michaels ‘Friday Interview Sessions’ PART 2 - Tom Goldner: Documentary Photographer

Welcome to Part 2 in the michaels Interview Series. Today we are speaking with Melbourne based Portrait and Documentary Photographer Tom Goldner (left). Tom is an award-winning photographer who developed his skills in many areas within the photographic profession, but has found a true passion in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism.

After achieving a head photographer position with one of Melbourne’s leading portrait studios and being regularly contracted to photograph at events in South East Asia over the past few years, Tom has since become affiliated with YGAP and is directly involved in fund raising for anti-trafficking work in Ghana.

Tom is leading the 'Photo For Freedom' project, which he explains in our discussion, and hopes this inaugural project will become his life's work. In 2011 Tom was announced as Runner up for the APPA Documentary Photographer of the year.

Great to have you with us Tom. We appreciate you taking some time out to talk about what is happening in your world – which I imagine is keeping you very busy.

Hey Marc, thanks for your kind words and for taking an interest in my project. Michaels have been a fantastic help, I am so thankful for your support.

So tell us when your passion for photography developed? Was it something you were around growing up or was there some experience you had which produced a kind of moment of 'knowing.'

My passion for photography is difficult to pinpoint. It certainly wasn’t a moment of knowing. My motivations for picking up the camera are constantly changing and evolving.

I have always been a visual person and as a result, art has always been a part of my life. Both my parents love their art and my mother gave me a great introduction to the subject. She encouraged me at a young age to develop my own work; she also exposed me to the work of many other artists.

At school I was a terrible student. As far back as I can remember I struggled with most subjects. Art and sport were the only things that held my interest. In year 11 & 12 I took up a photography class and fell in love with the traditional process. There is something special about old cameras, film and hand developing that I still find captivating. After I finished high school I enrolled in a three-year photography course. Back then I was desperate to become a successful commercial photographer.

I now find myself with very different motives; my skills have matured and I have different values. I am no longer satisfied with creating beautiful images; I wanted my work to amount to more. Only after I started ‘Photo For Freedom’ did my photography and life goals find the same direction. I couldn’t be happier with where I am as a photographer.

Tell us a little about what you do in the photographic community?

My role in the photographic community is not a huge priority for me. I do however have a great network of photographer friends who are a never-ending source of inspiration. My main purpose these days is to connect and move people from all walks of life regarding the topic of modern day slavery and if these people are in the photographic community that’s a bonus. Recently I have entered many competitions and grants; as a result I have recently become more active within the community.

The Photo For Freedom project, which you are spearheading, sounds like a fantastic initiative - Can you give our readers an overview?

Photo For Freedom is a long term awareness campaign and fundraiser focused on modern day slavery. Although slavery is a topic commonly viewed as a tragic past, it’s a bigger problem now then ever before. There is an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today, more than any other time in human history.

Through the exhibition, book publication, blog, and social media channels I hope to reach, connect and inspire people to raise funds and awareness and play my part in abolishing slavery. Volta is the inaugural Photo For Freedom project.

Photo For Freedom-Volta is designed to focus attention on child slavery in the African country of Ghana. I have been conducting an ongoing photographic study of daily life and work around the remote Lake Volta region where children as young as three years old are sold by their families to work in the fishing communities. This form of child labour is modern day slavery. Working as bonded labourers, these children are forced to work up to 14 hours a day either on the lake or as domestic servants.

The children live in deplorable conditions, are barely fed and are subject to both physical and physiological abuse. They are outcasts in the fishing communities and have no access to education. As a result of such conditions, these children are highly traumatised and often suffer from stunted growth and water-borne illnesses from lake parasites.

In 2012 my images will be displayed during a photographic exhibition housed at the Y Generation Against Poverty (YGAP) headquarters in central St Kilda. Through sale of Photographic prints and the Photo For Freedom book we plan to raise public awareness of child slavery and funds to contribute to the anti-trafficking work in Ghana. YGAP will use the proceeds from this project to continue combating child slavery in Ghana.

My project partner, YGAP, is a non-for-profit volunteer organisation aiming to create tangible social change, both locally and abroad. Our primary purpose is to empower communities disadvantaged by poverty to be self-sustainable. To achieve this, YGAP aims to inspire volunteers through innovative and creative fundraising projects like ‘Photo For Freedom.’

How did it come about? How did the central issues, those being addressed and tackled, originally come to your attention?

In 2010 I affiliated myself with YGAP and become directly involved in fund raising for the anti-trafficking work in Ghana. My first insight into modern day slavery came from a book called Disposable People by Kevin Bales. After opening my eyes to the realities of human trafficking I couldn’t believe the scale and severity of the issue. I found myself asking ‘what can I do about this?’

I continued to read books on the topic and began to learn of other individuals taking action in the abolitionist movement. There is no shortage of inspirational people doing hard work around the globe to end this epidemic. I found new direction with my photography. I proposed the idea of a fundraising platform to YGAP and Photo For Freedom was conceived.

I have an amazing team of people who help and inspire me on many levels. Without their help I would never have taken the first steps to bring Photo For Freedom to life. A close friend of mine Hank Thierry helped me come to realise the idea; he pushed me to take the first steps. I have such an amazing network helping me make this project possible, including Michaels. Kate Seabrook and Cameron Levett have been hugely supportive of my project. I am also very excited about working with Tim Ainsworth from the michaels fine art department for the exhibition printing.

My friends Kate Rodrigues and Dan Murray are working with me on the Photo For Freedom book- Cast Adrift. My friend Andrew Noble has been a huge help with equipment and even hand developing my film. I also have a curator Isabella Holding who has volunteered to assist with the exhibition. Camera Exchange donated equipment for my first visit to Ghana and I have just secured sponsorship from Southam Studios. My website was donated by Webalive and project logo from Everfresh Studios. The YGAP team is also working away to make this project happen. Finally, my friends from City of Refuge in Ghana helped me access the communities in the Volta region, without their help I wouldn’t have covered the project. They are the ones doing all the groundwork in Ghana. The list goes on!

How have you found the whole experience – Is visiting and living amongst these communities as confronting as one might expected? It must be challenging and confusing to be experiencing both the beauty of the area and the people, contrasted with the horrors in the form of slavery and disease which they endure.

My journey throughout this project has been one filled with contradicting emotions. The situation in Ghana is so incredibly complex. On one hand it’s filled with heartbreaking injustice. Innocent children are suffering beyond comprehension. The adult fishing masters were often child slaves themselves, it’s a horrific cycle these communities find themselves in. It’s also a place filled with breathtaking beauty. Truly made for photography. The people are incredibly resilient and proud. Ghanaian culture has many things I value as an outsider, for example, the sense of community I experienced in Ghana is far stronger then my experience back home. I have made some of my closest friends in Ghana.

Funds raised through this project will go directly to help stop the trafficking of children into Ghana’s fishing industry. Please talk to your friends and family about Photo For Freedom and slavery; that’s what this project is all about and it’s the first step towards ending slavery.

To stay up to date on my project check in on www.photoforfreedom.com and sign up for the exhibition opening. You can also find me on facebook.