Stories that matter: Maisie Crow

We have asked a selection of Ian Parry alumni to reflect on what it meant to them to win the Ian Parry Scholarship. This week documentary photographer and award-winning filmmaker Maisie Crow gives her best advice.

© Maisie Crow

IPS: With which work did you win the Ian Parry Scholarship?

MC: I won the Ian Parry Scholarship with ‘Love Me’— a long-term documentary photography project on a young woman growing up in the cycle of generational poverty in Ohio, USA.

IPS: How did winning affect your professional career?

MC: The Ian Parry Scholarship was pivotal in laying the foundation for my professional career. It was the first time my work was recognized on such a large scale, and it helped affirm the value of my work. The award was invaluable in encouraging me to continue pursuing long form, intimate, personal narratives. Since winning the scholarship in 2009, the majority of my work has been in video storytelling and there is a significant amount of crossover between the work I was doing then and the work I am doing now.

IPS: What are you working on right now?

MC: My first feature length documentary film ‘Jackson’ premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival last year and has gone on to win over a dozen festival awards. ‘Jackson’ had its US broadcast on Showtime in May. I also moved back to Texas last year so that I could pursue stories closer to the place I grew up.

© Maisie Crow

IPS: What advice do you have for young photographers who enter this year?

MC: Submit stories that matter and don’t give up. There is always an outlet for stories that matter.

To see more work by Maisie Crow, including the trailer for the film ‘Jackson’ please click here.