Presented by Phil Hossack – December 1, 2021

My name is Phil Hossack…. I’m a photographer, a photojournalist and I’ve spent pretty much my entire life in a ‘photographic dialogue’ here in my home province of Manitoba. Mostly as a working photojournalist at two newspapers, first at the Brandon Sun, and then mostly at the Winnipeg Free Press. I also freelance and have worked for publications and news agencies worldwide telling stories mostly from here, my home.

 One of the things I do today is run visual narrative workshops, how to better find and tell your stories visually. I’m not here today to tell you how to take better pictures, or how to have a successful career in photography. What I’m hoping to start today with you, is a way of thinking, a perspective if you will, to help you form, on your own terms a connection to a subject, to a theme, an idea that can propel your photography forward. Perhaps there’s a connection today between us that will allow me to share my experience and knowledge, and ideas that drive my work and hopefully lead you to reach farther and even outside the ‘traditional circle’ of thought about photojournalism and visual storytelling.

Beginnings … I’ve always thought of myself as a loner, but, … a loner who likes people. I was born in Winnipeg, but grew up in rural towns. It was there in those small communities and the countryside surrounding them that shaped my outlook, that the world was something to be explored and engaged with. At the same time I came to realize how completely cameras and photographs engaged me. They created a dialogue, saying so much without ‘talk’ … without having to talk…..that was appealing. Basically I realized that this was not only an art, it was language, a visual language that allowed me to be involved with things and close to people.

As a struggling student at school it made more things and more people relevant to me. I had a means to relate to history, geography, culture, weather, agriculture. Now here’s a key thought, as a photographer I tell the story, ….. not creating the story. Rather I use my creative means to take the narrative from wherever and tell that story with photographs. In the same way a writer uses words, visual narrative tells stories without verbal or written language. The flow of visual narrative allows you as the storyteller to interpret, to give meaning, … and, … to comment.

—Not to simply describe a scene, but to comment—

That for me is when photography really becomes interesting and moves beyond simply “recording’ and it becomes a language. That really allows room for the voice we have as a creators of images. Images reach across the descriptive, to the connected, to the emotional truth of a situation, emotional reality and emotional meaning.

‘Connection’…at that point photography is truly exercising its strength via that instantaneous reaction an image can convey. Photography, as a language has the ability to connect with anyone on earth, independent from spoken language, culture, time, geography or…

That said … I am not that person that randomly takes a camera outside and waits for photographs to occur. I am a photographer who is motivated by questions. Photographs don’t ‘happen’ unless I’m motivated by ‘inquiry’, …by a story.

Now, it may not be useful for you to use the exact questions I have journalistically (your story telling may serve different purposes from your own inquiry) but either way, photography benefits from an active mind. For example; questions of history, current events, reading, art. Thinking about the impact of these things.

You’ll have your own questions, the key point is to HAVE the questions. To have your method of interrogating the world around you. With that, photography becomes more than a passive observation of what passes by on the street. It’s the means by which you engage. The question, whatever it is, is my way of being in the world, finding the meaning in life. For me it’s like breathing. Somehow, it’s a way of being, or maybe like riding a bicycle. You begin to figure out the way by going somewhere with a camera and letting that result in pictures …figure out the way these pictures accumulate,’…how to choose the images that matter and to sequence …how to engage in this language.

But, when you stop peddling, the bike stops moving

Website: www.philhossackphoto.ca

Instagram: Phil Hossack (@philhossackphoto) • Instagram photos and videos

Winnipeg Free Press: Gallery: We revisit some of retiring photographer Phil Hossack’s favourite images – Winnipeg Free Press