A Photographic Life

In episode 167 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on nostalgia, the photographic happening and a celebrity photo shoot in New York. Plus this week photographer Simon Roberts 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?’ exhibited widely and his photographs reside in major public and private collections, including the George Eastman House, Deutsche Börse Art Collection and V&A Museum. In 2010 he was commissioned as the official British Election Artist by the House of Commons Works of Art Committee to produce a record of the General Election and in 2014 he represented Britain during the UK-Russia Year of Culture. He has been commissioned to make several large-scale public artworks and recognised with numerous awards including an Honorary Fellowship to the Royal Photographic Society, the Vic Odden Award and grants from Arts Council England and the John Kobal Foundation. He is the author of several critically acclaimed monographs including Motherland in 2007, We English in 2009), Pierdom in 2013 and Merrie Albion in 2017. Roberts work has been profiled and published widely including in the New Yorker, Granta, National Geographic, ArtForum, Wallpaper, amongst others. He holds a BA Hons in Cultural Geography from The University of Sheffield, and is a regular public speaker and visiting lecturer at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. Outside of his own professional practice he is involved with several not for profit organisations having served as a trustee of Photoworks and currently working as an ambassador for FotoDocument and the Positive View Foundation. Roberts is a member of the European artist collective, Piece of Cake and lives in Brighton, England. www.simoncroberts.com You can now subscribe to our weekly newsletter at https://www.getrevue.co/profile/unofphoto Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, a working photographer, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and 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). © Grant Scott 2021

In episode 166 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on rules in photography, how you don't learn, if you don't hear what you need to hear and travel instigating work. Plus this week photographer Fabio Ponzio 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?’ Fabio Ponzio's interest in photography began in 1976, during a trip to the Balkans. In 1977 he made his first photographic journey across northern Europe, travelling on a scooter and between 1978 to1980 Ponzio continued his travels into Germany and across Great Britain. He worked for the Italian and international press from 1980 to 1987, and co-founded two photojournalism agencies. In 1987, returning from a trip to Istanbul, he embarked on a lengthy photographic project in search of Eastern Europe, travelling through Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, the Ukraine, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Yugoslavia and Albania. In 1989 he documented the fall of the communist regimes and in 1991 he received the 'European Kodak Award of Photography'. In 1993 he received the Mother Jones 'Foundation Award for documentary Photography', and in 1998 the 'Leica Oskar Barnack Award'. Ponzio continued to travel across Eastern Europe from 1987 to 2009 and in 2003 travelled to Georgia with his friend, the writer Rocco Carbone and began a series of trips to the southern Caucasus. In 2007 he was commissioned by MAXXI in Rome to document the Italian landscape, a project that instigated a series of travels in Western Europe in 2008. In 2020, East of Nowhere, a collection of twenty-two years of work, was published with a preface written by Romanian-born German novelist Herta Müller, the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature. www.fabioponzio.com Fabio Ponzio’s contribution is read by his daughter Charlie Ponzio. Dr. 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, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and 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). Grant's book What Does Photography Mean to You? including 89 photographers who have contributed to the A Photographic Life podcast is on sale now £9.99 https://bluecoatpress.co.uk/product/what-does-photography-mean-to-you/ © Grant Scott 2021

In episode 165 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on learning and teaching photography, formally, informally and unintentionally! Plus this week photographer Harry Borden 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?’ Harry Borden is a British portrait photographer based in London, born in New York and brought up in Devon in the UK. He studied photography at Plymouth College of Art and Design from 1985-7 and moved to London shortly afterwards, where he worked as an assistant for the photographer Lester Bookbinder. Borden received his first commission from The Observer in 1994 and as his profile grew his portraits appeared regularly in this and other Sunday supplements, as well as magazines such as Harpers & Queen, Vogue and The New Yorker. Borden was awarded the Kobal Photographic Portrait Prize in1998 and 2000 and World Press Photo awards in 1997 and 1999. In 2005, he had his first solo exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London titled Harry Borden: On Business. The National Portrait Gallery holds more than 100 examples of Borden’s work in its photographic collection and in 2014, he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society. In 2017 his book Survivor, A Portrait of the Survivors of the Holocaust was published having been short-listed for the European Publishers Award for Photography and in 2014 judged among the 10 best Photography books of 2018 by the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation. His second book, Single Dad was published in 2021. https://harryborden.co.uk You can now subscribe to our weekly newsletter at https://www.getrevue.co/profile/unofphoto Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, a working photographer, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and 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). Grant's book What Does Photography Mean to You? including 89 photographers who have contributed to the A Photographic Life podcast is on sale now £9.99 https://bluecoatpress.co.uk/product/what-does-photography-mean-to-you/ © Grant Scott 2021

In episode 164 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering transferable skills, film making, finding answers with photography and challenging the status quo. Plus this week photographer Jason Langer 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?’ Arizona born American photographer Jason Langer's love of photography dates back to his childhood in Ashland, Oregon.  Groomed on a Mamiya C330 twin-lens reflex, he developed his work in a makeshift darkroom cum hall closet in his family home before moving on to more advanced technology at the University of Oregon, where he earned a degree in photography.  Following graduation, Langer worked as an apprentice and printer for some of the San Francisco Bay Area’s most renowned photographers, including Ruth Bernhard, Arthur Tress, and Michael Kenna, who became a lifelong mentor and friend. Langer descends from a tradition of photographers—George Krause, Ralph Gibson, Roy deCarava, Bill Brandt, Matt Mahurin—who photograph what is physically happening in the world, but a world in which the unexpected appears for brief glimpses before returning to generally accepted social norms. Langer’s work has appeared in numerous publications including American Photo, Life, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Time, and Vanity Fair.  In addition, his in the permanent and private collections of the Rutgers University, Sir Elton John, Sir Mick Jagger, Yale University Art Gallery, and the Zimmerli Art Museum. He has published three monographs: Secret City (2006), Possession (2013) and Twenty Years (2015). He is currently working on a fourth book titled Berlin. Langer is also a sought-after photography mentor, having taught at the Academy of Art University for 12 years and Santa Fe Workshops since 2014. www.jasonlanger.com You can now subscribe to our weekly newsletter at https://www.getrevue.co/profile/unofphoto Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, a working photographer, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and 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? including 89 photographers who have contributed to the A Photographic Life podcast is on sale now £9.99 https://bluecoatpress.co.uk/product/what-does-photography-mean-to-you/ © Grant Scott 2021

In episode 163 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on multi-faceted image making, still images in film narrative, avoiding meaningless catchphrases, and suggesting a photographer from the past to check out that you may not of heard of. Plus this week photographer David Corio 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?’ Design to study photography. After leaving college he worked in an industrial darkroom as a printer and started to freelance in 1978 for the New Musical Express, followed by The Face, Time Out, Q, Mojo, Black Echoes, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and numerous other magazines and newspapers. In 1992 he moved to New York and for 16 years worked mainly for the New York Times and various record labels. Corio is best known for his portraits of musicians including many reggae, hip hop, soul and jazz artists and his photographs have appeared on over 500 record sleeves. With over 200 of his images of black musicians being published in the book The Black Chord. Corio also has a strong interest in prehistoric standing stones and his book Megaliths with text by Lai Ngan Corio was published in 2001. Corio’s photos are in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, Victoria & Albert Museum, ICA, the National Museum of African American Culture in Washington DC, the National African American Museum in Tennessee and the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston, Jamaica. https://davidcorio.com Dr. 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, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and 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). t Does Photography Mean to You? including 89 photographers who have contributed to the A Photographic Life podcast is on sale now £9.99 https://bluecoatpress.co.uk/product/what-does-photography-mean-to-you/ © Grant Scott 2021

In episode 162 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on the importance of receiving and giving feedback, the long term project and using all forms of art as inspiration, information and aspiration within photographic practice. Plus this week photographer Mik Critchlow 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?’ Mik Critchlow is a social documentary photographer based in the North East of England who has worked on long term community-based projects for over forty years. The son of a miner, he has worked within the community with a deep-rooted empathy for the townsfolk, and the area he documents. Critchlow left high school in 1970 at the age of 15 years without academic qualifications and went straight into the workplace two days after leaving school, gaining full-time employment as a tailor’s trimmer at a local clothing factory. From there, he went straight into the Merchant Navy as a cabin boy and worked his way through the ranks to become a Steward/Cook, whilst being active within the National Union of Seamen. In 1977, he enrolled on a two-year course at his local College studying Art History and Graphic design as a mature student, it was while at college that he picked up a camera for the first time and immediately fell in love with the medium and process of photography. On seeing an exhibition of paintings by the ‘Pitmen Painters’, he realised the value of art as a social document and in the same year, he began a long-term photography project which documented his home-town of Ashington, Northumberland. In 1979 he received grant funding from Northern Arts (Arts Council of England) to produce documentary photography work in the area. In 1980 he was commissioned by Side Gallery, Newcastle and was introduced to fellow photographers Chris Killip, Graham Smith and Sirkka Liisa Konttinen, who were also producing long term projects on the working class communities of the North East of England. For the past 42 years, Critchlow has photographed the town, people and surrounding areas of Ashington, the town in which he was born, educated and still lives. His work is held in public and private collections and has been exhibited widely. A book of his work Coal Town was published in 2019. www.mikcritchlow.com You can now subscribe to our weekly newsletter at https://www.getrevue.co/profile/unofphoto Dr. 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, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and 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). Grant's book What Does Photography Mean to You? including 89 photographers who have contributed to the A Photographic Life podcast is on sale now £9.99 © Grant Scott 2021

In episode 161 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on the business of photography, the death of editorial photography, positive thinking and the importance of learning from experience. Plus this week photographer Jeremy Nicholl 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?’ Born in Northern Ireland in 1957, Jeremy Nicholl was inspired to become a photographer by a combination of his school library’s collection of Picture Post magazines, and seeing the news coverage surrounding his teenage years during 'The Troubles' in 1970s Northern Ireland printed in newspapers – especially the Sunday Times and Observer. He began his career in London, rapidly gaining a reputation as one of the UK's leading news photographers. In 1986 he was invited to join a proposed new national newspaper, the Independent, becoming a core member of an award winning editorial team. In 1989 he left the paper to concentrate on longer term documentary photography, and since 1991 has specialised in reportage from across Russia and the Former Soviet Union, while taking time out to work on assignment photography and personal projects elsewhere. Nicholl's work has appeared in a wide range of publications around the world and been shown at numerous international festivals and exhibitions. He has also won a number of awards, including World Press Photo and Interfoto, Russia's leading contest for professional photographers. In addition to his assignments for leading international publications he is known for generating his own projects. Best known for classical photojournalism, in recent years Nicholl has extended his interests to medium format portraiture and is now based in the Soviet Union. www.jeremynichollarchive.com Dr. Grant Scott is the founder/curator of United Nations of Photography, Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, a working photographer, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and 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) Grant's book 'What Does Photography Mean to You?' (Bluecoat Press) including 89 photographers who have contributed to the A Photographic Life podcast is on sale now £9.99 Grant Scott 2021

Exploring the impact of TikTok, the discussion highlights how photographers must adapt to new platforms. Mark Steinmetz shares his thoughts on the essence of photography, viewing it as devoid of intrinsic meaning yet rich with personal significance. The connection between photography and literature is examined, showcasing how images convey complex narratives. Furthermore, the conversation touches on the qualifications and roles of professional photographers in educational settings, blending personal insights with broader industry reflections.

In episode 159 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering age and the subject matter we seek, accessing the personal and the importance of simplicity when writing about photography. Plus this week photographer Jill Beth Hanes 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?’ Jill Beth Hannes was born in Hawaii and graduated from The Academy of Art University, San Francisco, California in 2010 with a B.F.A. in Photography. She started taking photographs in elementary school when she was given a disposable camera for a class project and has been obsessed with creating images ever since. Her work is cinematic, dream-like and most of her images stem from her personal experiences and are inspired by her struggles with identity and her journey as a woman. She was recently shortlisted for the Next Photography Award by the D&AD and her work has been published in publications around the world including in GUP, VICE, The Wild Magazine, Schon, The Photographic Journal and Contributor.  Hannes work has been exhibited globally including in Japan, France and she is currently working on a number of short films and a photographic series with her creative partners Duplicity Studios, whilst pursuing an MFA from the University of North Carolina. She lives and works in North Carolina. www.jillbethhannes.com You can now subscribe to our weekly newsletter at https://www.getrevue.co/profile/unofphoto 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, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and 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). Grant's book What Does Photography Mean to You? including 89 photographers who have contributed to the A Photographic Life podcast is on sale now £9.99 https://bluecoatpress.co.uk/product/what-does-photography-mean-to-you/ © Grant Scott 2021

In episode 158 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering the importance of research, reading a listener's email, and reflecting how the camera we have informs the work that we make. Plus this week photographer Nolan Ryan Trowe 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?’ Nolan Ryan Trowe was born in Maryland in 1993 and raised in California and describes himself as an American author whose work has focused on stories around disability. In 2015 Trowe received a B.A in Creative Writing from California State University, Long Beach but he suffered a spinal cord injury in 2016 and was diagnosed with incomplete paraplegia. In 2019, he received an M.A. in Experimental Humanities and Social Engagement from New York University, where he focused on human rights and photojournalism. Nolan is currently a VII Photo Mentor Program Photographer and a Magnum Foundation Fellow in the Photography and Social Justice program. He has been awarded a first prize in the Getty Images Creative Bursary and his work has been published in The New York Times Lens Blog and The New York Times Exposures. www.nolanryantrowe.com You can now subscribe to our weekly newsletter at https://www.getrevue.co/profile/unofphoto 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, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and 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). Grant's book What Does Photography Mean to You? including 89 photographers who have contributed to the A Photographic Life podcast is on sale now £9.99 https://bluecoatpress.co.uk/product/what-does-photography-mean-to-you/ © Grant Scott 2021