A Photographic Life

In this extended episode, editor, writer and curator of photography Bill Shapiro and UNP founder and curator Grant Scott suggest some photographic wishes for 2024 reflecting on AI, documenting conflict, the future of editorial photography, and new social media. Bill Shapiro Bill Shapiro served as the Editor-in-Chief of LIFE, the legendary photo magazine; LIFE’s relaunch in 2004 was the largest in Time Inc. history. Later, he was the founding Editor-in-Chief of LIFE.com, which won the 2011 National Magazine Award for digital photography. Shapiro is the author of several books, among them Gus & Me, a children’s book he co-wrote with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and, What We Keep, which looks at the objects in our life that hold the most emotional significance. A fine-art photography curator for New York galleries and a consultant to photographers, Shapiro is also a Contributing Editor to the Leica Conversations series. He has written about photography for the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, the Atlantic, Vogue, and Esquire, among others. Every Friday — more or less — he posts about under-the-radar photographers on his Instagram feed, where he’s @billshapiro. Dr.Grant Scott After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is 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), and What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018. Scott’s next book is Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, Orphans Publishing, is on sale April 2024. © Grant Scott 2024

In this ‘AI/Copyright’ episode UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed connecting with Nick Dunmur from the Association of Photographers to discuss all aspects of AI and its impact on photography and photographers. You may be surprised and relieved to hear that the future may not be as dark as some believe. Nick Dunmur was born in Oxford, in the UK and grew up in Sheffield. He moved to Nottingham in 1985 and completed a BA (Hons) in Photography at Trent Polytechnic, before beginning to work commercially and establishing a studio in the city's Lace Market working with for clients such as Paul Smith, Triumph and Yamaha Motorcycles. This led to his current commercial and advertising practice, that includes video/moving image and environment-driven photographic print-works. Until June 2013, Dunmur was a non-executive director of the UK based Association Of Photographers and between 2008 and 2011 he held the role of Chair. He teaches on the BA (Hons) Photography at the University of Derby and acts as the Business and Legal adviser to the Association Of Photographers members. He is also one of the founding group of members of Pro Imaging, a trade body which protects the rights of professional photographers. Until 2013, he represented them on the board of the British Photographic Council (BPC) and he now represents the AOP on the same board. More recently, working with a fellow platinum printer, he has devised a method of making digital inkjet negatives allowing digital images to be printed using a range of analogue, alternative processes such as silver gelatin, salt, cyanotype and platinum. He still lives in Nottingham. www.nickdunmur.com www.the-aop.org

In this special extended episode UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed talking with photographer and festival creator Jeff Dunas about photo festivals, publishing photography, being an entreprenour and the importance of a love for photography. Jeff Dunas was born in 1954 in Los Angeles, California. His work spans five decades and has appeared in hundreds of magazines, album covers, books and calendars. Dunas' principal areas of work have included nudes, documentary, portrait and street photography and he is the author of eight monographs and five museum catalogues. As an entrepreneur, he founded Melrose Publishing Company, Collector's Editions, Ltd., launched, edited and published Collectors Photography magazine, and published Darkroom Photography (later Camera & Darkroom). Dunas founded the Palm Springs Photo Festival in 2006 and the Official Portfolio Review at PhotoPlus Expo in 2010. In 2014, he produced and directed PhotoSynthesis, a photography and music festival in Los Angeles for the Annenberg Foundation. His work has been shown in twelve, one-person museum exhibitions and over fifty gallery exhibitions. Dunas has lived between Los Angeles and Paris, France since 1974. www.dunas.com Dr. Grant Scott is the founder/curator of United Nations of Photography, a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Under Graduate and Post-Graduate Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, a working photographer, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and the author of At Home With the Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006), 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) and What Does Photography Mean to You? (Bluecoat 2020).  His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was first screened in 2018 www.donotbendfilm.com and he is the presenter of the A Photographic Life and In Search of Bill Jay podcasts. © Grant Scott 2023

In episode 293 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on listening to experts, and learning from those with experience. He also notes the passing of Ross McDonnell, Larry Fink, Elliott Erwitt and Shane McGowan. Plus this week, photographer Arthur Meyerson 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?’ Since 1974, native Texan Arthur Meyerson has travelled throughout the world, creating award winning advertising, corporate and editorial photographs, as well as an extensive body of art based imagery. A three-time winner of Adweek’s Southwest Photographer of the Year award, Meyerson is on Communication World’s list of top 10 corporate photographers and was named one of the 30 best advertising photographers by American Photo. His awards are numerous including gold medals from the New York Art Directors Club, the Art Directors Club of Houston, the Dallas Society of Visual Communications and the Stephen Kelly Award for his work on the Nike advertising campaign. Meyerson was selected by Nikon to their illustrious Legends Behind the Lens list and honoured by the Houston Advertising Federation as the inaugural recipient of the Only In Houston award for individuals. In 2008, the Houston Decorative Center named him as the first photographic recipient of their annual Stars Of Design celebration. Besides his commercial work, Myerson's fascination with light, colour and the moment culminated in his 2012 book, The Color of Light. His second book, The Journey, was published in 2017. Meyerson's photographs are in the public collections of several major institutions and have been exhibited internationally. Today, he teaches workshops, undertakes individual mentoring and participates in speaking engagements throughout the U.S. and abroad. Meyerson is a former member of the Advisory Council for the Santa Fe Center for Photography and the Houston Center for Photography as well as continuing to serve on the Board of Advisors for the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. www.arthurmeyerson.com Dr. Grant Scott is the founder/curator of United Nations of Photography, a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Under-Graduate and Post-Graduate Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, a working photographer, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and the author of At Home With the Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006), 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) and What Does Photography Mean to You? (Bluecoat 2020). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was first screened in 2018 www.donotbendfilm.com and he is the presenter of the A Photographic Life and In Search of Bill Jay podcasts. Scott’s next book Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, (Orphans Publishing), is on pre-sale now. © Grant Scott 2023

In this monthly conversation series Grant Scott speaks with editor, writer and curator of photography Bill Shapiro. In an informal conversation each month Grant and Bill comment on the photographic environment as they see it. This month they reflect on the mistakes photographers make! That have nothing to do with making photographs! Bill Shapiro Bill Shapiro served as the Editor-in-Chief of LIFE, the legendary photo magazine; LIFE’s relaunch in 2004 was the largest in Time Inc. history. Later, he was the founding Editor-in-Chief of LIFE.com, which won the 2011 National Magazine Award for digital photography. Shapiro is the author of several books, among them Gus & Me, a children’s book he co-wrote with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and, What We Keep, which looks at the objects in our life that hold the most emotional significance. A fine-art photography curator for New York galleries and a consultant to photographers, Shapiro is also a Contributing Editor to the Leica Conversations series. He has written about photography for the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, the Atlantic, Vogue, and Esquire, among others. Every Friday — more or less — he posts about under-the-radar photographers on his Instagram feed, where he’s @billshapiro. Dr.Grant Scott After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is 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), and What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018. Scott’s next book is Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, Orphans Publishing, is on sale February 2024. Mentioned in this episode: Rachel Barker: IG @stanleybarkerbooks Website: www.stanleybarker.co.uk Email: info@stanleybarker.co.uk Sage Paisner: www.sagepaisner.com Mia Diehl: mia.diehl@fortune.com Emily Kimbro: IG @emilybk © Grant Scott 2023

In episode 291 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on adopting an AI scrape approach to reporting on the latest AI news. Plus this week, photographer Luke Duggleby 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?’ Luke Duggleby is an award-winning British freelance photographer who has been based in Bangkok, Thailand, for over 15 years. Focusing on Asia, he has worked for globally respected media publications and NGO's producing documentary and portrait photography. When not on assignment, he works on his own projects that focus largely on the struggles of human rights defenders and community environmental groups. Duggleby's work has been exhibited in the US, across Europe and Asia. In 2018, he was awarded for his contribution in covering human rights issues in Thailand by the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand. He has published two books, Salt of the Earth and The Invisible Side of Paradise - A Pilgrimage into Tibet's Borderlands and is the founder of The Sidi Project www.thesidiproject.com which documents the African diaspora of the Indian Ocean and he is a founding member of the media platform HaRDstories which publishes long-form feature-stories about human rights issues and human rights defenders in Southeast Asia. Duggleby is also an assignment roster photographer for REDUX PICTURES in New York and speaks English and Thai. He lives in Bangkok, Thailand, with his family. www.lukeduggleby.com Dr. Grant Scott is the founder/curator of United Nations of Photography, a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Under Graduate and Post-Graduate Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, a working photographer, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and the author of At Home With the Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006), 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) and What Does Photography Mean to You? (Bluecoat 2020).  His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was first screened in 2018 www.donotbendfilm.com and he is the presenter of the A Photographic Life and In Search of Bill Jay podcasts. © Grant Scott 2023

In episode 290 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on reading the conflict image and its continuing power to inform. Plus this week, photographer Roo Lewis 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?’ Roo Lewis is a photographer based in Hackney, North London and his portraiture has been commissioned included in magazines such as Vogue, The Guardian, The Times amongst others. In addition to his editorial work he also works for international brands such as Toast, Island Records, VW, Sony, Waitrose, and American Express. His long-term personal projects are developed by building trust with communities and conveying his subjects with empathy, emotion and integrity through an analogue approach. This has led to two books. The first Forest: Walking Among Trees explores the historical context and modern-day applications of some of the world's most fascinating and iconic trees. Over a period of two years Lewis photographed the Welsh town of Port Talbot which, according to actor Michael Sheen, has an ‘extremely high number of UFO sightings’. However, the resulting book published in 2023, Lewis's second, Port Talbot UFO Investigation Club is not a study of UFO sightings but instead uses the phenomena as a starting point to explore the people, landscape and folklore of the town. https://roolewis.com Dr. Grant Scott is the founder/curator of United Nations of Photography, a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Under Graduate and Post-Graduate Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, a working photographer, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and the author of At Home With the Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006), 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) and What Does Photography Mean to You? (Bluecoat 2020).  His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was first screened in 2018 www.donotbendfilm.com and he is the presenter of the A Photographic Life and In Search of Bill Jay podcasts. © Grant Scott 2023

In episode 289 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on the passing of photographer John Sevigny, the fact that you are never too old to learn and how life informs our photography. Plus this week, photographer Robin Weaver 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?’ A 1970s travelling exhibition in Cardiff of photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson made Robin Weaver want to be a documentary photographer. He completed a three-year course at Newport College of Art and then joined the South Wales Argus newspaper as a trainee press photographer. After six years he broadened his horizons – travelling to the USA and Australia where he worked for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian. On returning to England he again worked for newspapers in Kent, Hampshire and Derbyshire. However, the landscape of Derbyshire inspired him to take his photography in another direction. Now 'retired' from newspapers, he continues to make work and photograph that which inspires him working with his wife writer Helen Werin producing travel articles for magazines and newspapers. Cafe Royal Books have published two books of his work South Wales in the 1970s and South Wales Summer Carnivals 1970s. In addition he has self published two books of his work titled A Different Country and Snappers. https://robinweaver.co.uk This podcast is also available on Spotify, Google and Apple podcasts as well as wherever you usually get your podcasts. 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). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was first screened in 2018 www.donotbendfilm.com. He is the presenter of the A Photographic Life and In Search of Bill Jay podcasts. Scott’s next book is Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, Orphans Publishing, is on sale February 2024. © Grant Scott 2023

In episode 288 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on the importance of subject to the photographer whilst knowing why you are making photographs and the issues with photographic hyperbole on social media. Plus this week, photographer Michael J Brennan 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 Sheffield, Brennan began his career as a runner and then a news photographer for The Croydon Times in South London. Returning back North between 1964 and 1970 he worked as a photographer for the regional offices of The Sunday People and The Daily Herald. He was first noticed for his work thanks to a series of photographs he took of the death of Donald Campbell who died while attempting the world water speed record in 1967. The photos appeared in Life magazine and won Brennan the British News Picture of the Year award. He worked next as a photographer for The Sun and then moved to the Daily Mail where he covered important news events such as The Troubles in Northern Ireland and The Indo-Pakistan wars and conflicts. After moving to the United States in 1973 Brennan accepted photo assignments for Sports Illustrated magazine. This to a series of photos of the boxer Muhammad Ali. A 1977 Brennan photo of Ali is now in the collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. After a fifty-year career in photography, Brennan is now retired and living in Costa Rica. https://brennanpics.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). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was first screened in 2018 www.donotbendfilm.com. He is the presenter of the A Photographic Life and In Search of Bill Jay podcasts. Scott’s next book is Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, Orphans Publishing, is on sale February 2024. © Grant Scott 2023

In this monthly conversation series Grant Scott speaks with editor, writer and curator of photography Bill Shapiro. In an informal conversation each month Grant and Bill comment on the photographic environment as they see it. This month they reflect on the feedback. How to give it, what to expect from it and how to receive it! Bill Shapiro Bill Shapiro served as the Editor-in-Chief of LIFE, the legendary photo magazine; LIFE’s relaunch in 2004 was the largest in Time Inc. history. Later, he was the founding Editor-in-Chief of LIFE.com, which won the 2011 National Magazine Award for digital photography. Shapiro is the author of several books, among them Gus & Me, a children’s book he co-wrote with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and, What We Keep, which looks at the objects in our life that hold the most emotional significance. A fine-art photography curator for New York galleries and a consultant to photographers, Shapiro is also a Contributing Editor to the Leica Conversations series. He has written about photography for the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, the Atlantic, Vogue, and Esquire, among others. Every Friday — more or less — he posts about under-the-radar photographers on his Instagram feed, where he’s @billshapiro. Dr.Grant Scott After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is 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), and What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018. Scott’s next book is Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, Orphans Publishing, is on sale February 2024. Mentioned in this episode: Michael Robinson Chavez IG: @mrobinsonchavez https://chavezphoto.com/ Link to Spain Trip: https://leicacamerausa.com/leica-destination-seville-journey-exploring-andalusian-traditions.html Link to Michael Robinson Chavez interview with Bill Shapiro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWHYKne9PPs Melinda Blauvelt IG: @melindablauvelt https://melindablauvelt.com/ New Book: https://www.stanleybarker.co.uk/collections/forthcoming/products/brantville Katie Clifford, Gost IG: @gost_books https://gostbooks.com/en-us © Grant Scott 2023