week 3 – Interviewing

Make a (private) audio recording of you introducing yourself (2 – 8 mins)

Address the W5 (who, where, when, what, why). Listen to your interview several times over several days. Ask yourself: Why have I chosen to focus on these things and not others?  What does this say about me and my performance of self (see Goffman’s ‘presentation of self’)? How might I present myself differently? Why might I wish to do this? Reflect on this experience and the insights you’ve gained in your blog.  If appropriate, you may choose to upload your audio recording and/or quote parts in your post. 

My name is Marianna, and I’m a London-based photographer. I come from a port city called Gdańsk, on the Baltic coast of Poland. My journey with a camera began very young. My dad was a film student when I was a child, and he always carried his camera with him. Once I was able to walk on my own, I started to mirror him. He bought me my first camera when I was twelve, and I think that was one of the most valuable gifts I could have ever received. Since then, I’ve been fascinated by capturing the world around me — the streets I walked every day, the seaside I often visited, and my school friends and family members.

When I got a bit older, my mum and I developed a small routine — we would bond over binge-watching Polish Next Top Model. That’s when my obsession with fashion and beauty imagery began. I fell in love with abstraction, the bizarre elements, colour use, location choices, and beautiful women. In 2014, there weren’t many fashion magazines in Poland, but sometimes my mum would take me to bookshops with international press, where we could buy British and American publications. My parents have always valued education, and they were generous when it came to supporting my learning and creative passion.

I mention my parents often because I truly believe their mindset and encouragement were crucial for me to develop my interest in image-making and photography. Their support feels like the foundation of my creative journey.

Throughout my teenage years, I dreamed of working in the fashion world. So, as soon as I finished high school, I moved to London to study fashion photography. I didn’t realise how difficult it would be to start a new life in the middle of a global pandemic. I was nineteen, trying to find a job, and my university was fully online. Things weren’t going as I expected, and I started to feel lost and lonely.

During that time, I would spend hours walking around the city — there really wasn’t much else to do. Looking back, that period turned out to be transformative. It helped me reconnect with my curiosity about everyday life. I was isolated, learning to speak another language, and I missed being around people.

That’s when my camera became a kind of bridge between me and this new reality. It took me to places I wouldn’t have gone otherwise and gave me reasons to speak to strangers. Sometimes it even led to friendships — I’d be invited into people’s homes or to share a meal with their families. I slowly stepped away from fashion and became absorbed in photographing the mundane — real people and their stories.

Later, I learned to use a medium format camera, which allows only a limited number of frames and often takes hours to capture one strong shot. That process suited me perfectly, giving me time to connect with my subjects and create a space for honesty and vulnerability.

I’ve now been in London for five years. I graduated in Fashion Photography and began my first industry job, working in New Faces Development at a modelling agency. I’m surrounded by fashion and beauty every day. I’ve also built new relationships, and I no longer consider myself lonely. I still photograph models as well as my friends.

At this stage, I find it hard to define exactly what my craft is — whether it’s a professional tool or therapeutic. practice. But I’m at peace with not knowing, and I’m curious to see where my camera will take me next. I silently thank my dad for always carrying his small analogue camera with him, and my mum for binge-watching Polish Next Top Model with me and taking me to those overpriced bookshops. Those moments shaped who I am today — someone still exploring ways to capture what’s mundane and what’s considered beautiful.

My main takes from this week’s reading:

1. Goffman, “The presentation of self in everyday life”

• In daily life people seem to be playing like actors on stage – performing to shape how people see them, participating in so-called impression management
• Impression management – highlighting desired traits such as confidence, kindness, professionalism; hiding undesirable ones such as nervousness, ignorance, fatigue. When performance fails and someone breaks the character the embarrassment occurs – this is when we use “face saving” to repair the situation
• Just like actors we use language, gestures, clothing, behaviours, to convince an audience and present desirable version of ourselves
• The dramaturgical framework – social life is divided into two spaces, stage and backstage; example of the front stage: Waiter smiles politely despite being mistreated or tired, while in the backstage same waiter might sigh or roll their eyes in the kitchen (that’s the behaviour hidden from the audience)
• People perform as teams – groups that collaborate to share impression; example: in restaurant waiters, hosts chefs all play roles to support the illusion of smooth service.
• Each performance depends on audience who interpret and respond to what they see

2. Bel Hooks interviewed by Manufacturing Intellect

• White supremacy lives in collective consciousness
• Mention about Million Men March:
• You can’t separate message from messenger
• The movement presented men as saviours, protectors, implying that women needed to be led or redeemed by them
• The march invited only men to attend casting Black Women as moral supporters or caregivers
• In my perception, bel seems to be grounded, composed, calm, she articulates her herself beautifully, backing up her standpoints by examples
• In the class, we all agreed that the interviewer didn’t treat Bel right while talking to her – he would cut her mid-sentence and jump from one topic to another without making pauses and space for reflection.

3) Blazwick, “An Anatomy of the interview”

Blazwick takes on interview:

• turning private conversation into a public dialogue
• using taped interviews to create more equal exchange between critic and artist
• comparing interviewers to detectives, prosecutors, and psychoanalysts
• interview is always a performance and edited construct, not the entire truth
• interviews are visually appealing, and easy in perception; specific fonts and gaps apply
• replacing critical distance with honest converstion

4) Marquez Garcia, “The writer’s craft”

• The term cultural is hard to define; unesco defines it as “what people add to the nature”, while author believes it is the social use of human intelligence
• On story telling: Marquez runs storytelling workshops – he points that some participants have inherited ability of story-telling while others can only learn to do that through practice and cultural knowledge
• Writing as a craft: talent alone isn’t enough – what needs is knowledge/ base in literature, discipline and dedication are crucial
• Inspiration is secondary to hard work
• Author interprets reality through observation and experience rather than theoretical frameworks
• Magic realism – mixing everyday life with extraordinary, inspired by real life experiences and cultural memory
• Every text serves as autobiography to certain degree, even when there are elements of magic, fictional characters reflect aspects of author’s memory, knowledge and identity
• Great writing comes with attentive engagement with the world
• Literature draws on collective and personal memory
• The cultural development requires freedom from political manipulation