Mobile Nation and other thoughts

I can’t remember exactly what he said, but Banksy remarked once something along the lines that he doesn’t go to a restaurant because he wants to have a shit. I’m neither a fan of Banksy nor do I believe what he says is true about himself, but it’s a quote I really like all the same. I’ve just got out the bath, where I was both trying to warm up a bit (no heating in Vilnius for another couple of weeks and already freezing cold) as well as absorb the first group tutorial of the new term. Of the many good things to come out of it (the tutorial, not the bath) I was struck by the momentary touching on the subject of amateur versus professional, vis Flickr, which in turn reminded me of Banksy’s quote. Forgive me for the stream of consciousness that’s about to follow. As far as I understand it, this course is primarily about the understanding and acquisition of the two things that go together to make a professional photojournalist and/or documentary photographer. Firstly, it (the course) provides a path that leads to a personal understanding of the language of the medium. Second, it provides an insight into the world of the professional, ie. how one can best prepare oneself to make money from photography. If you think about it, like I am now, it makes one wonder what a professional actually is. The definition is of course somebody who makes money (or a living) from what they do, as opposed to an amateur (from the Latin amātor, lover). In reality it’s much more complicated that that, and I wonder if one can be a professional by using only one of the two above-mentioned criteria. The answer is if course Yes. I can think of plenty of people earning good money in publishing who are pretty useless at their jobs and who certainly don’t understand the business. Likewise, I know plenty of people who create things professionally without earning a penny. My oldest and best friend Al for example built this lovely house. Basically, Al didn’t like what the architect was doing, sacked him, picked up his tools and did the job himself. If anybody’s still reading this, I think it’s only fair to jump in quick and say that this interesting area is a border, one that from time to time, certainly when I’m doing things with my mobile phone, informs my photography in one way or another. Whether I’m conscious of it or not, when I’m producing what I believe to be serious work using my Nokia I’m exploring the interesting, grey and often controversial area between what’s accepted as amateur and what’s accepted as professional. I find this interesting. Really interesting. One of the things I think about is that if it can be shown that toys such as mobile phones can be used to create serious work then this, theoretically at least, opens the door to a massive section of society who remain silent and at the mercy of so-called professionals. At times I find this almost obscene. The BBC and others have done great work with this idea, notably with such groundbreaking work as the Video Nation series (a piece of sheer genius bought about by the advent of the camcorder, check out the BBC website for more). Maybe it’s time for a Mobile Nation. Maybe not. It seems to me at times that how the message is delivered is far more important than the message itself. There was an argument when I worked in television that ‘broadcast standard’ (ie. high quality (expensive to produce) video was a union invention, used to secure people’s jobs. If it was this (it was certainly partly this), then the unions failed. I wonder how much this argument can be used in photojournalism and documentary photography? My mind’s racing now. I need to think about this some more. I had an idea right at the start of this course for producing some work that would be photographed not by myself. If photojournalism is so keen to reinvent itself with the use of moving images then surely there’s no reason why documentary photographers can’t become directors, especially if the director remains responsible for the project planning and the editing. That the very medium that we’re currently studying is teetering on the edge of two borders at the moment is truly interesting stuff.