Andrea Morales May 31, 2010
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in United States.Tags: United States
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Jameska and Roxy. Glouster, Ohio 2009
Andrea Morales (b. 1984, Peru) believes that visual storytelling can make the world go round. After finishing her degree in journalism at the University of Florida, a newspaper internship in a town bearing the name of her birthplace took her to Ohio. Her passion for community storytelling is what kept her there. She is currently based in Appalachian Ohio working on her M.A. in photography and multimedia narratives at the Ohio University School of Visual Communication. She attended the Eddie Adams Workshop in 2007 and was a 2009 Chips Quinn Scholar. Her work has been recognized by the College Photographer of the Year competition and the Ohio AP.
About the Photograph:
“Jameska and Roxy are technically cousins, but if you ask them, they’ll tell you they’re sisters. They live in a town with circumstances that are tough on girls coming of age. I began photographing the youth culture in Glouster, Ohio in the winter of 2009 hoping to understand more about their experience in a way that didn’t focus on the poverty. Jameska’s mother was awarded custody of Roxy because the girl’s parents struggled with drugs and crime. I’ve spent a lot of time with these girls in particular because of my affinity for tales of sisterhood and because they’re bright and kind people. This photo was taken in their grandma’s backyard. Jameska is highly overprotective of her little sister and the look in her eyes in this photo reminds of that. ‘I just don’t want her to turn out like her mom,’ she said to me once.”
Scott Conarroe May 28, 2010
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in China.Tags: China
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Beijing, China 2008
Scott Conarroe (b. 1974, Canada) has a BFA from the Emily Carr Institute and an MFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design. His study of North America’s rail infrastructure is a touring show organized by The Art Gallery of Windsor. He has work in the Canadian pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, and he is one of PDN’s “top 30 emerging photographers” of the year. Upcoming events include a residency at Villa Strauli in Winterthur, Switzerland and a trip to the arctic as part of the Canadian Forces Civilian Artist Program. Scott is represented by the Stephen Bulger Gallery in Toronto.
About the Photograph:
“I admire how the residents of Beijing use vacant space. Every evening ping-pong nets get stretched across the concrete landings of daytime shops, and each night a CD player draws dozens of people to the plaza above Shuangjin subway station where they waltz and jive and do jumping jacks and just enjoy the sensation of prancing around to music. I especially love how the city is littered with pool tables; any few yards of waste ground where nobody has planted a micro-crop or parked their business seems fine for hanging out in Beijing. This photograph was taken in a village on the city’s northern fringe in October, 2008.”
Michael Kamber May 26, 2010
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Afghanistan.Tags: Afghanistan
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Kabul, Afghanistan 2001
Michael Kamber (b.1963, USA) worked for many years as a carpenter and mechanic and made the transition to photojournalism in the last 1980s. In the last decade, he has worked primarily as a conflict photographer and has covered a dozen wars including Afghanistan, Somalia, Liberia, Darfur and the Congo. He photographed the war in Iraq for The New York Times between 2003 and 2010. He is the only journalist to routinely file photos, video and written pieces for The New York Times. His photos have been published in nearly every major news magazine in the USA and Europe. Michaelis the winner of a 2007 World Press Photo award, the Missouri School of Journalism’s Penny Press Award, American Photo Images of the Year and an Overseas Press Club award. He has been nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize–twice for photography and once for reporting.
About the Photograph:
“I was one of hundreds–perhaps thousands–of journalists that arrived in Pakistan in the weeks after 9/11. Like many journalists there, I spent about two months writing and photographing feature stories and trying to get across the border into Afghanistan. The fall of the Taliban left Afghanistan with no government, and, consequently, no border controls. The next day I simply walked across the unguarded border in the Kyber Pass and found a taxi going to Jalalabad. On November 19th, I moved on to Kabul in a convoy of journalists. Rushing through the countryside and eager to get to the story, the convoy broke apart; cars lost sight of one another in the thick dust and twisting roads. We rounded a corner on a remote mountain pass and armed men stepped out from the side of the road. I shouted for our driver to stop, but sensing danger, he gunned the engine and shot past the men. They pointed their weapons at us but held fire, perhaps hearing more vehicles approaching. The gunmen stopped the next two cars, pulled four journalists out, and beat and shot them to death. In Kabul, the population seemed to be waking from some long sleep. People pulled TVs and radios from cellars where they had been hidden–the Taliban had forbidden music and moving images–and men sat on the street corner pounding tin cans into satellite dishes.”
Dana Popa May 24, 2010
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Moldova.Tags: Moldova
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Gynecological examination, International Organization for Migration. Moldova, 2006.
Dana Popa (b. 1977, Romania) completed her master’s degree in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism at the London College of Communication in 2006. In 2009/2010 Dana Popa exhibited her work at the Impressions Gallery Bradford, UK and Photofusion Gallery, London, UK. In 2007 she received the Jerwood Photography Award and the Jury Prize in the Days Japan International Photojournalism Awards.Dana’s photographs are part of the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts collection and the Musee d’Elysee collection. Her photographs have been published in: Portfolio, British Journal of Photography, Vrij Nederland, etc. Her latest book project titled Not Natasha was published in 2009. She is represented by Anzenberger Agency, Vienna and Autograph ABP, London.
“This photograph is part of the series Not Natasha which documents the experiences of sex-trafficked women through photography and collected stories. In 2006 I visited Moldova, the poorest country of Europe and at the time the main exporter of sex slaves for as many as forty two destinations. I chose to depict the story of those who escaped sexual slavery and succeeded in returning to their home country. I wanted to see how they managed to live with the traumas they had experienced in a world that knows nothing about their suffering. Eventually, I met seventeen women who survived sex trafficking. I had to be both discreet and protective. These women were still dealing with strong emotional issues.”
Prashant Panjiar May 21, 2010
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in India.Tags: India
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Widows, Maharashtra, India 2010
Prashant Panjiar (b. 1957, India) is a self-taught photographer. His first self-financed project that received acclaim was his work for the book “Malkhan – the story of a bandit king”. The same year his work in Cambodia was published as “The Survivors – Kampuchea 1984”. He has worked as photographer and editor in mainstream Indian media and more recently returned to independent photography. He divides his time between working as a photojournalist on assignments often collaborating with non-profits, and working on his own projects. His most recent exhibition “Pan India, a shared habitat” has just completed its tour in India. Panjiar has served on the jury of the World Press Photo Awards in Amsterdam in 2002 & the China International Press Photo Competition in 2005.
About the Photograph:
“Arun Tupatkar’s suicide on 23 March 2010 was the 14th in the village of Pimpri Kalga. It was late in the evening when we, the writer and I, arrived there to meet with his widow Rajni. Relatives and neighbours were visiting the family to offer their condolences – amongst them were a few other farmers’ suicide widows of Rajni’s locality. I asked Rajni if I could photograph her with them. The rubble of an aborted construction in the courtyard of the home became the setting. The failing light, the shallow depth of field, the anonymity of the other widows all helped focus on Rajni’s stoic grief. Though shot in a regular 35mm format I knew, even as made the image, that I would need to crop it almost square.” (more…)
Christopher Sims May 19, 2010
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in United States.Tags: United States
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The “Virtual Army Experience”. Virginia, 2007
Christopher Sims (b. 1972, USA) has an undergraduate degree in history from Duke University, a master’s degree in visual communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a M.F.A. in studio art from the Maryland Institute College of Art. His work has been exhibited at the Griffin Museum of Photography, the Houston Center for Photography, the Light Factory, the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, and the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art. His recent project on Guantanamo Bay was featured in The Washington Post, the BBC World Service and others. In 2010, he was selected as the recipient of the Baum Award for Emerging American Photographers. Christopher currently teaches photography at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.
About the Photograph:
“In 2007, I made a series of portraits at the “Virtual Army Experience,” a traveling road show and recruiting event the U.S. Army takes cross-country to NASCAR races and air shows. Participants wait in line to enter a large tent, where they play video games produced by the army and meet decorated soldiers who have returned from service at the fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan. These portraits remind us of the computer and television screens through which most of us have lived the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The army reveals itself to be a keen reader of American adolescent emotions and passions, and employs this understanding through a brilliantly designed and bloodless simulation of the thrill of the fight. The portraits also offer us a glimpse into a future that some leaders and strategists have begun calling “the long war,” and suggest to us the young people who will enlist in the coming years in the real army.”
Livia Corona May 17, 2010
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Mexico.Tags: Mexico
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Mexico, 2008
Livia Corona (b.1975, Mexico) is a graduate of Art Center College of Design and a recent Guggenheim Fellow. Corona’s photographs have been exhibited nationally and internationally. Her photography and texts have been featured in numerous publications. Corona was winner of the Architecture Category of the Sony World Photography Award in Cannes, winner of the Architecture Category of the Paris Prix de la Photographie, a finalist for ING’s REAL Photography Award in Rotterdam and nominated by the jury of the Lucie Awards in New York as “International Photographer of the Year. Her books include: Of People and Houses (HDA, Austria, 2009) and Enanitos Toreros (PowerHouse Books, New York, 2008). She lives in New York and Mexico City.
About the Photograph:
“Since 2006, through my project “Two Million Homes for Mexico” I’ve explored the circumstances related to massive housing developments in Mexico. In remote, agrarian lands throughout the country, from 2000 to this date, almost three million nearly identical homes have been built in groups of 100 to 80,000. When driving through these neighborhoods, one sees endless rows of 100 to 200 square foot homes where constructions have reduced what is actual community building to the mere construction of housing. This type of urbanization prototype, now prevalent in Mexico, marks a profound change in the shaping of our experience as citizens of a broader world. In my photographs I am particularly interested in the effects of these neighborhoods as cultural backdrop, and their role in forming the perspective of the younger generations who live in these neighborhoods through key formative years. This photograph is of a neighborhood of over 47,000 nearly identical homes.”
Sol Neelman May 14, 2010
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in United States.Tags: United States
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Soccer Fans, Oregon 2009
Sol Neelman (b. 1970, USA) is a failed athlete turned sports photographer living in Portland, Oregon. A journalism graduate from the University of Oregon, he began his newspaper career soon after not being selected in the 1994 NBA draft. Three years photographing at a small, community paper in McMinnville, Ore. led to seven years of service at a major metro, The Oregonian. In 2007, he was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team recognized for Breaking News Reporting. Soon thereafter, he left his staff position at The O to pursue a photo book project on sports culture around the world. His work has appeared in National Geographic, ESPN the Mag, SI, Rolling Stone, People, Newsweek, and TIME.
About the Photograph:
“Frankly, this image is me trying to put my personal spin on a killer photo I saw taken by my good friend Tom Boyd. The Portland Timbers soccer team has a small but fiercely loyal following, known as The Timbers Army. After a home goal, someone will drop a smoke bomb as fans go nuts. My back to the action for the entire game, I simply focused on fans and waited, hoping that the Timbers would score. When they did, the scene was instantly berserk. I love emotion and layers in photos. While I travel around the globe looking for fun sports, there are also many great photo ops here locally in Oregon. Boyd’s photo of The Timbers Army was so great, it ran as a double-truck in SI this past fall. Inspired, I marked my calendar and attended the next home game. I wasn’t trying to replicate it his photo – not that I could. I just saw potential at a local event and made a point to cover it for myself. I love sports and I love people that love sports.”
Michelle Frankfurter May 12, 2010
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Haiti.Tags: Haiti, photography
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National Cemetery in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. 1994
Michelle Frankfurter (b.1961, Israel resides USA) graduated from Syracuse University with a bachelor’s degree in English. She spent three years as a staff photographer for the The Herald – Journal and Post Standard in Syracuse, New York. Before settling in the Washington, DC area, Frankfurter spent three years living in Nicaragua where she worked as a stringer for Reuters and with the human rights organization Witness For Peace documenting the effects of the contra war on civilians. In 1995, a long-term project on Haiti earned her two World Press Photo awards. She has worked for a number of editorial publications, including The Guardian of London, The Washington Post Magazine, Ms., Time, and Life Magazine. Her personal documentary work has been featured in exhibits at the Arlington Arts Center, The Washington Project For the Arts and the Ellipse Arts Center in Arlington, Virginia.
About the Photograph:
“I took this photograph during a funeral service in Haiti’s National Cemetery in Port-au-Prince. The sprawling cemetery in Haiti’s capital city lies at sea level; therefore, the tombstones are raised above ground. Nevertheless, because Haiti is so heavily deforested, flash floods occurring during the rainy season send water cascading from the hills where it rushes through the cemetery, often flushing out caskets along with their human remains. Although I was present in Haiti during one of its many tumultuous periods of political unrest, when violent killings were a nearly daily event, this particular funeral was unrelated to the then current state of conflict. Nonetheless, death and funerals are never ending in Haiti. I had taken several photographs showing the larger overall scene: a group of about fifty mourners perched like a flock of solemn birds amid a landscape of raised tombstones. I eliminated most of the literal context of the image; the tight perspective resulted in an ambiguous photograph.”
Isabelle Pateer May 10, 2010
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Belgium.Tags: Belgium
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From the series “Unsettled”. Belgium 2007
Isabelle Pateer (b.1980, The Netherlands) graduated in 2003 from the Institute for Higher Education of the Visual Arts Sint Lukas in Brussels, Belgium. For her “Unsettled” project she was nominated for the Prix Arts Libre (2010), received second prize at the International Festival of Photography in Bratislava (2009) as well as being awarded best portfolio during the Photo Espana Masterclass (2009). Her series ‘Room 261012’ received the second prize at the Belgium Dexia Award (2008) and her series ‘Artists’ received an honorable mention at IPA (2008). Her work has been exhibited in several exhibitions and photography festivals in The Netherlands, France and Belgium and published in different international magazines including: VIEW, La Libre Belgique, Foto Museum Extra, Globe Reports and Janus.
About the Photograph:
“This portrait is one of the first images I took for the ongoing series “Unsettled”. It focuses in a metaphoric way on the idea of “progress” in a case where a historical place must disappear because of industrial purposes. The Belgium village Doel is threatened by vast expansions of the Antwerp port which creates an artificial contrast between nature and culture. My work focuses on the young inhabitants alternated by landscapes which bare witness to the transformed state of the area. Leaving a sourish taste by contrasting the young with the local changes, they symbolise the international tendency of global political and economic shifts and the way they manifest themselves to the people and their surroundings.”
Gillian Laub May 7, 2010
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Israel.Tags: Israel
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Madeline and her brother. Israel, 2005
Gillian Laub (b.1975,USA) graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in comparative literature before studying photography at the ICP. She was selected for the World Press Photo’s Joop Swart Masterclass in 2003 and as the winner of Nikon’s Storyteller Award for her work in the Middle East. With the support of the Jerome Foundation, Laub’s first monograph Testimony was published by Aperture in 2007 to critical acclaim. In 2007 Laub was awarded Aperture’s Emerging Artist. She contributes regularly to The New York Times Magazine among many other publications and commissions. Her work is widely exhibited and collected. She lives in New York and is represented by Bonni Benrubi Gallery and is currently working on a project in the American South.
About the Photograph:
“This photo is from my five year project called Testimony that examines the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Haifa and other locations in the region. My subjects include Israeli Jews. Israeli Arabs, displaced Lebanese and Palestinians- all affected by the geopolitical context. Each image is accompanied by an oral history.”
Madelaine: “I am eighteen years old, and live at home with my mother, father, and five siblings. I love Akko because it is on the water and a mix of many different people live here; Arabs and Jews live together in peace and brotherhood. Maybe the sea helps people feel more calm and peaceful. My two best friends are Jewish and they treat me like a sister, not an enemy. They are going to the army next year. I will do my civil service (Muslims can’t serve in the Israeli army) in a children’s day care. I love children, and I love listening to romantic and classical music. I hate the war in Israel and I would like to live in peace in the future. I believe it’s possible.”
Jon Orlando May 5, 2010
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in United States.Tags: United States
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Bryan Hannah, Ft Hood, Texas 2009
Jon Orlando (b.1978, USA) is an artist-activist that uses photography to deepen our collective sense of humanity. After graduating with a degree in photography from Northern Arizona University, Jon spent four years as an organizer and activist on various social and political issue both regionally and nationally. Since moving to Colorado in 2005 he has re-immersed himself in photography while staying firmly rooted in efforts to create change. His current project, Warriors for Peace, was recently accepted by the Blue Earth Alliance and images from the series have been exhibited in group shows throughout the United States.
About the Photograph:
“Bryan Hannah is an Iraq war veteran who was convinced by his experiences in Iraq to speak out against war. From his interview- ‘I was getting ready to fire and they came halting to stop. I saw the little red dot on the little girls forehead and I realized I was aiming a rifle at a little girl and I saw her crying. I didn’t want to do anything but freeze it all and hold her and tell her it would be ok.’ This image is part of a series called Warriors for Peace: Stories of Resistance and Renewal, which through the use of portraits and interviews documents the emotions and stories of veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. The emotions portrayed are a means for providing a space for the viewers to relate to the veterans on a very personal level. In creating that space and reintroducing the humanity and emotion of the soldier, this project challenges the ease with which we accept war.”
Petrut Calinescu May 3, 2010
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Romania.Tags: Romania
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Gold Mining. Romania, 2006
Petrut Calinescu (b. 1976, Romania) graduated with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from Bucharest University and is currently based in Romania. His work has been published in National Geographic, Esquire, The New York Times, Courrier International, The Times, Business Week, Paris Match, and other international magazines and newspapers as well as with several NGO’s. He was awarded best Romanian Photojournalist for two years in a row. Petrut is currently represented by Panos Pictures.
About the Photograph:
“The picture is from a project about gold exploitation in the Rosia Montana region of Romania in 2006 just before the mining industry collapsed in that area. The rusty carriages filled with minerals were running off the rail so often that the train could barely move. During each of the transport of the materials the miners had to jump off the train and struggle in the mud to put the carriage back on the rail. The efficiency of this transport method was close to zero, but the miners were doing their best to prove that the factory should not be closed.”
Verve Photo- The New Breed of Documentary Photographers 