Monthly Archive for March, 2007

jail

i just returned from jail…..a 6 hour bureaucratic nightmare to visit "uptown" (see march 23 post )…yes, "uptown" is in the maximum security section at Rikers Island Correctional Facility here in new york….he committed  a parole violation and is paying with 6 months of his 31 year old life….one third of his life has already been spent in "blockdown"…

(see natgeo hip hop video link below)

for the first three months of his incarceration, i had no idea where "uptown" was…i had "lost" him….he usually called me at least twice a week…..i feared the worst…and jail was not the worst i feared….the last time i had seen him he showed up at my loft with four men i had never seen before…never met in the "hood where i had done so much of my work with him and his world…i could tell immediately he was running with the wrong crowd….these guys were different….tougher….a lot tougher…..

usually when "uptown" and "ruckus" and "double r"  visited me at home, we ordered out burgers and hung out and looked at pictures etc etc…this time, we made sort of uncomfortable conversation and they left quickly….all of us, marie and luis montolio (my friend from spain) and i felt an ominous discomfort with these new guys….and now  we know why "uptown" disappeared….at least, at Rikers Island he is more or less "safe"…

"uptown" will miss the show….the opening of my exhibition on Hip Hop…he is the key to everything i photographed on this project….i wanted him to perform for the opening…it would have been a seminal moment for him…i can just see it, but it is not to be….he will not be released until mid-july , a full month after the show….we had both imagined such a moment where he would get a "break" as the poet and rapper that he is….

"With every difficulty comes ease in this pain afflicting saga

called life sometimes you might find me asking, "why should i bother?"

times is harder, streets is wise, visions broader,

i did years in them penses, tinted lenses, somebody’s father

lower desire struct, conscience stuck

man i done lucked up…

mental abuse beating yourself daily, calling a truce

past time of your ghetto lifestyle, shaking it loose

time to produce, i rather think big and choose

trying to find the truth…

Am i really born to lose???"

From:  "The Struggle" by Yushanda Durant (Uptown)

(copyright 2006 Yushanda Durant…..South Bronx , New York)

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0704/feature4/multimedia.html

Published on March 31, 2007 by david alan harvey. 4 Comments

benjamin and a bad day

stick around me long enough and you will find that i end up with some really bad bad days…..since starting my little online diary, i have described trips to mexico, thailand and hanging out with my students and well known photographer buddies….you could imagine some kind of fantasy lifestyle where trips to exotic places and only seeing good light and going to gallery openings and running into koudelka by accident were the things that make up my life…wrong, wrong and wrong….truth is, like all of you, most of it is a struggle for some kind of emotional if not physical survival….most of this week has been one disaster after another…i will not bore you with the details, but will somebody please send me some good news???

when things go down down down, you have to look around for something uplifting….for me, it happened on the subway….late at night and dark and dreary…..a really unlikely place to see a smile or to meet a stranger who makes you think twice about anything….

but there was benjamin….playing his trumpet for money and for money sounding a lot like luis armstrong….well, i said it was late!!  i dropped a few bucks into benjamin’s trumpet case and he huffed and he puffed and he cranked out a pretty good rendition of…yes, you guessed it, "what a wonderful world"

where in the world are the trains late at night?  who knows, but benjamin norris scott put down his trumpet,  asked for a piece of paper,  and started writing feverishly…..politeness prevailed…i let a train go by…benjamin was writing his whole philosophy…the philosophy of a recovering alcoholic who is trying to do good….he is (as per written on the paper): "the chief organizer for the Institute for Saving Our Sons and Daughters"..day treatment for 12-21 year olds…mentoring objectives: to assist youth in moving forward through all eventualities: academic, economic, psychological" …there was more, but you get the idea..

another train was coming….we quickly exchanged phone numbers….i dropped in another five….benjamin called me at home last night ….he wondered where i was….he wished me a good day…..what a wonderful world….

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Published on March 30, 2007 by david alan harvey. 12 Comments

a place in history

if you live in new york , you know that this is the biggest small town in the world….i run into people on the streets all the time who are old friends…..i do not say "howdy" to everyone i meet on the street, but this town is small enough that you really can’t get away with anything!!!

and so it was yesterday afternoon….i was rushing to drop off a fedex box on the most beautiful spring day of the century ….sitting there in the late afternoon good light, perfectly positioned at the best corner table, was joseph koudelka and gilles peress and his wife alison…you do not meet joseph koudelka without getting a  big bear hug…..joseph always appears to be in good humor…when joseph walks into the magnum office he literally goes around and hugs everyone in the room….joseph is a lot of fun…but, joseph is also deadly serious…..

i sat down to join joseph , gilles and alison….whatever i was rushing to do suddenly became unimportant….i was now basking in the glow of the afternoon light with two of photography’s greats….i did not speak, i just listened…..gilles and joseph were in the middle of a conversation about a place in history and how you must control your work even after your death……

the discussion was based on the henri cartier-bresson exhibition currently at the International Center of Photography featuring 300 of henri’s  "scrapbook" photographs….photographs he never showed anyone…but photographs that show henri’s thinking process at an early age….they show his  evolution….show his life and what he cared about…but, not his "selects"…not the work that he showed the world….not the icons with which we are all familiar….

joseph was upset with this henri cartier-bresson collection at ICP….henri had often used joseph as an "editor"…someone he trusted to pick one picture over another……."i am sure henri never would have showed this work….he would be angry with this exhibition" joseph said…

gilles countered "well, all of this work is interesting for all of us…if you are going to show your  early evolutionary work or if you know it may someday be "found", then you have to publish it and control it before you die"….

i started wondering if leonardo da vinci would have liked the show at the Met of his early sketches….but, i stayed silent…..

gilles then offered to help joseph put together his early work in a book….a special book of the evolution of joseph…..gilles is a very special thinker…..he sees things in ways that few see….gilles can put a twist on something that makes you think about whatever it was you were going to edit in a whole new light….in my opinion, gilles would be an amazing editor for joseph…but my opinion does not count…only joseph can decide….

joseph is 70 years old….like everyone in magnum and everyone who has spent a lifetime dedicated to their work, he thinks about his "place in history"…certainly joseph already has a place….but he does not want to be misunderstood now and he does not want to be misunderstood after he is gone…..this was a heady conversation in the afternoon sun…i was soaking up every split second…..just feeling to be a little part of history sitting at the table with these guys even having this discussion….

it is something to think about….since none of us knows our departure point, at what point in time do you organize your work in such a way that nobody can mis-use it after your death??…..photographer control….."place in history"….this is what magnum is all about….

the afternoon sun was now hitting joseph square in the face and twinkled off of his glasses….gilles joked that joseph always kept up his "tan"….joseph would smile, laugh heartily,  and then suddenly he would look like the weight of the world was on his shoulders….

joseph is here in new york to make a presentation of his most recent book "Koudelka" (Aperture) at the Aperture Foundation next Thursday evening….suddenly our little cafe gathering broke up and gilles and alison went on their way…joseph and i walked alone up 7th avenue heading for magnum…we both remembered sharing chinese takeout right where we were walking now  several years before……joseph noticed i was limping a bit and asked about my leg…he said he had a bad leg too…..when you are with joseph you remember every little thing..

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i asked joseph how he would present his book…joseph does not make speeches……he said " i will just show the work and then take questions only"…….the presentation at Aperture  will be packed……everyone in the room will know that THEY are part of history and that they will be witnessing a presentation by an icon in the world of photography whose place in art history is assured…..only joseph will be "concerned"  about his next book…

i hugged joseph goodbye at the office  and stepped back into springtime…..in the concrete jungle i saw a little dogwood blooming white….everything sparkled…..i felt heady and light…..i got the first cab i saw….even a friendly driver who did not mind taking me home to brooklyn…..i had to get back to my loft soonest to start organizing my work….i have a long long way to go……i really am concerned about my next book!!!

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koudelka at the magnum meeting in london 2006

Published on March 29, 2007 by david alan harvey. 11 Comments

pinhole journal

arming kids with cameras is not a new concept….it was a "new idea" 30 yrs. ago when jim hubbard created "shooting back" in washington d.c. as a creative response to a creaky art program in the school system of  our nations capital…everyone  loves children’s drawings , and everyone seems to love youngster’s photographs as well…so raw, so fresh, …

eniac martinez (see previous post) gave me a little book when we met in mexico…"Un Pueblo Toba" is a smallish handy softback book of photographs taken in the little village of Toba in Argentina….the "new" catch to this book is that the photographs were all taken with self-made pinhole cameras….so this is really down to basics….this unselfconscious work with the pinhole may be as close to authentic documentary as you  can get…

David

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Published on March 28, 2007 by david alan harvey. 4 Comments

eniac and “camino real”

eniac was the name of the worlds first computer…..and mexico’s eniac martinez was born at about that time, so his mother thought she would give him a name that fit the times….eniac definitely fits the times, but in a very traditional way….his powerful black & white imagery hearkens to an age of classic documentary in the tradition of manuel alvarez bravo and yet moves us forward to see his vision of mexico today…

martinez has a new book….handsome and tactile……"camino real de tierra adentro" takes us on a modern day journey along the trade route that by 1598 stretched from veracruz to mexico city and then on up to santa fe , a distance of about 1500 miles….but, this is not a travel book….eniac uses the historical context of the "camino real" to give us rich imagery that digs deep into psyche of the "modern’ experience….

our warm neighbor mexico is almost unknown or misunderstood by most americans…..to know mexicans and mexico you must go…not to the border towns where the worst of our culture gets blended with the worst of theirs….drive  south and discover the "real mexico"…….mexicans may be the most self-effacing people on the planet…they have hope, they go to church and thank God for what they have , and then they move foreward in the best way they know how….

eniac martinez’ panoramic work sucks you into the frame and let’s you move around inside…..each photograph is a little adventure…..you never know where things begin and end….he does not tell the whole story…..he lets you invent the photograph’s  reason for being…..

try to find this book…..like mexico itself, so much work being done "south of the border", is unknown by americans…..human nature often dictates for us to look far away….the treasures of mexico and its artists are within easy reach…..thanks eniac, mi amigo, for your humility and your vision…

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Continue reading ‘eniac and “camino real”’

Published on March 27, 2007 by david alan harvey. 0 Comments

new postings on all other blogs

Published on March 26, 2007 by david alan harvey. 0 Comments

ad shoots

as i mentioned in a previous post, i sometimes do advertising
photography…..i am in the middle of such a shoot right now in new
york and then on to brazil….this work quite simply pays my
bills….but, i must say, they are also usually quite
enjoyable…because no client is going to commission me for a studio
shot or for a "follow the sketch" photograph…they are usually looking
for me to reproduce pretty much what i do anyway….

as usual, i try to push even these clients who are paying me, to go
a little further than maybe what they had in mind….and i am always working "off the shoot" as in the photographs below….on most ad
shoots i usually photograph a little something special for myself…..my
little favorites are never actually used in the ad, but the day i stop
shooting for myself is the day i hang my cameras up forever…..

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Published on March 25, 2007 by david alan harvey. 8 Comments

sister gemma and model releases

i have never asked anyone i ever photographed for a model release…..it is just not something i can do…..to ask someone to sign a legal document after taking a picture is just too hard for me to do….it is not in my genes…..

but, i do have model releases for pictures which i shoot for advertising… i have an assistant do it…now i am shooting in new york for a couple of days on the same ad campaign that takes me to brazil…..they want my freestyle street shooting and yet require a release…this is very difficult in new york where people are rushing and often suspicious…

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santiago, chile 1989

more and more, publishers of all kinds are requiring model releases…we live in a litigious society….newspapers and general circulation magazines in the  united states  still are legally exempt from needing a release from someone who is photographed in the "public domain"….but, even these publications are starting to at least suggest getting a release..

for sure, you need to have written legal permission if you are going to publish work which would involve the selling/marketing of a product….if you have a picture that is published inside a magazine, that same picture would require a release if used on the cover and subsequently the cover  used to promote the magazine….

yesterday, while out shooting for this ad campaign, i shot a random picture of a Catholic nun who was walking through the park..i was riding from one of those horse carriages for tourists and the picture was an interesting juxtaposition of the driver and the horse’s head and the nun dressed in white…"stop this carriage!!"…marie ( read about marie in "student work") jumps off and runs to get this release signed…i cannot even look….the driver tells me he cannot stop in the middle of the street like this…marie comes running back with the nun who, as it turns out , was walking with her non-nun sister…

i said, "hey, we have to move"…i looked down at the smiling nun….i said," why don’t you come with us"….she smiled even more….i reached down, grabbed her hand, and pulled her and her sister up into the horse carriage…..off we went…..

Sister Gemma and i shake hands and she introduced me to her family sister Rhonda who was visiting from Kansas…Sister Gemma resides in new york along with 50 other "sisters" in a convent ….can’t remember which one….anyway, we start talking about Kansas….i used to live there…my first job as a photographer out of grad school was at the Topeka (Kansas) Capital-Journal….when i told Sister Gemma and her non-nun sister Rhonda that i used to be a photographer in Kansas, their smiles got bigger!!! but, i could not help but think they had to have some doubt…some suspicion…i mean, here is this man in Central Park with a camera riding around in a horse carriage and asking them (or marie is asking them) to sign a legal document!!! 

well, as it turns out Sister Gemma wants to take better pictures….she shoots sometimes for the Catholic publication of her convent….which camera is best?? you know the conversation..i gave her my business card and the link to this site..we chatted for awhile and had a very pleasant ride through the park…neither marie nor i had ever taken one of these horse carriages before….i mean, if you live in new york,  this just does not happen!!!

Sister Gemma said she could not sign a model release…she would need permission from Sister Superior from her convent….we exchanged phone numbers etc….

so, there you have it…i do not have a model release…..this picture cannot be used in this campaign….was i disappointed??  not at all….the warm eyes and the sincere conversation i had with Gemma and Rhonda made my day…..

it started to rain as we said goodbye….warm handshakes….Sister Gemma and Rhonda, i hope you read this….it was a pleasure to meet you…..

Published on March 24, 2007 by david alan harvey. 15 Comments

“uptown” and “ruckus”

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when i started the hip hop story for National Geographic Magazine two years ago, i really did not know where to begin….i was lost…there was not one single rap cd on my shelf….i mean, i was pretty much from the  bob dylan, stones, doors, jerry garcia generation….if it was not for my two sons , bryan and erin, i would not even have a clue as to what followed….even then, i was pretty much locked into radiohead,  phish,  u2, rem, jack johnson and still bob dylan!!

i mean, i knew the "mainstream" rappers…snoop, nelly, 50 cent, diddy, jay-z, eminem and i had tracked the life and art of tupac just because he just always seemed so interesting to me….but, that was really about it…and i had not really listened….i felt the  beat yes, but i could not always understand the words….so i downloaded all of their lyrics…and i read, read, read, and read…that was when i realized this was a story about WORDS….what these guys had to say, was what the story would be…

i ended up in the south bronx projects…where kool herc, afrika bambaata, grand master flash and a whole slew of others , in the early 80′s, took nothing but what they had to say and some beat up turntables and created an art form that vibrates  and shakes concrete around the world….

one day i met "uptown" and "ruckus" (above)…they had both been childhood buddies….their mothers were friends…..they both went to jail when they were 18 or so and they both got out about 10 years later….while they were "inside" they wrote about their lives….when i met them they were living the life in the "’hood"…mostly journalists find out what is going on by asking questions…i built my rapport with these guys by NOT asking any questions….listening works…

i brought them my books …i took a few snapshots and brought them back the next day…and new pictures everyday thereafter…i let them take me where they wanted to go and do what they wanted to do…i let the lyrics i had downloaded and the lyrics that "uptown" and "ruckus" wrote sink deep into the recesses of my brain….i knew i was on to something special….i did not pretend to be anything other than who i was…my only thought was that maybe i could be a type of "bridge" to other white folks in my generation…

one day "ruckus" invited me for sunday dinner in his small apartment on the 18th floor of the Bronx River Projects…..i was honored….out of respect , i showed up in my sunday best…yup, coat and tie….i figured if they were going to invite me into their homes, i would invite them into mine….from that day forward there was an exchange of friendship and comraderie i had never experienced in all of my travels….this was as far away from home as i had ever been….

when they came to my brooklyn loft  and got on the computer and looked at my photographs of them, they really got into it….even telling me things like "yo dave, the lighting in this picture sucks"   …. they poured over all of my photography books and were very proud to be involved with National Geographic even though they were not subscribers….they each walked out one day with new copies of "Magnum Stories"….they were into the "collaboration" we had going….we all knew we were making some kind of history…..a document where they were the authors…i was just a facilitator…

so, my whole project started with these two unknowns….they have dreams….they want to be like nelly and snoop….for the money?  sure!! but, mostly to be recognized as poets, as artists, chroniclers of their world….one day several months later i tried to call "uptown" from snoop dogg’s studio in los angeles….i wanted it to be a great moment….but, "uptown’s" cell phone was out of credit….but he loved the story later anyway….

i took my lessons from "uptown" and "ruckus" and traveled around the world  to meet other rappers in other cultures…..paris, barcelona, israel/palestine, korea,thailand  and finally to the heart of it all…africa…in senegal i met "jally" a senegalise griot….a story-teller….jally’s father , and grandfather and great grandfather and great great grandfather etc etc were griots….if your father is a griot, then you are a griot…there is no other path…and the griots passed on their beat, their rythem their ability to tell a story , to "rap" to their fellow slaves on ships that ended up on the shores of the americas….and from the cane sugar plantations and the cotton fields  came gospel, jazz, blues, rock n’roll and then all the  way back and  all the way forward  to "rap"….

some of my work appears this month in National Geographic Magazine, with a brilliant essay by James McBride ….some of it online as a video on Geographic interactive…..if i do a book someday, the text will be the words of "Uptown" and "Ruckus"…..i just hope they live to see it…because , you see, the life they lead can lead to fame and fortune, but more often leads to jail or death……this is just their fate….

but, my dream remains…..to be at a book signing somewhere with my "boyz from the hood" signing their books…..after all, it is their story, not mine….i just went along for the ride….

 

Published on March 23, 2007 by david alan harvey. 18 Comments

now i have a surprise trip to brazil and…..

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i need an assistant….someone who lives in salvador, bahia and can work with me next week for about 3 days….wishing for someone with good people skills and digital photo processing and transmitting skills

please post your telephone or any contact details here…..i arrive in salvador tuesday evening march 27th……

now, this sometimes happens to me….i think i have a whole week free to work on things, catch up etc…then, i end up in full "panic mode" as right now….this whole scramble is because of an ad shoot…i do very few advertising shoots, but sometimes i have the right style for the right campaign and these things pay for all of the other things i do that bring in no income for me…things like this blog and various little personal photography projects that i do just for fun….

besides, this is a good one…they just need pictures in my own style…i have worked so much in bahia and so this is an ideal commission, albeit a bit rushed…..

come in, come in bahia!!!!

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Published on March 22, 2007 by david alan harvey. 16 Comments

off to washington

this morning i fly down to our federal village….our nations capitol…..land of the free and home of the brave…..bracing myself for the culture shock of going from new york to washington….in just a few hours i will walk through the doors of the National Geographic Society …..the smell of freshly polished brass awaits……

today and tomorrow i will be working with editor ken geiger on an edit for the cowboy pictures i shot down in mexico way back in january….speaking of cowboys, i will also be hanging with my old best friend william albert allard…i even heard a rumor he was bunking out with me at my little d.c.condo which will be sold this spring (i lived in washington for 15 yrs)…of course, bill will be the star subject of one of my posts soon, but maybe not this week….i am still gathering material on him…i only have 30 years worth so far….

stay tuned…..three days at National Geographic Magazine should give me enough material to do a post every hour or so!!!! 

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Published on March 20, 2007 by david alan harvey. 0 Comments

a question

there is a question i would like to ask my loyal blogger friends…..i am totally a  "print guy"…i love powerful books and well done magazines….i like to hold them in my hand….feel the paper, smell the pictures… and never in my mind did i ever imagine myself "taking to the web"….my friends would not have figured it either…and i only see the web as a way to get to print…..a facilitator and friend…

i have found something really interesting and special here on the web…what i am doing on this "blog magazine"  is what i would be doing anyway…i did not "invent" the concept for  this …it already existed in my life …..i just "organized" it a bit differently…get  stuff  down before i forget it!!!

i have zero computer skills and know very little about blog world…..so, when i designed the format for this blog i was thinking i wanted it to look something like a print magazine…….you know, cover, then go inside, and look around….thus, i have four blogs all dealing with something different….chapters or sections…i wanted to make people feel like hanging out for awhile…just like i would really do at home…..thus , fitting with the "at home with dah" title, which was the name of my first workshop here in the "kibbutz"….

but my question is , should i consider going to just one blog??  do you enjoy going from one blog to another or would you prefer to go to just one with a variety of subject matter on it??…obviously, it is four times harder for me to handle four blogs!!!   but , no matter, i just want to present my online workshop, or whatever it is , in the most attractive , yet positively challenging  way for you to view…

i do now plan on adding two non-blog web pages….one gallery, one audio/video page for films, videos and music slide shows…

any thoughts you may have would be welcomed right now before i do my little additions and slight re-design….i leave for italy on april 2, so i have some time right now to make some changes…

many thanks in advance for giving it a thought….

peace, david

Published on March 19, 2007 by david alan harvey. 29 Comments

kim reierson

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long haul truckers….we are close to them everyday….usually dangerously close….looming fast in the rear view mirror….who among us has not almost been killed by a long haul trucker??  and who can forget steven spielberg’s first movie "duel" ??….in that movie we never saw the driver of the renegade truck, but he definitely scared the hell out of us who watched  steven’s  USC student film..

now we get to meet him, or should i say, them……kim reierson takes us on a "long haul" in 150 pages of her recent work "eighteen" (b.olivia press)…no, that title is not her age, but the number of wheels on a long hauler….kim’s dad was a trucker…but, he took her nowhere with him….no details necessary, but the guy really didn’t have much to do with her…dad did buy her a first camera …mostly though he was a pretty busy dude ….however, "blood is thicker than water" and kim dedicated her book to "mom and dad and the truckers of america"

one of these good ole’ boys took kim ‘cross country for two weeks hauling 40,000 lbs. of oranges one day and chickens the next….kim says "these guys haul almost everything we consume" and for her, something else….."he became the father i never had"

catharsis can be the fuel for photographers who need to be long -haulers too…all artists have an empty spot….a well that needs to be filled…..but perky, dynamic kim has got her act together…she has blended art and life…..i am sure that her mom and dad are proud…

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Published on March 18, 2007 by david alan harvey. 5 Comments

eloisa

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now a sweeter woman than eloisa you will never meet….trust me ……i suppose her photo students at "insituto allende" may feel the same…eloisa nisimura, 29, has also been a course assistant for the santa fe workshops in san miguel  for 6 years…when she smiles everybody smiles…

when i met eloisa , she was working in black & white….now, she prefers color most of the time…her project here on bullfighters  has been difficult for obvious reasons: it is a man’s world and a man’s world in mexico is a serious man’s world…but, remember that smile i mentioned???  works on bullfighters too….

when i go to san miguel i just expect eloisa to be there…she has always been there for me….i like her attention….but, something happened this last week right in front of my eyes….eloisa found a new boyfriend!!! …shhhhhhhh….can you imagine,this guy took her attention away from me??  i like this guy……but, one of these days eloisa will move on….i cannot be and must not be possessive….but this dude had better treat her right….if not,all of her other older "brothers"  and i will make sure he rides right on out of town…

yea, yea, ok i will shoot the wedding……hmmmm, see my big smile???

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Published on March 13, 2007 by david alan harvey. 3 Comments

zaida

this is not a happy story…..but, it is a story of love and  loss and dealing with both..zaida sanchez, 22, is a photography student at the "instituto allende" in san miguel de allende……she used her love of photography to deal with personal tragedy….

zaida, unmarried and with the father en absentia, gave birth to a baby boy, paolo daniel….little paolo never left the hospital…..he died of intestinal complications 6 days after birth…..with no husband to lean on, and with a tragedy of the worst possible emotional consequences, zaida was psychologically destroyed…..

"my parents told me to use my talent and my photography as a catharsis…..i wanted to honor paolo….i was in pain, but i also wanted my work to be a very beautiful tribute to him…. my photographs here are little symbols of how i was feeling during the 6 months following the death of paolo"

zaida has been assisting in my class and we have become good friends along with her amigas, eloisa and christina ,both of  whom you will soon meet….zaida did not want me to publish anything that would make the father of paolo look bad…..i asked why….zaida told me that because his parents had been so nice to her…..that says more about the character of  zaida than anything i can imagine ..

Published on March 9, 2007 by david alan harvey. 5 Comments

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Published on March 9, 2007 by david alan harvey. 0 Comments

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Published on March 9, 2007 by david alan harvey. 1 Comment

mexican women photographers

i will post today or tomorrow a story about women photographers in mexico….the history of women in photography in mexico is quite interesting…you will meet three women who are students at the "instituto allende"  and are on a three year study program leading  to a degree in visual arts…meet them and see their work….and , yes, of course, later you will meet the men also…ladies first amigos, ladies first…..

Published on March 9, 2007 by david alan harvey. 1 Comment

fate and dreams

dear photographers/readers/friends…

i started this blog just a few weeks ago and i have learned a lot….first of all, the comments from you have been most welcome and the questions excellent….i will continue to respond as best i can….if i am just a bit late in response it is because i am on a “road trip” and cannot get to an internet cafe or find some wireless connection for my laptop or am just too busy shooting…but, once i start something, i do follow through, so i will ride this horse as long and as hard as i can….

now i only have my friend and assistant marie to help me with this….and we are often not in the same place…..so your patience is totally appreciated….we do have so so so much to post and i have so many friends in the business i want you to know about and hear from and so much student work to publish….right now, i just cannot do it all…but,

fate has brought me to an interesting point in my life…..i am a magnum photographer …..i want to introduce you to my colleagues even beyond what you may see on the magnum site…and meet photographers from all of the agencies..i have photographed over 40 stories for national geographic so i want you to meet those colleagues and editors as well..and the photo editors from all of the magazines….the publishers for my books are: “cuba” (national geographic); “divided soul” (phaidon) and the upcoming hip hop book with no title yet (powerhouse)…..i will do interviews with these publishers and publishers i do not yet know…..and we will meet the gallerists from around the world who set the tone for the often lucrative collectors print market……

it is time for me to share all of this experience…just feels right….i have been blessed….lucky…..my feeling has always been to pass on knowledge, which i have done since i was 22 and finished a university of missouri photo workshop where i told myself then ” david, if you succeed in this craft, this business, this art…you must must pass the torch”…it is to this end that i have taught workshops ever since….BUT i can only teach if i am also working, publishing, exhibiting, and to be comptempory….otherwise, what would i have to teach???

i am not difficult to work with….but, i also have always been a bit of a renegade…..i have always done “my own thing” ….but i always tried to keep the newspapers i worked for, the magazines i did stories for, and the ad agencies i occassionally shoot for, mostly happy….not always, but mostly….lots and lots and lots of mistakes i have made……i will tell you about those too….

but, of course, working alone, on your own, always produces the very best work…..photographers must ultimately “stand alone”….so, it is always tricky to do your own best work and be true to the magazine or source of funding…..i have been fortunate in this regard and i want to help emerging photographers learn how to think about being “professional” and being true to one’s self simultaneously…….

i am mostly blessed with terrific family and friends….my real “heartbeat”…many of these friends are well-known photographers, and some of them will be well- known photographers, and some of them could care less!!!….i love them all……my immediate family is my “soul” and they are spiritually with me always and sometimes quite literally also…..

the dream….and it is a new dream: to secure enough funding for one or more of the emerging photographers who cross my path to actually go out on a significant assignment….a commission, a stipend, a grant or whatever you want to call it……publish the work here…..publish in print….i will have soon a new web page for this work…..

ultimately, this site will be a hybrid….part blog, part “magazine” part something we do not even have a name for yet….fate has put me in a unique position……..like few others……..organizations do these things, but photographers do not really “know” them…..and they rarely have a “vision”….i do have a vision…..this does not mean it is the only way to see …part of my “vision” is to let others have a “voice” including those with a different point of view from mine….. colleagues will speak, students will speak, gallerists will speak, publishers and editors will speak, book store owners will speak, and anyone else we can learn something from will speak….

please let me know what you think…..i welcome ideas, and i will then choose a route based on my “gut” and instincts…..my instincts got me to wherever this is, so i think i will just stay “on it”……..

certainly we have potential to be on the most adventurous “road trip” of all…..

peace, david

Published on March 3, 2007 by david alan harvey. 20 Comments

new posts from mexico

i am still in san miguel and will be  for another week ….doing this workshop has caused me to fall behind on new blog posts……it has taken all my spare time to just respond to comments…in any case, i have a one day break now and will try to get some work up soonest on all four blog sections today or tomorrow…..this is turning into a full-time job!!!     please stay tuned, i will do my best!!!!

Published on March 2, 2007 by david alan harvey. 5 Comments