Gideon Mendel

                            

Gideon Mendel was a visiting photographer that we had come in on the 27th January (this is a late post!) 

Gideon Mendel is widely regarded as one of the world's leading contemporary photojournalists.  Born in Johannesburg in 1959, he studied psychology and African history at the University of Cape Town. Following his studies he became a freelance photographer, documenting social change and conflict in South Africa in the lead-up to Nelson Mandela's release from prison.

In 1990 he moved to London, from where he has documented social issues in Africa and globally.

He has been documenting the impact of HIV/Aids in Africa for more than 12 years, working in 10 different countries to show the many ways the disease has devastated the lives of millions of ordinary people.

He continues, in his current working practice, to work for some of the world's major magazines while also developing new advocacy projects. He has recently begun a major new body of work on the impact of climate change on the world's poorest people. 

From listening to Gideon I found him really inspiring, some of his work was really emotional and clearly trod a fine line between invasive and educational. I learnt a lot from his work but more regarding the subject of HIV than of his photographic technique! I did however find out that a lot of his work is shot of 120 film of a Roliflex.