Artist Talk: Niall McDiarmid
So today we had a guest lecture with a photographer called Niall McDiarmid, he is a photojournalist himself and talked to us about his commercial work, background and personal work. He started out working for an agricultural newspaper taking photos of machinery on farms.
"You don’t need to go far to take a good image"
I think his advice was very helpful. I’ve heard students wanting to become photographers to travel the world and show people the plights of other countries and while its very important in my view, I think too often people forget what is on their front door step. Niall mentions how you don't need to go far to find a good image and I think this is sound advice. There are potential projects and important issues right in front of you already.
He went on to talk about his personal work: Crossing Paths. This project and book was right up my street, this project currently spans over 2/3 years. He started traveling to different towns and places via train and took full length shots of people he encountered. I asked him if his personal work was inspired by Daniel Meadows where he had travelled around places in a double-decker bus that had been converted into living quarters and a studio. He said he had and we had a quick chat about how inspiring we both found the work. I really enjoyed his personal work as I could imagine doing a similar project myself, I love portraiture (I’m not sure I could be as good as Daniel Meadows or Niall McDiarmid but that probably wont stop me) I did however, as soon as the lecture was over, go online to buy the book. I highly recommend it and it will probably be my book of the week :)
Overall Niall Mcdiarmid is a down to earth man who gives good advice and is very approachable. Probably one of my favourite guest artists thus far.