"Photography allows us to learn about our world in an intimate manner"

Victor Raison is a French journalist and photographer born in Switzerland. He earned a Journalism MS degree from Columbia University with the support of the FullBright Scholarship and the Foreign Press Correspondents Association Scholarship. He has a Master’s Degree in literature from La Sorbonne University and a Master’s degree in photojournalism from the London College of Communication. He started working as a photographer for Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes, New Caledonia’s local newspaper. He then settled in Colombia as a freelance photographer and journalist where he works on a long-term ongoing project documenting Colombia’s main harbor, Buenaventura, a city controlled by gangs fighting over the control of the drug trafficking routes. He also focuses on migration issues with neighboring Venezuela and the last active guerrilla the ELN - Ejercicio de Liberacion Nacional. Victor Raison spoke to “Foreign Press” about inspiration in photography and his work as a professional photojournalist.

What made you choose a photojournalism career? 

My encounter with photography was serendipitous. I was trying to figure out what to do with my life after high school and ended up studying graphic design because I liked the mix between art and usefulness (probably a premonitory sign for the career I would later choose ). I quickly realized I wasn’t very gifted, but the course offered an introduction to darkroom processing and I fell in love with the photographic medium. I remember the first time I saw an image appear in the tank it was incredible to see the photograph reveal itself. I spent pretty much the rest of the year processing films and printing photos in the darkroom. Looking back, I believe it was a great way to learn about composition and train my eye.

I then went back to study modern literature in Paris as I knew that the photojournalism industry was declining, and I thought it would be cost-efficient for newspapers to send a person in the field to do both text and photo. I wrote my thesis on war photojournalism at the age of the Internet and did internships at the AP photo desk in Paris, at Magnum Photos at the editorial department, and assisted photographers Guy Lequerrec, Antoine D’agata, Patrick Zachman.

I was very intimidated by all these experienced photographers and I think I felt I lacked the self-confidence to start working as a freelance photographer straight away.  I needed to learn more about the practice and the industry before going back to the same university in London to acquire a degree in photojournalism and documentary photography.  Upon graduation, I started working as a freelance photojournalist.

What inspires you in photography? 

People. As cheesy and common as it sounds, people are what inspires me. Photojournalism offers the rare privilege to spend time with people I otherwise would not be able to meet or to get to know. It is like a visa to enter someone’s life for a bit. Photography allows us to learn a little bit more about our world in an intimate manner.

When you look at your photography, what techniques and approaches do you use? How does this relate to each specific project?

I think that now that so many people are equipped with cameras, the role of a photojournalist has specialized itself into something that goes beyond just witnessing an event ( of course this isn’t new, visual storytellers are as old as the photographic medium itself). There is a responsibility to delve deeper into the story, to reach an intimacy that allows the viewers ( and of course the photographer ) to come closer to an understanding of a situation and consequently to present it the most honest way. The approach to my mind is everything, I often keep my camera in my bag until I feel a relationship has been created with the people I want to photograph. This slow approach often also allows the person to be more comfortable once the camera is out. I also like to work with shorter lenses to maintain this intimacy. 

Black and white photography makes up a large part of your work. How do you decide whether to go with black and white or color photography?

I don’t really know. I feel some topics/ projects work better in black and white and others in color. I usually have in mind right from the start of a project if it is a black and white one or a color one because I feel I don’t necessarily work the same way depending on this. It’s like two different chips in my head.

Considering that the definition of whether a photograph is excellent or not is a very subjective thing, what defines excellence in photography? What are your thoughts on this? 

Photography like every (visual) creation is too subjective to enable the creation of categories of good -or excellent- photographs and bad photographs. I don’t think that talking about “excellency” makes much sense. I guess that the honesty of a picture and the honesty of the photographer ( these two aspects are intimately linked)  is what counts the most for me. Of course, it is better to have a composition that is pleasant to the eye rather than not but this should be the vessel for the viewer to reach the story behind the photograph. It should not be the story itself. Sometimes I feel also that the photographer is too present in his photograph. As in music, when a musician shows off all of his technical skills it tends to take over the beauty of the melody or the harmony. I think it is the same in photography, when the technology takes over the story it can tell more about the photographer (and his ego) rather than the story behind the photograph.

To learn the techniques of professional photography, where should an aspiring photographer start? Is professional photography something that can be self-taught?

I absolutely believe that photography can be self-taught. I decided to study photography because I didn’t feel confident enough to through myself directly in the field. In my opinion, looking at other’s work is the best way to train one’s eye. I think I never learned as much as while I was doing an internship at Magnum Photos in Paris, not because of the tasks I was given, but because of the access to Magnum’s library in their offices. I spent all of my lunch breaks reading these photo books of photographers I admire and this was the most efficient way of learning photography for me. I would even come in early to look at the books before starting my day. 

In the end, the technical aspect of photography is quite simple:   technically photography is how aperture/ speed /sensitivity interact, and now chips and electrical circuits do this part really well.  But learning how to tell a story, composition, and interacting with people (in my opinion ) is a never-ending learning process, you’d be surprised how a smile, kind words, empathy, humor are key to producing a good and honest story.  

One picture equals one thousand words, it is said. With the popularity of social media and Instagram, where people do not read much anymore and instead get addicted to quick and fast information, is a photograph the best way to tell a story?

I don’t think there is the best way to tell a story. Photograph, audio, motion images, words… all are valid forms. It depends on so many factors. Some stories work better in audio or in the video than others, others in text or photography. Depends on who’s a story, the moment, the person telling the story, etc. There is no need to pit one medium against another. 

You were one of the distinguished scholars of the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents. What impact did your time living in New York for your studies at Columbia have on you as a person and as a professional? 

This has been an incredibly enriching experience. It was a privilege to be able to study in this time of the pandemic. I am fully aware of the chance I had. It was also a privilege to be studying journalism in the United States during a presidential election year and during a pandemic. 

I loved discovering a new city and a new culture. Arriving in a new place is always a pleasant moment for me. It’s like a reset or a reboot. I started looking at people in a new way, trying to understand cultural differences, and keeping my mind open to new opportunities. It is always very refreshing, and I think it is part of the magic of being a foreign correspondent, regardless of the medium we are working with.

Photo Credits: www.VictorRaison.com