PIG HOUSE
PICTURES
PIG HOUSE
PICTURES PHOTOGRAPHS Cover: An Uncertain Winter by Marco Kesseler, Contents: An Uncertain Winter by Marco Kesseler, Colophon: Meeting Point by Scarlett Casciello, Event Page: Knowing Stillness, Eva Cooney, Back Cover: Farewell my Concubine by Scarlett Cascielo
FEATURES
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Knowing Stillness
House of Pain
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Eva Cooney
Joel Hewitt
Origin
Twilight’s Last Gleaming
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Hannah Goodrham
Matthew Ferris
Vinyl Culture
Never Go Home
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Jordan Stephens
Scarlett Casciello
This Land of Ours that is not Ours Marco Kesseler
Exhibition Review: Because I Cannot See Tom Pullen
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An Uncertain Winter
Slow Walk into the Woods
Marco Kesseler
Charlie Hey
INTERVIEWS
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Marco Kesseler
Harry Hardie & Anna Stevens
Documentary Photographer
Here Press & Panos Pictures
PIG HOUSE
PICTURES EDITORIAL Editors: Artur Melez Tixiliski artur@pighousepictures.com Tom Pullen tom@pighousepictures.com Art Editor: Joel Hewitt joel@pighousepictures.com
CONTRIBUTORS Scarlett Casciello
Charlie Hey
Eva Cooney
Joel Hewitt
scarlettcasciello.com
evacooney.com
Matthew Ferris
matthew-ferris.com
Hannah Goodrham
hannahleannegoodrham.squarespace.com
Harry Hardie
herepress.org
charliehey.co.uk
joelhewitt.tumblr.com
Marco Kesseler
marcokesseler.com
Tom Pullen
tompullen.co.uk
Jordan Stephens
jordanstephens.co.uk
Anna Stevens panos.co.uk
CONTACT pighousepictures.com contact@pighousepictures.com submit@pighousepictures.com @pighousepics
PIG HOUSE
PICTURES
PIG HOUSE PICTURES FOREWORD | MAL STONE
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PIG HOUSE
PICTURES contemporary images with purpose
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foreword It is with great pleasure and a fantastic honour that I have been asked to write the foreword for Pig House Pictures edition 3. Having seen the inception of their collective as mere neophytes back in 2012 based on content from their practical work in storytelling for their ‘Building Blocks of Editorial Photography’ assignment, it has been an amazing journey to the culmination of the professional publication that we now see before us. The self motivation of the Pig House has evolved through numerous events. Out of their first online publication came an exhibition at ‘The Poly’ in Falmouth, followed by a submission to Ideas Tap that won them an exhibition in the Box Park, Shoreditch. Further exhibitions followed and now interviews with highly acclaimed professionals also adorn the publication, bearing testimony to the belief in their quality photographic stories and the respect that they have gained within our industry. The publication has grown and now includes a diversity of work from fellow students across other course disciplines, former graduates and staff. The quality is at a pinnacle, and yet they still climb higher... That this collective of highly talented individuals will reach the goals that they’ve set themselves is beyond question. As they all now leave university and enter into the industry I wish each and every one of them good luck - it’s been an absolute pleasure to help nurture their talents as I’m sure my fellow colleagues at Falmouth will bear witness too. It’s now time to reap the harvest!
mal stone | ceo, cartel photos, senior lecturer, ba(hons) press & editorial photography, falmouth university
PIG HOUSE PICTURES KNOWING STILLNESS
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STILLNESS
KNOWING
words & photographs
eva cooney
in 2003, eva cooney took her hasselblad 501CM with a fixed 80mm Zeiss lens to capture the eerie atmosphere of a place that historically has much more significance than its actual state today, as she tells Pig house.
Stretching out for 4.5 km along the sandy coast of the Baltic Island RĂźgen, Prora is a huge building complex that was built by Hitler as a holiday home with a maximum capacity of 20,000 people in 1938. Being named after the heath on which it is built on, Prora is divided into eight 450 m long and six storey high blocks of guest rooms - each with a view to the sea. The concept of the building originally included also a huge festival hall in the middle, big enough to fit all 20,000 guests in, and a dock where cruise ships could berth. It was the first of five planned massive holiday resorts on the German shorelines of the North and the Baltic Sea, supported by the national socialist organisation “Kraft durch Freude“ (strength through joy). This organisation was introduced by Hitler to organise the leisure time of the German people and to pervade and control their everyday life. The concept was to offer relatively cheap holiday deals and cars (inauguration of the Volkswagen) keeping the population happy so that they would better endure the looming war. In 1939, the 2nd world war became reality and all the available money had to go towards military purposes. Prora was left unfinished, although the main part of the building - the guest room blocks - were accomplished, and never used as a holiday resort. The model by Clemens Klotz was in accordance with the modernity of the 20s and a typical example for national socialist architecture; it even won a Grand Prix with the world exhibition in Paris in 1937. Within seven months the building shell of the building was accomplished, each block built by one of the eight most efficient German construction companies, with temporarily over 2000 people working at the construction site. During the war only little work was still done on the building, mainly by forced labourers from Poland and Russia, who were badly nourished and did not receive money for their work. Furthermore Prora was used as a refugee camp for Germans from war zones and when the Allies started to bomb Germany, it became a shelter for citizens of Hamburg who had lost their homes. In 1945 these families had to leave and until 1949 parts of the building were demolished and building materials transported to Russia as reparation payments. The rebuild began in 1950 and in 1956 the Red Army moved into one part and the NVA (national peoples army) of the newly formed communist German Democratic Republic moved into another. As the red army left in 1962, the NVA occupied the whole building having about 15,000 soldiers based at Prora. After the German Unification in 1990 the complex was handed over to the German Federal Armed Forces, which left just a year later. Since then most of the building is disused, apart from museums about the history and a discotheque in one block and a youth hostel which lasted only for a few years. The complex belongs to the German state and was for some time under monument protection; now investors are being searched for to turn the building into holiday flats or regular renting flats, but regulations and the necessary financial extent make it difficult to find someone who is willing to invest in the whole complex. So time goes by and Prora is slowly decaying. There is much history attached to this place: Nazi Germany, Communism. How does a place feel like that was a symbol for the megalomania of Nazi Germany and an institutional tool for the control permeated state of communist Eastern Germany? None of the terrible incidents of these eras took place here, but does it nevertheless affect the place, affect the atmosphere of the place? We all have the facts of history in the back of our mind and there is no way to be impartial of this knowledge, when we enter a place like Prora. Objectively seen it is only a derelict building that holds a certain paradoxical beauty in its decay. In my approach, I wanted to be subtle and quiet and allude to a universal feeling of uneasiness that overcame me when I first faced and entered this impressive empty building. At the same time, however, I seemed to respond to an aesthetic nature inherent to the decay. I hope my photographs are ambiguous, open for interpretation and allude to more universal issues than just the past discomforting history of Germany.
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PIG HOUSE PICTURES KNOWING STILLNESS
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PIG HOUSE PICTURES KNOWING STILLNESS
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Origin
PIG HOUSE PICTURES ORIGIN
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15 by
Hannah Goodrham
PIG HOUSE PICTURES ORIGIN
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hannah goodrham’s work “origin” uses collage as a definitive medium to a visual language. this allowed her to play with her own imagery and found imagery; she feels this promotes a sense of the uncanny. As the title suggests, the androgynous forms are embodied in flesh; given a bodily and a human form. contemporary collage recalls a complicated relationship with the realms of desire, the work she was producing naturally gravitated to the focus of the female line of the body. A question arose, does the desire of the female remain if the nude is a construct or fragmented?
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inherent in hannah’s practice is the female as the primary muse and how the body is photographed. she is interested in judith butler’s comment on gender as a performative act; there is a cultural transformation of gender through such acts. her work focuses on the female body as a site of desire; particularly in this project hannah was interested in the female as mother, lover, home and origin. visually, by choosing to use collage as a medium she was able to juxtapose the classical intensity of the divine ideal of marble figures and the female body. the body is displayed as a construct, presented is the blurring of distinctions between the body and the non-body, human and the organic, the anatomical and the ornamental.
below Jan van Dorsten, owner of Record Palace. Amsterdam, Netherlands. April, 2014 “i started in 1988 when everybody began dumping their vinyl, and they said ‘this guy’s crazy, he’s starting a record store, a vinyl store”
culture
by jordan stephens
vinyl
PIG HOUSE PICTURES VINYL CULTURE
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19 jordan stephens wanted to shoot a story that looked at the people who travelled the world collecting music from different cultures, so that it could be released outside its country of origin. These people were glorified record collectors, and the majority of the music they recovered was on vinyl. when he started looking at the current space that vinyl inhabits in society, he began to notice people who had real passion and obsession about this format of music. the project grew from there. shooting square film, Jordan enjoyed the idea of shooting an image correlating with the shape of a record cover, as well as using a tactile medium of photography to capture a tactile format of music. Jordan tells pig house that he doesn’t collect records or have any relationship with vinyl; the work just looks at the people who do interact with this form of music, and tries to understand why.
PIG HOUSE PICTURES VINYL CULTURE
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Elly Rendell and Sophie Austin, who founded the Vinyl Library, the first ever all vinyl lending library. The Vinyl Library, based in Stoke Newington, London, is a non profit initiative set up in July 2013 that lends out an eclectic mix of records that have all been donated by the public. Stoke Newington, London, 2014 “with the library it’s rediscovery. i’ve discovered so much from different genres, i like knowing where things come from, and learning about different artists. that’s what the amazing thing about vinyl is, on the computer you’re just clicking tunes and you have no knowledge of where they come from really. (with vinyl) you see the art work, you recognize names and labels, it’s a totally different experience. only now do we realize how important it is keep that tactile engagement with music”
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Ray Stevens, a film editor who previously worked as an international house DJ. Aldbury, Hertforshire, 2014 “the great thing i really miss and the best thing about vinyl for me is the size of the actual format, as when going into record stores it was like going into an art gallery. you saw much thought going into every cover, but they were replaced by cd’s obviously that kind of art work at that size all goes out the window. even the labels on the records are really nice, every time i look at a label i get an instant recollection of what club i was in and where i was playing it.”
PIG HOUSE PICTURES VINYL CULTURE
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23 The queue outside Sounds of the Universe on Record Store Day 2014 at 8am. A day when all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. 600 special vinyl records were released exclusively that day and hundreds of artists across the globe made special appearances and performances. Soho, London, 2014
PIG HOUSE PICTURES INTERVIEW: MARCO KESSELER
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marco kesseler | documentary photographer
pig house pictures
You made your Albanian blood feuds project whilst studying at Falmouth. In what ways did this project shape you into the photographer you are now – what did you learn from it, what did it teach you?
marco kesseler
I think the Albania project massively shaped my work. I had never shot something so in depth before; in the first and second years we progressed through shorter assignments and projects, but I hadn’t prepared myself for being in a situation where you are trying to photograph for a sustained period of time. Shooting on film can be quite testing and it really makes you think about how you are taking the pictures and what direction the outcome is moving towards as you cant see any of the results until you return. The first time I went out to Albania I went to get a feel for the country, to see if it was possible for a project; whether I could get access and if it would work photographically. Having the right fixer and contacts plays a massive part. The first family I started photographing was through a family connection I had made a long time ago, that’s how I initially found out about the story. When I returned to visit other families, it became really important to have the right fixer; someone who you could get on with and was equally as motivated and knowledgeable. Finding relevant contacts and people that could help was very important but ultimately getting access came from gaining the trust of key people. I think Falmouth definitely emphasised the importance of finding these contacts and building a relationship before going. I felt quite closely connected to the story as I knew someone who had tried to get asylum in the uk to escape the feuds and I knew I wanted to understand the situation properly rather than just go and only touch on the subject, but I didn’t know exactly what the end goal would be. I work fairly loosely – when I’m shooting I try not to dictate exactly how it’s going to end up and instead react to how a story develops. Initially I had planned to produce the work to incorporate video, but as I progressed I realised that the work lent itself more to a book. Looking back now, it developed my interests in stories around the political structure in post-Soviet countries. So I guess in that sense, the work in Albania
motivated me to develop this thread.
php
How did the Taylor Wessing exhibition and Magnum/IdeasTap award help in your transition from student to professional photographer? Has it made it easier for you to get work?
mk
I think I was really lucky to be exhibited in the Taylor Wessing and receive the Magnum/IdeasTap award, and they have certainly played a part in the transition. I haven’t received jobs directly as a result, but it has definitely influenced people’s decisions for commissions. I think the most important part though is that it set up a foundation for what I want to achieve, and has served as a reminder in times when I haven’t had jobs that I should persevere with my work. With the IdeasTap award I was given funding and the freedom to produce a new body of work so this was ideal, having just graduated. Part of the award was an internship at Magnum and it was great to see how the agency ran as well as getting to know some of the staff and photographers. At that point I was applying for quite a few awards and grants, and I would push others to apply as well, but it’s important to research what you are entering. Look at the list of judges (they’re often editors or photographers) and find out what kind of work they like to publish or shoot normally; look at previous winners; if there’s a fee or not. The list goes on but there are plenty of awards and grants out there and its not too hard to find something that awards specific stories you have shot, or would like to shoot.
php
Could you talk to us about your body of work “An Uncertain Winter”?
mk
This was a project I proposed to shoot for the IdeasTap award. Initially I wanted to shoot a story about the activists that live under the dictatorship in Belarus. I’d researched a fair amount about the country and the political situation, but getting out into the country it was quite interesting to see that there was this real lack of protest. Shortly before I
25 arrived it had been made illegal for groups of people to protest by standing silently in public. Each person that I met had a seemingly more and more ridiculous story for why they had been arrested – be it clapping in the streets, pillow fights, even for placing teddy bears holding protest placards. Each story became more surreal. I was interested in the fact that behind closed doors everyone was really open about their experiences and political views, but in public there was this really uneasy artificial peace and sense of nothing going on. I wanted to look at these two sides of the story - and the lack of protest or opposition in public spaces – so the project really developed whilst I was out there. I ended up spending three weeks there, but I’d like to go back. I don’t see it by any means as a complete piece of work, and I’d be interested to return in the run up to the next presidential elections to see what happens. This is one of the reasons I’m interested in Ukraine, they’re neighbouring countries, with similar histories and I wanted to see what happens when people do stand up for their cause.
php
Tell us a bit about your work in Kiev.
mk
The work in Kiev was really a reaction to the developing events at the time and making observations on how a nation responds to such a huge political upheaval. I’d been following the news quite closely for the previous few months before deciding to go out there, watching the conflict and protest movement ebb and flow, but for me, reporting on the daily news was not what drew me in; I was far more influenced in starting to see the wider picture of a moment in time and the ethos of the revolutionary movement.
php
What made you decide to photograph the quieter and calmer aspects of the conflicts in Kiev rather than depicting the rioting action?
mk
I tend to seek out the quieter moments because I feel there is always another story, but its also how I feel comfortable working - I’m naturally quite a quiet person so I guess it reflects in the work. The type of camera I choose to work with also directs this to an extent. I was very aware that the news crews and wire photographers would be covering the conflict so I didn’t think this would add much to the reporting of the event. I had to look at other aspects that were sometimes overlooked. Photographically it was a very interesting situation, because there were so many photographers and journalists, that people had to think about alternative methods of producing content and as a result there has been such a diverse style of work published.
php
You mentioned earlier that there was a certain lack of
protest in Belarus. What was your reaction when you arrived in Kiev? Did you feel entirely prepared for the eventual conflicts? Were you scared at all?
mk
My work in Belarus focused on the lack of protest, and in some respects what was happening in Kiev at the time was the opposite; however I didn’t just want to look at the role of the protesters, but also the infrastructure that they had created. We arrived at night and it was a pretty overwhelming sight; the whole surrounding area of the Maidan was lined with large tents, kitchens and barracks with smoke rising from burning wood and plastic to keep people warm. The actual barricaded area was way more substantial and organised than news reports had led us to believe, they were all patrolled by Self Defence units, armed with clubs and bats, and there was a steady supply of free food and tea, clothes and bedding, and even press centres to upload work; so overall it felt quite safe, although I did prepare for the possibility of any problems or conflict.
php
Since your work from Albania we notice a sense of quietness in your work. Could you explain where it comes from? Is there anyone in particular that inspired you to work this way?
mk
I’d say that my interest in photography originally came from the slower or more considered photographers - people like Mark Power, Simon Norfolk and Roger Fenton, before discovering other faster paced contemporary work. I feel that I can associate more with a considered approach in documentary photography
php
The conflicts between Russia and Ukraine don’t seem to be near from ending. Do you think you are going back there? If so, what else do you want to photograph there?
mk
I’d be very interested in going back to other regions of Ukraine. As I see it the work from Kiev only tells part of the story and what is happening now is another evolution of the conflict.
php
Aside from these documentary projects, have you been assisting other photographers? If so, how valuable are these opportunities?
mk
They are massively helpful. I assist a commercial photographer occasionally, a few days here and there, and although it’s a very different style of photography I’ve learnt so much from working with him. Having
PIG HOUSE PICTURES INTERVIEW: MARCO KESSELER | THIS LAND THAT IS OURS THAT IS NOT OURS
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specific shot lists, planning images in advance, it’s a different way of working and it’s interesting to see how he runs a business. That’s a side I wanted and needed to learn more about. Not so much how to take a picture but the logistical and financial side of things. It’s really refreshing as well to be working with different photographers; it motivates me to do my own work. All of the things that I have learnt from a commercial photographer are completely applicable to documentary photography and photojournalism.
php
What do you think are the most important qualities to have to be a successful photographer?
mk
I think to be a successful photographer you have to be as good at running a business as you are at taking pictures. That means finding the right contacts, being an accountant, and marketing your work. For some people this all falls into place but for the majority of us its something we just have to work at. It’s also important to look at stories moving beyond photography, and the traditional outcomes used in the past, I think people shouldn’t be afraid to experiment with new ways of documenting, both within journalism and the arts.
php
What’s next for you?
mk
I’ve just come back from Kiev, so I’ll be looking to develop and continue shooting there, and also in the rest of the Ukraine. “An Uncertain Winter” was about the lack of protest, whereas in Kiev I was looking at the other side of things; it’s what happens when people make a stand. It’s interesting because whilst I was there the first time, there was little violence, it was this waiting period where tensions were rising and today we have seen the lid blow. At the moment I’m just starting to go through the contact sheets and evaluate, but I will be returning to continue documenting the social and political developments of the country. For now I am not certain on the final outcome, but perhaps the work in Ukraine and Belarus will become chapters of a wider story.
following the violent clashes between the euromaidan protest movement and yanukovych’s government forces, kiev stood waiting, gathering the thoughts of the masses, and rebuilding the barricades. beyond the frontline conflicts that dominated the news, the self-sustained framework of the maidan brought a shifting community together as each day more people arrived in the city. these quieter moments, observed in the calm before the storm, reflect the growing uncertainty of a nation in flux as days and months pass. while the maidan remains central to the revolution, the epicentre of the conflict continues to shift, moving south and east. with russia’s growing involvement fracturing the national borders once again, the words of ukraine’s celebrated poet, taras shevchenko, continue to resonate: “this land of ours that is not ours”.
that
this
ours
land
of
is not
PIG HOUSE PICTURES MARCO KESSELER | THIS LAND THAT IS OURS THAT IS NOT OURS
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PIG HOUSE PICTURES MARCO KESSELER | AN UNCERTAIN WINTER
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Uncertain
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Belarus, once an integral frontier of the USSR, remains steeped in the Communist legacy, which ruled the daily lives of the nation for over 70 years. Since the regime’s fall, Alexander Lukashenka - the first elected President - has ruled what has often been called “the last dictatorship in Europe” disregarding human rights, rigging elections and making constitutional amendments in his favour. This has seen mounting pressure from Western nations and strong opposition led by Belarusian youth urging Lukashenka to abide by international human rights laws and step down as President. However as Lukashenka’s time in office stretches indefinitely, there appears to be a growing resignation to his autocracy, and it seems that the opposition has lost some of its impetus fro change. This project juxtaposes the veneer of public normality with the more open experiences behind closed doors. The portraits are a testament to the activists, journalist and politicians who still refuse to give up despite hundreds of protesters being arrested since the last elections.
above right valery shukin has become well known as an opposition activist and campaigner for human rights in belarus. after serving 27 years in the military he retired and ran as a local candidate for an independent party, which was disassembled as lukashenkaâs power grew. he has since worked promoting independent journalism, oppositional movements and has been influential in promoting prisoners human rights, having served more sentences than he can remember.
below right a couple celebrate their wedding along the frozen banks of the svislach river. on the surface daily life continues as normal for many belarusians, who choose to overlook the politics in order to live in relative independence.
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niestirov fishes for pike on the frozen svislach river. in winter the temperature in belarus often drops below -15C covering the country in a blanket of snow and ice.
vinnik’s family left minsk to try and live a sustainable lifestyle without dependence on the state, however severe winters have made this increasingly difficult for the family.
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house o f pain
e f n
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words and photographs JOEL HEWITT it is believed by some WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS that the turbo trainer was originally a rudimentary RORY MATTHEWS torture device dating back to the middle ages, with flemish sheriffs using them to punish unruly townsfolk. historical accuracy notwithstanding, nobody during this one hour on a tuesday night would put it past the flemish to invent something so blatantly cruel. the telltale gurns of fatigue and silent prayers to some God above eventually appear as shouts of encouragement from the coaches whilst boisterous turbo fans reach fever pitch. turbo training is a form of focussed cycle training that is usually performed indoors during the grim, cold and dark winter months. it allows a cyclist to prepare for racing, or to achieve a greater level of fitness thanks to its linear rate of resistance. the following portraits display members of one and all cycling’s academy members during their intense and physically demanding efforts.
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PIG HOUSE PICTURES PROFILE
38 HARRY HARDIE | HERE PRESS
HARRY HARDIE | HERE pig house pictures Could you tell us a bit about your background and how you have managed to work in some prestigious scenarios within the so competitive photography industry, without even being a photographer yourself ? harry hardie Well being in the right place at the right time, and making things happen. I believe if you want to do something, just start doing it. This may seem naive, and even foolish, but you learn by doing things, and being there. php What is your relationship with PANOS PICTURES? hh I used to be director of HOST Gallery, in London, and Panos had their offices there too. I had been aware of them from my time working as a picture editor at The Times, and understood what an interesting agency they were, constantly working with photographers working on interesting stories, often beyond the normal news stories we see. We became good friends when I was at HOST, and when I decided
to move on from the gallery, Adrian Evans (Panos’ Director) approached me and over a few drinks asked whether I would work with them on exhibition, and book projects. I now work with Panos a couple of days a week, on projects that can be more than just editorial, so recently I worked on a year long project that involved an exhibition, shot by seven Panos photographers in seven countries and then this show toured Europe (in a transit van). I suppose my job there is also to build and forge new relationships with people that Panos can work with in the future, whether this be publishers, embassies, NGO’s or the government. php Tell us about your role at HERE? hh Here Press is an independent publisher that Ben Weaver and myself set up. My big passion is photography in book form. Ben is a well-known and established art director and designer. We have known each other many years and in 2011 set up the imprint. We make books that explore new forms of documentary practice in book form. People always ask why our books are so political, which is interesting, as that is not our plan, but we are
interested in contemporary issues, and culture, and the very act of publishing could be seen as political. php What else do you do aside from these two companies? hh I teach a lot. I am Senior Lecturer in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism at the University of Westminster, but also lecture at many other universities. Occasionally I will put on an exhibition or get asked to consult on certain shows or projects. php The work from Panos photographers compared to the works published by HERE are very different, yet, most of the photography both bodies represent is classified as Documentary. What is your view on Documentary Photography nowadays? What is the approach used at the Masters Degree you teach? hh For me photography and documentary photography are about ideas primarily, I would even say as a non photographer, that I don’t really care about photography, I care and am passionate about hearing stories
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and ideas. Photography is an amazing tool to tell and discuss these things, and that is something we discuss a lot on the M.A. I am also very interested in design. One never sees photography without it being in the hands of design, whether this is a book, an exhibition, a website or whatever. My role with all the work I do is to act as a producer. php Why did you start HERE and what do you expect for its future? hh Because of the need to make books and work with people who I have always wanted to work with, to make books that bring a new concept or realise certain aspects of bodies of work. I hope we continue to work with great people and make books people enjoy discussing. ANNA STEVENS | PANOS pig house pictures What is your role at Panos Pictures? anna stevens I’m a multimedia producer, which means I oversee projects which, as well as photography, have a video or online element. Most of the time this
portraits © artur tixiliski
ANNA STEVENS | PANOS PICTURES
is short film, often commissioned by NGOs, sometimes independent documentary projects, but it also includes collating various outputs of big multi-photographer, multi-country projects into a format which works for web. As a producer you work from inception of ideas, through funding, logistics before, and during the shoot and, as we are quite a small team, in my case the role also includes editing and post production too. And I do shoot a bit on trips as well. A bit of everything! php What got you into working with storytelling and multimedia? as I kind of fell into this work, I was lucky in that I got my first jobs in photography at a time when multimedia was a new concept to everyone, so if you showed enthusiasm people were quite happy to let you experiment a bit. I’ve always enjoyed finding out about other people and other realities, and as the daughter of teachers I think the educational aspect of storytelling really resonated with me, the media is definitely one of the ways I continue to educate myself as an adult , and I think a lot of people do. I started a photography diploma partly driven
by a fascination with the apparent simplicity of the single image and now it’s film and digital platforms which are exciting me about storytelling precisely because of their potential complexity.. php What do you think makes a great piece of multimedia work? as Honesty, clarity of communication and creative risk taking. A lot of what the NFB is producing ticks all these boxes for me php How important do you think it is for graduate photographers to be aware of working with multimedia? as I think if you’re a photographer starting your career now, you will be asked to shoot video sooner or later on a job, and unless your photography is bloody brilliant, it will cut down your options if you say no. It will help you without a doubt if you have other skills alongside photography, but at the end of the day it’s entirely up to you. If you don’t enjoy shooting video I’m not sure you’ll be much good at it, so don’t force it!
Twilight’s Last
Gleaming by matthew ferris
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influenced by the likes of mark power, alec soth and spencer murphy, ferris introduces us to his personal life in the cornish disappearing economic strive in ‘twilight’s last gleaming’, as he tells pig house about his final project at falmouth univeristy. “it was important for me to be autobiographical for my final project; throughout the three years of study, i had failed to appropriately convey my inhibitions relating to cornwall and the men I have come to know as brothers. it would be my intention to present the images to be read as a collective, for, through fragmentation, they speak of a greater issue and a deeper, personal turmoil. i think that whenever you get personal you introduce something else into your work, something with gravitas. i have great respect for those wishing to tell personal stories, for they are usually unique or have honourable means. i want to tell a story about myself as much as I want to tell a story about the rest of this county. photography has before been used as an autobiographical tool to tell stories of a wider context; it seems to me that my vision of my home, cornwall, is yet to be manifested in the physical. myself and many other young men in cornwall are part of the next generation that has severed all ties with the late mining and china clay industry. instead of normally pursuing a career in this sector, we are now forced to move away from cornwall, fight for jobs, or work within the tourist industry. In this respect it seems as if we have lost a significant part of our identity, living in a landscape littered with the persistent reminders of a once prosperous county. this distinct disassociation with our landscape is something I have attempted to convey through my use of photography. this project serves as my attempt to explore a culture; one which i am inevitably part of and one which lingers around my past, present and future”. matthew ferris’ work will be exhibited at the old truman brewery as part of free range which is on from the 19th to 23rd june on brick lane, east london.
PIG HOUSE PICTURES TWILIGHT’S LAST GLEAMING
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PIG HOUSE PICTURES NEVER GO HOME
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Never Go Home by scarlett casciello amid her final year projects and exhibitions, fashion photographer scarlett casciello tells php that she creates scenarios in her head that are similar to that of a movie and then breaks them down to stills to make an editorial, inspired by faces and films. casciello’s early work was mainly shot in film. however, she expresses how digital photography has taken her work to another level, taking into consideration how important the workflow in postproduction has become in her recent works. “i still shoot film for documenting life outside fashion, and i think i’ll never stop doing so” she says. when asked about the role of moving image in reference to one of her fashion projects ‘never go home’, she argues that moving image wouldn’t be as influential in fashion as still images are, as she puts it: “people a lot of the time don’t have the patience to watch a short fashion film. if film replaces stills it means the idea of print will no longer exist. i don’t think that will happen, but it is important for the development of the industry that the two work together”. casciello is moving to beijing - a place she has been visiting constantly and has always been inspired by - after her graduation to work as a freelance Fashion Photographer. “i am really excited for what is happening in terms of fashion over there. there is a real buzz in the air due to such rapid change in the past decade. i feel there is now room for creativity and new comers” as she completes. scarlett casciello is exhibiting her final work from falmouth university on the 22nd - 27th may at the centrepoint in london.
PIG HOUSE PICTURES NEVER GO HOME
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exhibition review
because i cannot see by tom pullen
after the impressively successful and greatly applauded exhibition ‘because i cannot see’, isis o’regan speaks to tom pullen on the project aiming to end the stigmatisation surrounding those who are visually impaired.
Tom Pullen’s ‘Because I Cannot See’ series pushes the boundaries of photography and unashamedly questions its accessibility. By creating this availability for those who would not usually be able to experience the delight of such an art form, Pullen has created a unique sensory experience for all. The idea stemmed from a harrowing annual report from the Royal National Institute of Blind People, revealing if current budget trends continued, in ten years time there would be no local government funding for the visually impaired. Tom’s journalistic instincts kicked in and he began researching this topic within Cornwall, finding that if affected by sight loss it was one of the best locations to be in England. The research and contact with Cornwall Blind Association revealed an array of clubs for blind individuals that he was never aware of. “It’s really great that there is a charity like Cornwall Blind Association around which is totally volunteer based with no government funding.” With hesitant acceptance the blind community slowly allowed him to be involved and document their
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they’re just the same as you and i
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PIG HOUSE PICTURES EXHIBITION REVIEW | BECAUSE I CANNOT SEE
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activities ranging from the Bowling Club to the Shooting Club. The hesitance came as a price of previous photographers taking advantage of their close-knit communities and an over hanging cloud of stigmatisation by the public. Pullen realised he wanted a chance to help “in breaking the stigma surrounding blind people and what they can achieve. They are out there and they’re just the same as you and I.” A negative report was responded to with a series of positive images, which highlighted the positivity of a charity like Cornwall Blind Association. However, “it became painstakingly obvious, that what’s the point taking pictures of someone if they can’t see it?” A perfectly just question for Tom to ask himself, he needed a solution to justify such a project. As a result, he collaborated with industrial designers Cowell-Dooley creating 3D images to accompany the portraits he shot. A simple but genius idea that validated photographing such a series. Each image was accompanied by a caption and corresponding audio headphones - again adding to the sensory
exhibition photographs © david white
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experience, and capturing the importance of these different clubs to the photographed individuals. “The only chance they got to get out each week was for bowls club and you can’t get that in a picture alone.” The exhibition leaves you questioning the great extent of isolation that can come with visual impairment and how the photography world can be a large player in this. Pullen highlighted a very serious topic by beautifully personifying an isolating condition and has stated that he will not be abandoning this topic. Next he will be travelling to the Mek’ele School for Blind Children in Ethiopia continuing to give those who cannot see the pleasure of photography.
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SlowWalk
Woods
into the
coinciding with the end of many photography degrees at this time of the year and serving as an incentive for its aftermath, photographer and writer charlie hey provides us with a deeper insight on staying creative and keeping options open.
words and photographs
charlie hey
51 “but who knows the temporal dimensions of the forest? history is not enough. we should have to know how the forest experiences its great age; why, in the reign of the imagination, there are no young forests.� gaston bachelard, the poetics of space
Exploring these pages is a slow walk into the woods, a place of mystery and beauty, apprehension and solace, secrets and discovery. The landscape is as diverse as the work is unique; the flowering trees are as sublime as the roots are sturdy. Yet to know the sweetness and colour of the fruits and the blossom is to understand the sustenance and stability that lies hidden beneath the surface, the depth of its reach and the diversity of its resources. For those in these pages who are coming to the forked path in the forest, the trail at the end of the degree, observe the roads ahead; both those well worn and those less taken. For each and every one of you, there will be beaten tracks of clear continuum and those overgrown, darker thickets laden with promise, danger and secrets. Know there are no wrong choices, only experiences to be gained, as to take any path leading directly from the long trail you have just walked is to stay on track in every respect. In this sanctuary of space, before forging ahead deeper into the forest, it is important to take stock of the landscape immediately around you, in full periphery. That includes, crucially, looking back over your shoulder at the trail formed by your journey here, the ghost of your passage in the scattered leaves of the forest floor. This is where you came from in both mind and physical motion, in your photography and the thinking that led to your photography. This is a space unique to you, a landscape reached by the footprints of your enquiry and a terrain adapting to the movements of your art. It is also a forest growing in tandem with your experiences, shaping itself to the possibilities of your journey. In this there is something to consider. It is my understanding that the dualities of research and practice are very much cyclic in nature insomuch that you never fully abandon the space and principles in which the creative process all began, or more specifically; turned its first revolution. Taken alternatively, the earliest components remain directly linked to the most recent. They can be traced from top to bottom at a height and depth that is inconstant- not static- but ever expanding. At the base, the roots burrow deeper to stabilise the new growth at the highest point. At the highest
point, the new growth receives energy that allows the roots to burrow deeper. The roots provide nutrition to feed the continuous growth, and the continuous growth expands into new spaces to exploit new energies. This alternative, organic model of practice and research pertains to much the same cyclic nature as the circle first described. We could call the ever expanding, more complex, entwining network of roots research, and the branching leaves, flowers or fruits practice, but what remains perpetual is each sustains the other and all are connected. If the whole is discipline or artistic endeavour, or in the case of the work featured here in the pages of Pig House Pictures; storytelling; its very nature of growth relies on the continuity of this research/practice cycle. The choice of path from this point in the deep woods determines the strength and substance of this growth, but the continuity of path, regardless of choice, ensures it will grow. We keep walking through the woods. In its most formative stage, our discipline is a seed. But even this is not the beginning, because the seed fell from the seasonal flowering of a parent tree. The seed carries much the same characteristics as its parent, but will grow in different ways, to different heights. It could be said these are the temporalities of creativity; each seed genetically coded to the preceding tree and each tree constituting its permutations to an unending forest. As partisans or practitioners of this dynamic, adaptive landscape, it is important to know our place in the unending forest, to take note of the changing contours of the landscape ahead and the myriad of paths we may choose to reach them. Appreciate the strength of the trees around you, you planted them from seed and provided the light and nutrition to grow them into unique projects, bodies of work, stories. Appreciate also those ideas and thoughts that never quite made it to fruition, did not survive the winter. The pollen of a failing idea can nevertheless take seed in a successful one; no two trees are identical in growth and lifespan. Herein is the cyclic, seasonal landscape as an environment for creative development and future work. Walking through the vicissitudes of an unending forest is to create images with purpose. Revisiting your pathways in front and behind is to flick through the pages of a journal of contemporary photography. In each case marvel at the different shapes thrown by dappled light cast through the canopy, and the warmth filtering from the bright ideas above. Take rest in the shade of large trees to consider their creation, where they came from and how they grew. This is a place for thought and discovery insomuch as it is a place where ideas can develop and flower. As image-makers and storytellers, it is encouraging to know your place in the forest and exciting to look upon the paths ahead. Revel in the journey and be inquisitive of everything save for the boundaries of this strange and beautiful place; on this, I can say with certainty, there are none.
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exhibitions picture 24 ba(hons) fashion photography from falmouth university may 22-27 Centrepoint, 55 Dean Street, London W1D 6AF picture24exhibition.tumblr.com f/14 ba(hons) photography from falmouth university june 19-23 the old truman brewery as part of free range brick lane, east london. e1 6qr www.falmouth14.co.uk colours of the earth ba(hons) marine and natural history photography from falmouth univeristy July 9 the island gallery space, bridewell street bristol bs1 2le
books index ba(hons) press & editorial photography from falmouth university index is a book presenting a rich diversity of visual storytelling by 25 emerging photographers. indexphoto.co.uk
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