Reportage

Posts Tagged ‘social commentary’

Update For 2020 Workshop Schedule

In Workshop News on April 23, 2020 at 6:26 AM

Hi All,

Like people and businesses worldwide COVID-19 has ‘disrupted’ our continuing one-to-one tuition and group photography workshops.

That said, we remain optimistic (after it is safe to do so) that we will be able to offer workshops to you all towards the end of 2020.

Until then REPORTAGE PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS wishes you all luck with riding out the Coronavirus storm.

 

                                                                                                                                                                         © Photograph by Jack Picone

 Social distancing at Hua Lamphong station. Hua Lamphong is the main railway station in Bangkok, Thailand.

 

Stay safe and please stay tuned for updates.

~ Jack

 

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      VARANASI & HOLI WORKSHOP March 7th-11th 2020

In Workshop in Motion, Workshop News on October 22, 2019 at 3:31 PM

VARANASI & HOLI WORKSHOP | MARCH 7th-11th 2020

                                                                                                              © Photograph by Stephen Dupont

Reportage Photography Workshops is a series of photography workshops on location in the most fascinating cities and outposts of Asia. Interacting closely with world-renowned photojournalists with long experience in the region, participants take on assignments aimed at advancing their photographic skills and vision. The intensive dawn-to-dusk courses involve challenging fieldwork, formal and informal critiques, editing sessions, evening projections and open discussion. In a stunning Asian setting, participants fully engage with the local culture and environment, and learn how to create photographic reportage to the highest standard.

VARANASI

Reportage Photography Workshops will hold its next roving workshop in Varanasi. Varanasi is one of India’s most enigmatic cities situated on the west bank of the legendary River Ganga (Ganges) in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Varanasi is regarded as holy by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. It is arguably one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and probably the oldest in India.

One of the world’s most breathtaking rivers the Ganges sleepily snakes past Varanasi’s vast number of Ghats as Hindu’s dispatch their loved ones to the Lord Shiva. Varanasi sears an unforgettable experience and is a rich vein for images. Mark Twain wrote: “…crammed perspective of platforms soaring stairways, sculptured temples, majestic palaces, softening away into the distances; and there is movement, motion, human life everywhere, and brilliantly costumed – streaming in rainbows up and down the lofty stairways…”

 

                                                                                             © Photograph by Stephen Dupont

 HOLI

The workshop will coincide with India’s and Varanasi’s kaleidoscopic Holi Festival (The Festival of Colors) taking place on Mon 9th & Tues 10th. Workshop participants will be able to dive right into the Holi festival and document it. Holi festival signifies the arrival of spring, the end of winter, the blossoming of love. For many it is a time to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair broken relationships. It lasts for a night and a day, starting on the evening of the Purnima (Full Moon day) which falls around the middle of March in the Gregorian calendar. Though essentially a Hindu festival, in recent years the festival has spread to parts of Europe and North America as a spring celebration of love, frolic, and colors.

 

 WORKSHOP OVERVIEW

The aim is to produce a photo essay with a striking visual narrative, to be shown on the final evening of March 11th. Tutors will hold individual and group sessions to supervise and edit the assignments, and dialogue intensively on topics such as photographic composition, portraiture, advanced camera techniques, how to research ideas and tell an original story, how to market a body of work, and how to hone your personal style.

The workshop’s schedule will be demanding but highly rewarding. Award-winning documentary photographer Jack Picone will lead the workshop together with acclaimed photojournalist artist and filmmaker Stephen Dupont. Both Stephen and Jack will be there to critique and edit participants’ work one-on-one, and to help navigate any areas of difficulty and discuss all your photographic concerns. Interpreters can also be arranged where necessary. Participants also take part in evening projections and discussions.

With a maximum of 12 participants, the 5-day workshop event will provide an opportunity to explore the cultural riches and social dynamism of this exotic city and river.

Cost: US$1,950. Includes all workshop sessions. Workshop cost does not include travel costs to Varanasi and accommodation.

Application: A $US500 deposit will be required at the time of booking to secure a place.

To receive further information or to request a registration form, please contact: Jack or jack@jackpicone.com or Stephen, stephendupont1@mac.com

 

                                                  Links: www.jackpicone.com / www.stephendupont.com

 

Please Note: We advise that all participants take out medical/travel insurance polices for all our workshops.  

 

 

RWANDA PEACE VII/F The VII Foundation

In Photography, Photography News on April 16, 2019 at 12:58 PM

April 2019 is the 25th anniversary of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
As you read this, Rwandan people are midst 100 days of mourning.
The final number of people who died (and maimed) in the most violent, base and horrific of circumstances has never truly been quantified. Educated estimates place the death toll, conservatively, at one million people. Previously unknown mass grave sites are still being discovered, today. The depth and breadth and vast scale of death solicit inevitable comparisons of the wholesale slaughter of the Jewish community during the second world war and the Cambodian genocide in South-Esat Asia.

In 1994, I documented and reported on the genocide as it unfolded. After crossing the border illegally from Uganda with fellow photographer and friend Stephen Dupont we quickly realized that we had easily, too easily, walked through a door into hell on earth. In front of us was; a burnt, blighted, broken, bomb and a bullet-scarred landscape peppered with the dismembered dead. We ricochet across Rwanda in the back of pick-up gun trucks with the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). At times we crossed paths and interviewed the RPF’s leader Major General Kagame (now President Kagame) as he led his men and pushed towards the capital Kigali to regain power, he saw was theirs. During the battle for RPF to regain power, Rwanda spiralled into a politically toxic and human abyss. Rwanda almost fell off the edge of the world. Such was the heightened level of destructiveness, horror and carnage dispensed by both Tutsis and Hutus it is not implausible to suggest that Rwanda may have never been seen again. It was on the cusp of annihilation.

Fast forward >> to the Twenty-First Century; The VII Foundation is examing countries now at peace (like Rwanda in this case) critically and with rigour and by dispatching leading photographers and writers of war to those countries where they first reported from during the conflict to consider them contemporarily.
Some of the other countries and regions included in the series include; Iraq, Cambodia, Bosnia, Colombia and The Middle East.

I have recently returned from Rwanda working with The VII Foundation VII/F documentary film crew making a feature-length documentary film re-tracing the dark journey I made in 1994. I was assigned by VII Foundation Directors Gary Knight, Ron Haviv and Directed and collaborated with Fiona Turner. On the
ground in Rwanda, I collaborated with the erudite VII Cinematographers and photographers, Christopher Morris and Maciek Nabrdalik our translator and Rwandan all things cultural ambassador was Gadi Habumugisha. Peter Klein the legendary Producer, Director and Founder of The Global Reporting Centre kept us all flying at a high altitude and being the best we could be.

As quintessentially important and necessary as it is documenting war, media is often absorbed with documenting wars as they unfold. The distinction here is, the VII Foundation Peace Project is innovative in adjusting the balance by extending the documentation and the conversation to be more inclusive of the aftermath of war. It is an exploration of countries previously ravaged by war, considering the legacy and impact of war upon their specific culture and country. It is rooted in reflectively making an attempt to quantify the ‘quality of peace’ in post-war time and most importantly – maintaining peace.

Our Rwanda at Peace documentary is in the editing suite for a while yet but as soon as I hear of a release date. I’ll make a post about where and when it can be viewed for those interested.
I have attached a random précis of photographs made during the 1994 genocide (as historical documents) and some contemporary photographs of Rwanda in 2019 – at Peace.

 

Rwanda April 1994

 

An RPF rebel soldier advances towards Kigali during the Rwandan genocide, Rwanda.

 

Rwanda February 2019

Alice Mukarurinda (right) and the genocidaire Emmanuel Ndayisaba (left). Emmanual viciously attacked Alice during the genocide cutting her hand off and leaving her for dead. Against all odds, both have reconciled with each other and now teach reconciliation to fellow perpetrators and victims caught up in the 1994 genocide.

Ecotourism (above and below) is a major contributor to Rwanda’s growing economy. In these photographs, Rwandans perform for foreign tourists at The Guardian Village an Eco lodge in Ruhengeri.

Belancila (Laurencie Nyirabeza’s close friend who was murdered during the genocide) Taba, Kigali.

Poignant and pervading photographs installation at the Kigali Genocide Memorial of Rwandans who were slaughtered in the 1994 genocide.

Ruth Mukankuranga mid-class at Karushaka, Prefecture, Kigali. Pre the 1994 genocide many teachers imparted discrimination against ethnic Tutsis via anti-Tutsi writings within school textbooks.

Agnes Nyiransabimana (red headdress) Pyrethrum flower farm owner with her workers harvesting Pyrethrum flowers outside of Ruhengeri (or Musanze) a city in northwest Rwanda.

 

A one on one interview (Jack Picone green jacket) with The President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame (blue windcheater). Producer, Peter Klein (far right).

Dairy cow shepherds care for their cows, Rubavu (former Gisenyi), Rwanda.

“Bringing in the wheat” (and below) outside of Ruhengeri (or Musanze) a city in northwest Rwanda. It’s the gateway to Volcanoes National Park, home to mountain gorillas and golden monkeys.                       

 

This is “Umuganda,” a community cleanup held on the last Saturday of every month. It is the reason that Rwanda is known as the cleanest city on the African continent. Kigali, Rwanda.

Daily life in and around Kigali’s CBD.

Daily life in and around Kigali’s CBD.

Dairy cow shepherds care for their cows, Rubavu (former Gisenyi), Rwanda.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~JP

Perfect for you?!

In Photography, Photography News, Workshop News on September 26, 2018 at 2:57 PM

If you can, pick up a copy of Australia’s contemporary and clever photography Magazine – [capture]. It is available in both print and online.

 

I am featured along with several noted Australian photographers [contacts below] concerning what our perfect camera would be.

Novel idea.

Below is an extract from the feature article inclusive of my thoughts about what my perfect camera might look like.

News Flash! We still have some places remaining on our up coming photography workshop in Havana, Cuba. If you are interested in going us view the details here and ping me an email  with any questions you might have.

 

 

 

~ Ends

 

 

A Small Selection Of Testimonials

In Ethics, Photography, Photography News, Workshop News on August 14, 2018 at 5:29 PM

Caption: Photoshop is “OK” but undeniable magic is experienced when a confluence of moment, aesthetic, light and emotion is delivered to the photographer in the form of a poetic photograph by the universe.

Join us in Havana for our upcoming photography workshop this November. Click here for further details.

 

Below is a small selection of testimonials from former participants who have attended Reportage Photography Workshops.

“For me, the Kathmandu workshop has been an unforgettable and very inspiring event in my life. Now after one week, looking back, I have only one word to summarize this experience: … wowww!!! It was a pleasure and honour to participate. Apart from the very professional instructions and guidance on photography from Jack and Stephen, it was amazing to discover that it is not only a great photo that counts but also the passion, vision, social/cultural involvement and messages of a great person behind all the work that was shared with us”.

Merci beaucoup!

Steven Van der Kruit

“Would I advise friends to do this workshop? YES

Would I do it again?

YES overseas to live a different experience and see a new place

Did I get out of the class what I expected?

YES, a lot more than what I expected.”

Andrea Francolini

“I had a very enjoyable time at the workshop and feel that I accomplished what I set out for – that is to hone my skills, learn new skills and become better able to take pictures of life here.  It was a wonderful experience and I think I took some of the best pictures that I have ever taken, so I’m completely chuffed”.

Luke Stephens

“Just wanted to say a big thank you to Jack for saying and insisting, “what’s your narrative about – tell me – I want to know”. To David for pushing me to explore things and persisting when I had a mini-crisis about it. To Steve for your artistic sensibility, sharing of your work and for questioning the suitcase shot. To Ed for your patience, encouragement and contemporary eyes for things. I was lucky to be part of it.”

Cim Sears

I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop experience. All four mentors offered sensitivity, encouragement and insight and were able to see the possibility of my work and push me to my strengths. Even though the critiques were casual the comments were direct and informed. After each critique, the bar was set that bit higher, as a consequence I was pushed into unfamiliar territory and subsequently into getting more interesting shots. The mantras “1 in 15” and “you don’t know until you go” keep me shooting and persisting. As a result, I built my confidence, resilience and stoked my photographic fire.

Skye

 “I have to say that I really enjoyed the week (even though it was hard work!) and felt that my photographic eye and technique improved significantly…I benefited greatly from the session with Jack and Steve in putting together my final selection for the showing on the final day – and the group praise from the panel afterwards was reassuring.”

Kieron Crawley

 ‘’I think what the Workshop is doing great is to give a different perspective to those pictures we “usually see without seeing”… and this is great and very refreshing! And also the Workshop has 100% fulfilled its expectations for me in terms of “inspiring people”! Great job!

I learnt a lot from the workshop, a totally new experience and can’t wait to go in the street taking pictures again.’’

Cecile Ducreux

 “Don’t miss the opportunity of learning photography with Jack Picone. He is a unique combination of professional photographer, local guide, and best friend. Work at your own pace. Have Jack review your images on a daily basis, discuss your shots in-depth, or shoot eight hours a day. He will let you know what to look for in a scene and be able to gain access into intimate situations. Jack is a photojournalist on a Magnum and National Geographic level with a passion for teaching. Take your photography to the next level and enjoy a memorable travel experience too.”

Jeffrey Jue

“Without a doubt the most inspiring six days I’ve ever experienced. I was inspired to develop my own style and to follow what I believe to be true to me, and more importantly, to go out and have fun! Thanks again for a fantastic six days. I went out to Kings Cross and I’m confident I’ve taken some of my best shots for my project immediately following the workshop… oh! and I’m shooting in film now. That’s how influential Jack, Stephen was, to the point of experimenting with a different medium”.

Ian Flanders

“The Reportage Photography Workshop” was an extremely valuable experience. It was an immense help to me to hear Jack and Steve both talk about their work, the changing world of photojournalism, and what it takes to be a photographer in this day and age. Not only that but their expert advice in relation to photographic techniques, equipment and critique was immensely beneficial. It was also a great opportunity to meet other talented photographers during the workshop. I highly recommend this workshop to anyone with the desire to extend their documentary/photojournalism photography. It was a very inspiring few days.”

Zoe Morley

 I attended the Sydney Workshop even though I don’t necessarily want to specialise in photojournalism. I found that the learning was applicable across all photographic disciplines. I came away with more knowledge and confidence about framing, composition and storytelling – what makes a great shot. But possibly the greatest thing I took away from the workshops was inspiration. To hear the stories and see the pictures made by world-class photographers like Jack Picone and Stephen Dupont renewed my energy to shoot and my passion for photography. The range of other presentations from legends of the industry like Tim Page and others only value-added and widened the appeal and scope for me. I found Picone and Dupont to be frank and honest in their critique of my work and yet sufficiently gentle in their suggestions and friendly nature not to crush my spirit.  I’ve found it very difficult to get honest and considered feedback on my photography over the years – but I found it at the workshops. I would encourage anyone who was thinking about attending one of their workshops to do so.  The more you put into it, the more you’ll get back.”

Tim Anger

 “This was an excellent workshop, with some outstanding international photographers coming in to show us their work, and to tell us their story. It was very inspiring. For me the best part was absolutely the critique of the images being taken, as it is very hard to get good honest critique, and to have the photos that you have just taken really given a working over was a very good experience and offered good insight into what other people are looking at and experiencing with the photos. The theme of photographing ‘Hope’ was also very interesting, as this was the first time I had been given such an assignment, and it was very helpful to see the thought processes that I went through.

“At 21 I was probably the youngest person in the workshop, possibly with the least experience, but this was no barrier; everyone was equal, everyone has constructive criticism, everyone had a story to tell, it was really lovely being in such a group. Given the opportunity, I would not hesitate to recommend this on to others, or to participate in the workshop again.”

Mitchell Mathieson

“The workshop was a chance to get up close and personal with two (Picone and Dupont) outstanding members of the professional photographic community as well as the guest presenters who were all amazing in their own right. I especially enjoyed the opportunity to meet, discuss and interact with the other students in an open forum. I will be using my experience as a foundation for my photographic style which will no doubt benefit from the valuable guidance I received”.

David Gross

 “I shot a lot of photos and I gained enormous insight into the editing process in regard to how to tell various stories from the one body of work. I also greatly appreciated the guidance in refining my shooting techniques. The relaxed environment was surprisingly conducive to learning and the opportunity to listen in on critique sessions of other participants was particularly insightful”.

Trish Macris

“For me, the Sydney workshop was really valuable, not only in the obvious ways but also in the quiet moments of conversation, discussions and image reviews.  Spending time with photographers actually successful in their vocation was something that made it all very tangible. It was truly valuable to see portfolios of work by high quality, significant photographers and their personal commentary as they presented their own work…  Stephen’s work on PNG and increasing focus on the anthropological aspect of his art,  Jack’s work on the Thai-Burma border and pearls of wisdom throughout the week, Tim Page’s extraordinary body of work during the Vietnam war, and documenting the impact of agent orange since then.  I found the reviews of my own work and the work of my colleagues really helpful. Tim Page’s brutally frank reviews were really helpful and an eye-opener.  Jack’s thoughtful insight into what makes a good and interesting photograph resonated deeply.  Stephen’s eye and holistic view when it came to image selection, editing and presentation were excellent.  I came away with a great appreciation and respect for the photographers we spent time with and more clarity for my own path ahead.”

Kate Baker

‘I learned a lot. The shooting assignment was a brilliant idea… scary, but brilliant. Not only did it provide a platform to be critiqued by Jack and Steve, but I personally felt really encouraged to push myself. I found Jack and Steve’s passion for photography, encouragement and aiming for excellence very contagious. Having additional visiting photographers share their stories as well as just being really inspired by the creative energy of the other participants in the workshop all around made for a great week. I think I was on a high all week… I thoroughly recommend it!!’

“A”

 ~ ends

Katoomba Photography Workshop: 8th-12th Dec. 2017.

In Photography, Workshop News on October 7, 2017 at 4:30 AM

We are taking bookings for Reportage Photography Workshops next workshop in Katoomba, Australia, 8th-12th Dec. 2017.

Update: We are happy to announce this workshop is now priced in Aus$ representing a discount of Aus$520!

Join Stephen and I (Jack) for an unforgettable experience in photography, place, and space.
         © iPhone Photograph by Jack Picone
View from a graffitied train window in the Blue Mountains en route to Katoomba. ‘Graffiti’ is based on the Italian word graffio (which means ‘scratch’).
Entrancing Katoomba is 110 kilometers west of Sydney at an altitude of 1,017 meters. It is situated in the Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains, including Katoomba, is the traditional land of the Gundungurra people and indigenous habitation of the Blue Mountains dates from around 22,000 years ago. The name ‘Ka-toom-bah’, is thought to have emanated from local indigenous people and when translated is said to mean ‘place of many waterfalls.’
It is a popular destination for day-trippers from Sydney and international travelers both lured there by its country town main street, cafes, galleries, and antique shops. But for a photographer, Katoomba is much more than that.
Katoomba is a spiritual and visual mother lode; palpable indigenous peoples ancient history, white man’s recent history, a kaleidoscope of architecture from Federation to now. Local people, who have ‘creativity’ as an in-common gene, bewitching light, impossible mountain landscapes, old trees that reach for the sky, all of which make your heart miss a beat and ask, ‘why has it taken me so long to be here.’
Workshop Overview: This workshop is open to photographers who practice any genre and are at any level. We promote, support and are all inclusive of female photographers.
Award-winning documentary photographer Jack Picone will work in tandem with workshop partner Stephen Dupont, the acclaimed photographer, and filmmaker. Both Stephen and Jack will critique and edit participants’ work one-to-one, and also take part in evening projections and discussions.
Individual and group sessions are held to dialogue intensively on topics such as photographic composition, portraiture, basic camera techniques, how to research ideas and tell an original story, how to market a body of work, and how to hone your style. The workshop is very project based as opposed to technically driven.
The aim is to produce a photo-essay with a striking visual narrative, to be projected on the final evening of the workshop.
The workshop’s schedule will be demanding but highly rewarding.
Application: The workshop is strictly limited to 12 participants. A AUS$500 deposit will be required at the time of booking to secure a place. This will be a popular workshop; please book early to avoid disappointment.
Tuition Cost: AUS$1950
Cost includes all workshop sessions. Cost is not inclusive of travel and accommodation.
To receive further information or to request a registration form, please contact: Jack Picone: jack@jackpicone.com or Stephen Dupont: stephendupont1@me.com
Links:
Jack Picone
Stephen Dupont

Kathmandu September 3rd-7th, 2017

In Workshop News on March 9, 2017 at 2:26 AM

KATHMANDU

September 3rd-7th 

2017

                                                                                                      © Photograph by Jack Picone

Reportage Photography Workshops will hold its second roving workshop in Kathmandu. Kathmandu is one of the world’s most atmospheric cities. Even as urban chaos encroaches, this “city at the top of the world” retains its unique aura of magic, mysticism, and tradition. Over the last decade its roughly one million inhabitants, who are squeezed tightly into the Kathmandu Valley, have also been experiencing a period of major social and political turmoil – from a fierce Maoist insurgency, government curfews, and censorship to mass demonstrations against royal rule and killings of protesters. Democracy was restored in 2006 amid jubilation, and the Maoists have since joined an interim government. Today, many Nepalis believe their country has entered a new era of hope and peace.

What the Travel Guides say:

“Draped along the spine of the Himalaya, Nepal is a land of sublime scenery, time-worn temples, and some of the best hiking trails on earth. It’s a poor country, but it is rich in scenic splendor and cultural treasures. The kingdom has long exerted a pull on the Western imagination. Kathmandu is really two cities: a fabled capital of convivial pilgrims and carved rose-brick temples, and a frenetic sprawl of modern towers, mobbed by beggars and monkeys and smothered in diesel fumes. It simultaneously reeks of history and the encroaching wear and tear of the modern world.” – Lonely Planet

Workshop Overview: Award-winning documentary photographer Jack Picone will work in tandem with workshop partner Stephen Dupont, the acclaimed photojournalist, and filmmaker. Both Stephen and Jack will be there to critique and edit participants’ work one-to-one, and also take part in evening projections and discussions.

An introductory get-together will be held on the evening before the workshop’s formal start. Like any working documentary photographer, you will be given an assignment brief to interpret as you wish. (The brief will be announced before the workshop to give you time to research possible subjects before you arrive.)

The aim is to produce a documentary photo essay with a striking visual narrative, to be shown on the final evening of the workshop. Tutors will hold individual and group sessions to supervise and edit the assignments, and dialogue intensively on topics such as photographic composition, portraiture, basic camera techniques, how to research ideas and tell an original story, how to market a body of work, and how to hone your personal style. The workshop is very project based as opposed to technically driven.

The workshop’s schedule will be demanding but highly rewarding. Tutors and field assistants will be on hand constantly to help navigate any areas of difficulty and discuss all your photographic concerns. Interpreters can also be arranged where necessary.

Traditional Photo Essay and Multimedia: During the workshop participants will have an option to produce a completed photo essay within the documentary tradition or in a more contemporary context, a multimedia. In both cases, tutors will be on hand to guide you through the respective process.

Application: The workshop is strictly limited to 12 participants. A $500 deposit will be required at the time of booking to secure a place. This is one of our most popular workshops, so book early to avoid disappointment.

Cost: US$1,950 includes all workshops sessions. Workshop cost does not include travel costs to Kathmandu and accommodation.

To receive further information or to request a registration form, please contact: Jack Picone: jackvpicone@gmail.com or Stephen Dupont: stephendupont1@me.com

 

Links:

Jack Picone

http://www.jackpicone.com

Stephen Dupont

http://www.contactpressimages.com/photographers/dupont/dupont_bio.html

 

HOPE | A PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION by PATRICK BROWN in BANGKOK

In Photography News on September 28, 2015 at 2:45 AM

The American Photographer Lee Friedlander {b. 1934} once said he was mostly interested in photographing ‘people and things’, but it could be suggested that he expressed those interests in the depiction of places. A photograph can transport the viewer to the street corner of the town they live in, to the next city or the edge of the earth.

A photograph is created by a photographer standing in a particular place at a specific time. Amongst the many reasons for a photographer initially making the photograph one that is paramount is that the photographer wishes to ‘take the viewer there’.

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Patrick Brown’s polaroid landscapes of Australia’s ‘Never Never’ (As Indigenous Australians sometimes refer to the Outback) exhibition titled, HOPE and on show at The Jam Factory in Bangkok Sept. 17 – Oct. 17th succeeds eminently in ‘taking the viewer there’.

Brown’s dark and brooding polaroids not only ‘take the viewer there’ they also act as a kind of emotional trigger. On viewing the polaroids a yearning to travel to where Brown painstakingly made his photographs follows. The want to explore the places and understand the secret of their beauty beckons.

As with Brown’s polaroids, compelling photographs always ask more questions than they ever answer. Questions similar to, what is my relation to these vast ‘forever’ spaces? Where do I or not fit in?

What is unique about this exhibition is that Brown has answered some of the questions photographs like these often ask. He has been successful in reading the visual signifiers’ and messages thrown at him by the natural (and at times the manmade world) which is busy in an endless cycle of creation and destruction. He has given their indicators shape and context. He puts the viewer and by extension — man the protagonist — squarely ‘there’. It becomes evident that man is not just standing on the edge of these landscapes. Man is center stage. He has ideologically, historically, economically, agriculturally, spiritually interacted and finally appropriated these vast spaces. Harmony, discord, fruitfulness, barrenness, utopia and destruction amongst a myriad of others have followed. Man’s interaction is burnt into landscapes not unlike the burnt landscapes themselves documented here. Perhaps the most important question these photographs solicit from the viewer is; will man protect these spaces for future generations or exploit and destroy them as he has done since time immemorial?

Each photograph in HOPE responds to the viewer in the form of a contemplative experience and potently compels the viewer to – question everything. ~ JP

Boko Haram – Kidnappers

In Ethics, Photography News on May 9, 2014 at 1:11 PM

Boko Haram 

Boko_Haram_leader__Abubakar_Shekau_916127537(Above) Leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, gloatingly threatening to sell the girls as “slaves”.
 
Despairingly, when you ask yourself quietly can the world get any more screwed up then it already is, then something like Boko Haram confirms – that indeed it can.
Boko Haram is holding 276 girls from a raid on a school in Chibok on 15 April and a further eight, aged between eight and 15, taken in an overnight raid from their village.
Boko Haram literal translation is – Western learning is forbidden – it is a is a Nigerian Islamist militant group made up of dispersed cells and factions mainly in the northeast of the country. There main objective to make northern Nigeria an Islamic state. What this has to do with kidnapping innocent young school girls we may never really now. Drum roll…….dut da da dut.. da da… meet (see attached pix + video) the clearly charismatic, urbane, erudite and visionary leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, gloatingly threatening to sell the girls as “slaves”.
What a fine specimen of manhood – a luminary. I despair.
View in full deranged rant here

Documentary Photographer Jack Picone Interviewed In Vice Magazine

In Photography News on August 18, 2013 at 8:02 AM

JackPicone_Conflict_Cropped-2010-3

 Photograph: Jack Picone at work in Bangkok during Thailand’s political discord in 2010.

JP-BOOKMASTER-33 copy

                                  Angolan civil war © Photograph by Jack Picone

Documentary photographer Jack Picone interviewed by Vice Magazine Jack  about working in the short term in conflict zones and working in the long term as a documentary photographer on social issue based subjects. Read the full Q & A here.