A Photographic Life - 187: Plus Ilona Langbroek

In episode 187 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on the potential need for a new name for digital capture, how to educate a client and when to turn down a commission and why to do it. He also marks the death of photographer Tom Stoddart. Plus this week photographer Ilona Langbroek takes on the challenge of supplying Grant with an audio file no longer than 5 minutes in length in which she answer’s the question ‘What Does Photography Mean to You?’ Ilona Langbroek graduated with honours from the Fotoacademie in Amsterdam in 2019 and is now based in Hilversum, The Netherlands. Langbroek invites the viewer to become part of a memory, through metaphorical representations of memories and fantasies. Utilizing a strong contrast between light and dark, she creates a twilight zone aesthetic as a metaphor for the disappearing past. To achieve this, she uses the soft lighting used by painters of the 17th century Dutch Golden Age, such as Vermeer, Rembrandt or the Italian painter Caravaggio. This approach has led to numerous bodies of work including the series Silent Loss, a personal series based on her family history in the former Dutch East Indies. Langbroek has been presented with numerous awards for her work and has been exhibited internationally. www.ilonalangbroek.com Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, a working photographer, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019). Grant’s book What Does Photography Mean to You? including 89 photographers who have contributed to the A Photographic Life podcast is on sale now £9.99 https://bluecoatpress.co.uk/product/what-does-photography-mean-to-you/ © Grant Scott 2021