A Photographic Life - 212: Plus William Saunders

In episode 212 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on the price of residential workshops, the future of portraiture and bullying in photography. Plus this week photographer William Saunders takes on the challenge of supplying Grant with an audio file no longer than 5 minutes in length in which he answer’s the question ‘What Does Photography Mean to You?’ William Saunders grew up in the small town of Sisters, Oregon, 2000 population. He states that "Half of the folks were hippies and the other half were cowboys, we all got along and inspired each other" and think this is where a lot of my Americana inspiration comes from. I never picked up a camera until I was 19 or 20 years old in college. A journalism professor randomly found out about my background in the outdoors and convinced me on the spot to try out photography. He made the switch to photojournalism in his sophomore year and madly fell in love with the art of making pictures and telling stories through the medium. After college he assisted the Director, Tim Kemple full-time for two years traveling the world making pictures for high end outdoor clients. After two years he went solo working freelance for brands such as The North Face, Under Armor and Patagonia. Saunders images appear in magazines such as Outside Magazine, The Surfers Journal, and The Ski Journal. He is currently am based in Utah and is the Overall winner of Redbull Illume's 2021 photo contest. www.willsaundersphoto.com Dr. 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, 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 Scott 2022