In an earlier post I had argued, pointing to a series of social and economic statistics,I argued that faced with the dire economic realities of today’s America, the silence of the photographers was confusing and disappointing.
The Spinning Head
A Photographer Confronts His World
Matt Black’s The People Of The Clouds
From People Of The Clouds by Matt Black
Matt Black‘s project People Of The Clouds may be one of the most intelligently thought through pieces of photographic work I have seen in a long time. I just wanted to say that simply and clearly. Details »
Crossing Boundaries Or Where I Realize That Some Of The Most Creative Photographers Are Not Even Photographers
The borders this book crosses again and again are also those where academic writing meets popular journalism, and political poetry encounters the work of documentary photography.
Amitava Kumar, Passport Photos
This [After The Last Sky: Palestinian Lives by Edward Said & Jean Mohr] is not a normal tandem of word and image, neither a coffee table book with a long, glorified caption nor a work of prose propped up here and there by sheaves of shiny pictures. Mr. Said writes to the photos so assiduously and with such effect as to make one powerful essay. And at times, we realize with a sobering lurch, he writes not to the pictures but from them.
Richard Ben Cramer , Acts Of Continuance, The New York Times November 9th, 1986
Jean-Bertrande Aristide Returns
It remains one of the most difficult stories I have attempted to do. In 2005 writer Malcolm Garcia and I traveled to Port Au Prince to document the targeting of pro-Aristide activists and Lavalas supporters in the weeks after Jean Bertrande-Aristide was forcibly removed from power. The collaboration of the French and American governments in the illegal and violent removal of a sitting, democratically elected President of a sovereign nation was blatant and well documented.
mesnal delarge's sister reacts after seeing the body of her brother who was shot and killed while marching in a pro-aristide rally in port au prince. the haitian national police has frequently fired upon peaceful demonstrators, often right in front of MINUSTAH troops copyright asimrafiqui 2006
The Dissenting Photographer Or How American Photographers Turn To Intelligence In Times Of Intransigence
The image showed little, and yet said so much that it made me laugh. The first time I saw it I did not know who the photographer was, but some quick research revealed it to be no other than Tim Davis. The image, called Nixon Monument was sheer genius:
'Nixon Monument' from the series My Life In Politics by Tim Davis
The Disowned & The Denied: Saiful Haq Omi’s Magnum Foundation Project On The Rohingya
From Saiful Huq Omi's Rohingya Project (Copyright Saiful Haq Omi)
Saiful Huq Omi’s work on the Rohingya has become the definitive photographic documentation of this people’s dispossession and dispersion. In the last two years alone it has been a finalist for the Alexia Foundation grant (2009, 2010), a finalist for The Aftermath Project grant (2009), received a Days Japan International Photography Context Special Jury Award in 2009, an Emerging Photographer grant from the Open Society Institute (2010), a Magnum Foundation Emergency grant (2010) and was chosen for the Moving Walls exhibition in 2010. In 2010 Omi was selected to the Joop Swart Masterclass at World Press Photo on the basis of the same project. And I suspect that the work will continue to receive accolades and recognition in the days to come. Details »
Stepping Out Into Their Dreams Or How Two Young Photographers Inspire
She was a sales representative when I first met. Nadia Shira Cohen was introduced to me as the woman who would introduce me to editors in New York and help pass my work off as something worthy of being published. She actually managed to do this, and convince editors to give me work. But it was apparent from the moment we first met that simply helping SIPA Press sell images was not what she really wanted to do. Over the years we developed a friendship, trust and a shared conviction that where she had to be was out in the world, behind the camera, telling stories.
Afghanistan's Burned Brides By Elliott Woods
Details »
I Find Myself Short Of Breath, Gasping For Air Or Fazal Sheikh Redesigns His Website!
From Moksha by Fazal Sheikh
What has always impressed me about Fazal Sheikh is his intelligence and willingness to engage in the complete complexity of the human conditions he documents. There is no attempt to avoid the difficult, or to elide the embarassing. His eye is precise and spectacularly beautiful. His voice is balanced and calm, refusing to use hysteria or sensationalism to distract us. Details »
Lebanon’s Missing: Photographer Dalia Khamissy Reveals What We Largely Don’t Want To Be Bothered About
Dalia Khamissy, in collaboration with Benjamin Chesterton of DuckRabbit, has produced a fine film on the story of the thousands who went missing in Lebanon’s civil war. Details »
Revealing Histories Long Erased And Denigrated: Photographer Aaron Vincent Elkaim’s Attempt To Find Old Truths
Aaron Vincent Elkaim’s project on Morocco’s Jewish heritage immediately caught my attention not because of the photographs, but because of words that underpin the ideas and ideals of the project. These words immediately suggested a photographer of considerable intelligence and courage, and willing to accept and understand histories that today lie buried under propaganda, lies and sheer hypocrisy.
From The Series 'Jewish Morocco' By Aaron Vincent Elkaim
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