Holly Falconer

20:32

Today we had a lecture from photographer Holly Falconer; who despite winning a blue peter badge for a photography competition at the age of 8, had no intentions of becoming a photographer until well after completing a BA in Journalism, and a MA in Magazine journalism. Whilst undertaking her degree, she would constantly take photographs of her friends and had done since she was a little girl. Photography was always something she deeply enjoyed, but she had never considered it becoming her career.
Once out of university, she worked for publications such as Diva and The Gay Times, however she never felt like she was doing the right thing for herself and quit the magazine so that she could start assisting. She worked a customer service job from 6pm to 12am so she could afford to work for free, something she admits is necessary in the industry.

Holly got a job as art director for a new magazine set up by an acquaintance she met a party, however after three issues in the face of a looming recession nine years ago, the publication folded, and she begun to work as a freelance photographer.

"Don't ever stop taking pictures all the time, and always carry a camera; even if its just your phone. You never know where you're going to be; I took pictures of a protest I stumbled across while on a date and they ended up being published in i-D."

An ongoing project Holly is working on is called Parade, a documentary project looking into women and why they congregate en masse in the twenty-first century. Gatherings captured include protests such as London’s Million Women Rise and a tampon tax protest in Bristol, runners taking part in the UK’s first all female marathon, the anti-domestic violence campaigners Sisters Uncut, women who sing as part of a seventy-strong female choir and those who dress as men to perform on stage as drag kings. As featured in i-D, National Geographic, Photoworks and It’s Nice That.

My favourite images from Holly's lecture were the following image published in i-D from a series of images of Londoners who were planning to #VoteRemain. Sitters wore t-shirts designed by Wolfgang Tillmans in support of staying, and one from a series commissioned by Refinery 29, focusing on the difficulties for drag queens to reconcile differences with parents.