30 Influential Photobooks

For the past month, MAP6 have been sharing 30 photobooks that have influenced the collective. You can see our selection on our Instagram feed, which you can access on this website.

Rich Cutler - Insecta Exhibited

For the coming 3 months Fabrica in Brighton will be exhibiting a large photograph by Rich Cutler, from his Insecta project. It is on public view in the window of Fabrica's In Between Gallery, facing Duke Street. It will be replaced by a further image from Insecta in September – also to be exhibited for 3 months.

See Fabrica's website (https://www.fabrica.org.uk/in-between) for more information and events.

Insecta explores collecting, museums and nature:

''The urge for humans to collect and classify is instinctual – a need to arrange the world around us into patterns, forming order from chaos. Insecta explores the function of museums and collections through natural history, examining photography’s role in framing memory, the pursuit of knowledge and the fallibility of conservation. The project is a memento mori, reflecting on the life and death of knowledge and authority through fragments of ruined and forgotten collections.''

Paul Walsh - Urbanautica Interview

This week Paul Walsh was invited to an interview with Steve Bisson, the founding editor of the online publication Urbanautica. Throughout the course of the interview they discuss his photography and working collaboratively with MAP6. You can read the interview by clicking on the image below.

The Isolation Project

Over the past month five of the MAP6 photographers have been vigorously editing (via Zoom) the images that they made during their trip to Rovaniemi in March. The series is called The Isolation Project and you can now view it on the MAP6 website.

Upon arrival in Rovaniemi they were notified that their return flights were cancelled and that the borders were closing due to the coronavirus pandemic, leaving them potentially stranded. MAP6 had intended to continue working on the Finland project, exploring themes around the world happiness report, however with COVID-19 rapidly taking hold all project meetings were cancelled. The five photographers decided to make photographs in response to their situation, the city shutting down and what was happening with COVID-19 around the world.

The series is very much a spontaneous reaction to their circumstances, and the project idea was improvised during the few days they were there. One of the biggest factors of that period was the constant flow of fear inducing news that was appearing via social media. The distressing, and at times absurd news that they were reading was in complete contrast to the serene arctic city where they found themselves. Included within the edit are some of the headlines that appeared via social media during that time.

Barry Falk on Location - Undiagnosed

Since the outbreak of coronavirus, during his daily walk for exercise, photographer Barry Falk has been photographing his friends and neighbours close to where he lives. We had a chance to ask him about his series  ‘Undiagnosed below’.

Can you tell us briefly about your photographic practice, what you are primarily interested in as a photographer?

My photographic practice has changed and developed a lot since I first began. When I started in photography I sought out spaces that I felt captured certain states of mind, that acted as visual metaphors for a fragile or ambiguous relationship to the world, such as underground bunkers & car parks, empty buildings & abandoned buildings and the edges of the landscape, what I termed Peripheral Landscapes. I developed this further by travelling to and documenting places that had undergone significant traumatic experiences,  focussing on locations in Eastern Europe, particularly Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine. These locations held a sense of memory related to trauma and atrocity. I am currently working on a long-term project focused upon the Jewish narrative, exploring how history can be both intensely remembered whilst memory of events are also reframed or can be buried by collective amnesia. I have made a move from capturing empty spaces, devoid of people, to a much more varied approach that mixes portraiture, landscape and other forms of documenting.

 Tell us about your latest project 'Undiagnosed' - how did it begin and why did you start the series?

In response to the COVID-19 Pandemic I decided, like many photographers, to try to capture some of the atmosphere of these strange times. My project rationale was to photograph as many of my friends and neighbours as possible within walking distance of where I live; one photoshoot per daily walk for exercise. I restricted the shots to people framed within their front doors , squeezed within their hallway, or stood in front gardens, on the threshold between inside and outside, the safe and the unsafe. I was always careful to maintain social distance. I was looking for a series of expressions: serious, pensive, reflective, quizzical (pleased to maintain a to see me!). I sought to capture the psychological effect of the pandemic by highlighting how the normal has become the weird. The title Undiagnosed refers to the many without a diagnosis, not in quarantine yet still socially distant and for some, isolated by circumstances and government guidelines around public safety. More to the point, these were my friends and neighbours whose homes were now off limits, making the situation even more disconcerting. The familiar was now very unfamiliar, and unlike other types of ‘war’ the hunkering together had to be done apart. These images were taken in the 3 weeks post Prime Minister’s speech on 16th March 2020.

Can you share your photographic process, how you work and how you interact with people to make your images.

My most recent projects have focussed primarily on conversations with people leading to portraiture. I initially research a topic, then seek out possible contacts (contacts who could introduce me to other contacts) and set up meetings. For instance, my recent MAP6 Collective project in Finland involved initially writing to the Lord Mayor of a small municipality which I wished to document. This led to gaining further contacts via the Mayor and sending out requests with my project idea to a wide range of people whom I wished to meet. This set up an itinerary before arriving, which led to a series of recorded interviews and subsequent portraits. This method of working has developed out of a long-term project I have been involved in researching the Jewish narrative in Eastern Europe. This informed approach has been necessary for me to gain a detailed and deepened understanding of the subject I am photographing. My method is to talk to a wide range of people, from academics and researchers to local people in towns and villages. For Undiagnosed I sent out messages with a simple request: I wanted to photograph people whilst maintaining far distance, in their front doorways looking out (informal pose: messy hair and embarrassing slippers would be fine). The response was overwhelmingly affirmative: people wanted to be a part of a collective project, to be noticed in this time of social distancing.

How do you envision the work when it is finished?

Finishing a project is never straight-forward for me, as projects generate ideas which I often feel compelled to follow. However, my project Undiagnosed is a purposefully restricted project: it requires local friends within walking distance with no more than two shots per person/family. In addition the portraits are similar, keeping to a prescribed method, and begin to repeat themselves the longer the project continues.

Other projects are more complex in terms of completion: my project in Poland and Ukraine, restricted only by my ability to find time and finances, is a project that generates a great deal of potential ideas and opportunities. To bring this project to completion requires making a decision to move it into a different phase: from the documenting process to creating an exhibition, holding a talk and then eventually book production.

What's next for you and MAP6?

MAP6 have recently returned from Lapland, our second trip to Finland. I feel that I need to consolidate the ideas and images I gathered and to focus upon the collaborative process of exhibiting. I am very keen to exhibit the work in the host country, to generate interest and gain feedback from the Finnish people.

MAP6 in Rovaniemi

MAP6 photographers Richard Chivers, Rich Cutler, Barry Falk, Raoul Ries and Paul Walsh visited Rovaniemi in Lapland last week, coincidentally during the major outbreak of the coronavirus. Upon arrival, like many others, we were left stranded without a flight home as the situation deteriorated and the city closed down around us. Most of the meetings we had arranged there were cancelled, so for the most part we were unable to continue our individual projects. In light of this we decided to make a group collaborative project about our experience during this time. As we waited for our rescheduled flight home we spent time documenting the town and meeting local inhabitants, and also visiting tourists who like us were in the precarious position of waiting for flights home as the borders closed.

Richard Chivers was photographing around the south-west part the city in the industrial sector, continuing to document the timber industry for his series Green Gold. Aside from this, he made a series of architectural studies of the city both during the day and at night.

Barry Falk made a number of trips out of the city to local communities and townships, where he photographed those who lived there and tourists who were stranded due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Rich Cutler worked primarily alone in the forests that surround Rovaniemi, capturing intimate still life's in the landscape, as a continuation of the work he made during his previous trip to Helsinki. During the night he went out to capture the darkness as it descended on the city.

Raoul Ries continued his photographic study of social space with a series of street portraits taken throughout Rovaniemi. After sunset he captured empty retail centres and malls in a series of colour architectural night studies.

Over the next few weeks we will start to share some of the images we made in Rovaniemi as we continue to edit the work. The coronavirus outbreak presented us with many problems as photographers, and made us question if we should in fact be making photographs at all during such a challenging time. However, creating work became cathartic and helped us to deal with the uncertainty of our circumstances and the precariousness of being stranded far from family and friends. We were also mindful of social distance and minimising human contact to avoid potentially spreading the virus.

Richard Chivers on Location - Off Grid

MAP6 photographer Richard Chivers was recently in Birmingham photographing the Aston gasometers for his latest personal project ‘Off Grid’. Paul Walsh had a chance to chat with him about his new project and capture some images of him at work.

Can you tell us briefly about your photographic practice, what you are primarily interested in as a photographer?

The primary focus of my work is to document the shaping and re-shaping of the British landscape. I do this by focusing on projects that capture aspects of the landscape through history, geography archaeology and its shifting topography.

Tell us about your latest project 'Off Grid'.

My project Off-Grid started about 3 years ago when I read a newspaper report that said that most of Britain’s Gas Holders were to be demolished over the next few years. The Gas Holder, or Gasometer as they are also known, were first built during Victorian times across most towns and cities in the UK. They have been a prominent part of the urban skyline for nearly 200 years, representing our industrial heritage, and to some, they are an iconic landmark of the place they inhabit. I have always been interested in the design and graphic appearance of these structures and find them to have a beauty in their own right. My father used to work on them, so that is another reason I find them fascinating.

Can you share your photographic process, how you work and what camera's you use for your series 'Off Grid'.

Most of my personal work is made using a Horseman large format 5x4 film camera. It’s a slow way of working but for the Off-Grid project there is a nice relationship between the Victorian Gas Holders and the Victorian style camera with its bellows and shift movements. For me creating these personal projects is about enjoying the process of taking photos. When using a large format camera the picture making is slow and methodical but also enjoyable, relaxing and technically satisfying. From the outset I decided to photograph the Gas Holders in black and white and in colour. The Colour photographs take in the whole Gas Holder and some of the surrounding landscape whilst the black and white images are tightly cropped details of the top half of the Gas holders. As you drive through a town or city, it’s often just the top half of the Gas Holder that is prominent on the skyline. When placing all the black and white photographs together in a grid they make for an interesting typology where you can compare the different designs.

How do you envision the work to be finished?

I am currently working on a small publication with Stanley James Press which supports the work in the form of a folded sheet. I am also hoping to exhibit the work in the near future.

Whats next for you and MAP6?

In March I will be joining 9 other members of MAP6 on a different project, where we will be heading back to Finland for a second visit. I am creating a new body of work looking at the Timber industry. 

Raoul Ries joins MAP6!

We are really excited to announce that photographer Raoul Ries has joined the MAP6 collective!. Below is a brief interview where he discuses his photographic practice, his latest project and his motivations for joining MAP6.

Can you tell us a little about your journey in photography - from your early inspirations to how you work today?

In the early 2000s I worked long hours and I didn't even get to see my neighbourhood during the day, so I started to take photos around my house at night. After a workshop with Jean-Claude Belegou in 2009, followed by others, I was hooked. In 2011 I decided to quit my job to study photography and then kept going until now. I’m still not bored.

What motivates and drives your current photographic practice?

Starting from my own neighbourhood and social environment, I want to see what makes a space into what it appears to be. How can the forces that shape a habitat be photographed, what part of the story do I actually want to show? When working on a series, I usually research different aspects of the topic, then focus on one of them. That way if the pictures don’t work out at least I learned something.

Talk to us a little about your most recent project 'New Towns'.

In 2016 I discovered the Harlow Art and Sculpture Trail. I am interested in how artworks interact with a living environment as opposed to a white wall gallery space, and decided to take pictures in Harlow. My initial goal was to show the local desire to create a nicer living space. I became curious about where I actually was so I read about the history of the New Towns and the Garden Cities and decided to photograph all of the first wave New Towns around London. They began to be built in 1946 and over seven decades the economic climate fluctuated, political ideas changed and new social aspirations superseded the dreams of the previous generations. The contemporary New Towns show evidence of previous building styles and ideas of community. They preserve some of their initial character but their identity is shifting in favour of more national and international elements. I began visiting these places in 2018 until recently. Now that I have finished editing and sequencing the resulting images I will make a dummy catalogue and approach places which might want to show them. I'd like them to be seen in one of the New Towns.

You have published a book about Mt Fuji, can you tell us about the project and the process of making the book?

Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji shares elements with photography, they show moments in normal life, but hint at different timescales. For me they deal with the question on what we do with our lives. I wanted to produce photographs inspired both in subject matter and in graphic design by Hokusai’s woodcuts. As different seasons were required I visited Japan twice for two to three months at a time where I cycled around the mountain in various distances. The series is sequenced to show the repeat change of season and the age of the people within. A grant from the Centre National de Audiovisuel in Luxembourg helped to finance the book publishing. Yes, I had to pay to get it into the shops and no, I won’t see any profit. There is a link on my website so if you want a copy buy it from me!

If you could work collaboratively with one photographer - living or dead - who would it be and why?

While there are many photographers I’d like to have a coffee with and chat about their process, progress and life in general, I think I need to be alone to take photographs. The collaborative bit comes into play before and after, first whilst coming up with the initial idea and later during the editing of the collected material. I’d quite like to go on tour with Elliott Erwitt though, he could do dogs and I’d do cats.

What excites you about MAP6 and collaborating with other photographers?

Two things actually. MAP6’s objectives seem to be closely related to mine, and the group members are serious and work hard on their projects, whilst at the same time are playful and experimental. I am looking forward to discovering how people develop a photographic project from their point of view, using insights, feelings and techniques that are different from mine or even inaccessible to me. Last year I walked Hadrian’s Wall with a friend, we took very dissimilar pictures and had a mini-show together. I enjoyed that and now I am looking forward to doing this with a larger group of people.

Barry Falk at Photoscratch

MAP6 photographer Barry Falk was one of 8 photographers that presented his latest work in progress at the Photographers gallery last week. The event was part of Photoscratch and more information can be seen here.

MAP6 Featured in Shetland Life

We are delighted to have been featured in Shetland Life magazine. It’s always a thrill for us to see our work gaining exposure in the areas where the work was made. Thank you to Laurie and all of the guys at Shetland Life.

Rich Cutler joins MAP6!

We are delighted to announce that photographer Rich Cutler has joined the MAP6 collective!. Below is a brief interview where he discuses his photograhic practice, his latest project and his future plans.

Can you share with us your journey in photography - from your early inspirations to the format of your current practice?

I’ve always been interested in art, but my parents encouraged my other passion – science and technology – so I ended up at university studying chemistry. In the late 90s I felt like getting back into art so I bought a camera and some film. But I didn’t get on with photography at all: I hated waiting – days, sometimes weeks – before seeing my pictures, and when I did they never looked like I expected! I sold my camera...

A decade later and digital photography arrived. Buying a digital camera changed everything for me. First, I got immediate results. Second, the camera was expensive, so I felt I had to learn how to use it. I joined my local camera club, and got the hang of making pictures. A few years passed – and I was thinking about giving up photography: I could now take an OK picture, but what was the point? How many photos of sunsets and piers did I need, and why was I taking them? I then met someone doing a master’s degree in photography, and that was a revelation: I discovered that a photograph is a much more than just a picture. Despite having no art qualifications (well, apart from gold stars from the camera club) I applied for an MA in photography – and was accepted! I’ve since graduated, but my enthusiasm for photography still burns brightly.

What motivates and drives your current photographic practice?

What the MA taught me was not how to take photographs but why. A photograph is now the end of a process for me, not the start. A typical photographic project for me begins with an idle thought, and if it continues to pique my interest I wonder if it’s possible to explore the topic by taking photographs. Some meanders that have ended up as photographic projects are my musings on fast food, the pace of technological change and why we collect things. My next project is on exoplanets – planets orbiting distant stars!

If I had to formally summarise my practice, I guess I’d say I’m interested in symbolism, and photographing time, and relationships between the historical and the present, and between the sciences and the arts. Much of my work is still lifes – taken both on location and in the studio.

Talk to us a little about your most recent project.

That would be ‘Fleet’ –  on a ‘lost’ river: London’s Fleet. After the Thames it was the city’s largest river. But as the centuries passed, Londoners used it as a drain – and the once clean waters became foul and putrid, and the channel silted up. Eventually, the Victorians diverted it underground into sewers. Today, excepting where it arises on Hampstead Heath, no open water remains, and there is no sign of the river above ground: the Fleet has been obliterated. A not untypical story; we have an uneasy relationship with nature, exploiting it for our – often short-term – needs.

My project ‘Fleet’ looks at the past and present of this river. As well as exploring the geography of the natural (and now erased) course of the Fleet through modern London, I’m interested in our relationship with and impact on the landscape – both natural and urban. As time passes, the urban environment changes beyond recognition by our hand. Yet, there are echoes from the past that bleed into the present.

I finished the project last year – after spending three years and hundreds of miles following the former course of the River Fleet. Walking where this river once flowed, I saw a familiar landscape that seemed also out of place and out of time; I saw funerary monuments to a dead river.

I’ve now finished taking photographs for ‘Fleet’, and am in the midst of editing the 150 or so images.

If you could work collaboratively with one photographer - living or dead - who would it be and why?

Todd Hido. Many of his photographs seem as if they belong to a dystopian road trip – an uncanny America seen only at twilight. People have described my photos as ‘gothic’, so I guess that’s his appeal! He also has a strong sense of narrative – which is also important to me: I like photographs to tell a story, in spite of it remaining largely unknowable since you see only one frame.

I’m going to be cheeky and mention a second photographer, as I can’t decide who to choose! Joan Fontcuberta. He’s always played with truth vs fiction – do we believe what we see in a photograph, or not? A hot topic today, with ‘alternative facts’ being used to legitimise lies. Fontcuberta also has a wicked sense of humour; despite dealing with serious subjects, he’s the only photographer who made me laugh out loud when I went to their exhibition!

What excites you about the future of photography?

Photographic practice – both art and mainstream – is moving away from its traditional presentation as framed photographs on a wall. We now have artists’ books, installations and video in place of or displayed alongside framed pictures. Photographers are becoming more experimental. This, I feel, adds to and enriches how we experience photographs.

As to the future of photography for me personally, I’m excited to have been invited to join MAP6 – and am very much looking forward to working with everyone in the collective.

MAP6 Featured on Shetland.org

MAP6 are delighted to have been featured on Shetland.org. The piece discusses our time in Shetland, the projects we made and working collaboratively. You can read the article here.

Paul Walsh returns home

Earlier this year Paul Walsh returned to his family roots in Ireland. First generation English, his parents moved from Ireland to England just before he was born. Paul set out on a two week road trip around Ireland to visit the rural home towns of his parents, re-connect with family and explore the native landscapes where they were born. After driving over 1000km’s his first visit culminated in a hike up the mountain of Croagh Patrick, Irelands most important pilgrimage site. Paul will be returning to Ireland again in 2019 to continue the project.

Richard Chivers 'Passing Time'

Richard Chivers begins work on a new personal project called ‘Passing Time’, exploring the varying architecture in England’s capital.

Barry Falk in Poland

On the 9th November Barry Falk flew to Krakow to begin a short trip through the Tatra Mountains, visiting former shtetls and Chassidic Pilgrimage sites, looking for clues to the past and documenting the ways that these memories are framed today. This is a continuation of the In Search of Amnesia project, started in January 2017. 

On December 3rd Barry will be giving a talk at the Wiener Library, 29 Russell Square, London, at 6pm - talking about the project so far. For more information click here.

Heather Shuker heads to Sierra Leone

Post Ebola, and 15 years on from her first visit, Heather Shuker heads back to where it all began for her in Photography. More news coming soon…

The Shetland Project at BPF

In 2018, Richard Chivers, Phil Le Gal, Mitch Karunaratne, Heather Shuker, David Sterry & Paul Walsh spent 6 days capturing a contemporary portrait of the Shetland Islands. From the 29th September–27th October the work was exhibited for the first time at the Phoenix Gallery in Brighton, as part of the Brighton Photography Fringe festival. For this show the work was hung collaboratively across the gallery as a single, non-authored series, mixing the 6 projects as one. As part of the month long exhibition MAP6 also held a discussion about working collaboratively chaired by Wendy Pye from Tri-Pod, whom we hope to be working with again soon. There was also a MAP6 mentoring session, where photographers could share their projects and receive feedback from the MAP6 photographers.

Thresholds of the Mind

As part of the Brighton Photofringe Barry Falk exhibited his series Thresholds of the Mind. The project documents the research work being carried out at The Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science at the University of Sussex. The Sackler Centre is one of the leading research groups in consciousness science and has pioneered the multidisciplinary study of the biological basis of conscious experience. As part of the program Barry held a number of talks, as well as an interactive science day, where members of the public could come and meet both the artist and the scientists.

BPF interview MAP6

The Photofringe caught up with us for a short interview delving into working as a collective and our approach to photography. You can read the interview here.

Richard Chivers nominated for Blueprint award

Richard Chivers has been nomination for the Blueprint Photography awards 2018 Architecture and Time Category, for his photograph of a Gasometer being disassembled.