Tell a personal story to engage your audience

“The most important thing is to tell a personal story. The most important aspect of any photographer’s work is their connection to the subject. If that connection is a wholesome, positive, exciting one, then work is going to inevitably speak to an audience. So that’s what documentary offers: an incredible opportunity to engage with an audience, to engage with the subject, and for that sense of commitment and excitement to shine through.”

Find a connection

“It’s the quality of the connection you make with the subject which is absolutely key. And there should always be some kind of story behind that, some kind of tension or vulnerability. That’s when good work emerges. And, you’ve got to be excited by that. If you’re excited, then you’re going to be motivated to work and it will all pan out. That excitement will have the potential to be transmitted to the viewer.

Someone like Bieke Depoorter is a very good example. She has a very clear idea of what she is doing. When I think about her work, and the fact she ends up gate crashing strangers’ lives, I take my hat off to her. Wow. To be motivated to do that, and to return with the work she does, is a remarkable achievement. You just look at that and you can smell the difficulty, the pain, and the pleasure, the satisfaction you get when that works out.

Another example is Jonas Bendiksen’s new book, Last Testament. He found seven people, each of whom is convinced (and has convinced their followers) that they are the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and followed them over several years. How can you not be moved by the effort that the work took? The length, the thoroughness, the dedication, the absolute dogged determination that he approached his subject with… That involvement has been rewarded with the pictures that he’s got.”