Documenting the digital: five essential lessons we can learn from Jérôme Gence

Collecting and analysing data for international brands might seem an unlikely background for a documentary photographer, but Canon Ambassador Jérôme Gence has found surprising parallels between his two very different careers.

"Unconsciously, I learned storytelling from working with figures," he explains. "Once you collect the data you have to tell the story. Your client has a very short time to listen to the results of the analysis, so you have to get straight to the point."

Jérôme is fascinated by the impact technology is having on all our lives, and his photography shines a light on how the internet, and new ways of digital communication, have changed the way we work and relate to each other. His documentary projects, mainly based in Asia, have focused on subjects including selfie culture, livestreaming, the obsession with virtual singers and the lives of digital nomads.

Jérôme's skills in producing original, tech-related stories on how we live today have helped him stand out in the competitive world of photojournalism. His work has been published in high-profile magazines including Le Figaro, Stern, Spiegel, Le Monde and on the National Geographic website. His latest series on remote workers, Telework, was selected for the 2021 Visa pour l'Image festival of photojournalism.

Jérôme has learned some valuable lessons on his professional journey and here he offers five tips for aspiring documentary photographers, based on his experiences.

Hear more of the conversation in this episode of Canon's Shutter Stories podcast:

"It's also really important to do good research and find the best people for your story. You don't need so many people, but good ones. There will be some who are like a guide and they will show you the main point of your story."

Jerome usually finds his subjects via social media, with help from an assistant from the country where the story is based and who knows the culture and language well. However, he says social media was not the best way to find subjects for his Telework series. "For this project I went to stay in Bali, subscribing myself as a member of a co-working space," he says. "Gradually I got to meet people who introduced me to others and I became part of the community."

An important part of Jérôme's work is documenting his subjects in words as well as images. "Today, it's really hard for one single shot to amaze people because we are so used to seeing beautiful pictures," Jérôme explains. "In my work I have access to people who have something to tell me, and I want to learn from them and understand what's happening in their lives.

"The big mistake I made when I went on my journey to the Himalayas was that I didn't write anything in a notebook. I was young and thought I would not forget anything about the people I met, but when you get older you realise your memory can't store everything.

"Making notes is a crucial part of my work and I have a notebook and pen with me all the time now, or sometimes I record what my subjects say on my phone. Sometimes just one really strong sentence echoes all the way through the story and brings something new that you can’t see in the picture."

For Jérôme's images of fans of virtual singers or followers of livestreamers, for example, making notes to be used as captions helps illuminate their little-known personal lives. "If you photograph people and don't record what they say, your story will not be as powerful as it could be," he continues. "My advice is to take notes as much as to photograph, and to find an explanation for why you want to photograph this person or place."

"I try to capture some photos of them like this, but afterwards I pay a lot of attention to what those people do when they are not on screens, when they do normal things and become human beings again. In that way I can capture the emotion I need, and when I mix the photos together it makes a story."

To help gain his subjects' trust, he always carries a copy of a magazine featuring his work. "Everyone can have their pictures online, so it doesn't mean so much anymore, but if a respected magazine prints your story it gives your work some credit," he says.

Jérôme says that technical improvements, even during the past three years, have made a big difference to his work. "My project on livestreamers was made in 2018, when I was using the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV," he says. "It is a great camera, but when I took an image, it made a click and the fans I photographed asked me to make less noise because they couldn't enjoy the livestreaming session.

"Now I use the Canon EOS R5, which is a game-changer because it's so quiet you can photograph everything you want for your story without disturbing people. It's also not so big, so people can be natural in front of the camera. The Eye AF and the autofocus speed is amazing. I don't waste any time now, because it's so fast and accurate – I'm more focused on the people I'm photographing, and more productive."

As Jérôme is often working in small rooms when photographing his subjects, he mainly uses one lens – the Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM. "Keeping your gear to a minimum makes it easier to carry and helps you concentrate on your subjects, rather than thinking about the lens you're going to use," he says.

At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Jérôme had a planned flight to Taiwan cancelled and had to remain in Paris during lockdown. However, he realised he could make use of technology to keep telling stories. His assistant, Summer Lin, was in Taiwan where Covid cases were very low and there was no lockdown. He asked her to attach her Canon EOS 70D to her smartphone and go to different locations on the island.

"Using the phone on live, I could see through the camera and asked her to move so I could frame what I wanted to photograph, then she would just press the shutter," he says. "We also did livestreaming and interviews. At the beginning, I wondered if magazines would be interested in this story, but, day by day, I realised we had a good story and the way we did it represented the situation well."

Jérôme emailed the director of photography at French newspaper Le Monde, who later published the story. "My advice from this experience is, don't tell yourself your story won't interest an editor. Magazines and newspapers want to be the first to publish something made with a new kind of technology.

"Printed magazines also have social media channels and they are looking for different ways of storytelling including video. Even if they might not be interested in your story this time, maybe for the next time they will remember you did something original, interesting and out of the box."