If you’re knocking about Coventry tomorrow
Written by duckrabbityou could always pop into the Uni to hear duckrabbit talk:
Author — duckrabbit
duckrabbit is a production company formed by radio producer/journalist Benjamin Chesterton and photographer David White. We specialize in digital storytelling.
Discussion (5 Comments)
why won’t my uni get you guys on the scene? We have Anna Fox in conversation with Martin Parr tonight… I think you class them as Art photographers. I can’t really benefit from that.
Oh Saira I’d much rather go and hear Martin Parr talk then listen to be rabbiting on … and Parr is definitely a documentary photographer and a one of the all time greatest about that.
You are lucky. Trust me.
Yep, Go see Martin. Always good value.
I went and I was really impressed by the questions he posed to Anna. I had the opportunity to meet him in person and ask him what I thought his perception of the term ‘documentary photography’ was. My understanding is that documentary work offers the viewer a chance to reflect on an important issue regarding real people, with hopes for the viewer to adhere to the photographers/artists cause. However, Anna also described her work as documentary which puzzled me as I felt it was work which was just meant to be looked at and analysed in respect of its cultural context of ‘Britishness’.
Anyway, Martin’s response was pretty much this: if it does what it says on the tin then it doesn’t matter what you call it. He said that this constant need for photography students to pigeon hole their practice was probably because of their lecturers telling them to do so. And that in actual fact if you make work, and make it good and then better, its ‘practice’ is irrelevant.
Good advice.
Have sent a message to Johathan Shaw hoping that I can sit in on the lecture tomorrow, hope he gets back to me as I’m coming anyway!
Told you Martin was worth going to hear and of course he’s right.
At the BBC we never made much of a distinction between radio features and radio documentary and experimental radio …. blah blah blah … its all part of the same practice.
Sure you’ll be a most welcome tomorrow but I’m a bit intimidated by the quality of your questions!