|
|
In each issue of Enter, we put a set of
identical questions to people who have gone on to make their names in photojournalism
after attending a World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass, named after the
late magazine editor and honorary chairman of World Press Photo.
These five-day events, introduced in 1994 to encourage and train young photographers, are normally held every November so that a dozen young practitioners from all over the world can meet and learn from some of the world’s top professionals
Our subject for issue two is Nadia Benchallal who was born in Orthez, France, 42 years ago. Among her awards are a Visa d'Or from Perpignan in 1994, a Mother Jones Grant and a W. Eugene Smith Fellowship in 1997.
She was also the recipient of a "European Eyes of Japan" grant, with which she
documented a small town in the Japanese heartland in 2001 (see below). Based in
Paris, she’s been involved for 13 years in a long-term project recording the role
and influence of women in areas of war and civil strife in the Muslim world.
Nadia, how did you get started in photography and what was your biggest break?
I started out as an assistant in New York doing advertising and fashion. But I wanted to do documentary photography so, after a couple of years, with the money I had made as an assistant I went to Algeria to try and capture on film how women lived in that country. My parents are Algerian and came to France in the 1950s. I was born in France and had been to Algeria as a child but when I went back, it was very difficult to work there at that time (1992-1995) as a photographer. Some journalists and intellectuals had been killed by Islamists in the country so it was also very dangerous. There was a great deal of demand for images from Algeria because so few visas were being granted and the pictures I took were used widely in France, Italy, Spain, New York and elsewhere and won prizes. That was my big break, if you like, after which I started being represented by Contact Press Images, to which I have now been affiliated for 11 years.
What qualities does a top photojournalist need?
You need many qualities. Perseverance, passion and curiosity are all important. You have to be aware of what is going on around you in the world sociologically and politically.
What is your most memorable assignment?
When I was invited to Japan in 2000 for a project called European Eyes on Japan. I simply loved the country. It was a discovery of an unknown territory. I was fascinated by the contrast and paradox of a very traditional way of life, led particularly by women, in what otherwise is such a modern, high-tech country. I worked in Tagasaki, Gunma prefecture, one hundred kilometers northwest of Tokyo, almost at the center of the archipelago. The images were shown in an exhibition there.
Are you – or will you ever be – fully digital?
I do some digital photography for magazines, who now increasingly ask for
it because it is quicker and cheaper and their budgets are not what they used
to be. But for personal work I still prefer film and shoot in black and white.
I don’t know whether I’ll ever be fully digital. I doubt it as far as my personal
work is concerned. Still, I am very interested in all the digital developments
which are very exciting. Who knows how far technology will get?
What essential equipment do you travel with?
My Canon EOS1 and Leica M6. And I also take a Rolleiflex which must be 50 years old. I like to operate with the Rolleiflex because it is so different - you have to work so slowly and concentrate.
If there is one piece of advice you would give to a photojournalist starting out on a career, what would it be?
Be passionate about what you are doing and persevere.
Which of the pictures you selected is your personal favorite and why?
It is a shot I took in June last year in Northern Malaysia. I was on a beach and suddenly a storm got up. The clouds gathered very fast and became dark. I was worried about getting wet through but then I saw a young couple under an umbrella, walking along the beach. It is such a simple but intense picture. It is full of contrasts.
Next to whom would you like to sit in an airplane going where?
Anyone. I love to talk and like talking to anyone. You have a chat with people on a plane and then depart at the other end. It is a very brief relationship. It can be very interesting. I am always curious.
What ambitions do you have left?
To continue with my current project in which, through photography, I would like to reveal what it is like for women in Islam. I have been doing this now for more than 10 years and am involved at the moment in Islam in Asia. It is particularly important at the moment that non-Muslims try to understand Islam – that there are, of course, extremists but everyone must understand there are many more who are nothing of the sort. It is so important that there is an appreciation of Islam.
Links:
Contact Press Images
Visa d'or
Mother Jones grant
Eugene Smith Fellowship
|
|
Kota Baru, Kelantan, Malaysia June 2005
view full size (5311 b)
Nadia Benchallal
|
|
