Foto Freo Highlight - Old Sad and Mad Exhibition

Kevin Cooper's series of portraits shot at Siddhi Shaligram Briddhashram - Home for the Elderly at Pashupatinath, in Kathmandu Nepal, is on show at the Buffalo Club, High Street, Fremantle. The black and white photographs depict the elderly residents of this ramshackle facility that is housed in a structure built in the mid-19th Century. The Home is rundown and the amenities extremely poor, a single tap for washing, and too many rickety flights of stairs for old bones. A number of residents, who have nowhere else to go, suffer from dementia. 

Cooper's photographs may echo with poignancy, and to deny the atrocious state of the facility and the conditions in which these people live would be to ignore reality, but these photos also capture the human spirit with dignity. Cooper said to me he wasn't sure of the ethics of photographing people who don't really know what's going on, but in my opinion one of the roles of a photojournalist is to bring to a greater audience a view of life that may alter perceptions, evoke compassion and force action for a better world.

This is an excellent collection of compassionate and honest photographs that is a must see at this year's Foto Freo. To find out more about Cooper's photography check out his website: Kevin Cooper

Martin Parr No Worries - story on website

My Martin Parr profile feature for Pro Photo is now on the website Reality Illusion

Foto Freo FutureGen2012 Winners

The brainchild of Foto Freo Festival Director Bob Hewitt, FutureGen2012 is a new project "combining the best emerging photo-media talent from around Australia and China - the best of the 'future generation'". Last night at the John Curtin Gallery at Curtin University two Melbourne photographers - Paul Batt, Monash University and Giles Crook, RMIT- won the top prize, a trip to Pingyao International Photography Festival in China in September where their works will be exhibited along with the 8 other finalists. Congratulations to all. FutureGen2012 is sponsored by FujiFilm.

Raghu Rai and Martin Parr exhibitions at Foto Freo

In a word these exhibitions are stunning, although both extremely different. Raghu Rai's black and white portraits of India are nothing short of incredible and this photographer's integrity, commitment and humility is clearly evident in the selection "My India". Martin Parr's "No Worries" captures the Aussie of the outback and is a fine example of his style.

If you are in Fremantle, check out these exhibitions at the Western Australian Maritime Museum (WAMM).

From "My India" (copyright: Raghu Rai)

Foto Freo - 10 x 100 Exhibition Opening

Last night the 10x100 exhibition opened featuring works by Brad Rimmer, Max Pam, Louise Whelan, John Ogden, Lee Grant, Jack Picone, Tim Page, Heide Smith, Marian Drew and Narelle Autio. All photographs were shot on the Fujifilm Finepix X100 of which the editor of Pro Photo, Paul Burrows has said, "cameras this good simply don't come along all that often". The works speak for themselves, an eclectic collection of images from a diverse group of photographers.

If you are in Freo check it out at the Prison. If not, you can buy the book published by T&G Publishing.

Cover photo: Louise Whelan

Foto Freo is on - Now!

Last night Foto Freo turned on a star spangled evening for its opening and it wasn't just the heavens that sparkled. On the ground were photography luminaries from around the globe. Opened by Martin Parr (Magnum Photos), the crowd gathered in the gardens of the Fremantle Arts Centre included noted social documentary photographers and photojournalists, here to celebrate a festival that has grown from an idea tossed about by three local photographers a decade ago - Max Pam, Brad Rimmer and Graham Miller - to become one of the most important on the international photography calendar.

In a scene that could be likened to the heady days of Paris at the turn of the last century when artists - visual and written word - came together to share ideas, spark off each other and enjoy a sense of community - Foto Freo's opening proved that in the Digital Age of the 21st Century we still gain more from face to face contact than we ever will via cyberspace.

Look out for my feature on Foto Freo Ten Years on coming up in a future edition of Pro Photo.

To find out more about Foto Freo please visit Foto Freo 2012 Programme

This is the image on the cover of Martin Parr's book - No Worries published by T&G Publishing. The exhibition of the same name and the book launch tomorrow, Sunday 18th March 6.30pm at WAMM Victoria Quay, Fremantle.

Photo: Martin Parr 

Foto Freo 2012: Divergence: Photographs from Elsewhere

Foto Freo is now only three weeks away opening 16th March. A definite highlight is Divergence: Photographs from Elsewhere featuring works by “many of the world’s most innovative photographers and photojournalists from Argentina, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, UK and the USA." On at the Midland Atelier, Divergence comprises exhibitions, site specific installations, projections, workshops and artist floor talks. If you haven’t checked out the programme yet please visit Foto Freo.

Foto Freo 2012 - Photography Workshops

 

Documentary photographer Claire Martin and Sam Harris will run a five day workshop for up to 12 people as part of the Foto Freo Fringe Program. Claire's exhibition, Slab City, featured in my 2010 profile on the Festival - her work is extraordinary. This is a great opportunity. Check it out at Harris Martin Workshops

Foto Freo 2012 Core Programme

Foto Freo is on again. This international biennial photography festival held in the port city of Fremantle in Perth, Western Australia is definitely worth making the trip for. This year's core programme features a diverse range of photographers from around the world including Magnum Photos Martin Parr, and Australians Tim Page, Brad Rimmer, Max Pam and Jack Picone.

Check out the website for details Foto Freo Core Exhibitions 2012

Michael Coyne on Iran

My feature on legendary photojournalist, and really nice guy, Michael Coyne is in the December issue of Pro Photo. In the story he recounts the years he spent covering Iran as well as the 2000 Olympics project he shot for Kodak - one of the photos is below. Funny, generous, daredevil, dedicated - just some of the words that spring to mind when I think about Michael. I hope you enjoy his story.

Coming up are profiles on Martin Parr, and Maggie Diaz, coverage of Foto Freo (Fremantle March) and Visa pour L'Image (France September).

Wishing everyone a safe and happy festive season. More posts to come in 2012. Thanks for reading.

Michael Coyne from Five Ring Circus

New articles

Both the July and August feature articles in Pro Photo are now loaded onto my website - www.realityillusion.com - enjoy!

Feature article on UN photographer Martine Perret

The August issue of Pro Photo features my interview with Martine Perret as the cover story. I met Martine in Fremantle at this year's Foto Freo festival. She was exhibiting photos from her essay on transexuals in East Timor. This is her story.

Pro Photo feature on Foto Freo is out

Thanks to Claire Martin, Amy Stein, Narelle Autio, Joy Horwood-Cooke and Magda Stanova for their time and their awesome photos. Writing these articles are food for my creative soul.

Foto Freo Femme Fatales

My next article in Pro Photo magazine is a feature on five of the women who exhibited at this year's Foto Freo festival in Fremantle. There are interviews with Australians Claire Martin and Narelle Autio, American Amy Stein, Slovakian Magda Stanova and South African Joy Horwood Cooke.  

Now working on my feature on Martine Perret, a UN Photographer based in Timor who has created a fantastic photo essay on the transexuals in Timor.

(Photo by Claire Martin)

Foto Freo Opening Event

Opening nights are often boring, endless speeches where organisers drone on about the fantastic support they get - which of course is vital to the existence of the event, but perhaps would be better acknowledged in a different environment. And before guests are fueled by alcohol and busy chatting with people they haven't seen since the last gathering. Last night didn't disappoint.

As a social gathering it was a spectacular success. A special thanks to Brad Rimmer who was the best unofficial 'host' I could have asked for introducing me to everyone. I'm always on the look out for interesting people to interview and Martine Perret, a UN photographer based in Timor, is my next subject. I'm catching up with her tomorrow to discuss her work photographing transexuals in Timor. Fascinating.

Foto Freo Interview Score

Am in Fremantle, Perth at the moment for the Foto Freo Festival. Arrived this morning from Melbourne. Already viewed five exhibitions and tomorrow am going to interview the five women photographers whose work I've been enthralled by today. 

Joy Horwood-Cooke - who spent two years traveling around Africa in the 1950's. Her black and white photos capture moments that are timeless and still relevant today in terms of sharing the cultural richness of this vast continent

Amy Stein - from New York whose exhibition Stranded is an extraordinary portrayal of abandonment and loss shot over a protracted road trip across America

Magda Stanova - a Slovakian visual artist who incorporates sketches, painting, and photography into her art. Until I saw her exhibition today I wasn't familiar with her work. She is quite unique in her interpretation of photography's role in our lives and her inclusion of words in her work takes the viewer to a headspace that perhaps we wouldn't arrive at on our own - that's the power of art

Claire Martin - an Australian photographer whose documentary style has the ability to draw you into the moment in the most vivid and intense way. I am really taken with her portraits of squatters in the Californian desert and the work she's done in the "slums" of Vancouver 

Narelle Autio - another Australian who has spent the past decade capturing our obsession with the beach except there are no photos of people, rather photos of the things we leave behind and the detritus the sea throws on shore. Not a topic that initially interested me until I saw her images which are really works of art - crisp and vivid, with almost a pop art feel

These women will feature in upcoming articles in Pro Photo magazine.