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Rotterdam Photo: Isaiah Winters – LENSCRATCH

Rotterdam Photo: Isaiah Winters – LENSCRATCH
The theme of this year’s Rotterdam Photo, an annual photography festival, was “Freedom Redefined,” and I was lucky enough to exhibit 34 prints from my work on women with life sentences, both inside prison and after they’ve regained their freedom. This week Lenscratch is dedicated to featuring five photographers whose work caught my eye. Isaiah
via LENSCRATCH: http://lenscratch.com/2023/03/rotterdam-photo-isaiah-winters/
Isaiah Winter’s series, “This Land is Your Land,” is a comprehensive multimedia project exploring the history of the U.S. National Park system, challenging the viewer to “question their ideas of land, nostalgia and nationalism.”

March 28, 2023

Portfolios & Galleries

Isaiah Winters
After Witnessing War in Ukraine, A Photojournalist Fights for Peace

After Witnessing War in Ukraine, A Photojournalist Fights for Peace
Dmitri Beliakov, a photojournalist who covered the conflict in Ukraine from 2014 to 2019, reflects on the brutal realities of war.
via Feature Shoot: https://www.featureshoot.com/2023/03/after-witnessing-war-in-ukraine-a-photojournalist-fights-for-peace/
“Humankind repeats the same mistakes over and over again,” Dmitri Beliakov, a photojournalist who covered the war in Ukraine from when it began in 2014 until 2019, tells me. “People never learn, so I did not go on assignment ‘to stop war’ or teach someone a lesson. My agenda was far more realistic if not primitive.

March 24, 2023

War

Dmitri Beliakov
A photojournalist follows a mother’s rebuild after escaping domestic violence – Poynter

Link:
One of those photos stayed with Phelps. It shows a barefoot Stanley seated on the concrete hallway floor just outside the motel room, cellphone in her left hand, cigarette in her right. She appears to be deep in a conversation. The bruising under her left eye is black. A foot or two away is Nyx’s frame in the doorway. The little girl stares ahead.

March 23, 2023

Photojournalism

Jessica Phelps
Photographers on Photographers: Marisa Lucchese in coversation with Isadora Kosofsky – LENSCRATCH

Photographers on Photographers: Marisa Lucchese in coversation with Isadora Kosofsky – LENSCRATCH
Early in my undergraduate studies in photography, I discovered Isadora Kosofsky’s work, and I immediately wrote her name down as a source of inspiration. Her use of light, the intimacy she captured, the clear care for her subjects that radiated from the images… it was all encompassing of the photographer I hoped I would one
via LENSCRATCH: http://lenscratch.com/2023/03/isadora-kosofsky/
Early in my undergraduate studies in photography, I discovered Isadora Kosofsky’s work, and I immediately wrote her name down as a source of inspiration. Her use of light, the intimacy she captured, the clear care for her subjects that radiated from the images… it was all encompassing of the photographer I hoped I would one day become. When I got the chance to meet her this past year as she gave a lecture at my university, I could feel the excitement flowing through my veins at the prospect of hearing her talk about her work and showing her my own. When I was asked to contribute to the Photographers on Photographers, I knew that I wanted to continue the conversations that had begun earlier this year, especially as I have recently graduated and am entering the art world. It felt like a perfect full circle moment, and I hope this conversation can benefit other young photographers as it has for me.

March 21, 2023

Interviews

Isadora Kosofsky, Marisa Lucchese
Why Discourse on Ethical Photography Matters | PetaPixel

Why Discourse on Ethical Photography Matters
Street photographer Simon King shares thoughts about why it is important to have a healthy discourse on ethical photography.
via PetaPixel: https://petapixel.com/2023/03/18/why-discourse-on-ethical-photography-matters/
With this understanding, the common tendency to fault discussions about ethics in photography is quite odd. Why wouldn’t you want to understand the possible obligations that come with powerful photography? What is the mindset behind arguing against taking responsibility for what you are creating?

March 18, 2023

Ethics
Irish war photographer on 15 years in conflict zones: “There are things that are just too much or to | Business Post

Ireland’s leading war photographer on 15 years covering conflict: ‘There are things that are just too much to capture’
‘No Home from War: Tales of Survival and Loss’ is the first Italian exhibition by Irish photojournalist Ivor Prickett. Supported and staged by fashion house Max Mara founder Achille Maramotti’s Collezione Maramotti, he describes trying to capture the fallout of conflict and displacement
via Business Post: https://www.businesspost.ie/irish-tatler/irish-war-photographer-on-15-years-in-conflict-zones-there-are-things-that-are-just-too-much-or-to/
‘No Home from War: Tales of Survival and Loss’ is the first Italian exhibition by Irish photojournalist Ivor Prickett. Supported and staged by fashion house Max Mara founder Achille Maramotti’s Collezione Maramotti, he describes trying to capture the fallout of conflict and displacement

March 16, 2023

War

Ivor Prickett
The Photographer Who Saw the Brutality and the Fragility of Authoritarianism | The New Yorker

The Photographer Who Saw the Brutality and the Fragility of Authoritarianism
Fifty years ago, Augusto Pinochet staged a violent coup in Chile. Evandro Teixeira went to the capital and captured startling images of soldiers, protesters, and the funeral procession of Pablo Neruda.
via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/the-photographer-who-saw-the-brutality-and-the-fragility-of-authoritarianism
Teixeira’s photos in Chile are the main subject of a retrospective at the Instituto Moreira Salles, in São Paulo, from March to July. They provide haunting depictions of the aftermath of a military coup, when quotidian life is assaulted by a new regime that has claimed for itself a right to extrajudicial violence. I recently met Teixeira at the institute’s offices in Rio de Janeiro, along with the organizers of the upcoming exhibition. Teixeira is burly, and spoke with a raspy drawl, partly a result of age and partly from a recent battle with covid. He described his Santiago trip with a mix of gravity and mischievousness that seemed typical of not only his personality but his style.

March 14, 2023

Portfolios & Galleries

Evandro Teixeira
Siblings – Photographs by Wendy Stone | Essay by Magali Duzant | LensCulture

Siblings – Photographs by Wendy Stone | Essay by Magali Duzant | LensCulture
Documenting the lively adventures of her son and the family’s two beloved dogs, Wendy Stone reframes the bond between siblings through an animal lens
via LensCulture: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/wendy-stone-siblings
Documenting the lively adventures of her son and the family’s two beloved dogs, Wendy Stone reframes the bond between siblings through an animal lens.

March 10, 2023

Portfolios & Galleries

Wendy Stone
Leica Announces the 2023 Women Foto Project Award Winners | PetaPixel

Leica Announces the 2023 Women Foto Project Award Winners
It was open to entrants from outside the United States for the first time.
via PetaPixel: https://petapixel.com/2023/03/08/leica-announces-the-2023-women-foto-project-award-winners/
Leica has announced the winners of its fourth annual Leica Women Foto Project Award. The announcement arrives on International Women’s Day, an annual global holiday celebrating the wide-ranging achievements of women.

March 9, 2023

Contests

Anna Filipova, Eli Farinango, Greta Rico, Mary F. Calvert
Celebrating International Women’s Day 2023 — Photographers from Around the World – Compiled by LensCulture Editors | LensCulture

Celebrating International Women’s Day 2023 — Photographers from Around the World – Compiled by LensCulture Editors | LensCulture
Honoring many of the women who inspire us daily — photographers, artists, writers, designers, researchers, poets, curators, art directors, editors, visionaries
via LensCulture: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/lensculture-editors-celebrating-international-women-s-day-2023-photographers-from-around-the-world
In celebration of International Women’s Day 2023, we honor many of the women who inspire us daily — photographers, artists, writers, designers, researchers, poets, curators, art directors, editors, visionaries. Here are 24 of the most popular articles and interviews published in LensCulture in the past year. We hope you find some true inspiration from these remarkable women.

March 8, 2023

Photography
“Borderlands, an American Journey” by Francesco Anselmi – burn magazine

“Borderlands, an American Journey” by Francesco Anselmi
“Borderlands, an American Journey” by Francesco Anselmi Along a border at the center of the political and journalistic debate, “Borderlands” aims to develop a narration capable of going…
via burn magazine: https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2023/03/borderlands-an-american-journey-by-francesco-anselmi/
Along a border at the center of the political and journalistic debate, “Borderlands” aims to develop a narration capable of going beyond the emergency perspective under which the US/Mexico border related issues are often presented and to vehicle the complexity of this 3600 kilometers long line that has been crossed by migrants and travelers for decades.

March 8, 2023

Portfolios & Galleries

Francesco Anselmi
Q&A: Fred Ritchin on AI and the threat to photojournalism no one is talking about – Columbia Journalism Review

Q&A: Fred Ritchin on AI and the threat to photojournalism no one is talking about
In recent years, artificial intelligence engineers have used millions of real photographs—taken by journalists all over the world, and without those journalists’ permission—to train new imaging software to create synthetic photojournalism. Now anyone can prompt AI software like OpenAI’s DALL-E to generate convincing images of people or places that never existed, and of events that […]
via Columbia Journalism Review: https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/fred_ritchin_ai_photojournalism.php
The other thing to add to the puzzle is, if you start making millions of synthetic images, then the new AI will be training on those images as well. The concept of history will become more and more distorted, because they’ll be training on the images that are not made by cameras, but made according to the way people want to see the world. What happens if people have five million images of World War II according to the way they want the war to look, and they look like photographs, so that’s what the AI is going to be training on in the future?

March 2, 2023

Ethics
Memphis, Through the Lens of Tyre Nichols – The New York Times

Memphis, Through the Lens of Tyre Nichols
His photos, which he wrote were meant to “bring my viewers deep into what I am seeing,” reveal parts of the city some residents say they had forgotten.
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/us/tyre-memphis-photos.html
“It brings a lot of peace and solace just to sit with the crew and talk about him and laugh,” he said. “It’s almost like he’s not even gone. It’s like he’s just not here today.”

March 2, 2023

Portfolios & Galleries

Tyre Nichols
The Life and Death of a Ukrainian Photographer | The New Yorker

The Life and Death of a Ukrainian Photographer
Maksym Levin started documenting war “to become famous.” After seeing conflict up close, his motivations shifted.
via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/the-life-and-death-of-a-ukrainian-photographer
According to an investigation by Reporters Without Borders, the men were “undoubtedly executed in cold blood, possibly after being tortured.” At the site of the killing, the Russians shared a meal, leaving behind packaging from their food rations, plastic spoons, cigarette packs, and instructions for firing rockets. Levin’s cell phone, helmet, flak jacket, and shoes were never found.

February 27, 2023

War

Maksim Levin
New York Times Photographers in Ukraine on the Images They Can’t Forget – The New York Times

Our Photographers in Ukraine on the Images They Can’t Forget
In a year of war, New York Times photographers have reported from the front line, from cities and villages and in the footsteps of refugees. These pictures stayed with them.
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/24/world/europe/ukraine-war-anniversary-photos.html
Here, instead, 14 photographers who have worked in Ukraine for The Times each answer the same two questions: What image has stayed with you from your coverage of the first year of the war, and why?

February 24, 2023

War

Brendan Hoffman, Daniel Berehulak, David Guttenfelder, Diego Ibarra Sánchez, Emile Ducke, Finbarr O’Reilly, Ivor Prickett, Jim Huylebroek, Laura Boushnak, Lynsey Addario, Mauricio Lima, Nicole Tung, Tyler Hicks
A Big-Wave Photographer Faces Frigid Water, Sharks and Currents to Get the Shot – The New York Times

A Big-Wave Photographer Faces Frigid Water, Sharks and Currents to Get the Shot
Sachi Cunningham is one of the few photographers who shoots surfers at Mavericks while swimming. “You don’t want to get the same shots as everyone else on the boat,” she said.
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/17/sports/big-wave-surfing-sachi-cunningham.html
Sachi Cunningham is one of the few photographers who shoots surfers at Mavericks while swimming. “You don’t want to get the same shots as everyone else on the boat,” she said.

February 21, 2023

Interviews

Sachi Cunningham
Photographs That Show the Whimsy and Eros of Ukraine before the War

Photographs That Show the Whimsy and Eros of Ukraine before the War
In images made before the Russian invasion in 2022, three photographers preserve social memory—and witness a nation striving to define its sovereignty.
via Aperture: https://aperture.org/editorial/the-photographers-who-showed-the-whimsy-and-eros-of-ukraine-before-the-war/
Working in black and white with one camera, Chekmenev took the official passport-format headshots of weary visages against a portable white backdrop; while using a wide-angle camera with color film, he captured all that lay beyond in photographs that would eventually form the series Passport (1995). “I saw that the frame needed to be widened,” he told me recently. The photographs represent a people entrenched in an old Soviet system that cared little for, deceived, and effectively abandoned the individual. Depicting a generation trapped in time, the pictures teeter on the precipice of uncertainty.

February 18, 2023

Portfolios & Galleries

Alexander Chekmenev, Julie Poly, Justyna Mielnikiewicz
Ming Smith’s Poetic Blur Is on Display in MoMA Photographs – The New York Times

Ming Smith’s Poetic Blur
This streetlight mystic shows her painterly photography at MoMA in an archive that celebrates long exposures and perceptual improvisation.
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/arts/design/ming-smith-photographer-museum-of-modern-art.html
The stellar photographer Ming Smith remembers walking past the Museum of Modern Art when she was in her early 20s and telling herself, “I’m going to be in that museum one day.”

February 17, 2023

Photography

Ming Smith
How America’s Most Cherished Photographer Learned to See | The New Yorker

How America’s Most Cherished Photographer Learned to See
For five decades, Stephen Shore has remade our vision of the country, largely by remaking his own.
via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/how-americas-most-cherished-photographer-learned-to-see
I think it’s important that you distill this into three aspects. The first aspect is physical. It’s what the eyes do. The second aspect is cognitive. It is apprehending the image from the eyes. The third aspect is metacognitive. It is being aware of apprehending what one sees. It’s this last that’s of particular interest to me as a photographer. It’s been my experience that, when a photographer takes pictures when they’re seeing in a state of heightened awareness, they make subtle decisions that lead the resultant image to appear particularly vivid.

February 17, 2023

Interviews

Stephen Shore
Julian Wasser, the ‘Photographer Laureate’ of L.A., Dies at 89 – The New York Times

Julian Wasser, the ‘Photographer Laureate’ of L.A., Dies at 89
In the 1960s and ’70s, he created indelible images of the city’s combustible mix of art, rock ’n’ roll, new Hollywood and social ferment.
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/14/arts/julian-wasser-dead.html
Julian Wasser, the artful and rakish photojournalist who chronicled the celebrity culture of Los Angeles that began percolating in the 1960s — a heady, sexy and often combustible brew of new Hollywood, art and rock ’n’ roll — as well as the city’s darker moments, creating some of the most indelible images of that era, died on Feb. 8 in Los Angeles. He was 89.

February 15, 2023

Obituaries

Julian Wasser