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Matinee: The Photography Foundation
15 May 2021
Saturday matinees long ago let us escape from the ordinary world to the island of the Swiss Family Robinson or the mutinous decks of the Bounty. Why not, we thought, escape the usual fare here with Saturday matinees of our favorite photography films?
So we're pleased to present the 396th in our series of Saturday matinees today: The Photography Foundation.
This 6:46 video introduces The Photography Foundation in London. Founded by Mikael Johansson and Dom Graham-Hyde, TPF (as it's called) creates pathways to professional photography for less advantaged young adults in London through education, professional development and alternative routes to creative careers.
"We value talent and motivation over who you know or where you come from," is the Foundation's motto.
Located in the heart of Shoreditch in the East End, the Foundation's studio is stocked with Profoto and Manfrotto gear. Clients can hire the studio with or without a photographer for their shoots with profits supporting the Foundation's work.
'We value talent and motivation over who you know or where you come from.'
The Foundation's commercial arm is Storytellers London, a network of creatives who produce photography and visual content for brands, businesses and social impact organizations. Profits are donated right back to The Photography Foundation.
But there's more. "Each trainee who completes the Foundation's programme is then invited to become a graduate Storyteller and gain access to paid, meaningful work," the Foundation notes.
And that's what makes this program different. At the end of their study, the participants will get paying work.
It was nice to hear from the two founders as well as the Foundation head Bella Okuya. They explain the organization's admirable goals and effective methods that make you wonder why nobody else is doing something like this.
But it was especially refreshing to hear from the Foundation students as well. You can see the fire has been lit. They see a way to contribute to their communities. To belong, in a word.
We live in an era of mass migration whose scope has never been seen before. And with that migration has come social tension and the unleashing of the darker side of our humanity.
The Photography Foundation won't solve the world's problems. But it has shown a brilliant way to make life better for more than a handful of deserving people. And who isn't deserving?
We expect to be hearing a lot from these new photographers in the years to come.