127 - Jon Tonks

Jon Tonks is a British photographer based in Bath in the South West of England. His work focuses on telling stories about people’s lives shaped by history and geography. Jon has an MA in Documentary Photography & Photojournalism from London College of Communication and his work has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, Sunday Times, Telegraph and FT Weekend Magazines, the British Journal of Photography and more. He has been shortlisted for the Taylor Wessing National Portrait Prize three times, twice for the Terry O’Neill award, and in 2014, Jon was presented with the Vic Odden Award by the Royal Photographic Society for his first book Empire – a journey across the South Atlantic exploring life on four remote British Oveaseas Territories. The book was hailed by Martin Parr as one of his best books the year. Jon’s work is now in a number of private collections, both in the UK and abroad, including The Hyman Collection of British photography, and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Texas. On episode 127, Jon discusses, among other things: His recent cruise ship experienceHis book EmpireHaving to make your own funEnjoying the disconnectUsing limitations to be more creativeThe Vanuatu cargo cult storyHow his project about pubs has been shelved by Corona virusJustified napsReactions to the current crisis Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook “I think when you go somewhere with the intention of making work and you’ve got these parameters - which in this case would be the sea around the island you’re on - it kind of gives you these limitations and it helps me to be more creative, I think. it’s a bit like when people say just stick with one body and one lens. Those limitations make you more creative, I think.”