A Photographic Life - 153: Plus Guzman

In episode 153 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering nostalgia through a remembrance of things past, emotional connection with an image and whether we will want to see Covid related work in the future. Plus this week Connie Hanson, one half of Guzman, takes on the challenge of supplying Grant with an audio file no longer than 5 minutes in length in which she answers the question ‘What Does Photography Mean to You?’ The Guzman consists of the award-winning husband and wife image making duo Connie Hansen, a sculpture student at the Pratt Institute from 1969- 1971, and English born Russell Peacock who helped define the look of the 90s with a series of iconic album and magazine covers for everyone from Fishbone to En Vogue. The couple got their start in music photography with the cover of Debbie Harry’s 1986 album, Rockbird, collaborating with the likes of Stephen Sprouse and Andy Warhol and three years later, they hit the big time, when they photographed the cover of Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814. By the mid-90s, Guzman had achieved recognition for creating unconventional advertising campaigns based on their highly sophisticated photographic style and their affinity for the eccentric. The New York-based pair have worked across just about every category of photographic practice with a concentration in advertising, fashion conceptual photography, nudes, sports and recreation, and celebrity portraits. Their clients include Tag Heuer, Louis Vuitton, MTV, Tod's, Puma, GQ and The Sunday Times magazine. They live in Hudson Valley, in Upstate New York www.lesguzman.com Grant Scott is the founder/curator of United Nations of Photography, a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, a working photographer, 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). His 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