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Filming at Teddy Gray's Dudley 2011

Filming at Teddy Gray's Dudley 2011

Black Country Stories

By Emma Chetcuti - 9th June, 2011

We've been working with Martin on Black Country Stories for over a year,  setting up his shoots and permissions, getting to know how he works and what he's interested in. I've visited more places in the Black Country in the last year than the last five years! It's true to say that you end up going to places you wouldn't normally visit if you spend time with a photographer.

One of the reasons I wanted to work with Martin is the directness of his work, his ability to look without 'evasiveness', his rigour and humour. I had only seen his work in books and read about his controversial inclusion into Magnum and some of the criticism about the unflinching nature of his work but all of this confirmed my decision to approach him. I liked the fact that he didn't fit in, caused uproar and challenged his peers about what documentary photography could be. I have to admit that I felt slightly nervous about how we would work with him, how we could show him the Black Country in such a short space of time. We didn't know the project would continue at this point,  and what he might produce but as soon as I began to see how Martin works, how he approaches people, his genuine interest, energy and enthusiasm, I had faith that it would work.

What I hope to do in this blog is to share with you some of the experiences of working with Martin over the next three years. I want to  try to describe our process and to document where we go, who we meet and how Martin works and this blog will be about the Black Country Stories body of work.

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