documentary photography

The Edge Of Industry: Al Palmer

December 29, 2020 in interview

The Edge Of Industry: Al Palmer

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): For those who may not be familiar with you or your work, would you mind introducing yourself and your work?

Al Palmer (AP): I'm a photographer and book designer/publisher based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the United Kingdom. I've been taking photographs for 14 years now and have exhibited my work worldwide. The past few years have seen a shift from focusing on exhibitions to releasing my work in zine and book form. The majority of my work deals with world building, creating fictitious imaginary places from photographs of very real places. On the surface it may look like documentary work, it's very much not. Recently I've been creating work that deals with the fidelity of information: how much detail can an image lose before it can't communicate the intended message across.

ADM: We're talking about "The Edge Of Industry" - would you mind explaining the concept behind the series for the audience?

AP: The Edge of Industry is a cycle of photographs taken at the site of a derelict magnesium works near Hartlepool in the North of England where heavy industry has died off over the past thirty years. These images indirectly reference the death of shipbuilding and metal works, the lack of government action to prevent the North and South of England dividing both economically and socially, creating a generation of workers with no future; directly they show the land has yet to be redeveloped; it remains in a perpetual state of ruin. With an increasing amount of closures among factories in England these photographs are both a record of the end of a specific industrial area and also a quiet farewell to the past of the North of England.

ADM: What was the inspiration for the series? How did you settle on the concept and what is your personal relationship to it?

AP: I'm not a documentary photographer but this is the closest I've ever been to producing 'straight' documentary work. As with all of my work, it's more about me than the place I'm photographing. The magnesium works is visually attractive because it's so weird looking, people from differing backgrounds see sci-fi movies, dystopian novels... I saw the recently history of my area and my people. I'm from here and it was the future of my people that was impacted by the government of the Thatcher years.

ADM: Digging in a little more to your nod to worldbuilding vs. documentarianism - would you say that you've built an imagined or extrapolated narrative on top of the magnesium works for Edge of Industry?

AP: There's less world building in The Edge of Industry then, say, my work in “I Believe (In None of This)” but I am of the generation whose parents lost their jobs in heavy industry so there's a degree of distance. The ruins in the photographs are clearly a metaphor for the problems in society caused by these places of work shutting.

ADM: Taking it a step further, will you work on a project on what you believe the future (bleak or not) to be? Thinking future-forward in photography is always an odd topic.

AP: By nature each photography can only be a document of the past. I tend not to think about the future too heavily, certainly not to the point of making work regarding it. You could say my work is about the present, using snapshots of the past. Giving this some thought I cannot figure HOW I would make work about the future. That'd probably involve actual world building, making my own utopian model city and photographing it. Which does actually sound quite appealing...

ADM: You also run Brown Owl Press - what was the impetus behind starting your own zine printing company, and how would you say the self publishing process has affected your photographic and artistic process?

AP: I'm certainly more ruthless with regards to the photographic edit! I'm very conscious of how a series flows now, rather than just picturing the photographs on a gallery wall. I think this has probably meant that I focus less on taking interesting individual photographs and more on serving the narrative.I started Brown Owl Press mostly just because it felt like I should. Why wait for someone else to do it when I can? I like being able to publish photographic stories by photographers that deserve a bigger audience but possibly haven't received one yet.

ADM: Zooming the scope out a little bit - would you say that your work, Edge of Industry included, tends to center on implied or "broken" narratives? why or why not, and could you give an example of how you think about or process that narrative?

AP: Without a doubt. I think that's the crux of what I find interesting about photography: it's not very good at showing a linear narrative, especially in comparison to film making and prose. I suspect that's why a lot of photographers like to imagine they are working in a similar way to a poet. It's a nice idea, it's romantic, but I feel comics are a close visual medium to photography - sequential media leaving out much of the detail. The Edge of Industry is the outlier in my work in that I'm not really trying to suggest much, more show it. Primarily I think of photography as something closer to collage than to painting. Roughly tearing off this bit, a tiny sliver of this.

ADM: In terms of understanding “Edge of Industry: as outsiders - both an audience and, in my case (along with a fair chunk of our readers) as an American, what would you say the most essential photos are to understanding the project are, and what context they provide for the rest of the series?

AP: I'm not sure any one photograph carries more weight than another in this series, there are only 16 photographs and they all combine to give a good sense of the location. There are two photos that show the horizon, one shows this flat, unspectacular landscape and then other shows the North Sea. I suppose they give the magnesium works some physical reference point. There are definitely parallels with, say, Detroit in this story. It'll be interesting to know how an American sees this work. It'd previously been shown in New York but I can't imagine anyone from NYC looking at this work in the same way someone from the mid-West would, for instance.

ADM: The photobook/zine has (seemingly, to me) really come into vogue over the last ten to twenty years, and there's starting to be quite a bit of discussion of the photobook as an art object - as a publisher and book designer - what do you think the key elements of the art book or photobook/zine are, and what makes them so compelling, rather than say a folio, or a hanging exhibition?

AP: There are definitely economic aspects to this - digital printing increasingly being both cheap and high quality, so a decent photo zine costs a lot less than it would've in the past. The flipside of that is gallery/exhibition space has never been as expensive. Everyone has a camera in their pocket and the rise of Instagram has definitely helped photographers never switch off, so this off-hand photography definitely seems at odds with a formal gallery space. Also, an exhibition is temporary and photographs are permanent. Prints are hard to sell multiples of (finite wall space for most customers) while zines and books are an easier item to sell - especially with so many sales avenues online. It's not just economics though, photography works best on a small scale in my mind. I can do it at my own pace, and I'm in control of every single thing. And I like having full creative control of my work.

ADM: How has your approach to narrative driven photography changed over the years - did you learn anything new while making Edge of Industry that you'll take forward with you to the next project?

AP: The biggest lesson learned from The Edge of Industry is to work more efficiently. It was shot in a single day, the entire series consists of of just 16 photos. Some projects require a huge sprawling inventory of images, some require very few. How you say it matters almost as much as what you say. The Edge of Industry is quite literal work, both the photographs and the title. I'm unlikely to work in such a straight forward manner again, at least in the foreseeable future.

ADM: What are your major influences, photographic or not, and can you tie them back to Edge of Industry, or have you diverged from outside influence or touchstones, as you've matured as a practitioner?

AP: My biggest influence visually is Gerhard Richter. Carving into the space between reproduction and expression is at the heart of everything I do. I also admire the fact that he doesn't work in the same manner consistently, my big fear artistically is to just repeat myself. Alec Soth and Joel Sternfeld were huge influences on me photographing, and I can definitely see the influence of Sternfeld's Walking the High Line on this, just photographing a relatively small area in an expansive way with a fairly uniform view. I tend not to take direct inspiration from single photographers now, my inspiration tends to be more abstract and on a larger scale: ideas, music, technology.

ADM: Dipping into that - can you speak on some of the Music, Tech, and Ideas that you've been thinking about and inspired by lately?

AP: I'm hugely influenced by the German music scene surrounding the Termina/Beat Bude/Ava/Tax Free labels. It's most producers and DJs from the house and techno scene (Glenn Astro, Max Graef, Am Kinem etc) moving beyond rigid genre and begin deconstructing various types of music. A lot of it's quite experimental but it's also very musical, which keeps me interested. Photographically, the work of Clara de Tezanos is influencing me a lot currently. Her work is so rich and alien to me, I'm really enjoying trying to 'solve' it. It hints at a lot of things and I'm really trying to suggest more than I'm trying to explain in my own work of late. The idea I'm focusing on of late is how much detail can be taken from a photograph before it no longer communicates efficiently. I'm wrapping up a two year project on this topic currently as well as the layout of a book on the subject.

ADM: What advice would you give to someone looking to create photographs, or sets of photographs that lean into both a narrative form (both implied or explicit), and one that seeks to do "worldbuilding?"

AP: Take photographs impulsively, edit with intent. Or, the opposite. I tend to think in terms of batches of photographs being a 'chapter' or a 'verse'. Pacing is really important to a photo essay and I think that's especially important when putting your voice to something. Lots of experimenting in the editing phase is where the narrative will flourish, figuring out which photographs are essential to the story, and also which are not.

ADM: From Andy Pham: Do you think there is any value in the “hierarchy” of the photo world, or art world in general, in terms of the division between “gallery artists”, big publishers, etc. and the rest of us trying to just make work that means something personally? In other words, do you think there are pros and cons to both, or do you think there is anything lacking on either side of this divide?

For better and for worse I'm quite a self-driven person so, I've never had any fear of the hierarchy of photoworld. I'm not daunted by people or institutions. I can see why some would be useful, and openly want to be involved with some of them but that's because of what they can do for me/what I can bring to them rather than any need to be accepted.

If a recognised gallery wanted to show my work I'd be very conscious of using that (probably finite) time to harvest connections, grow my audience and put that back towards my usual DIY practice as it would probably not be a long-term arrangement. That possibly sounds a little mercenary but the larger the institution, the less concern it'll have for you so get what you can out of the situation. And hopefully make some money.

There are no heroes.

ADM: What question do you have for the next photographer? (you can answer the question yourself, if you'd like.)

AP: What was the biggest single turning point for you as an artist? My answer possibly links to the previous question: when I realised that I could do things myself rather than wait of galleries and publishers doing it for me. That was when I really put faith in myself as an artist rather than just someone who takes good photos. Keeping that moment in mind is important.

ADM: Thanks so much for the interview - do you have any parting words, or advice? I know we can purchase your zines and books at Brown Owl Press - but is there anywhere else that we can see or purchase more of your work? -- Thanks again for the interview!

AP: My advice can be applied to almost anything: consistency is the most important thing for progress.

The Brown Owl Press website has a list of our stockists but we do 90% of our trade via the webstore. Anything I publish that isn't under the Brown Owl Press umbrella is available via my website, the first of a series of zines I plan on publishing came out a couple of months ago called Crawling the Walls and is still available.

Thank you for interviewing me! If anyone has any further questions or would like to reach out, feel free to send me an email.

Northern Class: Stefan Byrom

October 03, 2020 in interview

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): Hi Stefan, Could you please introduce yourself and describe your work to the audience, in case they're not familiar?

Stefan Byrom (SB): My name’s Stefan Byrom currently living in Rochdale Greater Manchester. i would say my work is an honest documentation of life in northern working class Britain as it is today, but also has those hints of nostalgia thrown in there.

ADM: We're talking about "Northern Class" - for those who aren't familiar with that world (ie for the Americans like me) can you speak a bit more about Northern England, and the working class there - or what compelled you to pick up a camera and document it?

SB: the actual term working class refers to people who are engaged in waged or salaried labour but more specifically manual labour jobs and industrial work. The north of England at one time was a power house for manufacturing goods so we had a lot of mill towns and mining towns, which over the years has died out really. Work for a lot of people has become a lot harder to find but also the price of living has gone up to a point where a lot of families struggle to get by. So to me the term working class and the meaning of it has changed, i feel it's a lot more about the struggle of living and the characters that make up life in the north. i grew up on a council estate in a working-class town in broken Britain so i’ve also lived it. Alot of people do what they have to to survive and to me that’s so interesting, watching how people adapt to and deal with poverty and austerity.

ADM: The zine really covers a lot of ground - what images from it do you think are the most critical to understanding Northern England's working class, and why?

SB:I think the cover photo for a start and the washing hanging from the apartment window says a lot about the struggle of working class life but then you have this make do approach to life like with the bin being secured with tape to keep the rubbish in. most of the bin men /waste removal men won’t take your bin if its overflowing but that’s a common problem because rubbish isn’t collected regularly anymore, so it obviously builds up which sort of ties in with the mattresses and things like that, people can’t pay to get them removed etc so they are usually just discarded in an alleyway or on some wasteland in the hope the council will remove it .then you have the photo with he shopping in the pram for instance they are all ways of getting by without a lot of money and just doing what you have to do to survive.

ADM: What was your working process like? How did you shoot the zine, and what was your final selection and assembly process like?

SB: I wouldn’t say i intentionally went out with the idea of creating a zine, i'm constantly out taking photographs and a lot of the time they just end up in the archive or getting lost in the instagram feed, but i had bit of a period where i wasn’t feeling life mentally and instead of sulking i ended up putting the zine together aha. I'd like to create a proper version of it someday maybe in book form.

ADM: I definitely get that. What would you add to the zine to make it into a book - would you do anything different or investigate or document something you hadn't previously?

SB: I think if I was going to eventually make it into a book I would have to be a lot more intimate and get a bit deeper into people's lives, so making a lot more personal connections would be a good place to start with that.

ADM: When you're out shooting is there a particular method you employ? or do you sort of always have a camera on you and constantly document?

SB: I usually always start my day the same, I wake up and put music on, I think that’s always a good way to set your day off mood wise. i always visit my local shop in the morning and get a drink too. After that it really depends on my mood or what I'm feeling or maybe I’ll have a certain place in mind and i'll just make my way to that. I go with the flow quite a lot while i’m out and I carry my camera absolutely everywhere so i have no excuses aha.

ADM: There are quite a few portraits in Northern Class - what was your approach to getting your subjects to have their picture taken?

SB: To be honest, I don’t have that much of an approach, I think just being out all the time and them being familiar with me has sparked their interest. I’d say 90 percent of the people in the portraits asked me for their photo to be taken ,usually they will ask me what i'm doing and i’ll say something like i'm working on a book about my town or the north, and that then they are like get a picture of me or something similar aha.

ADM: did you have any major influences for Northern Class, photographic or otherwise? And would you mind sharing why or how they influenced your work?

SB: Northern Class is a collection of my ongoing work so i wouldn’t say anyone really influenced me to make it but as for my work in general i'm influenced by Eggelston, Shirley Baker, Harry Gruyaert, Dougie Wallace, John Bulmer, and more recently Evelyn Hofer. The tones/colour and the way they compose their work has to be admired - if you get composition right you can make some really powerful works - I'm always looking at them for inspiration. My work itself is inspired by my life and how i grew up and the things i've seen, using what you know well is so powerful.

ADM: Looking forward, is your focus more on expanding this project, or will you move on to a new project? If so, what's next?

SB: yeah i think moving forward it will be about building on what i have and refining it and just seeing where that takes me really and what other doors will open; I guess we'll just have to wait and see aha.

ADM: What advice would you give to someone attempting to document their community, like you have in Northern Class?

SB: The best advice I could give is always have your camera on you because some of the best stuff happens when you aren’t actively looking for it, but also be observant like understand what makes your community your community and then tell that story. The more you are in that area and the more hours you put in the better chance you have of doing that.

ADM: from Adali Schell: “What drives you to take photos, rather than making films or writing or expressing yourself in another way?”

SB: This is such a hard question because i think it's all sorts of things aha, in a way i'm challenging myself but i'm also trying to show the world that there’s a lot to be admired about from where your from, no matter how gritty or bad you feel the place is, it's like making positives from negatives and for me photography is one of the best ways of showing that other than film, i guess with photography though you really have time to take in an image and i think that can be a lot more powerful.

ADM: What question do you have for the next photographer? You can answer it yourself if you'd like to.

SB: Which photographers/artists out there do you admire other than the more well known ones?

ADM: Thanks so much for the interview - do you have any parting words or advice?

SB: Thank you too it was a pleasure… up the dale! and wu-tang forever!!!

The Public Work: Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin

June 28, 2020 in interview

The Public Work: Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): Hi Kwasi, thanks for doing the interview! For those who may not be familiar with you or your work, could you introduce yourself, and give us an overview?

Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin (KBB): My name is Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin and I’m a photographer from Los Angeles. I primarily shoot documentary landscape and street photography with an emphasis on underrepresented neighborhoods. I was born in Brooklyn, New York but have lived in L.A. since I was 2 years old, I grew up moving between Hollywood, East Hollywood, and Mid City, those are also the neighborhoods I tend to photograph most.

ADM: You're launching a site called "The Public Work" and leading with an essay/body of work with Erwin Recinos called "Neighborhood Quarantine." In which you're shooting the color/digital images, while Erwin shoots the BnW images on film. What was the impetus to start the website and how did the new collaborative body of work start?

KBB: I started The Public Work at the beginning of the year as a home for my street photography essays. It was inspired by the role I think that photography can play in documenting life from street level. Once the pandemic hit the city I began to use it as a platform to share what it was like in some of the neighborhoods that didn’t make the news.

Erwin is one of my oldest friends and I’ve collaborated with him on several projects over the past decade such as our old photography collective Snapshot Galleria (with Luis Torres) and multiple zine collaborations. I reached out to him for the Neighborhood Quarantine essay because I saw the work that he was making and thought that it would work well with some of mine.

ADM: When you're working collaboratively, do you notice your workflow change, or at the very least what you're drawn to shoot, in relation to the other contributor's work?

KBB: My workflow doesn’t really change. Unless I’m on a professional assignment, I shoot the same things wherever I go. The great thing about working with Erwin (and others I have collaborated with in the past) is that our work just fits. We often just settle on a theme and interpret it on our own. It involves a lot of trust but the results speak for themselves.

ADM: Stepping back, more generally, what's your working practice like - you seem to split your chops between topographics work and traditional street photography - what gets you out to shoot, and what are you looking for when you're out on the street shooting?

KBB: The goal of my photography has always been to accurately portray life in the city as I see it. When I first started out, I focused exclusively on urban landscape but in the past few years I’ve incorporated traditional street photography into my work. I find that the combination of the two styles allows me to document neighborhoods with more clarity. I’m attracted to scenes and moments that often go unnoticed during the course of our daily lives.

ADM: Was there a particular moment or project that prompted the step into more traditional street photography - you mention that blending both styles gives you a better insight into the neighborhoods you document?

KBB: In 2018 I was accepted into and attended the New York Times portfolio review. The day after the review, I had a day to explore the city on my own and I decided to experiment a bit with street photography. That was really when the seed was planted and I saw the potential in combining it more purposefully with my landscape work. I had experimented with "traditional" street photography for years prior to this but I never made the effort to integrate that approach with my professional body of work. Something just clicked that week in New York and I've been moving forward ever since.

ADM: (If you'll allow me to pivot a bit) in the last couple of weeks I've noticed you've put up a couple more essays, and (on instagram as well) have added the new essay "Hindsight (2020)" about the turmoil 2020 has brought so far - and how Los Angeles (and Angelenos) have resiliently responded. What do you think are the key images to understanding Hindsight, and why those images?

KBB: The Hindsight essay is the result of me just realizing how insane this year had been in L.A. It has really been difficult to process it all so I tried to present it plainly for the viewer. It starts out in the beginning of the year when, like many of us, I was filled with optimism about 2020. The Kobe Bryant tragedy hit Los Angeles really hard and personally, that was tough. I wanted to show a bit of how the city came together to celebrate his life, not just through official means but also on the street. The quarantine and BLM protest movement have continued to reshape life in the city. The main goal of the essay was to show a bit of what all of these events were like here.

ADM: Typically when you're creating your own personal projects is there something that inspires you to create them or put them together - in your intro you mention underrepresented neighborhoods, but is there any other particular draw or inspiration that runs through your work? Also do you find yourself going out and creating projects from the outset, or assembling them once you start to see common threads in your pool of photos?

KBB: Exploring neighborhoods is the core motivation for my photographic work. The focus on underrepresented neighborhoods is because I grew up in several of them. The places I explored in my childhood were never properly shown or woven into the popular narrative about Los Angeles. This disconnect is what inspired me to photograph them in the first place. I'm drawn to photographing details that are both inconspicuous and indicative of the space. Ideas for projects often occur to me when I am out shooting or after I'm done. The only really planning I do at the outset is deciding location, everything else just flows as I take pictures. I also constantly go over my archives. Time is one of the most important aspects of photography and pictures often gain relevance with it's passage.

ADM: You mention a predilection for "photographing details that are both inconspicuous and indicative of the space." Could you give some examples - either as photos or like a description of what those details might be?

KBB: What I mean by that is I try not to be flashy in selecting subject matter to photograph. I find that the elements that most consider ordinary are often what makes a place unique. So whether it's a building or a bus bench, I think that a lot can be learned by documenting them in the context of the surrounding neighborhood.

ADM: Have there been any neighborhoods that really surprised you? Or like you decided to go shoot them, but when you look back at the photos you got, it was much different in feel or appearance than that neighborhood looked initially or in passing?

KBB: The neighborhoods that have surprised me the most so far are outside of California. They were completely new experiences so I was really outside of my comfort zone and I enjoyed it. The first place that comes to mind is New Orleans. I got a chance to explore a lot of the city on foot a few years ago and every area I visited was incredibly interesting. I really didn't have any knowledge of what it felt like to be in a place as old as that city is. I saw a side of life in this country that I had not seen before.

ADM: Looking forward a bit - what projects are you working on right now? Will you follow up (or continue) Hindsight (2020) to the close of the year?

KBB: I'm currently working on a few projects for clients that I can't quite discuss in detail but I'm looking forward to sharing them in the near future. My focus continues to be on building my portfolio and expanding The Public Work project. I honestly wander a lot creatively but I always find inspiration out in the streets I photograph.

ADM: What advice would you have for someone looking to go explore a new neighborhood, or photograph a new area - underrepresented or not, but doesn't know a lot about documenting an actual neighborhood?

KBB: The most important thing is to stay focused and respect the space.

ADM: From Bryan Mederos: Why is Photography so easy but yet so hard?

KBB: The act of taking a picture is deceptively simple. Learning what gives an image meaning is the difficult part.

ADM: What question do you have for the next photographer? - you can answer it yourself if you'd like.

KBB: How do you want people to remember your work?

ADM: Where can we see more of, and/or potentially purchase your work - do you have any other parting words or other advice?

KBB: I have a few projects coming up in the near future that I can't talk about yet so the best place to see my work is my website or Instagram. The only advice I really have for anyone trying to be a photographer is not to forget why you started taking pictures in the first place.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading the interview! We appreciate your readership -normally this is where we’d stump for donations, but in light of the ongoing protests, we’d like to encourage you to donate your funds to a fund aiding them instead. This whole text block is a link.

Thanks!

The Management.

GATOS: Bryan Mederos

June 14, 2020 in interview

GATOS: Bryan Mederos

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): Hi Bryan, thanks for doing the interview! For those not familiar with you, or your work would you mind introducing yourself and giving an overview of your work, photographic and otherwise?

Bryan Mederos (BM): My journey as a photographer started a few years ago when I bought a DSLR camera to make youtube videos. In order to learn the exposure triangle, I started taking the camera everywhere and taking photos with a giant tele zoom lens and a crop sensor. All the photos were super cropped in. I also learned about Lightroom and Photoshop during that time. They were the worst photos ever. These days I primarily shoot 35mm film but I use my phone too.

ADM: We're here talking about your work documenting your job working behind the scenes (as a waiter?) at a hotel in Beverly Hills - do you have a title for the project? What inspired you to document this job/workplace?

BM: Yes the title for the project is called "GATOS," Gato literally translates to cat but it’s also a slang term used in Mexican culture that means “servant” or “goon.” I work in the in room dining department and my job title is "Order Taker". I take the food order from the guest, ring it in and hand it over to the server to prepare for delivery. The servers have a rotation so whenever a new order comes out they say "Next Gato"! Think of like “order up!” or “who's next!” I've been shooting photos of my co workers for years now and have amassed close to 1,000 photographs. The project is a love letter to the immigrant laborers of LA. The unsung heroes of the luxury hospitality industry.

ADM: I know this has been an extended project - are you still working on it? Have you found that your approach to documentation has changed over the duration of the project?

BM: I have all the material I need to compile a hardbound photo book. I'm not shooting as many photos as before but I still bring the camera out occasionally. Every "serious" photographic work I pursue is usually born out of being self aware enough to know that something special is going on around me. It may not be clear at the start but it eventually turns into to a deeper sense of awareness and appreciation for what's in front of me. In this case, its my job so I would argue that I've even changed my perspective towards my day job from a negative experience to a positive, productive one.

ADM: I know you're still working on final assembly of the project into book form, but was there any specific moment or image where the project really took shape or snapped into place for you?

BM: Not really a moment for when it took shape but I can sense that it’s done and I don’t necessarily need to take more photos. Intuition is what’s guided me through the whole process.

ADM: What images do you feel are integral to understanding both the job, and the people you work with, and why?

BM: That’s a great question. I’ve actually never thought about it till now. There’s a black and white photo of my co worker Laurencio (we call him LOLO) sitting at a computer with Forbes five star five diamond awards hanging above his head. I remember he was using that computer to search for a used car for his daughter. I feel like this frame does a good job of superimposing luxury and migrant workers.

ADM: Is there a thought process or criteria when you are/were documenting your job and coworkers, and making images - you talk about intuition, can you expound on that?

BM: I try my best to not shoot photos when there’s a bad vibe in the air. Usually because of some kind of conflict between the servers. They fight over tips and orders which can be hilarious but sometimes I really have to pull back cause they’re genuinely upset. I’ve noticed that I tend to bring out the camera when everyone is in a good mood. I do make some exceptions though.

ADM: is there a particular image or example, or even a story of when you took your camera out, or documented a time when not everyone was in a good mood?

BM: Yeah I've definitely misread situations and made people angry. Especially when using flash. I remember this one time I made my co-worker angry about something and days later in a staff meeting he brought up how I take pictures of them constantly and how I don't ask for permission and how it's rude. He was sour about something work related. I nearly got fired over it but was able to talk my way out of it. I told my boss that I always keep my camera on me and that most of the guys ask for their portraits. Which is true. But I could've been in big trouble.

ADM: In terms of influence, of influences, photographic or otherwise that shaped the project - if so, what and how did it/they play in?

BM: There’s this artist Ramiro Gomez who makes cardboard cut outs of immigrant workers and places them in front of houses in Beverly Hills. His work has been a huge inspiration for me. The idea of making the immigrant worker look like a hero is what attracts me to his work. I hope to convey that in this project somehow. Both of my parents immigrated here from Mexico and I feel like that has something to do with my obsession with telling that narrative through my work.

ADM: Looking a bit forward, how do you think, or now that the main body of work is done, how have you seen, your approach to photography, and life as well (you mention a different outlook on life earlier) has changed?

BM: Photography remains a mysterious process for me. I’d like to think I’ve gotten better at it but the truth is I just shoot randomly and hope a good one comes out. Knowing that the main body of work is done, I feel anxious to start a new project. But I’m definitely overthinking it. I haven’t even bound this book yet! I will say this, I feel much more connected to my co-workers. It’s fun to pull up old photos from 3 years ago and show them how much weight they’ve gained.

ADM: What advice would you give to someone else documenting their non-photographic worksite or a job?

BM: Start with a bit of show and tell. Bring your fancy camera and show it off to your co-workers. See how they react. I'm willing to bet that things will happen naturally and they'll be asking you to take their photos. Do this for a few days then you're known as the "photo" guy at work. For me, It's gotten to the point that when something funny or unusual is happening my co workers run to my office and say "hurry hurry bring the camera!" Over communicate that you have a passion for shooting photos and be respectful about it.

ADM: From Erwin Recinos: What is the most important aspect of photography that you have applied to your daily life?

BM: Anyone who has gone out into this world alone with a camera in their hands knows that there's this intimate presence of mind that happens. It can put you in a flow state and you become present in that very moment. You notice things you never noticed in your neighborhood before, you hear things you've never heard. It not only calms the mind, but it makes you feel more connected to the world around you. I try to carry this with me into other aspects of my life. This is by far the best thing about photography.

ADM: What question do you have for the next photographer? You can answer it yourself if you'd like.

BM: Why is Photography so easy but yet so hard?

ADM: Where can we find and purchase more of your work? Do you have an estimate on when your book will be available?

BM: If all goes well, I'm looking to release the book early next year. Feel free to hit me up on IG my handle is @bra_sann.

ADM: Any parting words or advice?

BM: I love to connect with people who are passionate about photography so please do reach out and say hi. My advice to any photographer is to never ever compare yourself to others. You should never wrap up your self worth in something as vain as likes on a Instagram post. Everyone's on their own path so don't judge yourself too hard. Realize that your work may never be seen or appreciated for many years to come. It may be that your work is never discovered at all so love the process over the results.

Hi, if you’ve read this far, thanks for reading! We hope you’ve enjoyed the article. Normally this is the part where we stump for donations, but we’d like to contribute to the ongoing protests and would urge you to donate via this link-tree instead (this whole block is a link).

Thanks - The Management.

David Gilbert Wright in conversation with Will Hopkins

June 07, 2020 in interview

David Gilbert Wright in conversation with Will Hopkins

I was first introduced to David Gilbert Wright’s work by Simon Tasker (@simonltasker), I believe. I quickly became enchanted by his portraits of life in the United Kingdom, and his Brick Lane series felt timely for the news of the day. Not only did he make technically good exposures, each of his photos captured some intangible humanity, and the projects come together to form a whole greater than the sum of their parts.

This is the first time David is sharing some of this work. Much like Simon Tasker’s newly-shared early work and the unprinted works of Garry Winogrand and Vivian Maier, there is something exciting about old photos that are also new. Of course, he is continuing to produce new work, and being able to view his early photos alongside contemporary projects adds even more dimension to the body as a whole.

I hope you enjoy David’s photos and storytelling as much as I have, and learn something new from a veteran documentarian.

-Will Hopkins

Will Hopkins (WH): Could you please introduce yourself?

David Gilbert Wright (DGW): I am David Gilbert Wright. I am English and I have been a documentary photographer for over 40 years. I first became interested in photography while I was doing a Foundation Course at Art College. Initially, I wanted to go on and study painting but found that photography was a quicker way of realising my ideas and also a more effective medium in achieving them. So, I went on to study Photography at the prestigious London College of Printing.

WH: What was it like studying Photography at the London College of Printing in the 1970s?

DGW: It was a turbulent time in both the Art world and also in Britain itself. Punk was just beginning and it was really something that had been happening in the Art colleges of England before it hit the mainstream. I was caught up and carried along with it and it was very exciting. We were all searching for ways to be different and break the rules. I realised that, in order to break the rules you had to know them and also be technically very proficient.

I learned about shooting and processing film, which stood me in good stead for the whole of my career. I shoot only film and process and print everything in order to retain control over the final result. Although I post my work on social media platforms and on my website, it is meant to be viewed as prints. Only then do you get the full experience of the the grain texture and size of the result. I don’t consider [myself] a Luddite, more a person deeply involved in achieving the best possible result through my craft.

WH: What equipment do you use?

DGW: Over the years, I have used different cameras depending on the work I was doing. For documentary work, I have generally used 35mm cameras. I used a Pentax KX for many years. Recently, I bought an old, second-hand 1970s Nikon F2. It is a beautiful camera yielding amazing results. During my landscape period I used a Pentax 6x7, and I use that for more formal documentary portraiture as well. I have a darkroom in my home, and like to work alone at my own speed. I have a De-Vere 504 diffuser enlarger. My film preference is Kodak T-Max 400 and Ilford FP4, both processed using standard stock developer and times.

WH: Explain your way of working in the darkroom?

DGW: Making prints is a long, involved process for me because a negative rarely captures everything with the correct tonal values. It stands to reason, the tonal range possible on film is only a hundredth of what it may be in the scene being viewed. So I have to make judgements at the printing stage about what aspects of the image will need work. It is much easier now on a computer but the actual act of manipulating your hands to mask or burn areas of an image and knowing the times involved are what makes the process so enjoyable but also stressful, I might add.

WH: When did you go to Wales to photograph the miners?

DGW: I went to photograph the Welsh miners in 1977. I spent about a week travelling around different mines and villages. I did not shoot much film, preferring to try to see what was happening in front of me and carefully, almost forensically, probe until the right moment arose. At that time, I was not really aware of the need to develop a relationship with the subjects in the way that the great John Collier (Visual Anthropologist) did. Now, I am much more aware of the benefits of inspiring confidence in the people you want to photograph so that they feel at ease and almost forget you are there. It does not reduce the subjectivity of documentary photographs but does allow life to unfold in front of you more readily.

The 1970s had seen a number of strikes by the miners and with the advent of a Conservative Government and Margaret Thatcher, their future looked precarious. Obviously, I was not to know that the miners strike of 1984-5 would become one of the bitterest disputes with the Government, whose aim was to break the power of the unions. However, I could sense something in their faces and that was what I tried to record in my photographs. Looking back on that series, I can see the importance of the photographs as not only historical documents but also as the generation that eventually had to face pit closures, redundancies, mass unemployment and mental health problems. The series only contains around 11 pictures but I believe it contains some of my finest documentary photographs. The other puzzling thing about the series is that it remained unprinted for over 40 years, along with the Brick Lane photographs

WH: When did you take the Brick Lane series?

DGW: It was 1978 and racial tension was rising in Britain. Groups such as the National Front were beginning to express nationalist views, and people were becoming uncomfortable with their message. However, high unemployment, strikes and the formation of ghettoes in the major cities like London, Bradford, Manchester and Leeds provided breeding grounds for racism. I was not aware at the time how important my photographs would become as historical records of the way local people were being subjected to hatred campaigns as they attempted to go about their work. Looking back, I can see now how I captured the signs of stress, poverty and courage of the people living in what was the semi-industrial area of the East-End. I spent a couple of weeks photographing in the area. Later, in 1980, I had to commute on a motorbike through a part of South London. The hatred had spread to that area and this time it manifested as violence and destruction with shops and cars being set on fire at night, windows smashed and gangs at each others’ throats. A scary time for many. If only, we had all seen the signs and acted more quickly in the late 1970s.

PC: David Gilbert Wright (Disappearing Ireland)

WH: You went on to do a series of photographs in Ireland. What was that about?

DGW: The family had their roots in a small hamlet called Knockgarra, Co.Galway. They were a rural people like many in the area. I began the project in the 1980s with the idea of documenting the farming communities of Western Ireland to show my children something about their heritage. Quickly, it became clear that things were changing and ways of life were disappearing. So I continued the project for many years. It spanned two decades and is made up of around 45 photographs that explore the themes of family, religion, childhood, farming, commerce, culture and age. I started to work on building relationships with the people who I was photographing by getting their stories. Usually this happened prior to them agreeing to let me take their picture and through the conversations we had as I photographed them. The series is organised into a narrative story and became my response to how external finance and influence had impacted on a way of life.

WH: Do you work as a photographer now?

DGW: My career has involved me working in a number of photographic roles including a film processor, a studio assistant, a wedding photographer, a medical photographer and free-lance. I also spent many years as a Photography Lecturer. I no longer do commissions or lecturing, working solely on my own projects.

My experience as an Art School student and then as a photography lecturer was to learn and teach photography was best done through projects. Even training to be a photojournalist, as assignments are projects of a kind. Finding a subject and then spending time exploring it photographically and getting to know the people and their stories yields much more interesting results than simply taking pictures of anything and everything. People just setting out as photographers might consider this as it is how many of the great photographers of the past have worked.

PC: David Gilbert Wright (Modern Tribes of England)

WH: With that in mind, what photographers have influenced you most?

DGW: Jaques Henri L’Artigue for his ability to capture everyday life. Cartier Bresson for his "decisive moment" approach, Bill Brandt for the beauty of his prints, Don McCullin for his representation of the Industrial North and Homer Sykes for his ability to find the quirkiness in our English folk festivals.

WH: What are you working on now?

DGW: I am engaged in two projects - Modern Tribes of England and Survivors. The Modern Tribes project is a large undertaking and will probably take many years to complete. It is based on the idea that people naturally join groups and membership of them can improve their sense of wellbeing. There has been a lot of research around this especially in New Zealand. Having a social network to support you and fall back on during difficult times leads to a greater feeling of well-being. It stands to reason. Human beings are social animals and form communities. The groups I have been documenting over the past two years include Morris, Re-Enactors, Pagans, Railway Enthusiasts, Urban Agriculturalists and Climate-Change Activists. Prior to the Pandemic, I was about to begin photographing Goths. My approach is an anthropological one involving getting to know the group members and gaining their trust so they almost forget I am there photographing them. An interesting thing about doing this is that many of the groups have got so used to me being around that they have asked whether I am actually going to join and become a Morris dancer or a Climate-Change Activist. However, my job is to document the groups not to join them.

The other project - Survivors is about people who have experienced serious trauma in their lives and have got through it and grown in wisdom and resilience. It is about the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. The idea has its origins in my own experience. I am a survivor of a stroke and a heart operation. Photography has become my saving grace and enabled me to grow stronger. So, I set out to find people with interesting stories that they wanted to share. I record and transcribe their stories word-for-word. We then work collaboratively to design a portrait. My expectation is that once I have about twenty stories and portraits I will exhibit the work and publish them in a book. The project includes stories such as a medic who served in the Vietnam war, a man pulled under a train and had an outer body experience, a woman whose Aunt, Mum, Dad and husband all died within two years and a young refugee from the war in Yugoslavia. This project has brought me into contact with some incredible individuals. Ordinary people with extraordinary lives.

WH: Do you currently teach?

DGW: No, I don’t teach at the moment as I am working on my own work that consumes all my time.

WH: Have you tried Morris dancing?

DGW: No, I have never tried Morris dancing but been tempted. Maybe one day.

WH: Where do you hope photography as a field will go in the future? Professional photography today looks very different from even just a decade ago. How do you think it might change going forward?

DGW: Professional photography now and in the future seems to have very little room for 'thinking photographers'. News is dominated by moving pictures. Journalists seem to take their own photos. The only places that appear open are social photography, e.g. weddings, school portraits, fashion and advertising. In effect, the commercial aspects that pay for high quality results.

Going forward, photography of my kind will become commodities into high value prints that collectors buy. Alternatively, it will be a space occupied by serious photographers who are not in it for the money. They want to tell stories and express themselves artistically.

WH: From J. Han: If you practice black and white film photography and use a darkroom to print photos, which photographer's (alive or dead) darkroom would you like to have access to and be able to watch work in their workspace?

DGW: The photographer I would most like to meet and work with in his darkroom would undoubtably be Ansel Adams. He is the master of analogue photography. His approach to printing is inspiring. He likened the printing of a negative to conducting an orchestra. The negative is like the musical score. The musical score can be performed in many different ways depending on how the conductor interprets it. Likewise, a negative can be printed in many ways depending on what the printer wishes to accentuate. So for me, the printing stage can be a highly creative experience and to be in Ansel Adams’ darkroom using his equipment and even being guided by him would be exhilarating.

WH: What question do you have for the next photographer? You can answer it yourself if you’d like.

DGW: If you could travel back in time, which photographer from history would you most like to interview for this magazine, and why?

ED: To find more of David's work, you can visit his website Davidwright.photography or on instagram at @davidgilbertwright

Hi, if you’ve read this far, thank you. Normally this is where we’d stump for money but, in light of the ongoing protests, we’d like to encourage you to donate to a cause supporting them instead. This whole block is a link to a link tree of resources.

Thanks,

The Management.