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The Candid Frame: Conversations on Photography

The Candid Frame #185 - Ken Light

The Candid Frame: Conversations on Photography

Ibarionex R. Perello

Arts, Visual Arts

4.8768 Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2013

⏱️ 53 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ken Light is a social documentary photographer, and educator, whose work has appeared in books, magazines, catalogues, on-line media and exhibitions. He is the author of eight books including his most recent book, Valley of Shadows and Dreams (published by Heyday, 2012). Additional books include Coal Hollow, published in 2006 by The University of California Press, his text Witness In Our Time; Working Lives of Documentary Photographers was published by the Smithsonian Institution Press in October 2000 and in a revised second edition in 2010. His photo book Texas Death Row University Press of Mississippi was published in the fall of 1997. Texas Death Row is a look at life inside the death house as the condemned wait to be executed in Americas largest and most active Death Row. He is a professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California Berkeley and 2012 Laventhol Visiting Professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He has taught workshops at the ICP in New York City, The Missouri Workshop, Anderson Ranch, the S.F. Art Institute and the School for Photographic Studies in Prague. He was editor of the university of California Press series on contemporary photography and a founder of the International Fund for Documentary Photography which awarded grants to photographers internationally and Fotovision.org anon-profit documentary organization based In San Francisco, California. He is associated with the editorial photo agency Contact Press Images in New York City. www.kenlight.com www.kenschles.com www.thecandidframe.com info@thecandiframe.com

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi, this is IvarianX and welcome to another episode of the Candid Frame.

0:13.7

While I was attending UC Berkeley, one of the jobs that I had there that helped put me through

0:18.4

school was working in the lab tech in the dark room at the graduate school of journalism. It was there that helped put me through school, was working in the lab tech in the darkroom

0:21.4

at the graduate school of journalism.

0:23.8

It was there that I met today's guest, Ken Light, who for the last four decades has been

0:28.6

working as a documentary photographer.

0:31.5

Now, he's taken his camera all over the country, and he's told some important stories,

0:36.4

from events in the Appalachians to the

0:39.2

Mississippi Delta to a death row in Texas and more recently in Central California. Ken has been

0:45.7

using his camera to give voice to people who otherwise don't have a voice and to tell stories

0:51.2

that oftentimes just fall beneath the radar and don't end up in newspapers or magazines.

0:57.0

But nevertheless, they are really important stories.

1:00.0

And Ken has made it his life's work to use his camera for that purpose.

1:05.0

I've been following Ken's work for a long time, and even though it's been some years since I had the last chance to talk to him,

1:11.1

I was really glad that this show provided me the opportunity to reconnect and to hear more

1:15.9

about his story and the recent work that he's doing. So sit back and enjoy our conversation

1:21.6

with Ken Light. Well, Ken, welcome to The Candid Frame.

1:29.2

It's been a long time since I had a chance to talk to you.

1:31.5

So welcome.

1:32.7

Thank you so much.

1:33.6

Yes, it has been a long time.

1:35.0

It's nice to renew our friendship.

...

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