There appears to be a common thread to all the speakers the VJ Group has been fortunate enough to attract in recent years. Terry Fincher, Denis Thorpe, Tony Penrose, Grace Robertson... all are endlessly dedicated to their work, all are inspiring, and perhaps more importantly, all are genuinely nice people. Humorous, self-assured without being arrogant, self-deprecating without displaying false modesty. In short, they are the kind of people you would want to spend time in the pub with - perhaps unsurprisingly that is exactly where we have all ended-up following their presentations.
<back to articles
|
|
Patrick Sutherland continued that tradition when he came to speak to the VJ Group in January. A lecturer in photojournalism at the London College of Printing, he has the quiet, reassuring manner of a GP, undoubtedly as asset both in his teaching, and more importantly, in enabling him to realise his ambitions as a photographer.
Sutherland's career began when he studied for a diploma on the Newport Documentary Photography course under John Charity and the Magnum photographer David Hurn after gaining a degree in anthropology at Durham University. While he might be unsure whether a background in anthropology is a good thing for a photographer, there can be little doubt that an understanding of human behaviour is an important tool for a man whose life's work appears to revolve around a fascination for people and how they live. In much the same way that Salgado's background as an economist equipped him for the marathon of Workers, Sutherland's degree has shaped him in his own words, into a "visual anthropologist".
|
|
