Archive for the 'selected photographs' Category

Crying Communist by Bevis Fusha

Summary Execution  by Richard Mark Dobson

Rhino poaching is on the increase in South Africa. As world demand for the horn increases in China and the Middle East (used in traditional medicine and to make dagger handles) the number of Rhino poached in South Africa in 2008 was close to 100. The dead animals include the critically endangered Black Rhino.

The rising death toll comes amid allegations that Mozambican authorities are not doing enough to crack down on known suspects and, in some cases, might be abetting poachers. Cross border incursions by poachers into South Africa’s Kruger National Park from neighbouring Mozambique, have been made easier with the formation of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (a total area of 35 000 square kilometres) which links the Kruger with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.

A recent report revealed that poachers killed at least 43 rhinos between January 2004 and July 2008 in the Kruger Park and around its border. More than 40 rhinos were shot there between January and the end of November last year.

In many cases Mozambicans, allegedly employed by Asian syndicates operating out of South Africa, are the prime suspects. The syndicates are said to provide their local recruits with high-calibre weapons. Crossbows are also used because they are silent.

As part of my recent GEO assignment on South Africa’s borderline, I was given permission to go foot patrol with an anti-poaching task force, whose job it is to search out snares and when possible apprehend and arrest poachers. It’s a difficult and dangerous mission.

Unfortunately after 2 days of walking in the bush with nothing more than my Nikon to protect me (oh and 4 armed rangers with R1 rifles), I had drawn a blank photographically. No pictures of snares, or dead Rhino or dead poachers for that matter, and I was left with the conundrum of how best to illustrate the plight of the Rhino in the Kruger.

This picture of a juvenile White Rhino presented itself a day later. Darted from a chopper and with a blindfold to protect its dilated eyes from the harsh African sun, this female was been relocated to another reserve. I thought the towel created a quirky element to the picture, and raised a WTF is happening here kind of a question. Summary Execution? This demands attention.

My reasoning being, once I your attention, then I guess I can go on and tell you about the plight of the Rhino in Africa.

Want to see more of my borderline pics…go to http://rmde.jimdo.com/french-geo-sa-borderline/

Bullet Catcher by Nathaniel Ward

“Sargent says I’m going to grow up and be a bullet catcher.”, Cadets, Mt. Sterling High School ROTC, Mt. Sterling, KY

I encountered two teenage ROTC cadets in Mt Sterling, Kentucky this fall. After I photographed them, they asked to see a copy of the shot. Holding the Polaroid proof, the boys dropped their stoic expressions and began to relay their stories. One would ship out three months after graduation as a tank gunner and the other joked he would grow up to be a bullet catcher. The Bullet Catcher said his mom didn’t care because the last time he saw her, he was eight and she was outrunning the police on drug and assault charges. While he had tremendous pride in public service, the Bullet Catcher’s pride was wrapped up in the devaluation of his existence. He was acutely aware of his history and environment but seemingly held no anger over a dearth of opportunity or a surplus of hardship. He was a child and yet he denied, in that moment, the entitlement of American youth. Resigned to the facts of his past, he was goofing on the promise of his future while doing everything in his power to make a better life.

Website: www.natwardphoto.com

As Light Shines on thy Thigh by Anton Kusters

Kabukicho, Shinjuku, Tokyo -

Going deeper underground… Walking the streets with Soichiro and his family. Kabukicho is the red light, food & gambling district of Shinjuku, smack in the middle of Tokyo.

We gather at his office, where he shows me the work of Watanabe Katsumi, a japanese street photographer of this particular district who, for about 40 years, barely making a living, sold his street photographs back to his subjects. Amazing stuff.

I’m surprised that somehow he must have taken the time to research this book and lend it to me to look in. We talk about photography, the schedule that lies ahead of us, and the places he and his family are going to take us to. I am impressed what is in store for us. And excited.

—

Some of the other family members arrive at the office. Everyone is waiting outside, time to go.

—

I’m definitely aware of the weird mix of feelings while walking the streets at night with them, in ‘their’ burrough. A mix of respect, fear, clueless-ness, anger and admiration from the people, the hustlers, the shopkeepers, the prostitutes, the restaurants, the tourists, the club owners,…

It’s my first night out shooting. We’re on a so-called “go-around”, where the whole family gathers in fine suits to walk the streets collectively, greeting everyone, being greeted by everyone, in effect unmistakably showing everyone that they are, simply, ‘there’.

The message is crystal clear.

—

Two regular japanese guys walk up to me, smiling and gesturing friendly, apparently wanting to see my pictures.

I see Soichiro in the corner of my eye taking an immediate distance and signaling me, that this is in fact undercover police… The family disperses, like nothing ever happened… Just in time I have the presence of mind to start playing dumb and speak in a way too loud voice “tourist, tourist, picture”…. and I take off in another direction.

They don’t follow me. Close call.

And thus ends the first shoot.

Anton, april 2009

www.antonkusters.com

—

About the Essay

Soichiro is the lead character of the story that i’m starting to tell, about a Yakuza family in Japan. After more than 10 months of preparation, my brother and I have been granted access to start a long-term project to document the visible and hidden life of that particular family. All names used in the account above (and previous and future accounts) are fictional.

Here on BURN, i will regularly provide visual and textual accounts of our adventures.

I hope to be able to publish a book on this story.

Previous chapters:
– Meet Soichiro

Buceros bicornis by Peter Tonningsen

This image is from my series, Descent which is an immersion into the visual pathos of an analytical world; a mournful ballad resulting from a marriage of art and science that began when I was invited to come to U.C. Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology to draw from their collections for artistic inspiration. I was immediately elated with the promise of this opportunity as I am generally interested in the mystique of science and the ideals and process of collection. Enthralled with the abundance and diversity of specimens preserved here, especially the bird samplings, I have primarily been working with this archive to create a series of non-ornithological specific collages that seeks to enliven and renew these perished birds while concurrently celebrating the astonishing visual allure of this collection.

I call this series Descent because it refers to what has befallen these lovely creatures: a requiem of sorts commemorating their loss of life and flight in favor of being eternally grounded for the sake of categorical examination. There is no scientific or analytical worth to this series, but instead it is intended to accentuate the often-overlooked beauty and substance inherent in such postmortem scientific study and compilation. I am particularly drawn to how these specimens take on new importance through my composites. Collaged with images of specimens from other departments and information extracted from field notes, histology slides, maps, and scientific texts obtained from MVZ archives, each bird is available for closer scrutiny and speculation about its particular history, story and station in this collection.

Most of the imagery utilized in this series comes from direct scans of the specimens and records. I have been exploring the use of a flatbed scanner as a means of image making for the past few years and am excited about how this tool challenges the traditional definition of a photograph. Made without a camera, film, or paper coated with light-sensitive emulsion, I never imagined that I could make photographs without these essential components or that I would be working in this manner when I started photography years ago. I am drawn to the physicality of this process and the immediacy and tactile nature this form embraces. Looking at these images, I feel as though I am under the specimen itself: in contact with it, touching it, sensing its weight, volume and texture, and I find that visceral quality curious and thrilling.

www.petertonningsen.com

To Have and Not to Hold       Self Portrait by Daria Endresen

http://1x.com/member/2744/daria-endresen/

Brides of March by Herve Blandin

The Brides of March started as an annual Cacophony Society event that takes place in San Francisco around March 15th. Intended as a pun on the term Ides of March and a parody of weddings in western culture. The event, which began in 1999, is basically a pub crawl while wearing a thrift store wedding dress. Brides may be of either gender, but the wearing of traditional white wedding dresses, or something resembling them, is generally encouraged (Wikipedia).

Website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/78634514@N00/

Los Emo Kids by David Gimenez

At first sight, Valencia, located in the Spanish Mediterranean Coast, could give an impression of being a conservative city. But in Fallas, one of the most world popular Spanish festivities, everything changes, especially at night. The mixture of fireworks, typical costumes, food, chaos, friendship, religion, alcohol and drugs give a peculiar atmosphere to the city.

Walking along the crowded “Barrio del Carmen”, the beautiful old center of the city, you can find many interesting people.

One of those nights, I found a group of Emo kids. Fancy dressed teenagers, perfectly eye lined, and tight jeans.

You don’t need to ask them to take pictures of them, actually they will ask you. They love themselves, and for that reason they want to check which shoots are good or not for approval.

This is one of my selected pictures for the final slideshow of the Photo Workshop Fallas 2009, directed by David Alan Harvey, Anton Kusters and Luis Montolio. It’s the first one of a series called “moods” composed by several portraits looking the different moods at Fallas nights.

Website: www.davidgimenez.es