Battlespace: Unrealities of War

Gallery FCB presents: Battlespace - Unrealities of War

Amazing photos by amazing photographers. Opening is tonight, Feb. 28, and runs until end of April.

http://www.galleryfcb.com/battlespace.html

On the topic of motivation

I thought a little more thoroughly about what we discussed today in class, on what motivates us to make photo stories. Personally, I think what it comes down to is the natural inclination of each person to inquire more into the ways and the nature of the human condition, in whatever the situation it may be. I think we try to find things that connect or relate ourselves to one another, or it could just be downright curiosity and the quest to explore. It's for a variety of reasons we choose to shoot what we shoot-- and what's important is not merely to bare witness to something and press click, but ultimately feel what you shoot. 

Post 3

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/20/nyregion/20080221_BOWERY_SLIDESHOW_index.html

New York Times' Ruth Fremson followed John Cornelius Foley as he made the transition from his plywood box home into an apartment. This is an example of how we can find stories anywhere.

After the last class (when we talked about pictures being all in focus vs only the subject in focus), I find that I notice this more. I liked comparing page 6 with page 2 and 3: photograph 6 has out of focus cups in the foreground and Foley through a mirror sitting at a table--page 2 and 3 show his entire plywood home. Although it's obvious that an apartment is very different from a plywood box, it puts it more into perspective.

I would have liked if there had been a way to see him in his plywood home or his size relative to it. She shows him standing outside of it in page 1, but her angle exagerates his size relative to the box. We never get a clear image of exactly how uncomfortable his living conditions are.

A Nation Is Born.

Back in January, the uncertainty over Kosovo's future hung heavily in the air, amidst excited chatter in smoke-filled bars. The mood in Prishtina when I was there was one of unspoken tension, and the Albanians knew they were in for independence soon, but when was always the question. And finally it happened last Sunday: the province declared itself independent from Serbia, and here in NY, Kosovars were out in droves celebrating their freedom. It's a freedom that no outsider can understand, but being there with them in Times Square, and partying with them into the hours of dawn brought me back to Kosovo all over again, knowing that they lived for so many years, in a state of limbo, and now their land is theirs. I've been thinking a lot about the question of identity, and the Balkans is one particular place where it's often hard to define, but it's also something extremely close to peoples' hearts-- a kind of amorphous reality of sorts. The future for this new born nation is going to involve a lot of work-- not just economically, but socially, trying to set itself apart from the notion that they are 'Albanians' as a collective term, to being Kosovars.

Here are two photos from Kosovo in transition, a month before independence. The latter photos are from last week, of Kosovar-Americans leaving for their homeland, and others remaining here to celebrate in New York.

A bus on the way to the Presevo Valley waits at the Serb-Kosovo border check. Presevo is a municipality inside Serbia, inhabited by about 35,000 people, the majority of whom are ethnic-Albanians. 01.11.08

Serbs in Gracanica gather to celebrate Orthodox Christmas on January 6, 2008. Gracanica is a Serb enclave about 8km outside of Kosovo's capital, Prishtina, and is the site of one of the most important Serb monastaries.

Florim and Valon say goodbye to their wives at Terminal 2 of JFK, as they leave for the expected independence celebrations in Kosovo, 02.15.08
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Celebrations took place on the streets of New York, just hours after Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia.

Argentina's Cocaine Problem

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/22/world/20080221ARGENTINA_index.html

This is from the New York Times multimedia/photo section about serious cocaine problem in Argentina. These photos told a story about how people get the paco, how they use it, who use it and how they try to treat the addiction. All these are represented by the photos and captions. It is very powerful piece especially when each addicted person's story was written with close-up photo. How camera captured the eyes of these people was just amazing.

Castro Resigned

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/19/world/0219-CASTRO_9.html


These are the photos of Castro who announced to resign as the president of Cuba.
His current photos were not as strong as his past photos.
It almost felt like photos are representing Castro himself, getting older and having less power.

NY Daily News: Riot in Belgrade

This multimedia piece is a captioned slide show of the riot in Belgrade after U.S. recognition of Kosovo's declaration of independence. Angry Serbians took their fustration to the streets in protest, as well as the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, in which one office was set on fire. These nine photos depict the protest as well as the riot that was to come.
The overall slide show is successful in capturing some chaos of the riot. Slide #7, however, is the most captivating. In the midst of a blazing fire there is a perfect sillohette of an upper human torso raising his arms in cheers and triumph at the burning U.S. Embassy. Also, in what should have been moments of chaos, dots of blue light can be seen among the crowd of onlookers who are all doing their best to capture this moment with the assistance of their camera phones. This photo was definitely one of a kind.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/galleries/riot_in_belgrade/riot_in_belgrade.html?c=0

Photographer's Journal: Jan Grarup


Jan Grarup's photographs cover the refugee crisis in Eastern Chad and Darfur. A lot of the images were strikingly beautiful and I was equally impressed by the message he conveyed through this multi-media piece. He took a strong stance on the severity of this particular refugee crisis and the potential for a regional conflict to spark. It's obvious that Grarup has put time into understanding his subjects. Though the quality of audio was less than wonderful, it's probably due to reporting conditions. Overall it's a really worthwhile piece.

Why to Shoot.

"Evidence of My Existence". This is the story of Jim Lo Scalzo, a man who has spent his life speeding towards being a foreign photojournalist. I think the class will really dig this story. It's an amazing multimedia piece. It blew my mind. It's for the world-hungry-at-heart, I suppose. Media Storm has really great stuff. Check out "Love in the First Person". You'll cry and fall in love. It's fantastic. Fantastic. Fantastic.


http://www.mediastorm.org/0018.htm


sarah conway

Treating Iraq’s Scars in Amman-Washington Post

Treating Iraq’s Scars in Amman

This slide show was heart wrenching to watch. It covers the aftermath or result of war in many ways. The photojournalist chose to focus on deformed children receiving Doctors Without Borders medical care in Amman, Jordan. I was disturbed by some of the photographs because they were so raw, so honest. The photos of Abdullah-a 7-year-old boy who lost most of his face in a suicide car bombing just felt like a knife in my heart. It was incredibly sad. One of the most poignant photos was of him locked away in his bedroom with a background window shot of downtown Amman. He looked like a trapped, wounded bird. I posted this because I want to know how you all feel about graphic war photography. I feel that sometimes in the main stream US newspapers, the photography representing war is just really bland. I remember reading once in a media studies class that many people complain to papers when they print a picture that is too violent. What do you think?


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2008/02/08/GA2008020803434.html?hpid=multimedia1&hpv=national

sarah conway

A new citizen votes

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/10/nyregion/thecity/20080210_VOTER_SLIDESHOW_index.html These eight photos walk you through 83 year old Matilde Ospina's first time voting as an American citizen. In class we talked a little about immigrants and voting, and this is that idea carried out. Not all the pictures were impressive, and I think it may have been interesting if NYT could have made the project a little bigger/looked at more people's lives. Also, this project seems like it easily could have had sound. It would have been a stronger piece if Ospina talked about her experience.They had a good idea, but the execution was not great.

7-yr war.....life-long devestation

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/10/nyregion/0210-PARENT_12.html

This slide show was taken from the NY Times. A compilation of 13 pictures and captions help to tell the lives of 2 mothers who are dedicated to caring for their sons, who were bothed injured in the war in Iraq. All taken in the hospital room of each son, the inclusion of hospital equipment and staff helps to add to the reality of this specific life-style. Although it was a bit distracting to go from caption to photo, the photos were able to relay the effort needed to care for people who are unable to care for themselves. I liked this slideshow because it dealt with its subject in a different manner. Instead of including photos of deep emotion and stress, the photos showed both mothers living their lives in adaptation to each of their son's injuries.

BBC's Desert Festival, Mali.

I was just enthralled with this slide show. The photos capture the many faces of this music festival in Mali's Sahara. This slide show came out about a year ago, but it's still a really great example of the beautiful portraits photojournalism can produce. Also, I think that the BBCNews' photo-loging is amazing. You can search by country/world region. Check it out!

Sarah Conway

Desert festival:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6310685.stm

Standing Assignment #2

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/fashion/20080209_MODEL_FEATURE/index.html

This is a multimedia piece from NYT. It focuses exclusively on a model who will be walking down the runways of New York Fashion Week for the first time. I just love the first part where the sound of footsteps start the whole slideshow. I could tell that it was a fashion story only hearing the first part. Also, I loved the fact that the photos showed not only high fashion vibe towards the end but also ordinary everyday life of a model in New York City. It was a unexpected surprise. Some photos were not as strong as I expected, but overall, this multimedia piece had great variety.

World Press Photo Winners

The winners of this year's World Press Photo have been announced. I'm particularly taken by Balazs Gardi's images. He's a Hungarian photographer, who won the 1st Prize Singles in the General News Section, and has also recently been included in the VII Photo Agency network. He's definitely got a powerful vision, and his photos strike an honest, simplistic chord-- they speak volumes for everything about the people in them. 

standing assignment #1

This is from the NYT. They are photos from Kenya after the death of a politician. In my opinion, among the 12 photos, photos that showed closed-up facial expressions of the civilians were much more powerful than the photos of broad scenes of local battles. These images just show us the big picture of how corrupted and disastrous the area is now. But the individual civilians' emotions are clearly shown by the tighter shots. I can almost feel how much helpless they are. I wished there could be more powerful or impacting images of scenes of the area.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/01/29/world/0129-KENYA_2.html

This Times piece has no sound, but rather tells the story through captions. I agree with Sarah... I wish there was sound. It's a bit distracting to have to look from the photo to the caption. It seems that more emphasis can be placed on the image when sound it attached. 

The piece is  about the demands placed upon the fitness of a dancer's body during the Carnival celebration in Rio de Janeiro. There are 9 photos. 6 of them are from the dance floor. I would have liked to have seen more about the process of getting fit, since that idea is what the piece hinges on. I hope the URL posted below... it looks like it might, but no promises.

Week in Pictures

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/01/nyregion/20080202_WEEKINPICTURES_SLIDESHOW_index.html

This presentation showed the range of New York City's people, activities and lifestyles with 12 photos. Rather than having a narrator or stream of voices, it had captions to the side. After sifting through projects this week, I've decided I prefer watching multimedia projects with sound. But I think in this case (because each picture told something different from the next) captions made more sense.

The photographer succesfully captures the action and life of everyday New York, which is what I tried to do for the St. Marks assignment.

I am new to multimedia-making and this slideshow gave me some ideas for where to start. And it showed me how just a few pictures can tell a big story.

PRIVATE Magazine

http://www.privatephotoreview.com

http://www.privatephotoreview.com/en/review/private.php/riv/60/page/1

PRIVATE is a print and online magazine published four times a year, and reviews only black and white photographs-- something pretty rare nowadays. Their latest issue features exclusively Pakistani photographers (save one of them, I believe). Look back at some of their older issues, they're good for generating story ideas.