Easter Break

Dear Subscribers

There won't be a Friday Round Up this week as I'm taking full advantage of the Easter Break. I hope you too have a few days off and look forward to next week's Round Up.

Thanks for reading.
Alison Stieven-Taylor

Friday Round Up - 18th March, 2016

This week Friday Round Up kicks off with The Lovers, a beautiful series of portraits of couples that have been together for 50 years or more by Lauren Fleishman. Also this week Muhammed Muheisen's portraits of child refugees from Syria, a touching story on an Indian dog rescuer, alarming statistics on the issue of trust in the media and other interesting articles.

The Lovers - Lauren Fleishman

This is a heart-warming series of images, which feature in the book of the same name along with interviews of those couples pictured. When I first saw this series last year I immediately thought of my grandparents who were together for almost 60 years and spent every day with each other working in their wine shop. Theirs was a love I imagined few would experience. Lauren's beautiful book is both nostalgic and uplifting. I am delighted to share some of her images here. To see more visit Lauren's website.









Muhammed Muheisen – Portraits of Syria's Child Refugees in Jordan

Rakan Raslan, 11, from Hama. “I used to go to the school back in Hama,” Raslan said. “I used to have friends there. Our home was destroyed in the war and we had to flee to Jordan.” Rakan said that without an education, his future is in doubt. “The best I can become is a driver".

This week TIME magazine ran a series of portraits by Muhammed Muheisen, who has been photographing conflict for the past 15 years. I met up with Muhammed at Visa Pour L'Image a couple of years ago and we spoke about his work. At the time he told me: “I was born in Jerusalem and raised in conflict, so it has always been part of my life". Given his own experience, it is not surprising he is drawn to telling the stories of those who are also growing up in conflict.

At college he studied journalism and political science, “but my passion is photography” he said. In 2001 he got a chance to work with Associated Press (AP) as a journalist. “But I also had my camera and I found myself taking pictures. For me a picture is worth millions of words…I don’t want to offend anyone, I studied journalism, but for me I found a connection with photography and storytelling”. 

Mariam Aloush, 8, from Homs. "I remember our home in Syria and my school there. I just want to go back".

Zahra al-Jassim, 10, from Hama. "I dream of going back to Syria to see my friends Raghd, Halima, and Najwa". 

Covering conflict zones for AP as a photographer Muhammed said he began to think about what happened to the people he’d photographed once the stories dropped from the news headlines. “I started to take steps away from news events”. The more he travelled, the more he was drawn to the human side of conflict, to the contrast, to those moment where life goes on despite what’s happening around it. 

These portraits not only show the faces of some of the youngest victims of the Syrian conflict who now call the tent camps near Mafraq, in Jordan home. They put a human face on the conflict and give these children the opportunity to tell their stories in both pictures and words (because words are important too in putting images into context!). To see more images visit TIME.

Meghanadan A S - The Dog Saviour

In this photo essay Indian photographer Meghanadan A S captures the work of Arun Pasare and his wife Suvarna as they care for stray dogs found on the streets of Pune, India. The couple has been looking after, and feeding, strays for the past nine years and their act of kindness is in contrast to the way stray dogs are usually treated. 

Interesting Reading:

Only Four out of Ten Americans Trust the Media
Journalism at the Limits of Visibility
The American Civil War Then and Now in Pictures
Five Predictions for the Future of Photography

Friday Round Up - 11th March, 2016

This week celebrates International Women's Day with a showcase of five female photojournalists - Diana Markosian, Barbara Davidson, Kristin Lau, Annalisa Natali Murri and Daro Sulakauri.

Diana Markosian
Goodbye My Chechnya

Armenian-American photographer Diana Markosian was the 2015 Chris Hondros Emerging Photographer Award winner. Her series Goodbye My Chechnya "chronicles the lives of young Muslim girls who witnessed the horrors of two wars and are now coming of age in a republic that is rapidly redefining itself as a Muslim state". 

© All images Diana Markosian

Barbara Davidson

Caught in the Crossfire

Canadian Barbara Davidson is a two time winner of the Pulitzer prize and an on-staff photojournalist with the LA Times. Her multimedia project on gang violence, Caught in the Crossfire, features stills and video. Davidson spent three years on the project to expose the reach of gang culture in society and to show the knock of effect of acts of violence on the community. 

© All images Barbara Davidson

Kristin Lau

Nepal Solar Solutions

American photographer Kristin Lau's series Nepal Solar Solutions looks at Nepal six months after the catastrophic 2015 earthquake and the SunFarmer solar energy project. SunFarmer, a global non-profit that installs solar energy in developing countries, has built six health posts in Nepal with local healthcare partners.

© All images Kristin Lau

Annalisa Natali Murri

La Nieve y la Flor

In this engaging series Italian-based photographer Annalisa Natali Murri features portraits of Russian women who have migrated to Cuba. This collection also includes personal anecdotes from those pictured. Many of the stories are from women who migrated thirty years ago as part of what Murri calls a "romantic diaspora".

© All images Annalisa Natali Murri

Daro Sulakauri
Deprived of Adolescence

Based in the Republic of Georgia, Daro Sulakauri's ongoing project Deprived of Adolescence documents the culture of early marriage. Georgia has one of the highest rates in Europe of early marriages, which are prevalent among religious and ethnic minorities.

© All images Daro Sulakauri

Friday Round Up - 4th March, 2016

This week on Friday Round Up - POYi Awards, exhibitions in Melbourne, Brisbane and New York, an article on Why We Need Professional Photojournalists by Alison Stieven-Taylor and another article on the need for diversity in visual storytelling by Anastasia Taylor-Lind.

Awards:
POYi 2015

This week features photographs from the winners of three categories - Photographer of the Year Reportage, Feature Picture Story and World Understanding Award.

Photographer of the Year - Reportage
Paolo Marchetti for The Price of Vanity 

This story was featured on Photojournalism Now in February last year when Italian photographer Paolo Marchetti was named Professional Winner 2015 in the Alexia Foundation Awards for this extraordinary body of work that exposes the reality of breeding animals for the fashion industry.

Feature Picture Story
Newsha Tavakolian

Freelance and Magnum nominee for Iran Coming Out of the Shadows 

World Understanding Award
Hossein Fatemi

Freelance for An Iranian Journey

View the full winners list at POYi.

Exhibitions: Melbourne 

NO LILIES

Is the 6th annual exhibition by women photographers for International Women’s Day and a fundraiser for UN WOMEN.

Artists featured: Wendy Currie, Judith Crispin, Maggie Diaz, Pam Davison, Joyce Evans, Jill Frawley, Amy Feldtmann, Carole Hampshire, Susan Henderson, Sue Jackson, Cheryl Lucy, Helga Leunig, Ilana Rose, Carmel Riordan and Margot Sharman.

(C) Judith Crispin

(C) Cheryl Lucy

(C) Pam Davison

Until 2 April
Magnet Galleries
2/640 Bourke Street
Melbourne 

Exhibitions: Brisbane

In Situ: New photodocumentary work 

This new exhibition at Brisbane’s Maud Gallery features the work of graduates from the Queensland College of Art Documentary stream. Curator Doug Spowart says, “The documentary photographs in this exhibition are made by photographers working not as the casual iPhone snapshot ‘photographer’ of today, but rather individuals who embed themselves in human and natural environments to witness, to empathise and to document with a camera so a story can be shared. The documentary photographers in this exhibition present their work as evidence of what they have seen, felt and been touched by. This work represents new photodocumentary practice and will place viewers in situ – surrounded by issues of contemporary life”. 

(C) Elise Searson

(C) Marc Pricop

(C)Thomas Oliver

(C) David Mines

(C) Cale Searston

(C) Richard Fraser

The contributing photographers are: Chris Bowes, Richard Fraser, Gillian Jones, Louis Lim, David Mines, Thomas Oliver, Marc Pricop, Elise Searson and Cale Searston.

9-20 March
Maud Gallery
6 Maud Street
Newstead (Brisbane)

Exhibitions: New York

Meryl Meisler

Currently showing at Steven Kasher Gallery in New York is an exhibition featuring early work by Meryl Meisler who is considered one of the great visual diarists of Americana. This show spans photographs from the 1970s from the “kitsch-filled” rooms of her hometown of Long Island and portraits of her family to New York’s disco-era. This idiosyncratic collection features portraits taken in suburban settings as well as more notorious New York clubs such as CBGB, Studio 54 and The Magic Carpet.  

Man in a 3 Piece Suit Dancing Within the Circle at a Wedding

Rockville Centre, NY, March 1976 

(C) Meryl Meisler, Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery

Mom( Sylvia ""Sunny"" Schulman Meisler) 

Reading A Scholarly View of the Jewish Mother, 

Thanksgiving, North Massapequa, NY, November 1978

(C) Meryl Meisler, Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery

The Meisler, Forkash & Cash Clan Welcoming a 

Sweet New Year, North Massapequa, NY, 

Rosh Hashanah , September 1974 

(C) Meryl Meisler, Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery

Butterfly Bedroom Telephone, East Meadow, NY , June 1975 

(C) Meryl Meisler, Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery

My 2nd cousins Milton and Betty Schwartz's grandson 

Todd jumping off their couch in the den, Florida, 1978

(C) Meryl Meisler, Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery

Mom Getting her hair Teased at Besame Beauty Salon, 

North Massapequa, NY June 1979, 1979

(C) Meryl Meisler, Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery

Kissing in Black Leather Jackets During last 

Dead Boys Concert CBGB, New York, NY April 1977

(C) Meryl Meisler, Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery

Until 9th April

Steven Kasher Gallery

515 West 26th Street

New York

Articles: 

Why We Need Professional Photojournalists

© Robin Hammond/Witness Change

One of the tenets of photojournalism is to give voice to those who are unable to speak for themselves, but what does this mean for our digital world where the photograph has never been more potent or more accessible? Are photojournalists still needed to tell stories when everyone supposedly has a camera-enabled smart phone and can tell their own stories?

The truth is that more than 2 billion people are still disadvantaged when it comes to digital communications and many of these people are those whose stories need to be told. The notion that everyone has a smart phone is a privileged thought and the digital divide that exists across the globe is widening despite advances in technology…(you read the full story published on L'Oeil de la Photographie here)

Why Photojournalism Needs Diverse Storytelling Approaches

© Daniel Ochoa de Olza

Photojournalist and artist Anastasia Taylor-Lind has written an article on why photojournalism needs diversity in storytelling. This article discusses the issue through 'Victims of Paris', a photo project by Daniel Ochoa de Olza that was awarded third prize in the World Press Photo People Story category only to be withdrawn by the Associated Press.  Read the TIME article here.

Her article feeds into the growing debate on defining photojournalism in the new media environment. It's an exciting time. Approaches like that of Daniel Ochoa de Olza and this year's FotoEvidence Book Award winner Daniella Zalcman's Signs of Your Identity are fine examples of how important stories can be told in creative, engaging ways without losing their integrity or message.

© Daniella Zalcman

See last week's post for more images from Daniella's project.