A Photographic Life - 180: Plus James Oatway

In episode 180 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on analogue photography in a digital world. Plus this week photographer James Oatway on the challenge of supplying Grant with an audio file no longer than 5 minutes in length in which he answer’s the question ‘What Does Photography Mean to You?’ James Oatway was born in 1978 in South Africa and grew up in Phalaborwa, a small copper mining town. He graduated from Rhodes University with a Bachelor of Journalism degree in 2000 before working as the Chief Photographer and Picture Editor of the Sunday Times newspaper. His work revolves predominantly around themes of social inequality and people affected by conflict and together with photographer Alon Skuy, Oatway published a photographic book about xenophobic violence in South Africa called [BR]OTHER, published in 2021 and he is the co-author of The Battle of Bangui also published in 2021. Oatway works extensively on the African continent and often collaborates with humanitarian organisations such as UNICEF, UNHCR and Médicins Sans Frontières. His work has been published in The Guardian, Stern, Internazionale, Le Monde, TIME, Paris-Match, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The LA Times and others. Oatway has received various international awards including multiple Pictures of the Year International awards. In 2015 he was named the South African Journalist of the Year and in 2018 his Red Ants project won the Visa d’or Feature Award at the Visa Pour l’image Photojournalism Festival in Perpignan, France. He has taught documentary photography at the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg and is affiliated to Panos Pictures in London. www.jamesoatway.com Dr. Grant Scott is the founder/curator of United Nations of Photography, a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, a working photographer, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019). Grant’s book What Does Photography Mean to You? including 89 photographers who have contributed to the A Photographic Life podcast is on sale now £9.99 https://bluecoatpress.co.uk/product/what-does-photography-mean-to-you/ Grant’s book What Does Photography Mean to You? including 89 photographers who have contributed to the A Photographic Life podcast is on sale now £9.99 https://bluecoatpress.co.uk/product/what-does-photography-mean-to-you/ © Grant Scott 2021