Today we had a globally acclaimed visiting Photographer in to talk to us about his work. Gideon showed us an extensive amount of his on going and previous documentation.
What interested me most is his work for the National Geographic. I would LOVE to be able to photograph for them.. but I know that I won't be doing that for several years at least !!
He was born in South Africa but has been living in London for the past 21 years. (Still possesses a most strong accent though !) 1983 is when he began working as a freelance photographer in S.A and he showed us many images he took of all the protests going on at that time, which also included violent protests and in some cases where bullets were flying. - Recently he had returned to his home town to revisit the place he documented over 25 years ago. The images were contrasting as this time they were in colour Digital SLR so had a very different effect on the viewer because his first work was in Black and White film. The black and white carries the weight of 25 years of history and he said it was a "strange, emotional experience", because he had past relationships which would bring back all kinds of memories.
He said to be able to work in these very emotional situations you have to be, "Very focused, tuned in and put a lot of time and commitment into it", if you want that photograph you're looking for, you need to be there.
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