Notes

(c)2007 Ken Light. From His Current Work "Central Valley".
With a healthy dose of mingling out in the sunny UC Berkeley Journalism School Courtyard, a full lecture hall in attendance, and some inspiring and vital perspective from some local leading figures in the field of Social Documentary Photography, many left last night's Social Documentary event inspired.

Andy Patrick kicked the evening off. Andy is founder of Fifty Crows. Fifty Crows supports Social Documentary Photography by supporting compelling projects the way a business person approaches a compelling entrepreneurial concept. Andy is also the CEO of Livebooks, so we shouldn't be surprised about his business acumen. What was surprising to me was to see Andy's business sense applied so passionately and effectively to the cause of social change photography.

Andy broke it down very simply for us, while highlighting many of the success stories of the photographers that Fifty Crows has assisted. A strong message from Andy's presentation was that Social Documentary Photographers need to approach their projects like a business person approaches the first inkling of an idea. Have those confident handshakes and "elevator talks" down. Know what you are doing and why. Know how your project is going to affect social change. Understand what is sell-able. Have the media and marketing savvy to get your work out there. Use several different outlets. Know new media.

Andy Patrick talks about Social Documentary Photography. Photos by Larry Angier

Melanie Light then talked about Fotovision, the organization that she co-founded and is the Executive Director of. Melanie talked about how Fotovision supports Social Documentary Photographers through workshops with some of the icons in the field, and through community.

Ken and Melanie Light then rounded the evening off by presenting a current joint project that highlights many of the themes Andy had discussed. Ken's black and white photos are combined with Melanie's writing in a powerful book called Coal Hollow that documents the lives and the poverty of the people in the Southern West Virginia hills. Coal Hollow is a great example of how documentary photographers, in their passion to communicate important stories, need to seize opportunities, adapt, remain (always!) business people, and use any platform available to creatively distribute their work.

Ken shows prints from the Coal Hollow media kit
Ken and Melanie told us the story of the book's success. The key was a winning combination of serendipity and the variety of creative media that the team employed. After the Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia in early 2006, US attention was suddenly focused on the lives of the people Ken and Melanie had worked diligently to provide a voice for. As seasoned pros, when Anderson Cooper of CNN was going to highlight their work with a narrated slideshow of Ken's Photography on Television, Ken negotiated that they be paid like any content provider would be. CNN was surprised – thinking that promoting the book was enough payment – despite the fact the CNN, of course, regularly pays for their content! Being a business person when it comes to photography is of course vital for success.

The Panel: Andy Patrick, Melanie Light and Ken Light
Currently, Coal Hollow exists in several forms: A book, online, on DVD in a narrated slideshow, and packaged in a "multimedia kit" distributed to libraries. It has been seen on TV, and even described several times on radio. We should be always thinking of a variety of media platforms, even when the essence of what we are doing is creating a still photograph.

Big thanks to Andy Patrick, Ken Light and Melanie Light for putting together a great evening.
Thanks as well to the UC Berkeley J School for allowing us to use their courtyard and lecture hall. And thanks to Livebooks for sponsoring the event.

And big thanks to all that came!