My earliest memory is that of my father marching us around the island of Guernsey, camera in hand, a row of little leather pouches on the camera strap around his neck holding all manner of meters, flashes, and associated photographic gadgets. We spent many hours standing completely still whilst he executed the most beautiful portraits of us all on Kodachrome. There was always great excitement when they arrived in the post, which inevitably resulted in a slide show. I always remember the cursing and swearing as the carousel clunked and ground its way through the selected images. The projector screen would sit in the corner of the living room until we traveled again.

As soon as I was able, I picked up the camera, and starting taking pictures of all and everything around me. To me it seemed like I’d had the approval, the ‘nod’ to do this and so off I went. I wasn’t that successful, he seemed to work well with all the pouches, I didn’t. I remember he bought a Praktika MTL3, far more technical than what he was used to, and I happily and frequently fell heir to it. This camera just seemed to work for me. My first project was documenting the butchers and traders in the Bull Ring Market in Birmingham City centre. I’d travel there every weekend taking portraits on the Saturday, process the film and return the next week to sell the pictures to the sitters. I was still at school and shy, and it seemed to me that this was a good place to become more confident. I became quite well known around the market and as a result began to pick up commissions and occasionally sold images to the local newspaper, for almost nothing of course, but that wasn’t the point, I had an audience, people liked my work, and all I was doing was enjoying myself, how much better could it get… Suddenly I was in heaven, everything made sense, all I had to do each and everyday was take pictures…

bill, elands bay, south africa - David Chancellor

untitled, prince albert, south africa - David Chancellor

untitled, eastern cape, south africa - David Chancellor

untitled # I, from martaps wedding, khayelitsha - David Chancellor

Who were some of the first photographers that inspired you?

Wow..many many photographers have, and do inspire me. From early in my career Don McCullin was a huge inspiration, as was (and still is, I saw his work again recently in foam in Amsterdam) Sabastiao Salgado, Peter Beard and many many others. One of my lecturers at Art College was Terence Donovan, he was an enormous influence on both life and career, physically imposing, a judo black belt, both a film maker and photographer. I remember talking with him about wanting to be a sports photographer, my passion at the time, his response was typically forthright and I believe that push has kept me moving forward ever since like a breeze on the sails of a toy boat..

untitled # VI, images of the bush series - David Chancellor

untitled # XI, images of the bush series - David Chancellor

untitled # III, balmoral estate, scotland - David Chancellor

untitled # I, tree, durban, south africa - David Chancellor

Tell me about your project, Boxers. Its incredible not only to see their expressions change and their new injuries but even seeing the tone in their skin change after a fight, what gave you the idea to shoot them before and after?

Boxers came about after a friend asked me to photograph his boxing match. A lot of my work is concerned with rites of passage, both hunters, and umkwetha deal with this subject to some degree, and I believe this work also does. I’d heard all about white collar boxing, and even seen ‘before and after’ work on professional boxing, however, all the work I’d seen concentrated on the ‘obvious’ physical changes as a result of a fight, black eyes, broken noses, and so on. When I watched him fight (and I didn’t photograph him the first time) it was the less obvious, more subtle changes that intrigued me, exactly as you say, skin colour changes, physical height (they actually look smaller after a fight) muscle definition, and the emotional effect of being subjected to combat for possibly the first time in their lives, that manifested itself so physically on their form, that’s what I wanted to explore with this work…

In most cases the fighters knew each other well, they trained together. In some cases brother decided to fight brother, and father cheered on son.

In order to undertake this work I needed to introduce something that allowed the viewer to read the subtle changes, and of course get the permission of the boxers themselves to portray them seconds before they go into the ring, and seconds after the fight, win or lose. So I built a ‘studio’ in the corner of the changing room out of old wooden tables placed on their ends, a reference to old gentleman’s sporting clubs with paneled walls, fixed a seat to the floor so that height and distance remained constant, and finally locked down the camera position.

The subjects in these portraits had no previous experience of boxing.

White Collar Boxing is a form of boxing where men and women in white collar professions train to fight at special events, bouts are usually three 2-minute rounds, unlike the longer 3×3 minutes in the Amateur Code for men, and 4 x 2 minutes for woman. 16 oz. gloves are standard in the white collar boxing ring in order to protect competitors from heavy blows and hand injuries. Some gyms permit 14 oz. gloves as well for lighter weight classes and female competitors. Headgear, groin protectors, and mouth guards are also required inside the ring.

In the townships of South Africa boxing is common place, in the cities it’s become the sport of choice for the young professionals from all walks of life who train for three months to fight in front of hundreds of people. The names they choose to fight under, an indication of their ambitions the ring.

loni # I, from the series boxers, before and after. - David Chacellor

loni # I, from the series boxers, before and after. - David Chacellor

victoria 'the gunshow' jackson # I, from the series boxers, before and after. - David Chancellor

victoria 'the gunshow' jackson # I, from the series boxers, before and after. - David Chancellor

roy 'the rooster' coughlin # II, from the series boxers, before and after. - David Chancellor

roy 'the rooster' coughlin # II, from the series boxers, before and after. - David Chancellor

If you could go back ten years, what advice would you give yourself?

Everything we do previously defines who we are right this second, giving myself advice with the benefit of hindsight would not be a good plan.

untitled # III - David Chancellor

untitled, cotton # IV, tanzania - David Chancellor

untitled # III, lake kariba, zimbabwe - From the series hippo story - David Chancellor

playground, langa township, south africa - David Chancellor

lisa and fin # II, philips house, prince albert, karoo - David Chancellor

Any words of wisdom for the up and comers?

Eve Arnold said the following:

If the photographer is interested in the people in front of his lens, and if he is compassionate, it’s already a lot. The instrument is not the camera but the photographer.  
What I’d add is that photography is a very powerful tool, treat it with respect and it’ll open doors that keys don’t exist for..

That’s more than enough wisdom.

(David is based in Cape Town, South Africa. See more of his work, here)

I knew that I wanted to be a photographer as my profession when I was a Junior at Bard College. I had taken a semester off after September 11th, then traveled to Brazil, then spent a semester in Ecuador. When I resumed my studies at Bard, I was more focused with the time that I had left to complete my degree. I immediately found my stride with photography and felt like I was making images that needed to be made and that only I could make. I was working creatively on a much deeper level. As time passed and I continued to shoot, my momentum just got stronger and the feedback I received was positive enough that I felt like I was doing the right thing. Now, I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Angie Smith

Angie Smith

Angie Smith

Angie Smith

Who were some of the first photographers that inspired you?

Robert Adams was the first photographer whose work I fell in love with. At the time, I was really interested in shooting suburban developments and a lot of the construction that was happening where my dad lived in Boise, Idaho. I also have always been highly influenced by my love of nature. I can really sense how much Robert Adams respects the natural environment in his work. The other photographer that influenced me at that time was Joel Sternfeld. His ability to capture such extremely bizarre scenes that united a beautiful landscape with uncanny moments of human interaction with a large format camera baffled me. To this day, he is still one of my favorite photographers.

Angie Smith

Angie Smith

Angie Smith

Angie Smith

Tell me about your series, Mennonites? How did you get access to the community?

This particular Mennonite community is called Salamanca and it’s in the Yucatan in Mexico. I was traveling in a small town called Bacalar, which is about 5 miles from Salamanca. One morning I saw several people from the Mennonite community in town selling eggs and vegetables. Seeing them travel around the area with horse and buggy- in contrast to the culture of this small Mexican town was fascinating and I had to explore it. As soon as I found out where the community was, I just drove out there. It wasn’t hard to get access, it was just difficult to approach people as they weren’t particularly enthusiastic about having their picture taken. They were pretty suspicious of me, so I had to work very hard to gain their trust. It was a very good practice in working through uncomfortable situations and managing to form relationships when you are in an environment where you don’t feel at ease or welcome.

Angie Smith

Angie Smith

Angie Smith

Angie Smith

What would your dream assignment be?

Wow, what a question! I would love to be sent to Rio de Janeiro or Bahia in Brazil to photograph Carnival. I love shooting nightlife- and environments where people are completely lost in their experience. I would love to go on tour with a musician in a really different part of the world like Eastern Europe or Asia- or be the personal photographer to some celebrity like Kanye West. I love the idea of spending time with a person with a very high public profile – that is interpreted by the media in a very specific way, then making pictures that reveal other sides to them that no one has the ability to see. Honestly, most of my dream assignments involve traveling and photographing the experience of seeing a place for the first time with fresh eyes. I’m the type of person that is stimulated by life in so many ways- that almost every assignment I have gotten a call for is something I felt really excited about. That’s why I think photography is the perfect profession for me- it’s one more way to experience, interpret and document all of the beautiful and multifaceted experiences that life brings.

Angie Smith

Angie Smith

Angie Smith

Angie Smith

Angie Smith

(Angie is based in Los Angeles. See more of her work, here)

Rachel Hulin

And a few more favorites from her project..

Rachel Hulin

Rachel Hulin

Rachel Hulin

Rachel Hulin

“Home is fleeting for me right now..”

When I was 16, I applied to a handful of stores in the local mall and ended up getting hired at the Gap. Luckily, less than a week later I got a call from the one hour photo lab in the mall offering me a job and that’s how I became a photographer. I knew absolutely nothing about photography but anything beat folding clothes.
My relationship with photography has always felt like an arranged marriage, I really don’t think I’ve had much say in the matter. After high school, I bounced around a few camera stores and photo-labs while photographing in my spare time before I realized that I was becoming a photographer. Once I realized where I was heading, I decided that school was the next logical step and a few weeks later I was in my first photography class. I would say that is when I first really knew that I wanted to be a photographer.

Spencer Lowell

Spencer Lowell

Spencer Lowell

Spencer Lowell

Spencer Lowell

If for some reason you couldn’t take pictures, is there anything else you could have imagined yourself doing for work?

If I could be anything that I wanted to be other than a photographer, I would either be an architect, a filmmaker or an astronaut. One of the aspects that I love most about photography is the balance of art and science, or mind and heart. Architecture and filmmaking work in the same way and although being a astronaut isn’t necessarily art-based, you get to wear spacesuits and fly rocket ships!

Spencer Lowell

Spencer Lowell

Spencer Lowell

Spencer Lowell

Spencer Lowell

Who were some of the first photographers that inspired you and is there anyone new who’s work you find interesting?

The first photographers whose work inspired me were Henri Cartier-Bresson, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Helmut Newton, and Andreas Gurskey. The common thread between all of these photographers is an obsession for perfection and a seemingly never-ending drive, which are things I hold in high regard. As for current photographers whose work I find interesting, I really admire what Taryn Simon and Stefan Ruiz create. I’m mostly drawn to the work of “fine-art” photographers, however, I do admire plenty of “commercial” photographers, such as Dan Winters, Robert Maxwell and Jill Greenberg.

Spencer Lowell

Spencer Lowell

Spencer Lowell

If you could go back ten years, what advice would you give yourself?

If I could go back ten years, I would tell myself to stay out of my own way. Few if any of my fears have ever manifested. Most of my wasted time has been spent worrying about what other people are doing so I would tell my past self, as I tell my present self to just do what I do and let everyone else do what they do.

Spencer Lowell

Spencer Lowell

Spencer Lowell

Any words of wisdom for the up and comers?

The best advice I can give the up-and-comers, which was advice that was given to me by a successful businessman is to work hard and be nice to people. Anything worth doing requires work and it’s hard to get anywhere without the help of the people you come in contact with. I also believe in keeping things as simple as possible and never taking anything including myself too seriously. Being a photographer is one of the best jobs in the world and that is something that should never be taken for granted.

(Spencer is based in Los Angeles. See more of his work, here)