Thanks to my previous interviews with documentary photographers Jim Mortram and Brant Slomovic, I “met” Darren Baldwin, a documentary photographer based in Brighton, United Kingdom. In addition to being a documentary photographer, he is a pediatric nurse and a design director for a few websites. Follow Darren on Twitter: @BWDdrj

1) So, tell us a little about how you got your start in documentary photography. Is it an off-shoot from being a street photographer? What draws you to this particular genre of photography?

My dad is a videographer by trade, but has always been an avid and passionate photographer; he was one of my earliest visual influences. Interestingly, I recently found out my estranged grandfather (whom I never met) was a popular street portraiture photographer – it would appear that the apple never falls far from the tree; even if you never sat beside it!

In my teens I’d go out with one of my friends and take pictures using my father’s camera; I dragged all his darkroom equipment down from the attic and we’d spend hours developing images in my little dark room in the garage, taking time to mess around with developing times and trying effects (often with rather less than successful outcomes!).

It wasn’t until I met my partner Carrie that my passion for photography really became apparent again. When we formed DIGITAL bungalow, Kitchen Bitching and live.love.space. photography became a way of life. We’re really passionate about strong imagery on the sites, and as Carrie is the wordsmith it naturally fell to me to provide suitably beautiful images to accompany her words.

Whilst I have dabbled with landscape, product, macro, band, sports etc, my interest in street portraiture came about by chance the day that I discovered Vivian Maier. Everything changed when I realised that landscapes, seascapes, traditional portraits and conventional concepts of beauty just didn’t excite me. I found more beauty in Maier’s work than in anything I’d seen before; and I wanted to see if I could capture the same unexpected human essence that Maier did. I also went back to books I’d previously read, Araki’s ‘Lucky Hole’, ‘Radical Eye’ by Miron Zownir, ‘Im Auftrag’ by Snowdon and ‘The Seven Ages of Man’ from Hulton Getty. These small developments steered me into a ‘documentary’ style of photography.

2) You are now the second in this series of interviews who has an affiliation with the health industry. Is there anything in particular that makes you better documentary photographer because of your medical training?

That’s true. Brant Slomovic being the first! I agree with Brant in that I see the two ‘as completely separate existences’. However, after 10 years in adult emergency and 3 in paediatric emergency, you get a feel for situations and how they’re going to develop which is a good skill for street photography. I deal with conflict, anxiety, anger, sadness and happiness when I am at work, so I definitely think that helps. However, that doesn’t make you take better photographs, and nor does the camera you’re using.

3) In addition to being a pediatric nurse (what is a & e?), you are the design director at DIGITAL Bungalow, Kitchen Bitching and Live Love Space. First, how the heck do you find the time to juggle all that and secondly, how do your design sensibilities inform your documentary approach?

A&E is the UK equivalent to your emergency rooms (Accident and Emergency).

My partner Carrie is a writer and workaholic, very driven and always moving forward. I like that, it kicks me up the backside and gets me moving too. So we started DIGITAL bungalow it quickly became something much bigger than we anticipated, then Carrie wanted to start another, and another, and another! As Design Director I oversee the sites, and deal with any design requirements the team might need. Carrie now runs DIGITAL bungalow Editorial Agency – so there’s plenty of design work to be done for her clients too. How do I fit it all in? Well … the revolution will not be televised.

I studied graphic design when I left school and get a lot of my creative sensibilities from my father which filter down into my photography, definitely. While I photograph a lot of people I also like, structure, form, architecture and symmetry. As a photographer I’m not one for setting up shots. I don’t overthink it – I just shoot and let the subjects do all the talking.

4) How and perhaps why were you so interested in photographing blind veterans? How did you get your start in that project?

Following my documentary series that captured the London Road area of Brighton and its inhabitants, I wanted to work on a new project that further challenged peoples’ perceptions of usual stereotypes.

The initial idea behind the Blind Veterans project was to challenge the the stereotype of a “hero”. I wanted to collect images that defy the clichéd young, muscular, bare-chested hero; instead allowing the viewer to recognise for themselves the once pivotal role of these now frail individuals. My subjects' lack of sight mirrors the way that society sometimes fails to “see” the elderly, or truly appreciate the influence their actions had
on the world of relative peace we are so lucky to live in today.

5) There is a certain aloofness in the subjects you photograph. If first impressions count, the one word that came to mind when I viewed your images is – “isolation” – am I right in assuming you are fascinated by how people are part of a community but still remain apart or isolated?

Absolutely. I do have a fascination with that aspect of our lives. We’re all so damn busy but there are people who can seem very alone. That’s not to say they’re unhappy – I believe there are many more facets to isolation than simple, abject misery. Contemplation, meditation, introversion … all these things can come from or lead to isolation. I’m interested in capturing both quiet moments – almost the pauses in between breaths – and diminutive moment when subjects see the lens. I love to wonder what it is they’re thinking – the multifaceted nature of the human psyche fascinates me – as it does many other people!

6) With very few exceptions, your recent work is all black and white. Why is that?

I just really like black and white. I love the deep contrasts. I like dark images. You don’t get tangled up in the colour.

Not everything works well in black and white, of course – and I love colour street work from people such as Matt Stuart, Justin Sainsbury, and Paul Russell. I am definitely influenced by Maier and Arbus’ work, but both my dad and grandfather worked in B&W, so who knows, maybe it’s in the genes.

7) Brighton, UK, where you live is a popular destination for tourists. Are your images mostly of them?

No.

8) Your images now live on Flickr. How helpful has Flickr been to attract you clients interested and willing to support your documentary projects?

I use Flickr because I’d rather spend time taking photos than building a website to house them.

When it comes to working with new people, new projects and potential backers – I like good old-fashioned word of mouth. I want my images to do the talking. It’s great if someone stumbles across you – but the internet is an immense space – I’m not expecting a “stumbler” to commission me for a massive project any time soon. Flickr serves as a quick and easy gallery – a convenient way of people seeing what my work is about. Hopefully people will see my work, and want to talk about it – and we’ll take it from there.

9) Other than Twitter, where you are quite active, and Flickr, where your images are hosted, do you use any other social media channel to market your work? Tell us about it.

Apart from Twitter and Flickr I have a facebook page. That’s it. No tumblr, no 500px, no Google+ nothing else. I don’t see the point in constantly repeating myself!

10) You mentioned that a new website is in the works. Care to tell us what the domain url will be and when we can expect to see it go live?

At the moment I’m so busy with projects that a website will just have to wait – it would be fantastic to have a proper online showcase but, as I said, for me it’s personal relationships that build really positive projects.

Do you know of other documentary photographers I should interview? Why not put them in touch with me? Simply direct them to this website! Thank you.

This guest post is by Robb Hill. Read his first post on Tiffinbox: “Homelands: A Documentary Project in Southern Indiana.” He is a Maryland-based documentary photographer. Connect with him on Twitter.

A few weeks ago I was here writing about a project I have on Kickstarter.com. Seshu and I have known each other since college and as a long time follower of his, this, blog I thought posting on it would be a good way to get the word out about my project. Now that the fund raising window has closed on my Kickstarter project (I was able to raise more than my goal!!) we thought it a good idea to write about my experience, hopefully for the benefit for all.

I had never heard of Kickstarter.com until a friend and fellow photographer, Nelson Chan, told me about it a few months ago. Nelson has watched me struggle with HomeLands over the years and has been supportive. He thought Kickstarter and my project would be good fit.

The first photos I took for HomeLands was back in March of 2005. When I began I lived in Chicago and my business was doing well. Which meant I had the time and money to get down to Southern Indiana to work. Now I live in Sliver Spring, Maryland and it has been a struggle the last two years to keep my head above water. As much as I wanted to return to Indiana to photograph, my priority had to be financial stability.

Since starting HomeLands I have applied to 15 different grants and received none. For a previous project I won three grants and felt confident about my understanding of the grant writing/application process. Now, for whatever reason, I was getting no traction in the grant world. Trying to secure funding via Kickstarter seemed like a good idea.

After reading all the FAQ and application pages I submitted a proposal. The first piece of advice I have is edit, edit, edit. The initial proposal to Kickstarter is only 1500 characters. Yes, that’s characters not words. It is very important to write as concisely as possible. I don’t think Kickstarter is looking for a certain kind of project, if you look around on the website you’ll see a wide range of projects. What I think they are looking for is clarity of thought in the proposal and uniqueness of project. But I don’t know for sure.

If you are accepted – I am curious to see what they turn down – you next have to create your Kickstarter page. This is a longer written proposal, video, and whatever else you can get on a web page. Here is where you have to start selling your project.

For my video I decided to use still images, music, and voice-over. I did not want to be on camera because, although I was looking for support, I wanted people viewing the video to think of the project not me. For me this is key. Get people interested in what you’re doing not yourself. This may be obvious but the tone and feel the video should match the tone and feel of your project.

For the written portion Kickstarter recommends not only describing your project but explaining how you plain to spend the money you raise. I didn’t publish a specific budget but did generally explain how I plain to use the money. It could be helpful to be very specific about your expenses but for my project I didn’t see it as necessary.

Even if you don’t publish a budget it’s very important to create one because it’s completely up to you to set the dollar amount you want to raise. I set my goal at $7,000, an ambitious amount but not overly so. I examined budgets from various grants proposals I’d written and calculated a comfortable amount of money that would allow me to work unrestricted. By unrestricted I mean I will be able to cover materials like, film (yes, I’m shooting my project on film), processing (doing it myself), scanning, flights, etc. as well as meet my financial obligations at home while I’m away photographing. The only real advice I have about the budget is; be thorough and honest about your costs. And don’t be afraid of the total.

Look around on Kickstarter and you’ll see people who successfully raised far more and far less money than I did. Kickstarter is very up front about the fact they are an all or nothing proposition. This means if you don’t meet your dollar goal, you don’t get any of it. Which I think makes sense because it forces two things to happen. The first is, as I alluded to above, artists are forced to really think about what they need financially to do their project. The second is, it makes the larger public aware of how expensive the creation of art can be.

There is no cost to post your project on Kickstarter. But, and Kickstarter is very upfront about this, they take 5% of your goal as their fee, but only if you reach your goal. This is completely reasonable. Also be aware Kickstarter uses Amazon Payments as their money handler and Amazon takes 4.5% as their fee. This is also clearly stated but was a little harder to find. If you need a very specific amount for things like, studio rental, printing, etc., make sure you factor in the 10% you’ll loose in fees.

Then you need to set how long the pledge window will be open. The FAQ’s have much to say about this. But it boils down to this; the maximum length of time to pledge to a project is 90 days and longer isn’t necessarily better. I set my window at 45 days.

Once I had my project page ready I nervously hit the Launch Project button.

After the Launch Project button is hit you are far from done. Now it’s very important to do the one thing almost every artist I know is horrible at, selling yourself. While people do search Kickstarter for projects that interest them, you cannot rely on Kickstarter alone to raise your funds. I can’t stress this enough, it’s very very very very very very very important for you to get the word out about your project.

Immediately after hitting the launch button I posted a link on Facebook and sent emails to damn near everyone in my contact list. In the first week a good number of people, mostly family and friends, pledged to my project. Also, many people reposted my link on their Facebook page, some I asked, and some just did.

As the dollar amount in the pledged column increased that first week I was pretty happy about how the fund raising was going. When the first complete stranger pledged to my project I suddenly felt the power of Kickstarter. Here was someone I don’t know who pledged $250. I was very touched. With this person’s pledge I felt I could reach my goal.

Then it was time to get the word out even farther. I asked Seshu if I could post about it on his blog. I asked an old high school friend who is a booster for our hometown to talk up my project on his website. I have close connections to the digital media staff at NPR and they were kind enough to feature my project on the NPR Picture Show blog, with links to my site and Kickstarter page.

With all that attention I didn’t see the amount of pledges I thought I would. Because of my personal real estate situation I am very aware of how bad the economy is. But bad economy or no, I had to keep putting the word out. I then started trying to get posted on other photography oriented websites. Most sites I contacted posted a link. But I still wasn’t seeing much of an increase in pledges. This was partly because in today’s world asking photographers for money is like expecting Bob Cratchit to come up with the Christmas goose by himself. It’s not that we aren’t a supportive, generous bunch; it’s just that the industry as a whole is in a tough way.

As the days passed there was little movement towards my goal. With two weeks left I was less than half way to my goal. I talked to my sister, a professional grant writer, about things I could do. Her advice to me was very simple. “The only way to get people to give you money is to ask.”

With just over a week left I started a direct email campaign. I went through my Facebook friends and wrote a personal email to everyone I thought would donate to my project. Like everyone, I have Facebook friends who I’ve not actually spoken with in twenty years. But I really wanted to make my goal and I didn’t let that stop me from asking for donations.

It worked. Pledges started coming in immediately. Also, something of the ebay effect happened, meaning strangers also pledged to my project in the last few days. With 72 hours left I had done all that I could think of, the only thing to do now was wait and see what happened.

With 48 hours left checked the total before going to bed and notice it had gone down. Someone, who I don’t know, reduced his pledge from $250 to $5. Kickstarter allows people to reduce or cancel their pledge. Here is what they’ve written about it on the website, “By pledging, you are committing to supporting that person’s project; canceling that commitment is discouraged.” But it does happen and I went to bed crestfallen.

For some reason at 4:30 the next morning I was awake. I read for a little while and decided to check the status of my project. It was $7,131 dollars. I rolled over and told my wife the good news. But knowing that people could reduce or cancel their pledges I didn’t allow myself to celebrate until Kickstarter told me it was over.

In the end I had 110 backers, 24 of whom are total strangers to me. Two weeks earlier I felt there was no way I was going to reach my goal. But by taking the bull by the horns and asking people to help me, I raised $7,326.

I was happier than I’ve been in a long time.

Kickstarter encourages you update backers about your project. Which can be done from you project page. Here is the last paragraph of a thank you letter I posted on my blog:

Even in good economic times it’s hard for artists to find the money that allows us to create. Watching the number in the pledged column on my Kickstarter page grow was exciting, gratifying, and very moving. I am incredibly thankful and honored that so many of you out there respect me and or my work enough to donate to my project. Last Sunday when the pledge window closed with my goal being exceeded I was happy beyond measure. I feel a responsibility that goes beyond making good work. I feel responsible to the 110 of you who helped me be the artist I want to be. Thank you for giving 105%.

Are you inspired to use services like Kickstarter? Comment below to tell us about your efforts to raise money for your photography project.