Our Man in Moscow
John Cole and Simone Witney
Many of us know John Cole’s iconic photos of Hastings fishermen, a product of his close relationship with them, but his sympathies are international. This no doubt comes in part from the two years he spent in the American Peace Corps living and working in rural India. His career as a photojournalist has reinforced his sense of the disparities of wealth and made him aware of how intervention by individuals can make a huge difference to the lives of people living in conditions of deprivation.
In 2009 a serendipitous meeting with producer/actor David Westhead (recently of
W1A fame) led to the creation of ‘Wembley to Soweto’ (W2S). “The aim of the charity was – and still is – to give historically disadvantaged young people a chance to use photography to uncover their creativity, as well as providing professional photographic training and life-skills to help them to move their own lives forward and, ultimately, make a positive contribution to their own societies” said John. “In 2011 Susan Morton joined us as Head of Communications, tirelessly promoting and publicising the charity’s work through press and social media.”
Captain Kaugelo Mabjwe 17 years old (2010)
Sweet success in Soweto
Their first W2S project was in Soweto, South Africa during the 2010 World Cup. What John and David thought would be a one-off, has blossomed over the last eight years, with projects throughout the UK and abroad. The greatest pleasure has always been to see how quickly the students lose their bashful hesitancy and begin to express a fresh self-image. Thapelo Matsumi is a shining example. Thapelo came onto the Soweto course as a shy, slightly sullen, young man. But underneath his hoody was a brilliant young photographer yearning to express himself, whose photos became better and better with every assignment. Thapelo is now a W2S ambassador, acting as tutor and mentor on courses around the world. He is also Head of Photography at the Umuzi Creative Agency in Johannesburg, as well as being Desmond Tutu’s personal photographer. Closer to home, two students from a recent course with Arsenal FC – a young British woman homeless for several years and a young man who had come to the UK after being a child soldier in Rwanda – are now tutors and mentors to students on each new W2S project.
“I’d never be so presumptuous as to assume that ‘Wembley to Soweto’ had everything to do with these young students’ transformation,” said John. “But we like to think that at the very least the charity has in some small part instilled our students with the confidence and creative inspiration to help them move their lives forward.”
Vuyokazi Manini 18 years old (2010)
Moving ahead in Moscow
In 2014, David, Susan and John worked with the charity Street Child United in Rio. In May this year they repeated their collaboration during the Street Child World Cup tournament in Moscow (www.streetchildunited.org). They sourced their five young photography students to cover the Street Child World Cup from ‘Step Up’, a Russian charity that gives educational support and inspiration to young people who have been placed in orphanages at some stage of their young lives.
“Flowers everywhere, art everywhere”. John was brimming with the thrill of his stay in Moscow, a city whose civic pride is buffed to a high sheen. Gorky Park is beautiful, the metro is clean and efficient, heroic statues and mosaics abound, and not a flicker of graffiti. His excitement was suffused, however, with empathy for the young people who were the reason for his visit, for the gritty obverse of all this public perfection is the treatment of street children and orphans, who have in the past been marginalised by societies around the world.
Hunger and enthusiasm
During the intensive nine-day Moscow course, they gave their students a wide variety of briefs to help them focus and steady their nerves. There were of course the Street Child football matches to photograph, where the students were encouraged to capture not just the football, but also the emotions of players and the fans during a match. On non-football days, the students were given tight briefs, such as ‘Shoot the colour red.’ Or ‘Photograph tourists taking selfies in Red Square’. Or ‘Photograph a street market as if on assignment for an American tourist magazine’. The students needed to learn how to approach people on the street, which wasn’t always easy, as most Russians were reluctant to have strangers take their pictures. The students were encouraged to look carefully and plan before clicking the shutter, rather than rushing in for a quick snap. “We had brilliant translators, but at times it made the briefings and feedback a little complicated” John told me. “But there’s a real hunger for education in Russia (something, I’m afraid, we don’t always see in the UK), so in spite of the language barriers we were able to communicate because of the students’ enthusiasm and keenness – plus a lot of sign language.”
“After every day’s shoot, we taught them how to judge their own work and edit their results down to just 25 images. It was an intense nine days, and at the end of the course, we gave the students the Sony cameras we had brought over for them to use. Two of the young women burst into tears upon being given their cameras. I’ve already been sent photos some of them have taken of the football fans converging on Moscow. By having their own cameras, it will continue to give them experience of their own capacities and creative skills.”
• Most ‘Wembley to Soweto’ projects are in large part funded by charitable donations and from sales of the students’ photos.
• You can find examples of the Moscow students’ photos on the back page of HIP, along with photos taken on previous projects by logging onto www.wembleytosoweto.com
Or contact John Cole at [email protected] for more information.
• For information about Step Up in Russia go to: vverh.su/en
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