The Story Lens Talks
A candid, interview-based series, The Story Lens Talks goes behind the camera in this latest episode to explore the personal stories and philosophies of photographer Matthew Joseph.
Here is one of our favourite moments from the interview, but take a look at the video for the full conversation…
The hardest story you’ve captured?
“If there was ever an argument against the use of AI, for me, this was it. It’s a project I shot in very, very rural Ethiopia, and it was the hardest things I’ve ever made physically, emotionally, and technically as well. The project was to help tell the story of a problem called Podoconiosis, which is a skin disease. For me, that was fascinating because I suddenly have an ability, maybe a duty, to go there and bring back the story visually - how I see it, and present it to the world to help their cause. That’s literally what I saw with my mission, but my plan was always to take it back to the Western world and go – look, send your money here. We can solve this, in a few weeks really, with the right money and the right education. It can be solved so quickly. There are so many things out there, so many big problems that can’t be solved, but this is one could be. I have the ability and the responsibility, as a visual storyteller, to be able to go there with a charity – and that was very physically demanding, very emotionally demanding. I was meeting person after person. We met hundreds, if not thousands when shooting the story. I was taking portraits of the part of their body that they were rejected in society for. I was taking portraits of their feet. I was also taking portraits of their faces. I wanted the world to see this, because all the world sees is that. (*their feet) ”
