i certainly hope everyone has been having fun… either partying last night or relaxing all day today….while you have been playing , i have been working!! or should i say, suffering over decisions…..about your work!!
ok, here is how it shakes down (so far)…there are some essays still under question or without any identifiable caption information….i have sent emails to some photographers who just have not replied…i will give them a bit more time….
there are approximately 30 essays or partial essays that i will put up for review on the new website due this week kindly supported by LiveBooks….and perhaps 40 strong singles which includes some very nice work from many of you…..i will also , as promised, give reviews by private email to those who so seek…some of you just need just the right little kick to take you to your "next step"….many of you are so so close…..
as i hope all of you remember, the purpose of this excercise was to see if our audience here on the forum could "produce" within a given time frame: july 15 – novermber 15 2007 …. i sadly had to eliminate several terrific essays which did not fall within that time zone…the reason for this short time period was simple….to secure funding for future "assignments" for some of you for the future, we needed to see how well this audience could respond in this fashion…this is, of course, not the only way nor perhaps even the best way to judge a photographer…but, it is not a bad place to start and a point that resonates loud and clear with most magazine editors and other funders …
i left the subject matter and style of work up to this audience….and we certainly will see the variety this freedom provided….
the essayist who will receive the first grant i have ever given (but not the last) and the first under the new Magnum Cultural Foundation was chosen from the following best essayists:
KEVIN GERMAN, ERICA MCDONALD, BRENDAN HOFFMAN, ANDREW SULLIVAN, KATIA ROBERTS, BOB BLACK, KYUNGHEE LEE, ERIC ESPINOSA, CRISTINA FARAMO, KELLY LYNN JAMES, CHRIS BICKFORD, LANCE ROSENFIELD, NATAN MOSS, MARCIN LUCZKOWSKI, JONI KARANKA , ALEKSANDER NOWAK AND ALEX RESHUAN…
all of these essayists will be shown soonest on the new website (i am waiting just as you!!)…hopefully a traveling exhibit of this work and perhaps hard copy publication will also result from our efforts…to this end i am working…
the recipient of the first funding ($5,000.) under the David Alan Harvey Fund for Emerging Photographers is:
SEAN GALLAGHER
below are a few photographs from Sean’s strong essay on the desertification of China’s Western Gansu Province….the fast moving desert is literally swallowing up farmland and communities and is ever growing due to bad land management and global warming…i saw this essay as stylistically powerful and journalistically relevant….and worthy of more financial support to keep Sean continuing on this significant body of work…
A young girl stands before a man-made lake in front of encroaching sand dunes.
A lone corn plant in a field next to large sand dunes.
Huge sand dunes slowly creep onto arable farmland.
A camel walks past a pile of recently forested logs. Deforestation is the main cause of desertification.
A farmer sells watermelons to passing tourists. Watermelons consume massive amounts of water during growth. Overcultivation of this fruit leads to the draining of water from land, contributing to desertification.
The desert oasis at MingShaShan
has been present for over 2000 years. Recently however, as water is
mis-used by the public and local industry, the water level is slowly
dropping to dangerously low levels.
Two women climb a sand dune that is slowly creeping into arable farmland.
As tourists fly above in motorized hang gliders, below them the desert continues to move, swallowing everything in its path, including the graves of past local residents.
Recent Comments