Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Magnum 66th AGM group photo, 2013, IdeasTap HQ. Photography by Jonathan Bell.
What does it take to become a great photographers that includes newer nominees
photographer? When youre starting out in like Moises Saman and Bieke Depoorter,
the industry, you cant help but look at the as well as veterans of the agency, such as
people you admire and wonder how they got Thomas Hoepker and David Hurn, who
to where they are. What motivated them to joined in the 60s. Consequently their
start in the first place? What sacrifices have perspectives on the medium vary but
they made along the way? And what decisions several ideas recur.
are behind the images theyve produced?
Fancy equipment will only get you so far. All
Eleven emerging image-makers won an a camera can ever be is a box with a hole in
IdeasTap competition to put these questions the front, which lets light through, as David
and more to some of Magnums biggest Hurn puts it. According to the Magnum
names. The occasion was the legendary voices represented here, being a great
cooperatives 66th Annual General Meeting, photographer is only ever partially about
which took place at IdeasTaps London offices taking pictures. Their advice: to travel, look,
in June 2013. IdeasTap is a charity and engage; find your own take on the world and
creative network, with more than 100,000 express that visually. Because ultimately, like
members. Since 2010, we have worked with Thomas Dworzak says, Photography is about
Magnum Photos to provide opportunities, life and experience.
funding and mentoring for new photographic
talent most notably through the prestigious
IdeasTap Photographic Award. Rachel Segal Hamilton
IdeasTap Commissioning Editor
This special one-off publication features August 2013
exclusive interviews with a group of Magnum
2
Item Page
With special thanks to Fiona Rogers, Chelsea Jacob and the Magnum Photos team.
Contributors: Rachel Barker, Chris Brunner, Lewis Bush, Souvid Datta, Thomas Hofer, Julia
Horbaschk, Tom Maguire, Sophie McGrath, Tina Remiz, Clmentine Schneidermann and
Ambra Vernuccio.
3
Moises Saman is an award-winning What advice would you give a young
photojournalist. He tells IdeasTap member photographer going into a conflict?
Souvid Datta about his relationship
with war and his projects in Egypt and Find a specific story within the larger context
Afghanistan, and shares advice for emerging of the conflict, something that you can make
photographers... your own. Ive seen young photographers
trying to cover Syria or Egypt now. It can be
Youve covered many conflicts from horribly dangerous, and they might leave with
Afghanistan to Iraq, Libya, Syria, a decent set of photographs some action
Tunisia and Egypt. How did you get shots, some demonstration of the anguish
into war photography? there but the end product is rarely coherent,
and adds little to the wider understanding of
My first trip was in the summer of 1999. the situation. But if you find one slice of the
I was in my mid-20s, Id just finished an bigger story something tangible, where you
internship at Newsday and went to Kosovo. can illustrate emotions intimately the work
I didnt know anybody and wasnt affiliated becomes more fresh and compelling.
with any news organisation. I spent about a
month travelling through the country taking Often your colour images are
pictures, not really knowing what I was doing. subsequently presented as black and
I self-financed the trip and didnt sell any white sets. What prompts this choice?
pictures. You might call it an exercise to see
whether this path was for me. When things I always shoot in digital colour. Now Im
started it wasnt about the conflict. I was mostly working with an Olympus OM-D
more interested in the lifestyle. E-M5 camera, and almost always with just
As I got older and more serious about one 35mm f/2 lens. But some specific stories
photography, I accepted the benefits and I see more in black and white than colour. It
obligations of being in these situations can depend on my mood, or the mood of the
stretched beyond personal indulgence. work. Theres no formula.
Photography evolved into a medium of
commentary, through which I could spark Technically speaking, I find black and white
dialogue and understanding. Im not saying easier. The picture doesnt need to be perfect.
photography can change the world, but you With colour, if the colours themselves arent
can be a factor in the discourse. strong then the image doesnt work. Black
and white gives you more leverage; you have
4
Clockwise from top: District chief Hagi
Zahir meets with local elders in Marja,
Libya, 2011. A Gaddafi supporter holds
a portrait of the Libyan leader during a
staged celebration in a suburb of Zaiwyah,
Libya, 2011. A nurse at the Sharif Islamic
Committee, a community centre operated
by the Muslim Brotherhood in the Shobra
district of Cairo, Egypt, 2011. All images
Moises Saman/Magnum Photos.
Photography evolved
into a medium
of commentary,
through which I could
spark dialogue and
understanding.
more space to focus on the content, instead of So, despite the fact that newspapers
composition or lighting. are closing, and magazines are
making cuts, you definitely think that
Has citizen journalism, and the fact photojournalism has a future?
that anyone with a camera phone can
now become part of the news, affected Yes. The outlet may be different, the product
your approach to photography? may be different more multimedia, more
interactive but the craft hasnt changed
No, actually. Sometimes these fast-paced, since as far back as I can remember. A man
often sensational pictures, or YouTube videos with a camera trying to approach an issue
and social media phenomena, can be great or person: its a simple process. Portraying
as a testimony, especially when somethings issues through a distinctive photojournalistic
happening in real-time and previously no one vision is essential to wider understanding,
would have been around to capture it. But I and the work will always be relevant and in
still think theres a need to examine issues demand.
more sensitively and thoroughly.
5
David Hurn made his name as a reportage
photographer. He became a Magnum
member in 1967 and founded the prestigious
Documentary Photography BA at the
University of Wales, Newport. Here David
talks IdeasTap member Lewis Bush
through the process of putting together his
book Wales: Land of My Father...
6
You just go, you look
at something, you find
it interesting and you
take a picture of it
simple as that.
Clockwise from top: Ladies night in the local pub in Usk, Wales, UK, 1974. A mine
rescue team at work in Dinas, Wales, UK, 1989. Childrens toys in the boundary
fence of a refuse transfer site, Penparc, Wales, UK, 1990. All images David Hurn/
Magnum Photos.
which lets light through. You really have just pieces of paper on the wall and on these I
two controls: where you put that box where start to write what I think I ought to be doing.
you stand, in other words and when you Then I pin the pictures on each of those, and
decide to press the button. And thats what as I look at them I see I have too many close
photography is about. If you stand in the right up pictures or whatever, so I begin to edit.
place and press the button at the right time, I might in some circumstances go back and
the box isnt so important. photograph the same event.
When it comes to editing, what you obviously In the end I came to the conclusion that
do first is pick your best pictures. This isnt I couldnt pinpoint what was meant by
necessarily developing your argument, but culture but everyone who saw the book
that becomes part of the overall jigsaw puzzle. said it was very Welsh.
I have a room at home with all cork walls. Say
I decide I want 100 pictures. I pin 100 blank
7
Peter van Agtmael has covered wars small ones I can always carry with me. You
in Iraq, Afghanistan and their impact want to be invisible as much as possible.
in the USA. After being voted in as a
full member at this years Magnum Whats your working method? Do you
AGM, Peter talks to IdeasTap member have any assistants?
Clmentine Schneidermann about
photography schools, small cameras and For me photography is an excuse to do
the trend towards conceptual documentary things Im interested in. And Im interested
photography... in traveling all around America, meeting
all sorts of people from every race, every
Since you didnt study photography, background, every socioeconomic class. I
whats your position on photo schools? like travelling on my own or sometimes with
my girlfriend or with friends. I prefer doing
There are some good schools but Im a things like the editing or the printing on
bit suspicious because it seems that the my own but sometimes I use assistants for
personality of the professors can be too the lighting during commissions because I
influential. I havent studied photography, but know how I want the light to look, but I dont
I thought about it. In America it requires a lot know how to do it. As Im finishing a book [of
of money and the money I would have spent photographs] from seven years in Iraq and
on studies, I was able to spend on taking Afghanistan, I showed it to a dozen people
pictures. That was helpful in some ways, less to get their opinions. And more recently Ive
helpful in others. My photo school was being been working with filmmakers, because I
at Magnum around all these guys. Even if want to do short documentaries.
they judge you harshly, its in a useful way.
They force you to justify your decisions. Theres a move among some
photographers, such as Deutsche
How does your photographic approach Brse winners Broomberg & Chanarin
influence your choice of camera? and nominees Cristina De Middel and
Mishka Henner, towards conceptual
I use small digital cameras: a Sony RX1, documentary work that questions the
which is full frame, and an Olympus OM-D, truthfulness of photography. How do
which is good for speed and flexibility. I hate you feel about this?
big cameras. Theyre too loud, too intrusive,
too noticeable. I feel more spontaneous with I think its interesting but I prefer traditional
8
Clockwise from top: Raymond plays with Star
Wars lightsabers with his sons Brady and Riley,
Wisconsin, USA, 2007. Soldiers take part in
a combat lifesaving training course in South
Carolina, USA, 2011. A man and boy take cover
under a tree from a sudden rainstorm on the war
ravaged Gulu-Kitgum Road, Uganda, 2008. All
images Peter van Agtmael/Magnum Photos.
9
Magnum photographers share tips
for people starting out in the image
industry...
Jonas Bendiksen:
Be a person before youre a photographer.
Your interactions with people are better if
you are yourself, a human being, more than a
photographer, and if people see you like this,
usually the pictures become better.
Alex Webb:
Theres a big difference between taking
pictures to make money and taking
photographs because you believe in them.
There are plenty of photographers whove
done great work in their lives and havent
been professional photographers; I think
of Ralph Eugene Meatyard, who was an
eye doctor. Theres nothing wrong with
uncertainty about which directions to go in
but you have to believe in what youre doing
because youll have to make sacrifices, and
the rewards are generally so fleeting. Larry Towell gives feedback to IdeasTap members at por
Alec Soth:
Forget about being a photographer. Be a two weeks, a week. I tend to work for three-
creative person. I find the workshops I do in week cycles. Only think photography. The
my studio as creative as making pictures; in rest of the time you edit, you sequence you
some ways raising money is a creative act. spend more time editing and looking than
You have to be creative with how you lead shooting.
your life and not just the things you make.
Moises Saman:
David Hurn: People make the mistake of only seeking
If you want to be a photographer, you need inspiration in their exact field of interest.
to be a walker so keep fit. Im nearly 80 now. Prospective war photographers, for example,
The bane of my life is aching bones, so I have shouldnt only look at the work of previous
to consciously keep fit, because if I dont do war photographers. Theres so much else to
that I cant do my job. If you want to compete be inspired by. I find people from a totally
in this world a working day is 10 or 12 hours, different background the art world, or
so make sure you have comfortable shoes! painting bring something more organic to
their approach. And its important to find one
Larry Towell: story that only you can do, and perhaps to use
Get away from home once in a while. Work that to explain a bigger issue.
flat out for short periods, three weeks even
10
little money and came to Europe to hitchhike
with the camera he gave me as a present,
and a couple of lenses. I wasnt there to
photograph [travelling round Europe] was
one of the things that people did back then. I
started taking a few pictures. I wouldnt say
it was a project, but by the time I went back,
after 10 months, I was a photographer. Thats
the thing that changed my life the most, that
trip.
Thomas Dworzak:
Learn something else. Photography isnt
that complicated; you can learn to take
pictures by yourself. Photography is about
life and experience. Put yourself in a position
where you take a lot of pictures. Dont study
photography. Dont think about it too much.
Try to experience something and express that
experience through photography.
Thomas Hoepker:
Think before you press the shutter. Its
rtfolio reviews during the Magnum AGM, London, UK, 2013. frustrating that today, even more than in
Image Ambra Vernuccio.
the time of analogue photography, you often
come back with a lot of junk. Nowadays,
Peter van Agtmael: its too easy to get a picture click-clack;
Be careful to not to listen too much to the camera works for you, but you need to
anyone. Trust yourself more than others. Ive use your brain, look closely and react fast.
seen people really messed up in their heads Dont go out and expect that things will be
because of teachers who think they know wonderful photography is hard work!
exactly what theyre talking about and are
imposing their view, which is not necessary Nikos Economopoulos:
positive for growth. Look at as many types of Be honest with yourself and be original.
work as possible. Look at the whole history of Dont try to convince others that youre
photography. People think that photography something youre not. The experts in
is a romantic job but if you want to succeed photography, like my peers at Magnum, can
you have to be completely obsessed with it. see quickly if your work is original or not.
Without originality you wont get far in this
Richard Kalvar: industry. Go in the direction that you feel,
Travel a lot; try to go to places where not where the market tells you to go. If you
interesting things might happen. In the follow this advice, and have a natural eye for a
late 60s, after I worked as assistant for the good composition, you will stand a chance of
photographer Jerome Ducrot, I saved up a making it as a photographer.
11
Canadian photographer Larry Towell carry a digital camera, which I use mostly
joined Magnum in 1988 and became a full for forensic photography for details and
Member in 1993. Over the course of his objects. Films certainly dying out in terms of
career he has documented the Palestinian- marketing and finding it; you can hardly buy
Israeli conflict and Mennonite communities it and its expensive, but Im still comfortable
in Mexico. Here Larry talks to IdeasTap with it. Ill probably gradually shift as well,
member Rachel Barker about The World but I dont accept the deadlines that digital
From My Front Porch, a highly personal photographers have forced upon them.
project about his family...
When the book first came out, I did a
I never officially photographed my family show at the George Eastman House at the
I never paid them or made a point of International Museum of Photography and
photographing them but I did it in the same Film in New York called The World From My
way anybody does. Front Porch, which also included the other
bodies of work that Id done on identity. So
The camera was on the refrigerator and Id there were artefacts from Palestine: shrapnel,
take it down if I saw something I wanted to slingshots, artefacts from the Mennonites,
photograph. After a number of years, though, artefacts from home, the history of my music,
the pictures started coming together. Its not photographs from my grandmothers album,
a self-indulgent project: the book is about everything, hundreds of things.
land, about identity. To deal with identity
you should deal with your own identity. I had everything photographed for the book,
People are who they are because of where so I had images of these artefacts. For the
theyre from, because of the land they live exhibition, I worked with a curator by the
on, because of the history of a place. And name of Rick Hock. There was a warehouse
what happens to people when they lose that there; I brought all these prints and a bunch
land, or if somebody tries to rob them of of stuff, and we just started moving with it.
that history? The book is also about the civil Id go back and forth over a couple of months,
wars in Central America, which were peasant and then we went into the gallery and just
rebellions. Its also about the Palestinians, started hanging things, playing with it, trying
who lost everything. Identity. Land. Nation. to make things harmonise based on how one
So its about more things than just my family. thing feels when close to the other thing.
I still shoot black and white film, but also In terms of the book, [its the] same idea
12
People are who they are
because of where theyre
from, because of the land
they live on, because of
the history of a place.
14
Im not somebody whose
message is, Oh my God, war
is horrible. This is way too
simple for me.
in that situation, youve just got to be quiet then I should be provocative. Most of the
and respectful. For me, thats always the most time people dont care. Im glad if it upsets
important thing. Its not like that I absolutely somebody, if they get confused. Everybody
have to get the picture. I mean, I have to get has this taboo view of war. It can be great
it, but I should try to get it the most dignified fun too and I think its important to know
way possible. that. There are a lot of people, including
myself, that have had a very good time in
How does this tie into your role as a different wars. And its an intensity you miss
photojournalist? afterwards. Im not in favour of war, God
forbid. It would be better if there was no war,
My job is not to be touchy. I should be definitely. But once its there, youve got to
respectful to people, whatever happens, but look at it.
15
Noted for his bold colour images, Alex place between them. Several publishers were
Webb joined Magnum Photos as an interested but never took it; it was actually
associate in 1976 and has since worked four years before it got published. In that time
in the Caribbean, Mexico, Turkey and the I made a couple more trips and a few more
US. Alex talks to IdeasTap member Lewis pictures crept in. Sometimes theres a reason
Bush about why he avoids doing too much you cant find a publisher thats taking the
research before starting a project and the philosophical view.
difference between shooting at home and
abroad... As an American, did you feel closer to
Florida than somewhere like Haiti?
Youre known for your work in Haiti
but youve also photographed in the In certain ways Im closer to Florida because
US. Could you talk us through the there are all these familiar things, like chain
making of From the Sunshine State, restaurants. But theres a part of me that
your book about Florida? feels emotionally closer to Haiti or to Mexico,
because I approached Florida and at least
When I was working extensively in Haiti I at that time in my life approached parts
often found myself stuck in Miami because of the United States with ambivalence. In
riots had taken over Port au Prince. I started Florida Im a little ironic, a little amused; Im
looking around at this strange state called questioning the nature of my country.
Florida and got interested in photographing
it. My first instinct was to photograph the Youve stated elsewhere that you dont
new immigrant groups Haitians and like to begin a project with too many
Guatemalans but I realised that what I preconceived ideas. How does this
really needed to do was photograph the inform your research?
totality of Florida. Florida is a world of many
different pockets that seem to have little to do When I work on a project for myself, I may
with one another. read a guidebook to get the general lay of the
land; I may read a novel set in the place, to
The final book, put together in 1992, was give me a sense of what some writer felt. And
built in much the same way I generally build then I go and start working. I come back, look
books. By playing with a few pictures the at the work and then start reading, because
beginning starts to emerge and then the I want my visual knowledge of the place to
end, and somehow different pieces fall into develop at the same pace as my intellectual
16
Clockwise from top: Members of the public in Daytona
Beach, Florida, USA, 1988, from The Sunshine State. A
memorial for victims of army violence, Port au Prince, Haiti,
1987. Mexicans arrested while trying to cross the border to
United States, San Ysidro, California, USA, 1979. All images
Alex Webb/Magnum Photos.Magnum Photos.
knowledge. I feel with certain projects that If it works naturally. Ive found it incredibly
if I read too much I start trying to force rewarding and exciting and fabulous to
things. I look at things and say, Ah well work with Rebecca. But one thing I will say
thats symbolic of that and so its interesting is we almost never photograph in the street
to photograph, whereas if Im just there together. The times we shoot together we
photographing I see things that might have to be careful to go to opposite ends of
contradict those symbols. whatever situation it is. Two photographers
together in the street transform a situation.
Youve worked in partnership with people dont respond the same way.
your wife, Rebecca Norris Webb.
Would you recommend young
photographers seek out collaborators?
17
As part of the Magnum Photos AGM, a group of IdeasTap
members got feedback on their work from Magnum
photographers David Alan Harvey, Jonas Bendiksen,
Larry Towell and Eli Reed. They tell us what they think
makes a great picture...
18
Fern Leigh Albert, 26:
There have been a few times in my life when
Ive revisited galleries and loved a photograph
that Id previously hated or an image has
grown on me. I think it depends on personal
taste, time, place and feeling.
19
With half a century of photography way because colour makes things look pretty,
and filmmaking under his belt, German so it can be easier to capture something very
photographer Thomas Hoepker is one ugly war, poverty or disease in black and
of Magnums most experienced members. white.
He talks to IdeasTap member Tina Remiz
about the differences between working with Basically, Im a hand for hire. Somebody
still and moving image, and why he doesnt calls me up and says theyll give me money to
like to be labelled an artist... take pictures, and Ill do what they want me
to do. If they say its going to be in colour or
Your career spans more than five in black and white OK, either is fine by me.
decades whats been the highlight?
How has the equipment you use
Before joining Magnum in 1989, I was a evolved over the years?
contract photographer for the German
magazine Stern, which means I had a regular I started with a 9x12 glass plate camera I got
salary and paid vacations things a young from my grandfather at the age of 16, worked
photographer can only dream about these with Leicas and other 35mm SLRs, and now
days. It was an interesting and well-paid job Im walking around with a digital camera.
at a time when magazines spent money on All of them are tools they can be very good
producing good reportage. We had all the or not so sophisticated but to take good
necessary facilities and, in many cases, could pictures most of all you need to have a trained
work on a story for as long as we wanted. The eye.
biggest gift they gave us was time.
Youve taken photographs all over the
What are your thoughts on colour world: whats the difference between
versus black and white photography? working abroad and in your home
country, Germany?
The two coexist and both have their place in
my practice. Sometimes you find a story on your doorstep,
other times you need to fly half way around
Black and white reduces everything to the globe to get it. Its wonderful to go to a
composition and the subject of a picture, new place, but working in your hometown
while colour adds another element, which gives you the advantage of knowing the place
can be destructive. It often stands in your and makes building contacts easier.
20
You should bring your opinion
to every piece of reportage. If you
love or hate the situation, or find it
ridiculous, it should come through
in the resulting pictures. Dont try to
be objective its boring!
You should bring your opinion to every piece for the horror and didnt think this was the
of reportage. If you love or hate the situation, picture.
or find it ridiculous, it should come through
in the resulting pictures. Dont try to be Magnum had a meeting in New York the
objective its boring! day before. I saw what other photographers
had done and thought my picture was too
One of your best-known images from harmless, too pretty. So I kept it in my drawer
9/11 provides a very different view of for few years, until a museum curator saw the
the event. Whats the story behind it? photograph and encouraged me to publish it.
I learned my lesson you should never be too
Its strange because at the time I didnt think pre-determined. As a reporter, you want to be
this moment was important. I automatically really close to the event, but sometimes, if you
reacted to the situation, but only pressed the detour from the core of it, you can be lucky to
shutter three times because I was looking find something special.
21
One of Magnums youngest nominees,
26-year-old Belgian photographer Bieke
Depoorter talks to IdeasTap member Chris
Brunner about her Magnum Expression
Award-winning project Ou Menya, for which
she travelled through Russia, staying with
families she met along the way...
I spent three months there, divided up into Editing takes me a long time, because I have
three trips of one month each. First, I didnt my experiences with people in my mind. Im
have much money, so I had to come back scared when I look through my photographs
to work in order to go back again. But more that Ill be disappointed, that my memory
importantly, I dont want to travel for a long wont be the same. The photographs that are
time because what I do is really intensive. I the same as my memory are probably the
dont want to start feeling that its normal for good ones.
people to take me in. Also its tiring; I start to
miss my friends and family. And travelling for In the past I was more of a street
a long time, doing this, you get saturated; you photographer, but then I felt bad about
dont see things anymore. stealing something from someone I didnt
22
I often
photograph people
at night, just before
they go to sleep.
Im interested in
the border between
the real world and
the fantasy world.
know. The way I work now, asking for a place friends dont know. Its a conversation we
to stay and then staying there and really have; its not just me as a photographer going
getting to know the people, is more respectful. in to take photographs of their life.
If they dont want me to take photographs,
I dont. Sometimes its difficult, because The longer youre in the photography world
afterwards I go away knowing their stories. and I realise Im quite young the more
Even then, I sometimes go away with the you know about photography and the more
feeling that for them too it was an important you think about it. I hope in the future I dont
moment. I share as well; sometimes I tell lose the fact that being a person and being a
them stories about my life that even my photographer go together.
23
American photographer Richard Kalvar but I was taking pictures that I really liked.
balances personal work in France, Italy
England, Japan and the United States with Youve been documenting Rome since
editorial and commercial assignments. the 1970s. How did that project begin?
He talks to IdeasTap member Ambra
Vernuccio about long-term projects and My project in Italy is an unfinished long-term
why street photography isnt the most project, which began in August 1978 when
accurate description of what he does... I went to Rome for the first time. The Pope
died and I got a job with Newsweek. I took a
Early in your career you assisted the taxi from the airport to Piazza di Spagna. The
fashion photographer Jerome Ducrot. sunset and the people were among the most
Did he influence your style? beautiful things Ive ever seen.
I was lucky to work with him because even Around that time, Jeanloup Sieff, a French
though he was a fashion and advertising publisher, was talking about doing a series
photographer, he was also a guy who had a of books with photographers whod get a
certain photographic culture. He was open small amount of money to go out and shoot
to other things. I wasnt even aware that I something that theyd always dreamt of
was learning, but I was. I got into the habit shooting and I thought, Ill do Rome!
of taking lots of pictures, probably because I
was watching him taking lots of pictures. And I did the stuff I had to do for the Pope, and
I still do. When I was working on a recent then I stayed and took pictures. Even though
Davos commission [in Switzerland] I took I was impressed by the beautiful colours, I
6,000 to 10,000 pictures. was basically a black and white photographer
so I decided to do black and white. I was
How and when did your breakthrough mostly walking around and looking at
as a photographer happen? relations between people.
I wouldnt say it was a breakthrough I In the end the book never happened, but I
wasnt suddenly discovered by a magazine. It kept going back anyway.
was more that I thought, Im a pretty good
photographer! Maybe in 1967 when I came
back from my trip to Europe, after working
with Jerome Ducrot. Its not that I made it,
24
I took a taxi from the
airport to Piazza di
Spagna. The sunset and
the people were among the
most beautiful things Ive
ever seen.
25
Magnum photographers recall challenges theyve
overcome during their career...
26
Afghan soldiers carry a wounded comrade into an American medevac helicopter after a Taliban ambush near the village of
Tsunek, Kunar Province, Afghanistan, 2010 Moises Saman/Magnum Photos.
27
Known for doing on the road photography
as he travels across the US, Alec Soth also
runs his own publishing company, Little
Brown Mushroom. Alec talks to IdeasTap
member Julia Horbaschk about his latest
project, The LBM Dispatch...
28
More important than the
camera is the powerful on-
camera flash I use. I really blast
light into peoples faces.
Clockwise from top: Dog in Bogota, Colombia, 2003. Petrol station photo-
graphed for the project Sleeping by the Mississippi, Fountain City, Wisconsin,
USA, 2002. Man walks through Dover Burial Park, Dover, Ohio, USA, 2012. All
images Alec Soth/Magnum Photos.
29
Greek photographer Nikos there and feeling the moment that I could
Economopoulos is best known for his begin to understand their motivation.
images of Greece, Turkey and the Balkans.
Nikos talks to IdeasTap member Tom Tell us a bit about your long-term
Maguire about his motivations as a project on Albania.
photographer and why less is more when it
comes to equipment... Albania is an interesting country. When
I arrived there for the first time in 1989,
What initially drew you to working in before the Democratic Party came to power,
the Balkans and southern Europe? Albanian citizens were completely isolated
from the rest of the world. The way they
My decision was based on two things: it moved, their body language and the way they
was cheap to get to and close. At that point interacted with each other was different from
in my life, I didnt have the money to make anything Id seen before. The way Albanian
global trips. In fact, its only recently that Ive youths flirted with each other was different to
started to photograph stories outside Europe. how the Greek and Turkish flirt. Visually, this
Of course at the same time big changes were was really interesting for me.
happening in southern Europe that I was
curious to know more about. During my This fascination with the Albanian people and
time in southern Europe and the Balkans I their culture brought me back to the country
experienced a whole range of events, from the on numerous trips throughout the 90s. The
conflict in Kosovo to the tensions between my last story in Albania that I photographed was
homeland, Greece, and Turkey. the mass emigration of ethnic Albanians from
Kosovo to Albania in 1999 and 2000. I was
Importantly, I never went to these places mostly based in Albania, not Kosovo during
to be a journalist. Taking photographs has this time, documenting the movement and
always been a personal thing for me. During interaction of the refugees with the Albanian
that time I had a lot of unanswered questions. people and their customs.
Taking photographs became a way to get
answers to them. For example, during the Would you consider making a book of
Balkans conflict, I couldnt understand why this work?
Serbian civilians presented themselves as
human shields along the river Danube to Although some of the images from the project
protect their bridges. It was only from being have been published in a number of different
30
I always say to my
students, One lens,
one camera, thats it.
books, I have never produced a book solely a result, Im able to feel the moment Im
on Albania. Up until now it has made sense to photographing, rather than think about it.
see how the project evolves and develops over This has allowed me a great deal of freedom
time. Maybe now Im ready. We shall see. as a photographer.
What kit do you work with, and how I always say to my students, One lens, one
does this influence your relationship camera, thats it. Too often students and
with your photographic subjects? aspiring photographers want to try out a
whole range of media, formats and lenses,
For the last 20 years Ive used the same especially when theyre starting out. In my
35mm lens with the same body. Over time opinion, its impossible to go deeper in visual
the 35mm lens has become calibrated with terms using multiple formats and lenses. Its
my eye. I see through the world through this best to stick to one.
perspective; I know the grade and depth of
field without having to think too hard. As
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Now a full member, Jonas Bendiksens
working relationship with Magnum began
when he was a 19-year-old intern at the Lon-
don offices. Jonas talks to IdeasTap mem-
ber Sophie McGrath about documenting
everyday life in the slums of Kenya, India,
Venezuela and Indonesia for his project The
Places We Live, which he presented as a web-
site, an exhibition and a book...
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Clockwise from top: Crows circle a statue of Lenin in
front of the Supreme Soviet building, Transdniester,
Moldova, 2004. During a storm squall, a girl walks
a long an embankment that was broken by the 2009
cyclone Aila, Sathkira District, Bangladesh, 2010. The
hillside barrio of El Valle, Caracas, Venezuela, 2010. All
images Jonas Bendiksen/Magnum Photos.
its different from film, but the quality is its the best program, so small and so simple
amazing. and then I use Photoshop.
The editing process was incredibly tough. Im optimistic for the future of photography,
Thats when you really make decisions about because we have a sense of freedom and
who you are as a photographer. I always ownership of our work and an ability to
see that in young photographers so many show that work in a way that was never there
people are good at taking pictures, but the before. Before, you worked for one magazine
challenge is the editing. You just have to be and were beholden to the 12 images you
hard on yourself its a question of huge could put in, and that was it; now you have so
discipline and not letting yourself fall in many more options in terms of getting work
love with all these images before you get out. Youve got to get it to work financially,
down to the right numbers. Everyone has but people can now have a closer and better
their own mental games they play to do to authorship of their work. Theres never been
it. I have rituals, like functioning in certain a time when people consumed and engaged
percentages; for example, a first cut always with photography as much as they do now.
has to get down to 20%. For post-production,
I use a Mac and edit in Expression Media
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As part of the AGM, Magnum photographers came
together for a symposium. Abbas, Peter Marlow,
Christopher Anderson, Thomas Dworzak and Jonas
Bendiksen shared their thoughts on Magnum, social
media, copyright, new technologies and the relationship
between still and moving images...
On Magnum...
Abbas:
Basically its a bunch of loonies, each one
with his own agenda, his own dreams,
his own priorities but the group actually
functions as a group.
Nominee is like boyfriend or girlfriend. An
associate is fianc/e. A member is marriage.
Peter Marlow:
You probably experience it yourself as
photographers: its OK looking at your own
pictures but if someones over your shoulder
looking at those pictures as well, somehow
you can better tell if theyre good or bad.
The opinions of ones colleagues stop you
becoming self-satisfied with what youre
doing and actually question it and push it
further.
Jonas Bendiksen:
Photography can be a lonely endeavour ...
being part of Magnum or a similar group is
a great way to have some sort of community
around your work, to bounce ideas off
and feel like youre involved in a collective
endeavour.
Abbas addresses the audience at the Magn
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On social media...
On copyright...
Christopher Anderson:
If you want to download my pictures, please
go ahead. As a photographer trying to reach
an audience, [if there are lots of] bloggers
who are interested in my photographs, thats
great. Do I want Time Magazine online to be
using my pictures for free? No, of course not
that I want to control, as a copyright issue.
Abbas:
At this AGM we decided to sue institutions
who use our pictures but we decided
collectively that individual blogs or [people]
downloading the images for their own use is
legitimate.
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On multimedia...
Jonas Bendiksen:
The modes of operating when youre out
photographing and when you are creating
video are often very different. In the early
days of experimenting with this, there was a
false idea that one could easily go out and do
both but if youre going to do a four-minute
video it demands real attention to do it well.
Christopher Anderson:
I dont like the term multimedia... there
are stills and then theres documentary film.
Documentary film can use a combination
of stills, video and sound but lets stop
thinking like photographers putting sound Christopher Anderson presents his work at the Mag
to our pictures, and make films. Films are
interesting; watching slideshows set to music
is not. We thought about multimedia for a
long time as the thing that was going to save
photographers asses and it didnt.
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On digital technology...
Abbas:
Anybody can take pictures; photographys
a very easy thing. You can give a camera
to a baboon [and it will learn to take
photographs]. The problem isnt taking
photographs, or taking good photographs, the
problem is having a language; a vision as a
photographer.
Christopher Anderson:
In this age, craft and technique are useless
commodities. The only thing that has
value for you as a photographer now is
your uniqueness, your individuality and
authenticity. Those are the things you trade
on.
Thomas Dworzak:
I dont care if somebody takes a picture with
an iPhone or with a washing machine [as long
as it looks good].
37
Since 2010, IdeasTap and Magnum have worked together
to provide a range of career-boosting opportunities,
mentoring and funding for photographers
The IdeasTap Photographic Award, in
association with Magnum Photos
Our annual award offers UK-based
photographers the chance to win mentoring,
5,000 in prize money, 1,500 in project
funding and a sought-after internship at
Magnums London or New York offices.
Originally the award was open to 16-30-year-
olds, but in 2013 we introduced a new
category for applicants aged over 30. The
award process is designed to provide
development opportunities for 18 shortlisted
applicants, not just the overall winners.
38
Magnum Professional Practice Exposure: The Oxfam Photography
We offer heavily subsidised places on Prize for Women
Magnums Professional Practice seminars, Exposure is a new once-in-a-lifetime
where leading figures from the photographic opportunity for three female emerging
industry deliver presentations and share photographers to complete a commission
advice. Eight speakers from a variety of for Oxfams spring fundraising campaign. In
industries, including the advertising and autumn 2013 Oxfam will commission three
corporate, editorial, gallery, NGO, museum, of Magnum Photos female photographers to
publishing and rights sectors give impartial document projects in Armenia, Chad and Sri
presentations on their area of expertise, with Lanka. Winners will follow the commission
plenty of time for questions and networking. brief and produce a set of 100 images that
highlight the difficulties faced by people living
in poverty and the impact of Oxfams work,
particularly showcasing the stories of women.
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For more photography articles, jobs and opportunities visit:
IdeasTap.com/Photography
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