Today I had a talk with the AoP Gold Award winner Paul Wenham-Clarke, with the topic of conversation predominantly about his recent commission by The Big Issue magazine. As I am quite new to photography I am quite skeptical about how to get the most out of my images, so a lot of my questions were about techniques to use when I am taking the shots.
Some important pointers were to always try and use a tripod whenever possible, as it is for a publication he expressed his thoughts on how important it was to use many different distances, but also to try and keep a consistent style through all of my shots in order of keeping continuity in the book. He touched on topics to consider such as my depth of field, cropping and lighting, all areas I will research and evaluate before shooting.
But the biggest point that Wenham-Clarke made was how delicate the subject matter is, and that in comparison to getting a good shot, the matter of dealing with the subjects delicately is a lot more important. He told of stories when he had gone to meet people who had agreed to photograph them and they had forgotten who he was, which in turn had made them, on some occasions, get violent.
The way about getting the information from them in terms of their background was also an important part. He advised never to ask questions like "so how did you end up homeless?", questions that could sound very rude and may lead to a negative output. His words were to just talk to the community, about anything at first, and if they want to talk to you about their past then they will in turn, but there is no need to ask silly questions.
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