OCA Symposium - Photography Matters

The Photography Matters symposium in Doncaster was my first official OCA visit, featuring five speakers from within the OCA. Content was extremely varied, covering technical, physical and social aspects of photography and how it has been used over time. The two speakers that resonated with me the most were Les Monaghan and Dawn Woolley; both speakers spoke of issues I felt connected to and have made me think differently about the power photography can have on both the conscious and subconscious mind.

Les Monaghan - Is it fair?

The question asked from Les, using Don McCullin’s shell shocked soldier as an example. Les has experienced at least one circumstance in which he chose not to press the shutter mainly due to a feeling that his creation of the image didn’t feel fair on the people in question.

Les spoke of his latest work, The Desire Project; a piece in which he asked customers of a local shopping centre, ‘What do you want?’ Although the question was asked to individual shoppers, as they hang on the wall side by side, collective themes of health, happiness, acceptance and community shine through.

Les thought deeply about fairness in the creation of this series; while viewing the work on the walls of the shopping centre, he discussed his methods and ,motivations. All shoppers who took part in the project chose to take part, knowing exactly how and where their images would be displayed. A lot of time was given to actually think about the question and how they would like to answer it. Les made sure that whatever answer the shopper gave, they fully understood that this statement would be on the wall directly under their feet.

The final selection of over seventy images was chosen by Les, which could have lead to a biased leaning towards his chosen sentiments. We were told, however that most of the portraits that didn’t make it to the wall were very similar to those that did, if anything, there was a larger sway to those wanting world peace; a sentiment which filled a large proportion of the series anyway.

To hear Les discuss his work in the Frenchgate Shopping Centre, while viewing his work and shoppers who could have potentially been part of the work walked past was the highlight of the day for me. I came away with a good insight into who Les Monaghan is, what he feels passionate about and how he uses that passion in his photography.

Dawn Woolley

As Dawn began discussing her work, I got the feeling that it was going to be a fairly uninspiring piece, wrapped up in very flowery language. The language remained flowery but I was very wrong about the content; in fact the only reason I couldn’t wait until the end was to get outside and discuss it further with other students.

Having teenaged children as well as working in a secondary school, my world is filled with stories of the micro-celebrity, although none of that generation see them this way. Having recently created a video using YouTube clips for a school assembly, it was clear from the reactions of three hundred fifteen year olds that these people are known to EVERYONE; well, as long as you’re under twenty.

As Dawn suggested, using Rachel Wong as an example, the filter we have all developed to enable us to ignore adverts is being bypassed as advertising gets sneaky. Micro-celebs chat as if they are your best friend, telling you about the latest lipstick they just bought. This tactic echoes in my family life as my daughter’s favourite micro-celebs, The Sidemen chat in their gaming videos about going for a cheeky Nando’s, vlogging their visits to such places, wearing particular brands which their fans love to follow; and it’s possible too because they just dropped into the conversation the shop they bought it from.


Dawn also used the advertising of Dolce and Gabbana to highlight how they use the selfie in their advertising. Models, both male and female are captured in a slightly parodic street scene, performing very cliched activities which younger generations connect with such as taking selfies. Dawn’s analysis of the situation is that the act of the models taking the selfie connects the scene to the viewer’s world. The viewer imagines their own self in the phone screen, wearing the model’s outfits and accessories, living their life. The act of taking selfies is so prevalent now that everyone can connect with this scene, no matter what their lifestyle or hobbies and interests.