Wedding photography confessions

I have a few friends that consider themselves documentary or commercial photographers, and also do a lot of weddings “on the side.” Depending on who the client is (and how much insistence there is on super cheeze), some of their documentary-style wedding work can often be quite subtle and beautiful. Yet, try and find their work online… no one likes to admit that they do them. Well, unless they are shot in another country or a minority culture, at which point they might be referred to as “ethnographic studies in culture” (yes, that is tongue in cheek).

I read an interesting post on A Photo Editor the other day about wedding work. Key notes: do it, there could be value in admitting it, but find ways to market it separately from you other work while incorporating relevant elements in your editorial/commercial portfolio.

By now I have shot a few weddings myself and, to be honest, the experiences have given me a lot that I can take into my documentary work:  making quick decisions about lighting, location, lenses; dealing with clients and what they want while staying true to your own style; standing on your feet for 8 hours shooting; making sure you get all the key shots that they want to see (that ring exchange or cake in the face is only going to happen once); and making something unique and personal out of potential cheeze… There is some work I’ve shot that I really like and hope that similar conditions come up in my documentary photography…

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- london, uk, 21 degrees this fine cloudy evening (!), listening to “Lola” by the Kinks

Carousel Slideslam at the HOST Gallery

A few weeks ago I went to the 2nd installment of the Carousel Slide Slam hosted by Jon Levy at the Host Gallery. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I’d heard mixed reviews about the first one, but I quite liked it. While the order could have been a little better (difficult to follow a comedy routine with a heavy slideshow on human rights), I really liked the experimental nature of many of the slideshows and the different formats. One of my faves of the evening was a hilarious talk on pinhole photography by Justin Quinnell–makes me want to go do one of his workshops.

Another fave was work shown by Pablo Hare on Peruvian monuments in small town public squares where they have created their own heroes.

Rather than have a Q&A with each of the presenters, there were several breaks during the evening presumably so people could chat about the work shown, or photography, or their amusement over the election results. It would have been nice to have some more room for formal dialogue especially around some projects that were more experimental; for example, I would have wanted to talk a little about the work shown by Kim Thue, or rather, for him to talk a little bit more about it. The black and white images he showed of people in Freetown were mixed with an experimental layered audio, which I also found quite an interesting approach (you can see it on the Zimmer/117 site). The images were extremely beautiful, however, the work showed anonymous and suffering (Freetown) Africans with violent marks of physical pain and apparent disenchantment with their lives. There was no context as to how they received these marks, who they were or the project’s relevance, and it felt too much like the traditional and insensitive (white/western) portrayal of Africa; I left feeling like I knew less than I did before. Perhaps it was not trying to make a statement, perhaps it was an art project combining dramatic image and sound? And, if so, why in Freetown, why these people? As much as I love the photography and the innovative use of sound, I really dont like seeing work like this that lacks context.

[Two interesting articles worth mentioning here: How to Write about Africa, by Binyavanga Wainaina published in Granta 92, Winter 2005; and How To Take Photos Of Africa Or Where Intent And Ideas Collide by Asim Rafiqui on the Spinning Head Blog, March 2010.]

But I digress. It was a nice, diverse event and I hope that there will be more room for dialogue on some of these interesting approaches to storytelling in future slideslams, speaking of which, next one is on June 14.

- london, uk, cool 11 degree evening, listening to “Water No Get Enemy” by Fela Kuti

Think Act Vote and political fashion

Over the past few weeks I have been fairly busy working, designing and editing my website (about to be launched!) and collaborating on some interesting projects that I keep meaning to share here… um, a little late, but here’s one update.

For a few weeks I was working with the Think Act Vote campaign photographing for the campaign’s book. Think Act Vote was using fashion as a way to engage younger audiences to vote in the election. What I liked about it was how it tried to get people to think about the election as more than just a one-off event but how political choices impact us on a daily basis. Amisha Ghadiali, a jeweller and Associate Director of the Ethical Fashion Forum launched the campaign by getting local fashion designers to ‘remake’ the campaign tshirt into one-off pieces. The other part of the campaign has been getting people to fill in their own answers to “The future I choose…” and setting up photobooths in various locations where everyone gets to have a professional shoot wearing the campaign t-shirt. The results will be published in a book to be presented to the Prime Minister later this year.

Ill share some images from the portrait shoots later but here are some images from the pre-election party at Camp London. Also, there is still time to fill in your own answer to “The future I choose…” and be included in the book–fill the form out online.

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- london, uk, about 19 degrees on a bright sunny afternoon, listening to “Feeling Good” by Nina Simone

life.still exhibition at the Bristol Festival of Photography

Im heading down to Bristol for the weekend to catch some shows at the Bristol Festival of Photography and go to the life.still exhibition where my friend Rebecca Harley is showing some of her work combining beautiful portraits and personal stories. The opening night (tonight!) is also featuring an ‘open democratic slideshow’ of submissions from all over the world, including my work in African immigrants in Almeria—Permanently Temporary.

Join the party tonight! 7-10pm, 62 Queens Road, Bristol

To do

I’m preparing to go to Manchester for a photo shoot and staring at my “to do” wall. This picture is from a few days ago and lots of things have moved around and been added since then; so, a fairly productive week. Must add a few more stickies: “put pictures on walls” and “throw out dead flowers”.

- london, uk, 20 degrees (really?) cloudy afternoon, listening to my neighbour’s kid play (horrible) piano

Exploring new forms of humanitarian communication at LIDF

I went to an interesting talk on photography yesterday at the London International Documentary Festival. Interesting because it refused to get bogged down by the iterative debate on whether photojournalism is dead–and if and how to save it–and also because it featured a number of pieces of work that were might be considered more ‘art’ than ‘photojournalism’, an approach Alfredo Cramerotti has termed ‘aesthetic journalism‘. I feel I have been so focused on photography and photographers lately that I have been missing out on the layers where photography is really just a base for alternative storytelling.

The session focused on how multi-layered storytelling is being used creatively to share human rights stories in ways that are responsible to the subject as well as pedagogic in their approach. “Developing the Photographic: New approaches to humanitarian visual communication” was presented by Emma Boyd (Coordinator at Autograph), Jessica Crombie (Picture Editor at WaterAid) and Abbie Trayler-Smith (Photographer for Panos).

Emma Boyd presented work by Alfredo Jaar, Omer Fast and Marcelo Brodsky as critical artistic engagements with human rights issues. Although meant for an art gallery, Emma shares them as examples of thought provoking pieces that are meant to educate and engage the audience to contemplate. Alfredo Jaar, for example, explored the Rwandan Genocide through an installation consisting of millions of photographic slides of a victim’s eyes, representing the number of people that were murdered. The work of Omer Fast I particularly find interesting. I saw “The Casting” at the Barbican in 2009 and it has been on my mind lately as I have been thinking of ways to incorporate video (watch a short video of it); exploring issues of memory and trauma, it blends two narratives into one using still video scenes. Emma’s key point is that these type of artistic approaches can be extremely powerful, however, galleries need to find ways to engage the public outside of the gallery through communications campaigns, public talks, partnerships with schools, etc.; otherwise it is simply “preaching to the converted”.

Jessica Crombie focused on the work of Ursula Biemann, a very interesting video artist whose work focuses on migration, mobility, technology and gender and whose approach she herself has termed “visual intelligence.” Jessica showed clips from “The Sahara Cronicle” which explores the migration of people in Sub-Saharan Africa to Europe; one clip was taken from a remote sensing camera in a plane combing the Saharan desert for illegal migrants crossing. Ursula approached WaterAid to collaborate on a project about water and Jessica said that what interested her about Ursula’s approach is the way she gathers evidence and reports it as a document, providing the knowledge and letting the audience make something out of it, rather than making a statement about what she believes. Interesting coming from an editor of an NGO that is dependent on fundraising, but she notes that this approach isn’t necessarily about funding but about creating change.

Lastly, Abbie Trayler-Smith showed her work on refused asylum seekers in the UK “Still Human Still Here.” She noted that the decision to do a short film was necessary as she felt she couldn’t convey how the subjects felt through the photos; people needed to hear these voices. Multimedia, layered storytelling and publishing it widely on the internet are key, as well as sharing it in ways that media will be willing to pick up…

There wasn’t much time for discussion but Paul Lowe, Course Director at London College of Communication, brought up an interesting point on whether we should be concerned about preaching to the unconverted, who are least likely to be inspired into action, or finding ways instead to encourage the converted to take that step further and do something. I think its a valid point and the question really becomes then whether this concerned art actually reaches audiences that “matter.” Except for Abbie’s work, the others were all very intelligent artistic interventions meant for galleries. While Emma noted that this approach was already “preaching to the converted”, I would have to argue that gallery audiences are hardly the converted when it comes to human rights, they may be converted to the idea of political art but not necessarily to being political. It is important to make space for this type of work as they are extremely intelligent, sensitive and educational, sometimes far more than some work by photojournalists, but if they are to contribute to social change and knowledge they need to include concrete communications that go beyond the gallery. It should be interesting to see how WaterAid and Ursula Biemann can collaborate to create something that can work both ways.

Worth a listen is Alfredo Cramerotti’s talk on Aesthetic Journalism at Autograph a few weeks ago:

- London, UK, 18 degrees (!) overcast afternoon, listening to good music on BBC’s Radio 6

Happenings in London tonight – Renaissance, Ed Kashi and Contact Slideshows

Its a busy photography night in London so if you are looking for something to do…

The Renaissance Photography Prize exhibition opens tonight at 4pm and goes on until tomorrow (I would suggest avoiding tomorrow evening as the Celebrity Gala costs 60 quid!). The photographs (which include pieces by two friends – Marta Moreiras and Brett Van Ort) are being sold to raise money for the Lavender Trust at Breast Cancer Care. Im digging a lot of the images in the Peoples category. Check it out at the Gallery of The Hospital Private Members’ Club, 24 Endell Street, London. The exhibition will be open to the public from 4pm – 10pm on Tuesday 20 April and from 10am – 4pm on Wednesday 21 April.

Plastic by Brett van Ort

Finis terre #03 by Marta Moreiras

Ed Kashi‘s Prix Pictet commission on Madagascar is opening tonight at the Diemar/Noble gallery. The opening is by RSVP but the exhibition is open until May 1. I here that Ed won’t be there as planned due to volcanic ash… sounds stranger when you say it out loud.

from Madagascar, a land in balance by Ed Kashi

And this I’m excited about… Contact Editions Spring Slideshows! is happening tonight just down the road in E8. The night is featuring multimedia/video pieces from Seba Kurtis, Carmel King and David Dunnico, as well as rolling slideshows showing work from Ivor Prickett, Hin Chua, Laura Pannack and others… Starts at 7pm. See you there?

by Seba Kurtis

- London, UK, cool 12 degrees on a sunny afternoon, listening to CSS’ Alala

Viviane Sassen

My friend sent me a link to this photographer from Amsterdam. I love a lot of the work she did in Africa, particularly her style of shooting in bright sunlight and using shadows to the maximum, but also for its comtemporary flavour rather than being overwhelmed by a Western nostalgia for ‘l’Afrique exotique’.

http://www.vivianesassen.com/

Colors Magazine: The Sea

I like the approach of Colours Magazine: calling for submissions on a theme with as wide a brief as possible and seeing what happens. The result is an interesting mix of documentary and art, photos, illustrations text and video. See the latest submissions for The Sea issue, there is a lot there but you can click on the link “Very Good!” to get a good selection. It will be interesting to see what they publish.

I really like Odessa/My Black Sea (Matthieu Raffard), Atomic Birds (Tim Georgeson), and Orchard Beach, The Bronx Riviera (Wayne Lawrence), among others. Also, my project on Almeria’s immigrants is up there as well as the beautiful Galician landscapes by my friend Marta Moreiras.

Odessa/My Black Sea © Raffard Matthieu

Eddie & Tiffany © Wayne Lawrence

Vancouver is hosting the Olympics

The Olympics are happening in Vancouver right now. Its my hometown so I guess its supposed to be a proud moment. The city has just been rated the ‘most livable city‘ again by The Economist. Somehow huge cuts in arts funding equate to cultural domination. And Harper feels that Canadians care more about the Games than about government, so why not cancel democracy for a few months. Smart move.

Well, enough complaints, here is some interesting visual treats of Vancouver then and now… from the city of trade to the city of glass…

Some ridiculous, though comical, news about the Olympics: this guy is making a personal appeal because thundersticks have been banned. And this story about the ‘Pedobear’ mascot made me laugh out loud.

- London, UK, chilly 4 degrees Celsius on this grey grey day, listening to Broken Social Scene’s “Lover’s Spit”