Don’t miss the interview with Moises Saman by Pete Brook on Wired.com’s Raw File blog. Some fine pictures and an interesting discussion. Here’s just one sentence which I hope will make you click the link above to read the rest.
‘In my opinion “professional distance” and “objectivity” are vague terms, because in my work I search for the intimacy and trust that requires me to be close to the subject, to be accepted.’
You can see more about Saman on his Magnum Photographer page, which as well as pictures has a profile and his blog, although there are few recent entries – events are presumably taking up too much of his time to allow blogging.
I’ve never thought that I would be good at photographing in the kind of dangerous situations that Saman has often been in. I think I panic too readily and now I’m sure I’m far too old for that kind of thing. But if you have an interest in Working in Hostile Environments, the presentation on that subject at the NUJ London Photographers Branch next Tuesday (24 Sept 2013) at 6pm may interest you. The two speakers, Laura El-Tantawy a British/Egyptian photographer living in Cairo and London, represented by VII Mentor and Guy Smallman who has worked in Lebanon, Pakistan, Iraq and Latin America, and regularly in Afghanistan since 2008 will give some practical advice and answer questions, as well as explaining why it “is NUJ policy for members to undertake Hostile Environment Training, and the value of such courses in preparing journalists for the challenges faced in such situations.”
Non-members are welcome at these meetings which are free, though if you are working professionally you should join the union. Particularly if you want to work in potentially dangerous situations. And if you are not working professionally it is a very good idea as a photographer to keep well away from them.