P R I V I L E G E

A photographic research project of English Teachers in Japan.

Gary McLeod (2008 - 2009)

In the old days, a couple of the only ways to see the world was with wealth or by joining the navy. These days, its teaching English.

Inspired by Victorian photographs of native races taken between 1872 and1876, “Privilege” involved the documenting and interviewing of English teachers in Japan for the purpose of creating a photographic archive of these transient workers. Having made use of Social Networking websites to recruit volunteers, the collection consists of over 100 teachers from various English-speaking countries taken over one year around Japan. They are a record of people taking an opportunity that may or may not be around forever.

Each photograph was taken with a hybrid camera that consists of an 1878 British lens and Japanese digital camera. This combination required approximately 300 individual photographs for one picture, which were stitched together afterwards, taking 20-25 minutes to shoot and 4-5 hours to stitch. The result is a fragmented but honest image of each English teacher.