Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - 29th September, 2017

This week on Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - the plight of the Rohingya with Anastasia Taylor-Lind in Bangladesh, Milton Rogovin's The Forgotten Ones, plus the Australian Photobook Awards are now open for entries and get your photobook reviewed in Sydney.


News:
What's really happening to the Rohingya

Photojournalist Anastasia Taylor-Lind is in Bangladesh working with Human Rights Watch right now covering the heartbreaking story of the Rohingya. I saw one of her photos last week, a portrait of a young woman, Hasina, who shared her horrific story. It made me cold with fury and sick from the inconceivable cruelty. I wanted to share this story with you, and a link to an Op Ed in the Washington Post - The Burmese military is committing crimes against humanity - penned by Human Rights Watch's Peter Bouckaert. This is genocide and the world needs to know what is going on. Get the story out. Please share.

(C) Anastasia Taylor-Lind

This is from Anastasia's post: "Hasina (above) is a soft-spoken 20-year-old Rohingya woman from Rakhine State in Burma. She asked us to use her picture and tell her story so the world knows what is happening there.

Her village, Tula Toli, was attacked in late August by the Burmese army on a rampage of killing and arson after Rohingya militants carried out coordinated strikes on police posts. The villagers ran when the soldiers came, but some were trapped on a river bank. Dozens, Hasina said, were murdered on the beach in front of her eyes, but the nightmare was only beginning.

The army forced Hasina and many other women to stand waist-deep in water and watch while soldiers dug a pit to burn the bodies of those they had killed. She tried to hide her infant daughter under her shawl, but a soldier noticed the baby, snatched her away and tossed her into the fire.
Hours later the soldiers took Hasina, her mother-in-law, sister-in-law and three other relatives, all children, to a nearby house. The soldiers tried to rape the women, knifing the mother-in-law to death when she resisted and beating Hasina and her sister-in-law unconscious. They beat the young children to death with spades.

When Hasina regained consciousness, she found herself inside the house. It was on fire, and she had been left locked inside by the soldiers. Her sister-in-law was alive, too. They managed to escape the flames, but with serious burns. Badly injured, they somehow made their way to Bangladesh. Both still have burn injuries. Hasina’s sister-in-law, who confirmed this horrible incident, showed us a big gash on the back of her head from when she had been beaten unconscious, and that a doctor had stitched.
Hasina insisted we take her picture and show her face to the world. For her, it is a brave act of defiance to those who sought to eliminate her and her family. Investigation by Peter N. Bouckaert and photo by Anastasia Taylor-Lind for a Human Rights Watch."

Photo Essay:
Milton Rogovin - The Forgotten Ones

In the course of researching for my PhD I come across various photographers who from time to time I will feature on Photojournalism Now. This week it's the work of American photographer Milton Rogovin, who passed away in 2011 just after his 101st birthday.

Over four decades, from 1970 to 2000, Rogovin documented the Lower West Side of Buffalo, New York, the city’s poorest area where he took portraits of those doing it tough. In his book The Forgotten Ones, Rogovin said, “Maybe my photos will encourage people to pay attention to these forgotten ones. That’s essentially why I’m doing it: we should pay attention to them and respect them. And to this extent, we (he and his wife Anne pictured below) feel that our photographs are successful”. 

Rogovin began his photography career in earnest at the age of 63. Prior to that he’d had a successful business as an optometrist, before he was accused of being a communist in the McCarthy era and called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1957. With his career as an optometrist in tatters, Rogovin picked up his camera and in 1958 he began photographing stories of social injustice. He earned a Master of Fine Arts and taught documentary photography at the University of Buffalo until 1974.

Throughout his photographic career he concentrated on the poor, believing that no one saw the “potential” he saw. Here are some of his images. 

Australian Photobook Awards and Reviews

Moments Pro, who sponsors the annual Australian and New Zealand Photobook Awards, is hosting a photobook review session at the Volume Another Art Book Fair in Sydney Saturday 14 October from 11am to 2pm. 

There are only 8 spots available. Reviewers include Kirsten Abbott from Thames & Hudson, award-winning photojournalist and artist Stephen Dupont, Diana Hill from Murdoch Books, documentary photography Lee Grant, Daniel Boetker-Smith form the Asia Pacific Photobook Archive and Ben Chadbond from Try Hard Editions. 

If you’re keen to have your book reviewed, you can sign up here.

Enter now for the Australian Photobook Awards.  Entries close 30 November.

Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - 8th September, 2017

This week on Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - Getty Images announces grant winners at Visa Pour L'Image, Vlad Sokhin wins for Warm Waters and Head On Photo Festival 2018 calls for submissions.

Awards:
Getty Grants for Editorial Photography 2017

Five photojournalists have been awarded a grant of $10,000 each in this year's round of Getty Images Grants for Editorial Photography which will enable them to continue working on, what are, extraordinary and important stories.

Hugh Pinney, Vice President of News, Getty Images said the winners were photojournalists “working at the cutting edge...ensuring that often ignored global issues are brought to the forefront of public consciousness. The projects selected explore a range of complex and thought-provoking subjects and we are thrilled that, through the Getty Images Editorial Photography Grant, we are able to support such talent as they continue to shed light on some of the most moving and significant moments of our time.”

And the winners are:

Alejandro Cegarra for Living with Hugo Chavez’s Legacy

'In the latter years of Hugo Chavez’s presidency, Venezuela enjoyed an oil-fueled economic boom that made his vision of a more equitable, wealthier and safer society seem almost attainable. But by the time of his death, in 2013, he left his successor an economy in shambles, tenuous political support, and rising violence. Four years on, the country has been plunged back into a state of poverty and conflict, with citizens struggling to afford food and the youth clashing with the security forces on a regular basis. This project seeks to give a voice to the frustrated and disappointed people of Venezuela who feel consistently ignored by those above them." Alejandro Cegarra.

(C) Alejandro Cegarra

Paula Bronstein for The Cost of War 

"Following the US-backed military operation against ISIS in the Iraqi city of Mosul, the threat to civilians in the region remains high. The use of mines in the city poses a serious problem for civilians, who are the most common victims of such devices. More worrying still is the revelation that, according to the Mines Advisory group, these mines contain 60 times more explosives than a standard anti-personnel mine, drastically increasing the likelihood of death or severe and permanent injury. This project aims to document the silent victims of a conflict that has claimed thousands of lives and left many more maimed." Paula Bronstein.

(C) Paula Bronstein

Antonio Faccilongo for Habibi 

"The Gaza Strip and the West Bank are typically portrayed as places ravaged by conflict, however for the citizens of these regions they are also home, a place where they must build a life amidst the turmoil. This project focuses on the phenomena of ‘sperm smuggling’ by Palestinian women, a practice which allows them to conceive children with their husbands who are serving long term sentences in Israeli prisons. Family remains the most important social structure for many Palestinians and for many of these women this is their only hope for a family." Antonio Faccilongo.

(C) Antonio Faccilongo

Barbara Peacock for American Bedroom 

"The transformation of the pedestrian into objects of artistic merit has long been one of the aims of photography and it is this tradition that the project seeks to continue. In focusing on the commonplace this project hopes to unveil the idiosyncrasies latent in everyday life. The expansive nature of the project invites us to introspect on the complexity of humankind in the west, particularly in America." Barbara Peacock.

(C) Barbara Peacock

Alessandro Penso for The Deal

"The refugee crisis in Europe has dominated the media over the last few years, with xenophobia and closed mindedness often leading the debate. It is therefore vital that we ask, what are the consequences of such attitudes? This project explores the way in which EU regulation has failed to adequately welcome refugees by depicting the exploitation and long-term displacement faced by many of these already extremely vulnerable people." Alessandro Penso

(C) Alessandro Penso

Since its conception in 2005, Getty Images Editorial Grants program has provided grants in excess of US$1.4 million. Congratulations to the winners!

Award:

Vlad Sokhin wins Visa d'or France Award for the Best Digital News Story

Big shout out and congratulations to Vlad Sokhin for winning this award for his work, Warm Waters. I've interviewed Vlad a few times over the years and he's doing some brilliant work on important topics and drawing global attention.

This year's jury members were: Dimitri Beck / Polka, Samuel Bollendorff, photographer and president of the jury, Agnès Chauveau / INA, Pascal Delannoy / franceinfo, Olivier Laurent / Washington Post, Benoit Leprince / Paris Match, Marie Sumalla / Le Monde and Marie Valla, FRANCE 24. The Award is sponsored by rance Médias Monde, France Télévisions, Radio France and INA.

Some other photos from Vlad's Warm Waters series:

Call for Submissions:

Head On Photo Festival 2018

Australia's largest photography festival, Head On, held annually in Sydney, is calling for submissions for exhibitions. Check out the link here. 

Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - 21st July, 2017

This week on Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - Valentyn Odnoviun's Surveillance, the annual Swan Upping on the Thames, Monique Jaques Gaza Girls to become a book, and the winners of the Magnum Photography Awards are announced.

Photo Essay: 

Valentyn Odnoviun - Surveillance

Ukrainian photographer Valentyn Odnoviun, who is based in Vilnius, Lithuania, has spent the past few years creating images of the spy holes in the prison cell doors and the solitary walking yards of former prisoners of the KGB. 

It’s an intriguing series that leaves much to the imagination of the viewer, which is Odnoviun’s objective: “to create a more concrete communication with the help of interpretation and conceptual thinking”. 

 Thanks to Doug Spowart for introducing me to this work, which he discovered at this year's Vienna PhotoBook Festival. 

(C) All images Valentyn Odnoviun

Event: 

What's Swan Upping you might ask?

(C) Leon Neal

This week the annual count of the Queen's swans began on the Thames. Known as Swan Upping this is perhaps one of the more quaint and quirky of the British royals' rituals, but it makes for a fabulous photo opportunity. 

(C) Peter Macdiarmid

(C) Dan Kitwood

(C) Dan Kitwood

(C) Dan Kitwood

Book:
Monique Jaques - Gaza Girls: Growing Up in the Gaza Strip 

Over the past five years photojournalist Monique Jaques has travelled to the Gaza Strip to document what she describes as the “strength, creativity and vibrancy of Palestinian girls and young women”.

Now she has partnered with FotoEvidence to publish a book of her photographs. “Gaza Girls: Growing Up in the Gaza Strip” is a collection of photographic essays and written accounts of women coming of age in a place we more readily associate with war and conflict. It is intended to highlight the challenges of daily life, as well as moments of joy found in a complicated existence. 

(C) All photos Monique Jaques

To find out more check out the project at Kickstarter. 

Awards:
Magnum Photography Awards 2017 

This week the annual Magnum Photography Award winners were announced. Congratulations to all who won and a special shout out to Nick Hannes who has been featured on Photojournalism Now in the past with his Mediterranean and the Continuity of Man series. This week Nick took out the Documentary Series award for his brilliant Bread and Circuses, a photo essay on Dubai's elite. You can see all the winners on the Lensculture site.

All photos (C) Nick Hannes

Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - 16th June, 2017

This week on Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - a feature interview with legendary photojournalist Maggie Steber, the Every Brilliant Eye exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria and a new group show for Colour Factory celebrating the darkroom. Plus the Maggie Diaz Portrait Prize is open for entries, closing 14 July.

Interview: 
Maggie Steber - The Secret Life of Lily LaPalma
Alison Stieven-Taylor







“I can’t wait to get home to my dead lizards in the freezer,” Maggie Steber tells me as we sit down to talk about this legendary photojournalist’s most personal body of work, The Secret Garden of Lily LaPalma, a fantasy world in which Steber’s artistic side is flourishing. I tell her I’m going to have to start my article with that quote. “Of course. That’s absolutely fine,” she laughs. But we’ll get to the dead lizards later.

Having spent more than three decades documenting some of humankind’s less than honourable moments, and witnessing more death and destruction than anyone’s psyche can bear, Steber is finding a new way to engage with photography and the results are exquisite.

In some ways Lily LaPalma has seen Steber reconnect with the type of photography she did as a child. “When I first started taking pictures I did this sort of work,” she explains. “I grew up as an only child and was brought up by my mother who was a scientist and very eccentric. We had a very lively, cultural life”.

(C) All images Maggie Steber

In her formative years she was drawn to the dark side of fantasy. Steber experimented making what she calls “very strange pictures. I loved science fiction, as well as pulp fiction and B-Grade horror movies. I loved to be scared to death sometimes as a kid,” she laughs.

As a student of photography her professor told her she’d never make a living out of her photographic art. Unable to imagine a life that didn't involve taking pictures and telling stories, she moved into documentary photography, becoming the first female picture editor for Associated Press in New York.

After several years behind the picture desk, and with the threat of being promoted to management, a career step Steber wasn't interested in, she threw in her job, left her boyfriend behind and headed to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) which was in the grips of a long guerrilla war.

In Rhodesia Steber sought out the back-story to the war, something she found far more interesting than the fighting itself, forging a narrative style that would come to define her documentary work. “All of these people who had built a life, who had established farms, who were the colonial rulers, they were fleeing and that was the story I wanted to cover. I stayed for two years until the ceasefire and then returned to the United States”.

Back home she started working as a photojournalist, but says it was “hard” and she found herself covering a lot of news stories, which she didn't enjoy. “You know the five hour stake-out to get a single shot. That was not for me”.

Steber decided she wanted to tell stories and began experimenting with long form photo essays. “I started working in Cuba quite a bit, on my own dime and time. I’d do portraits or whatever I had to do, to earn enough to go. Over time I built a big body of work, but it was terrible, and I never showed it,” she laughs at the memory. “But I learned how to do a long term project and to tell a story”.

After Cuba, Steber decided she was ready to try her hand at a long-term study. She thought about going back to Africa, which she really missed, but it was too far away. At the time she was freelancing for a French picture magazine and they commissioned her to go to Haiti. “I fell in love with Haiti. After 30 years I still work in Haiti doing various projects. That early work really put me on the map and that’s when things changed in my career and I used the Haiti work to get my foot in the door with National Geographic magazine.” A relationship that continues today.

Steber’s career has been a mixed bag, as is the case with most freelancers. She’s shot fashion and commercial work, often as a way to fund her documentary photography, but at the heart of everything she shoots is the desire to tell a story.

Which brings us to The Secret Garden of Lily LaPalma, in which Steber’s skills as a master storyteller are clearly on display. But there is also a sense of playfulness here, as well as experimentation making the work fresh and engaging. “I’m reinventing myself as a photographer,” she says brightly. 

Steber tells me that she was one of triplets, but the other two babies were stillborn. As an only child, but patently aware that there were meant to be two others, she gave her sisters names. One of them was Lily, who was dangerous and adventurous, dark and mysterious and it is this alter ego who Steber draws on for inspiration. “In Lily’s secret garden there are no rules, no boundaries and anything can happen.” Steber’s eyes sparkle with possibility as she warms to the story.

“Suddenly I had this place I could play and it didn't have to be real, or sad or happy or dangerous, it could be anything. It was somewhere that I could act out all of these things through Lily. The thing I love about the Garden is that I don't have to care if anybody likes it. You know as photographers we are always worrying about whether people like our work.”

After years of experimenting, and sharing some work on Instagram, her favourite social media platform, Steber is now bringing The Secret Garden of Lily LaPalma out into the wider world. “Yes I am,” she says, her childhood Texan drawl suddenly noticeable. “But the Garden is not me, it is Lily. Sometimes it is fun to be bad and Lily is always killing people, so it’s pulp fiction, it’s fantasy”.

The pictures in the Garden are spontaneous, often found images that Steber works with later in Photoshop. She also uses Instagram filters and other apps. “I’ll be out and see something and just photograph it, which is a different way for me to work. Or I might be walking with friends and I’ll be like, oh can you lie down there for a moment, or could you run down that hall!” It’s clear she’s having a lot of fun and inviting viewers to use their own imagination in reading the work.

The Garden has not only provided a way for Steber to spread her artistic wings. Lily has also allowed her to exorcise some personal demons. “I’ve seen some terrible things in my life,” she says quietly acknowledging that many of the darker moments she has witnessed stay with her. We talk a little about art as therapy, and she agrees that in some ways playing in Lily’s Garden has been a release. “What I can say is I’m the happiest I’ve been in a long, long time. I’m gleeful in the Garden”.

And we're back to the lizards. “For the last few years I’ve been collecting dead lizards and freezing them.” We both burst into peals of laughter. “I live in Miami and I have a courtyard and these small lizards come in and I have cats and they are always catching them and killing them. I love them, they are like little dinosaurs, so I started saving them, wrapping them in foil and putting them in the freezer.” There’s more laughter and a caveat that she doesn't use the freezer for anything else. “It’s funny, when I was a little girl we had a freezer and my mother would bring home specimens from her lab, and she’d tell me not to eat anything out of the freezer. So I’m more like my mother than I’d care to admit!”.

Steber, who is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, is continuing her work on the Garden and the lizards will be its sentries. “They’ll keep the meanness, the criticism out. They are just beautiful. Some that didn't go in the freezer have deteriorated and they are now these amazing delicate skeletons”.

“The Secret Garden has given me a playground in which I can exercise my creative instincts and nature without any boundaries and any cares. At this point in my life I feel like I’ve earned this moment to play with something I have treated in a very serious nature and given up a lot in order to do.”

“My life has been so enriched by photography,” she says. “You know I’m just a little nobody from Texas. I’ve had a life I never thought I’d have and I can’t believe it sometimes. I’m grateful to photography and mostly grateful to the people in my pictures.”

See more images on Maggie Steber’s Instagram

In Brief:

Exhibitions: Melbourne

Every Brilliant Eye - NGV

(C) Patricia Piccinini - Psychogeography 1996 from the Psycho series
National Gallery of Victoria

This new exhibition at the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia Melbourne explores the cultural phenomena of the nineties - grunge, techno, cyborgs, identity politics and DIY - with more than 100 works by some of the foremost artists of the period.

Util 1 October

Ian Potter Centre

Federation Square

Cnr. Flinders & Swanston Streets

Melbourne

For more information click here

For the Love of the Dark - Colour Factory

(C) Tom Goldner

A group show celebrating the craft of the darkroom. Artists include Phill Virgo, Linsey Gosper, Shane Waghorne, David Tatnall, Ellie Young, Tom Goldner, Lynette Zeeng and Sophie Caligari.

Until 1 July
Colour Factory
409–429 Gore Street
Fitzroy