An interview with Homer Sykes
An interview with Homer Sykes
copyright Emma Drabble
RH: Tell me a little about yourself.
HS: I am a professional magazine and documentary photographer. My principal commissions in Britain during the 1970's - 1980's, were for what used to be called the "weekend colour supplements" such as The Telegraph, The Sunday Times, The Observer, You and the Sunday Express magazines. I covered weekly news for Newsweek, Time, and the former Now! Magazine; covering conflicts in Israel, Lebanon, and Northern Ireland, as well as weekly news in the UK. Over the last fifty years I have shot numerous magazine portraits of the famous and not so famous - at home, at work and at play. I have always worked on personal photographic documentary projects along side commercial magazine assignments. In the 1970's I started on what has become an on going career project documenting traditional British folklore customs and annual events. In 1977 my first book was published Once a Year, Some Traditional British Customs (Gordon Fraser). In 2016 Dewi Lewis Publishing re-published this volume with over 50 'new' images from my archive. I am the author, and co-author-photographer of nine books about Britain as well as Shanghai Odyssey (Dewi Lewis Publishing) and On the Road Again (Mansion Editions). The latter, an American project, was started in 1969, while I was at college. The photographic road trip was repeated in 1971, the work was then put away for thirty years, and in 1999 and 2001 I travelled once again by Greyhound bus criss-crossing America documenting the ‘down home’ idiosyncrasy of everyday middle America. In 2002 I set up my one-man band self-publishing concern Mansion Editions. To date Mansion Editions has published On the Road Again and Hunting with Hounds. More recently Cafe Royal Books have published 20 zines of my work.
Planning
copyright Homer Sykes
RH: What attracted and inspired you to your current documentary project?
HS:The prospect of the work being published in book form.
RH: Can you talk us through the planning stage for your project?
HS: I'm reworking bodies of work completed over the last 50 years, expanding and bringing subjects matters up to date.
RH: Is there anything you wish you had done differently?
No
Implementation and Completion
copyright Homer Sykes
RH: How have you dealt with any challenges and difficulties within your project?
HS: Thought more about what i hope and want to say.
RH: How long do your projects tend to take from start to finish?
HS: Depends on the project. anything from a few days, up to many years.
Editing and Sequencing
copyright Homer Sykes
RH: Do have several images to edit of one fleeting moment or do you have one well-constructed precise image that you have captured?
HS: I photograph ‘fleeting moments’, and usually many images are made in order to construct the precise eventual image that may in time be disregarded.
RH:Within the editing stages, have you felt the project has taken on a different narrative than first envisaged?
HS: Often
Tips and hints
copyright Homer Sykes
RH: What would you recommend for people starting their own photographic project?
HS:
- Look at what other people have done, and think about what you are interested in.
- Realize it’s not about inspiration only, but it is always about application
- Work harder
- Be visually flexible.
- Read about and understand the subject, know what you want to say.
RH: Does the camera really matter?
HS: The camera doesn’t take the photograph. it’s brain, eye, and hand coordination.
RH:Any books you would recommend reading to get the creativity started?
HS: Once a year: some traditional British customs, my British archive: the way we were 1968-1983, hunting with hounds. and of course the photo books by the great American street photographers of the 1960s and 1970s, and many hcb books.
RH: Would you recommend attending photography workshops?
HS: Yes, but it depends at what level you make photographs.
copyright Homer Sykes
copyright Homer Sykes
copyright Homer Sykes
If you want to see more work from homer.
https://homersykes.photoshelter.com
An interview with Peter Dench
Interview with Peter Dench
copyright Peter Dench
- Made in England 1972
- Photographer; Videographer; Presenter; Writer; Author & Curator.
- Over 20 years experience in the advertising, editorial, corporate, portraiture and video fields of image making.
- Achievements include: World Press Photo award in the People in the News Stories category and participation in the World Press Joop Masterclass. Football's Hidden Story, a FIFA sponsored reportage comprising 26 stories across 20 different countries, received six global accolades.
- Solo books published include: THE DENCH DOZEN: Great Britons of Photography Vol 1; Dench Does Dallas; The British Abroad; A&E: Alcohol & England & England Uncensored.
- Written contributions have been commissioned for the New Yorker, Telegraph magazine and the film making and photography journal, Hungry Eye.
- TV presenting credits include Channel 4 News: What is it to be English?
- Dench is a Visionary for Olympus cameras.
copyright Peter Dench- England Uncensored
Interview
Planning
RH: What attracted and inspired you to your current documentary project England Uncensored?
PD: As a photojournalist I’ve had the privilege to work on assignment in over 60 countries across the globe, but it’s towards England I consistently point my lens, it’s my home, my passion and it’s people are the ones I want to understand most.
RH: Can you talk us through the planning stage for your project?
PD: If you say you’re going to document a community, a town or a country, it’s a daunting task. I try to break it down into manageable themes: alcohol, love, food, the weather, ethnicity, fashion etc and manageable geographical locations: the north, south, east and west. Then you just have to get out there and start making pictures.
RH: Is there anything you wish you had done differently?
PD: Not really. it was my first significant reportage and book and I learnt a lot from the process.
copryright Peter Dench- England uncensored
Implementation and Completion
RH: How have you dealt with any challenges and difficulties within your project?
PD: Funding the work and producing the book is always a challenge. Leaving loved ones behind to travel long distances to photograph for no tangible reward is a challenge. Maintaining belief in what you want to achieve matters is a challenge!
RH: How long do your projects tend to take from start to finish?
PD: The first few took around 8-10 years but I’m 47 now. If each reportage took that long to finish, I’d only have a few left. I now try and do one a year. Get it done and get it out there.
copyright Peter Dench - England Uncensored
Editing and Sequencing
RH: Do have several images to edit of one fleeting moment or do you have one well-constructed precise image that you have captured?
The intention, although not always possible, is to take one image that delivers a precise message. I think I got close to that with the image of a couple kissing while a man is sick nearby which you can read about here.
RH: Within the editing stages, have you felt the project has taken on a different narrative than first envisaged?
Some photojournalists think you have to have a clear idea of what you want to say then go out and get the pictures that say it. I tend to shoot the pictures then decide on what I want to say and the narrative in the editing process.
copyright Peter Dench - England Uncensored
Tips and hints
RH: What would you recommend for people starting their own photographic project?
Trust your instinct. If you have an idea that won’t go away, shoot it. If your excited about it, there’s probably an audience for it.
RH: Does the camera really matter?
Yes and no. Cameras are of course necessary (unless you’re a more conceptual artist and just appropriate ‘found images’). I need a camera that captures what I see quickly and without fuss. My system of choice is the aesthetically pleasing, lightweight, weatherproof and mobile Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark IImicro four thirds mirrorless system.
RH: Any books you would recommend reading to get the creativity started?
As a younger man, Jack Kerouac’s, On The Road, got me fired up. I get a lot of inspiration from columnists like Jon Ronson and Danny Wallace (not the footballer). My go-to photo books are Bill Eggleston and the phenomenal iWitness by Tom Stoddart.
RH: Would you recommend attending photography workshops?
Only mine :-)
You can find more of Peter's work here http://www.peterdench.com
copyright Peter Dench - England Uncensored
copyright Peter Dench - England Uncensored
copyright Peter Dench - England Uncensored
An interview with Andrea Ratto
An interview with Andrea Ratto
copy right Andrea Ratto
Andrea was born in Genova (Italy) in 1976, he was based in A Coruña (Spain) since 2005. Andrea have been attracted to photography from a young age. The camera has accompanied him on my trips across the world. In recent years Andrea has been drawn to the street photography, which now he sees as means way to documenting society with a critical view.
In 2017 Andrea walked the streets of 26 European countries with my camera in a fully independent journey, taking about 85,000 photos.
copy right Andrea Ratto - Europa
Planning
RH: What attracted and inspired you to your current documentary project?
AR: For me, before getting into a project, it is essential to be attracted to it: in general there must be something that catches my attention and intrigues me to the point of deciding to investigate more. This has happened with "Europe" and now with the project in which I am working on: Gentrification in the Madrid district of Lavapiés. I also keep in mind how interesting and useful it can be for the general public or small communities.
RH: Can you talk us through the planning stage for your project?
AR: After having decided the theme of the project, a documentation phase begins that is very important because it prepares me to be more attentive to what I am interested in looking for, sometimes even in a subconscious way. My documentary projects are currently carried out with the use of a candid / unstaged photography, and for this reason it is a great help to be able to work without thinking too much when i stay out with the camera because, in other way, the risk is that i can lose a lot of what is happening. So I follow my instinct and what catches my attention the most. Well, if the initial documentation phase is kept alive during the realization of the project, what you need and what you are looking for will coincide with what instinctively catches your attention. Or so it works on me.
RH: Is there anything you wish you had done differently?
AR: I believe that it is always possible to do things in a better way. But ultimately when you do a photographic project, even if it is a documentary project, you will end up talking more about yourself than about something else. And when I did "Europe", I was the one that can be deduced by looking at the book. If you are asking me more simply for the realization of the project, obviously there are many things that may not go as planned and I think the more you can control the process and the better it will be. On the other hand you also have to be able to improvise and know how to change with the work already underway.
copy right Andrea Ratto - Europa
Implementation and Completion
RH: How have you dealt with any challenges and difficulties within your project?
AR: Very calm, I think the best thing is to forget everything and focus on a own vision.
The worst thing that can be done is to try to please others. My project wanted to look for the essence of contemporary European society, something very broad and undefined and if I had not focused on what I think and am, I would not have been able to move forward. From a more practical point of view, avoid thinking about going to get the perfect work can be a great help because it allows you to move forward and not block. I do not believe at all in the perfect photo and less in a perfect work, come on, I do not believe at all in perfection in general.
RH: How long do your projects tend to take from start to finish?
AR: There is no general rule, each project is different. What I can say is that it is not something that can be scheduled in advance. Or at least, I do not like it that way. I am lucky to work on my projects in a completely independent way and I do not have dates to respect as if they were commissioned. I can think of spending time on a project but if it's going to take me twice as long then it does not scare me. "Europe" took me more than a year and a half and I had to deal with the problem of wanting to talk about contemporary "Europe" and for this I could not take 10 years to complete it. The Gentrification in Lavapiés project is still underway with the participation of sociologist Marta Morán and we may close it in just under a year.
copy right Andrea Ratto - Europa
Editing and Sequencing
RH: Do have several images to edit of one fleeting moment or do you have one well-constructed precise image that you have captured?
AR: It depends, I do not always work in the same way and I think it's important to stop and try new things sometimes. In general I usually get 2 or 3 images for each scene and I don’t wait long time in one place. Following what I said before I do not believe in a perfect image and I do not look for it. I am interested in capturing the scenes with naturalness to be closer to reality or at least to the idea of reality that i have.
RH: Within the editing stages, have you felt the project has taken on a different narrative than first envisaged?
AR: This is inevitable because the realization of the project always grows and matures the ideas that had at first and according to them is adapting the narrative form. The experience of the project is something that must be fully lived, it is a fundamental part of the project itself, it changes everything, constantly. Another thing is knowing how to shape the whole in the final phase of selection of photos and editing. I think that's where the project really takes its final form.
copy right Andrea Ratto - Europa
Tips and hints
RH: What would you recommend for people starting their own photographic project?
AR: I can recommend not to be in a hurry and to be very sure of the argument because it is how to choose a job, then you have to do it. You are going to dedicate the most valuable thing you have, your time. So be a project that serves you first as a person.
RH: Does the camera really matter?
AR: The camera is an instrument, nothing more, but I think that each one has to be comfortable with the one he uses. The most important thing in my case was that I used a fairly small camera because I had to travel a lot and it facilitated my transportation. On the other hand I think the election of the lens is interesting because it confers a specific character to the pictures. I worked with a 23mm apsc almost all the time. But if you're asking me about brands, I can tell you that they're all good.
RH: Any books you would recommend reading to get the creativity started?
AR: I think the most inspiring thing is to see other projects and realize that they offer well-documented and, sometimes, unexpected points of view. If I have to recommend a book, I would say "About Photography" by Susan Sontag: and not only because of what the author says in the book, sometimes I do not agree 100%, but for the reflections she invites to do.
RH: Would you recommend attending photography workshops?
Yeah sure ! It also depends on who gives it and taking into account that not always a great photographer is a good educator and vice versa.
copy right Andrea Ratto - Europa
copy right Andrea Ratto - Europa
Find out more about Andrea's work
https://www.instagram.com/andreratto/
An interview with Jim Mortram
Interview with Jim Mortram
copyright Jim Mortram
Jim Mortram, is a British social documentary photographer and writer, based in Norfolk His ongoing project, Small Town Inertia, records the lives of a number of disadvantaged and marginalised people living near to his home, in order to tell stories, he believes are under-reported.
His photographs and writing are published on his website, in a few zines published bycafé royal books in 2013, and in the book Small Town Inertia published by Bluecoat Press in 2017.
copyright Jim Mortram - Small Town Inertia
Planning
RH: What attracted and inspired you to your current documentary project?
JM: Being a carer, subsisting on Benefits, seeing the most vulnerable in my town marginalized ever further bu Austerity, the apathy and spin of MSM, the apathy of society.
RH: Can you talk us through the planning stage for your project?
JM:It's not a project, it's life. I got loaned a camera and started, learning as I went.
RH: Is there anything you wish you had done differently?
JM: Taken a break (s) instead of working flat out of a decade.
copyright Jim Mortram - Small Town Inertia
Implementation and Completion
RH: How have you dealt with any challenges and difficulties within your project?
JM: Like water finds the river, you just have to find solutions to the seemingly infinite challenges of devoting a life to a long form body of work, forming real, lasting and loving relationships with my community and the communities online have been lifesaving and work enabling.
RH: How long do your projects tend to take from start to finish?
JM: It started when I got loaned a camera, it'll end when I'm dead.
copyright Jim Mortram - Small Town Inertia
Editing and Sequencing
RH: Do have several images to edit of one fleeting moment or do you have one well-constructed precise image that you have captured?
JM: No rules, I work on instinct empowered by experience, if it feels right, it is.
RH: Within the editing stages, have you felt the project has taken on a different narrative than first envisaged?
JM: Nope, I work to fulfil the story shared to me, not to subvert it to suit my own ideas, I am in the service of the person I am making photographs with, not they, I.
copyright Jim Mortram - Small Town Inertia
Tips and hints
RH: What would you recommend for people starting their own photographic project?
JM: Make work about something you really, really give a fuck about.
RH: Does the camera really matter?
JM: A camera is a paperweight until you pick it up, what matters is the intent we bring to an inanimate tool.
RH: Any books you would recommend reading to get the creativity started?
JM: Don't look at photography books for inspiration, look at them to learn something for yourself, your being, if you look at them to teach you how to make a photograph, you'll end up copying, being influenced, give those books the respect they deserve, look at them with your heart. I'd suggest watching cinema, reading literature, poetry, academic works, listen to music, hell, all of life is inspiration, number one, engage with the people around you, talk with them, LISTEN to them, learn from them, be a part of your community, not and never apart from it.
RH: Would you recommend attending photography workshops?
JM: If you have the dime, why not?, it's your call, not my bag though, if I want to learn to do
something, I'll just keep kicking the wall till it topples.
Find out more at
https://smalltowninertia.co.uk
https://www.instagram.com/smalltowninertia
https://smalltowninertia.tumblr.com
copyright Jim Mortram - Small Town Inertia
copyright Jim Mortram - Small Town Inertia
ONlY in Plymouth
Only in Plymouth
I have been focusing on my project for the last few weeks hence why there has not been many blogs over the last few weeks.
Check out the full series ONLY in PLymouth
I have been photographing people around Plymouth for the last year and half, I have been working this project which has gone from a street style to a documentary style project. I have become increasingly interested in the social dynamics within anthropological society. The Plymothians have a very extrovert way of presenting themselves with the 1950s architecture as the back drop for my Portraits, I wanted to create a meaningful project.
Plymouth
Originally, Plymouth was 3 individual large towns and villages: Plymouth Dock (now referred to as Devonport), County borough of Plymouth and Urban district in 1928; the three towns became one thus being called Plymouth City. Plymouth is one of the largest cities in West Country; Devonport put Plymouth on the map as one of the leading ship yards in the UK. Commercial shipping in Devonport handled imports from China to America the contents of the imports were copper lining, clay and many other mining exports.
Now fast forward a few years!
History
1940 to 1944 the city of Plymouth was bombed 59 times during World War 2; this meant that the city (shopping area) was almost flattened through this period of time. In1941 lorries ferried the children of Plymouth up to little villages on Dartmoor to protect the future of the city; 1,172 civilians were killed and 4,448 were injured. Now 263,100 people live in Plymouth, making the city the 30th most populated area in the UK. I believe the city has survived astonishing times, as a result, the people of Plymouth has become very diverse and out spoken but also unique and individual therefore making some real great street photography moments.
The Architecture
Most of the buildings within Plymouth have become Grade 2 listed, with a grey face to most of the buildings in the city which gives of a bleak feeling when walking around the wide roads of the pedestrianised area which occurred in the late 1980’s. The reasoning behind the wide pedestrianised space was for; aesthetic reasons and shoppers safety while reducing traffic congestion. There are less bus routes in Plymouth and more roads designed again to minimise congestion. 1950s was the time of the Soviet Union and the Cold War, this is really projected through the architecture around Plymouth. Kevin Mcloud said that, “Plymouth will be poorer if it loses theses 1950 building and becomes a faceless city.” The future of Plymouth will be regenerated by 2021 losing much of the grey, over powering buildings. The Civic Centre, which can be seen by the image below, was planned to be demolished but has now been saved by giving it a Grade 2 listing, it’s said that the very top floors would sway slightly in strong winds; it was once an architecture master piece. With all this churning around in my mind, the prospect of photography around Plymouth is almost immersive of 1950s architecture allowing me to capture images that look ‘stuck’ in the past, the unique subject then bringing a modern twist to the images.
Why boring pictures of shops?
“These are my own thoughts and theories”
I have noticed within Plymouth the divide between the different social classes is increasing. The new Drakes circus shopping centre is where the more expressive and premium shops are with the likes of Apple and other big named shops as Boots and high-end jewellers. When photographing people who are eccentric or have an independent style, I find it hard to place context to the location or rationale of series street portraits. When I started to photograph around Plymouth on a regular basis (often for long extensive days), I was often looking at the shops and wondering why there would be three betting shops next to each other and McDonalds then KFC. The location I photograph in is called the west end with a big indoor market which was once the life line of Plymouth, over the last few years the market has had 1.3 million in renovations. As I was walking around Plymouth from Drakes circus (often referred to as the top of town) to the West end (often referred to as the bottom of town) I noticed that there wouldn’t be any bet shops up at the “posh end” Drakes shopping centre. I believe that the more economically deprived population are choosing to go down to the West end of the city centre as there for more shops targeting the poorer population. Data collected by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reveals there is now one short-term loan store for every seven banks or building societies on the high street.
(https://www.theguardian.com/money/datablog/2014/mar/12/payday-lending-shops-boom-in-uk-the-full-data)
I started to research theories around keeping the poor poor and the rich rich; by doing this the shops at the West End are targeting that fact that people are increasingly in need of money and require quick loans, but Drakes shopping centre is advertised as the go-to place in Devon for shopping whereas the west end is not mentioned. Through the project, I have found out many people do not venture to the west end of city shopping area as they feel out of place, do not use those shops or are afraid of the types of stereotyped people that shop or hang out in this area. However, having said all of this, Plymouth University has spent nearly 300k on a big screen that is attached to a building called the Box, unfortunately they are unable to display any images because of a dispute over moving images adjacent to a major road. I know money comes from different pots and streams of funding but over the last few years, there has been an increasingly massive investment of money into Plymouth from visitors and students that certain areas like the west continue to be deprived therefore similar style shops continue to target the more poverty stricken residents. So, with the theory over, I have started taking photos of the shops around Devonport and the West End in a straight format without adding too much excitement. I have been inspired by Martin Parr’s “Boring postcards” and Simon Roberts “Motherland”; I thought it would be a good idea to start to add depth to my street portraiture by adding these images that contextualise to the location; I am creating a back drop and story to the people and letting the viewer immerse themselves in the city of Plymouth.
Project focus
My project starts off by photographing the people of Plymouth; initially I was intrigued by the style of the people of Plymouth; they don’t necessarily conform to current fashions. Having had my work published in digital camera magazine; I felt empowered and enthusiastic to return to my “Only in Plymouth” project. I started photographing purely ‘subjects’ but in order to relate it to the Plymouth area I moved onto photographing buildings and other interesting things in and around the City. I would like my project to be taken seriously; I am based in the West Country and while it isn’t necessarily hard to photograph “street”, to make a project feel urban and have a ‘bit of grit’ to the images is often difficult; I feel this is due the back group of the sea and coastline in many of the coastal towns. For example, I find that the City of Exeter (45 miles from Plymouth) has a very different culture and environmental feel as Plymouth. The overall focus of the Plymouth series is to create a dynamic and interesting series of images depicting one of the biggest coastal cities in the UK, I want the viewer to look at the series and be able to feel and have a sense of being in the middle of Plymouth.
Plymothians
The term “Janners” now almost exclusively applies to the inhabitants of Plymouth, it is commonly used and many are proud to say they are a ‘Janner’. From my experiences I have found the people of Plymouth the most interesting and fun to observe and photograph; I think this is because of the interesting and disjointed lay out of the city centre encouraging the shoppers to almost wander aimlessly between the shops making it very exciting to photograph. I have had very few negative vibes from photographing people in a street style. When I first started photographing people in Plymouth the overall feeling of the architecture felt oppressing, but I have grown to really enjoy the feeling of Plymouth and the interesting subjects that call this super cool city home. The most part of photographing the Plymothians have been really enjoyable, the only thing is often I’m looked at oddly because I’m the only one on the street photographing the people and city. The city has a theatrical feeling to be able to walk around the city and create my own view has been greatly enjoyable.
Devonport
Devonport has had 13 retired Royal Navy submarines few of which were removed from service almost 30 years ago. According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), a further seven sit rusting waiting to be recycled at Rosyth in Scotland, meaning that means a total of 20 Navy submarines are waiting disposal there could be at least seven more returning from duty by 2030 to rust away at Devonport.
The MoD says the rusting submarines in Plymouth - whose number include the HMS Conqueror which sank the Belgrano 36 years ago during the Falklands War - are “safely stored” and subject to rigorous checks. .Also, the people of Devonport and Plymouth have no measurable increase of nuclear exposure
With all this in mind, I wanted to go to Devonport to photograph the houses and town surrounding it. I found the area very quiet but it had a cowboy and western feeling; I just needed a tumble weed to roll through as I walked around. The lack of people around was possibly because most were venturing into the city centre as Devonport has been hit hard from the recession and has not recovered. I photographed interesting buildings and shops that, in their day, were very grand but now look very run down. I found the area very interesting visually because of the empty streets and the very Victorian and industrial feeling parts of the area gave me. I chose to photograph the buildings in a pictorial way with straight lines and face on; again taking influence from: Martin Parr, Simon Roberts, Nick Turpin, Zed Nelson and Murray Ballard. I feel my photography and style is greatly shaped by these professional documentary and street photographers. As I reflect on my walking around Devonport I felt depressed and very negative from this area, however, I will be returning. But for now, the images I have captured speak volumes about the overall feeling of this area.