what a surprise! didn’t think EPF was for another week or two…

firstly congrats to all the finalists…

and well done david and anton, a good diverse and very interesting mix, which seems to me a good
representation of genres/styles, never an easy job…

stand outs for me on first look: Michael Christopher Brown – China – consistant (great story last year also) and i LOVE the second image… (wish it snowed down here!)

& Dima Gavrysh – Inshallah – great first image…
but when i look again and again many others grab me, like Justin Maxon, Davide Monteleone, Jukka Onnela
and Emily Schiffer…

i did expect to see Dmitry Markov’s Awkward Age (assuming he entered it) which was one of the strongest essays here on burn, for me…

looking forward to seeing the essays in their full glory

well done!

anyone that had ever met A.K., even briefly, realized they were in the presence of an enlightened, luminous spirit….anyway, LENS has published the story that A.K. had been at work on, Opium and Families in Afghanistan…..the final image, when i first saw, was seared into my body….a father passing opium smoke into his child’s pain and broken body as a remedy of relief…..

please take a look at A.K. story…..

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/showcase-173/

and more importantly, please countenance his words…..i’ve often wanted to quote them at Burn when behavior looked odd, but now is a good time…to remember them….

he’s a north star point of navigation for all of us…

“I don’t care about being recognized, and I don’t care if I go through life with no fame to show for my efforts,” Mr. Kimoto wrote to the photojournalist James W. Delano. “When was the last time you saw a 4-year-old sucking down heroin? Is it not a tragedy? If I can’t do anything to bring attention to their plight, and if nobody cares, then what am I doing with my time and, in fact, my life? It was never about awards or anything like that. I thought it was about being out in the world, witnessing things that others don’t see, and sharing these stories with a larger audience. I always said that I do what I do because I only have two hands.”

bb

Maybe a comment by the selection panelwould get things moving

Also you guys up there are in summer and out and about dodging tourists and the tin lids are scampering around testing out their pester powers much to their parents angst.

we must be looking at 2 different sets of finalists…shit, i see stories there which CELEBRATE (actually they all do) this waking life….Matteo’s is about place, Michael’s is about the amazing and wonder of china, jame’s is a celebration to the core, Matt’s is filled with wonderment (and in ohio, nonetheless ;)) ), Kate’s has to be one of the most joyeous odes to the ACT OF MAKING i’ve seen in a while, Jiwon’s Oragami (yes, they make oragami in korea too) is pure visual poetry, and Emily’s is simply incandescent….

how in the hell would it be possible to choose ANY finalists and not have people be angry/complain…fuck it…I celebrate these finalists…..because it IS NOT the prize that matters but what matters is the work….

any real photographer, rather than complain, would/will simply make work and continue on their way…but i find the strength of this years finalists to be beyond reproach…

god bless david and anton for continuing to have to ‘explain’ why they did it…

screw that shit…

as i’ve said before, it aint the awards, it’s the work and these finalists produced powerful, thoughtful, imaginative, strong work….and yes, there were photographers not chosen who produced just as powerful and important work and so what…they’re still making…

let’s not forget that :))

just a quick (brief) note…no time….i will say (politely) that I am surprised that either Davide’s essay (the EPF WINNER) or these wondeful finalists haven’t received more comments supports from the Burn crowd….i mean, all that madness under Brian’s essay, and barely a whisper hear….i dont get it…

so, let me write more of a Bob Black comment:

PEOPLE:

this work is gorgeous, inspired and should serve as a reminder to everyone that what matters is the work and how you live, the waking moments of your life and the countenance of that….i don’t think the roof has to come down with comments, but i would have thought more congratulations…being an optimist, i think folks are simply waiting for the essays to write then :)))..

But, a big (again) bob black hug to all the finalists….as you know, i’ve never been a fan of awards or all that photo glitter that gets dished around too easily and i really hate hate the competitive nature of photography (why i am now going on a major, long sabbatical from the photo world), but what is MAGICAL AND LOVING about the EPF is that it isn’t a competition, it is an INSPIRATION, a supportive challenge, an awareness to support and encourage both young photographers and photography in general! the EPF is the ONLY photo award competition (and i hate to use that word) that I have ever entered and i’ll never enter any other kind, because David’s EPF (and now Magnum) is different…it is created in the belief that 1 winner will inspire the work of 10,000 others….maybe i feel more personally close to the award having had the honor of being a finalist in the 1st one, but even if my work were never chosen/exhibited again, i would feel the honor of having been a loyal part of it….These men and women (this year, last year, and year 1) worked their asses off and continue to toil away….as both a photographer and a lover of photographer, i salut and embrace them and their work…we should too!….

I too once got upset with the EPF (mostly cause i wanted my beloved wife’s work to get the honor and recognition i felt it deserved) but that negative space last year was washed away by a richer, truer truth this past autumn about what really really matters….any photographer that spends more time angry about others, jealous about awards/recognition, just is wasting their energy…..besides, the best revenge is to make great work, period…..:)))))

David, I personally again want to thank you as a friend and as a photographer for the tireless job you have done in the name of photography/photographers….we all must be inspired by, not others, but the world around us in order to live, in order to thrive…who remembers awards?…who cares, if we’re lucky, maybe some small part of our work will be remembered, and even that, by few, if any…but what we have during our lives is the love and commitment of those around us!! that is what matters, period….had i had time the last 10 days, i’d have beaten the doors down here to drum up the passion :))….

as for Lookbetween….i must honestly confess that it was a personal realization. I’ve spoken to friends who were there and all of whom had an amazing amazing time and came back inspired. That, to me, is the ONLY thing that mattered: that they were juiced and rejuvenated and that they felt more committed that ever to continue on the commitment and the heritage that each of us inherits when we pick up our cameras……initially i was disappointed that i didnt know anything about it (my fault for not doing the homework), initially disappointed that some of the burn community were asked to participate and then when i saw the language used by Lookbetween as to who (and the reason) why people were invited, i found it (for 1 night) terribly terribly depressing because photography, like life, thrives not upon the names of the chosen but through the rich rush of the heart and love of many….but after a night of meditation and walking, i realized that what matters is not whether or not one is invited to things like this (there is afterall, a very limited amount of space and the entire world cannot be ask to participate ;))), but that one participates in the sharing, that one actively makes work and that one generously and loving supports the work of others and how to accomplish that….the measure of the future contribution to photography is not born of a selection to a festival but of how one lives and what one does with their life and their work…..

and this perspective allowed me to bloom again and embrace all of those who went, all of those who had the good fortune to have been asked to go (and i hope all of you share that good fortunate with as many people as you can, all around you), embrace all of you burnians and non-burnians….the young fisherman with the gray beard (Harvey), the brilliant mad hatter who was hiding from me on skype (anton) ;)))))…the cat that looks like my brother (panos), and david bowen and audrey and lassal and ben and anna-marie and all those epf finalists….my sense is that the love you experience will brighten you and to remind you that what matters is not who went/was invited BUT who is out there in the world: fill that world with love y’all :)))…and commitment….

then again, what has always mattered to me is how i treat people, how i behave, how i live and how i try to unite my life, and the work as a photographer, with this passing, shadowy life….the only way to react is with love, not with anger or jealousy or disappointment….

big hugs to my brothers and sisters who went to Lookbetween (lancer, see u in a couple months!) and all my brothers who have been chosen for this magnificent epf honor and all my fellow burnians….big hugs….

Raise high the roofbeams y’all…..and make this world brilliant and alight, far as the widening of your hearts…

see u once i finish the work i was meant to do! :)))

big hugs
running
bob

are you not being just a wee bit dramatic with these finalists?? i went back through the finalists and even the winner whose story was in a war zone and found less than 10% pictures as you so describe among all the finalists etc…most pictures were of everyday life and were introspective in nature…at the same time there can be no doubt that our planet IS clearly in turmoil with more conflicts than ever around the globe….i do agree however that good journalists should, and i feel do, often depict the positive side of human nature whenever that side dominates…

cheers, david

thank you thank you…you are the most AWARE among us….your feeling now is the place of nirvana i want all to reach…not for a “specific goal”, but for the best each of us can do within our personal sphere of consciousness….

DAVID B…

you are absolutely correct

cheers , david

Patricia, true.. humbled & grateful it is :)

As has happened more than once in the two years I’ve known you, you have again spoken words that set a lightbulb shining brightly into my heart and mind. This time it shone into some dark musty corners that definitely needed sweeping out. I had let myself go into that ugly place of envy, a place that is not my norm. No excuse for it, but, thank God, I now see it for what it was and I will not go there again.

When I look at the work of the EPF finalists and winner for 2010 I am left breathless. The bar has been raised SO HIGH that all I can do is celebrate their excellence, daring, originality and authorship. And yes, I will do my best to find such richness within myself but we are not in competition: it is all about singing your own song and joining the many different voices that bring their own unique sounds to the music.

Together we are creating a world of photography that has a place for both dark and light subjects, realism and fantasy, photojournalism and fine art. Together we will support, offer constructive critiques, respect and learn from one another. And how fortunate we are to be part of a community like Burn whose founder/editor/mentor models for us this evolving photographic paradigm that is all about seeing possibilities for excellence in ALL kinds of work.

I am humbled and grateful…

Patricia

some really inspiring stuff from the EPF this year and seeing them on a big screen at look3.. well.. crazy good stuff..

a photographic life is THE reward in itself.. no goal beyond the day to day of taking or organizing to take photos will satisfy as much.

.

what you are thinking is the same as what i imagine as well….as a matter of fact this is my only self assigned “job description” or mandate here online…..i do hope that the elevation of one will only serve to inspire many…some go down psychologically when another photographer is given special attention….for those, the world will be a disappointment always…the wise will learn and grow….

thanks again for the cranberry juice….

cheers, david

Some light stories would be appreciated …

I wonder why all the Olympus of journalism persists with cynicism about the misfortunes of the world, do not tell me that this is done to give information to people.

Why the new talents of journalism does not undertake to describe a positive story? Perhaps because publishers do not publish them.
Much better scenes of war, suffering, blood, dark.
A bad prospect for journalism, which declares that it is free, but it is a slave to these logics.

sadly sparklight