Ffoton Interviews / Cyfweliadau - ffoton

Steve Benbow trained in photography under David Hurn on the original Newport Documentary Photography course in the mid-1970s, after which he was a founding member of the Ffotogallery in Cardiff, a founder of the respected London-based ‘Network’ Agency of photojournalists; and international professional photojournalist for over twenty years working with photo agencies in London, Paris and New York.

Along with his wife Kate – a photo editor at The Times and US News and World Report – he returned to Wales and started the Photolibrary Wales for Wales-specific stock stills images; and then Video Wales for video production. Steve is now retired from photography but was one of the top names on Ffoton’s hit list of photographers to interview when planning for the website and podcast started in mid-2014

Steve Benbow trained in photography under David Hurn on the original Newport Documentary Photography course in the mid-1970s, after which he was a founding member of the Ffotogallery in Cardiff, a founder of the respected London-based ‘Network’ Agency of photojournalists; and international professional photojournalist for over twenty years working with photo agencies in London, Paris and New York.

Along with his wife Kate – a photo editor at The Times and US News and World Report – he returned to Wales and started the Photolibrary Wales for Wales-specific stock stills images; and then Video Wales for video production. Steve is now retired from photography but was one of the top names on Ffoton’s hit list of photographers to interview when planning for the website and podcast started in mid-2014

Steve Benbow trained in photography under David Hurn on the original Newport Documentary Photography course in the mid-1970s, after which he was a founding member of the Ffotogallery in Cardiff, a founder of the respected London-based ‘Network’ Agency of photojournalists; and international professional photojournalist for over twenty years working with photo agencies in London, Paris and New York.

Along with his wife Kate – a photo editor at The Times and US News and World Report – he returned to Wales and started the Photolibrary Wales for Wales-specific stock stills images; and then Video Wales for video production. Steve is now retired from photography but was one of the top names on Ffoton’s hit list of photographers to interview when planning for the website and podcast started in mid-2014

Gabriella Jackson is a professional still life photographer creating images for Brands and businesses of all sizes. She creates unique images for both commercial and promotional use from her studio space in Penarth near Cardiff in South Wales. Ffoton's conversation with Gabby covers her start in photography, mixed views on her time studying for a Degree at University followed by the benefits of assisting in a professional studio before finally setting out on her own.

Cardiff-based photographer Lorna Cabble gained her Hours Degree in Photojournalism before going on to achieve a MA in Photography - both at the University of South Wales in Cardiff. Ffoton discuss how both these qualifications in addition to her own ongoing personal projects proved pivitol in gaining her a new full time role as one of two Stills Officers overseeing and commissioning photography for Welsh Broadcaster S4C.

Ffoton talks with Carmarthenshire-based photographer Huw Alden Davies at Carmarthen School of Art where Huw leads the BA Photography course. In this second part of our conversation we discuss his latest projects 'Xennial', working in India with Ffotogallery, the course he leads in Carmarthen and what's next for him. Part 2 of 2

Ffoton talks with Carmarthenshire-based photographer Huw Alden Davies at Carmarthen School of Art where Huw leads the BA Photography course. Part 1 of 2

In this first of a new season of conversations with talented photographers working in Wales, Ffoton talks with Welsh photographic artist Peter Finnemore at his home - Gwendraeth House - in south west Wales. Ffoton's Emyr Young explores Finnemore's roots in photography and how the artist's own culture, family and creative roots revolve around his thirty year, and ongoing, historical exploration of his family home as an epicentre for his photography.
Part 2 of 2.
Recorded at Gwendraeth House, 2021.

In this first of a new season of conversations with talented photographers working in Wales, Ffoton talks with Welsh photographic artist Peter Finnemore at his home - Gwendraeth House - in south west Wales. Ffoton's Emyr Young explores Finnemore's roots in photography and how the artist's own culture, family and creative roots revolve around his thirty year, and ongoing, historical exploration of his family home as an epicentre for his photography.
Part 1 of 2.
Recorded at Gwendraeth House, 2021.

Martin Parr was a British documentary photographer with a long relationship with and affection for Wales.

Parr studied photography at Manchester Polytechnic in the early 1970’s alongside peers such as Daniel Meadows and Brian Griffin - both of whom he remains friends with to this day. He became a full member of Magnum Photos in 1988 on achieving the necessary two-thirds vote of other members but not before Welshman Philip Jones Griffiths had pleaded for them to exclude him, stating…
”…His membership would not be a proclamation of diversity but the rejection of those values that have given Magnum the status it has in the world today... Let me state that I have great respect for him as the dedicated enemy of everything I believe in and, I trust, what Magnum still believes in.”

Martin Parr’s Magnum colleagues went on to select him as President of Magnum Photos International in 2014 (a post he held until 2017) and he remained a respected and active voice within Magnum Photos until his death at home in Bristol on 6th December 2025.

Above: Martin Parr giving a guided talk of his work in National Museum Cardiff in November 2019. Images: Brian Carroll

Parr is now one of the world’s most famous names in photography - both in terms of his ongoing raw documentation of society in saturated colour and also his life-long passion for collecting Photobooks and other ephemera. In 2017 he and his dedicated team opened The Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol to archive and exhibit not just his own work but also a rich and important collection of post-war British Documentary photography and archive material by other photographers. The Foundation also houses a world-class collection of Photobooks which is expanding weekly and includes a growing (albeit slowly) collection from Wales.

Recorded at the National Museum in Cardiff. Our thanks to Bronwen Colquhoun, Senior Curator of Photography, National Museum Wales.

See below for a small selection of Martin's work from Wales, Scotland and Ireland, reproduced here on Ffoton with kind permission of the photographer.

Yma ar Ffoton trwy garedigrwydd y ffotograffydd fe welwch gasgliad bychan o'i waith isod.

© Martin Parr / Magnum Photos

© Martin Parr / Magnum Photos

© Martin Parr / Magnum Photos

© Martin Parr / Magnum Photos

© Martin Parr / Magnum Photos

© Martin Parr / Magnum Photos

© Martin Parr / Magnum Photos

© Martin Parr / Magnum Photos

© Martin Parr / Magnum Photos

© Martin Parr / Magnum Photos

© Martin Parr / Magnum Photos

© Martin Parr / Magnum Photos

See more of Martin’s work on the Magnum Photos website www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/martin-parr
Find out more about events and exhibitions at The Martin Parr Foundation (and membership) at www.martinparrfoundation.org
Follow them on Twitter @martinparrfdn

Gallery images © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos and used with permission.
Banner images © Brian Carroll

Please note: Comments or views made by interview participants are their own and are NOT necessarily the views of the Ffoton Wales team.
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