Documentary photographer's photographic experience

Lead: Simon Norfolk, 1963 was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and studied documentary photography in Newport, South Wales. After graduation, she became a freelance photographer and contributed to The Guardian, The New York Times and National Geographic. 200 1 won the world news award and has published four books so far. His latest photo exhibition, Brooke Norfolk: photos from Afghanistan during the war? , on display in tate modern. Let's take a look at this award-winning documentary photographer, who told us about his career experience in the past 20 years.

Don't want to praise yourself.

I studied philosophy and sociology in college and always wanted to be a scholar. However, it is really frustrating to spend four years writing an article that few people will read. So I am fascinated by photography, because photography is easier to be seen by people. If you take good photos, more people will like it.

Develop your own skills.

Early in my career, I spent about 10 years in freelance journalism. At first, I filmed all kinds of people and some political events in and around London. After that, I accepted the tasks of the Guardian, Observer, Daily Telegraph and other media. However, in fact, these jobs are not what I really want to do, although I have learned a lot of key skills from these jobs.

These photos I took from the battlefield look like works of art, but in order to get these photos, you must work like a photojournalist.

Tell a story with pictures

The difficult thing is to turn your view of the world into something that everyone likes to see. In the past, this may be how to publish pictures in some popular magazines, but now for me, this is how to express my ideas better. How to film globalization or world economic recession? These themes are too broad in themselves, but there must be some people and stories related to these themes in some parts of the world.

Make your voice

The turning point of my own life came from the shooting of 200 1 in Afghanistan. I brought five? 4. Then try to work in that environment. At that time, I really began to feel that I was taking pictures of myself, and those pictures were what I really wanted to express. I think, if you want to shoot a good work, you must really have the impulse to shoot your subject.

Find your market

If you want to make a living as a photojournalist, you must spend a lot of time reading magazines and newspapers. You have to think about what kind of photos they will want and how you can publish them in these newspapers and magazines. Please consider various publications? Which RV (British RV magazine) you work for is not necessarily more profitable than working for the Observer.