We talk with Joe Miranda whose penchant for photography, film, cheap secondhand cameras, the people behind the lenses and “the Reverse Annie Liebowitz” culminated in him becoming the director of Melbourne’s inaugural Independent Photography Festival held in April. He chatted to us in the lead-up to the IPF, sharing his thoughts on the state of photography today, what makes a good photographer stand out from the rest and why the IPF needed to happen.
Where did the Independent Photography Festival concept originate?
Last year I was at State of Design a little bit, and began thinking about how Melbourne has a festival for pretty much every division of the arts and creativity, but the Ballarat Foto Biennale is the only half-way credible one for photography, and that’s in Ballarat!
The independent and autonomous ‘Do It Yourself, Get It Done’ ethos is rife and executed the best, I feel, within photography, and the many little factions, collectives, artists, and creatives producing not only fantastic work, but also a self-sustaining mainframe in which to build more work in is so prolific and extensive, I really just wanted to find a way to celebrate, connect, and highlight all that. I’m hoping IPF will be that.
Give us a rundown of what’s on offer throughout the festival’s week…
Between Monday April 2 and Sunday April 8 we’ve collaborated with some of the best independent ‘doers’ in Melbourne and abroad to create a program of events that really show off the level of quality in our field.
There’ll be the Photo Prize exhibition/competition/sale (which we’re accepting submissions for until March 1), the opening of Jackson Eaton’s solo show, Nat Nikitovic’s book launch, and Deadset – a portraiture group show featuring Aimee Haan, Hannan Jones, James Whineray, Joel Wynn Rees, Linsey Gosper, and Lloyd Stubber.
There’s also the two-day Photo Book & Zine Fair where we’ll have titles from HWP, Blood Of The Young, Holy Ghost Zine, No Fun Press, Café Royal Books, Pogo Books, Smalltime Press, Izrock, Erm, Hamburger Eyes (and have an open call to any Photo Zinesters out there!), as well as a Sunday Morning Read’n’Swap Session with refreshments from Black Coffee.
Amongst the core events there’ll be a few installation and interactive things going down like some live zine making, Jason Earon’s Photo Booth, and there’s rumor of an exclusive, debut film screening…
With an influx of high-quality photography equipment on the market – Photographers have to work harder than ever to stand out from the rest. How have you seen individuals up the ante?
Personally, I’ve never been too convinced on the need for expensive equipment, or even for the emphasis on the equipment’s role in photography.
I mean, of course there are differences and the quality is affected by what you use, but the best photos I’ve seen haven’t been from a super expensive DSLR or by that guy with the “right” kit, but from a variety of second hand, cheap, old cameras, shot on different films, processed wildly – sometimes sketchily – but most importantly, just taken.
With the perception of what makes “good art” being so opinion-based, I’ve found the prevailing characteristic for any good photographer is to use equipment and subjects you feel comfortable with—or don’t, but want to explore and experiment with—and just shoot until you’re close to being happy.
To ‘stand out from the rest’, my advice is to just do what feels right and keep working hard. Always. And fuck the rest. Not everyone will be into what you’re putting out, but most likely someone will, and even if they don’t, so long as you’re vibesing of your own stuff, who cares what anyone else thinks, really? Just get it out there and in to the world.
What do you hope to see from this year’s IPF?
The main aim of this first IPF is to have everyone who is involved in any way – photographers, creatives, attendees to shows, sponsors, volunteers – rewarded for their interest and for playing their part, for us all to come away with a greater understanding of this fantastic aspect of creative endeavour, for new relationships to form, and to have twice as much content for the next one.
What’s the criteria for a potential winner?
Mad skills and good, strong work ethic.
Where do you see photography going in years to come?
If this idea that the only way to be a photographer is learn all the settings on a DSLR, work for peanuts doing some soul-destroying shit or that beige-as-hell, safe-as-fuck, full-on commercial crap for advantage-taking, volume-concerned corporates (and fake independents amounting to the same thing), photography as a creative discipline will go the same way Graphic Design has been threatening to, where the standard becomes that guy who was willing to do it for cheaper, because there’s more of it, because it was easier to do/done half-heartedly, cheaper to achieve, and, essentially, shit.
It’s an old adage, but is none the more relevant than in photography and the arts: if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. The hard work is hard, sure, but it pays off, and we’d rather work harder for longer than take the easy way to the fast buck and devalue the field for everyone, you know?
Plus, nobody likes that guy more than himself, and everyone else is in agreement he’s a douche.
And the festival?
Hopefully the festival is another avenue for showcasing what hard work and being real can do and where it can get you. I would love for it to help change the common perception of photography’s value and worth, what photographers can and actually do, and to shift the standard from the lame shit that’s pedalled in the ‘mainstream’ today. Like a reverse Annie Leibovitz.
For more visit independentphotographyfestival.com