205DPI - No.10

205dpiIssue June’14

Melissa FreemantleIllustrator

[email protected]

This issueJune’14

We are photographers. Journalistic ones. We document, record and capture anything we find interesting, beautiful or captivating.

Sometimes our stories may seem strange or unusual, but we are the eye behind it all; and that’s what this magazine is all about.

From cakes to paralympics, graffiti to kickboxing, our editorial documentary style takes us around Cornwall, the UK and the rest of the world. Follow us and our collective of photographers as we capture our adventures, our remarkable stories and our everyday lives.

Who are we?

What’ve we been doing?As the final projects of a closed University year roll into our inboxes, we’ve got another selection of beautiful work. Through our production process, we’ve also enrolled 4 new members to our team. This means more man-power, more great content, and more fantastic interviews. Welcome to the new guys!

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p.s. keep updated:

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Visited The Royal Chelsea Hospital and was touched by the stories of resident ex-soldiers.

Shares her enchanting art pieces, and explains the importance of acknowledging beauty.

SarahSartain

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2.NathanStill

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Travelled to the corners of the earth to be welcomed into a humble East African Tribe.

GaiaDominici

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Harriet provides a captivating view into the glamorous subculture of transexuals.

HarrietRock

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Tom enlightens us with 205’s second ‘Photographers Insight’ feature. He explains what it’s like on pitch side.

Tom Sandberg

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Wise, honest words from a true master of his craft. Gered Mankowitz explains his 50 year career.

Feature Story- Mankowitz

Real talk with

Gered Mankowitz

9.Feature - Real Talk with Gered Mankowitz

“Throughout my career I have always worked in different genres

of photography but music was always where I felt most at home.”

This issue we sat down with an acclaimed music photographer who is known for his photographs of some of the biggest musicians and bands of their time. His portfolio features legendary stars such as Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones to name a few. With over half a century in the industry Gered Mankowitz imparts his wisdom with 205dpi.

10. Feature - Real Talk with Gered Mankowitz

In pictures: Gered Mankowitz“Room of my Own” (above)

“St Lucia 2004” (right).

Hi Gered!

Hey guys.

How did you first break into photography?

In my final term at school I was given the opportunity to go and be apprentice to a major London photo agency called Camera Press Ltd. The owner, Tom Blau, had seen some snaps I’d taken on a school holiday to Delft in Holland. He thought I had an eye and that I could be a photographer, although I was just 15 years old!

What do you consider to be your first big break? Was there a specific image or moment that made you think you had ‘made it’?

I suppose the moment I felt I might have ‘made it’ was when my portrait of The Rolling Stones was selected as the cover for their album Out Of Our Heads in early 1965. It was one of the shots from my first session with the band who, with the Beatles, were the biggest thing in British music at the time. But in many ways my first real break was in meeting and photographing Chad & Jeremy in 1963, because through them I met Marianne Faithfull who was managed by the same guy who managed the Stones.

You’ve covered mostly music related subjects in your photography, but what was it that inspired the direction in your career?

I always imagined that I would be a theatrical photographer and would end up directing films. However, through working with young actors I found myself in the music business very early on and it seemed to fulfill all my expectations as a photographer at the time. Throughout my career I have always worked in different genres of photography but music was always where I felt most at home, until the 1980s when I started working seriously in advertising. My ambitions in film were always thwarted and after various


failed attempts I resigned myself to that ambition not happening and moved on!

What instigated your St Lucia project?

The St. Lucia project came completely out of the blue through an interview I did for a newspaper. I was approached to shoot a series of portraits that together would create an image of the island through its people,

as a celebration of their 25th anniversary of independence. It was conceived as a book and a travelling exhibition to promote the island. I thought it was a great challenge at that point in my career and was unlike anything I had done before, so I took it on. It turned out to be one of the most difficult and intense assignments I have ever undertaken. It was compromised by a very tight budget and the logistics were tricky because I had to shoot in the rainy season, but everybody was delighted with the results and I am thrilled to have done it.

You have photographed a huge variety of big named musicians; can you explain to us what it’s like to be in that position?

I suppose the first thing I would say is that a lot of the people I worked with were not big stars at the time I shot them. Jimi Hendrix had only just released Hey Joe when he came to the studio first time around, and we had no idea that he would be so successful, although his talent and charisma were obvious! Even the Stones were only in year two of what was to become a fifty-year career – who knew?!

To be honest, I would generally prefer to work with people early in their careers when images were being created and I could really become involved and perhaps even establish a long-term relationship with the subject.

Most of the shoots that I did with artists who were already established stars were frequently compromised by their success, although there were often opportunities to do interesting projects with them. Elton John and Phil Collins come to mind for instance.

Is there a certain image or shoot that stands out amongst the rest?

12. Feature - Real Talk with Gered Mankowitz

There are a lot, which I suppose you would expect in a 50 year career, but Marianne Faithfull in the Salisbury Pub, the Stones on Primrose Hill and the entire first Jimi Hendrix session were all very special!

From an industry point of view, is it still possible to have complete freedom when shooting with bands today?

Possibly, if you are able to get close to a band at the very beginning. But it won’t take long if they have any success before any freedom that has been on offer will be eroded by managers, agents, press people, record companies, art departments, stylists, make-up artists and girlfriends!

Do a particular bands or artists’ music influence the way you approach a shoot with them?

Absolutely - either directly as inspiration for a look or a style, or indirectly by way of a mood or feeling. I would always hope to hear the music first, often before meeting or even seeing the artist. I don’t have to actually like the music but I need to have an understanding of it and a sense of the direction the artist’s was aiming for.

What advice do you have to any young photographer regardless of the genre they shoot?

I still believe that controlling composition, focus and exposure is the bedrock of all photography. Learn your craft, make images, experiment, learn from your mistakes and do it again if necessary!

Thanks a lot Gered!

Words: Lois Golding


The Chelsea Pensioners

Nathan Still explored The Chelsea Royal Hospital to uncover the charms of the people within.

The Chelsea Royal Hospital is a retirement/nursing home for elderly, retired or injured soldiers.

The Hospital was opened by King Charles II in 1682, and has been running for 300 years. For the first 100 it catered only for men, but in 2008 this changed, and ever since the Hospital has offered care for retired and elderly Female soldiers admission too.

These admirable ex-soldiers are best recognized when they’re wearing their bright and bold scarlet attire.

Each pensioner resides in a cabin, formerly known as a ‘Berth’. The berth is 9x9 in diameter and contains all their belongings. However a recent renovation of the historical hospital has seen slight modifications. The berths are now

16. Nathan Still

built as en-suite rooms, which offer a much more spacious and comfortable living space.

Photographing the community was quite unique, so I approached this project with the most sensitivity and respect that I could. The soldiers have achieved more than I can comprehend, and I really wanted to do their story justice.

Two of the pensioners I got to know were Joe and Dorothy. Joe is the oldest Pensioner to-date, aged 102 years old. He was a dispatch rider during the Second World War. In 2009 Joe appeared on Deal or No Deal alongside Noel Edmonds, and won £12,000 which he decided to split between three of his favourite charities.

My first experience with Dorothy was reading some comments she made about Margaret Thatcher earlier this year. It wasn’t until I came to the hospital that I actually realised it was the same person. Dorothy, now 82, was the first ever female member to be granted permission to stay at the Hospital, where she still resides today.

SOMEWHERELAND

Sarah Sartain journeyed around the world, stitching together landscapes to

create a fantasy land.

20. Sarah Sartain

Somewhere Land is series of 9 whimsical lands that aim to capture the viewer’s imagination and senses. Each image is a representation of our world, amplified to an almost cinematic scale, separating our minds from reason and understanding. Although each image is clearly a manipulated landscape, they embody a beauty that exists in the natural world while also defying the conventions of beauty in landscape photography;

“Aristotle…posited that works of art should not be literal copies of nature but should express the essence of the subject portrayed”

Beauty and magic is so often lost within our day-to-day lives, we forget to take a step back and enjoy the world in which we live, this series takes fragments of beauty from South Africa, Iceland and Falmouth and presents a world so familiar yet so mysterious in the hope that we once again can look at the world with wonder and appreciation.

21.Sarah Sartain

“If it makes you laugh,if it makes you cry,

if it rips out your heart;that’s a good picture.”

- Eddie Adams

NaramatishoGaia visited the Maasai tribe in

Kenya and uncovered the homely spirits within.

28. Gaia Dominici

In the early months of 2014, I was fortunate enough to spend a few weeks with a Maasai tribe in Rombo, Kenya. After previously spending two months in Nairobi I was used to the chaos and dirt that comes with every big city. It took its toll and I needed a break so I booked a kind of holiday to the south of Kenya, and to the land of the Maasai to experience how they live. In the weeks that followed I found out a lot about myself. I was welcomed into the Maasai tribe and even given the name Naramatisho, which means ‘person that takes care of other people.’ I couldn’t have imagined a name could change me forever.

My trip began in Nairobi where I took a Matatu (a small bus) to Loitokitok, a small town in the Rift Valley. From there I took a taxi to Rombo, a Maasai village right in front of Mount Kilimanjaro. The air was so clear and the sky has never seemed blue, the view from my accommodation was priceless and for the first time in a very long time I felt at home.

Through some of my contacts I managed to arrange a visit into a boma, a Maasai house. The chosen boma was in Nasipa, a small piece of land right on the edge of a forest. A boda boda (Swahili for motorbike) picked me up from my accommodation and we drove ten kilometres into the middle of nowhere. Here I was met by John, a young Maasai teacher, who took me to a meeting with the community’s chief. When we arrived at the meeting place, I saw a group of men at the shadow of a tree. They were clearly waiting for the mzungu, the white person - me! Everything then happened in silence. They looked over at me but it didn’t feel like they were looking at me,

rather through me. I felt like I was naked in front of them and so I decided to speak. I explained that I was a photojournalist and I wanted to document how the Maasai lived. After speaking amongst themselves, they agreed.

I spent the following days with the tribe. We ate together, spoke and shared all we had. They began to call me the Mzungu Maasai, the White Maasai. Morans, the Maasai warriors, allowed me to spend most of my time with them and as time passed they started to consider me as one of them. We were friends and we weren’t even speaking the same language!

29.Gaia Dominici

My time with the Maasai wasn’t just a excuse to photograph them and in the months that have followed I have tried many times to explain my feelings and what I learned from my time with them. However I honestly don’t think I am able to do it justice in words. What I do know is that it doesn’t really matter who you are or where you come from, home is the place where your freedom of expression is limitless and the place where you can stop escaping from yourself. During my time with the Maasai in Rombo I found a place where I really felt at home.

“Home is the place where your freedom of expression is limitless”

Boys Will Be

GirlsHarriet Rock worked

an ongoing project, capturing everything

it takes to be a drag queen.

32. Harriet Rock

Boys Will Be Girls is an ongoing photographic documentary project about drag queens and gender culture. The work is a culmination of three years worth of study, and it’s a topic that really fascinates me. The series explores the queens’ transitions, beginning with leaving their masculine identity behind and following the transformation into their drag personas.

I started out by doing portraits in my local town of some drag students throughout my second year. In my final year I decided to go to London for a month to document more of the drag world. I worked at Madame Jojo’s documenting their Tranny Shack competition, which at the time was being filmed by London Live TV Company. I was there to do their publicity shots and to gain contacts.

As the weeks went on I became close to drag queen Bourgeoisie and then went on to documenting her getting ready at home and travelling to the live shows.

Nan Goldin influenced me a lot for this series. I wanted to continue the same aesthetic within my images, which is why I shot everything on film (Hasselblad). Using Goldin as an inspiration was very important to me because it created a good starting point, then leading me on to this series of work. I wanted my images to be realistic and really show off the true, beautiful reality of the queens.

I returned to Falmouth with about 30 rolls of film. Editing was hard work, with just too much to do and film being such a timely process. In the end, I decided to publish a book named ‘Boys Will Be Girls’, as I felt it was the best way to show the sheer magnitude and true beauty of the drags and their stories.

The book is available on my website:www.harrietrock.co.uk.

33.Harriet Rock

The Road to TwickenhamTom Sandberg provides us with our second

‘Photographers Insight’ feature, telling us his experiences photographing at Englands National Rugby stadium.

38. Tom Sandberg

I am a firm believer that if you’re hard working and you push yourself to the limit, anything is possible. As an aspiring sports photographer I am fast learning, that to succeed in the heavily populated industry of sports photography, you make your own luck and when the opportunity to presents itself you need to grab it with both hands.

My opportunity came at the start of June as I gained pitchside accreditation for a game at the Home of English Rugby, Twickenham Stadium. My love for sports photography is a passion only 10 months old but has already grown from something very small to something with much larger aims. In September, I began photographing local rugby in Cornwall and became heavily involved in my local Rugby Club in Falmouth attending both Home and Away matches throughout the season and even becoming the correspondent for the local paper.

As my sports photography improved throughout the season, I knew that I needed to up the level of rugby I was photographing. I managed to get in touch with Greenbank IPA Championship Side the ‘Cornish Pirates’ and was allowed the opportunity to photograph my first fully professional match. It was an amazing experience and I knew I wanted more.

My luck came in the form of the Cornish Rugby Team who experienced a great run of form in the county championship topping their group and earning themselves a place in the Bill Beaumount Cup final at Twickenham. My work during the season had helped me get to know a selection of the Cornish players and I wanted to follow them to the biggest match of the year.

Getting accreditation to photograph at Twickenham was incredibly challenging. After many attempts through different techniques, an email to a professional sports photographer

finally got me the gold. I was put into touch with the right person at the RFU who finalised my accreditation.

With accreditation finalised and an agency to supply to, I began the 200-mile journey to London. This was my first visit to Twickenham and the stadium was a powerful, imposing structure as I searched for the photographer’s room. When I found it, I was greeted with a newly furnished room with desk and seats for a number of photographers and free sandwiches! I met the two people in charge of the all the photographers at Twickenham and was made to feel instantly welcome as they gave me a tour of the pitch and advice of what other photographers had said were the best locations for good images.

I gathered my kit, took my assigned spot on the touchline and waited for the game to kick off. I started the game nervous, with the match being played a month after the rugby season had ended in Cornwall, my eye was a bit rusty and I struggled to follow the play for the first ten minutes. I made sure I would learn from this mistake and keep practicing even out of season. I soon settled into the game and began to capture more of the action consistently. With the pitch being so big however there was often times when the action was beyond the sight of even a 400mm lens so I looked toward the stands and the fascinating ‘Trelawney’s Army’ (Cornish Rugby’s band of supporters) who had travelled to London to cheer their team to victory. This was another massive learning curve as I saw that at sport events the most interesting pictures are not always of the action taking place on the pitch. Although the defeat Cornwall suffered was disappointing, the atmosphere and scale of what I had just witnessed was just sinking in as I returned to the photographer’s room. I finalised my edit of images and sent them off for distribution to both the national and Cornish papers and took a minute to relax.

The day could have ended there and then and I would have been very pleased with the work and images I would leave with. But, there was more. I bumped into the sports photographer who had helped me get to Twickenham in the first place and he organised for me to photograph the England vs Barbarians game. This was beyond my wildest dreams I was lucky enough to photograph one game but a professional international was something beyond words. This was my first experience of international rugby first hand and the way they played made for some fascinating pictures and action packed images.

The images I took that day taught me a lot about my composition and own skills with the raised pitch helping eliminate distractions. The distance from the tryline to helped too as I could use a 70-200 lens, enabling much more flexibility. I had been nervous throughout the Cornwall, but during the England game I was

much more relaxed. I told myself to prioritise enjoying the game, which in tern gave me more confidence in my skills.

This experience taught me lots about myself and the profession I am going into. The photographers I met were helpful, insightful and very welcoming which made everything easier for me. It takes a long time and a lot of hard work to succeed on any career path but I believe photography is one of the hardest ladders to climb. My journey to Twickenham was my first leap down the path of a sports photographer and a path which will hopefully see me return to the home of English rugby very soon!

I would like to thank Adrian, Tony, Phil, Rex Features, Cartel Photos and the RFU for such an unforgettable experience.

40. Tom Sandberg

This issue’s stars

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Harriet Rock‘Boys Will Be Girls’[email protected]

Nathan Still‘The Chelsea Pensioners’07765 [email protected]

Sarah Sartain‘Somewhere Land’07986 449874SS156607@falmouth.ac.ukwww.sarahsartainphotography.4ormat.com

Gaia Dominici‘Naramatisho’[email protected]

Tom Sandberg‘The Road to Twickenham’

07835 689177 tz.sandberg@hotmail.co.ukwww.tomsandbergphotography.wordpress.com

Lois GoldingEditor-in-chiefwww.somethingobnoxious.carbonmade.com

With thanks to..

Matt CoxLogo designer & sign writing godInstagram - mattcox904

Gered MankowitzSpecial feature interview & photographerwww.mankowitz.com

Heather GoldingToby EllisProofing, support & assistance.

Production teamTom SandbergManagerwww.tomsandbergphotography.wordpress.com

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Carys [email protected]

Sophie Sear, Ella Nicholas-French,Harvey Williams-Fairley & Nathan StillAssistants

To contact for requests, questions or more information:[email protected]

All images and text published in 205dpi are the sole propertry of the featured authors and the subject copyright. 2014 © 205dpi

Melissa FreemantleIllustrator

[email protected]

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205DPI - No.10