A Small Voice: Conversations With Photographers

Yelena Yemchuk's output as a visual artist is immediately recognizable, regardless of medium. Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, Yelena immigrated to the United States with her parents when she was eleven. She became interested in photography when her father gave her a 35mm Minolta camera for her fourteenth birthday.

Yelena went on to study art at Parsons in New York and photography at Art Center in Pasadena. Yelena has exhibited paintings, films and photography at galleries and museums worldwide. She has shot for the New Yorker, New York Times, Another, ID, Vogue, and others.

Yelena released her first book Gidropark, published by Damiani in April 2011, followed by Anna Maria, published by United Vagabonds in September 2017. Yelena had her first institutional debut with her project Mabel, Betty & Bette, a photography and video work at the Dallas Contemporary Museum. A monograph with the same title was released by Kominek Books in March 2021. Her newest book Odesa was released in May 2022, by Gost Books.

In episode 211, Yelena discusses, among other things:

• The relevance of her book to the current war
• The “immigrant parent bullshit story”
• Moving to New York
• The influence of her uncle and her dad’s best friend
• Discovering her calling at art school doing photography
• Her early career success, including working with Smashing Pumpkins
• Returning to Ukraine in 1990
• Gidropark project
• Deciding to focus on her personal work
• Mabel, Betty & Bette
• YYY, published by Depart pour l’image
• Odessa being “love at first sight”
• Deciding to focus on the youth
• Forthcoming book, Milanka

“It was very clear to me that I needed to tell the story of these people. Not just the cadets, but the story of the people in Odesa. And it was like an urgency. I wanted to go back all the time. If i didn’t have kids I probably would have just stayed there. I couldn’t get enough… I was going back and forth. I couldn’t stop. I had to tell this story. I had to shoot these people. It was like a romance. It was like I had a lover over there.”

Moises Saman is widely considered to be one of the leading documentary and conflict photographers of his generation and has been a full member of Magnum Photos since 2014. His work has largely focused on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Arab Spring and its aftermath.

Moises was born in Lima, Peru, from a mixed Spanish and Peruvian family and grew up in Barcelona, Spain. He studied Communications and Sociology in the United States at California State University, graduating in 1998. It was during his last year in university that Moises first became interested in becoming a photographer, influenced by the work of a number of photojournalists that had been covering the wars in the Balkans.

After graduating, Moises moved to New York City to complete a summer internship at New York Newsday and joined as a Staff Photographer, a position he held until 2007. During his 7 years at Newsday Moises' work focused on covering the fallout of the 9/11 attacks, spending most of his time traveling between Afghanistan, Iraq, and other Middle Eastern countries. In the Autumn of 2007 Moises left Newsday to become a freelance photographer represented by Panos Pictures. During that time he become a regular contributor for The New York Times, Human Rights Watch, Newsweek, and TIME Magazine, among other international publications.

Over the years Moises' work has received awards from the World Press Photo, Pictures of the Year and the Overseas Press Club and his photographs have been shown in a several exhibitions worldwide. In 2015 Moises received a Guggenheim Fellowship to continue his work.

In 2011, Moises relocated to Cairo, Egypt, where he was based for three years while covering the Arab Spring for The New York Times and other publications, mainly The New Yorker. His first book, Discordia, on which he colloaborated with artist Daria Birang, documents the tumultuous transitions that have taken place in the region. The work featured in Discordia has received numerous awards, including the Eugene Smith Memorial Fund.

Moises’s latest book, Glad Tidings of Benevolence, was published earlier this year by GOST books to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq. It brings together Moises’s photographs taken in Iraq during this period and the following years, with documents and texts relating to the war. Exploring the construction—through image and language—of competing narratives of the war, the book represents the culmination of Moises’s twenty years of work across Iraq.

Moises currently lives in Amman, Jordan with his wife and their young daughter.

In episode 210, Moises discusses, among other things:

• The catalyst that was 9/11
• Newsday
• His introduction to photography via his studie in sociology
• The Balkans conflict
• Learning the ropes in Afghanistan
• How his attitude towards photojournalism evolved over time
• The impact of spending eight days in Abu Ghraib prison
• Surviving a helicopter crash
• The myth of objectivity
• Trying to show a more nuanced picture
• Every day life continuing amidst war
• “The framing of the frame”
• Covering The Arab Spring
• Collaborating with artist Daria Birang on Discordia
• Facts, truth and questioning
• Victim vs. perpetrator
• His current project in Amman

Referenced:

• Judith Butler
• Stuart Smith
• Daria Birang

“One thing I’ve realised is, at least for me, that perhaps this other approach to the work, the one that’s a little bit quieter and more nuanced, more human really, where you’re also celebrating humanity rather than the lack thereof in this very difficult context, that perhaps is a little more effective. I like to think that.

Much of the work of Dublin-born Irish photographer Trish Morrissey is a study of the language of photography through still and moving images, using performance and wit as tools to investigate the boundaries of photographic meaning. Although most of Trish’s work features her as the protagonist, she does not consider the photographs to be self portraits per se, though they can be read that way. She uses humour as a tool to disarm the viewer, hoping it wil then evaporate, leaving a slow burning psychologically tense afterglow. Weaving fact and fiction, Trish plunges into the heart of such issues as family experiences and national identities, feminine and masculine roles, and relationships between strangers.

Her work has been exhibited widely, including in the shows ‘Landscape, Portrait: Now and Then’ at the Hestercombe Gallery in 2021; ‘Who’s Looking at the family now?’ at the London Art Fair 2019 and in the solo show ‘Trish Morrissey: A certain slant of light’ at the Francesca Maffeo Gallery in 2018 and most recently in 2022 he exhibition Trish Morrissey, Autofictions; Twenty Years of Photography and Film, at Serlachius Museum Gustaf, Finland.

Her work is in the permanent collection of The Museum of Fine Art, Houston, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, The National Media Museum, Bradford and the Wilson Centre for Photography, London and was published in 2022 in the book Autofictions to coincide with the aforementioned exhibition in Finland.

In episode 209, Trish discusses, among other things:

• Her recent retrospective and book
• The Front project
• Her parents family album
• Reading pictures from body language
• Her collaborative project with her daughter
• The performative side of her practice
• A Certain Slant of Light
• Exploring the female experience
• Early life
• Residency in Australia
• Working with video

Referenced:

• Andy Grundberg
• Zed Nelson
• Nicholas Nixon, Brown Sisters
• Kate Best
• Mark Harriott
• Hilary Mantel
• Diane Arbus

“Everything I’ve done, when I’ve looked back on it I’ve realised is actually trying things on. It’s kind of like a way of rehearsing for the future…”

Curran Hatleberg is an American photographer based in Baltimore, MD. He attended Yale University and graduated in 2010 with an MFA. Influenced by the American tradition of road photography, Curran’s process entails driving throughout the United States and interacting with various strangers in different locales. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including shows at the Whitney Biennial, MASS MoCA, the International Center of Photography, Rencontres d’Arles, Higher Pictures and Fraenkel Gallery. He is the recipient of various grants, prizes and awards including a 2023 Guggenheim Fellowship. Curran’s work is held in  various museum collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, SF MoMA, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. His work has been published frequently in periodicals such as Harpers, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Vice and The Paris Review. Lost Coast, his first monograph, was released by TBW Books in fall 2016. His second monograph, River's Dream, was published by TBW Books in 2022. Curran has taught photography at numerous institutions, including Yale University and Cooper Union.

In episode 208, Curran discusses, among other things:

• Coming from a big family
• His background in painting
• The benefits of taking a break from education
• ‘Stumbling’ into an MFA at Yale
• His first book The Lost Coast
• His process and saying yes to everything
• Being open and vulnerable to what might happen
• The fascination with the USA
• Trying to convey the ‘atmospheric intensity’ of Florida in Summer
• How he decides where to stop and photograph
• The ‘origin story’ of lending his van and trailer to a stranger
• His artist’s book, Double Rainbow
• Being guided by reading fiction

Referenced:

• Peter Matthiessen
• George Saunders

“I hate this idea that’s so grounded in the myth of road photographers, or American photography, where it’s this fallacy about the singular genius of the person bending the world to their will. It just seems so absurd to me. Chance is everything. I’m constantly levelled by how little control I have when I’m working. I feel insignificant and almost powerless a lot of the time.”

French photographer Bertrand Meunier has spent most of the past three decades quietly working either editorially or on personal long-term documentary projects both internationally and, in more recent years, at home in France. He worked extensively in Pakistan and Afghanistan among other places, primarily for Newsweek magazine, but much of his time has been spent in China documenting the tumultuous social and economic changes that the population has been faced with, focussing in particular on the economic decline of the large industrial cities, and the consequences for the people living in them. In 2001 he won the Leica Oskar Barnack prize for the work from China and in 2005 published a book, The Blood of China, When Silence Kills, in collaboration with Pierre Haski. In 2007, Bertrand won the annual Niépce prize.

A more comprehensive and definitive collection of the work from China has just been published as a book by EXB Editions entitled Erased and a corresponding solo exhibition of the work is currently on show at theMusée Nicéphore Niépce, Chalon sur Saône until September 17th 2023 and will subsequently be shown at the museum of photography Charleroi, Belgium from 30 September 2023 to 28 January 2024.

Bertrand is currently finalizing the editing of his documentary film shot in a French prison and entitled Conversations. And he has recently obtained a creation grant in Luxembourg to work on a new documentary film about an open psychiatry centre.

Bertrand lives in Paris with his partner Juliette and is a member of the Tendance Fleue collective.

In episode 207, Bertrand discusses, among other things:

• Photography as a language
• His previous life as a professional climber
• How he began his longstanding relationship with China
• Current book and exhibition: Erased
• His biggest achievement in China
• Memory
• His project on his dad and family
• Being ‘lost’ trying to shoot in France
• The importance of teaching people to read photoographs
• The ‘reverse angle’
• His forthcoming documentary about prisoners: Conversations
• His work on psychiatric facility in Luxembourg
• Applying for grants
• Passion

Referenced:

• HCB
• The Provoke collective
• For a Language to Come (Kitarubeki kotoba no tame ni), by Takuma Nakahira

Website

“Photography is like rock climbing, yeah, you have to focus, but if you do it to make a living? It’s a bad way to make a living. You do it because it’s a passion. It’s your life.”

French photographer Bertrand Meunier has spent most of the past three decades quietly working either editorially or on personal long-term documentary projects both internationally and, in more recent years, at home in France. He worked extensively in Pakistan and Afghanistan among other places, primarily for Newsweek magazine, but much of his time has been spent in China documenting the tumultuous social and economic changes that the population has been faced with, focussing in particular on the economic decline of the large industrial cities, and the consequences for the people living in them. In 2001 he won the Leica Oskar Barnack prize for the work from China and in 2005 published a book, The Blood of China, When Silence Kills, in collaboration with Pierre Haski. In 2007, Bertrand won the annual Niépce prize.

A more comprehensive and definitive collection of the work from China has just been published as a book by EXB Editions entitled Erased and a corresponding solo exhibition of the work is currently on show at theMusée Nicéphore Niépce, Chalon sur Saône until September 17th 2023 and will subsequently be shown at the museum of photography Charleroi, Belgium from 30 September 2023 to 28 January 2024.

Bertrand is currently finalizing the editing of his documentary film shot in a French prison and entitled Conversations. And he has recently obtained a creation grant in Luxembourg to work on a new documentary film about an open psychiatry centre.

Bertrand lives in Paris with his partner Juliette and is a member of the Tendance Fleue collective.

In episode 207, Bertrand discusses, among other things:

• Photography as a language
• His previous life as a professional climber
• How he began his longstanding relationship with China
• Current book and exhibition: Erased
• His biggest achievement in China
• Memory
• His project on his dad and family
• Being ‘lost’ trying to shoot in France
• The importance of teaching people to read photoographs
• The ‘reverse angle’
• His forthcoming documentary about prisoners: Conversations
• His work on psychiatric facility in Luxembourg
• Applying for grants
• Passion

Referenced:

• HCB
• The Provoke collective
• For a Language to Come (Kitarubeki kotoba no tame ni), by Takuma Nakahira

Website

“Photography is like rock climbing, yeah, you have to focus, but if you do it to make a living? It’s a bad way to make a living. You do it because it’s a passion. It’s your life.”

Featuring:

• Brad Zellar
• Chris Campbell
• Bryan Schutmaat
• Dena Eber
• Pradip Malde
• Johnny Autry
• Tania Franco Klein
• Justin Herfst
• Tim Carpenter
• Reed Klass
• Todd Hido

Website | Instagram

Featuring:

• Martin Parr (Ep. 91 & 197)
• Dr. Claire Hyman
• Tracy Marshall Grant
• Chris Dorley Brown (Ep. 97)
• James Hyman
• Simon Roberts (Ian Parry Photojournalsim Grant) (Ep. 43)
• Michael Benson
• Jillian Edelstein (KIckstarter) (Ep. 87)
• Gideon Mendel (Ep. 40)
• Alex Schneiderman

Website | Instagram

After taking a degree in Documentary Photography at the University of Wales, Newport, Ivor Prickett began working in Europe and the Middle East, striving to convey and denounce the effects of war on the civilian population – on the people whose lives it ravages and uproots, whatever side they may be on. Initially focused on the private, domestic sphere of war’s long-term social and humanitarian consequences, Ivor’s gaze has shifted over the years towards places of forced migration and lands where people seek refuge, and then to the front lines of combat zones.

His early projects focused on stories of displaced people throughout the Balkans and Caucasus. Based in the Middle East since 2009, Ivor documented the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt and Libya, working simultaneously on editorial assignments and his own long term projects. In 2012 he was selected for the World Press Photo Joop swart Masterclass, named as a FOAM Talent and selected by PDN for their 30 under 30 list. 

Travelling to more than ten countries between 2012 and 2015 Ivor documented the Syrian refugee crisis in the region as well as Europe, working closely in collaboration with UNHCR to produce a comprehensive study of the greatest humanitarian crisis in recent history. 

Most recently Ivor’s work has focused on the fight to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Ultimately working exclusively for the The New York Times he spent months on the ground, particularly covering the Battle of Mosul, reporting in both words and pictures. His work in Iraq and Syria has earned him multiple World Press Photo Awards and in 2018 he was named as a Pulitzer finalist. The entire body of work titled End of the Caliphate was released as a book by renowned German publisher Steidl in June 2019. 

Ivor’s work has been recognised through a number of prestigious awards including The World Press Photo, The Pulitzer Prizes, The Overseas Press Club Awards, Pictures of the Year International, The Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize and The Ian Parry Scholarship. Most recently he was shortlisted for the Prix Pictet 2019 cycle and his work is currently touring the globe as part of the group exhibition. 

His pictures have been exhibited widely at institutions such as The Victoria and Albert Museum, Sothebys, Foam Gallery and The National Portrait Gallery, London and he currently has a major solo show at Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia, Italy, In conjunction with the 2023 Fotografia Europea festival, for which the theme is Europe Matters: Visions of a Restless Identity. Ivor’s show and the corresponding book is entitled No Home from War: Tales of Survival and Loss and features over fifty photographs taken in conflict zones from 2006 to 2022. It is the the largest show of Ivor’s work to date, the first in italy, and it will be up until 30th July 2023.

Ivor is represented by Panos Pictures in London and he is a European Canon Ambassador.

In episode 203, Ivor discusses, among other things:

• His route to Newport and what he got from going there.
• How he got started and his strategy to get his work seen.
• Arab Spring 2011 and the lessons learned from that.
• Branching out and needing to get closer to the source.
• Mosul.
• The NYT and being asked to write.
• Going through times of wanting to quit.
• What keeps him doing it.
• Is an art gallery the right place for photojournalism?
• Can your work have an impact?
• Ukraine.
• Processing the witnessing of horror and adjusting to normal life.
• AI and its implications for photojournalism.

Referenced:

• Christine Redmond
• Joe Stirling
• Ken Grant
• Clive Landon
• Cheryl Newman
• Tim Hetherington
• Chris Hondros
• David Furst

Website | Instagram

“By the time it came to the ISIS work in Iraq and Syria, it was almost like I wanted to get closer to the source myself and see up close what it was I’d been investigating all these years and what people had been running from. Maybe it was a personal fascination that led me there to a certain extent, but also Mosul was essentially a humanitarian crisis as much as a war, and that’s why I went in the first place. ”

Working within the documentary tradition, Stacy Kranitz makes photographs that acknowledge the limits of photographic representation. Her images do not tell the “truth” but are honest about their inherent shortcomings, and thus reclaim these failures (exoticism, ambiguity, fetishization) as sympathetic equivalents in order to more forcefully convey the complexity and instability of the lives, places, and moments they depict.

Stacy was born in Kentucky and currently lives in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Tennessee. She is a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow. Additional awards include the Michael P. Smith Fund for Documentary Photography (2017), a Southern Documentary Fund Research and Development grant (2020), a Puffin Foundation grant (2022), and a Center for Documentation Fellowship (2023). Her work was shortlisted for the Louis Roederer Discovery Award (2019). She has presented solo exhibitions of her photographs at the Diffusion Festival of Photography in Cardiff, Wales (2015), the Rencontres d’Arles in Arles, France, the Cortona on the Move festival in Cortona, Italy (2022) and the Tennessee Triennial (2023) Her photographs are in several public collections including the Harvard Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Art, Houston, and Duke Universities, Archive of Documentary Arts. Stacy works as an assignment photographer for such publications as Time, National Geographic, the New York Times, Vanity Fair, the Atlantic and Mother Jones. Her first monograph, As it Was Give(n) To Me, was published by Twin Palms in 2022 and was shortlisted for a Paris Photo - Aperture First Photobook Award.

In episode 202, Stacy discusses, among other things:

• Her ‘awful’ childhood
• Her interest in the grey areas
• Violence as catharsis
• Why she was dissatisfied with her early work…
• …and what she did about it
• How she ‘accidentally’ ended up living in her car for 3.5 years
• Blurring her professional and personal lives
• How she came to work in Appalachia
• The title of her book, As it Was Give(n) To Me
• The mythology of Daniel Boone
• Why she included self-portraits in the book
• Playing with stereotypes and representation in her images
• Her grant writing endeavours
• Her next project in Appalachia
• The challenges of editing the book
• The long term nature of her projects

Referenced:

• Harry Cottle
• The FSA
• Jack Woody

Website | Instagram

“The camera for me is a connector. It connects me to people. And I always knew that if I hadn’t been a photographer, especially an editorial photographer where you’re sent out to all these different places, that I would be a very unhealthy hermit and I would just wither away. (Which isn’t even logical, but that’s how I felt). So the camera is a lifeline for me.”