Scarlet Lion

The American documentary photographer and photojournalist, Glenna Gordon, talks on five photographers who influenced her work.

Image by Glenna Gordon.

I shot this short, no-frills interview in my office at The New School. The format is simple: The subject sits on a chair in my office while I point the iPhone at them. They decide what 5 things they want to talk to about. The first guest is Glenna Gordon, photographer and blogger based in Liberia. She happened to pass through New York City. Glenna decided to talk about her 5 favorite photographers.  First, Malick Sidibe; second three photographers from the PANOS Agency (Andrew McConnell, Robin-Hammond and Kieran-Dodds); then Tim Hetherington,  Krisanne Johnson; and, finally, Lynsey Adario.

Watch:

Some other notes: I did not want to add any props, so the video is accompanied by a list of references at the end of this post. I tried to make as little edits as possible. It was my first attempt.  I messed up the color at the end, but I’ll get this right over time. You may also get sea sick from the wobbly camera work (if you can call my holding a phone camera that).

For more on Glenna’s work, see here.

Further Reading

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The ‘Sumud’ convoy from Tunis to Gaza is reviving the radical promise of pan-African solidarity and reclaiming an anticolonial tactic lost to history.

Sinners and ancestors

Ryan Coogler’s latest film is more than a vampire fable—it’s a bridge between Black American history and African audiences hungry for connection, investment, and storytelling rooted in shared struggle.