TERRA NULLIUS book out now

French photographer Viviane Dalles’ book TERRA NULLIUS (land belonging to no one) has been released and the works are currently on show in Millau, southern France at the Museum of Millau. I will be speaking with Viviane about this series of works shot in the outback of Australia in the coming weeks and will post her interview here. For those of you who are able to get to Millau, the exhibition is on until October. To find out more about Viviane’s work please click here.

June Pro Photo - Head On and Carla Coulson features

The June issue of Pro Photo is out and features my stories on Carla Coulson (on the cover) and the Head On Festival.

Carla Coulson is an Australian photographer living in Paris. In this profile I talk to Carla about her latest book, Chasing the Dream, in which she shares her love of 'life through the lens', and her new venture - timeless, elegant portraits of women.

Also in the June issue is my feature on Sydney's Head On Festival that includes images by Australians Megan Lewis, Alexia Sinclair and Louise Whelan as well as Pablo Bartholomew (India), Valeriy Klamm (Russia) and David Alan Harvey (US).

Pro Photo June is out now.

 

Pablo Bartholomew (C)

Alexia Sinclair (c) The Regal Twelve Marie Antoinette

Foto Freo Ten Years On - feature available online now

My feature in Pro Photo - Foto Freo Ten Years On - is now available on my website. 

"From ‘Bob’s Backyard’, to a significant bi-annual event on the international photography festival calendar, Foto Freo’s evolution is testament to the passion and commitment of a small group of photographers including Max Pam, Graham Miller, Brad Rimmer and David Dare Parker and businessman Bob Hewitt, who were tenacious enough not to take no for an answer and to push ahead with their vision despite the obstacles. 

Over lunch in March in Freo, Max, David, Brad, and Graham noisily, and amiably, share with me stories of past festivals. All four have been involved in Foto Freo since its nascent days when the programme was planned literally in Bob’s backyard - Bob is universally recognised as the festival’s father, and this year its official director, a businessman who in retirement is busier now than ever before...." Please click here to read the full story.

Michael Coyne Exhibition Opens Sunday 10 June

Multi-award winning Australian photojournalist Michael Coyne has a new exhibition - "The X Factor" - which opens this Sunday, 10th June at Photonet Gallery in Fairfield (Melbourne).

"The X Factor" features new photographs shot on Fujifilm's X100 and X-Pro 1 cameras, which are gaining praise around the world for their high quality images and retro design.

Coyne, who I have interviewed several times in recent years, is best known for his landmark coverage of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s which culminated in the scoop of his career - in 1989 he was one of the last Western photographers to capture the Ayatollah Khomeini shortly before the Iranian cleric's death that year.

Of that image he says, “Every time I went to Iran I asked if I could photograph Khomeini. They never said no, but it never happened. And then one day I got a phone call and was told to come straight away to the Ministry for Islamic Guidance”.

At the Ministry they revealed Coyne was going to Khomeini’s house the next day. He was intrigued, but had no idea what he would be witness to. As instructed he left his camera gear and film with the Ministry and arrived at Khomeini’s house with only a handkerchief in his pocket. After passing through numerous security checkpoints including the obligatory body search, he was finally handed a box containing his “gear” and ushered into Khomeini’s private mosque.

“So I was standing there and all of these people were crowded around and it was very tight and hard to manouevre. The light was terrible and you can’t use flash, so I was pushing film as far as I could. I had two cameras one on wide angle and another with a long lens. Suddenly the door opened on this platform above me and Khomeini’s son stepped out, all these guards appeared and then Khomeini himself came through the door, a very old man. I used the camera with the wide angle lens and just went bang, bang, bang, and then he moved to a chair where I couldn’t quite see him. I saw a ladder and pushed past the guard, which is a really dangerous thing to do, and an Iranian photographer and myself leapt up to the TV platform. I shot a roll of film on a really slow shutter speed. I didn’t know if I’d gotten anything worthwhile and within minutes he had left. But the whole thing just worked,” he says still marveling at his luck.

Since that time Coyne has traversed the world photographing a wide range of subjects including social documentary projects. He's also published over a dozen books, completed a PhD and today runs workshops around the globe.

You can read my profile feature on Michael Coyne here

(C) Michael Coyne

Photonet Gallery
15a Railway Place, Fairfield www.photonetgallery.com.au

Stephen Dupont picks up Momento Pro Award

“Stoned in Kabul”, a book by award-winning Australian photojournalist, Stephen Dupont, and featuring words by journalist Jacques Menasche, has won the 2012 Head On Festival’s Momento Pro Photobook of the Year Award.

I am not surprised that this book was chosen out of the 33 finalists - Stephen's artistic skills in book making combined with his powerful images have resulted in an exceptional publication.

I extend my congratulations to Stephen, who I believe, is one of the finest photojournalists in the world. I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Stephen in the past and his passion, commitment and intelligence, is obvious. This book is further evidence of his desire to tell important stories that otherwise would remain hidden.

A self-confessed perfectionist, Stephen said he had "absolute trust" in the team at Sydney's Momento Pro, one of Australia's leading photobook print companies, to produce a book that is also "a work of art".

“Stoned in Kabul” traces the tragic journey of two brothers who are addicted to heroin and living in atrocious conditions in war-ravaged Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. It is a sobering work that is delivered with journalistic clarity as well as compassion. In addition to the book there is also a documentary film of the same name.

To view this and Stephen's other works, please click here

Stephen Dupont (C) Brothers Reza and Hussein shoot up heroin, Kabul, 2006

Foto Freo Ten Years On - story out now

While the professional arena redraws its boundaries in the digital age, festivals like Foto Freo, held biennially in Fremantle, Perth (Western Australia) may take on even greater importance in communicating photojournalism's place to, and in, the new world.

Foto Freo has evolved to become one of the most respected festivals of its kind attracting exhibitions by photographers the ilk of Magnum Photos' Martin Parr and Raghu Rai, as well as affording lesser known photographers the opportunity to gain a wider audience, share ideas and make new contacts.

But Foto Freo isn't just about exhibitions, it is about celebrating photography and the bringing together of creative hearts and minds willing to share their passion and knowledge. It is where you will see Francois Hebel, director of Les Recontres d'Arles on his knees helping Antoine D'Agata (a former president of Magnum Photos) hanging his pictures on the wall late into the night. And it is where aspiring photographers can talk in depth with international luminaries.

My article 'Foto Freo Ten Years On' features interviews with the founders of the festival and traces its evolution from projections in local parks and exhibitions in cafes, to this year's ambitious program that involved multiple exhibitions, workshops and seminars, as well as some great social events.

'Foto Freo Ten Years On' is in the May issue of Pro Photo magazine on sale now.

Above: Antoine D'Agata gives a floor talk at Foto Freo  

Maggie Diaz at the Digital Show

In addition to the photographers who will be at the show on the FujiFilm stand talking about the FujiFilm FinePix X100 (please see my earlier post), photographer Maggie Diaz will also be attending this Sunday afternoon. You can meet with her at the Ballarat International Foto Biennale stand.

A number of Maggie's photographs have recently been hung at the National Gallery of Australia in the Contemporary Australian Gallery alongside the likes of Bracks, Dickerson, Blackman and Hestor. And the National Library has ordered a selection of large prints for a coming exhibition. This is long overdue and welcomed recognition for one of our creative treasures (she may have been born in New York, but Australia has been her home for more than 50 years and we are claiming her as our own). To read my profile story on Maggie please visit Reality Illusion or pick up a copy of the April issue of Pro Photo magazine.

For information on the Digital Show please click here

(C) Maggie Diaz

Meet the Photographers at the Digital Show

At next week's Digital Show in Melbourne (the rebadged, again, PMA Show) Fujifilm will have a number of award-winning and groundbreaking photographers on hand for visitors to speak with about their work and using FujiFilm's X Series cameras. This is a fantastic opportunity to meet some of Australia’s most respected documentary as well as landscape and portrait photographers.

International photojournalists Michael Coyne and Jack Picone will be there along with “Conversations with the Mob” author and photographer Megan Lewis. Landscape photographer Christian Fletcher and wedding and portrait photographers Samm Blake and Dan O’Day, will also be available for a chat. As a journalist I know how hard it is to pin down photographers so don’t miss out on this rare occasion. Each photographer will be around for four hours on both days of the show. Visit the FujiFilm X Series Stand for details.

Digital Show

Melbourne Exhibition & Convention Centre

25-27 May

Above: Megan Lewis "Conversations with the Mob" (c) 

Below: Michael Coyne Iran (c)

Michael Coyne to open exhibition this weekend in Melbourne

Michael Coyne, one of Australia's most respected photojournalists, and one of the most interesting, and generous, people I've had the good fortune to interview, will open Jason Blake's photography exhibition, "Destination Journey", this Sunday (13 May) at Photonet Gallery in Fairfield (Melbourne) 4pm-6pm. 

To read my article on Michael Coyne please visit Reality Illusion

7 Exhibitions Open at Sydney TAFE - Head On Photo Festival

Last night the photographic community of Sydney turned out for the opening of 7 exhibitions at The Muse Building at Sydney TAFE.

In a truly fantastic exhibition space, images by award-winning Australian photojournalists Stephen Dupont and Michael Coyne, featured alongside those of Pablo Bartholomew (India), Valeriy Klamm and the Siberian blog project Birthmark on the Map (Russia), Mike Bowers, FujiFilm's 10x10 Project which includes works from this year's Head On Portrait Prize Winner (Critic's Choice) Louise Whelan as well as works by TAFE students and graduates.

This opening capped off, for me, four fantastic days viewing works from all over the world, talking to photographers spanning all genres and catching up with colleagues and friends. Festivals like Head On, Foto Freo and Ballarat's International Foto Biennale bring together such diversity and allow the Australian photographic community access to global views and cultural shifts in photography. The more I see the more I learn. There is incredible talent, range and commitment out there. If nothing else, attending festivals such as this inspire and energise. The medium may be shifting in terms of technology and outlets for work, but there is no lack of creativity and imagination. Food for the soul.

Head On runs until 3 June.

(C) Pablo Bartholomew

Conversations with the Mob - Artsite Gallery Camperdown

Last night I attended the opening of Megan Lewis' exhibition, 'Conversations with the Mob', which was opened by Ray Martin.

Megan spent more than two and a half years living with the Martu Aboriginal community in Rudall River National Park in Western Australia near Marble Bar, documenting their lives. This area of Australia has one of the harshest climates, with temperatures soaring past 50 degrees Celsius in summer. It is literally in the middle of nowhere. Dry, hot, sparse and foreign for us city dwellers. 

The trust and friendship she developed with the 'mob' has resulted in an extraordinary body of work including the book 'Conversations with the Mob', a book that on first glance may be thought of as a coffee table photography book. But it is so much more. This book delivers powerful insights into the Aboriginal culture and the Martu people with honesty, compassion and humor and will help to bridge the gap of understanding that still exists in Australia today between its indigenous peoples and the western culture. This project has given the Martu people a mirror at which to look at themselves also and make better decisions for a healthier, happier future, something all human beings aspire to. Megan has become so invested in this community that she has gone beyond the role of photojournalist, to work with the community to improve the health of the children as well.

In her book Megan talks about how she almost lost her resolve to continue with the project just three months in, the flies, the heat of the desert, the cultural divide overwhelming. In the end she decided the only way to live with the Martu was to forget her western ways and embrace the desert life. She threw in her full time job, left behind worldly possessions (other than her camera gear) and threw herself into desert life. This largely self-funded project clearly became a personal journey and the resulting works are rich with emotion.

Megan's exhibition, which is part of the Head On Photo Festival,  is on until 20 May at Artsite Gallery, 155-157 Salisbury Road, Camperdown.