VII Magazine

Photo  Ashley Gilbertson-All Rights Reserved
The announcement that the VII Photo Agency launched VII The Magazine has already been reported and blogged about for a few days already. The magazine is a syndicated online publication with photo stories and interviews with VII photographers.

The beta version of VII The Magazine is presented in the Herald Scotland newspaper, and in Lens Culture.

The first issue of the magazine features multimedia slideshows of projects by several VII photographers, as well as interviews with Jessica Dimmock and Ashley Gilbertson about their projects featured on the site.

I was particularly interested in Ashley Gilbertson's interview, and struck by one of his statements:

"If you show me one more picture of a soldier kicking in a door, I'm going to blow my head off."

I sense Ashley speaks for, not only war photographers, but for many of the sentient public who's been subjected to repetitive and unimaginative visual (and intellectual) presentations of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and who's had (if they're anything like me) enough of the same stereotypical coverage which passes for cutting edge reporting in our media. I call it the stagnation of war photography...the same scenes over and over, perhaps from different angles...and with no back story. In fact, if I didn't read the captions beneath these images, I wouldn't be able to tell if it was in Iraq or in Afghanistan...or whether they'd been made yesterday or a year ago. Stagnation.

Ashley's powerful and poignant photo essay The Shrine Down The Hall, which shows some of the empty bedrooms of the over 5000 U.S. military personnel killed in the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan, rammed home the horrors of war much more effectively than seeing (and hearing) yet another photo essay by a gung-ho war photographer following US soldiers in an Afghani village, rounding up "Taliban" members (or whatever the caption writer decides they are), covering their heads with potato sacks while pointing guns at terrified women.

We need to see more work like Ashley Gilbertson's and much less of the kicking of Afghan or Iraqi doors....please.

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George Steinmetz: Aerial Views

The New Yorker magazine's online edition is featuring a video in which George Steinmetz discusses his career and techniques with Lauren Collins, who had traveled with him to Algeria.

George Steinmetz is a photographer known for his explorations of remote deserts, obscure cultures, and mysteries of science and technology. He is regular contributor to National Geographic and GEO Magazines, and explored subjects ranging from the remotest stretches of Arabias Empty Quarter to the unknown tree people of Irian Jaya. He has won numerous awards for photography during his 25-year career,including two first prizes in science and technology from World Press Photo. He has also won awards and citations from Pictures of the Year, Overseas Press Club and Life Magazine's Alfred Eisenstadt Awards.

Once you're done with watching the interview in the video above, take a look at Steinmetz's website. You'll be rewarded with large gorgeous photographs of the remote areas he explored, both from the air and on land.

I think his aerial photographs are more accessible and intimate than those by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, because he photographs from a motorized paraglider at heights of 100-500 feet above ground, rather than a small airplane.

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WIRED: Kanepari & Ferguson

Photos  Adam Ferguson (L)/Zackary Canepari (R)-Courtesy WIRED

"The photojournalist has long been known as the lone wolf, traveling solo to the far-flung corners of the world to document experiences few are capable of seeing. By function, its often a solitary quest, lonely and alienating; rarely as romantic as the photographs make it appear."

What a great start for the Raw File article written for WIRED by Bryan Derballa!

The article deals with the friendship and healthy competition between Adam Ferguson and Zackary Canepari, two immensely gifted photojournalists working in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. It appears that they helped each other, and edited one anothers work, always hoping to improve its quality.

WIRED's Raw File's article is in essence two interviews: Ferguson giving his views on Canepari's work, and vice-versa. Quite an interesting read...naturally, they pat each other on the back, but that's what friends do, especially those whose camaraderie withstood difficult circumstances.

Both photojournalists are content to be doing what they want to do at this time. Canepari is back in California pursuing personal projects, while Ferguson is still shooting in Afghanistan.

Zackary Canepari was featured on TTP a few times, and Adam Ferguson's work in Orissa was featured here.

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Lens Culture: Munem Wasif

Photo  Munem Wasif -All Rights Reserved
Munem Wasif is a Bangladeshi documentary photographer, who started his photographic career as a feature photographer for the Daily Star, a leading English daily of Bangladesh. In 2007, he was selected for the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass in the Netherlands, and subsequently won International Award "F25" of the Fabrica and "City of Perpignan Young Reporters Award". His work is exhibited at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, at the International Photography Biennial of the Islamic World in Iran, at Fotofreo, the festival of photography in Australia and at Visa Pour l Image in Perpignan. He is represented through Agency VU in Paris.

The superb Lens Culture blog brings us exclusive audio interviews with Munem, who spoke of the ecological and personal disasters in Bangladesh caused by a vast influx of shrimp farming.

Another interview with Munem appeared on TTP here.

via The Click

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Franck Vogel: The Bishnois

Photo  Franck Vogel -All Rights Reserved
The Canon Professional Nework (Europe) brings us a feature on Franck Vogel's project photographing the Bishnois in India. The project was recently a major cover story for the 30th anniversary edition of GEO France magazine.

This features dovetails quite neatly into my plans for a photo~expedition in early Spring 2010 to South Rajasthan and the Rann of Kutch to cover tribal life (including the Bishnois and Rebaris, amongst many others), and Baneshwar Fair.

Anyway, back to Franck Vogel and his project. In 2006, he began documenting the lives of the Bishnois in India. This tribal group (the article calls it a "sect") bases its way of life on 29 principles formulated in the 15th century by Guru Jambheshwar. Many of these are involve environmental protection, especially protecting trees and wildlife.

It's an interesting read as to how the photographer went about getting access to the Bishnois. I'm certain that Vogel was able to discern the difference between the authentic Bishnois and those who are featured on virtually all the tour itineraries in Rajasthan..especially the rather demeaning and obviously staged "opium"-drinking ceremonies.

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Magnum Blog: Advice To Young Photogs

Alec Soth's recent post Advice to Young Photographers on Magnum's blog is extremely useful, and I think it's certainly a must-read for many emerging and established photographers. Not only does it include Alec's own advice to image-makers, but also sensible advice from about 35 other Magnum photographers ranging from Abbas to Alex Majoli, from Constantine Manos to Paolo Pellegrin, and from Olivia Arthur to Susan Meiselas. Some of the advice is obvious, but others are witty and thought provoking.

Perhaps it's Abbas's advice of wearing good shoes that takes the fillip. Whether it does or doesn't, it certainly gave me the excuse to show my photograph of a tsechu dancer during the Wangdue festival in Bhutan. This amiable fellow may never be a photographer...look closely, and you'll see that his dancing shoes are so well-worn that they almost have no soles!

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Shiho Fukada: E&P Winner

Photograph � Shiho Fukada-All Rights Reserved
Editor & Publisher has just announced its 9th Annual Photos of the Year winners. Shiho Fukada, won the grand prize for her work in The New York Times covering the May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, China. The Travel Photographer offers its congratulations to Ms Fukada for the well-deserved award.

An outstanding photographer, Shiho Fukada has been featured many times on The Travel Photographer. Here are some of the links:

Kashgar Photo Essay

PDN Photo Annual 2008

Digital Photo Pro Magazine

TTP's Photo of the Year 2007

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John Stanmeyer on Malaria Project

John Stanmeyer is a co-founding member of VII, and works regularly on assignment with National Geographic magazine. Here's is a recent interview (via Canon Professional Network) of him discussing his latest long-term assignment with the magazine, involving the global scope of malaria.

A thoughtful interview with one of my favorite photographers...John Stanmeyer's Malaria .

This blog has previously featured John Stanmeyer's Malaria work (link)

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John Stanmeyer on Malaria Project

John Stanmeyer is a co-founding member of VII, and works regularly on assignment with National Geographic magazine. Here's is a recent interview (via Canon Professional Network) of him discussing his latest long-term assignment with the magazine, involving the global scope of malaria.

A thoughtful interview with one of my favorite photographers...John Stanmeyer's Malaria .

This blog has previously featured John Stanmeyer's Malaria work (link)

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Jehad Nga: Somalia Through A Lens

Brightcove posted a 5th of September interview with Jehad Nga at the Frontline Club in London. Jehad is a talented emerging photographer who, for the last 3 years, worked in and around Mogadishu, Somalia.

In this video, he presents a selection of his images, and is interviewed by a rather verbose Rob Walker of the BBC World Service.

For more on Jehad Nga on TTP: (here) and (here)

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Reuters: Iraq War

Reuters, in partnership with multimedia studio MediaStorm, has published a multimedia feature to observe the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The feature is laden with photos, maps and videos, along with interviews with three Reuters journalists, including photographer Goran Tomasevic (who was featured on TTP).

I wonder if this somber anniversary will be adequately observed by the mainstream media, especially as we have lost nearly 4000 soldiers in the meaningless conflict so far, and far more innocent Iraqis have lost their lives.

And lest we forget:

The photograph above is from the multimedia show, and shows George W. Bush in full military regalia on May 1, 2003 when he announced to the world that major fighting in Iraq was over.

Reuters' Bearing Witness: Five Years of the Iraq War

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