Emmanuel Santos on the road

After a brief hiatus I have managed to track down Emmanuel Santos, while he was photographing in Kraków, Poland for the March of the Living. Over his thirty year career Emmanuel has evolved from photojournalism to documentary work to creating what he calls humanistic essays. And lately he’s been shooting angels.

We recorded the interview in his hotel room, with the occasional tram going by for added ambience – I’m sure you will enjoy his expressive, thought out answers to some deep questions about his take on the nature of photography, the relationship of the master and the apprentice and the need to find your own voice.

José Azel interview

After some careful scheduling, I had a long overdue chance to catch up with José Azel yesterday. I was mostly interested in hearing about his take on how changing working methods and new tools of multimedia and web publishing are impacting the way photographers continue their work as visual storytellers.

With his usual broad-ranging, intelligent approach, José also talked about the need to balance passion with a strong business sense and other aspects of his deep experience as a successful photojournalist as well as a photo agency founder, long bent on using technology to aid honest story telling.

The interview will be one of the first to go out on Talbot’s Fox, very soon after our podcast launch, and we’ll be posting a raft of reference material to accompany the podcast but for the moment, check out some of the archive of multimedia storytelling here, which Aurora produced for the Washington Post.
 

Editorial Dec 2007

Over the last ten years the world of photography has changed beyond recognition. To a casual observer this may seem like an overstatement but to anyone with a more than passing interest in the field, the facts speak for themselves.

The landscape has really shifted under our very feet and, for many reasons, this is the perfect time to be starting a regular podcast, covering the world of image making. The digital revolution has completely remodelled the way we shoot, sell, publish and archive photography. Photographers have become multi-skilled image producers in order to survive and the most adaptable have thrived in this new landscape. Multinational corporations have entered the agency business which had traditionally been fragmented and driven it to enhance shareholder value like it has never been driven before. The personalities who run the largest agencies are still no less strong and colourful than in the past but now they wear designer suits.
An entire new vocabulary has entered the way photographers shoot, manage, exhibit and get paid for their work. Colour spaces, image workflow and ftp client, these are not terms that the average photographer would have been familiar with ten years ago. Now they are commonly used and, remarkably, usually understood. 

At the same time as the number of media outlets has exploded, the average photographer has found it ever more challenging to make a living in a market that is at once growing rapidly and putting down new rules as to who gets paid for what and when due to ongoing consolidation among the world’s media and publishing conglomerates.

All this considered, what remains is the photograph, and the quality, depth and variety of work being produced out there by those multi-skilled image producers appears to be growing constantly. And so, Talbot’s Fox, with a deep bow to the great man who started it all, (apologies, Daguerre), sets off in pursuit of the art and commerce of photography in this age when photography is at once cheap and highly valued, individual and ubiquitous, easier than ever to be competent in and extremely difficult to master. 

This is the beginning of a long-planned journey for me, I hope you’re going to find it interesting. Drop me a line when you do!Look out for the first podcasts getting published in the New Year and make sure you subscribe if you’re in the mood for some enlightening and entertaining conversations with great photographers.

Wishing you perfect light, and a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah and Joyous Kwanza, or just compliments of the Season and a Happy New Year,
RT