I decided to attend this chaired discussion at the Hepworth, Wakefield, after seeing it advertised when I attended the Martin Parr exhibition in March. The panel was chaired by Tom Dukes, curator at the Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool. On the panel were Bex Day, Bruno Ceschel and Gideon Mendel. Each member of the panel spoke about themselves and their work and this was followed by a discussion chaired by Tom Dukes.
Bex Day
Bex Day is a photographer and photo editor of the biannual photo magazine PYLOT. PYLOT magazine specialises in all-analogue fashion and photography content, aiming to pioneer a modern approach in a digitally saturated world. According to its website it has a philosophy of no beauty re-touching.
Bex explained that she found printed matter the most exciting form of image. Although, important, she feels that images on social media are temporary and should lead to print. She feels that social media is a double edged sword: encourages laziness, but enables photographers to become known. She wouldn't have been where she was without it. Today, she said, everybody considers themselves a photographer and many think that the number of followers they have is more important than the work itself. She still finds social media, particularly Instagram, vital to her work. Both Bex, herself and PYLOT magazine have Instagram pages. She argued that although technology has advanced, people's brains lag behind and are unable to cope with the proliferation of images on social media. She is a supporter of self-publishing, whether by social media or printed photobook. Publishing a photobook, she argued, is not going to make money, but it is worth doing for its own artistic value.
Bruno Ceschel
Bruno Ceschel is a writer, curator and lecturer at the University of the Arts, London and ECAL. His background is in traditional publishing and he is the founder of Self Publish Be Happy an organisation that supports and promotes the work of emerging photographers. Both he and Self Publish Be Happy have an Instagram presence. SPBH has used both Facebook and Tumblr in the past but has now moved onto Instagram. He says that there has been an explosion of photobooks during the early years of the 21st century because of technological changes. Accessibility is a key factor and it is now easier to publicize and distribute and a community has built around this. A good photobook is one where the pictures, design and the object itself stand out. The most common mistake is when people try to produce something for which they don't have the required design and technical production skills. The trick is to keep it simple.
Gideon Mendel
Gideon Mendel is originally from South Africa. He works with social issues of a global concern and his projects are often long-term commitments. Since 2007 he has been working on his Drowning World project; this is is personal response to the problem of climate change. Although steeped in traditional analogue photography using rollieflex film cameras, he now also uses digital and like the other two panelists, has an Instagram account. He admits to being book phobic and says that he is not good at slowing down and completing things; he is always moving on to the the next project. In his Drowning World project he has worked in 13 countries world wide. We were shown heartrending images of distraught people standing in water in their flooded homes. He feels that digital is fine for landscape work but it doesn't work for him with the portraiture of his Drowning World subjects as the camera was in front of his face and acted as a barrier between himself and the subject. With his Rollieflex TLR it was held at waist level. He dropped his Rollieflex in the water in Haiti, dried it out and continued using it, but soon corrosion began to affect the images. He liked the very interesting results. He really enjoys using Instagram and tries to post one meaningful photograph per day.
During the open discussion Tom Dukes suggested that with Instagram (and other social media?) we can say that we are all authors. Bruno responded by arguing that a print is a totem of the photographic experience. He is resistant to the fact that everything has to be judged on a monetary value; it is more important to make work for its own sake. Self publishing is a way of sharing that experience. Instagram and photography is just a type of language. Bex felt that it is important to have a community of like-minded people to share work. Although PYLOT encourages the print and analogue photography, without digital and Instagram it would not exist. They wouldn't use perfectly retouched images.
A question from the audience centred on the problem of people stealing other's work from the internet. The general concensus from the panel was that this did not worry them if they posted material on social media. Gideon argued that we have to decide what we are going to give away for free in order to promote our work and create an audience. It was not a worry to Bex. Bruno felt that copyright was not a problem, but future accessibility to images locked up in computers is more of an issue. He argued that in 50 years the visual language of today will disappear. There was a consensus that it was important to keep work as prints or in photobooks to ensure longevity of access.
Tom asked the panel about the abundance of imagery. Bruno suggested that it made visual language very homogenous. When asked he said that he published 70% of the work sent to SPBH, but most people knew what they stood for. He said that there are so many images around nowadays that people tended to have a 'visual shower' every day. A member of the audience stressed the need for self-editing and only publish on Instagram or in photobooks our very best work. Bex agreed that that was the point of the photobook. i.e more considered work. Gideon agreed that there was a great deal of mediocre work on social media. He finished the session by arguing that we should edit and then print our best work.
All in all and excellent afternoon and well worth the trip.
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