In 2019 my fellow course mates and I were lucky enough to have a private tutorial and lecture from Jack Latham, who is a photographer I admire greatly. Jack Latham is a UK based photographer who recently published his his project called ‘Parliament of Owls’ (images featured at the end of this post) which is a documentary piece surrounding the elusive, private club called Bohemian Grove.
At this point in time I had just finished my ‘The Modern Day Croppie’ (TMDC) project and had only just started ‘Phantom Pain’. With this in mind I showed TMDC to Jack during our tutorial. Jack was such a great voice to hear from, especially in regards to this project as its a more documentary series, but also Jack’s young experience was something so relatable to us all. Furthermore, the recognition and success Jack has recently gained is something to learn from as a young creative. Jack gave us a top tip to think of one word to describe our projects and throughout the creation of future projects, that we can always refer back to that will prompt us when we are lost. This was great to hear as I often find I will get part way through a project and then doubt myself, losing my way slightly. For instance, my current project is all about Spiritualism and the documentation of an invisible feeling, especially during COVID-19. Therefore, my word that grounds me during this project is ‘energy’ this is because my project focuses on documenting the energy present during spiritualism and psychic mediums. Additionally, I am taking a fine art approach to image making for this body of work, therefore I am using a lot of movement, blur and layering in my images which ultimately creates an energetic tone.
In addition to the tutorial, Jack also gave a lecture in the evening all about his work, in particular on ‘Parliament of Owls’. Jack gave us a run down of working up from education to the real world and the realities of funding for major projects like this. Along with this, Jack went into detail about the whole body of work in the most depth i’ve ever heard whilst still being so engaging. It was not just fascinating to hear about this amazing project but it really taught me that there is a lot to learn in regards to talking in public and talking about your work. I feel like although I know my projects like the back of my hand, I sometimes find it hard to convey that to other people.
Furthermore, seeing the amount of research Jack did when completing this project was really inspiring. The depth Jack went in for all aspects of this project was really inspiring. Something that particularly stood out to me was the creativity in the range of ways to represent the subject matter. He used portraits, landscapes, still life, fine art, archive etc basically everything as a way to portray the idea and reality of bohemian grove.
Overall I found Jack and his work to be highly inspiring for my practice. I feel like at this point I had a turning point in my work and the way I make my work. After this I went on to create ‘Phantom Pain’ which is was my highest graded piece of work so far as well as a project I am most proud of so far. With that in mind I feel as though I need to carry on channeling that inspiration and trust in myself to continue the image making that i’m proud of.
Jack’s website: https://www.jacklatham.com/
