Through a poetic sense of light and color, I find an attraction to the atrocities brought on by Mother Nature and mankind. The contrasting beauty between the savagery of ruin and rebirth of destroyed lives creates a romantic idea of what once was there, conveying a different feeling for each person that witnesses the images. The loneliness and solitude is what drove me to document the apocalyptic scenes of Abkhazia, its people, and how they continue to suffer from the effects of war 15 years later.
The Images take us on a sinister, eerie tour of a country whose only existence centers around their military and patriotism. Alone and stagnant, Abkhazia struggles with the meaning of war and self-declared independence, clutching the ankles of Russia for support while shadowing themselves from the economic and social embargoes imposed on them from Georgia and the rest of the world.
AFTER STAFF – David Leeson, on leaving newspapers and rediscovering old passions | RESOLVE — the liveBooks photo blog:
David Leeson is known for a lot of things — his Pulitzer-prize winning photojournalism, his trailblazing video storytelling, his photo blog of intimate self-portraits. What he’s never been known for is pulling punches. After 30 years on newspaper photo staffs, his departure from the Dallas Morning News last year was difficult, and he doesn’t pretend otherwise. But he’s also reconnected with old passions through his new endeavors, and thankfully shares that experience with the same intimate honest.
AFTER STAFF A Closer Look – Tips for transitioning from photojournalism to weddings | RESOLVE — the liveBooks photo blog:
As usual, Rachel went above and beyond when I asked for some helpful tips for photojournalists transitioning from the newsroom to the their own wedding photography business.
I’m a Photographer Not a Terrorist campaign for photographers’ rights – Boing Boing:
They’ve got a “bust card” explaining your rights to you and the officers you interact with, as well as a sticker/poster design and a gallery of photographers holding “I’m a Photographer Not a Terrorist” signs.
Behind the Scenes: Iran Releases Photographer – Lens Blog – NYTimes.com:
Majid Saeedi, an Iranian freelancer for Getty Images who was arrested a month ago — apparently for taking and transmitting news pictures — has been released from Evin prison on the outskirts of Tehran, Getty executives said Wednesday.
This issue is over 200 pages and features work by Bangladeshi photographers Munem Wasif, Abir Abdullah, Tanvir Ahmed, Shahidul Alam, Monirul Alam, Murtada Bulbul, Saiful Huq Omi, Azidur Rahim Peu, Shehzad Noorani, Mohammad Kibria Palash, and Khaled Hassan.
Two AP Photojournalists Wounded In Afghanistan Bombing:
Photographer Emilio Morenatti and AP Television News videographer Andi Jatmiko were traveling with the military when their vehicle was struck by the bomb Tuesday.
Showcase: On the Razor’s Edge – Lens Blog – NYTimes.com:
The first days were the hardest for Claudio Edinger. He was appalled by the conditions at the Juqueri psychiatric hospital in São Paulo, Brazil. Many patients walked around naked. Few spoke. One woman was chained to her bed. One man ate other patients’ ears. The stench was unbearable.
AFTER STAFF – What was the scariest thing about leaving your staff job? | RESOLVE — the liveBooks photo blog:
We asked a wide variety of former staff photographers the same question, and here’s what they told us. Please share your own stories — as you can see, you’re not alone.
You’d Be Surprised What Those Files May Contain – Luminous Landscape:
While HDR is most likely the preferred approach for squeezing the last bit of stunning detail and tonal gradation from highlights and shadows, if you havenít prepared your captures for HDR post-processing not all may be lost. There can be an astonishing amount of information hidden in your raw files just waiting to be revealed by the right treatment in Lightroom 2.x or Camera Raw 5.x.
DMU Launches DMU Magazine | Thomas Hawk Digital Connection:
One of the places that I’ve spent a lot of time online over the past few years is in the Flickr Group DeleteMe Uncensored. DeleteMe Uncensored is a group on Flickr where users submit photos to a voting pool and group members then offer brief critiques of these photos along with a vote to either save or delete the photo. If a photo gets 10 “saves” before 10 “deletes” it is put into a portfolio of images called “The Lightbox.”
Last Friday, the Internet was abuzz with the fact that I answered the question, did you Photoshop the September issue cover photo of Kelly Clarkson? with the answer: Yes. Of course we do retouching (though it’s technically not Photoshop, but that is semantics). We correct color and other aspects of the digital pictures we take and then publish the best version we can. Here is what I have to add to this conversation
Here’s a small gallery of Arthur S. Mole and John D. Thomas’s photos of thousands of soldiers creating giant, patriotic pixelart images of patriotic scenes.
Marcey Jacobson, Photographer of Mexican Indians, Dies at 97 – Obituary (Obit) – NYTimes.com:
Marcey Jacobson, a self-taught photographer from New York City who spent decades in the southern Mexican highlands documenting the lives of the indigenous Indian peoples, died on July 26 in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico, in the state of Chiapas. She was 97.