Photography and Collective Nouns - an interview with Roof Unit

Photography and Collective Nouns - an interview with Roof Unit

28 June, 2011
by: Tom Jeffreys

Not a collective, more of a collection: Tom Jeffreys meets a group of photographers working together and for themselves.

Collective nouns are funny things. There’s a parliament of owls, a kettle of hawks, a gang of elk, and, even, apparently, a drunkenship of cobblers. But what, if anything, is the collective noun for a group of photographers? Up until now it’s probably a question that hasn’t arisen all that often – photographers are generally lone wolves, occasionally represented by large agencies like Magnum, but mainly doing very much on their own thing.
 
But right now something a little different is emerging, and fortunately for us, it already has a name: Roof Unit. Roof Unit, however, is not so much a collective as a collection. But it's quite a bit more than that too...

It was originally set up in 2006 in an old Docklands soap factory, by contemporary photographer Toby Smith, whose dazzling photographic images I first saw at the printspace on Kingsland Road back in 2010. But since May 2011, Roof Unit now operates out of a top-floor space in Bethnal Green (the name comes from their small roof-top balcony) and offers studio and desk space for around 20 photographers with widely divergent practices. Run by Toby, with photographer and film-maker Tim Bowditch, and Alexa Montgomery heading up all the non-photographic stuff, Roof Unit is a persuasive combination of informality and drive.

As Toby explains to me over a bottle of chilled beer at the pleasantly airy Roof Unit HQ, the whole atmosphere is one that has grown organically. “There’s no vetting process, and we were worried we'd have to fit in wastepaper baskets full of nappies, or, you know, Bob and Becky's engagement portraits. But it’s worked out really well. This is a group of people really looking to move up a gear in their careers.”


 
Because most of the photographers here are fairly well established (“can I say mid-career?” Tim wonders) there’s no sense of competition. And the practices of the individual photographers are all extremely diverse. So whilst Tim is currently editing a documentary film about swimming galas in 1970s Guernsey as well as working on a collaborative project with his brother who's serving in Afghanistan, Toby is plotting to explore the amazing technology pioneered by a Norwegian energy giant. And besides Toby and Tim, there’s the likes of Julian Love who specialises in travel and luxury lifestyle; Geoff Crawford, who documents development issues through photography and film; Nick Rochowski, known for his work across art, architecture and design; and, one of the younger recruits, 2008’s Young Fashion Photographer of the Year, Claire Pepper.
 
But the appeal of Roof Unit for all these very different photographers is roughly the same. “Roof Unit is not your home,” as Toby puts it emphatically.” Working from home can feel completely isolated and numbing and stressful. Here, people have similar challenges and rewards, regardless of what their photographic practice is, so any problems can be shared.” Clearly, everyone chips in to help each other out with everything from working out how much to charge a client to borrowing lighting equipment or lenses. “It’s a really relaxed working atmosphere,” adds Alexa.
 
What's interesting is that whilst this is clearly an ambitious group of photographers, their ideas for the kind of direction that Roof Unit as a collective entity might take are refreshingly open. As Alexa puts it, “we're not trying to be seen as a collective; it's about wanting to represent ourselves, simply as a group of photographers doing interesting work.” And by linking themselves together, the benefits for potential clients and collaborators are clear: with one call or visit, there's access to a wide range of very different photographic practices.

Part of this positioning of Roof Unit also comes about through a range of events held on site. There's been talks and panel discussions with the likes of award-winning photographer Simon Roberts, Flowers East's Director of Photography, Chris Littlewood, and artist/photographer Seba Curtis, as well as showcases for new work, slideshows, workshops and all manner of other engaging photographic events. There's also a fully equipped studio available both for Roof Unit 'share-holders' and for external hire.

Although in Tim's words, “ it's not quite an agency, not quite a collective”, Roof Unit is still probably the closest we're going to get right now to a collective noun for photographers. And with so much going on, and so many different options open, there's certainly an exciting future ahead. 

www.roofunit.com
www.shootunit.com
www.timbowditch.com

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Tom Jeffreys