Nick Danziger at Host Gallery

Tonight marked the opening night of a series of talks with distinguished photojournalists at the host gallery (www.hostgallery.co.uk) in East London. At today’s event, Colin Jacobson talked to photojournalist, writer and documentary film-maker Nick Danziger about his work and vision. Nick Danziger is probably best known for his reportages from Afghanistan, which he has visited for over 22 years now, his photo essay on the British and his documentary on Tony Blair in the 30 days run-up to the Iraq war.

Discussion topics ranged from how involved or distanced a journalist should get with his work/subjects to the objectivity/subjectivity divide.

Nick advocated an objective fly-on-the–wall approach in his work for example when doing the Blair Project (which will be shown at the National Portrait Gallery from next February) but suggested that he is getting quite involved with his subjects (and takes a stance) when doing documentary work on humanitarian issues such as his work in Afghanistan or for example his work on sex workers in Leeds.

The talks will take place approximately every two months from now on and are a worthwhile visit to listen to some interesting and intellectually stimulating thoughts.