Archive for the 'photographic essays' Category

Emerging Photographer Grant 2010 Recipient

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls

Davide Monteleone

Northern Caucasus

play this essay

Northern Caucasus is a mix of stereotypes as well as surprises. For centuries it has been a country of political, religious, military and expansionist rivalry, a struggle between opposing states, and also between allied states. Ever since the beginning of the 19th century, this region has been part of the tsarist Russian Empire, later absorbed by the Soviet Block.

With the 1991 radical transformations involving the entire Warsaw Pact coalition, and the storm caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union,  new and ancient disputes resurfaced, and in some cases worsened, and revived political and economic aims of supremacy in the area.

This project takes into account the regions in which these disputes are not over yet, or may be apparently concluded, as intermittent fires under the political rhetoric of normalization and pacification. I intend to investigate with without prejudices such reality, beginning with the daily life of people living in the Northern Caucasus, who never reached their coveted independence and are still suffering the ramifications of the Russian Empire during the colonial age. They are divided between the claim for independence and the pride for their diversity, economic subordination, the historical-political and mental affiliation, the condemnation to an eternal geographic position in a limbo limes, and the elaboration of a new post-soviet identity. My goal is to go further away from the bird’s eye view of the geopolitical analysis, gliding down to a low altitude to find the details of such a complex world, with the aim to give a new key to the present day Russian Caucasus.

I’ve been working from Chechnya to Dagestan, from Northern to Southern Ossetia, just after the war in August 2008, all the way to Abkhazia, from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea coasts, crossing geographical and political borders. My interest isn’t to cover the news that brought the region back under the international floodlights, but to carry on a considered path by making notes of the tracks left behind.

Bio

Born in 1974, Davide Monteleone spent the first 18 years of his life moving to various cities of Italy because of the work of his parents. After graduating, he studied engineering and then stopped to move to the U.S. and after that to England. Is here that he discovered his interest in photography and journalism. Back in Italy in 2000, he completed his studies in photography and journalism and began working with the major Italian magazines. At the end of 2001 he moved again, this time to Moscow, where he lived until 2003 working as correspondent for the photo agency Contrasto. This choice proved to be determining for his career. He started working regularly with major national and international newspapers such as D, Io Donna L’espresso, New York Times, Time, Stern, and the New Yorker. Since 2003 he lives both in Italy and Russia, where he is pursuing long-term personal projects and continues his editorial work. He published his first book Dusha, Russian Soul in 2007.

Related links

Davide Monteleone

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls

Pete Pin

The Ave

play this essay

“My whole take on the Telegraph life is, basically, my life is very simple: I sit around all day and I spare change for hours for alcohol which I use to compensate for the fact that I live on the streets everyday.” Coconut, then a 16 year-old street kid (transcribed from an audio interview).

Since the late 1960’s, Telegraph Ave – a four block commercial strip on the south side of the University of California in Berkeley, CA – has been a magnet for street kids, travelers, and runaways like Coconut. Arriving for several days, weeks, or sometimes years, the young transients sleep on the street, in various shelters scattered across the city, or secretly in the numerous squat houses scattered on the south side of Berkeley. They come for a multitude of reasons: broken homes, a defunct foster care system, or simply a desire to travel and be disengaged from society.

“Telegraph is a family, it is home” Coconut confided, “I love this place.” The portraits presented here are part of a larger and evolving project on the young transient population in Berkeley mixing studio with street shots. As a student at Berkeley, I was always dismayed at how the transients were ignored and dehumanized by others.

My rationale for the studio shots were to strip the subjects from their environment with the aim of enabling the viewer to empathize with the subjects first and foremost as human beings. All of the subjects came into my makeshift studio exactly as they were on Telegraph. The street shots – currently a work in progress – in turn provides the context. In the course of working on this project, I at times fully immersed myself on Telegraph; I have slept on the street, under bridge overpasses, spent time in squat houses, and even hitchhiked with a group of young travelers with nothing but the clothes on my back. I have been exceptionally fortunate to have been given a glimpse of their reality. In many ways, these photographs – the subject matter, the aesthetic, the minimal lighting, etc., are also testament to my state of mind at that period in time; I was overcome with a lack of direction, was deeply depressed, and felt “unchained from the sun” after leaving graduate school to pursue photography. As such, in an admittedly exceptionally limited way, I related with my subjects. The decision to leave a PhD program to pursue photography was improbable and professionally suicidal as I had just purchased my first camera only a year prior. These photos were taken within a month of leaving academia and, concomitantly, less than a year of taking my first photograph.

Bio

Pete Pin was born in a Red Cross refugee camp in 1982 following the Cambodian genocide and immigrated, along with his family, as a refugee to Northern California in the mid 1980’s. He attended inner-city high school in Long Beach, CA and dropped out as a junior to work full-time. With the generous emotional and financial support from patrons at his place of employment, he was encouraged to return to academics and received his BA in Political Science at the University of California at Berkeley, graduating magna cum laude with high departmental honors and was the recipient of the Outstanding Honors Thesis Award by his department. In the summer of 2008, months before embarking on an eight year PhD program in the social sciences at Berkeley, Pete purchased his first camera with the initial intent of pursuing photography as a hobby. Within a year of graduate school, he abandoned his PhD program to focus on photography full-time. The Ave is his first sustained project. He has received no formal artistic or photography training and is entirely self-taught. Pete currently resides in San Francisco, CA.

Related links

www.petepin.com

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls
ESSAY CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT

Brian Shumway

Black Girl

play this essay

“Modeling is an addiction.” Johanie, 24, aspiring model

Black Girl is a portrait series on young black women in the New York City area who aspire to be models.

Even as little girls, many women dream of becoming a model. The glamour of strutting along the runway with cameras flashing, being a spokesmodel for the latest line of make-up, or being plastered on billboards in Times Square can be too enticing to ignore. Shows like America’s Next Top Model, which can shoot a model to stardom almost instantly, and easy accessibility to professional photographers through numerous modeling websites make this dream seem more realistic and attainable than ever before. Indeed, everyday countless girls around the United States and the world are actively pursuing this dream.

There is, however, a huge segment of aspiring models who will find attaining their dream disproportionately difficult. They are black women. We all realize, at least in some way, that the mainstream modeling world is white-washed, especially at the high-fashion end. At the February 2010 New York Fashion Week, a whopping 85% of all models used on the runway were white, just 8% black (see jezebel.com/5476920). This is in no way representative of New York City’s, the United States’, or the world’s population. On the ground level, where women are just starting to put a portfolio together, the reality is quite different than Fashion Week’s. In doing this project, I used a modeling website to contact models. I found that, despite so few black professionals, nearly three-thousand young black women (just within 50 miles of my NYC zip code) are striving to attain their dream, or at least their interpretation of it.

Despite the odds and a stark downturn in the fashion, advertising, and magazine industries, these aspiring models have high hopes and remain steadfast. They work hard, often juggling school, work, relationships, and family (some are even mothers) to find a few hours a week to squeeze in a shoot, or perhaps two if they’re lucky. Using an approach that is part anthropology and part fantasy, the women photographed are a cross-section of real people who want to do every kind of modeling, from runway, high-end fashion, print or commercial work to eye-candy and artistic nudes. Their interests are varied, as are their looks and beauty, but this one dream ties them all together. Behind that dream are fundamental human issues that touch upon identity, body, beauty, sexuality, race, and the drive to be recognized in a culture obsessed with fame and celebrity. I hope that these portraits can in some way contribute to their pursuit.

Post Script:
The portraits here I feel represent how the models wanted to look. For each shoot, we would talk about possible ideas and outfits before or during the shoot. Many of the models were open to shooting everything from high-fashion to lingerie, and some even nude. She would bring different things to wear, try them on, see how it looked, and we (or I, or she) would say yea or nay. None of the models are wearing something they didn’t want to wear (or any outfit they felt to be demeaning) or suggest wearing themselves. The pictures give us a glimpse into how the models understand fashion, modeling and themselves as a model-in-the-making.

Bio

Brian Shumway is a New York City based photographer. He has worked for publications like Time, Newsweek, Smart Money, Reader’s Digest, and XXL. His work has been awarded and exhibited throughout the United States. Please visit his website to learn more.

Related links

www.brianshumway.com

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls
ESSAY CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT

David Rochkind

Heavy Hand, Sunken Spirit: The Costs and Consequences of Mexico’s Drug War

play this essay

In the three and a half years since Mexican President Felipe Calderon escalated the battle against the country’s drug cartels, more than 20,000 people have been killed and kidnappings have skyrocketed. The cartels in Mexico are ruthless, meting out an awesome brutality where heads are rolled into crowded discos and dismembered bodies are abandoned on busy streets. Heavy Hand, Sunken Spirit is a project about the societal costs and consequences of Mexico’s violent drug war. It frames the violence as a symptom, as opposed to the problem, and one of a variety of symptoms that will haunt the country for generations. This country is in the midst of a “conflict” in every sense of the word, and when documenting this conflict it is important not to reduce what is happening to a series of nearly anonymous images of carnage that could be happening anywhere.

I am not creating a story about violence that happens to be set in Mexico, but rather a story about Mexico’s present situation, offering a snapshot of a time that will be referred to for decades as people look for answers to make sense of Mexican society. I want each image to convey a sense of Mexico, her color, and her culture. The wounds of this war bleed into every corner of the country, staining the very fabric of Mexican life with violence, death and fear. The psychology of the country is also changing, as people become accustomed to horror and distrust, weakening an already fragile democracy. I am most fascinated by the space between what Mexico has always been and what this carnage is creating.

The heat of the conflict is melting two worlds together, making a singular Mexico defined as much by violence and tension, as by history and culture. I chose to work on this project because it represents how a grand, intense struggle can be transformed into quiet, daily dramas that are woven seamlessly into the lives of those involved. I am drawn to extreme crises that become internalized, even routine, to the communities that they touch. Many in Mexico are forced to make sense of a situation that is, simply, irrational. Their faith in democratic institutions is being tested and their sense of normalcy is being assaulted; what appears to an outsider to be a horrific campaign of violence and intimidation is simply a routine part of life for many Mexicans.

This project is meant to expose the evolution of deep changes that this conflict has brought about, as well as the scars that will remain long after the violence subsides.

Bio

David Rochkind (b.1980) graduated from the University of Michigan in 2002. Shortly after graduating he moved to Caracas, Venezuela to begin working as a freelance photographer. He was based in Caracas for 6 years and recently relocated to Mexico City, Mexico. Mr. Rochkind’s work has been published in a variety of media, including: The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Stern, Le Monde Magazine, Glamour, Rolling Stone and others. In addition he has worked for several development organizations, including: the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Mine Action Center for Afghanistan (UNMACA), CARE and The Carter Center. His work has been recognized by : the Center Project Competition (Santa Fe), the Anthropographia Human Rights and Photography Award, the National Press Photographer’s Association, Photo District News, the Magenta Foundation and others. In addition to his project on Mexico, Mr. Rochkind is in the process of creating an education program about Tuberculosis based on his photographs.

Related links

www.davidrochkind.com

www.anthropographia.org

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls

Mark Gong

Cuban Life

play this essay

I wanted to do one last great backpacking trip before settling down in the Big Apple, so in Spring 2008, I visited Cuba.  Like most countries I travel to, I try not to have any preconceived notions of what to expect.  What I found was a land and people far more familiar than I could have imagined. Cuba resonated with me like no other country I have traveled, and reminded me of what life was like being raised in Communist China.  From the red handkerchiefs tied around the necks of students to the bicycles on the street, at almost every turn I experienced déjà vu. Scenes from my childhood came to life, lifted from memory and morphed into my surroundings, replaced with Spanish and colonial buildings.  With this feeling of nostalgia, I began to capture settings that reminded me of the life that I once knew. While Cuba has its own cultural identity, many common threads linked me to my past. Larger themes such as the close-knit communities, the omnipresent government, sports, and the patient wait for change is something that both counties share. I went about photographing the people as if I had always lived there.  Cuba gave me the opportunity to relive my youth as if I always had a camera around my neck.

Bio

Mark Gong is an award winning New York City-based freelance photographer.  His passion for photography started when he took his first camera on a solo backpacking trip across Africa and Europe.  Not long after, Mark landed the prestigious internship at The Washington Post and the Eddie Adams Workshop.  His photographs have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fader, Surface and Popular Photography.  Recently Mark won Best in Show at FotoWeek DC as well Surface’s Avant Guardian Project.

Related links

www.markgong.com

This SlideShowPro photo gallery requires the Flash Player plugin and a web browser with JavaScript enabled.

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls

James Dodd

Olympic Dreams

play this essay

Sport funding in the UK has increased dramatically as a result of winning the 2012 Olympic bid. Knowing the eyes of the world will soon be upon the nation, much of this funding has been spent scouting exceptional youth talent and intensely developing them into potential Olympians. Over the past 2 years (2008-2010), James has been following the British junior diving team in Sheffield UK, documenting their trials and tribulations en route to the games. This work explores the pressures and expectations placed upon the youth of a nation aiming to succeed, and in this case reach their olympic dreams. This project is ongoing.

Bio

James Dodd, a 26 year old UK based photographer from Sheffield, originally studied Computing and Business Practices, before completing his photojournalism training through the National Council for the Training of Journalists. A founding member of the photography collective Statement Images (www.statementimages.co.uk) James is also the current photographer & curator in residence at Bank Street Arts (www.bankstreetarts.com) in Sheffield. Through his work James covers a vast range of subjects and concepts, from hard news coverage, to in-depth documentary series on sport and pastimes.

Related links

www.jamesdodd.net

This SlideShowPro photo gallery requires the Flash Player plugin and a web browser with JavaScript enabled.

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls

Kevin Francis Sweeney

Family/Self

play this essay

Family/Self is a twenty-four hour cross-section of my immediate family. My family is a subject I know intimately but seldom consider with more than a snapshot. We are three individuals living together with common and individual goals that are sometimes at odds. This essay depicts a slice of an amorphous entity that does not represent the whole or even the surface adequately, but perhaps only the structure at a single point in time. These photographs are the result of a last day  attempt to complete a photo essay for a David Alan Harvey workshop in my new home of Austin, Texas. The workshop was organized by the Austin Center for Photography to coincide with the South by Southwest Music Festival.

Although there were numerous photographic opportunities to look at the mix of both traditional Texas and “weird” Austin culture, I found it hard to escape the needs of my family. I documented one twenty-four hour period at home because frankly I had a deadline and no time to photograph anything else.

I am a documentary photographer and graphic designer, and my wife is a physician. We have a three-year-old daughter and two dogs. All of us are trying to negotiate between time for each other and time for ourselves. When we are working we think about home. When we are home, we think about work. We enjoy spending time together, but when the moments become mundane we tend to veer off on our own. When we have time for our own leisure or personal pursuits, we often feel guilty that we are away from each other. These images were taken from one afternoon to another during my daughter’s spring vacation. We spent the day at home and went out to dinner with friends. The following morning, there was no school or work but by afternoon we all had things we wanted to do. For me this was an exercise to find a new perspective of my family as well as myself. In the end it was time well spent with my wife and daughter.

Bio

Kevin Francis Sweeney is a documentary photographer and graphic designer. Born in Karachi, Pakistan in 1973, he grew up in Houston, Texas. He is a graduate of Tulane University and the School of Visual Arts. He has shown his work in several group exhibitions at the Design Center of Austin, Texas, the Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, Spain, the Visual Arts Museum in New York, the Silver Eye Center for Photography in Pittsburgh, and in the Galerie Deset at the Waldes Museum in Prague. Kevin is completing a long-term personal project titled Sixteen Sundays: Worshiping the Pittsburgh Steelers. He currently lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and daughter.

Related links

www.kevinsweeney.com

This SlideShowPro photo gallery requires the Flash Player plugin and a web browser with JavaScript enabled.

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls

Manjari Sharma

The Shower Series

play this essay

For the last few months I have been inviting people to visit my apartment and allow me to photograph them in a very intimate space; my bathroom. I have also been inviting them to take a shower as I continue to shoot them. I soon came to the observation that warm water running over my subjects bodies often relieved them of any unnerving awkwardness the camera brought about. Once they were relaxed, the bathroom, formerly a beauty parlour, now became a confessional and I the hair dresser. Many of my subjects shared intimate details of their life with me and every new person in the shower became a brand new allegory. With every new visit I had a new protagonist; A new plot and a new parable of hurt and heroic that came undone under that shower – My Shower. I felt a personal mythology was being shared in that shower. An independent study that I have gotten addicted to.

Secretly I have been told by my subjects that it is thrilling and adventuresome to be in my shower; Secretly cheating my traditional and tame Indian upbringing I live through all of my subjects. Fighting their wars and braving their fears for those few hours where we are connected through this pious space.I continue to investigate this enthralling photo project which has thus far given rise to some of the fastest, most disarming relationships I have formed. I look forward to these images leading the way as the project continues.

As I have found time and again what I set out to consume, consumes me. Based on the root structure of my cultural upbringing, ardent seeking is an act of submission. A project, whether photographic or not, begins with placing good faith in the unknown. When I suspend the illusion of a plausible predestined fiasco, I start to make my pictures with two most elemental givens, myself and the person in the frame. As the project progresses, A sentience of the self dissolves, leaving behind a distilled remainder… the subject and the story.

This Essay solely began as a labor of love, I was driven by a mad passion and desire to document the sensory overload i personally experienced. The texture, the drama, the undeniable sexuality, the relief, it was all there. But when I photographed the first person in that shower, it was nothing but a response to the visual. So when it started out, it was very tangible and measurable; But as it progressed it gathered the moss only a rolling stone can round up. It became a lot more than light and water. it became about what I shared with this person for that finite length of time and what we were willing to give up to be in that bath tub together as we willing broke social norms. I want this project to communicate that the drive it took to make these images is the drive I aim to sustain as an artist. If this project is any measure, then I want to be recognized and known for my ability to connect, collaborate and create.

Bio

I was born and raised in Mumbai, India, A terrific country, but I guess you have to go away to love it again. Chasing photography is what brought Manjari to the US in 2001; She graduated in 2004 but moved back to India to reconnect with her roots. Manjari moved to New York City in late 2007 and some of her recent achievements include 8 honorable mentions at the Lucie awards. Manjari was recognized as a winner for the NYC Strand Photo contest in 2009. Manjari’s work has been included in Centre for Fine Art photography, NYC Slideluck Potshow 2009 and her image was selected for the PDN photo of the day blog in Nov ‘09. Manjari was one of six people selected for an exclusive workshop with Jörg Colberg and Robert Lyons in fall 2009 and her work is scheduled to be featured on NYMphoto blog early 2010. Manjari’s ongoing shower series will be spotlighted as a feature for PDN.EDU for their spring 2010 issue and her current selected clients include AOL, American Baby, Penguin Books and AARP. Manjari currently lives and freelances in NYC.

Related links

www.manjarisharma.com