Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, ‘Storytelling Through Photography: A Documentary Photography Workshop’, was an all-day career enhancing event on the 1st of April that explored storytelling through imagery, and coached aspirants on how to work professionally in the field of documentary photography.
Starting with a candid talk between two heavyweights in the industry, photographers Aria Shahrokhshahi and Barry Lewis shared their approach, experiences and provided practical insights into the medium.
Following on from the talk, photographer and co-organiser of Fail Better Talks, Nina Maria Allmoslechner, and Port Magazines photo editor Jodie Michaelides, joined the panellists to workshop with the attendees. Each group had a chance to get feedback on bodies of work, projects, pitches or ideas they’ve been working on.
The talk and workshop developed the practice of budding photographers and helped them further along their creative development, as well as armed them with tools on how to turn documentary photography into a viable career. Key topics like process, equipment, planning and pitching were covered alongside the creative aspects that made this medium a truly unique method of expression.
We want to thank all our fellow writers for participating! We
Barry Lewis is a London-based photographer and filmmaker, founder of Network Photographers, who has worked internationally for books and magazines from Life magazine to National Geographic. As well as photo-journalism and portraiture, he has directed over 20 documentaries, commercials and art films. His work has been exhibited at the V&A, The Museum of London, The Photographers Gallery and Modern Art Oxford. Barry is currently developing several film projects, including, “The Question: What do you think happens when you die?” based on a wide spectrum of interviews including teenagers, hospice patients and quantum theorists.
Aria Shahrokhshahi is a British-Iranian photographer and filmmaker. Although interested in incorporating multimedia into his work, Shahrokhshahi’s work is documentary at its core, focusing on a variety of diverse communities and the way people interact inside them. Social structures – and more broadly, the human condition – fascinate Shahrokhshahi, as do the relationships and power dynamics that inform our existence. Photography offers him a window of understanding into these communities and a way for him to explore the world around him. His fervour for exploration has led him to complete projects across the globe, including in Gambia, Ukraine, Iran and in the UK where he lives. In the future, Shahrokhshahi is looking to further his work in his home country Iran and keep his practise within long-form bodies of work that readily display his creative focus.
Nina Maria is a London-based photographic artist from Austria. Her practice is predominantly concerned with vulnerable topics around mental health, body image, sexuality, and lens-based memory representation. Slowness is an essential element of her practice, as it allows her to connect with the medium, the people, and the objects she captures at a much deeper level. Her practice also functions as a form of therapy. The medium of photography has given her a voice and the ability to express herself. Working in the darkroom has been an important element for Nina’s photographic practice, as it helps her to physically engage with photographs as a way to deal with trauma. For her most recent projects, Nina has been using Autoethnography (research of the Self and personal experiences) as a self-reflective form of visual documentation.
Jodie Michaelides is the Photo Editor for Port Magazine, Freelance Photo Editor for the Financial Times and Documentary Photographer based in Southeast London. Jodie has a demonstrated history of working in the publishing industry. Jodie studied at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, graduating in 2022 with a First Class Honours Bachelor of Arts in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography. Jodie has experience as a Studio Assistant, Livestream Coordinator, and Ambassador.