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| James Emmett, deep undercover in the midst of the 2011 London Riots, BBC |
This is James Emmett, photographer from Hackney, east London, who holds in his repertoire working as Chief Photographer in the Hackney Gazette, moving to the London's National News Agency, and currently working as freelance for national and international publications and magazines such as The Independent, Daily Mail, The Scotsman, New Books Magazine, The Oldie Magazine and Der Spiegel.
Emmett has worked with musicians, authors and politicians, as well as covering local and national news.
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| Juliette Lewis & The Licks. ©James Emmett |
I met up with him to talk about his work, where he told me about photographing eccentric celebrities like Juliette Lewis and Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips on the one hand, and serious news events like the 2011 London Riots on the other.
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| Wayne Coyne, Flaming Lips. ©James Emmett |
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| 2011 London Riots, Hackney. ©James Emmett |
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| Author Sarah Hall. ©James Emmett |
In this interview, talking about shooting the London Riots, James confided in me the fear of having to hide his press personality whilst working, the ethical issues arising from documenting the crimes and the people responsible, and the marvellous sights and stories he had witnessed but unfortunately wasn't able to shoot.
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| 2011 London Riots, Hackney. ©James Emmett |
We talk about his biggest inspirations such as photographer Jim Marshall and his controversial photograph of Johnny Cash, about artistic creativity that has to be drawn during a few seconds press shot, as well as the difficulties and limitations of working for national publications, complying to house styles and the ‘mission’ of shooting photographs as an automatic, mechanical action.
As for the future of media photography, Emmett is quite positive that media photographers will stick around for longer: "There will always be a need for people to gather information, whether it's used online, or on a watch, or on newspaper, or the TV... They need humans to go and collect this information."
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| ©James Emmett |
As for the future of media photography, Emmett is quite positive that media photographers will stick around for longer: "There will always be a need for people to gather information, whether it's used online, or on a watch, or on newspaper, or the TV... They need humans to go and collect this information."
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| ©James Emmett |
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| 10 Downing Street. ©James Emmett |
Tune in to watch the interview with James Emmett that will be up on March 28th.
Key Words:
Key Words:
James Emmett, Photographer, photography, press, media, journalism, Hackney, London, east London, Hackney Gazette, National News Agency, the Independent, Daily Mail, the Scotsman, New Books Magazine, the Oldie Magazine, Der Spiegel, Juliette Lewis, Flaming Lips, Wayne Coyne, music photography, press photography, journalistic photography, London riots, 2011 Riots, Riots, future of photography, future of media, Jim Marshall, Johnny Cash
