dispatches / The Ark:
Philip Blenkinsop of NOOR agency, since settling in Asia in 1989, has pursued forgotten conflicts: in East Timor with Falintil guerrillas; in Borneo among tribal wars and cannibals; deep in Laos where Hmong veterans seek refuge. After picturing China’s Yellow River basin for Paris Match, he shifted to the environment. Critics call him one of the essential photographers of his generation.
Photographer Antonin Kratochvil | Outside Online:
The world is full of bold photographers who earn their keep by traveling to rough regions. Kratochvil towers above them all, in large part because his extraordinary background gives him a preternatural cool—not to mention credibility—that can’t be taught. “In what we do, the most important faculties are instinct and intuition,” says photojournalist Chris Anderson, who calls Kratochvil his mentor. “Antonin is the embodiment of instinct. His persona is that of an ogre, but he is frighteningly intelligent, the most astute observer of human behavior I know.”
At War: Notes From the Front Lines – At War Blog – NYTimes.com:
Today, we introduce you to a new blog about America at war. This generation’s conflict, which began on 9/11, is nearly eight years old. Yet there are no signs that it will end anytime soon, with the Obama administration sending thousands more troops into Afghanistan and Iraq facing enormous military and political challenges as American troops withdraw. So “At War” — an expansion of our Baghdad Bureau blog — is a recognition that war is now, and will be, a defining experience for Americans. One of our contributors, Dexter Filkins, captured that in the title of his book about 9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq: “The Forever War.”
Our aim is less commentary than boots-on-the-ground reporting, photography, audio and video. Despite financial constraints that have limited foreign coverage by many news outlets, Times reporters still go to places that matter. This year our team in Afghanistan and Pakistan won the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting
Showcase: The Bang Bang Club (Part 2 of 2) – Lens Blog – NYTimes.com:
In the second of a two-part series on the Bang Bang Club — a group of four young photographers who unblinkingly chronicled the upheaval in South Africa in the 1990s — Greg Marinovich recalls the torment of watching deadly violence unfold before him. In an instant, he had to decide whether he could do more good by intervening personally or by chronicling the moment to let the world know what was happening. His pictures of a man being burned alive won a Pulitzer Prize in 1991. Readers are cautioned that this scene and several others in the audio slide show are quite disturbing.
10 years of The Week in Pictures – msnbc.com:
“The Week in Pictures” begins its second decade of publication, we take a look back at the best images published in The Week in Pictures and the Year in Pictures since the slideshow began October 1998.
via APhotoADay Blog
Showcase: The Bang Bang Club (Part 1 of 2) – Lens Blog – NYTimes.com:
Though legendary in photojournalism circles, the Bang Bang Club never formally existed. It was really more of a bond among four young photographers — Kevin Carter, Greg Marinovich, Ken Oosterbroek and Joao Silva — united by their ideals, their photography and the historical events unfolding in South Africa in the 1990s.
Q&A: Tim Mantoani, San Diego – Feature Shoot:
When Tim Mantoani’s not shooting on assignment, he’s documenting venerable lens men who have collectively captured decades of culture and celebrity with their own cameras. Legendary rock photographers Jim Marshall and Ethan Russell have sat for 20 x 24-inch Polaroid portraits, as have Walter Iooss, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Pete Turner, Mary Ellen Mark, Elliott Erwitt and Roberto Salas. He sees the story in each face, and in each place, and lives to gives them voice through his work.
How Could Annie Leibovitz Be on the Verge of Financial Collapse? — New York Magazine:
Annie Leibovitz clearly hated what a lifetime-achievement award implied about her—that the best days of her 40-year career were behind her. “Photography is not something you retire from,” the 59-year-old Leibovitz said from the stage, accepting the honor from the International Center of Photography last May at Pier 60. She was turned out in a simple black dress and glasses, her long straight hair a little unruly, as usual. Photographers, she said, “live to a very old age” and “work until the end.” She noted that Lartigue lived to be 92, Steichen 93, and Cartier-Bresson 94. “Irving Penn is going to be 92 next month, and he’s still working.” Then her tone turned rueful. “Seriously, though, this really is a big deal,” she said, hoisting her Infinity Award statuette, her voice quavering to the point where it seemed she might cry. “It means so much to me, you know, especially right now. It’s, it’s a very sweet award to get right now. I’m having some tough times right now, so … ”
Bill Moyers Journal . Watch & Listen | PBS:
Photographic Artist Chris Jordan turns the statistics of consumerism into palpable images in his new photo series.
via Jason
Narelle Autio – The Black Snapper:
What I like about the photographs of Narelle Autio is that they depict the universal joy of being at the seaside. It is about playing, jumping of jetties, building castles, catching the biggest fish, it is about relaxing, about forgetting time, watching marvelous skies, and gazing to an empty horizon. And also about the excitement of the waves, the feeling of freedom and the caresses of the water, yet also the awareness of danger. I am very fond of the sea myself and by looking at Autio’s works I see that it is about the great joy in small things, about individuals experiencing their own stories, and yet something which is universal. I remember showing her work in the gallery in Amsterdam to an Australian visitor. She was moved to tears, the photographs made her homesick. Narelle Autio on the web: stillsgallery.com. Froukje Holtrop is the curator for Australia at Canvas International Art.
Typhoon Morakot – The Big Picture – Boston.com:
After forming as a tropical depression over the Pacific Ocean about 1,000 km east of the Philippines on August 2nd, Typhoon Morakot built in power and moved quickly west. Over the past several days, the storm has passed over the Philippines, Taiwan and Mainland China, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage due to high winds, flooding and mudslides. Southeast China evacuated nearly 1 million people ahead of the storm, after Morakot broke many records in Taiwan, dumping a total of 2.5 meters (100 inches) of rain on the island. At least 40 people are known to have died so far, but hundreds remain missing – many from one village in Taiwan, reportedly engulfed by a mudslide during the storm
Amazing work by Seamus Murphy. Here’s the gallery:
Seamus Murphy: A Darkness Visible – Digital Journalist.
Here’s a link to the story introduction:
Seamus Murphy: A Darkness Visible – Story Introduction:
Seamus Murphy describes photography as “part history and part magic.” This brief description could be a title for Murphy’s entire archive, as he is the embodiment of the soulful photojournalist. A native of Ireland, he has worked extensively in the Middle East, Europe, Russia and the Far East, Africa, North and South America, and has to date won six World Press Awards. Murphy’s work spans years and continents, but we have chosen to concentrate on the area that captivated him perhaps the most in recent years—Afghanistan. His recent book, “A Darkness Visible,” published in 2008 by Saqi Books of London, is a retrospective of his work in that country since 1994.
The Black Snapper:
The magazine has gone live on August 1st 2009 and is working with guest curators such as Abbas of Magnum Photos, Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts in Japan, International Photo Festival Bangladesh, Centro de la Imagen in Peru and The New York Times Magazine. In the Netherlands, guest curators include nrc.next, Vrij Nederland magazine and Canvas International Art.
Each day The Black Snapper presents a different photographer selected by one of the many guest curators, who switch places on a weekly basis. Visitors of the online magazine can expect to see a new series of some eight to twenty photos each day.
via Conscientious
Sports Shooter Kahuna’s Blog:
Robert Hanashiro is the founder of Sport Shooter, which started 12 years ago as a simple email newsletter sent to about a dozen of his friends and colleagues. It has now grown into a monthly circulation of over 7,500 and has spawned the popular SportsShooter.com website and several educational workshops including the Sports Shooter Academy.
Behind the Scenes: In a War Zone, With Film – Lens Blog – NYTimes.com:
All you need to process film, besides the chemicals, is clean water. However, near the Iraq frontier in 1991 — convulsed as it was by the Kurdish uprising — clean water was in short supply. And it certainly didn’t come from the tap. So I washed my film in the toilet.
