A Small Voice: Conversations with photographers and filmmakers

Richard Young is a photographer who was once known as the “king of the paparazzi”.

His portfolio is a who’s who of some of the biggest stars in film, music, stage and popular culture from the past fifty years. From gatecrashing Elizabeth Taylor’s party for Richard Burton’s 50th at the Dorchester to later being invited to photograph her Damehood celebrations. He can count the first photographs of Paul Getty Jr. after his kidnapping as just one of his many scoops.

He was born in Hackney to a Jewish family and his father ran a hosiery stall in Berwick Street market for more than sixty years. Richard has dyslexia and after being expelled from school at fourteen, he went to Soho and landed a job in fashionable clothes shop frequented by Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, David Hockney and Francis Bacon.

A two-year stint in New York followed, working as a studio assistant at Electric Lady Studios, before he returned to London and found himself in a bookshop handed a camera and told to get on with photographing authors.

For the past fifty years, he has lived a nocturnal, high octane life of private jets, parties and exclusive events, eventually becoming as much a fixture in the world of celebrity as the people he photographed.

Richard lives in London with his wife Susan. His photography gallery is in London and has visitors from around the world.

On episode 282, Richard discusses, among other things:

Wanting to escape school

Learning that trust is currency

Crashing Richard Burton’s birthday party

And how the proceeds from the resulting picture bought him his first house

How his journey into photography began with a roll of blank film

Adventures in New York and Paris

Having a guardian angel

Still being sent on jobs at 79

Turning up to Freddie Mercury’s party in drag by mistake

How he navigated the switch to digital

Why he reccommends that young photographers experiment with film

Photographing flowers …and the east end of London

The importance of saying sorry when necessary

His gallery in west London

How the business has changed

Website | Instagram


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Ilvy Njiokiktjien is a Dutch photojournalist, filmmaker, podcast host and educator who has been creating and sharing stories for almost two decades. She is based in Utrecht, the Netherlands and is a contributing photographer to VII Foundation. Ilvy is committed to documenting the social and political issues that shape our world. Her work is characterized by a sensitive eye and a compassionate and personal relationship with her subjects. 

For nearly 2 decades, she chronicled South Africa’s first post-apartheid generation. Ilvy became intrigued by these young adults and portrayed them in her own, personal and intimate style. “Equality is there on paper, but a majority of young people believes white South Africans still have better chances, as the legacy of centuries of inequality is still there.” The result is the project Born Free – Mandela’s Generation of Hope, which sparked a documentary, an interactive website, a book, feature articles, and a traveling exhibition.

Her work with Ukraine’s LGBTQ community in March 2022 tells the tale of people’s loves and fears – and their resolve in the face of Russian aggression. Ilvy’s latest project on co-housing follows people who opt to live in non-traditional groups or who welcome extended family members into a shared home. 

Ilvy was the first woman to win the Dutch Silver Camera Award for photographer of the year and was named the first ever Photographer Laureate of the Netherlands in 2013. In addition to numerous awards from international organizations such as World Press Photo and POYi, Ilvy’s images have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, The Guardian, Stern, Der Spiegel, TIME, and other major outlets. She has exhibited at Visa pour l’Image in France, New York’s Photoville, and museums and festivals around the world. 

On episode 281, Ilvy discusses, among other things:

Her foray into podcasting for Canon

The pattern of her work life

How things have changed since she started

Collaboration and the importance of writing and interviews

Approach to personal long-term projects

Her current project about ‘receiving states’

Her approach to research

Why it’s good to reinvent yourself

Using a simple Google search to generate ideas

Her project in South Africa, Born Free

Why she got kicked out of her internship on The Star newspaper

Her interest in ‘interactive long reads’ and the book she made with one of her subjects

The perils and advantages of social media

Her family history project and the joint exhibition that came of it

The tendency for younger documentary photographers to be introspective and why that might be

Her foray into podcasting - asking her fellow VII photographers four questions

The importance of failure

Her 'dream story'

Referenced:

Carl De Keyser

Matt Black

Sara Terry


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Jon McCormack is - as plainly stated on his Linked-In profile - a Photographer, Nerd, Educator and Conservationist

His photographic work is deeply informed by his upbringing in the stark, untamed landscapes of the Australian Outback, where early life among sheep and cattle fostered a profound respect for nature’s rhythms of resilience and fragility. Beginning as a teenager photographing quiet, often-overlooked moments in the bush, he developed a photographic voice rooted in patience, attention, and ecological empathy. Today, his images explore the intricate patterns and emotional textures of wild places, seeking to inspire both wonder and a sense of responsibility, and are widely published and used by global conservation organizations to advocate for the protection of fragile ecosystems.

In addition to photography Jon is also actively involved in conservation and social good organizations. He is a member of The Explorer’s Club, a founding board member of Sealegacy, co-founder of his non-profit in Kenya, The Kilgoris Project and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Alongside his creative work, Jon has a day job as a tech nerd. He is Vice President of Camera & Photos Software Engineering at Apple in California, leading the software team responsible for the iPhone camera.

His new photobook entitiled Patterns: Art Of The Natural World, is published by Damiani and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Vital Impacts, the non-profit founded in 2021 by photographer Ami Vitale and visual journalist Eileen Mignoni to advance conservation through visual storytelling, community partnership, and strategic investment in local solutions.

On episode 280, Jon discusses, among other things:

His formative experiences on a remote Australian farm and how that influenced the person he became

Discovering his love of mathematics… and of nature… and photography

How his ‘impossible to predict' career in tech began at a conference in Manchester, UK

How is current role with Apple allows him to ‘live photography’ for his day job

A couple of major technical advances in mobile phone photography

His thoughts on the impact and implications of AI

His new book, Patterns, and how it came from his experience of shooting during Covid

The challenge of trying to resolve the tension between his environmentalism and working in the tech industry

His close connection to Vital Impacts, to whom he is donating 100% of the proceeds from the book

His level of optimism vs. pessimism re. the chances of environmental armageddon

Referenced:

Ernst Haas

Edwin Land

Nick Brandt

Edward Burtynsky

Ami Vitale

 

Website | Instagram

 

 


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Dragana Jurišić is a photographer, writer and filmmaker. She has exhibited extensively and won numerous awards.  Dragana’s work is in several significant collections, including the National Gallery of Ireland, the Arts Council Collection, the Irish State Art Collection (OPW), the Bank of Spain, and others.

Her first book, YU: The Lost Country, received accolades worldwide. Her second book, Museum, a collaboration with Paula Meehan, was published in July 2019 and is now in its 2nd edition. Her Own, published in December 2022, received outstanding reviews in El País, The Irish Times and RTE Culture. Dragana is currently working on her first feature-length documentary, The Last Balkan Cowboy (working title).

In episode 279, Dragana discusses, among other things:

Her forthcoming debut documentary.

How everything she’s done is an attempt at making sense of her experience during the Balkan war

Her book YU: The Lost Country

The influence of Rebecca West’s book Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia

How she would measure the success of the new film

Wanting to reach as large an audience as possible

The imposter syndrome she felt as a first time film maker

Being ‘ergonomic’ about the way she approaches making

The story of her Aunt and her book Her Own

Website | Instagram


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Featuring:

Sjef van Duin, Librarian

Roderick van der Loos, Interim Director

Zippora Elders, incoming General & Artistic Director

Grace Wong-Si-Kwie, Head of Presentations and Public Outreach

Guinevere Ras, Curator of opening exhibition Awakening in Blue

Martijn van den Broek,  Head of Collections

Joop De Jong, Guest Curator of opening exhibition, Rotterdam In Focus

Website | Instagram


Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.

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