Tunnel Miners, New York 2004

Gina LeVay (b.1978, USA) holds an MFA in Photography and related Media from the School of Visual Arts. LeVay  is based in New York  and works both in the U.S. and abroad, on independent and commissioned projects. Her award-winning work “The Sandhog Project,” was exhibited as a large-scale photo and video installation at New York’s Grand Central Terminal in 2006. LeVay has been a grant recipient of The Andrew Rhodes Fund for Young Artists through The Visual Arts Foundation, and featured as one of PDN’s 30. Gina is an alumnus and current staff member of The Eddie Adams Workshop. Her book “Sandhogs” about the tunnel miners of New York was published this month by Powerhouse Books.

About the Photograph:

“Jim Donovan is a second generation sandhog of 30 years. This portrait was shot in a commercial studio in NYC. I wanted to isolate the workers from the tunnel environment to focus on their individuality and physicality. Jim is surrounded by his oldest friends who also work on his same day shift on City Water Tunnel #3. I asked the hogs to come directly to the studio after the shift without changing or cleaning up and was overwhelmed with the large amount of guys that showed, not to mention their appreciation and focused energy during the formal portrait session. Although most of the sandhog work in my project is shot on medium format camera and film, this studio work was shot with a Leaf digital back. I found the digital capture added another element to the shoot as the sandhogs became more engaged watching it unfold and were excited about contributing ideas of how they or their fellow hogs should be portrayed and captured–generating a more creative collaboration with myself and the sandhogs.”

Motel, Jeffrey Road, Wyoming

Matt Slaby (b. 1979, USA) is a photographer based in Denver, Colorado. Before turning his attention to photography, he traveled the western United States as a wild-land firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service Hotshots also working winters as an EMT with a metropolitan ambulance service. Slaby interned at U.S. News & World Report covering the 2006 congressional elections and the Washington, D.C. political circuit, including the White House and U.S. Capitol. He has a background in writing and literature and holds a J.D. from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. His current photographic efforts are divided between the Rocky Mountain West and Latin America. His clients include: TIME, Newsweek, SPIN, Outdoor Life, XXL, Mother Jones, Audubon Magazine and others.

About the Photograph:

Dressed up as Cinderella for Halloween, 2008

Ross Taylor (b.1971, USA) is a recently hired staff photographer for The Virginian-Pilot. He graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and was last employed at the Hartford Courant newspaper. Taylor was named the 2007 Region one (New England) Photographer of the Year and is a two-time Photographer of the Year (North Carolina) whose work has appeared on the cover of the National Press Photographers “Best of Photojournalism” magazine. He has won numerous international, national and regional awards as well as one of the Associated Press Photo’s of the Century awards.

About the Photograph:

“This picture of four year old Lindsey Reelick dressed as Cinderella was taken at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. It was Halloween. She and other children in the hospital were recipients of the “Reverse Trick or Treating” where staff  members came by and delivered goodies to the children. I was supposed to follow them but felt too rushed  and wasn’t making any pictures more than what was expected. After I saw this girl I asked her mom if I could just spend time with them, maybe half an hour or so. It gave me the opportunity to work in a more relaxed, natural manner, and ultimately this moment happened.”

Rosary Higgins, from the the project: Illinois’ Hidden Poverty

Kuni Takahashi (b. 1966, Japan) came to the United States in 1990 and studied photojournalism at the Maine Photo Workshops, the New England School of Photography in Boston and the Eddie Adams Workshop in New York. He joined the Chicago Tribune as a staff photographer in 2004 after spending eight years as a staff photographer at the Boston Herald. Takahashi has covered major domestic and international events and won many photography awards, including  competitions by World Press Photo, Pictures of the Year International (POYi), National Press Photographers Association. He was also named as Boston Press Photographers Association’s Photographer of the Year in 1996 and 2003. He is currently based in Mumbai.

About the Photograph:

“Sixty-nine-year old Rosary Higgins was one of the subjects for the project, “Illinois’ hidden poverty”. Rosary, who has no income aside from a monthly Social Security check of $650, barely scrapes by with food from the pantry and getting her rent discounted by picking up litter around her building. She was a very patriotic person. She wore an American flag scarf all the time – her trademark. She often talked about her concerns and sympathies for U.S soldiers but she was very angry at the government for its health care and welfare policies.One late afternoon, I was spending time with her outside her apartment. As the late afternoon sunlight was slipping through between the trees, she began to talk about how angry she was about the government not taking care of poor seniors like herself who are stuck in poverty despite their efforts to get out. At one moment, she put her head down and held her forehead as if she had annoying headache. I made a few frames.”

Fruitville Elementary School, Sarasota, Florida 2005

Chip Litherland (b. 1977, USA) is an award-winning photographer based in Sarasota, Florida.  A graduate of the fine arts school at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Chip went on to develop the skills of community photojournalism through internships at the Greeley Tribune, Longmont Daily Times-Call, The Gazette in Colorado Springs, and The Dallas Morning News.  He took his current position as a staff photographer at the Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune seven years ago, where he has developed his vision.  That vision, which is fueled by an addiction to color and strong, graphic compositions, has been recognized by Pictures of the Year International, Best of Photojournalism, Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar, and the National Press Photographer’s Association.  He is currently a regular contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and ESPN the Magazine.

About the Photograph:

“My main goal is always to find a photo that transcends any assignment.  This photo was simply from a local elementary school during a field day of sorts – celebrating the reached goal of the students in a reading program.  In the grand scheme of things, not a huge deal to the world, but in the world of these kids it was.  As a community photojournalist, I’m often thrown into situations and events over and over (and over) again, year after year, and trying to making something new and telling is always the challenge.   I take it as such and try to make the most compelling image I can.  As for this image, I was scanning the crowd, when I saw this kid jammed up against the fence.  I framed it up tightly to reinforce the claustrophobic feeling the scene already had, leaving the focus on the little things like the body language of the young girl, the row of little legs, the Spider-man shirt, and obviously his face.  For me, it sums up elementary school – and the mindset of being trapped at school itself.”

Austin, Texas

Lance Rosenfield (b. 1972, United States) is a freelance photographer based in Austin, Texas. In addition to shooting editorial and commercial assignments for clients including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and United Way, he concentrates on personal work such as ‘Thirst for Grit’ in which he presents the life and times of modern-day small-town rodeo cowboys in Texas. His work has been exhibited in solo shows in Texas and California and group shows in Texas, Virginia, Connecticut, and New York. Lance was selected to the Eddie Adams Barnstorm Workshop in 2007, was a finalist in the 2009 Emerging Photographer Grant awarded by the Magnum Foundation, and is a 2010 Black & White Magazine Spotlight photographer. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Austin Center for Photography and is a founding member of Texas Toast Photo Show.

About the Photograph:
“In their semi-itinerant ways, hauling from one small-town to the next across the wide expanse of Texas, rodeo cowboys find late-night roadside diners for hot meals and a break from the long road. When I returned to Austin in 2006 after eight years in California, I wanted to undertake a personal project in which I could reconnect with my home state of Texas. I stumbled onto the world of rodeo and latched on.  The lives and community of the rodeo riders struck me as fascinating in their camaraderie and wayfaring lifestyles.  Not only do these men live up to their folk-legend reputations, I found that many of them live in big cities like San Antonio and carry jobs in the construction and oil industries.  They identify themselves as rodeo cowboys through and through, and it seems they can live no other way. As 44-year old bronc rider Jeffrey Miller says, My greatest fear right now in life other than not making it to Heaven is having to retire from rodeo.  This is an on-going project and I have formed friendships with a number of the characters in the story, namely the two finishing a meal in the photo above.”