Monthly Archive for January, 2009

VISIONS FOR 2009

Just as we cross the seemingly imaginary time line into 2009, the world appears to be in turmoil. We are all wishing each other Happy New Year while  more and more attacks are levied into Palestine, the world financial crisis gets worse by the minute, and our most immediate world of print publishing is in a virtual  state of panic. Most of us are now facing  the biting jaws of winter and spring flowers seem far far away.

Well, we are not in control of any of the above.  We must just do what we can do with our talents and make the most immediate space around us a better place. Since photography is what I seem to do best, and since my role as a photographer has extended into the photographic lives of others as a mentor, I will just do what little  I can here on BURN to push all of you to use your eyes, hearts, and intellect in the most constructive ways. Either as documentary photographers or conceptual artists or whatever category of photography you may identify. Labels tend to be just that…labels.  I do want BURN to have the windows wide open for whatever leading edge photography and writing may come our way.

Many of you may know that BURN is a spinoff of my two year old blog “Road Trips”. This blog/forum was almost  exclusively intended as an online workshop or mentoring program for those who logged on. The essays I have published here so far are indeed works in progress from “Road Trips”  or from my students from the four or five workshops I do every year. My primary goal as a mentor is to lead photographers towards their own books. To become authors. To celebrate the vision of a photographer unfettered by preconceived notions of commercial publishing. Commercial publishing has certainly been the lifeblood for my livelihood and education , yet it has always been the struggle between personal vision and editorial  “needs” that have forced me to light a candle for independence, without biting the very hand that has quite literally fed me.  This is a delicate balance for me and I am sure for most of you.

One of my goals here on BURN is to finance some of you so that this can be a source of income and a room where you can grow. In a downsliding economy , this may be difficult for me. OR the timing is just right.  As advertisers flee the traditional print media, they are looking for content on the web.  While their budgets are down, we here on BURN would only need a very small piece of the old pie to rock n’ roll right off the proverbial charts.  Why not have sponsors directly finance a photographer for a specific body of work??  The idea is not to  give funding to BURN, but to give  in the form of stipends or grants funds  directly to the photographer.

This may prove to be a silly dream. This may be a new wave to ride.

To kick things off, and to prove to you and to  potential sponsors that I am serious, I now announce on this New Years Day  the Emerging Photographer Fund grant for 2009.

A $10,000 grant will be given in a few weeks to one of you.
Any  photographer anywhere in the world is eligible.

Generous private donors, who have believed in me and my mentoring programs have provided this funding for you, the readers/photographers  of BURN.  They are able to donate tax exempt funds into the Magnum Cultural Foundation, a non-profit wing of Magnum Inc.  Inside this umbrella of the MCF, I created in 2008 the Emerging Photographer Fund and was able to give a $5,000 grant last year to Sean Gallagher for his continued work on the desertification of China. I am still holding funds for additional stipends.

I will not be on the jury. I will choose the jury from the best talents I can find.  One of the jury will be from Magnum, but I want to cast a wide net. For example, James Nachtwey from VII will be one of the jury. This will be a five person jury representing the magazine world, the art gallery world and the book publishing world. Details for entering , jury selection , and deadlines for entry  will be posted under “Emerging Photographer Fund” in the column immediately to the upper right.

Some of you know that in the last two years I have developed strong online friends based on “Road Trips”. I mentored several books with these friends. Turned online friends into “persona a persona” relationships and have in general tried to take online into “the real world”. While the early essays on BURN do represent the relationships built from “Road Trips”, the door is wide open to anyone reading now or to anyone in the future who so desires to submit work here or become part of my editing/mentoring world.  Like any magazine editor, I will have some photographers I know and develop and collaborate with and yet keep my eyes  open for new talent at all times and from any direction.

Simultaneous with this New Year’s story , I present now (below) the work of Patricia Lay -Dorsey. She is one of my online prodigies.  We have met in person during the year, but most of our collaboration has been online…Patricia is not a professional photographer. Patricia has had multiple sclerosis for 20 years and before she discovered photography she was obsessed with being a painter. Patricia does not aspire to become a magazine photojournalist, yet she is every bit as brave as iconic war photographer  James Nachtwey. He would be the first to say so.

Patricia is a free spirit in the best sense.  We have wrangled, scrambled and collaborated in the most amazing ways. Please appreciate Patricia, and then let Patricia appreciate you in the future.

Please stay tuned…..2009 could turn out just fine after all….

Cheers, David