A Photographic Life

In episode 73 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering the recent deaths of Robert Frank, Peter Lindbergh and Fred Herzog. He also questions our expectations of showing photography.

Plus this week photographer Paul Weinberg 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?’

If you have enjoyed this podcast why not check out our A Photographic Life Podcast Plus. Created as a learning resource that places the power of learning into the hands of the learner. To suggest where you can go, what you can read, who you can discover and what you can question to further your own knowledge, experience and enjoyment of photography. It will be inspiring, informative and enjoyable! You can find out here: www.patreon.com/aphotographiclifepodcast

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

Paul Weinberg is a South African-born documentary photographer, filmmaker, writer, curator, educationist and archivist. He began his career in the early 1980s working for South African NGOs, and photographing current events for news agencies and foreign newspapers. He was a founder member of Afrapix and South, the collective photo agencies that gained local and international recognition for their uncompromising role in documenting apartheid, and the popular resistance to it. From 1990 onwards he increasingly concentrated on feature rather than news photography. Since then Weinberg has built up a large body of work which portrays diverse peoples, cultures, and human environments ‘beyond the headlines’. Work that demonstrates a sustained engagement with indigenous people throughout southern Africa, particularly in rural settings. His images have been widely exhibited and published, both locally and abroad. He has also initiated several major photographic projects, notably Then & Now, a collection of contrasting images by eight South African photographers taken during and after apartheid, which is travelling the world. In 1993 Weinberg won the Mother Jones International Documentary Award for his portayal of the fisherfolk of Kosi Bay on South Africa’s northern Natal coast. He has taught photography at the Centre of Documentary Studies at Duke University in the United States, and holds a master’s degree from the same university. He is currently senior curator of visual archives at the University of Cape Town, and lectures in documentary arts at the same university. Weinberg founded, with David Goldblatt, the Ernest Cole Award for creative photography in southern Africa. paulweinberg.co.za

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 (Focal Press 2014) and The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Focal Press 2015). His next book New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography will be published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2019.

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 2019

In episode 72 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering importance of collaboration, making connections. He also suggests that photography competitions could film their judging process.

Plus this week photographer Robert Trachtenberg 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?’

If you have enjoyed this podcast why not check out our A Photographic Life Podcast Plus. Created as a learning resource that places the power of learning into the hands of the learner. To suggest where you can go, what you can read, who you can discover and what you can question to further your own knowledge, experience and enjoyment of photography. It will be inspiring, informative and enjoyable! You can find out here: www.patreon.com/aphotographiclifepodcast

Robert Trachtenberg’s photographs have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone among other publications. His Advertising clients include NBC, CBS, ABC, TNT, TBS, Disney, MGM and HBO. Trachtenberg's photos have been selected for numerous awards including the American Photography Annual, and American Photo Magazine's Images of the Year. He has written, produced and directed several documentaries including On Cukor on the legendary Hollywood director George Cukor, the Emmy nominated Cary Grant: A Class Apart, which he wrote, produced and directed and AFI's Master Class - The Art of Collaboration, with guests Steven Spielberg, composer John Williams, and actor Mark Wahlberg among other guests. He is also the winner of the Emmy Award for Outstanding Direction for his American Masters film, Mel Brooks: Make a Noise. His most recent film for PBS was the Emmy nominated Bing Crosby: Rediscovered. He is also the author of When I Knew published by Harper Collins, and the newly released Red-Blooded American Male. www.roberttrachtenberg.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 (Focal Press 2014) and The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Focal Press 2015). His next book New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography will be published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2019.

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 2019

In episode 71 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering photographic copyright, the appropriation of images and how to work out what to charge a client.

Plus this week photographer Venetia Dearden 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?’

If you have enjoyed this podcast why not check out our A Photographic Life Podcast Plus. Created as a learning resource that places the power of learning into the hands of the learner. To suggest where you can go, what you can read, who you can discover and what you can question to further your own knowledge, experience and enjoyment of photography. It will be inspiring, informative and enjoyable! You can find out here: www.patreon.com/aphotographiclifepodcast

Venetia Dearden's interest in photography began in her school darkroom. However, it was after studying for an MA in Anthropology and a Postgraduate Degree in Photojournalism in 2001, that she began a career in documentary photography. Venetia went on to become a member of the VII Photo agency from 2011 – 2013 and a project facilitator for PhotoVoice. Her award-winning project of families living close to the land, resulted in the publication of her first book Somerset Stories, Fivepenny Dreams  in 2008. Her second book Glastonbury, Another Stage, a seven-year portrait study of the UK Festival, was published in 2010, and exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, London. In 2011 her book Mulberry, was published containing work created as part of a two-year collaboration documenting every aspect of the  British brand. A personal exploration of freedom and the American Road trip followed in 2012 with Venetia's book Eight Days. Her passion for publishing books of her work continued in 2015 with Notes from Tangiers documenting an assignment to Tangiers in 2013 where she had met the artist and publisher Elena Prentice. Venetia contributed to Rise published in 2016 and commissioned by Geneva Global, documenting women at work in Ethiopia and to 209 Women, portraits of female MP’s by female photographers. She is presently based in Italy with her family, where she is exploring new work and raising her two daughters. www.venetiadearden.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 (Focal Press 2014) and The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Focal Press 2015). His next book New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography will be published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2019.

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 2019

In episode 70 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering the use of 'free' images by magazines, the commissioning of lifestyle photography and the future for editorial based publishing.

Plus this week photographer Eduardo Soteras Jalil 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?’

If you have enjoyed this podcast why not check out our A Photographic Life Podcast Plus. Created as a learning resource that places the power of learning into the hands of the learner. To suggest where you can go, what you can read, who you can discover and what you can question to further your own knowledge, experience and enjoyment of photography. It will be inspiring, informative and enjoyable! You can find out here: www.patreon.com/aphotographiclifepodcast

Eduardo Soteras Jalil was born in Argentina in 1975 to a Lebanese family. He majored in Economical Sciences, worked as an independent consultant for a couple of years, got deeply bored, and started to travel. Self-taught he began to work as a freelance photographer in Palestine in 2005. In 2006 he developed the participatory photography project Identity Document, with children of migrant workers in Israel. During that time he also co-founded Activestills - a collective of activist photographers in Israel and Palestine - and Activevision, an organization dedicated to participatory photography and video, also based in the Middle East. He received a scholarship from the Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona to study for a master's degree in photojournalism, and co-founded the collective Ruido Photo and the school of photography Ruido Formación, whilst launching an online magazine titled 7dot7. In 2009 he worked in Mexico documenting the migration route of Central Americans to the United States that became his book El Camino. In 2014 he fell in love with Gaza and its people, then the bombings started but he decided to stay, creating two projects What Remains and Gaza Mode d’Emploi, which was published by Le Courrier International and Granta magazine. His work is represented by Neutral Grey Agency (France). He is currently based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, working as a freelance photographer and an AFP contributor. https://eduardosoteras.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 (Focal Press 2014) and The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Focal Press 2015). His next book New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography will be published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2019.

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 2019

In episode 69 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering the 'something for nothing' expectation of photographers, the Taylor Wessing/NPG Portrait Awards and photo critiques, opinions and feedback.

Plus this week photographer John Angerson 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?’

If you have enjoyed this podcast why not check out our A Photographic Life Podcast Plus. Created as a learning resource that places the power of learning into the hands of the learner. To suggest where you can go, what you can read, who you can discover and what you can question to further your own knowledge, experience and enjoyment of photography. It will be inspiring, informative and enjoyable! You can find out here: www.patreon.com/aphotographiclifepodcast

Born in Bristol, England in 1969, John Angerson started his career in the early 1990's, documenting the fall of the Berlin Wall and the changing geopolitical landscape of Eastern Europe. Since then, his practice has continued to explore different languages of documentary photography, focusing on how specific communities form, shift and develop. His personal projects have garnered critical acclaim and have been exhibited at major art institutions in the UK and overseas. His monograph Love, Power, Sacrifice published by Dewi Lewis documented the Jesus Army over a twenty-year period and peers into a microcosm of fanatical religion. His book English Journey in which John re-visits the 1934 travels of the writer J.B. Priestley across England was published by B&W Studio in July 2019. John now divides his time between creating personal work, hosting workshops and accepting commissions to photograph features and portraits for a range of magazines, charities, and design agencies including the Saturday and Sunday Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, El Pais magazine, and Der Spiegel magazine, Lloyds Bank and the British Heart Foundation.  www.johnangerson.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 (Focal Press 2014) and The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Focal Press 2015). His next book New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography will be published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2019.

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 2019

In episode 68 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed starting Part 3 of a three part series reflecting upon the history, funding, distribution, cost, creation, expectation, audience and future for photo books. This week he looks at self-publishing, crowd funding and distribution. 

Plus this week publisher Colin Wilkinson/Bluecoat Press 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?’

If you have enjoyed this podcast why not check out our A Photographic Life Podcast Plus. Created as a learning resource that places the power of learning into the hands of the learner. To suggest where you can go, what you can read, who you can discover and what you can question to further your own knowledge, experience and enjoyment of photography. It will be inspiring, informative and enjoyable! You can find out here: www.patreon.com/aphotographiclifepodcast

In 1973, Colin Wilkinson founded the Open Eye project in Liverpool, England (that directly led to the Open Eye Gallery opening in 1977). Colin based the project on the Canadian Challenge for Change programme - which was established to give a voice to minority communities particularly through film and the emerging portable video technology. He pulled together a largely inexperienced small group of people and made 16mm films about community festivals before engaging community groups in making short videos. The project expanded and he acquired a derelict ex-public house in the centre of Liverpool on the basis of a six month lease which became a 10 year long residency. This gave him space to expand his vision of a community facility offering film, video, photography and sound recording. The ground floor bar area became the gallery (occasionally doubling up as a cinema) with a cafe attached. During the late 1970s, it became a key meeting place for bands (Echo & the Bunnymen and the Teardrop Explodes practised in the basement below), photographers and other creatives. In 1982, he set up a commercial photographic company and in 1992 he founded Bluecoat Press, specialising in local history books with a high photographic content and published over 200 books until the 2008 financial crisis. Colin assessed his situation and decided that he would have to concentrate on a niche market he had the greatest interest in - and so became a photobook specialist. Since 2012, Bluecoat Press has specialised in publishing the work of British photojournalists and social documentary photographers including John Bulmer, Rob Bremner, Peter Dench, Bert Hardy, Jim Mortram, Tish Murtha, Paul Trevor, Nick Hedges, Hugh Hood and Patrick Ward. The books are available from many bookshops and galleries and can be ordered online. https://bluecoatpress.co.uk

Image: Karen moving furniture from Youth Unemployment by Tish Murtha. ©Tish Murtha from Youth Unemployment. Bluecoat Press

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 (Focal Press 2014) and The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Focal Press 2015). His next book New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography will be published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2019.

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 2019

In episode 67 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed starting Part 2 of a two or maybe three part series reflecting upon the history, funding, distribution, cost, creation, expectation, audience and future for photo books. This week he looks at boutique publishers and the photo book as artefact. He also announces the launch of the A Photographic Life Podcast Plus initiative at www.patreon.com/aphotographiclifepodcast

Plus this week photographer Paul Russell 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?’

If you have enjoyed this podcast why not check out our A Photographic Life Podcast Plus. Created as a learning resource that places the power of learning into the hands of the learner. To suggest where you can go, what you can read, who you can discover and what you can question to further your own knowledge, experience and enjoyment of photography. It will be inspiring, informative and enjoyable! You can find out here: www.patreon.com/aphotographiclifepodcast

Paul Russell was born in London in 1966, and grew-up on the Sussex coast in the South of England and now lives in the coastal town of Weymouth. He studied animal behaviour at Nottingham University, which led to an interest in studying human behaviour and documenting these behaviours through photography. Paul's work has been collected by the Museum of London, and he was one of forty-six international photographers profiled in Thames & Hudson’s landmark book, Street Photography Now. His work featured in the 2019 book, Street Photography – A History in 100 Iconic Images by David Gibson published by Prestel and has appeared in publications such as De Zeit, The Guardian Weekend magazine, the Independent on Sunday, Digifoto Pro, AP and Neon magazine. Paul is a prolific user of Twitter (@paulrussell99 ) as a platform to share his images and wry view of the world. www.paulrussell.info

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 (Focal Press 2014) and The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Focal Press 2015). His next book New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography will be published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2019. He is currently work on his next documentary film project Woke Up This Morning: The Rock n’ Roll Thunder of Ray Lowry.

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 2019

In episode 66 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed starting Part 1 of a two or maybe three part series reflecting upon the history, funding, distribution, cost, creation, expectation, audience and future for photo books.

Plus this week photographer Sadie Catt 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?’

You can read more of Grant's thoughts on book publishing here: https://unitednationsofphotography.com/2018/11/13/the-why-where-what-and-how-of-photobooks-and-what-is-the-truth/

You can read more about the independent photo book publishing community here: https://unitednationsofphotography.com/2017/01/23/the-new-publishing-landscape-in-conversation-with-iain-sarjeant-of-another-place-press/

Born and raised in Brighton, England, Sadie Catt uses photography as a creative tool in which to understand and confront prominent issues of the modern day, inspired by themes of introspection, identity and the female perspective. Sadie graduated from The University of The West of England in 2018, and her project, Woodstock, was the recipient of a special mention award at Free Range 2018 and selected for Cream’18 with the Crane Kalman Gallery, Brighton. She was also selected by The British Journal of Photography as one of eight photographers to receive a Fractured Stories commission. Her work has been recognised by platforms such as M&C Saatchi Little Stories, Unveil’d and Splash & Grab magazine. Whilst developing new personal work, Sadie works as an Assistant Creative Director for the independent photo book publisher, The Lost Light Recordings, who recently launched books by photographers Cian Oba-Smith and Ben Ingham. www.sadiecatt.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 (Focal Press 2014) and The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Focal Press 2015). His next book New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography will be published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2019. He is currently work on his next documentary film project Woke Up This Morning: The Rock n’ Roll Thunder of Ray Lowry.

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 2019

In episode 65 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering the future of photography, technological developments and there involvement in advancing the medium and the importance of judges in deciding the winners of photographic competitions . 

Plus this week photographer Laura El-Tantawy 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?’

Laura El-Tantawy is a British/Egyptian documentary photographer, book maker and mentor. Born in Worcestershire, UK, she studied in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the US and in the UK. Laura graduated from the University of Georgia in Athens, GA, in 2002 with dual degrees in journalism and political science and began working as a newspaper photographer with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. In 2006, she began working as a freelance photographer to enable her to work on personal projects. She completed a research fellowship at the University of Oxford in 2009, and gained an MA in art and media practice from the University of Westminster, London, in 2011. Her work explores notions of home & belonging and has been awarded, exhibited and published internationally, including in The New Yorker, Le Monde, National Geographic, Time, New York Times, and Foam. In 2015 she released her first book In the Shadow of the Pyramids, a first-person account exploring memory and identity that was shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize – awarded annually to an artist of any nationality who has made the most significant contribution to photography in Europe. She subsequently self-published The People in 2015, a newsprint publication celebrating the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and Beyond Here Is Nothing in 2017, a meditation on home & belonging. In 2019 she published her fourth monograph, A Star in the Sea, a contemplation on embracing the unexpected. www.lauraeltantawy.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 (Focal Press 2014) and The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Focal Press 2015). His next book New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography will be published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2019. He is currently work on his next documentary film project Woke Up This Morning: The Rock n’ Roll Thunder of Ray Lowry.

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.

In episode 64 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering image syndication usage, image theft, placing images of nudity on Facebook, wedding photography, the photographer Robert Doisneau and Instagram and the economic reality for the professional photographer. 

Plus this week photographer Ian Weldon 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?’

Ian Weldon works as a documentary photographer in the North of England predominantly photographing weddings, whilst working on long term personal projects and commissioned work. With only a brief period of studying photography at a local college, Ian is primarily self-taught. He has lectured at the Sunderland Visual and Performing Arts College on their access programme where he delivered a beginner's photography course, but left due to growing administration duties. Ian now delivers short courses on Adobe Lightroom, beginner's photography, and project based development. His project I Am Not A Wedding Photographer is currently being exhibited at the Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol (26th June 2019 - 10th August 2019) and a book of the work has been published by RRB Books. Ian also hosts a fortnightly podcast on photography titled OuterFocus. http://ianweldon.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 (Focal Press 2014) and The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Focal Press 2015). His next book New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography will be published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2019. He is currently work on his next documentary film project Woke Up This Morning: The Rock n’ Roll Thunder of Ray Lowry.

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 2019