COLIN DODGSON: ‘DEEPER GREEN’ – PHOTOGRAPHER

The Photobook Cafe – during lockdown instead of having their talks with visiting artists in their London venue they have been hosting them using Instagram Live, meaning I can access and interact from home.

Colin Dodgson created the photo-book ‘Deeper Green’ in collaboration with the World Land Trust. They feature photographs of Belize showing the sustainability and conservation efforts of organisations Corozal Sustainable Futures Initiative and Programme for Belize. All profits from the book are donated to the World Land Trust.

I love the visual style of his photographs and how intimate they are. The small details give insight to why conservation efforts are important (the beautiful landscapes and wildlife) and the efforts of the volunteers (the sweat on their backs, showing what they have achieved).

Colin Dodgson uses a mix of 35mm and medium format film. He takes inspiration from nature, surfing, music and simple things like going to the supermarket.

He is currently based in London but used to live and work in NYC.

He recommended it was more important to understand your own work and style before you try and sell it: “Focus on making your work unique and interesting and the commercial work opportunities will come to you.”

Dodgson predicts that self-published print publications will boom again during and after lockdown – just like in the 2008 recession. He encouraged everyone not be discouraged and to keep shooting film until its possible to go develop and process it and make prints again after lockdown.

I asked Colin Dodgson: How did working with World Land Trust affect you and your practice? His answer: Right after his family lost their house in a wildfire, helping to expedite it developed his thought process. The natural world interplays with his work and by working with WLT he learnt how and realised this. Working with a charity is helpful for both parties – the photographer can create good photographs for their portfolio and for a cause they believe in, they learn from this experience. While the charity gets exposure and donation from the profits of the photobook.