The Social is back at The Photographers’ Gallery on Thursday, and this time we’re proud to have Brian Griffin speaking on corporate photography……
From Eurostar to Rekyjavik Energy, Brian Griffin has shot some of the biggest and best corporate commissions in the business. So who better to talk through corporate photography at The Social this Thursday? BJP and The Photographers’ Gallery are proud to announce that Brian will be joining us to talk through his experiences in this field and discuss how to get creative within this underrated area.
Also joining us will be photographer Brijesh Patel and project manager Franck Jehanne, who founded the Kalory Agency last year to specialise in creating photography and marketing content for the luxury, fashion and beauty industries. Now a team of eight people, Kalory has picked up lucrative contracts with Jaeger, Cartier, Vacheron Constantin and Mikimoto.
The Social is run by The Photographers’ Gallery and the British Journal of Photography, and takes places once a quarter at The Photographers’ Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies Street, London W1F 7LW from 7pm-9pm. The Corporate Photography special will take place this Thursday, 07 August.
The Photographers Gallery Events and Talks
From the Guardian’s Best Shot Series we have this from Brian Griffin
Four years ago, I was doing a big project in Iceland. It meant travelling all round, and at one point I went to the small town of Höfn, in the southeast corner. It has 1,500 people, one bar, one hotel. It’s like the end of the world – there’s nothing there. It looked like the most difficult place on earth to take pictures. So I decided to spend a month there, to see what I could do, even though this was before the crunch and Iceland was frighteningly expensive.
In May 2007, I housed myself in Höfn’s hotel. In that month, no one there made any attempt to even talk to me. No one bought me a drink, or invited me for a meal. I spent every single day on my own, except for the times when my wife Brynja, who’s from Iceland herself, came for a visit. As we drove around one day, I noticed this extraordinary-looking farmer.
While Brynja was asking if he’d mind being photographed, she spotted a newborn lamb and offered the farmer £350 to spare its life. She christened it Steinunn, a common woman’s name in Iceland. It struck me as the perfect way to shoot the farmer, so I brought out my lights. I shot in black-and-white on a Hasselblad. Looking at the sky, I think the rain was coming in. Iceland has extraordinary light quality: the cloud structure changes rapidly, the sunlight cascades through.
I didn’t have anything planned. It just occurred to me to ask him to lie down. I’m always looking for the unusual. There’s something spiritual about this picture: Christian iconography always seems to be hanging around in my work. “I want to make sure the lamb lives a complete life and won’t be slaughtered,” my wife told the farmer at one point. “You’re not going to kill it and eat it.” Brian Griffin
Oxford School of Photography 