Photojournalism Now

May 06, 2016

Friday Round Up - 6th May, 2016

This week on Friday Round Up exquisite images by Michel Rawicki from his exhibition Touched by the Cold currently on in Paris. Also the exhibition Refugee on at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles, Ingetje Tadros launches crowdfunding campaign for her book This is My Country and L'Oeil de la Photographie dedicates a day to Head On Photo Festival.

Exhibition: Paris
Michel Rawicki - Touched by the Cold

Nature and wildlife photographer Michel Rawicki has made more than 30 trips over the past 20 years traversing the length and breadth of the polar regions from Antarctica and Greenland, through Siberia and Alaska, in order to photograph people, wild animals, and the incredible landscapes of this region.

Against a backdrop of climatic upheavals, this photographer bears witness to a world that is changing, offering us a positive and honest look at this sensitive and fragile white universe that echoes current environmental concerns. This stunning exhibition features 80 photographs.

Until 17 July
Luxembourg Gardens
Paris

Exhibition:
REFUGEE - Group Exhibition

REFUGEE features photographs taken around the world by five photographers: Martin Schoeller (USA 2016), Graciela Iturbide (Colombia 2105), Tom Stoddart (Europe 2105), Lynsey Addario (Myanmar 2015) and Omar Victor Diop (Cameroon, 2015). Current statistics from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, says 60 million people are displaced globally.

This exhibition "allows audiences to engage with aspects of the plight of refugees not previously encountered, and to reflect on a full range of refugee experiences through singular images. The compelling exhibit offers visitors insight into the plight of refugees, including their efforts to survive, their needs, their dreams and their hopes for a better future".

Watch the video narrated by Cate Blanchett here.

Until 21 August
Annenberg Space for Photography
2000 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles

Crowdfunding:

This is My Country - A Book By Ingetje Tadros

Dutch photographer Ingetje Tadros has called the remote Western Australian town of Broome home for the past twelve years. Over the past four years she has been documenting the Aboriginal communities around Broome, which is a tourist mecca known for its pristine beaches, high-priced resorts and stunning scenery.

But Ingetje has uncovered another side to Broome, one the Western Australian government would prefer to sweep under the rug. Tadros says she is appalled by the way the Aboriginal people are treated by the community, and by the authorities. Many live in atrocious, squalid conditions.

Working to gain the trust of elders and other community members Ingetje spent many visits just talking and getting to know the community before she picked up her camera. As her relationship with the community strengthened she began to document daily life - funerals, hunting, family fights, a wedding and intimate family moments. In the last seven months her focus has turned to a single community; Kennedy Hill, one of around 100 indigenous communities that are facing closure under the government’s new edict. Her powerful black and white images have gained international attention and won Tadros a prestigious Walkley journalism award.

Ingetje is working with FotoEvidence to produce a high quality book that will give voice to the stories of the indigenous community in Broome, and wider recognition of the plight of the Australian Aboriginals. It is important work and you can help Ingetje to bring this book to fruition by supporting her Indiegogo campaign here.

Head On Photo Festival on L'Oeil de la Photographie

You can read My Diary, interview with Hollywood portrait photographer Michael Grecco and see My Picks (10 exhibitions) on today's L'Oeil de la Photographie.

April 29, 2016

Friday Round Up - 29th April, 2016

This week it's all about Head On Photo Festival which opened in Sydney tonight. A crowd of around 1000 packed the Lower Sydney Town Hall to find out who were the winners of the prestigious Head On Photo Awards that are sponsored by Fujifilm this year. Congratulations to...

HEAD ON PORTRAIT PRIZE

First place: Antonio Heredia - Survivor

“Some years ago, 29 year-old lawyer Oscar Prieto was diagnosed with brain cancer. Following surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Oscar was able to beat the disease. Nowadays, he is the president of ASATE, an organization which provides help and guidance to those affected by brain cancer. By showing his own scars, Oscar tries to inspire and demonstrate that one can overcome cancer.”

Second place Giles Clarke - Toxic Trespass

“Sameer, 16, is held by his mother Wahida at home in Bhopal's Jamalpura neighborhood. Sameer was born to parents contaminated by carcinogenic and mutagenic water stemming from the 1984 Union Carbide gas tragedy which has claimed 25,000 lives to date. For decades thousands of families have used contaminated water leading to serious illness and birth defects, as afflicted Sameer. The title refers to scholar-activist Sandra Steingraber's concept of toxic trespass, in which toxic chemicals enter our bodies without our consent.”

Third place Kristian Taylor-Wood - HighScroller, Lauren Winzer

“Lauren is one of the shining lights of the increasingly fashionable tattoo industry. Her quirky and unique pop-art tattooing style and expertise at blogging and social media have made her one of the most recognised names in the tattoo game. Lauren currently has 205K followers on Instagram, with the likes of Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus banging on her door to get inked. This portrait is part of a larger series named HighScrollers.”

LANDSCAPE PRIZE

First place David Chancellor - Giraffe, Blue Sheet, Eastern Cape South Africa

“The Fallen. There's a moment between life and death, sleeping and waking that passes in an instant. For the briefest of moments one can see the beast at peace, calm and in a world that only he inhabits. All the chaos and trauma that went before is no longer bothersome; whilst vets regroup or hunters high five he waits patiently for life to start once more, or for some this is the end, and as I watch, the eye no longer is the gateway to the soul, but rather a reflection of the sky.”

Second place Paul Hoelen – Vanilla Sky

“Mining access roads built through the salt pan lake of Lake Lefroy, south of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.”

Third place Yasmin Mund - Rooftop Dreams, Varanasi

“It was 5:30am and I had just arrived at my guesthouse in Varanasi and instinctively climbed the 7 flights of stairs to see the sunrise over the famous river Ganga. As I looked over the side of the rooftop terrace my jaw dropped in disbelief. Below were mothers, fathers, children, cats, dogs, monkeys all sleeping on the roofs. It was mid-summer in Varanasi and sleeping without AC was difficult.”

Landscape NSW Award Ireneusz Luty - Manly Beach, Sydney

“Part of the series City de Noir. City de Noir assembles a suite of black and white images that focus on presenting intimate moments extracted from the urban environment. Through this, the selection draws attention to and captures both fleeting moments and particular contexts that might represent the unseen and overlooked life within the city of Sydney. Pictures employ long-exposure infrared techniques to capture the dynamism with a sensitive restraint of palette and temporality.”

MOBILE PRIZE

First place Andrew Robert Morgan - Losing Independence

“My grandfather, Albert, is forced to take a back seat ride home after a family dinner because he is no longer allowed to drive at night. He is an extremely independent 87 year old man, but the truth is that he cannot continue doing everything himself.”

Second place Markus Andersen - Veil

Third place Ako Salemi - Freedom

“A woman covered by a burqa passes by the Roze Sharif holy shrine in Mazar-e-Sharif, where white pigeons often congregate. The pigeon is the symbol of freedom in Afghanistan.”

STUDENT PRIZE

First place Isabelle Sijan – Girl See’s All

“Girl Sees All depicts the average teenage girl looking at life’s obstacles. This is represented via the snow-caps of New Zealand’s Mount Cook, which can be seen as a double exposure in the subject’s eyes. While the mountain may seem out of place, especially considering the somewhat empty background, it acts as a representation of the obstacles in one’s life – whether a physical challenge or mental – and thus is not equally reflected in the setting behind the girl.”

Second place Pia Wylie - Façade

“My artwork involves placing a physical object in the form of a mirror into the natural environment, blending and blurring the lines between reality and the reflection of reality via the manmade. I love the idea of allowing a photograph, something that is 2D to show multiple facades. I aim to evoke a sense of contemplation and allow the audience to create their own personal reflection through the complex and almost surreal image.”

Third place Ana Burenkova - Stunned

“The water was colder than they thought it would be. I managed to capture the exact moment that they both realised they'd made a terrible mistake.”

To find out more about Head On Photo Festival which is on in Sydney at various venues visit the website here.

April 22, 2016

Friday Round Up - 22nd April, 2016

This week on Friday Round Up a sneak peek at this year's Head On Photo Festival and the Pulitzer Prize for Photography winners. Next week Friday Round Up will be live from Head On's opening night in Sydney.

Farewell Prince
I woke this morning to the news that one of the greatest musical talents of my generation was dead at 57. Shocked and saddened at his untimely demise, I want to acknowledge his passing here. Losing David Bowie and now Prince... I began my career as a music journalist and he was one of my favourites. I still have his vinyl albums...rock on.

Festival:
Head On Photo - Sydney

Australia's largest photography festival, Head On, opens next week in Sydney for a month-long celebration of photography in all its forms. Annual photographic festivals face the challenge of keeping it fresh and programming events and exhibitions that will appeal to loyal followers and also attract newcomers. This year the programme features an eclectic and engaging collection of exhibitions that reinforces the capacity of photography to peel back the layers of human complexity, to transport us to new worlds, to reveal difficult truths and hidden stories as well as to entertain.

Here's a sneak peek at what's in store:

Swiss visual artist Catherine Leutenegger’s ‘Kodak City’ is an anthology that reveals what remains of Kodak as a business and looks at the impact the company’s decline has had on the inhabitants of Rochester, where Kodak’s headquarters was situated for more than a century.

1% -Privilege in a Time of Global Inequality, curated by Myles Little, a photo editor with TIME magazine, which features around 30 images, by various photographers, that define the upper echelons of wealth.

Canadian-born, Perth-based photographer Mark Lehn's photo essay of the Bajau Laut nomads, known as the ‘sea gypsies’, captures this group that lives a stateless existence in boat dwellings in the Sabah region of Borneo.

Three Australian female photographers - Raphaela Rosella, Dutch-born Ingetje Tadros and Kerry Payne Stailey - who are all doing really interesting documentary-based work and tackling highly emotive subjects, have exhibitions too.

Australian landscape photographers Paul Hoelen, Scott McCook and Sheldon Pettit take an aerial view to highlight the environmental impact of mining practices in Australia. These works look like abstract art on first viewing and are visually stunning, but their underlying message is clear, as is the ecological devastation.

There is host of umbrella exhibitions too including two Melbourne photographers whose shows are definitely worth checking out:

Nicola Dracoulis' Living in the Middle of Hackney

Living in the Middle of Hackney documents the lives of five young people in one of London’s most marginalised suburbs. This series shot in 2015 follows on from Nicola's original 2008 commission to create a series of portraits of teenagers deemed ‘at risk of exclusion’ by virtue of their demographic. A lot has changed in Hackney in the ensuing eight years and Nicola found a suburb in the midst of gentrification creating an even greater gulf for those on the margins.

Nathan "Natti" Miller's Notes from the Mississippi Delta

Natti describes this series as “visual notes of a traveller with a camera passing through”. What he doesn’t add is that this traveller has a highly developed eye and his visual rendering of the Mississippi Delta is rich in textural notes and emotions that encapsulate the essence of the blues.

To find out more visit Head On here

Pulitzer Prize 2016 - Photography

Four New York Times photographers, together with the news agency Reuters, won this coveted award for their intense coverage of the refugee crisis in Europe. Congratulations to Tyler Hicks, Mauricio Lima, Sergey Ponomarev and Daniel Etter.