A Photographic Life

In episode 286 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on themes that those dealing with AI and photography are focusing on and the homogenisation of the photo book. Plus this week, photographer Bill Stephenson 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?’ Bill Stephenson was born in 1955 in Birmingham, but spent his teenage school years growing up in Leeds. After studying for his A levels he wanted to work in a creative industry, and enrolled on the Furniture Design course at Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham. During the course he was required to complete a short photography block. As soon as he started creating images with a camera, he knew this was the career he had been looking for and resigned from the Furniture Design course. Unable to join the photography course as he was ineligible to receive a student grant he began working as a tyre fitter, van delivery driver and a photographer at Butlins Holiday Camp, Skegness in 1977. The following year he sent a small portfolio of photographs to the British Journal of Photography which was published. This led to an invitation from the Communication Arts, BA (Hons) Fine Art Degree course at Sheffield City Polytechnic to consider applying to join the course. He quickly developed a passion and commitment for photographing and recording communities of people who are often over looked, neglected, marginalised or considered unimportant. He has continued to work on commissioned social documentary photography projects alongside a successful commercial photography business before semi-retiring in 2021. He currently lives in Derbyshire, UK. https://billstephenson.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 this special episode UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed talking with photographer Marc Wilson about the realities of creating Kick Starter campaigns to support and fund the publishing of personal photographic projects. Born in London and now based in Bath, Marc Wilson studies took him from Sociology to Photography creating images that document the memories, histories and stories that are set in the landscapes that surround us. He has worked on long term documentary projects. His stories focus on the landscape, and the objects found on and within it, combining landscape, documentary, portrait and still life, along with audio recordings of interviews and sounds, to portray the mass sprawling web of the histories and stories he aims to tell. Wilson has published four Kickstarter funded books - The Last Stand (2010-2014), Travelogue 1(2015-2018), A Wounded Landscape: Bearing witness to the Holocaust (2015-2021) and Remnants (2021-2022) and sold over 5000 copies in total. His most recent Kickstarter funded book The Land is Yellow, the Sky is Blue will be published in 2024. Solo exhibitions include the Side Gallery, Newcastle, The Royal Armouries Museum and Focal point Gallery in the UK and Spazio Klien in Italy. His work has been published in journals and magazines ranging from National Geographic, FT Weekend and The British Journal of Photography and Wired amongst many others. Wilson also works as a visiting lecturer at Oxford Brookes University and has given talks in France, The South Pacific and The Seas of Japan. www.marcwilson.co.uk 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 Condé Nast Have Left The Building: Six Decades of Vogue House will be published by Orphans Publishing in the Spring of 2024. © Grant Scott 2023

In episode 284 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on the photographic documentation of our own lives and how photographers dress! Plus this week, photographer Trish Morrissey 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?’ Trish Morrissey was born in Dublin in 1967, and now lives in the UK. She works with photography, film and video and has exhibited in solo and group shows nationally and internationally. Her work is in major collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum and Michael Wilson Center for Photography. Recent projects include Ten People in a Suitcase for Touching from a Distance, for which she was a shortlisted for the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize in 2015 and Face the Collections, a residency and exhibition with Bettina von Zwehl at the Bohuslän Museum, Sweden in 2016. She describes her work as a study of the language of photography through still and moving images, using performance and wit as tools to investigate the boundaries of photographic meaning. Although most of her work features Morrissey as the protagonist, she doesn't consider them to be self portraits, though they can be read that way. She claims to use humour as a tool to disarm the viewer, which evaporates leaving a slow burning psychologically tense afterglow. Weaving fact and fiction, dealing with issues such as family experiences and national identities, feminine and masculine roles, and relationships between strangers. www.trishmorrissey.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 Condé Nast Have Left The Building: Six Decades of Vogue House will be published by Orphans Publishing in the Spring of 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 photographic pivot. How to move from one area to another, utilise transferable skills and build a professional practice for the 21st Century. 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 Condé Nast Have Left The Building: Six Decades of Vogue House will be published by Orphans Publishing in the Spring of 2024. Mentioned in this episode: Leonora Wiener leonorawiener.com leonorawiener@gmail.com Bill Owens Telephone: (510)-566-9566.   The Delco Years: https://a.co/d/6VN8uCW www.BillOwens.com David Eustace www.davideustace.com

In episode 282 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on the power of light, and why more people should attend academic photography conferences. Plus this week, photographer Dillon Marsh 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?’ Dillon Marsh is a South African photographer who currently lives in Cape Town, the city of his birth. Surrounded by the breath-taking landscapes of his native country, he developed a deep appreciation for the natural world at an early age. This has inspired his artistic practice, leading him to explore the tenuous relationship between humans and the world we inhabit. The range of subjects he focusses on is varied, from macro photos of seeds that hitch rides using hooks and barbs, to aerial photos of giant patterns ploughed along the desolate west coast of South Africa. His practice has also seen him explore termite mounds in Gaborone, and the snow-covered peaks of the Rwenzori Mountains. However, he is perhaps best known for his series For What It’s Worth in which he combines photography and computer-generated elements to examine the impact that the mining industry has had in his home country. Marsh has exhibited his work internationally and is currently working on several new projects that he plans to publish as books. https://dillonmarsh.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 Condé Nast Have Left The Building: Six Decades of Vogue House will be published by Orphans Publishing in the Spring of 2024. © Grant Scott 2023

In episode 281 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on the time it takes to find a visual language, how simple things are complex and the connections between the history of art and photography. Plus this week, photographer Ian Hill 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 Hill is based in Cumbria, in the north-west of England, and works in black and white 35mm film. His work is led by an attempt to respond to what he sees as environmental crisis in terms of what he photographs, where he photographs, and how he photographs. This has led to an increasing focus on the local, the small-scale, the un-noticed hedgerow plants, gate latches, abandoned walls and sheepfolds. It has also led to changes in his technical approach as he now uses environmentally benign chemicals. He states that his work has helped him to re-define his photography, as he works on projects which speak more about the local, the need for nurture, and about our connection with the land. He has published three books of his work The Fisher King, Alchemy and Lineage. https://printedland.weebly.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 Condé Nast Have Left The Building: Six Decades of Vogue House will be published by Orphans Publishing in the Spring of 2024. © Grant Scott 2023

In episode 280 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on the need for photographic education, how having heroes does not have to be negative and a new event concerning photography and the commonwealth. Plus this week, photographer Ave Pildas 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 and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ave Pildas worked as a photo stringer for Downbeat Magazine in the Ohio Valley and Pennsylvania in the 1960's. In 1971 he began working as the Art Director at Capitol Records in Hollywood and designed and photographed album covers for the label's recording artists. He then launched a career as a freelance photographer and designer soon after, specialising in architectural and corporate photography. His photographs have been exhibited in one man shows at the: Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Photographers Gallery, London, Janus Gallery, Los Angeles, Gallerie Diaframma, Milan, and in numerous group shows. Photographs by Pildas are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Bibliotheca National, Paris; the University of Arizona as well as numerous other public and private collections. He is a Professor Emeritus at Otis College of Design, Los Angeles and currently lives in Santa Monica, CA in a solar powered, zero-scaped home and studio he collaborated on with W3 Architects. He is digitally archiving his vintage work, and continues with new projects while mentoring young talent. www.avepildas.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 Condé Nast Have Left The Building: Six Decades of Vogue House will be published by Orphans Publishing in the Spring of 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 photographic pivot. How to move from one area to another, utilise transferable skills and build a professional practice for the 21st Century. 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 Condé Nast Have Left The Building: Six Decades of Vogue House will be published by Orphans Publishing in the Spring of 2024. © Grant Scott 2023

In episode 278 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on not getting bored with photography, photographers obsessed with kit of all kinds, the slow death of the NFT and finding new ways to say new things with a camera. Plus this week, photographer Massimo Leardini 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?’ Originally from Cattolica, in the Italian Province of Rimini, Massimo Leardini has been based in Norway for the past 30 years where he works with a small number of models on extended collaborations. He has published several books of his work including Scandinavian in 2013, Catarsi in 2015, Primitive in 2016 and In Between in 2017. In 2020, he published ELV in which he explores his fascination with the female body and the landscape. Presenting a series of images including contorted fragments of the female body, set deep within the primordial forests of Scandinavia. His work has been widely exhibited internationally and in Norway. www.leardini.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 Condé Nast Have Left The Building: Six Decades of Vogue House will be published by Orphans Publishing in the Spring of 2024. © Grant Scott 2023

In episode 277 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on understanding and promoting contemporary landscape photography, when clients are made redundant, and what a photographer leaves behind. Plus this week, photographer Nicholas Sinclair 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?’ Nicholas Sinclair was born in London in 1954 and studied Fine Art and Art History at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne between 1973 to 1976. His career as a photographer began in 1982 while playing the drums in a Moroccan circus when he began taking photographs of the circus acts between performances, photographs that were first published by The British Journal of Photography in 1983 and exhibited at The University of Sussex in the same year. After the season ended, he visited other circuses with the aim of extending the series. This work was subsequently shown at The National Theatre in London in 1985 and at The Photography Centre of Athens in 1986. In 1987 he began photographing British artists in their studios a series of portraits that spans thirty years and includes Anthony Caro, Gillian Wearing, Frank Auerbach, Gilbert & George, Paula Rego and Richard Hamilton. Work from this series is now in the permanent collections of European museums and galleries including The National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, amongst other institutions. Forty-seven of these portraits are in the collection of Pallant House Gallery in Chichester where they were exhibited in 2014. In 1995 he was commissioned by Brighton Museum & Art Gallery to make a series of photographs of contemporary fetishism for inclusion in the exhibition Fetishism: Visualising Power and Desire. In 2002 Sinclair published his first book of landscape photographs entitled Crossing the Water, a series made on the perimeter of a lake over a twelve-month period. In 2003 he was made a Hasselblad Master and in 2009 Sinclair moved to Berlin and established a studio there in 2011. In 2019 a German production company made a thirty-minute documentary about his work and he was appointed Visiting Professor at Richmond, The American International University in London. In 2021 Sinclair published Polaroids, a book of studio portraits to mark ten years of working in the studio and a short film entitled Rhythm of the Blood. He is currently working on a new series of photographs titled Neon Trees Miscellany made in East Berlin. www.nicholassinclair.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 Condé Nast Have Left The Building: Six Decades of Vogue House will be published by Orphans Publishing in the Spring of 2024. © Grant Scott 2023