The Documentary Photographer Podcast – Episode 19: Jonathan Desmond & Roger Overall – Pre-qualifying Your Clients for Documentary Work

In a change from the norm, Canadian photographer Jonathan Desmond takes the reins of the podcast and asks me questions about how I approach documentary photography. In particular, we talk about how to explain to both wedding and corporate clients what documentary photography is. We also discuss the importance of letting your passion for the authentic moment shine through.

The Documentary Photographer Podcast – Episode 18: Iesha Small – Documenting Depression

In this episode documentary photographer and teacher Iesha Small talks about her project documenting depression.

Iesha explains how her own spell of depression resulted in her taking up photography. She also talks about using text and audio in her work, and about how she approaches such a sensitive topic.

You can see Iesha's photography and stories at http://www.mindshackles.co.uk

The Documentary Photographer Podcast – Episode 21: Carl Weese and the Case of the Platinum/Palladium Prints

2014 has been a fast year. "Flown by" doesn't cover it. Usain Bolt himself would be left spluttering in the dust cloud left in the wake of 2014. I think Linford Christie (also a sprinter) once said that you have to go on the "B" of the starter pistol's "BANG!". 2014 is so fast, it would have finished the race by then.

All of which is a longwinded way of saying that I've had virtually no time to spend on the Documentary Photographer podcast. I'd love to do more, but in the scheme of things, it rates lower than many other things in my life this year. The chief time suck has been establishing a new business. The good news is that this has taken wing. It does mean that there is even less time to spend on the podcast, though.

The thing about a podcast is that recording one is the easy bit. The real time investment is in the editing. That can take two or three times as long as the actual conversation itself. And that's if you do a really rudimentary podcast like The Documentary Photographer. It's the reason why I have three recorded-but-unedited episodes. They would perhaps have stayed that way for many more months were it not for two people.

The first is Mark Cotton. An audio genius who has helped me edit some of the episodes that had been languishing on my hard drives. With his help, I'm confident they will appear soon. Or at least sooner than if I had been left to my own devices.

The other is Carl Weese, an American photographer who appeared in episode three of The Documentary Photographer. When we last spoke, he was about to embark on a 18,000 mile trek around the USA to photograph drive-in movie theatres. That journey is done. A book is in the works.

Carl contacted me recently about a new project. A sale of platinum/palladium prints. These are prints that have an exceptional tonal range. The making is part alchemy, part artisan wizardry. Carl is a grand wizard.

You can own one (or two)

Carl is offering two photographs as platinum/palladium prints at a vastly discounted rate. We're talking a reduction of 85% or so here. He suggested a podcast chat about the process of making these prints. I agreed. Although it did put me in a difficult spot. Because of the time limit on the print sale, I've had to bump the episode to the front of the queue – ahead of recordings with other photographers, who had been waiting patiently for me to get round to editing their episodes.

Needs must... and all that.

So here we have episode 21 of the podcast appearing ahead of 18, 19 and 20. Life is messy. I'm a little OCD, so it doesn't sit well to publish out of synch. But look, better this way than not at all.

By the way, if it wasn't immediately obvious, you can listen to the podcast by clicking the player at the top of this post.

More importantly, you can get all the details of how to get one of Carl's prints on the world's greatest photography blog: The Online Photographer.

Have You Ever Reinterpreted Your Work?

Girl and Doggy in the Window © 2009 Roger Overall

My favourite photography blog is Mike Johnston's wonderful The Online Photographer. Mike's writing is intelligent, insightful and often humorous. The community that has come together around him is high class. You get very little infighting in the comments. People there love photography, adore Mike and feel at home. So they behave themselves.

A couple of years ago, Mike agreed to let me into the fold and write for him. He doesn't know it, but he is something of a mentor to me – if you can be such a thing without knowing it. I've had editorial mentors before. The partners in this company in particular: Merlin Corporate Communications. I used to work for them. They were such good employers, they ruined me for any other employer. Few companies could live up their high HR standards. (By the way, John is a novelist now). These days, Mike provides editorial guidance to me – sometimes by example, sometimes in the feedback accompanying rejected submissions.

As a documentary photographer, you might like the insights hat unfolded in the comments of this piece: The Dangers of Revisiting Your Work. Full disclosure: I wrote the article.

The Documentary Photographer Podcast – Episode 17: Denis Balibouse and the Gruyere Cheese Makers

Speaking purely from a selfish point of view: I could happily live out the rest of my days producing documentary photographs and films about artisan food producers. Being around them is inspirational. Their knowledge, skill and passion is infectious. Moreover, I like my food.

© 2013 Denis Balibouse

You can imagine, then, how excited I was when I came across the photographs and video that Reuters photographer Denis Balibouse produced of Gruyere cheese makers. He spent time with the Murith family between May and October last year documenting the making of Gruyere cheese on the mountainside. The experience challenged his assumptions about cheese making and traditional aspects of Swiss life, which he thought were under threat.

In our conversation, we talk about some of the fundamentals of documentary photography such as access and respecting your subject's integrity and rights. We also look at the rise of video and its importance for us as documentary photographers.

Links

Denis' website
Denis' blog post about his experience
Denis' post on the  Reuters blog with video

The Documentary Photographer Podcast – Episode 16: Brian David Stevens and the Meaningful Landscape

This interview with Brian David Stevens was recorded just over a year ago in London. In fact, it was on the same day that I spoke with Gina Glover. Life, work, stuff all got in the way of it being edited and broadcast. I lost my mojo a bit as well. 2013 was a hard year.

Let's not dwell on all that.

Instead, let's dwell on Brian and his work. He speaks eloquently and thoughtfully about his work and approach to photography and his subjects. We meander through landscape photography, street photography and documentary photography as sub-genres of photography. We talk realism, truth and meaning, as well as building meaningful relationships with your human subjects when they are very different from you.

Brian's interests are varied, covering seascapes to graffiti artists, yet there is a coherence. Often Brian collaborates. Either with his subjects or by working with others on a project, a poet for instance. His work is about dialogue. Landscapes are revealed to have human meaning due to events that happened there – the interplay between image and words creates a deeper story.

#streetphotography #landscapephotography #poetry #briandavidstevens #coast #seascapes #documentaryphotography #graffiti #banksy #access #story

The Syria Print Sale – The Final Word

There is a popular sentiment in business mentoring these days that says failure is merely a milestone on the way to success. Eric Reis' "Lean Startup" concept is built on the foundation of failing – and failing fast.

As with all rules, there are exceptions. The Syria print sale is among them: failure is the end station rather than a stop along the way. There won't be a continuation of the sale.

The prints are on their way back to the David and Gina. I know that David will be offering his for sale at Paris Photo next week.

I'm grateful to both for agreeing to help.

Syria Print Sale Update: A Complete Failure

There's no point trying to pretty this up. The print sale was a failure. Magnificently so. Not a single print was sold. There was interest from one party, but it dissipated quickly.

So, the total raised for Médecins sans Frontieres' work in Syria was nil euros and nil cents.

Why?

That's an interesting question.

Clearly there was no appetite for the prints at the price point among those who knew about the sale and visited the site to find out more.

Maybe they were seen as overpriced. I don't think they were, but it is a subjective issue. For some, prints are priceless; for others they have little value. We live in a digital world, so what is the point of a print? If you need an answer to that one, a print sale is never going to appeal, regardless of the beauty of the prints and the reputation of the photographers.

It is also possible that the work of MSF in Syria or the Syria issue as a whole didn't resonate with people. There are so many problems in the world. Maybe this appeal just didn't, well, appeal.

Perhaps the messaging was all wrong.

Perhaps people just don't like me and therefore they don't like anything I'm involved with.

Or is it, to borrow a phrase from a past US Presidential election, "the economy stupid"? Folks may want to help, but they don't have the spare cash.

Probably all of the above in some measure.

Now what?

All of those things are meaningless compared to the answer to the question "What now?".

We have 15 wonderful prints to use to help raise money to do good in Syria. MSF will get that money to support its efforts on the ground there.

Those are the fixed parameters.

The challenge now is to find a way to make this work.

This isn't the end of the road. It is merely a weigh point.

We'll come back to this.

Fundraiser: The Syria Print Sale – How You Can Buy A Print

A quick recap for those of you who are arriving here for the first time.

Earlier this year, Christian Payne, a good and conscientious man, went to Syria to tell the stories of people like you and I – except they weren't quite like you and I. Their lives had been destroyed by the civil war. Christian's tale is a moving one. You can listen to it in episode 14 of the podcast, or experience it on his blog (the post titled Towards Syria is a good place to start).

Following our conversation, I approached a number of the photographers who had been interviewed on the podcast about contributing prints to a sale to raise money for some form of aid in Syria. Gina Glover and David Creedon readily agreed.

Originally, I thought the money would benefit Hayat for Syria, an aid organisation Christian had encountered. For a number of reasons, this didn't work out. This is no reflection on Hayat. It does wonderful work. Instead, I've decided that the money raised from the print sale will go to Médecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). It has a Syria appeal running and its personnel provide one of the most basic of human needs: keeping people alive. There are countless other organisations deserving of support, but a choice had to be made and MSF is it.

Gina's print

Gina has donated five exceptionally delicate and beautiful prints of her photograph titled Iceberg III, Jökulsárlón lake, Iceland:

© Gina Glover

Here's an idea of what the print looks like "in the flesh":

The prints are unmounted and printed on 10x8 inch paper with a 1 inch border at the sides and a 1.5 inch border top and bottom.

Each one is signed by Gina in pencil:

The photograph will appear in Gina's new book The Metabolic Landscape, which is due out in February next year. In the book, Gina addresses humankind’s search for more powerful sources of energy to sustain its increasingly industrial and urbanising existence, and she questions the real costs of our current energy consumption on our climate and ecosystems.

David's print

David has donated ten unmounted prints of a photograph from his recent Cuba portfolio, an utterly stunning body of work.

This is the photograph:

© David Creedon

Here is a picture of the print, which is on 14x9.5 inch photographic paper:

David too has signed the prints:

And he has embossed each one with a stamp to emphasise its authenticity:

What does a print cost?

After choosing the prints for the sale, the toughest question was what price to set. I wanted to make it reasonably affordable, yet do justice to the wonderful prints and the photographers. For instance, Gina's work usually sells for £180 upwards.

After wetting my finger and waving it in the air, I've set the base price at €145 per print. David's print is bigger, but there are fewer of Gina's, so it evens out – in my mind at least.

There are some extra costs for you to factor in, I'm afraid.

What might those extras be? Nothing to onerous and I hope you understand why they are going to be added. The Americans have a wonderful phrase: nickle-and-diming. I don't want you to feel that you're a victim of this, but there are three unavoidable additions.

The first is postage and packaging.

I've set packaging at a standard €5 per print. That should cover a fairly robust protective exterior during transit.

Postage is a different matter. That will depend on where you live and what service you'd like. An Post, the postal service here in Ireland, offers a range of options. Once I know where you live, I'll send you the postage options and prices you can choose from.

The third extra concerns the costs of moving money. I'll be taking payment via PayPal – I know, I know, not everyone's favourite, but it does at least allow many forms of card payment and keeps the admin down at this end. PayPal takes 3.4% plus €0.35 per payment.

Basically, it all means that I can only give you the final price of your print once I know what shipping option you'd like. When I have that, I can add it all up so that above all MSF gets €145 per print regardless of postage costs and how much PayPal syphons off. If I get it right, €2,175 in total from the sale of 15 prints.

How do you get one?

This is first come, first serve.

If you'd like to buy a print, please email me at roger@rogeroverall.net stating which print you would like (the limit is one per person, I'm afraid) and your preferred shipping address. I'll email you back what deliver options are available to you and you can let me know which you'd prefer. Then I can send you your final price along with a PayPal payment request. You can always say "No" if you feel shipping is too much.

Once you've paid, I'll ship your print to you. Upon confirmation of receipt, your donation will go to MSF.

The sale of these prints will end at midnight (GMT) on Friday 25th October – just over two weeks from today. Any unsold prints will be sent back to Gina and David.

Transparency

For the sake of transparency, I'll post here regularly about how many prints have been ordered. I'll provide documentary evidence of the final sales and the transfer of the money we raise to MSF to round it all off.

The whole endeavour should be completed no later than 21st November, which allows time to make sure all the prints have arrived safely and deal with any hiccoughs.

Questions?

Ask away: roger@rogeroverall.net

One last thing

Maybe you could do me a favour? It would be a great help if you were able to mention this fundraising print sale in your social media feeds, linking to this blog post. The more people who are aware of it, the more likely we are to reach our target.

Thank you so much.

The Syria Print Sale – David Creedon's Print

© David Creedon

Choosing a photograph from David Creedon's Cuba work for this print sale was both heaven and hell.

It was heaven because I think that his Cuba portfolio among the very best ever produced. It's not just me who thinks that. David went to Arles this year to show his work and drum up interest for a book. The feedback was universally positive. Sadly, that doesn't mean the book will appear. While I've seen a mock up and it took my breath away, getting a publisher behind a book is hard these days, even if you have the competency and reputation that David has. Maybe, as a next project, we could encourage him to go the self-publish route? I have no doubt his book would do well following a Kickstarter campaign or such.

Choosing a print from such a wonderful collection allowed me to indulge myself in his work. Heaven, as I said.

It was hell at the same time. Out of such a wonderful series which one should I choose? I'd have taken any of them.

In the end, I selected one of the most accessible photographs in the series – one that would have broad appeal, even outside the photographic community. Just in case the sale doesn't go as well as I hope it will among photographers.

You can't go wrong with animals. Cats and dogs in particular.

David's story

David lives in Cork and I'm very lucky that I get the chance to have coffee with him every couple of months. For me, it really is like sitting at the knee of the master – except the chairs are comfortable and I'm allowed a latte.

When we met so that he could give me his prints, we recorded a brief conversation about the photograph. You can listen to it below:

listen to ‘Talking with photographer David Creedon about the photograph he is donating to help raise funds for medical attention for refugees in Syria. .’ on Audioboo

David's photograph is printed on 14x9.5 inch photographic paper, with a boarder of between 0.5 and 0.8 inches around it (depending on the size). He has also stamped them.

Please come back tomorrow and I'll explain how you can purchase one of the prints.

In the meantime, if you are able to promote the sale in any way, shape or form (online or off), I'd be very grateful.