Oldies but goldies

A look back at really famous photographers actually taking pictures, not talking about them... Okay it's in Spanish but you get the drift! http://www.flickr.com/groups/medioformatospain/discuss/72157615480512079/
Happy new year!

The ugly face of photojournalism

The whole polemics about Jim Nachtwey's ad for internship (http://jamieslist.wordpress.com/2009/12/10/internship-for-james-nachtwey-nyc-unpaid/) reeks of that old phenomenon in our profession: jealousy. Fame attracts praise and vicious attacks in same numbers, often from the sme leeches - all those who think that having a famous name on their CV makes them better photographers. So those "in" enjoy it, while those "out" curse it. It reminds me of the nasty criticisms directed at Yann Arhtus-Bertrand since he started to do TV... If you're not good enough, just blame or demean somebody else!

Jim Nachtwey is a great photographer, though not my favourite. He also is a businessman, employing several persons - and as such he has to do what every business is doing, balance costs. It can't be that easy since rumors have been flying around for a while that he has considered moving his operation from NYC to Bangkok. Is it sad to have to ask somebody to work for you for 3 months with no pay? Yes, but if you cannot afford it, then look for something else. Will the person who gets the job learn something? Obviously. Personaly, I'd prefer to work for him without salary rather than pay thousands of dollars for a week-long workshop! But then I'm only an editor, or in the words of an - untalented - AP stringer "a frustrated photographer"...

And the winner is...

The Foreign Correspondent Club of Thailand has revealed the result of its annual photo contest, for which I was a juror along with Patrick de Noirmont and Roland Neveu. A very good year indeed, especially since among the awarded photographers were two former students of the Angkor Photo Workshop where the three frogs cited above usually tutor young Asian photographers...

Photographer of the Year: Androniki Christodoulou


Spot News
First Place: Lino "Linus" Guardian Escandor (Tropical Storm Ketsana mudslide)
Second Place: Kittinun Rodsupan (solar eclipse in Thailand)
Third Place: Dannyboy Pata (protest in Manila)
Honorable Mention: Thiti Wannamontha (fire at Santika nightclub in Bangkok)
Honorable Mention: John Javellana (Tropical Storm Ketsana floods)

Feature Photography
First Place: Graham Crouch
Second Place: Sudipto Das (Bengal tiger released into the wild in India)
Third Place: Ritesh Uttamchandani (amputee bodybuilder in India)
Honorable Mention: Nicolas Asfouri (transvestite beauty contest in Pattaya)
Honorable Mention: Sandipan Majumdar (village boys and geese in India)


Refugees and Migrants:
First Place: Andrew Biraj (religious migration/train travel in Bangladesh)
Second Place: Orit Drori (stateless Rohingyas in Burma's Arakan state)
Third Place: James Mackay (Burmese political prisoners)

Photo Essay
First Place: Brent Lewin (urban elephants in Bangkok)
Second Place: Afriadi Hikmal (disabled children in Indonesia)
Third Place: Susetta Bozzi (India's rising middle class)
Honorable Mention: Richard Humphries (southern Thailand violence)
Honorable Mention: Gerhard Joren (living with the dead in a Manila cemetery)


Many photographers submitted stunning individual shots or photo essays. But Androniki Christodoulou, a photojournalist based in Tokyo, towered above the competition because of the consistency and range of her work.
She submitted three photo essays, and each alone was considered strong enough to win a prize. Each essay brought viewers into a completely different world, showing the bleak environs of the slums of Osaka, the colorful back rooms of the "Otaku" subculture, and the rich traditions of Yabusame, the Japanese ritual of equestrian archery. All of the photographs required dogged reporting and a knack for building confidence with the subjects to gain access to a world not often seen by the mainstream population. The photos also demonstated great technical skill in capturing imaging in an array of difficult and diverse environments, enlightening her audience.

The Photos of the Year were among the many brilliant images from this year's contest, and the FCCT hopes to sustain that momentum with another contest next year. "We were once again impressed with the submissions in only our second year as a photo contest," said Patrick Barta, the FCCT's second vice-president and one of the organizers of the event. "We hope to build on this year's success by attracting even more excellent entries in 2009."
http://www.fccthai.com/PhotoContest2009.html


Well done all I should add!

New toy...

... or a new disease, since the Angkor Photo Workshop students have infected me with their Facebook and other social networking virus... Not that I have anything to say right now, blinded by the fireworks over Bangkok to celebrate the King's birthday and exhausted by the Angkor week followed by a two-day workshop for UN staffers who ranged from "I know Photoshop" to "look at my new pocket camera"...
At the same time, it's an easy way out when I should be grappling with Dreamweaver to create a real website!

PS - this was shot on Inle Lake in Burma, not on the Tonle Sap in Cambodia!