Thomas Holton May 29, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in United States.Tags: United States
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Gladys, Disney Cruise, 2008
Thomas Holton is a 2005 graduate from MFA photography program at the School of Visual Arts. His work has been exhibited widely, including the New York Public Library, The Houston Center of Photography and the Griffin Museum of Photography. In 2005 Holton was one of 24 photographers selected for the Art + Commerce Festival for Emerging Photographers and in 2006 was one of American Photo Magazine’s Ten Best Young Photographers. In 2007 and 2008, “The Lams of Ludlow Street” was part of the New York Public Library’s “Eminent Domain: Contemporary Photography and the City” group show as well as featured in The New York Times and Aperture. Holton currently teaches photography at The International Center of Photography and The Trinity School and is represented by The Sasha Wolf Gallery in New York City.
About the Photograph:
“In 1973, Gladys accepted a job as a math teacher at the Gelinas Junior High School on Long Island. Growing up in America as part of the “Baby Boomer” generation, Gladys strongly believed in the moral values of The United States and was forever optimistic about her future; a belief held by the majority of Americans in the 1950’s. Her consistent belief in hard work being ultimately rewarded with the financial security of a state pension and Social Security was the foundation of her 34 years of service at The Gelinas Junior High School. In 2008, Gladys plans to retire and begin the next stage of her life. However, her unwavering faith has been shaken and optimism tested. Her upcoming retirement is fundamentally different than what she first imagined and ideally planned for. A single mother of two adult children, she lives alone in her American “Dream House” on Long Island with concerns about the rising cost of living in America today; a bittersweet reminder of how life can never be neatly scripted.”
Yoav Horesh May 27, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Israel.Tags: Israel
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Market, Jerusalem 2003, Scene of Suicide Bombing 4/2002
Yoav Horesh (b.1975, Israel) received his BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and an MFA from Columbia University. He has exhibited in Israel, Europe and the USA. Solo and group exhibitions include the Palazzo Reale di Milano, Projekt RaumBahnhof 25 in Germany, Jerusalem National Theater, Nathan Bernstein Gallery (NYC), Stone Crop Gallery and the Photographic Resource Center in Boston. He has been the recipient of the Mortimer Frank Travel Award, the Agnes Martin and M. Roche scholarships, the Rhode Island Photographic Society and the Agora Gallery International Competition award. Yoav is currently on the photography faculty at the Massachusetts College of Art, Queens College and Columbia University.
About the Photograph:
“Between 2002 and 2005 I worked on “Aftermath”. In this series of photographs, I explored the sites of recent terrorist attacks in Israel after they had been hastily repaired and the destruction had been erased not only from the landscape, but from the collective memory. Instead of being perceived and experienced as a narrative or as an historical moment, the photographs are read as a disruption of time and space, or trauma. The very absence of devastation in these places draws attention to the attempt to erase the trauma and thereby gives the situation a presence that resists and confronts the desire not to see and not to remember. I strive to provide the viewer an alternative gaze at otherwise mundane or ordinary places, at a remaining landscape. This body of work includes over one hundred different sites where a history of violence has been removed.”
Narayan Mahon May 25, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Cyprus.Tags: Cyprus
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Lefkosa, Northern Cyprus 2008
Narayan Mahon (b. 1980, United States) is a Seattle based editorial and commercial photographer. Narayan earned a Master’s of Science degree in Photojournalism from Syracuse University. He has recently received a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to continue working in Somaliland and selected as a winner of Magenta Foundation’s 2009 Flash Forward- Emerging Photographers and participated at the Eddie Adams Workshop in 2007. Narayan’s clients include Crowne Plaza Hotels and Nike and his editorial work has appeared in The New York Times, The Economist and powerHouse Magazine, among others. Narayan’s personal work include Lands in Limbo, an ongoing book project about unrecognized countries.”
About the Photograph:
“This photograph was made during a trip to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, in Lefkosa, the capital, in April 2008. Lefkosa (Nicosia in Greek) is the last divided capital in the world, split down the middle by a “Green Zone” administered by the United Nations. This image respresents the no-man’s land that cleaves the city, creating an emptiness in the heart of the island. The evening this image was made, celebrations were happening on both sides of the city. Both Greeks and Turks were embracing the opening of a symbolic border crossing on Ledra Street, first closed and walled-off nearly 40 years ago, when the island split apart. The opening sparked optimism for reunification, which has since faded. The trip to Northern Cyprus was a part of an ongoing long term project documenting unrecognized countries. In addition to Northern Cyprus, the project includes Abkhazia, Nagorno Karabakh, Somaliland and Transdniestra.”
Shehzad Noorani May 22, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Bangladesh.Tags: Bangladesh
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From the series “Children of Black Dust”, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Shehzad Noorani (b. 1966, Bangladesh) has a deep interest in social issues that affects the lives of millions of people in developing countries. He has covered major stories resulting from man-made and natural disasters in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Other assignments for agencies like UNICEF have taken him to over 30 countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. His personal in-depth documentary work has been extensively exhibited and featured in major international magazines and publications around the world. Daughters of Darkness, his in-depth documentary on the lives of commercial sex workers in South Asia has received the Mother Jones International Award for Documentary Photographer. He has also received an honorable mention from the National Geographic’s All Roads Photography Program for his project : The Children of Black Dust.
About the Photograph:
“A woman holds her child, blackened by carbon dust. His nose bleeds due to infections caused by exposure to dust and pollution during play in the workshop in Korar Ghat by on the outskirts of Dhaka. Many women bring their children along so they can look after them while working. The environment in and around the workshop is full of carbon dust and other waste. Most children have chest and eyes infection. The industry employs thousands of women and children. All day long women and children break used batteries to get reusable parts and tiny pieces of metal out of them. Once separated, these materials are sent to battery manufacturing factories and workshops that either reuse them or melt them to make other useful materials.” (more…)
Ramin Talaie May 20, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Iran.Tags: Iran
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Drop in Center for Drug Addicts, Tehran, Iran
Ramin Talaie ( b. 1964, Iran) is a photographer based in New York City. He holds a Master’s degree in international studies from Adelphi University. His work has been published in The New York Times, Bloomberg among other publications and is also syndicated with Corbis. Ramin is the founding editor of document IRAN Images. He has covered the war in Iraq, the fall of Aristide in Haiti, polio in India, Maoists conflict in Nepal and Iranian elections and politics.
About the Photograph:
“While Afghanistan is the major producer of world opium, about 85% of its production is trafficked through Iran to Turkey and Eastern Europe and eventually all over the world. Traditionally smoking opium was the choice but since heroin is now cheaper than hashish it has become the drug of choice. While in affluent northern Tehran, young adults drink illegal alcohol, in the poor sections of south Tehran, heroin is king. With injected drug use the risk of TB and Hepatitis has sharply risen. Iran also has a huge number of AIDS cases among its addicted population. What is alarming is the rate of which new cases are found. In recent years, a handful of private NGO began providing clean needles and food along with health educational materials at drop in centers. The photo was taken in one of these NGOs as addicts walk in for hot tea and bread and clean needles to start their day.”
Liz Rubincam May 18, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in United States.Tags: United States
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Sita & Kristen, 2007
Liz Rubicam (b.1978, Canada) came to photography through a Fine Arts degree from Ryerson University in Toronto and, more recently, the Photojournalism and Photo Documentary program at the International Center of Photography in New York City. While at ICP, she received a Director’s Scholarship and interned with James Nachtwey. The series Day One, documenting childbirth in New York City, has received numerous praises including an Honorable Mention in the 2007 Ian Parry Scholarship. In 2008, she was selected to participate in the Eddie Adams Workshop XXI. Liz’s work has been published in The New York Times, New York Magazine, The British Journal of Photography, The Sunday Times Magazine and The Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward 2008 book. She is a contributing photographer to Getty Images. Her work has been exhibited in New York, London and throughout Canada.
About the Photograph:
“This image shows a home prenatal visit in New York City between Sita and her midwife, Kristen and captures the moment when Sita heard the sound of her baby’s heartbeat. Sita planned to deliver at home in the apartment she shared with husband, Agustin. Home births account for a very small percentage of the overall deliveries in New York City. Women who want to deliver at home are assessed during pregnancy and if they are categorized low-risk are permitted to have a home birth. Supporters of home birth say that women who choose this method enjoy added privacy, less medical intervention, and freedom to allow labor to progress naturally.”
Carlos Cazalis May 15, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Brazil.Tags: Brazil
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São Paulo, Brazil
Carlos Cazalis (b.1969, Mexico) began his career photographing the Zapatista rebellion in 1994. Two years later he joined AFP shooting news and documenting transvestites, children on the street and bullfighting, an going project in four different countries. In 2003 he began working for The Guardian, the UK’s Telegraph, the Mexican weekly Dia Siete, The New York Times, Stern, Walrus Magazine and the Brazilian Folha de Sao Paulo. Since 2005 he has been working primarily in Brazil on a long-term independently financed documentary project on the effects of habitat and mass urbanization entitled Meta Sao Paulo. With the support of the UN Habitat program he begins exhibiting in 2008 in Europe and Mexico. In the summer of 2007 he completed the work on his first upcoming book The Sons of Evora, on Portuguese bullfighters.
About the Photograph:
“This photo of the Minhocão overpass in central São Paulo was shot on a very stormy and rainy Sunday afternoon. The photo is part of my book project on habitat in Sao Paulo, the fifth largest city with nearly 20 million people. The Minhocão was built in the 70’s to break down the congestion of traffic cutting through the city, but it ended up being too small for the massive overpopulation and it also destroyed the real estate value of the adjoining buildings and surrounding neighborhoods. On Sundays the overpass is closed in the morning till early afternoon to allow people to walk alongside it and use as a sort of recreation area. On this occasion the man was training for the upcoming city marathon.”
Audrey Bardou May 13, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in France.Tags: France
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Brigitte et Bernard
Audrey Bardou (b.1975, France) lives and works in the south of France. Audrey’s approach in photographing other people’s lives, is to explore both the intimate and the personal. Her previous project which began in 2004, documented the end of her grandfather’s life. Then for three years she worked on a project about prostitution called “15 Minutes.” As a result of this work, she was invited to exhibit at the Festival Voix Off and the gallery SFR at Les Rencontres d’Arles 2008. Her work is represented by Camàyeux Marseille and Millennium Images.
About the Photograph:
“I’d like to introduce you to my parents Brigitte and Bernard; exceptional, yet anonymous. They aren’t exceptional in the sense that we hear about them in our society, but in the values that they have infused in me: humanism, integrity and generosity. On the advice of Magnum photographer David Alan Harvey I started to photograph them. Photographing your parents cannot wait till later. He told me. You cannot take your parents for granted. You should photograph them now. You have nothing to lose by trying. My mother and my father don’t understand my interest in photographing them eating, sleeping or simply setting the table. Recently my Father fell ill, old age catching up with him. I love my parents. I love photographing them. My photographs aren’t about social issues. They are a work of love. But isn’t the act of love an underground fight for change?”
William Widmer May 11, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in India.Tags: India, Ladakh
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Rupshu Valley, Ladakh, India
William Widmer (b. 1982, USA) is a freelance photographer based in San Francisco, California. He studied sociology and anthropology at Cornell College and earned an MFA in documentary photography from the Academy of Art in San Francisco (2007). He is interested in shifting concepts of community, and much of his work focuses on transient or marginalized populations around the world. He is currently working on a long term project about development and change in the landscape of the American Midwest. His work appears in editorial and news publications within the US and Europe, including Brand Eins (DE), nzz folio (CH), PLANETº (USA), Sonntagzeitung (CH), and Financial Times Deutschland (DE). He recently joined Getty’s Global Assignment roster.
About the Photograph:
“Ring Tsing Chuong nears the end of a 160-mile journey that he makes several times each year to visit his family in the Rupshu Valley, a Himalayan plain averaging over 14,000 ft. A member of the small Changpa community in Ladakh, Chuong has just returned from the capital city of Leh where he works in the flourishing construction industry. In recent years, the Changpa and other regional nomadic groups have seen their populations dwindle as Ladakh adjusts to a tourism boom that has been dramatically altering the area’s economic landscape for the last two decades, spurring more nomads to leave the plains and venture into Leh. In fact, most nomadic groups in Ladakh these days largely comprise elders and young children. The able-bodied members have left and now return only semi-annually to visit loved ones and deliver what staple goods they can afford to bring along. Imported commodities such as propane, rice, alcohol, and motorized vehicles have replaced the local resources that were used for centuries in their place and create new dependencies for Ladakh’s oldest inhabitants. The fine balance that life in Ladakh requires is being tested, and the modernization India has brought to the region is failing those who preceded it.”
Simon Høgsberg May 8, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in United States.Tags: United States
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From the series “The Tower of Babel”, New York City
Simon Høgsberg (b. 1976 in Aarhus, Denmark) is working as a freelance photographer in Copenhagen. His first encounter with photography happened in 1997 when he was working as a journalist for a state-funded agency in Aarhus that was producing stories about young people for various Danish media. Writing seemed to him to be too much of a “head-experience”, whereas the work of the photographers he was collaborating with seemed to be a more physical experience that called for action and experimentation. This physical aspect of photography appealed to him, and he soon got a job as a photographer at the agency. In 1999 he went to London to study and practice photography for three years, and in 2002 he started his own freelance business in Copenhagen. Make sure and take a look at his latest project We’re All Gonna Die.”
About the Photograph:
“In 2003 I bought a map of Manhattan and marked out 76 intersections located between 14th street and Central Park. I then connected these intersections with straight lines so that the sentence THE TOWER OF BABEL appeared on the map. My idea was to spend one day in each of the 76 intersections and there photograph situations and motives that expressed the same form of darkness that is present in City of Glass. I wanted the final project to consist of 76 photographs (one photo from each intersection), and I wanted all images to be somehow related to the biblical myth of Babel. I went to New York four times and spent 46 days in 46 different intersections before I realized I no longer believed in the project. The realization came as a relief – I dropped the project immediately after.” (more…)
Timothy Allen May 6, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Niger.Tags: Niger
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Mating Ritual, Wodaabe Tribe, Niger
Timothy Allen (b.1971, England) graduated from Leeds University with a BSc in Zoology. In the nineties, Timothy joined an aid convoy to Bosnia in order to shoot his first year reportage project. Six months later he left college, moved to London and begun working for the Sunday Telegraph, later inspiring commissions from all the British broadsheet publications and finally, a six year position at The Independent. Timothy’s photographs have appeared in many of the world’s prominent editorial publications and his work has been included in countless books and exhibitions. Amongst his commendations, he has received six Picture Editors’ Guild Awards including the title of Arts Photographer of the Year. Timothy also writes a weekly blog for the BBC about indigenous societies around the world for the documentary Human Planet.
About the Photograph:
“This photo was taken on a recent trip to Niger shooting for ‘Human Planet’. We were living with the nomadic Wodaabe Tribe in the desert near Lake Chad during a time when they gather for a festival known locally as the Gerewol. The main purpose of this festival is to give the men and women of the tribe the chance to meet and have romantic liaisons over the six days of the gathering. Unlike most of the world’s cultures, here it is up to the men to appeal to the women. They do so by dressing up in these elaborate costumes and dancing in a line in front of the women for hours at a time. The women spot the guys they fancy and then later on when the dance changes, they stand behind the men and stroke the back of the one they like signaling their intent. The Wodaabe women favor tallness, white eyes and white teeth in their mates and consequently, during the dance the men roll their eyes and expose their teeth to emphasize these characteristics. We had to travel three days through the desert to arrive at this spot as a guest of a Wodaabe King.”
Andres Gonzalez May 4, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Ohio University, Ukraine.Tags: Ukraine
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Truskavets Sanatorium, Western Ukraine
Andres Gonzalez (b. 1977, United States) is currently based in Istanbul, Turkey. He is originally from California where he pursued a degree in writing from Pomona College in Claremont, California – but after a two year stint in Namibia teaching environmental education and snapping pictures along the way, he realized that photography was a much more natural way for him to express his world view. He is the recipient of the Canon Italia Young Photographer’s Award in 2009, was a Fulbright Scholar in 2008. He was selected as one of PDN’s Emerging 30 photographers in 2006. His work has been published by W Magazine, Monocle, and Wallpaper among others.
About the Photograph:
“This photograph was taken in the resort town of Truskavets in Western Ukraine from a project I started back in 2006 called Sanatorium, which looks at the culture of health and healing in Ukraine. I was initially drawn to how Ukrainians who visit the springs embrace the water’s healing qualities, but after I started making pictures I became fascinated by their history and legacy in Ukrainian culture. The history of sanatoria in the former Soviet Union goes back to the conception of the USSR itself, when mansions were seized by the Bolsheviks and converted to hospitals and clinics for the poor. Later sanatoria played an important role in healing a war-torn nation – after the Second World War the Soviet government encouraged its citizens to look inwards, both figuratively and literally through domestic travel, to explore the far-flung parts of the Union in hopes of cementing its commonality.” (more…)
Greg Miller May 1, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Italy.Tags: Italy
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From the series “Primo Amore”, Italy, 2001
Greg Miller ( b.1967, American) While maintaining a commercial photography career that began in 1988, Miller has produced several bodies of personal work including photographs from County Fairs, Marching Band Camps and Ash Wednesday. In 2008, this work earned him a Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Since 2001, he has taught regularly at The International Center of Photography in New York. He received a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in photography from the School of Visual Arts in 1990. Greg lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.
About the Photograph:
“I took this picture of Doriana and Mirko in 2001, during my third trip to Italy. Mirko is an amateur body builder. He and Doriana had been dating for about a year at the time this picture was taken. I had been bugging Mirko for weeks to photograph him. He would always agree to meet me, but then would not show. After a couple of times, his mother intervened and he finally agree to meet us at Via Appia, the oldest Roman road. I was playing around with the idea of Mirko being a blue jean wearing, modern Roman god in an ancient setting. I took a few photographs of him alone, then a few with some tourists nearby. As the sun was going down, I asked Doriana if she would be in the picture. I took two sheets of them together. In the first, Doriana was looking at Mirko. As I was taking the film holder out of the camera, I saw that she turned and looked away in a most solitary gesture. She was miles away from us at that moment. That was the picture.” (more…)
Verve Photo- The New Breed of Documentary Photographers 