Monthly Archive for August, 2009

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Manuel Garcia – The Georgia Colors

I think that first and foremost I like to watch the world in all its complexity. I get dragged to places where, despite of the stories of misery and war, life still goes on. I like that blend of things. At the same time, it also has to do with the memory of my childhood images, and the fascination with the remains of ancient Europe. In the “Georgia Colors” project I want to explore the unknown of a country where horror and beauty go hand by hand. These pictures have never been published.

Bio:

Manuel was born in Madrid in 1975. He left home to enroll the Army in 1995 and went to Bosnia for 6 months. He quit two years later to study Audiovisual Comunication and Photojournalism in Barcelona, and was drawn to photography for being able to live “adventures” and “experiences”. After he obtained his degree he went on to live in London in 2002, and started traveling to Central America and Eastern Europe, where he developed some personal photography projects.

Photographs: Manuel Garcia

Editor’s Note: Please only one comment per person under this essay.. Further discussions should take place under Dialogue..

Many thanks… david alan harvey

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THIS ESSAY CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT

Brent Lewin – Body Collectors

The Por Tek Tung Foundation is Bangkok’s largest provider of emergency medical services (EMS) and is made up mainly of volunteers who have regular jobs during the day but moonlight as rescue workers.  In a city where hospital ambulances are few and often stuck in traffic, the Foundation is widely recognized by doctors for its efficiency.

Por Tek Tung was started by Chinese immigrants in the last century and started out by providing free funeral services to the poor. Since then, the Foundation has grown into a large organization run through a temple and mostly responds to accidents on the dangerous streets of Thailand’s capital.

Their main function is rushing victims to hospitals and transporting dead bodies to police morgues. The Foundation provides their services free of charge, relying entirely on donations to their affiliated temple from the community. Although it employs 30 loosely trained EMS workers, the Foundation has over 1000 volunteers who patrol the streets each night on the lookout for accidents.

Bio:
Brent Lewin is a documentary photographer that splits his time between Toronto and Bangkok. His work mainly focuses on the plight of the Asian elephant in Thailand and has been awarded from Pictures of the Year International, Photo District News, the International Photo Awards and Prix de la Photographie Paris (Px3). Brent’s work has been featured in National Geographic, GEO and American Photo among others. Brent is represented by Redux Pictures.

(editor’s note: Brent has elected to take the “no comments” under the essay option afforded to all who are published here on Burn…many thanks for respecting his wishes….our Dialogue section is of course open…dah)

Photographs: Brent Lewin
Website: www.brentlewin.com

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Rafal Pruszynski – Riverside

I shot “Riverside” at the same time as I shot Little Pieces of us, and both are still on-going projects. The shooting, and showing of Pieces was a very intense experience since it was highly personal and highly intimate. I began Riverside first as simply a visually interesting project, but it quickly turned into a counter to Pieces. Whereas Pieces was very intense, Riverside was a way for me to get away from that, to step back, become more contemplative. Riverside and Pieces are opposites in many ways. One is black and white, one is color. One is more in the moment, shot on intuition, the other more composed. Riverside, became an escape from Pieces, and as such it can even be viewed as another side of the same coin. With Pieces I had co-authors very much involved in the project. With Riverside it was just me.

One thing I’m most interested in with the projects I shoot is to explore my immediate world. I don’t travel often and when I do I find that I am never happy with the photos I take. With my immediate surroundings I can take time to explore and to get what I intend. Most of the photographs in this project were shot within walking distance of where I live or work.

Riverside is a chapter in a larger on-going project entitled “Marooned”. South Korea though not technically an island, is still cut off from the rest of Asia by North Korea, a barrier more difficult to cross than any sea or ocean. It is therefore a de-facto island, an island I have been living on for the last 8 years. “Marooned” is my look at the island that has been my home for nearly a decade, and will remain so for another 2 years.

Bio:

Rafal was born in Poland and moved to Canada at the age if 10. He has been living in South Korea for the last 8 years. He has had one essay previously published on Burn.

Photographs: Rafal Pruszynski
Website: www.flickr.com/photos/jinju/collections/72157606643568147/

Editor’s Note: Please only one comment per person under this essay.. Further discussions should take place under Dialogue..

Many thanks… david alan harvey

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Jason Andrew – Twilight Country

The Anonymous Republic of Abkhazia

Through a poetic sense of light and color, I find an attraction to the atrocities brought on by Mother Nature and mankind. The contrasting beauty between the savagery of ruin and rebirth of destroyed lives creates a romantic idea of what once was there, conveying a different feeling for each person that witnesses the images. The loneliness and solitude is what drove me to document the apocalyptic scenes of Abkhazia, its people, and how they continue to suffer from the effects of war 15 years later.

The Images take us on a sinister, eerie tour of a country whose only existence centers around their military and patriotism. Alone and stagnant, Abkhazia struggles with the meaning of war and self-declared independence, clutching the ankles of Russia for support while shadowing themselves from the economic and social embargoes imposed on them from Georgia and the rest of the world.

The countries decaying skeleton is a physical manifestation to the pain and misery suffered by the Abkhaz people and their struggles to free themselves from the iron grip of a war long gone with Georgia. Abkhazia remains desolate and wounded, a dilapidated corpse left for dead. Only the internal sense of pride and joy can be seen through the military, their beacon of light and pride. Once the Riviera of the Caucus region, Abkhazia now caters to budget conscious Russians while struggling with their own sense of independence, crawling back to Mother Russia and into her womb in search of comfort and security, unable to recover from the economic disasters of a war long past.

Bio:

Jason Andrew was born and raised on the coast of California where he spent his early years surfing and snowboarding while exploring the small coastal villages of Baja California. Upon graduating with a Bachelors Degree in History from San Diego State University, he began photographing for a small music label while teaching elementary school.

He later moved to NYC where he graduated from the 2006/07 Documentary Photography and Photojournalism program at the International Center of Photography where he interned with VII photographer James Nachtwey.

In 2008, he attended the Eddie Adams Workshop and his Jazzland series about an abandoned amusement park in New Orleans was selected for American Photography 24. In 2009, he was named a Magenta Emerging Photographer and is currently among the “Emerging Talents” of Reportage by Getty Images.

His clients and publications include AOL, Courrier International, Le Monde 2, National Geographic Books, New York Magazine, Transworld Surf and Ventiquattro.

Photographs: Jason Andrew
Website: www.jasonandrewphotography.com

Editor’s Note: Please only one comment per person under this essay.. Further discussions should take place under Dialogue..

Many thanks… david alan harvey

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John Delaney – Kazakh Golden Eagle Nomads

“Fine horses and fierce eagles are the wings of the Kazakhs.” – Ancient Kazakh Proverb

Nobody knows exactly when man tamed the golden eagle of Central Asia. Herodotus refers to nomadic hunters in 5th Century B.C. Genghis Khan is said to have had over 5,000 “eagle riders” in his personal guard. We do know that since the 15th Century, nomadic Kazakh tribes on horseback with Golden eagles have roamed freely across the borders of what is today Russia, China, Kazakhstan and Western Mongolia.

Every fall, soon after the first snowfall these majestic men will head up into the mountains in search of prey.  They will lose their eagles on any unsuspecting fox, rabbit, and even wolf.  At one time this hunt provided needed food and furs for harsh winters. Today it has become an honorable tradition and a right of passage for the Kazakh men.

But at the dawn of the 21st Century, the nomadic way of life is fragile and in danger of being eradicated.  History has long threatened these legendary horsemen: the Bolshevik Revolution, Stalin’s purges and China’s cultural revolution drove roaming Kazakhs to the mountains and valleys of Western Mongolia, where they found refuge and freedom to live as they have for centuries.

I have traveled twice to the far western edge of Mongolia to photograph the Kazakh nomads before these old traditions are lost forever. I shot this work with both large and medium format, and all with natural light. The project has been well received, winning a number of awards including the 2008 IPA/Lucie “Discovery of the Year”.

Bio:

John Delaney (1963) is an American photographer based in NYC. When not shooting he operates a small traditional B&W printing lab. His client list includes Bruce Davidson, Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Annie Liebovitz.

Photographs: John Delaney
Website: www.johndelaney.net

Editor’s Note: Please only one comment per person under this essay.. Further discussions should take place under Dialogue..

Many thanks… david alan harvey

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EMT

Emergency Medical Technicians are the men and women responsible for keeping you alive from the time you get hurt, to the time you get to the hospital.  They have to be able to deal with any and every possible situation where someone’s health and survival has become compromised.

It is an experience that holds the widest range of situations, circumstances and emotions.  One day they will celebrate with a family delivering a newborn child, and the next they will help a grieving widow who has just watched her husband pass away.  Emergency caregivers see it all.

While an EMT is well trained in the necessary skills to keep a person alive, the real training starts when they get in the ambulance and head to the call, where they know little if anything about what they will encounter.

It is important to recognize EMTs for the service they provide.  Without them, countless lives would be lost in the time it takes to get to a hospital.

This essay joins the Charlottesville Albemarle Rescue Squad (C.A.R.S.) in Charlottesville, Virginia as they go on calls.  It was shot over three days in June 2008 and three more days in June 2009 as an assignment for David Alan Harvey’s workshop, “The Photographic Essay”.  “EMT” has become a larger project now and I am currently riding in New York City with the St. Vincent’s Hospital ambulance squad.  After New York I will keep working on the project in the cities of Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles. This essay has not yet been published, as it is a work in progress.

Bio

Ryan Scherb is currently working as a fashion and advertising photographer in New York City and is expanding into the world of documentary.  Ryan also has a background as an EMT in Connecticut where he has ridden with the Georgetown Volunteer Fire Department.

Photographs: Ryan Scherb
Website: www.ryanscherb.com

Editor’s Note: Please only one comment per person under this essay.. Further discussions should take place under Dialogue..

Many thanks… david alan harvey