Interview Review

With this assignment I had 3 options an interview, job placement or photography brief, out of the three I chose to interview photographer Mik Critchlow who is a social documentary photographer. I came across Mik Critchlow when I was just research on the internet for documentary photographers, what caught my eye was his series “Coal town” the series caught my eye because the photos show a town that was mainly known for mining but these photos show the town itself and the people who live there. I contacted Mik through email since I did not think that he would be able to do a interview in person. I emailed him through his web site and got a reply the next day saying that he would be happy to answer some of my questions

What I wanted to know about was how he got in to social documentary photography and how it affected his life. He told me how he came across some photographer books in his college library that he found interesting and how he started taking photos in his local area. “Everything was beginning to make sense to me in terms of documenting ordinary people within the situations I found myself” when I read this to the question I thought that it is how I feel when photographing areas that I know you see them different. He says that photography has a a profound affect o his life and I quot he say that his wife thinks he knows over peoples life then his close family and friends I fond this to be quite interesting since documentary photography is what I want to do in the future and its nice to know what my family might think about it.

I asked him about his coal town series since it in one that I find the most interesting and that he was from the town he was documenting so I wanted to know if it gave him a different view of his home town. He mentions how being born and educated in the area he was photographing gave him a better insight onto the lives of the people and the environment which he was photographing. Most of his subject were known to him s photographing t his home town gave him a better insight to what he already knows. Another quote that I like quite a lot from the interview was “If all they wanted was pretty pictures they had commissioned the wrong photographer” This was said because of how some politician thought that the series was a“derogotary and a misrepresentation”. To be honest I area which what Mik said if they wanted pretty picture they should have asked someone else but who else would know the town better then someone who grow up their. If it was someone out side the town then how would you know if it as a true representation of the town.

I also asked him about what he thought of digital photography since he has used film photography for most of his photographic career I asked this question since I am doing a digital course and I myself enjoy using film and digital photography. From what I got from what he typed up I think he found it to be an interesting question. He mentioned the cameras that he has used like a Rolleriflex TLR that he used for portrait and environmental work; he also said that he always has a Leica or Nikon with him for more spontaneous work when he is on the move. I like how he thinks of film photography “film is more organic, prints from well exposed negatives and produced to the best possible quality by a photographer have more soul put into them and at the end of the day are unique and irreplaceable.” I thinks it quite a unique way of think about what film photography produces. He mentions how he feel like moving to digital photography would be a bad move for his work as a photographer, he also feel that digital photography can take away the truth of the photo with all the manipulation that can be done to a photograph.  A quote that made me laugh “photography was ‘pot noodle’ by that I mean instant gratification”.

 

With the final question i wanted to know what advise he would give to someone who wanted to become a documentary photographer. His advise was to have a clear ideas of what sort of project that i might want to do and to research it so that i can be more aware of a wider picture be for photographing the subject. He also said to photograph the truth, don't make it a lie which I quite liked because the line of documentary photography that I want to do would involve showing the truth not lies. I have always thought about what lenses I may need to use and Mik gave me two good choices, one of those choices is what I would most likely use the most the 50mm lens.

 

In conclusion interviewing Mik Critchlow has given more more insight to documentary photography and some great advise and thought to think about.