vietnam 1967 philip jones-griffiths/magnum

It is with truly great sadness that I publish this post in tribute to Philip Jones-Griffiths who died last week. Philip was an inspiration to very many people, a fun and witty man who was difficult for all the right reasons. He will be remembered largely for his book Vietnam Inc., and the role it played in galvanising western public opinion on the tragedy that was unfolding in Vietnam.  

The first time I saw Philip speak was at a Photovoice event last year. He had had chemotherapy the previous day but told me it gave him extra energy! At the end someone asked him; If you were just starting out in your career now where would you be shooting? His response? It was somewhere along the lines of.....

I know it is hard for you young photographers to get money to go out and shoot, but it is so important you get that money. I don't care how you get it, go rob a bank or marry into money, but get it, and go wherever the Americans are, because this is the height of the American empire and it is so important that it needs to be shown and be exposed.

There are plenty more quotes from Philip, which are as worth checking out as his work! This was just one that struck me as brave and true and surprised me at the time. I hope you come across some more, hopefully you will laugh and be inspired.

Anna S.

images from 'fig.' by adam broomberg and oliver chanarin

There's an interesting interview with Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin in the latest seesaw magazine. It took place last year and regards their project 'fig.', focusing on the idea of photographer as collector, and taking in associations with colonialism.

I'm a sucker for this kind of 'concerned' art photography and this interview is good at putting it into a wider context of documentary photography as a whole. Though I'm sceptical about how political market driven photography can actually be, it's really good to hear someone being positive about the future of documentary in a time when the editorial market is shrinking into oblivion. If the change is an opportunity to ditch some of the exploitative and, let's face it, racist facets of documentary as it stands then it certainly is exciting.

Anna S.

image from the story Best Served Cold: A Tale of Murder and Revenge in Albania by Guillaume Herbaut (a founder member of L'Oeil Public) published in last foto8 magazine

Foto8 (a great documentary photography magazine) is revamping itself, in part with added emphasis on emergent photographers. Hopefully this could be an exciting platform for some new as well as established photographers to show their work.

The first promising development was the announcement last week of a summer show to be held at host gallery in July. There is a £10 administration fee, which sadly seems to be pretty much the norm, but it would be a great event to be involved with and a fantastic opportunity to meet other photographers. Though it jips my miser gland I'll be entering.

Deadline for entries is 24th May. More details on the foto8 website.

Anna S.