Zuma Press photographer Louie Palu has won the 2010 professional Alexia Foundation grant for his proposal to document the birthplace of the Taliban – Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Palu began documenting the Kandahar area of Afghanistan in 2006 and has been returning to the area annually since then. Palu says he “will seek to go further into many distant districts to document the cultural and social fabric of villages centuries old and their tribal and ethnic affiliations. Many villages I have been to have never met a journalist and don’t even understand what a journalist does. I have come to know the region well and have all the contacts to work independently from the military.”
The Alexia Foundation was started to honor the memory of Alexia Tsairis, an honor photojournalism student at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, who was a victim of the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Photographer Marc Riboud will be signing books and lecturing during the opening for his show, Marc Riboud Photographs, at the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism Center for Photography on March 12, 2010 from 6-8:30pm – the event is free.
Riboud met Henri Cartier Bresson and Robert Capa in France in 1953 and joined the Magnum photo agency. He traveled the world extensively and in 1956 was one of the first European photographers to travel and photograph in China.
Ron Haviv, a photographer with the VII photo agency has published a pretty powerful multimedia piece featuring his reportage following the earthquake in Haiti. Haviv arrived in Haiti just 24 hours after the quake hit, and his photos, video and audio of the chaos and destruction in Port au Prince are quite moving.
I recently discovered the Photo Essay section of Foreign Policy magazine’s website and would like to recommend an occasional visit to their site to see what is new.
While the design and layout of the section leaves a lot to be desired, once you get to one of the photo essays that they have assembled the presentation is much better.
The photo at the right by Moises Saman appeared in a photo essay entitled “The Shooting War” and it really caught my attention. The business as usual attitude of this man walking through a war zone in central Baghdad on his way to work is unimaginable for those of us who do not live in a war zone. Quite a striking image.
Photos in this essay include images from the wars in Iraq, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, Gaza and Chechnya.
Photojournalist Lauren Greenfield has a wonderful collection of eclectic images from her coverage of the Spring 2010 Fashion shows in New York, Paris and Milan. Her behind the scenes look at the shows was published in New York magazine’s Look issue. A collection of 76 of the images are available for viewing on the Institute for Artist Management web site and a certainly worth taking the time to see how Ms. Greenfield sees fashion week.
Her photos capture the glitz than glam of the shows as well as the behind the scenes action that makes it all come together. Greenfield has some interesting photos of celebrities like the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger, Vogue’s Anna Wintour and REM’s Michale Stipe in the front rows watching the shows.
A portrait of Joe S. Jessop with his five wives, many children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren the day after his 89th birthday from Stephanie Sinclair's Polygamy in Americafirst place entry in the POYi Communtiy Awareness Award
Her photos offer an intimate look at the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) community in Eldorado, Texas. The FLDS church became internationally know after the arrest of their leader, Warren S. Jeffs, related to his alleged arrangement of unlawful marriages between his adult male followers and underage girls.
Screenshot from the POYi live judging webcast held at the University of Missouri from Feb. 14 - March 5, 2010.
If you have ever watched the judging of a photojournalism contest in person it can be a humbling experience – especially if you have photos that are being judged. This years 67th annual Pictures of the Year International (POYi) competition is being webcast live through Adobe Connect allowing internet users to watch and listen to the judges comments as they view the entries and select the winners.
You can see a collection of the winners view some of the winners that have already been selected at the POYi web site – they are updating these as the contest progresses.
If you are interested in seeing who the judges are for this year’s competition you can view them here…
Photojournalist Danfung Dennis was embedded with Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Company of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade when they went into the Helmand River Valley of southern Afghanistan in early July of 2009. Equipped with a Canon 5D MKii, he shot this amazing video of the soldiers after they were dropped 11 miles behind enemy lines to seize a key bridge. Shortly after landing a battle broke out which lasted for three days.
This video is a trailer for the upcoming film by Dennis called “Battle for Hearts and Minds: A documentary on the war in Afghanistan by Danfung Dennis”
A story about 25-year-old Carrie Baer, who was born with Angelman Syndrome, and her relationship with her family by Cosmin Motei.
Photo stories from the 61st Missouri Photojournalism Workshop are now online at the MPW website. The workshop (31 photographers, 12 faculty and 16 University of Missouri School of Journalism students) was held in Festus & Crystal City, Mo from September 27 through October 3, 2009.
Award winners this year include Go Takayama for a story titled “A Fixture in the Community,” Cosmin Motei for his story titled “Playful Angel” about the relationship between 25-year-old Carrie Baer, who was born with Angelman Syndrome, and her relationship with her family.
Two photographers shared the “Biggest leap” award given to the most improved students in the workshop. The winners were Chad Ziemendorf and Carlos Moreno.
A portrait of filmmaker Ken Burns by J. Kyle Keener.
J. Kyle Keener is a veteran newspaper photographer who brought amazing images to the readers of the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Detroit Free Press. He is known for his keen sense of style and amazing lighting, bringing “the visual impact of magazine photography to some of the country
A photo from Eugene Richards' book Cocaine True, Cocaine Blue.
I first became introduced to the photography of Eugene Richards when I bought his book Below the Line: Living Poor in America. In 1986 Richards traveled across the United States photographing poverty in America – specifically people living below the government’s definition of the “poverty line.” The book was funded in large part by Consumers Union, the publishers of Consumer Reports magazine.
He has published numerous books over the years including his award winning works Cocaine True, Cocaine Blue, an examination of Cocaine users, as well as the Knife and Gun Club, a documentary essay on the emergency room at Denver General Hospital.
Richards has branched out into documentary filmmaking as well as photography for advertising clients.
Noor Images is a photo agency based in the Netherlands with a small group of outstanding photojournalists that cover stories across the globe.
I came upon their website after someone sent me a link to their Noor Newsletter, Since their most recent addition came out today.
After poking around their site a bit I realized that I knew one of the photographers at the agency, Nina Berman, who I had worked with in the late 90′s in New Jersey. A slide show of her images of Marina Orlova, who was voted “World’s #1 Sexiest Geek” by Wired Magazine and has one of the hottest channels on YouTube.
Christopher Anderson's Capitoio, a multimedia photo essay produced by Magnum in Motion.
Christopher Anderson, a photographer with the Magnum photo agency, has a very nice multimedia slide show from Caracas, Venezuela that was put together by the Magnum in Motion division of the agency.
There are over 70 photos in the slide show which is set to moving Latin music by Banda Ionica.
Capitolio translates into capitol, or the domed capitol buildings of Venezuela. The photos are taken in the capitol city of Caracas and show the darker side of the city where “the human drama plays itself out in what President Hugo Chavez called a ‘Revolution.’”
“I sometimes imagine Caracas as a living breathing animal. Obscured by the darkness it appears both violent and sensual, but perhaps it’s true nature will only be revealed at the moment it devours me.” – Christopher Anderson
“Emotion or feeling is really the only thing about pictures I find interesting. Beyond that it is just a trick.” – Christopher Anderson
Donna Ferrato's 10013 project on the Tribeca neighborhood in New York City.
Donna Ferrato, probably best known for her work documenting domestic violence, has put together a collection of photos documenting the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City, where she has lived since 1997. The collection is called 10013 after the Zip code for Tribeca.
One of the portfolios is called “We Live in Public” and documents a project that was done in New York at the end of 1999.
(We live in Public) was the brain child of Internet dot com visionary Josh Harris, www.weliveinpublicthemovie.com, where 80 people (mostly residents/artists) were hand picked to live underground in steel bunkers for 2 weeks over Christmas and New Years. Ms. Ferrato joined the frey and invisibly moved around the happening to catch the candid moments of the set up…once you were in – you couldn’t get out.
Photo agency Zuma Press has created the “Pictures of the Day” web site to showcase some of the best work that is being done by their contributing photographers. The site is updated daily with a handful of diverse images from across the globe.
Zuma claims to be “the world’s largest independent press agency and wire service” representing more than 3,000 photographers worldwide, as well as having relationships with over 100 newspapers.
Shames’ prints are available for purchase through the Steven Kashner Gallery in New York City. For editorial usages he is represented by Polaris Images.
Joe McNally offers some great tips and tricks for photographers who are looking to better their game when it comes to amazing location lighting. Joe has been a photojournalist, photographer and educator for more than twenty years. He was a staff photographer at Life magazine from 1994 to 1998 and has done numerous assignments for National Geographic.
Gangs of Rio in the New Yorker. Photos by João Pina, Narrated by Jon Lee Anderson
New Yorker magazine has an interesting audio slide show narrated by writer Jon Lee Anderson. In an article in the magazine Anderson writes about gangs in the shantytowns of Rio de Janeiro. In this audio slide show, Anderson talks about how the gangs operate and the obstacles that the local police face while trying to curb the illegal drug trade. Photographs by João Pina.
A screen grab from Scott Strazzante's Shooting from the hip photoblog
Shooting from the hip is the photo blog of photographer and photojournalist Scott Strazzante. Scott is a staff photographer at the Chicago Tribune and has won numerous awards for his work from the NPPA and others. Certainly worth checking out – He has a wonderful eye and his photoblog is a place for him to publish some of his “work that at this point doesn