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In this Episode…

Today Valerie shares a conversation with Greg Turner, a photographer from the UK. They discuss two specific projects Greg completed in recent years and how projects often come to the photographer in the most unexpected ways.

Greg’s Biography

My work is driven by a combination of poetry and pragmatism. I take inspiration from a variety of places, in particular Diane Arbus, Joel Sternfeld, Richard Renaldi, Rineke Dijkstra and Laura Panack, from Avedon’s ‘In The American West’ series as well as the Italian Neo-Realist cinema movement.

I work primarily outside in the street, in parks and on the beach, in between meetings, while on business trips or if I have a spare 40 minutes at the end of the day. As a result, my work tends towards spontaneity and serendipity. I photograph people as they are in the moment I find them. Sometimes the connections are brief, sometimes they develop and flourish, but they are all bound and connected by the place and time in which they occur.

This connection with place and time is central to my work. It is a means by which to both pragmatically structure my activity around family life, and poetically explore the ideas that are important to me. By locating a subject in a specific place and time, I have the chance to ask, ‘what brought you here to me, what ties you to this moment, where have you come from and where are you going?’ In asking these questions I hope to make a more meaningful connection with an otherwise detached stranger and thereby learn something more profound about them and the nature of our humanity.

My focus is the humanity of the person in front of the camera; community, gender identity, sexuality, transition, conformity and vulnerability are all prevalent motifs in my work, but it is this last phenomenon, our vulnerability, that interests me most. It is when we are at our most vulnerable that our humanity is most readily evident; it is in our collective vulnerability that all our humanity lies.

Links to Greg’s Work

www.tearsinrain.co.uk

https://www.instagram.com/geetee1972/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/geetee1972/

Examples of Greg’s Work

My guest today is Terry Gydesen, a documentary photographer whose images tell stories of some of Minnesota's political figures and celebrities. But today we are not going to talk about celebrities, we are going to talk about a project that hit much closer to home for Terry.

The project is titled "Transitions, a Daughter’s Journey” and it is a collection of 30 large color photographs that represent four years of documenting her father’s decline from Alzheimer’s. The series was on exhibit in Minneapolis recently and left no one untouched.

Please enjoy this touching and important conversation with Terry and leave a message in the comments below if you have a minute or two!

Bio

Terry Gydesen is a freelance photographer based in Minneapolis. Her passion for documenting political campaigns started in 1988 when she was hired by Jesse Jackson to document his Presidential campaign. With the support of various grants and fellowships, Terry has documented political campaigns both locally and nationally for the last 20 years.

Terry has been commissioned for several projects which include documenting Prince’s 1993 New Power Generation Tour in Europe which resulted in the book, Prince presents the sacrifice of Victor. She was one of twelve photographers commissioned by the Minnesota History Center to document life in Minnesota at the turn of the 21st century. Her “Snowbirds” project followed Minnesota’s retired seniors during their winter life in Florida and Arizona.

Target commissioned Terry for their “Story Telling” campaign, showing how Target’s philanthropic contributions make a difference in communities across the country. Most recently she has been retained by the Girl Scouts making portraits of leaders in the Community in their “Where Girl Scouts Can Take You” campaign.

Published Work
Her work has also been published in various publications including the New York Times, Newsweek, and the Washington Post.

Grants and Fellowships
Terry is a three time recipient of the McKnight Photography fellowship. She has also received grants from the Minnesota State Arts board, the Jerome Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. the 2017 McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship.