Olivia Harris and Neil Hall met when they were both shooting news for Reuters in London. Olivia and Neil discussed how their approach to photo stories has been influenced by photojournalism, and their struggles to subvert the news format. From long-term personal projects to short client-led commissions, they shared how their work is informed by decisions about access, time and editorial demands, and debate the value of the personal approach in contrast to a commercial one.

Olivia Harris is a London based documentary photographer. Her personal work explores women’s changing role in society and the impact this has on all our lives. She spent a year documenting the abortion referendum in Ireland. This work has been widely published. 

Previously she worked as a news photographer in London and Asia for Reuters where she covered stories as diverse as the Olympic Games, the Rohingya refugee crisis, the Nepalese earthquake and elections in Myanmar and Taiwan.

During the talk, she also shared her series of work: The Fast & The Studious which she photographed 16-years olds who belong to the Bangladeshi community who are spending large sums of money to rent luxury cars for their achievement ceremony,  in Tower Hamlets, one of the most deprived parts of London. The teenagers, who are too young to drive, are chauffeured around the neighbourhood and attend the ceremony at school, often before spending a night on the town.

She has also shared that these photos were used by the media negatively published the article. She talked about how you easily lose narrative control over your photos once it is released. You don’t know how is it going to be used or whose gonna publish it though she also said that losing editorial control is not uncommon in the industry.

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Neil Hall is an award-winning photojournalist based in London. His work has been published globally for a variety of national and international organisations. He works throughout the UK and on overseas assignments. He is currently a staff photographer for the European Press Photo Agency.