London Photo Workshop

An Interview with Amy Toensing

Meet Amy Toensing. Amy has covered stories from her own backyard like Monhegan Island, Maine and the Jersey Shore to places on the other side of the globe, including the remote jungles of Papua New Guinea and the Australian outback. She is currently working on her thirteenth story for National Geographic magazine. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, Time Magazine and National Geographic Traveler. Amy has played an integral role in crafting the curriculum for this special program and will lead the June 29 workshop.

How did you get interested in photography?

As a kid, I was obsessed with this book "The Family of Woman". It's a compilation of black and white photographs that tells the story of womanhood. It's the feminine story of humanity; it has no borders in terms of race, politics or geography. I could never get enough of it and eventually the cover fell off and pages slipped out. The reason I was so drawn to it was it made me feel connected to the world. C.S. Lewis has a well known quote: "We read to know that we are not alone." Photographs have the same ability but on an even deeper, emotional level because photography is a universal language like music.

How did this influence your schooling and job aspirations?

My schooling focused on anthropology and sociology, but I also just took whatever subjects interested me including poetry and art. During my senior year in college, an advisor directed me to a semester program that was run by the SALT Institute for Documentary Field Studies in Portland, Maine. Students can enroll as a writer, photographer, or in the documentary radio tract. Their mission is to document life in Maine through the different mediums and I chose photography. Each student focuses on a story and mine was about migrant broccoli pickers in northern Maine. I immediately fell in love with the process; researching the topic, working with subjects and making pictures that tell their story. The work won first place for Documentary in the College Photographer of the Year competition which gave me confidence in my skill.

How did you get a start as a professional photographer?

I left SALT thinking I would never be a professional photographer or get paid. In my mind, professional photographers were artists rather than people being paid to do a job, so when I moved back home after college I got a job as a waitress, but the desire to make pictures was strong. I went to my local newspaper, The Valley News, and asked if I could do some of my own projects for them. My portfolio was thin. All I had was my broccoli pickers story, but the Director of Photography gave me a chance. Gradually, I was asked to do daily assignments as a freelancer. After a year they offered me a position as a staff photographer, and was subsequently accepted into a competitive photography workshop called the Eddie Adams Workshop. I met Nancy Lee, the director of Photography for The New York Times and she started giving me assignments in New England and eventually asked me to work for the Washington DC bureau where I worked covering the White House and Capitol Hill for four years.

Did you set down any specific goals when you began photographing? Have you achieved any of these? Do you have more for the future?

My biggest goal when I started was to find ways to keep making my pictures so I could grow as a photographer. I wanted to tell stories through my photography. It's still the same today, except now I have more expenses- like a mortgage!

How did you get your start with National Geographic?

After working professionally for four years, I went to graduate school for visual communication. As a student, I applied and was accepted as the National Geographic magazine intern for that year. During this time, I was lucky enough to have a mentor who encouraged me to work on an in-depth project during my time there. I proposed to work on a story about an island twelve miles off the coast of Maine and they sent me. The work was well accepted and was published in the magazine.

What equipment do you use?

Currently I use Canon, but when I shot film (before 2005) I used Nikon and Leica.

What is your relationship like with the writer of the assignment you're shooting?

It depends on the publication I'm working for, but with National Geographic it's a collaboration. For each story we meet with the editors to get on the same page about the direction of the story. A general concept is decided upon and the writer and photographer are each expected to carry out the assignment in their respected medium. I will stay in touch with the writer throughout the field work to share ideas and contacts that I think might help her, but in general I prefer not to be in the field with a writer. Writers and photographers work very differently and in my experience being there at the same time usually doesn't help the story. Of course there are exceptions, but in general, I prefer to be alone or with a photo assistant when I am making pictures.

Do you have any favorite locations or assignments?

In the last few years I have worked on 3 stories in Australia. I have gotten to know the people and landscape there well and really like being there. My most recent story for National Geographic on Indigenous Australia is probably one of my favorite stories. That said, I fall in love with every story on some level, so each place and the people have places in my heart.

Do you have one specific subject that you love to shoot?

People, but specifically, I like photographing cultures that intersect.

What do you look for when mentoring a student?

I look for enthusiasm and a strong work ethic.

What are some of your biggest challenges being a professional freelance photographer?

Balancing making a living and still being able to do "my work" is a challenge for any artist, but I feel really lucky that I have been hired often to carry projects that I have proposed and care about.

How do you typically spend your day, on and off assignment?

On assignment, I try to spend as much of my day shooting as possible, but I am also the producer for the visual story. I spend a lot of time organizing and making decisions about my coverage. I usually try to plan my shoots a few days ahead of time, so I am on the phone a lot with subjects and doing research. I also have to spend time editing and backing up files and the actually travel to and from locations can take up a lot of time too. When I'm off assignment, I spend most of my time trying to find more work - this includes researching, writing proposals, making connections with potential clients, marketing, bookkeeping, and basically anything else necessary to run a business.

Do you have any hobbies, or is it all photography all the time?

As a freelancer, it does feel like making a living with photography is a 24/7 job. That said I try hard to take care of the other parts of myself. I love anything that gets me outside like gardening, hiking, trail running, and biking. Running or just being in the woods is my favorite.

www.amytoensing.com

Apply now for this program or call us for more information at 877-877-8759.