Here is an overview of the photographers featured in the climate change exhibition at Waterfront Hall this month.
Paul Wakefield
Paul Wakefield was born in Hong Kong, educated there and in the UK, and studied photography at Bournemouth and Birmingham Colleges of Art. He started his career as a photographer by freelancing for publishers, design groups and record companies while still at college. He now works mainly in advertising, with clients like car companies, British Gas, Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker.
His exhibitions include the Photographers Gallery in 1984, Gallery of Photography Dublin in 1991 and the Saatchi Gallery in 1994. Publications include three collaborations with Jan Morris on the landscapes of Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
In 1997 he was given the Gold Award from the Association of Photographers. His studios are based in London.
Paul’s interest in landscape stems from walking in the Hong Kong countryside with his father and brothers. He spends as much time as possible photographing for himself, and has most recently been working in Patagonia and the United States. He began working with the National Trust’s Photographic Library about five years ago.
Back to top
Joe Cornish
A fine art background and an abiding passion for the wonders of the natural world are the defining influences on the landscape photography of Joe Cornish.
He studied fine art at Reading University, discovering photography along the way. With no formal training he is entirely self-taught in the craft skills of photography. After graduating he worked first as a photographer’s assistant in the USA.
Joe then returned to the UK and, after a further spell assisting, went on to shoot travel work for books and stock over a number of years.
Leaving London for North Yorkshire in 1993, he then began devoting his attention to landscape. Since 1995 he has dedicated most of his time to large format landscape work, shooting since 1997 almost exclusively with 5 x 4 inch field cameras.
Although a veteran of travel book photography, when 'First Light' was published in 2002 to instant acclaim from the photographic press, it was Joe’s first book as an author. Essentially a retrospective of his landscape work to that date, 'First Light' articulates Joe’s technique, working methods, aesthetic ideas and working philosophy in clear, simple language.
Joe has been commissioned by the National Trust for over 15 years, a role that has brought his work to the eyes of millions. His work has also been used by numerous other environmental agencies and charities. He has contributed words and pictures regularly to magazines such as 'Outdoor Photography', 'Amateur Photographer', and 'Practical Photography'.
In 1999 Joe created the acclaimed Lee Filters advertising campaign which is still running today, and also started his own publishing company, Joegraphic. His photographs have been exhibited widely, and he has lectured throughout the UK and abroad. He also regularly leads photographic workshops and holidays for 'Light & Land'.
In 2003, Joe was one of the featured photographers in the RotoVision book, 'The World’s Top Photographers, Landscape.'
Drawing inspiration from his photographic heroes such as Ansel Adams and Peter Dombrovskis, whose work led to the protection of wilderness in America and Tasmania respectively, Joe is a strong believer in the idea of landscape photography as an advocate for the preservation of the natural world.
Back to top
Simon Fraser
Simon Fraser has been a professional photographer since 1986, specialising in science, nature and environmental subjects and has worked on commissions and stock assignments worldwide, particularly in the polar regions. He lives with his wife and young family in the Northumberland National Park in the far north of England and enjoys mountaineering, cross country skiing, organic gardening and beekeeping.
'My interest in photography developed gradually, over a number of years. Initially, I used a camera to record climbs and travels in various parts of the world, from my first expedition to the High Atlas mountains of Morocco at the age of sixteen, to extended periods spent in the Himalayas, during and after my time at the University of Southampton, where I read Archaeology and History.'
'My mountaineering experience led to employment with the British Antarctic Survey for three years, working as a field safety guide with geologists, glaciologists and geophysicists in remote locations in Antarctica. The years spent in summer and winter in the world’s greatest wilderness were a formative experience, and inspired my decision to pursue photography as a career.
'Although a landscape photographer by instinct, I have covered many science and nature subjects, from medical research to global warming, volcanic eruptions to honeybees. One of the things I love about photography is that it provides opportunities to spend time in nature, both close to home, and in far flung locations around the world.
'It is almost impossible nowadays not to be aware of the serious impact human beings have had on the natural world, a sobering reality which we often feel powerless to influence. As public awareness and concern about environmental issues continues to grow, I am confident that photographers can make a contribution towards the common goal of a sustainable future for all, by creating informative and powerful images.'
Back to top
Stuart Franklin
Stuart Franklin, born in London in 1956, graduated in photography and film at West Surrey College of Art and Design and in geography at the University of Oxford - both BA and PhD. During the 1980s Franklin worked as a correspondent for Sygma Agence Presse in Paris before joining the cooperative agency Magnum Photos in 1985, where he remains a co-member.
Franklin's most well-known photograph is from 'Tiananmen Square, China, 1989 - a man defying a tank', for which he won a World Press award. A small book of this work was published privately by A.J. Vine (1990). Franklin was also awarded the Tom Hopkinson Award for published photojournalism and the Christian Aid prize for humanitarian photography whilst covering the Sahel famine in 1984-5.
Since 1990, Franklin has completed around twenty assignments for 'National Geographic Magazine'. This has been work of a social documentary nature that has taken him many times to Central and South America, to China and South-East Asia, and Europe in 2002, where he completed a story on European unification. Much of his work with 'National Geographic' has been concerned with urbanization and cities.
In 1999 Franklin published 'The Time of Trees' (Leonardo Arte, Milan), a photographic essay that, through trees, examined the social relationship between nature and society. 'The Dynamic City', his most recent book (in press - Mondadori 2003), examines the evolution and everyday life of cities. Franklin is currently conducting research for a forthcoming project on social vulnerability and climate change; at the same time he is working on two forthcoming 'National Geographic' assignments.
Back to top
Chris Steele-Perkins
Chris Steele-Perkins moved from Rangoon to London with his family in 1949. He graduated with honours in psychology at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1967-70) while working as a photographer and picture editor for the student newspaper.
In 1971 he moved to London and started working as a freelance photographer and started his first foreign work in 1973 in Bangladesh followed by work for relief organizations and travel assignments. In 1975 he worked with EXIT, a group dealing with social problems in British cities. He then joined the Paris-based Viva agency in 1976.
In 1979, his first book, 'The Teds', was published. Steele-Perkins joined Magnum and soon began working extensively in the Third World. His latest large-scale project is on the situation in Afghanistan. He is now also working extensively in Japan.
His reportages have received high public acclaim and have won several awards, including the Tom Hopkinson Prize for British Photojournalism (1988), the Oscar Barnack Prize (1988) and the Robert Capa Gold Medal (1989).
Back to top
Mark Power
Mark Power was a member of Network Photographers between 1988 and 2002, when he became a nominee of Magnum Photos. Mark Power's work has been exhibited throughout the world and published in three monographs, several catalogues and numerous magazines.
'The Shipping Forecast' (1992-96) was seen at over 20 European galleries over a three year period and the accompanying book is now in its third edition. Awards for this work included the Mosaique prize from Luxembourg, the Yann Geffroy documentary award from Italy and the Special Jury Prize in the Oskar Barnack Award, Germany.
'Dome' (1997-2000), which documented the construction of the Millennium Dome in London, bore two exhibitions, one touring Britain, the other South America courtesy of the British Council. A book, 'Superstructure', was also published.
'The Treasury Project' (2000-2002), an interpretive documentary made during the refurbishment of the Treasury building on Whitehall, London, was completed in August 2002.
Other recent projects include commissions from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (published in the exhibition catalogue Buren), the Almeida Foundation in Evora, Portugal (published inTrilogia), the European Union Japanese Fest (published to coincide with the G8 summit in Okinawa, Japan), and a residency at Pfizer, a large pharmaceutical company in Kent.
In his other life he is a Senior Lecturer in Photography at the University of Brighton, the city where he lives with his partner Jo, their daughter Chilli and son Milligan.
Back to top
|
