{{Short description|British documentary photographer}} {{distinguish|Edd Gould|Edward Gold}} {{use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Ed Gold | image = Ed Gold.jpg | caption = Gold in 2013 | birth_date = 1969 | birth_name = <!-- Edward Henry Gold not to be shown to avoid confusion --> | birth_place = London, England | other_names = <!-- Ed Gold, as in article title --> | education = <!-- OND Graphic Design, Colchester Institute, 1987, BA (Hons) Design, Colchester Institute, 1997, MA Interactive Multimedia, Central Saint Martins, London, 1998: not used since using alma_mater in preference --> | alma_mater =Central Saint Martins | occupation = Social documentary photographer, photojournalist | years_active = 1987–present | known_for = Social documentary photography and photo essays | notable_works = | style = Portraiture | spouse = <!-- single --> | partner = <!-- unmarried --> | children = <!-- no children --> | mother = <!-- Not to be used without reliable secondary source --> | father = <!-- Not to be used without reliable secondary source --> | awards = | website = {{URL|http://diligent-canary-k5sq9c.mystrikingly.com|Official website}} }}
'''Ed Gold''' (born 1969<ref name="Firstsite">{{cite web |title=Ed Gold: Other Worlds |url=https://firstsite.uk/event/ed-gold-other-worlds/ |publisher=Firstsite |access-date=30 January 2024 |date=2017}}</ref>) is a British documentary photographer and photo-essayist who lives off-the-grid, exploring and documenting communities of people who live in remote areas.
==Early life and education== Gold has an MA in Interactive Multimedia from Central Saint Martins.<ref name="gomer.co.uk">{{cite web|url=http://www.gomer.co.uk/authors/edgold.html|title=Ed Gold – Authors|website=Gomer.co.uk|access-date=2017-05-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180110055044/http://www.gomer.co.uk/authors/edgold.html|archive-date=2018-01-10|url-status=dead}}</ref>
While he was in graduate school he was homeless. After he graduated he worked at odd jobs and as a labourer. During that time he started teaching himself photography.<ref name=PetaPixel>{{cite news|last1=Zhang|first1=Michael|title=The Homeless Photojournalist Who Lends His Eyes to the World|url=https://petapixel.com/2018/04/02/the-homeless-photojournalist-who-lends-his-eyes-to-the-world/|work=PetaPixel|date=2 April 2018}}</ref> He was working as a security guard in 2002 when he quit in order to become a full time photographer.<ref name=PetaPixel/> He has since chosen to forego a home base to live among the communities he documents.<ref name=NYTS2017>{{cite news|last1=Chew|first1=Patrick|title=A Disconnected Way of Living|url=http://www.tsingapore.com/article/a-disconnected-way-of-living|work=New York Times Style Magazine: Singapore|date=27 February 2017|access-date=2020-10-10}}</ref><ref name=WalesOnline/>
== Photojournalism projects == Gold freelances for the BBC, with which he works on photography projects.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gee |first=Alastair |date=2017-11-30 |title=Chronicling homelessness: the photographer living on streets all over the world |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/30/chronicling-homelessness-newsletter-outside-in-america |access-date=2020-10-23 |website=The Guardian |language=en-GB}}</ref> When he documents a particular group of people, he embeds himself within their community for long durations, sometimes for up to three years.<ref name=NYTS2017/>
Gold has spent time living amongst the Iñupiat people in Wales, Alaska;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-22751686|title=In pictures: The other Wales|date=12 June 2013|website=bbc.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.adn.com/books/article/close-look-wales-westernmost-community-north-america/2015/05/03/|title=Up-close look at Wales, the westernmost community in North America|author=David James|newspaper=Anchorage Daily News|date=2015-05-03}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/views-life-wales-alaskan-wilds-2773101|title=Views of life in Wales... in the Alaskan wilds|newspaper=North Wales Daily Post|date=9 November 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.adn.com/we-alaskans/slideshow/photos-wales-portrait-alaska-village/2015/05/07/|title=Photos: Wales, Portrait of an Alaska Village|date=7 May 2015|work=Anchorage Daily News|author=<!-- No by-line -->}}</ref> with residents of Galena, Alaska, who live near the Arctic Circle;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-35531727|title=In pictures: Living near the Arctic Circle|date=1 December 2016|website=bbc.co.uk}}</ref> and with the Atchley family, who live in a remote area with no contact with the outside world apart from when they visit town once a year.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-39418054|title=One family's life in the wilderness|date=10 April 2017|website=bbc.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Atchley Family: Living in the Alaskan Wilderness |url=http://homeschoolingteen.com/article/atchley-family-living-alaskan-wilderness/ |access-date=2021-01-01 |website=Homeschooling Teen |language=en-US}}</ref> While in the USA, he documented Harley-Davidson enthusiasts at the House of Harley in Anchorage<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-33507231|title=In pictures: Harley riders in the saddle|date=15 July 2015|website=bbc.co.uk}}</ref>{{independent source inline|date=October 2020}} and the US Army at the Northern Warfare Training Center.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC Photographer Visits Alaska: Sub-Zero Survival Skills with the US Army in Alaska |url=https://www.kvakradio.com/episode/bbc-photographer-visits-alaska-sub-zero-survival-skills-with-the-us-army-in-alaska/ |access-date=2021-01-01 |website=KVAK |language=en-US}}</ref>
Gold has made four visits to the British Columbian First Nation reservation Prophet River where the Dane-zaa (historically referred to as the Beaver tribe by Europeans), are an Athabaskan-speaking group of First Nations people. His methods involve recording the experiences of those who live there, with associated portrait photography.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-34667118|title=In pictures: Life in Prophet River|date=2015-10-11|author=<!-- No by-line -->|website=BBC }}</ref>{{independent source inline|date=October 2020}}
thumb|left|One Donetsk female hunger-striking pensioner (left) and two male pensioners lie silently side by side in a military tent erected outside the Ukrainian government's pensions office at Donetsk Maidan. In 2011, on a visit to Donetsk in Ukraine, where he had come to look for traces of immigrants from Wales who had founded the city, Gold witnessed a group of pensioners in Donetsk town square, who were protesting about their pensions being cut. At the time of this photograph, one pensioner who had been on hunger strike had already died.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://a089a9c2-6289-424a-b907-34fd5886ba1e.usrfiles.com/ugd/a089a9_ec8215e9214c48ef8de1e744f186d271.pdf |date=2011-11-25|magazine=Donetsk Maidan|access-date=2020-10-15|title=Pensioners' protest |language=ru}}</ref>
Gold spent July 2010 to July 2011 embedded with the 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment (2 Para), both at their base in Colchester and on the ground in Afghanistan. He followed the men from a single platoon before, during and after a tour of duty.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/anglesey-photographer-captures-life-front-2735020|title=Anglesey photographer captures life on front line in Afghanistan|first=Owen|last=Hughes|date=2011-02-28|newspaper=North Wales Daily Post}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-21243173|title=In pictures: Bedspaces in Afghanistan|website=bbc.co.uk|date=2013-01-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Cornell |first=Adam |date=2011-02-22 |title=2 Para's war, as seen through Ed Gold's lens... |newspaper=Colchester Gazette |url=http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/8868090.2_Para___s_war__as_seen_through_Ed_Gold_s_lens___/}}</ref> In 2018 he returned to investigate how some of the lives of the young soldiers he had met had changed. One soldier who had first enlisted at age 15 lost both legs while on active service and Gold's work documents his time in the army and thereafter.<ref name=BBC2018>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-46344968|title=From the Paras to civvy street: Life after the Army|website=bbc.co.uk|date=2019-03-19}}</ref>
Gold lived and worked for a total of three years in Patagonia, in a community made up of descendants of Welsh people who arrived there in 1865.<ref name=WalesOnline>{{cite web|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/photographer-ed-gold-captures-stunning-2056565|title=Photographer Ed Gold captures stunning images of Patagonian life|date=2012-08-01|website=Walesonline.co.uk|accessdate=2020-10-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2007/jan/27/weekend7.weekend8|title=Elsewhere|date=2007-01-27|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> The main published output of this stay was the work ''Welsh Patagonia''. A copy is now stored in the British Library collection of artists’ books.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://primocat.bl.uk/F?func=direct&local_base=ITEMV&doc_number=019645058&con_lng=eng|title=Shelfmark HS.74/2461|date=December 2019 |access-date=2020-10-15}}</ref>
Gold documented communities living off-grid in the UK when he visited Tinkers Bubble in Somerset.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bryson |first=Robbie |date=7 November 2020 |title=Meet the photojournalist who lives out of a tent and documents lives of remote communities |url=https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/18843113.renowned-photojournalist-ed-gold-publishes-new-positive-futures-magazine/ |access-date=2021-01-01 |website=Colchester Gazette |language=en}}</ref> In 2023 he travelled by motorcycle to Ukraine to document a pyrolysis project<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yakovlenko |first=Katerina |date=13 June 2023 |title=A British man crossed Europe on a motorcycle in 5 days to get to Ukraine from Great Britain |url=https://suspilne.media/506410-britanec-za-5-dniv-peretnuv-evropu-na-motocikli-abi-potrapiti-v-ukrainu-z-velikoi-britanii/ |website=Suspilne}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Brien |first=Connor |date=2023-07-23 |title=Meet the Colchester photographer making a documentary about his trip to Ukraine |url=https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/23620677.colchester-photographer-ed-gold-documents-ukraine-trip/ |access-date=2023-07-30 |website=Colchester Gazette |language=en}}</ref> and appeared in a documentary, ''To Save Horsie'', about the Kramatorsk railway station attack.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Баранник |first=Віталій |date=2023-10-26 |title=Режисер Олександр Кирієнко: «Ми плакали за кадром, коли слухали історії свідків трагедії в Краматорську» |url=https://detector.media/production/article/218559/2023-10-26-rezhyser-oleksandr-kyriienko-my-plakaly-za-kadrom-koly-slukhaly-istorii-svidkiv-tragedii-v-kramatorsku/ |access-date=2024-01-30 |website={{Ill|Detector Media|uk|Детектор медіа}} |language=uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-11-07 |title=В Україні знімають документальний фільм про дітей, які постраждали через війну |url=https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-society/3783627-v-ukraini-znimaut-dokumentalnij-film-pro-ditej-aki-postrazdali-cerez-vijnu.html |access-date=2024-01-30 |website=ukrinform |language=uk}}</ref>
In 2025 he created a project focusing on mental health.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Adams |first=Lewis |date=2025-06-08 |title=Photojournalist Ed Gold says mental health project was toughest |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7v7qz6e1ero |access-date=2025-07-23 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref>
Gold publishes a magazine called ''Positive Futures'', which documents off-grid and alternative lifestyles.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bryson |first=Robbie |date=7 November 2020 |title=Renowned photojournalist Ed Gold publishes new Positive Futures magazine |work=Colchester Gazette |url=https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/18843113.renowned-photojournalist-ed-gold-publishes-new-positive-futures-magazine/ |accessdate=8 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://affinityspotlight.com/article/documentary-photographer-ed-gold-takes-affinity-off-grid/|title=Documentary photographer Ed Gold takes Affinity off-grid|first=Melanie|last=Khareghat|publisher=Affinity Spotlight|date=3 September 2021|accessdate=8 May 2022}}</ref>
{{Clear}}
==Solo exhibitions== *1997: ''Essex Country Folk'', Colchester Institute<ref name=essexmums>{{cite web|url=https://www.essexmums.com/thingstodo/event/ed-gold-other-worlds/|title=Ed Gold: Other Worlds|website=www.essexmums.com}}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> *2003: ''Life as it is'', Canolfan Beaumaris, Isle of Anglesey *2004: ''Anglesey Bikers & Landscapes'', Canolfan Ucheldre, Holyhead<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ucheldre.org/index.htm|title=Canolfan UCHELDRE Centre|access-date=10 October 2020|archive-date=13 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813005146/http://www.ucheldre.org/index.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> *2004: ''Best of Wales'', The Gallery, Mayfair, London<ref name=essexmums/> *2004: ''Wales Steaming Ahead'', Bangor Museum<ref name=essexmums/> *2005: ''Language of Heaven in the Land of Song'', Blaenau Ffestiniog *2005: ''Anglesey Characters'', Theatr Gwynedd, Bangor, Gwynedd *2005: ''Positive Futures'', Caernarfon Library, North Wales<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/vagabond-with-a-vision-2905723 |date=2005-09-15|access-date=2020-10-10|title=Vagabond with a vision|author=North Wales Live|website=www.dailypost.co.uk}}</ref> *2006: ''Gente del Valle'', Concejo Deliberante, Gaiman, Chubut<ref name=essexmums/> *2007: ''Gente del Valle'', Muestra Agropecuaria, Gaiman Chubut *2007: ''Gente del Valle'', Oriel Ynys Môn, Anglesey *2008: ''Antiguos Hogares'', Museo Municipal de Artes Visuales, Trelew<ref name=essexmums/> *2008: ''Retratos de Mar y el Valle'', Municipal de Arte, Puerto Madryn *2011: ''People: Pashtuns & Paras'', Essex Record Office, Chelmsford<ref name=essexmums/> *2017: ''Ed Gold: Other Worlds'', Firstsite, Colchester<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.creativeboom.com/inspiration/essex/ |title=Ed Gold's fascinating and beautifully shot depictions of rural Essex life |last=Gosling|first=Emily|date=2017-06-19|access-date=2020-10-09|website=www.creativeboom.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-40250466|website=bbc.co.uk |title=Photographs reveal quirky world of Country Folk|date=2017-06-16|access-date=2020-10-09 }}</ref>
==Publications== * ''Patagonia: Byd Arall / Otro Mundo / Another World''. Publisher: Gomer Press, Llandysul, UK 2012. {{ISBN|978 1848514379}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2017|title=Ed Gold: Other Worlds|url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59e733357131a5e036c0a689/t/5a9948a09140b7c6b3ca7825/1519995043191/PR_Ed+Gold_v1.pdf|website=Albany Arts Communications}}</ref> * ''Wales: Portrait of an Alaska Village''. Publisher: VP & D House, Anchorage, USA 2014. {{ISBN|978 0990742807}}<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|date=2016-12-01|title=In pictures: Living near the Arctic Circle|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-35531727|access-date=2021-02-28}}</ref> * ''Welsh Patagonia''. Publisher: Fox Ash Press, Lawford, UK 2016. {{ISBN|0 954845935}}<ref name=":0" /> * ''Yuendumu''. Publisher: Blurb, 2018 {{ISBN|9780368331107}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Photographs by Ed Gold}} *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu0DY30Gfok BBC photojournalist Ed Gold speaks to the journalism class], 2017 video {{Commons category-inline}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gold, Ed}} Category:Social documentary photographers Category:British documentary photographers Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of Central Saint Martins Category:Photographers from London