CPN: Gary Knight: Advice To Young Photographers

Canon Professional Network has featured five Canon Ambassadors  photographers Michael Nick Nichols, Gary Knight, Ziv Koren, Frits van Eldik and Paolo Pellegrin, and asked them what theyve learnt from their years of experience and what advice they would offer to young photographers starting out on their photographic careers.

I thought I'd feature Gary Knight's interview here...this is purely a personal choice based on what he advocates "keep it simple...and don't think too much"; advice which I always follow and advocate, and since I met Gary in Bali some years ago...I know his advice is not a fluff piece, and that he speaks his mind. So his interview is highly recommended to young photographers.

"...keep it simple...don't think too much..."

Gary Knight began his photographic career in Thailand in 1987 and he lived and worked in the Far East until 1992. In 1993 he moved to the former Yugoslavia and documented the civil war there. In recent years he has covered the invasion of Iraq, the occupation of Afghanistan, the civil war in Kashmir and the Asian Tsunami. One of the founders of the VII Photo agency in 2001 his work has been published by magazines all over the world and he has been a contract photographer for Newsweek since 1998. He is one of the founders of the Angkor Photo Festival, a registered charity in Cambodia; a board member of the Crimes of War Foundation and a trustee of the Indochina Media Memorial Foundation.

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LENS: Stanley Greene Talks To Michael Kamber

Photo  Stanley Greene/Noor-All Rights Reserved

Stanley Greenes Redemption and Revenge on the New York Times' LENS blog is one of the most interesting (and candid) interviews with a photojournalist/photographer I've read in a long time.

Having met Stanley Greene in Mexico City, I don't think I'd be wrong in describing Stanley as an iconoclast, as someone who doesn't mince words and who doesn't imitate. His opinions and responses as expressed during this interview confirm my view. This interview is a no platitudes no bullshit zone...and may rile some "lemmings", but for those who appreciate iconoclasts, it's a must read.

Excerpts that particularly resonate with me:

"When journalists start to distort reality, then I have a real problem with it. And when everything starts to look like a cartoon, I have a problem with it."

"When we get to the point where we start digging up graves to make photographs, I think we are in trouble."

"You need to be able to communicate with people. You should know a language. But even if you dont know a language, you should at least be decent enough to understand what you are about to photograph, instead of just going, Pow, pow, pow. Because when you do that, then you are a vulture, and then you are what a lot of N.G.O.s call us: Merchants of misery.

"I dont own an apartment. I dont own a house. I dont own a car. I dont have any stocks and bonds. All I own are my cameras. Thats it. And some cowboy boots."

Michael Kamber has worked primarily as a conflict photographer and 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. His photos have been published in nearly every major news magazine in the USA and Europe. Michael is the winner of a 2007 World Press Photo award, the Missouri School of Journalisms Penny Press Award, American Photo Images of the Year and an Overseas Press Club award. He has been nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prizetwice for photography and once for reporting.

As I said, one of the best interviews I've read in a while.

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Jehad Nga Talks to BJP

Photo  Jehad Nga-All Rights Reserved

"I respond more to fashion and fine-art, carrying these fields and variables in photojournalism." -Jehad Nga

The British Journal of Photography (which revamped its website) published an interview with Jehad Nga, one of my favorite photographers. This blog featured many posts on Nga, and his distinctive chiaroscuro style.

Titled From Kansas To Nairobi, the recent interview sheds a light on Nga's decision to join the Institute for Artist Management instead of VII and Magnum.

Nga first visited the Middle East in 2001 spending months in different medical volunteering positions in Gaza. When he interned at Magnum Photos in 2002, he was also training to become an Emergency Medical Technician. But since 2004, when he moved to East Africa, he's been dedicating most of his time to photography, working regularly for the New York Times.

Via photojournalism links

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NPR: Reza: War And Peace

Image © Gerard Rancinan-All Rights Reserved
Reza Deghati is one of the world's eminent photojournalists, who traveled the world for nearly 30 years, bearing witness to wars, unrest, great leaders and the courage of ordinary people trapped by history. He has won countless awards, working for publications such as National Geographic, Newsweek and Time.

NPR has an interview with Reza, to publicize his latest book, Reza War and Peace: A Photographer's Journey. It is "a retrospective of that work, drawing on his own tale of exile and giving voice to those he met along his journey, those without means or audience, who suffer the injustices of war and disaster".

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Veronique de Viguerie Under Fire

A couple of weeks ago, a group of Talibs in Afghanistan killed 10 French soldiers (attached to the NATO forces), and were subsequently photographed by Veronique de Viguerie, a photographer working with the French news magazine Paris Match, wearing the French soldiers' uniforms.

A firestorm erupted in France following the publication of the photographs in the Paris-Match magazine, finding it indecent for a French magazine to show such images. Accusations that payment was made to the Talibs by the photojournalist were made, but rejected as false.

In the above clip (in French), De Viguerie explains her meeting with the Taliban fighters. 'It took some time, and we used some of our contacts out there'. She used a fixer/interpreter to get to the Taliban fighters, who will only meet with women reporters as they believe that men could be spies.

In her thirties, de Viguerie says that she wasn't too comfortable meeting them. 'But, when you follow the rules and when you have the authorization of their leaders, we become their guests'.

I'm not sure why it's Veronique de Viguerie who's under fire. Isn't it the decision of Paris-Match editors to publish?

Via The British Journal of Photography's blog (link)

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Nat Geo's David Griffin Speaks

A worthwhile lecture by David Griffin of the National Geographic Society on the impact of photography. David, the photo director for National Geographic, knows the power of photography to connect us to our world. In a talk filled with glorious images, he talks about how we all use photos to tell our stories.

I briefly met David during the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, and he came across as an extremely cordial man, and as befits a National Geographic photo editor, with a deep understanding of the current photographic environment.

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Photographers in Focus: Colin Finlay

The monthly Photographers in Focus video interviews by LiveBooks feature photographers who share their personal vision, inspiration and beliefs. According to LiveBooks, these "enrich the photo community by providing a means for one photographer to share knowledge with others."

This month�s interview is with documentary photographer and photojournalist Colin Finlay.

A self-taught photographer, Colin Finlay is a four-time �Picture of the Year� award winner who has photographed wars, conflicts, genocide, famine, environmental issues, disappearing traditions, and has filmed several television documentaries. He�s circled the globe 27 times seeking compelling images that make a difference. When doing photojournalism, he often shoots with two camera bodies, using a 28mm lens on one and a 35mm lens on the other. He uses a Canon 1DS Mark II lately, along with Canon EF lenses, 35mm f/1.4L, 50mm f/1.2L, 24mm f/1.4L, and occasionally a tilt-shift lens.

However, he maintains, �the 35mm f/1.4L is how I see the world.�

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James Nachtwey: Talk

James Nachtwey talks on being a documentary photojournalist, and about the the power of documentary photojournalism. He shows his work and discusses the world events he photographed in a superb-quality 24-minute QuickTime video of his acceptance speech for the 2007 TED Prize.

Be patient...it takes time for the QuickTime to load in full.

Courtesy of Rob Galbraith's web site, here's the link.

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John Stanmeyer

Image Copyright John Stanmeyer/VII
I met John Stanmeyer at his beautiful home and studio in Bali where he was conducting a photojournalism workshop. He is the co-founding member of VII and a contract photographer with Time Magazine since 1998. He has spent over 7 years focusing on Asian issues and has been working on a book about AIDS throughout Asia, as well as continuing his photographic documentation for a book on the radical changes in Indonesia since 1997.

For this workshop, he sponsored two Indonesian photographers who would not have been able to attend otherwise. In an interview, he said �They were taking brilliant pictures with busted equipment but they never photographed enough. At the end of the day, they only showed us a few photos. Finally, I discovered they couldn�t afford flash cards and were using only one 256 mg card. How do you support these talented people who try to communicate in difficult situations under difficult economic conditions? Their homes are in the places that we can afford to fly into and then can leave while they must stay and try to keep communicating.� The last sentence is also applicable to us, as travel photographers...don't you think?

A remarkable photographer, a wizard at photo editing and a genuinely nice guy, here�s John on Apple�s Aperture. I chose this multimedia feature because it shows him at work in his Bali home studio. He was working on that particular photograph when I was there as well!

John Stanmeyer on Apple Aperture

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