In this episode I’m speaking to documentary photographer and filmmaker Simon Hipkins. Simon has worked professionally in photography and film for 15 years, and has worked as a director/producer, cameraman and editor for documentaries for the BBC and Channel Four. In 2013 Simon was named as one of the winners of the Magenta Foundation’s Emerging Photographer Awards for his photostory on the town of Ostrava in the Czech Republic. His recent multimedia project, The Circle, created in collaboration with another photographer and a sound artist on internally displaced people in Iraq was a finalist for the prestigious Dorothea Lange–Paul Taylor Prize. In our conversation we talk about Simon’s experiences in creating the Circle – how they went about creating and presenting the work, as well as discussing how they are obtaining funding to sustain the project. Simon and his collaborators have recently completed a successful crowdfunding campaign, and so we talk a bit about the strengths of this form of funding, and its role and benefits in getting unreported and under-reported stories a greater audience. We cover a lot of topics, so there’s plenty for everyone, and show notes with more information on Simon, and links to the people and organisations we mention can be found at documentaryphotoreview.com/interviews.