Lessons from the Magnum and BJP Professional Practice Workshop on Personal Projects

“Design is photography’s best friend”

The event’s opening session was led by Harry Hardie (Lecturer at the London College of Communication, Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster, and Co-founder of Here Press), who focused on the ways that artists get their ideas. Hardie noted the importance of openness, encouraging attendees to pay attention to newspapers and the radio, keeping a particularly keen ear for local news. Drawing on the work of Natasha Caruana, Edmund Clark and Ben Roberts, amongst others, he described how each of them, when asked, mentioned the same thing: “all the photographers I spoke to mentioned crappy newspapers. I get all my ideas from reading the Metroand the Evening Standard.” Personal investment in a subject is also essential; Hardie re-interpreted Capa’s famous adage, “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not getting close enough”, to suggest that good pictures require emotional closeness, first and foremost. He quoted Edmund Clark’s belief that an idea, “has to grasp my imagination, my intelligence, and above all my guts.”

Hardie drew on his experience in publishing to give advice about how to approach producing photobooks. He emphasized four key aspects — concept, content, design, and dissemination — which together constitute a successful project. The idea itself is essential, as is approaching a subject from a new or unexpected viewpoint; and the way the project sits in book form can be make-or-break. “Design is photography’s best friend. It’s as important as the photograph. If photography is the language, design is the accent. Poor design can kill a great project,” Hardie explained.

“Photography can help you to describe, analyze, and criticize the world you live in”

Antoine d’Agata, having shown a short film presenting hundreds of his photographs in quick succession, preferred to open the floor to questions, initiating a free-form, “in conversation” session. The emerging theme was intensity: D’Agata argued that the pursuit of intensity, of purity, is photography’s purpose, and that his work allows him to push himself and his subjects existentially further than he would be capable of doing otherwise. “Photography allows you to live in a more intense way, it is your responsibility to analyse and criticise the world you live in but photography requires, above all, to define a proper position in this world.” Echoing Hardie’s encouragement of personal investment, d’Agata urged attendees to focus on passion and emotional involvement in their subject, explaining: “Life is more important than photography!”

“There’s strength in numbers and strength in the art of collaboration”

The day continued with a talk on building audiences, presented by Fiona Rogers, Magnum’s Global Director of Business Development and the founder of Firecracker, a platform for female photographers. Her advice was practical and optimistic: be creative, be determined, be unique. She noted the value in being a “thought leader”, someone who has an authority or area of expertise, like Daniella Zalcman, photographer and founder of Women Photograph; such authority can also serve to draw more eyes to one’s work. Rogers also encouraged generosity and, like Hardie, openness: “there’s a tendency for photographers to feel threatened by other photographers and not so willing to share ideas, but I think there’s strength in numbers and strength in the art of collaboration. There’s a value in exploring other people’s mediums, and accessing non-photographic funding, or tapping into other people’s skill-sets.” 

She also drew attention to an often under-discussed necessity: having a second job. Photography is commonly poorly funded or highly competitive, and so finding additional income and enterprising ways of supporting one’s work is essential. “We exist in our documentary bubble, so people can be snobbish about wedding photography, or product photography, or still life photography, but I’m encouraged by an entrepreneurial spirit when it comes to funding the work you care about. Magnum’s founding father, Capa, was entrepreneurial; I think he would have supported a range of funding techniques – waitressing to wedding photography – it’s all good”