19 May
Apologies for lack of posts this last week. I am working on a very exciting redesign of the blog.. Photos will be larger and things a little more organized.. and if you don’t like it, well then we’ll just go back to how things were. Site will be up and running next week!
And this photo has nothing to do with anything here but if an image is going to be up for the next few days, why not. Am I right?
xokate
© David Hurn/Magnum Photos
10 May
The wonderful Bob Croslin’s Grounded just one first place in Pictures of the Year Internationals Science and Natural History Picture Show category. I wanted to know a little more about this stunning project..
What gave you the idea to start this project and how long did you spend on it?
I’ve dropped injured birds off at the sanctuary over the years and I’d always donate $10 or $20. The last time I dropped a bird off (an injured blue jay) I took a look around and started thinking about how I could do something to support the organization. I reached out to the sanctuary’s PR person and offered to shoot a public service campaign for the sanctuary as well as mount a gallery show where I’d sell prints to benefit the organization. It took some convincing but I got the OK.
Was it difficult to get access to the sanctuaries?
Yes. They were very reluctant at first to allow me the access to do the work I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to do dramatic portraits of the birds and that it would involve a backdrop, lights and multiple handlers to execute it. The PR person was on board but I had to convince the hospital supervisor and the bird handlers that we could photograph the birds but not stress or injure them in any way. We started with the white pelican who lost a wing due to fishing line. He’s an education bird that is used to humans and was easy to photograph. We still spent the better part of 3 hours chasing him around light stands and the seamless. When I was finished with that first shoot I knew I had a great image and I immediately started emailing the image to all of my contacts at the sanctuary. They were blown away and with that I was in.
(Click on images to enlarge)
Bob is based in Tampa, Florida. See more of Grounded, here, and more of his work, here.
8 May
When did you first know that you wanted to be a photographer? Did you always plan on going into still-life photography?
When I was in high school. It was the one thing that was totally satisfying yet I still wanted more. I was never very interested in portraiture but I would spend hours in the darkroom making photomontages. In college I had a few conceptual sculpture classes and those classes kind of provided a similar feeling to making photomontages, trying to make something interesting and beautiful within some limitations.
Sam Kaplan – Flossed
Sam Kaplan – Flossed
Sam Kaplan – Flossed
Sam Kaplan – Feed
Sam Kaplan – Feed
Sam Kaplan – Feed
Sam Kaplan – Feed
Who were some of the first photographers that inspired you?
Jerry Uelsmann, Edward Weston, Irving Penn. My high school had those photographers’ books in the photo classroom.
Sam Kaplan – Form
Sam Kaplan – Form
Sam Kaplan – Form
Sam Kaplan – Form
Sam Kaplan – Form
Sam Kaplan – Disposables
Sam Kaplan – Disposables
Sam Kaplan – Disposables
If you could go back ten years, what advice would you give yourself?
Assist as many people as possible, keep your eyes open – you can learn something from everyone.
Sam Kaplan – Consumables
Sam Kaplan – Consumables
Sam Kaplan – Insert Here
Sam Kaplan – Insert Here
Sam Kaplan – String
Sam Kaplan – Milestones
Sam Kaplan – Milestones
Sam Kaplan – Milestones
Sam Kaplan – Milestones
Any words of wisdom for the up and comers?
Shoot as much as you can, and be on time.
(Sam is based in New York. See more of his work, here)
1 May
Parade of Unemployed
Bakers and Big Loaf
New York’s Unemployed
May Day Parade New York
Socialist Women in Los Angeles Jail
Strikers Children from Paterson
Emma Goldman on a Street Car
Protests Against Child Labor
Author Upton Sinclair, in white suit with black arm band, picketing Rockefeller Building
Socialist parade in Union Square, New York
May Day Parade, women marchers, New York
Labor Day (May Day) parade, crowd in rain in street, New York
Socialists in Union Square
Anti-War meeting
Becky Edelson under arrest — Tarrytown
Plunkett (I.W.W.)
Girl socialists Union Sq., May 1, 1908
Geo. Philibiss, French Syndicalist
29 Apr
When did you first know that you wanted to be a photographer?
I think I knew I wanted to pursue photography and photojournalism seriously during my freshman year of university at NYU. I’ve always been interested in international affairs and history, and during the first few months of college I was reading up on the Balkans in my own time. I decided to take a trip to Bosnia to see how the country was faring over a decade after the end of the war there. This was 2006. I got in touch with local NGOs and one of them took me to an internally displaced persons camp outside of Tuzla in eastern Bosnia. I met many widows of the men who were killed in the Srebrenica massacre in 1995 and I spent a day with them and photographed them. I suppose it felt natural doing that, and after developing the images I realized how powerful the medium could be to tell stories.
Nicole Tung
Nicole Tung
Nicole Tung
Nicole Tung
Nicole Tung
Who were the first photographers that inspired you?
The first photographers who inspired me were Josef Koudelka, Luc Delahaye, several others who brought a particular aesthetic to documenting history and social structures.
Nicole Tung
Nicole Tung
Nicole Tung
Nicole Tung
As a female photographer traveling to places of conflict, and oftentimes in the Middle East, do you find yourself treated differently than your male counterparts by your subjects?
As a female photographer traveling to conflict zones or conservative societies, yes, sometimes I get treated differently by my subjects. Sometimes it can get incredibly frustrating but I focus on trying to make the photographs and focus on the stories rather than the personal issues that might otherwise affect me. I’m there because I think the camera is a tool to say something, so it’s not about me and I have to set aside gender issues to show that I can do the same kind of work men can. I usually don’t see my work through that kind of lens but it’s often difficult not to in a place like the Middle East.
Nicole Tung
Nicole Tung
Nicole Tung
If you could go back ten years, what advice would you give yourself?
If I could go back 10 years I suppose I’d tell myself to be a better business person! Navigating the world of freelance photography, especially in photojournalism, is a steep learning curve when you are completely independent.
Nicole Tung
Nicole Tung
Nicole Tung
Nicole Tung
Nicole Tung
Any words of wisdom for up-and-coming photojournalists?
Advice I’d give to young photographers: photograph what you are interested and passionate about. The content of the work and what you are trying to say through it is the most important aspect, and everything else will follow.
(Nicole is currently based in Istanbul. See more of her work, here)
