Alec Soth on show julia margaret cameron bicentenary Perou acts the clown DJI Phantom 3 pro drone on test Special report: studios for hire How to pitch to picture editors Issue #02
bruce gilden
in your face
_Welcome
letter from the editor developing your own way of seeing the world
W
ho is the greatest ever female photographer? There are no shortage of answers to this question. Leibowitz, Moon, Arbus, Lange, Sherman, Goldin, Bourke-White... I’m sure we could all come up with a worthy list of inspirational and talented women who have stood behind a camera. For my money, one of the strongest contenders for the title would be Julia Margaret Cameron. To make the hall of fame, the photographer and her work must have stood the test of time. On that metric, Cameron takes some beating. She’s been causing a stir with her images for 150 years – and is one of the very few Victorian pioneers of photography that anyone remembers the name of. Julia Margaret Cameron was born 200 years ago this year, and this bicentenary is being celebrated with exhibitions and events around the world. Two major shows are currently being displayed in London alone. And we join in this
remarkable birthday party with our major feature on page 14 of this issue. Sexism is as undoubtedly as rife in the photographic profession as it is in many walks of life. Fortunately, in most places, attitudes have improved in our own lifetimes. It’s hard to imagine, however, how Cameron coped with the snide remarks and open criticism of her work. Constantly experimenting, she dared to shoot her portraits in a way that the gentleman practitioners of the day could not comprehend. The ridicule directed at her soft-focus effects and inventive posing by a male-dominated society may have put most of us off. It’s a lesson to us all for us to stick with developing our own way of seeing the world. Julia Margaret Cameron is not just an inspiration to women, but also to anyone out there who’s still trying to find their particular passion or speciality. Cameron was in her late forties when she was first given a camera by her daughter as a birthday present. Her story therefore is also one of hope – and particularly so for old duffers like me! Chris George Group Editor-in-chief chris.george@futurenet.com
Next issue featuring Steve McCurry, Michael Kenna and Mary Ellen Mark, on sale FROM 10 DEcember. Subscribe Now and Never miss an issue – see page 112. DECEMBER 2015 _ PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY _ 3
Contents Issue 2 / December 2015 /
@prophotomag
facebook.com/prophotomag
Profiles Bruce Gilden 8 Street photographer Bruce Gilden on his controversial ‘ugly portraits’ Julia Margaret Cameron 14 A look at the life of the remarkable Victorian photographic pioneer Alec Soth Behind the current exhibition of off‑beat American portraits
22
Tomas Werner 28 The social media sensation on his photographs of a dog in Miami Acting the clown 32 Perou on personal branding and the egomania of all photographers
22
Alec Soth: little book machine
52
Personal project: Stuart freedman’s coffee houses
Rising stars Ray Collins A coal miner who specialises in fine‑art photographs of waves
40
SIEGFRIED Hansen 46 Proving that you can find beauty in the most uninspiring urban settings
Personal projects Ordinary Joe 52 Stuart Freedman documents India’s working class coffee house culture Ukrainian symphony 58 Simon Crofts shows how Ukraine is more complex than we realise
4 _ PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY _ DECEMBER 2015
free calendar turn to page 117
The Business Marketing 78 Strategies that work and pitfalls to avoid when promoting your business Round table 84 Industry insiders discuss the best way to pitch to picture editors Studio hire 90 If you need space, what can studios offer? What should you watch for? My space 96 Marine photographer Kos Evans on her indoor and floating workspaces
32
Perou: acting the clown
90
Studios for hire
Regulars
46
Siegfried Hansen: hold the line
Martin Middlebrook News Calendar Expos & festivals Bookshelf Read this... Pro kit The long view Next month Subscription offers Lottie Davies
51 66 70 72 74 75 99 106 111 112 114
DECEMBER 2015 _ PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY _ 5
Contributors Issue 2 / December 2015 /
@prophotomag
facebook.com/prophotomag
This month’s featured pros
Just some of the photographers, industry experts and writers that feature in our second issue…
Bruce Gilden
perou
Ray Collins
For Gilden’s latest street photography project he shows his subjects warts and all – and even actually asks their permission to take his close-ups.
The celebrity photographer turns the lens on himself and acts up for the camera by dressing himself up as a circus clown.
Australian fine-art photographer Collins gives new meaning to catching a wave with his beautiful high-speed shots of the sea.
Alec Soth
siegfried hansen
The American Magnum photographer arrives in London for his first UK show. He finds time to talk to us about his large-scale projects.
One of our rising stars featured this issue, Hansen is fast developing a reputation as one of the street photographers to watch.
Martin Middlebrook
stuart freedman
simon Crofts
We find Middlebrook in a good mood as he falls in love again with printed pictures. His monthly column tells the full story of his exhibition prints.
A well-known chain of coffee shops is the focus for Freedman’s personal project – but there isn’t a Starbucks or Costa in sight!
Called simply Expectations, Crofts’s new book looks at the lives, fears and aspirations of the people living in modern Ukraine.
marta Weiss
lauren steel
rosella vanon
The Director of Photography at Getty Images is one of the experts in our Round Table debate on the best way to get your work seen by picture editors.
Our special report this month is on hiring studios. Vanon gives a fashion photographer’s insight into what to look out for when renting space.
Kos evans
peter lik
ross hoddinott
Sailing specialist Kos Evans shows us around the two workspaces she uses to run her business – a converted stable and a high-speed motorboat.
The man who sold one image for $6 million shares some of his tactics in our feature on successful marketing strategies for photographers.
We asked Hoddinott to recommend a book that other photographers should read. It was no surprise that it was a photo book about wildlife conservation.
page 114
In the second of her columns on the tribulations of the working photographer, Davies shares her passion for good old-fashioned film.
The curator of photography at the Victoria & Albert Museum explains why sexism in photography dates back over 150 years.
Acting features editor Kathrine Anker Art editor Michelle McLaren michelle.mclaren@futurenet.com Designer Rosie Webber rosie.webber@futurenet.com Operations editor Steven Raynes steven.raynes@futurenet.com Head of testing Angela Nicholson angela.nicholson@futurenet.com
page 90
page 78
Editorial contributors
Launch editor Chris George chris.george@futurenet.com
page 58
page 84
page 96
Editorial
page 46
page 52
Mike coppola/getty
page 51
page 14
page 40
page 22
Mike McGregor
Lottie Davies
Page 32 slash
page 8
Guy Aubertin, Ben Brain, Julia Margaret Cameron, David Clark, Nick Cooper, Steve Davey, Robert DiScalfani, Rob Durston, Steve Fairclough, Jack Foley, Matt Golowczynski, Juan Carlos Gonzales, Nigel Harniman, Geoff Harris, Magdalena Herrera, Ali Jennings, Jon Jones, Dan M Lee, Beata Lubas, Kevin Mullins, Steve Neaves, Zach Prez, Matthew Richards, Ed Ricketts, Luke Ryan, Dane Sanders, Nik Stewert, Alex Summersby, Amber Terranova, Tomáš Werner
Future is an award-winning international media group and leading digital business. We reach more than 49 million international consumers a month, and create world-class content and advertising for passionate consumers online, on tablet and smartphone, and in print.
Advertising
Advertising manager Sasha McGregor sasha.mcgregor@futurenet.com Account director Matt Bailey matt.bailey@futurenet.com Account manager Claire Harris claire.harris@futurenet.com
Page 75
Licensing
International director Regina Erak regina.erak@futurenet.com +44 (0)1225 442244 Fax +44 (0)1225 732275
Management
Group editor-in-chief Chris George
Circulation
Group art director Rodney Dive
Production and distribution Production coordinator Vivienne Calvert
Content & Marketing director Nial Ferguson
Trade marketing manager Michelle Brock +44 (0)20 7429 4000
Future plc is a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FUTR). www.futureplc.com
Head of Content & Marketing: Photography, Creative & Design Matthew Pierce
Chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne Non-executive chairman Peter Allen Chief financial officer Penny Ladkin-Brand Tel +44 (0)20 7042 4000 (London) Tel +44 (0)1225 442244 (Bath)
All contents copyright © 2015 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced, stored, transmitted or used in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales. Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price and other details of products or services referred to in this publication. Apps and websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for their contents or any changes or updates to them. If you submit unsolicited material to us, you automatically grant Future a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in all editions of the magazine, including licensed editions worldwide and in any physical or digital format throughout the world. Any material you submit is sent at your risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future nor its employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable for loss or damage.
6 _ PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY _ DECEMBER 2015
Subscriptions & back issues
Order line & enquiries: +44 (0)1604 251045 Online enquiries: www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk Email: prophoto@myfavouritemagazines.co.uk Printed in the UK by William Gibbons on behalf of Future. Distributed in the UK by Seymour Distribution Ltd, 2 East Poultry Ave, London EC1A 9PT. Tel: +44 (0)20 7429 4000
We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived from well managed, certified forestry and chlorine-free manufacture. Future Publishing and its paper suppliers have been independently certified in accordance with the rules of the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council).
00_ PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY _ DECEMBER 2015
Bruce _ Gilden _ Profile
In your Street photographer Bruce Gilden has caused a stir in the media with his ugly portraits, but the project also stirred up his own approach to photography
Terry at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, 2014
If you search for Bruce Gilden on YouTube, you can get a pretty good idea of how the street photographer and Magnum member normally works. He moves swiftly in the crowd, against the stream, so he can capture people’s faces in a flash. Before they know it, unsuspecting passers-by have become part of Gilden’s collection of characters. He’s comfortable with what he does, and he knows that he doesn’t need to ask for permission. DECEMBER 2015 _ PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY _ 9
[Above] Trent at the Minnesota State Fair in Minneapolis, 2014 [Right] Dewayn at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, 2014
[Above] Trent at the Minnesota State Fair in Minneapolis, 2014 [Right] Dewayn at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, 2014
There was one lady who looked at her picture and said, ‘I’m beautiful!’ Amber, an escort in Las Vegas, 2014
For his latest book, Face, Gilden adopted a different approach. Travelling to state fairs around the US and to a string of British towns, he selectively approached interesting-looking people and asked if he could take their pictures. He showed his subjects their portraits if they asked, and explained to them that these would not be your typical magazine shoots. Gilden’s new faces distinguish themselves from his trademark black-and-white analogue documentary photographs by being cropped tighter, and by being shot digitally and in colour. “I’ve wanted to do a project like this for about 20 years, but if I’d done it any earlier, it would have been in black and white, because I see in black and white,” he says. It was a commission from Leica, via Magnum, that spurred the change. As part of the ongoing Magnum project, ‘Postcards of America’, Gilden was lent a new digital Leica S to take with
10 _ PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY _ DECEMBER 2015
him to Miami, Florida. He wasn’t convinced at first, but he was getting tired of doing the same thing over and over, so he decided to give colour a proper go. Then came a change of perspective. “When I got the Leica, I went out to test it and shot one face, and because I was using a different lens to what I’d normally use, that’s how the idea of the close-up portrait started to form.” Gilden’s faces are strangely captivating, but critics are divided as to whether Gilden humanises or dehumanises his subjects by portraying them in such realistic and unflattering detail. The portraits hide nothing – the subjects’ blemishes, stubble, pimples, scars and veins are all included in what one Guardian writer describes as ‘latter-day freak shows’. Unsurprisingly, Gilden is unfazed by the criticism. “Some people love it; some have difficulties with it. Those probably don’t know much about what life is like out on the streets.” Only Gilden knows how the subjects reacted to being photographed in the first place. “There was one lady who looked at her picture and said, ‘I’m beautiful!’ There are a lot of people who don’t speak to anybody all day. Some would speak to me for hours. I realised that I lift their spirits up. This was one of the surprises I had. Not that that was my original motive – my motive was totally visual.” Gilden swapped his usual stomping ground, the streets of Manhattan, for
NOVEMBER 2015 _ PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY _ 21
[Above] Jane at the Wisconsin State Fair in Milwaukee, 2014 [Right] Peter at the bus station in West Bromwich, 2014
I realised that I lift their spirits up. This was one of the surprises I had. [Above] Debbie in West Bromwich, 2014
the big state fairs around the US because he was looking for interesting characters. “There are more people in one place, and therefore a higher chance of finding people who are interesting visually, and by that I don’t mean perfect,” he explains. “I try to show what I see. It’s a big contrast to the magazines that show celebrities and models. I think those magazines are doing a lot of damage to our psyche, teaching young kids that they need to have bigger breasts or smaller noses or skinnier thighs. My people are real.” In a part of the world where people will hunt you down with pitchforks if you try to take pictures of their children, Gilden met with almost no resistance when approaching teenagers and their parents at the agricultural part of the Minnesota State Fair. “I generally don’t photograph young people, but these 16-17 year-olds have grown up in such a different environment to
12 _ PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY _ DECEMBER 2015
where I grew up in Brooklyn. I was surprised that 90 per cent of the parents I asked at the fair agreed to let me photograph their kids. Normally in the States, parents are very defensive.” Another positive surprise was an email Gilden received from a Christian who had seen his book. “She had found it difficult to look at the faces, but then she thought, ‘What would Jesus do?’ And Jesus spoke to the people that nobody else wanted to speak to. I’m not religious, but it was nice that the woman had seen it that way.” In any case, Gilden is happy for viewers to make up their own minds. “I hope people look at my pictures and make up their own stories. If they saw the same things as me, it would be boring.” With no post production, and all the cropping of the close-up faces done in camera, Gilden has come to appreciate the benefits of digital photography. “Digital is a drug. I used to think that if you see what you’re doing, you’ll stop once you get what you wanted, and lose out on opportunities to try different things. But now I think it’s great that you can see if you’re working correctly. I couldn’t have done the Face book so well if I hadn’t shot digital.” The technology may have changed, but Gilden’s objectives remain the same. “I might have gotten closer, but it’s the same subject. The people I photograph are the same people I’ve always been interested in: the underdog, and things that aren’t the norm.” Kathrine Anker
ENJOYED READING THIS MAGAZINE? Treat yourself or someone else Choose from a huge range of titles Free personalised gift card when buying for someone else Guaranteed delivery in time for Christmas! Plus a range of stocking fillers from just ÂŁ5
Subscribe and make great savings at www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk