Wendell Phillips

Perhaps my interest in the fusion and articulation of light and shadow while shooting in fleeting seconds of opportunity. I appreciate well-balanced images with interesting geometry that tell stories as well as portraits that reveal information about the subject’s life and character. The latter is always aspirational but sometimes it works out. Another point I stress to new photographers is don’t surrender your individualism by emulating what others have done before you. Nobody is going to see the world like you.

The vast majority of my work over the last decade has been with rangefinders and to a certain extent medium format cameras. Well over eighty percent of my photography is made with 50mm glass. I do have an old digital Canon and a 70-200mm buried on the shelves that I employ from time to time. And of course, always SanDisk cards.

That’s a good question but a loaded one –at least in my line of work where assignments vary considerably. In terms of portraits, my best results usually come from surreptitious shooting but that isn’t’ always possible. If I’m not mistaken it was Robin Kelsey Photography and the Art of Chance that wrote the conspicuous role of chance in photography sets it apart from literature and painting. I’ve always thrived and enjoyed making photos in spontaneous and unplanned ways.

The work of making environmental portraits on the street requires integration into people’s lives and paying attention to their dignity. Unlike some of my art-based work, I try to leave no vagueness in my editorial images. In terms of the social value when photographing the human condition, it all its manifestations, that is up for the readership to measure. When social documentary works, it can provoke questions, stimulate debate and sometimes created positive change