Madeleine Penny

0:20Hi everyone my name is madin Penny I am the Director of Photography for aor magazine and co-creative director and owner of Studio mm I started working creatively in photography when I became picture editor of Eureka magazine for the times in 2009 the subject of this magazine was Science and Tech the content was really interesting and importantly photographers love the subject and that's one of my most important early discoveries when you're commissioning photography for anything surround yourself with photographers who are genuinely interested in the subject they're shooting Greg White and I went up to this nuclear pant in snowdonian National PL park it was perfect for Eureka it was quiet graphic architectural and these boxes contained waste that would be radioactive for the next 250 years the radioactivity was so strong in that room that.

1:16There was a 20 minute time limit. And we pushed for 45 and set off the radioactive alarms on the way out.

1:22But it was definitely worth it for the photographs photojournalism like this comes about through a discussion between the Director of Photography and the editor we talked about ideas that were scientifically interesting and Visually engaging once we'd come across something that we were interested in I would then contact the plant ask them for permission ask them to send photographs that they already had that were existing basically try and give the photographers much Resource as possible every shoot that turn turns out well is is all about good planning the lovely thing about Eureka is that because we had such a great team we're able to experiment I'm not sure if many of you have come across jles rell's work he had he's great he's got had loads of brilliant ideas over the years and these CAT scans of plants created using the scanners below the Natural History Museum JS have been working on a project with the museum about insects and so this is a different approach this is about working with a photographer who has the idea first and working with them to produce something.

2:34That's relevant for your magazine brand product and one of the greatest perks of my job is to meet up with photographers and chat through ideas that they're working on whether it's to help develop their ideas talk about where it might be relevant to place it or just be a sounding board that's one of the most important jobs we do we develop and nurture these relationship for years I can meet photographers every week there's only so much you can learn over an email so meeting in person is absolutely essential I always want to see personal work I need to see how photographer PR prefers to shoot their personal style and preferred finish of their work. But also the subject matter Laura panck photog photographs people in a beautiful haunting sort of a way we traveled up to the Lake District to shoot 80-year-old fellrunner Jos Naylor he changed his top in front of us during the shoot and we were struck by his amazing seny body and so we asked him if he could take keep his top off for a few frames I know that Laura shoots fantastically well on film and digital but I know that she shoots like this when she just kind of stops she takes her film camera out and calms and and that's when she achieves moments like this this story was photographed by Simon Norfolk shooting in the Arctic Circle these structures measured the ionosphere detecting all the debris that penetrates the Earth's atmosphere producing a shoot like this is really expensive so you have to think to yourself okay if we're going to Splash out on this shoot we need to find ways to cut back on other shoots in the magazine and that's also a massive part of a dop role you have constantly off shooting one set shoot against another so you stay within budget another important relationship I developed at Eureka and I cherish greatly is the relationship between art director and photography director Matt Curtis was art director of Eureka and we pushed each other constantly to raise our standards and our ideas and I've been privileged to work with some of the best art directors in the business particularly Matt Curtis Matt Willie and Alex hunting I met Matt Willie when we redesigned the Four Seasons Magazine together with Dan Crowe this feature was shot by Alexander gronsky and and it's all about the second marinsky theater in St Petersburg Dan and Mack came back to me some months later to asked me to help develop a dummy for a new magazine they had conceived alongside the adventurer Ben Saunders the proposition was for a stylish magazine dedicated the subject of travel Adventure Science and Tech the great thing about avor is the space it's a big magazine 220 Pages the photography is allowed to breathe and I can offer photographers the opportunity to really showcase their work this feature was shot by Mata steon and was a story about a woman from Germany who'd spent 30 years living as a Hermit in the Georgian Hills I'd admired mat's work for a really long time and the good thing was he' kept me up to date about where he was based in the world and happened to be be in Turkey which is geographically really close and that's that's really important for me to constantly know where photographers are in the world.

6:09So I can manage logistically and financially how best to get the best work for the magazine but also again keep balancing those budgets I spend so much time making photographers and nurturing those relationships it's great to be able to show their work well respected and presented this story shot by Frederick lrange was shot over the Alaskan glasses and it also made last issues cover the other thing about commissioning where for aor is although the magazine has a personality and I think a photography does have a certain appearance in terms of its maturity and finish I also don't want the work to become too formulaic or predictable I think pace and photography is as important as pace and design and I think it's nice to surprise and challenge readers it applies to all ma aspects of the magazine so there's this shoot by Owen Silverwood and then it can work alongside a shoot like this such as Daniel steer's antibiotics resistance story which captures the chaos and the Artistry of a lab basically it's about using the best photographers to shoot the best work. So it can sit alongside anything this story by Claus timman you know is is a another type of Photography but I think the thing is I'm saying is that it's really important that you you mix it up change Pace these are a mixture of shoots I've attended and worked with a photographer on to shoot to develop others we've discussed in detail beforehand we swap moodboards and ideas and try to be as clear with one another as possible about what we'd like to achieve and what we hope the final shoot will be um this shoot by Claus timman was actually really dangerous. And that's another really important thing about my job I have to make sure the right insurance is in place and that I have a duty of care to look after our photographers when planning portraiture it's really important to discuss mood this first shoot here the adventurer erling kaga earling was the first person in the world to walk alone to the South Pole I wanted to show him is determined and single-minded and mysterious.

8:32And I think the photographer lar Peter Peterson did really well to capture him like this normally he's sort of photographed with wild hair and rosy red cheeks and I just wanted it to be more serious. And I like the energy and the movement in it I think it reflects who earling is and also it was good for the book you know we needed some pace and movement at the front of the magazine and this really helped the next shoot I'm going to show Show You by nadav kander was shot for mondal magazine for the cycling brand Rafa Norman Foster is one of our most important Architects having designed the girkin the great court at the British museum the rice dog in Germany amongst others nadav and I swapped images of Lord Foster's buildings we discussed what made him unique and what made his buildings unique was the graphic lines the lights the PS of light created by the structure we discussed how light chains throughout the day what light is and the spectrum of colors within it and finally we looked at images of Norman Foster what his standout features that's him on the right he's got a good shaped head maybe not from the front but maybe more interesting from the side and then we looked at nad's previous shoots I like the movement in the Brian Eno image on the top left I think it was nice for showing Artistry and the image in the bottom left I love The Shard of shade going across the women's face is a way of applying it to our shoot the sequence that we created I feel reflects Norman Foster the architect and the artist and again here it's worth noting the relationship with the art director Alex hunting created this layout this type is structural and Bold and the pace is right. And it completely respects the shoots I think Mel is are a really exam interesting example of a brand having an editorial voice at a time when traditional newspapers and magazines are struggling and budgets are disappearing the lines are blurring between editorial and advertising and that's why Matt Curtis and I have set up Studio mm to explore the space in between the two as a way to make new and interesting work I'm going to end with a short brand film that we made for Nike with an editorial narrative we shot this with David rile and it was a really interesting one for me because it took all those principles into account and applied it to another medium thank ♪

11:09you when I run I concentrate on the journey as opposed to the end goal instead of thinking right I need to finish this I break it up into small pieces it's more about getting to different points in the run the next lamp post the next traffic light sometimes I count my breathing sometimes I count footsteps when it starts to hurt I think of the adversity I have overcome I think of my family my girlfriend I always know I can push on for a little bit more although my body has given up I clear my mind and just carry on