Marinovich is co-author of The Bang Bang Club, a nonfiction book on South Africa’s transition to democracy that has been translated into six languages. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and filmmaker. He spent 25 years covering conflict around the globe, with his writing and photographs appearing in magazines and newspapers worldwide. His 2012 award-winning investigations into the Marikana massacre of miners by police was called the most important South African journalism post-Apartheid, the book will be published early in 2016. Marinovich was Editor-In-Chief of the Twenty Ten project, tutoring and managing over 100 African journalists’ work in all forms of media. He gives lectures and workshops on human rights, justice photography and storytelling. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 2013/14 and currently teaches visual journalism at Boston University’s Journalism school and the Harvard summer school. https://gregmarinovich.photoshelter.com

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, and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Taylor Francis 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Taylor Francis 2019). His next book What Does Photography Mean to You? will be published in late 2020.

His documentary film, Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay can now be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd47549knOU&t=3915s.

© Grant Scott 2020

In episode 124 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering the charity print sale and the photographic road trip. He also allows this week's contributor to go way over time! 

Plus this week photographer Nicholas Syracuse 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?’

Nicholas Syracuse, was born in Arizona and raised in the Washington DC area, where he studied photography at the Corcoran School of Art before studying at The Northwest Photographic Center in Seattle. His largest series of photographs is his ongoing Highway project, with photographs from Seattle, San Francisco, Phoenix, Texas, South Carolina, Indiana, and many points in between taken. He has been working on this project for the past twenty years. Film Director’s Sam Roden and Nick Hartanto made a feature documentary film Traveller featu his work, that premiered at the Ashland Independent Film Festival in Ashland Oregon in 2015. www.roadphoto.com

You can also access and subscribe to these podcasts at SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/unofphoto on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/a-photographic-life/id1380344701 on Player FM https://player.fm/series/a-photographic-life and Podbean www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/i6uqx-6d9ad/A-Photographic-Life-Podcast

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, and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Taylor Francis 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Taylor Francis 2019). His next book What Does Photography Mean to You? will be published in 2021.

His documentary film, Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay can now be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd47549knOU&t=3915s.

© Grant Scott 2020

In episode 123 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering why some photographers get so angry and tribal, the role of the agent and why it takes more than a website to get commissioned. He also reflects on the power of the family album.

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

After a classical art training, a masters degree in Museum Studies, and having worked in print, writing for magazines and editing books, Melissa Breyer tumbled into photography "I literally bought a Photography for Dummies book and a grown-up camera and went to work" she says.  A native Californian now living in New York, she documents the city's streets. Breyer’s work has been exhibited across the globe and has been featured in national and international publications, including National Geographic and The New York Times. With a background in food, health, nature, and design, Breyer is an expert and author who has been writing about sustainability since 2001 and is the co-author of the best-selling, Build Your Running Body and the award-winning True Food: Eight Simple Steps to a Healthier You. She has written for the Treehugger website since 2012, and has been Treehugger’s editorial director since 2015. In addition, she has developed hundreds of recipes for publication, has run 10 marathons, and moonlights as a pastry chef. www.melissabreyer.com

You can also access and subscribe to these podcasts at SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/unofphoto on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/a-photographic-life/id1380344701 on Player FM https://player.fm/series/a-photographic-life and Podbean www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/i6uqx-6d9ad/A-Photographic-Life-Podcast

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, and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Taylor Francis 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Taylor Francis 2019). His next book What Does Photography Mean to You? will be published in 2021.

His documentary film, Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay can now be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd47549knOU&t=3915s.

© Grant Scott 2020

In episode 122 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering the generational nature of photography and photographers, the need to listen to experts and identifying negative aspects whilst recognising the positive. He also reflects on the need to reply to emails and that quantity does not always mean quality.

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

Elin Berge lives and works in Umeå, Sweden. She began her professional photography career at Västerbotten’s Folkblad in Umeå and studied at Umeå University before studying photojournalism at the Nordic School of Photography, Biskops-Arnö. She has worked for several major newspapers in Sweden and since 2006 has been one of eight members of the photo Moment Agency. Her work is held in the in the Hasselblad Foundation collection amongst others and she has recieved numerous awards and grants, including from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee and the Swedish Authors Fund. In addition to her own projects with photography and documentary film, she works on assignment for numerous clients. Elin has published four photo books, Veils, 2006, The Land of Queens, 2009, Kingdom, 2015,  Awakening, 2020. www.elinberge.com

You can also access and subscribe to these podcasts at SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/unofphoto on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/a-photographic-life/id1380344701 on Player FM https://player.fm/series/a-photographic-life and Podbean www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/i6uqx-6d9ad/A-Photographic-Life-Podcast

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, and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Taylor Francis 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Taylor Francis 2019). His next book What Does Photography Mean to You? will be published in 2021.

His documentary film, Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay can now be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd47549knOU&t=3915s.

© Grant Scott 2020