Monthly Archive for November, 2009

andrei liankevich – belarus portfolio

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Andrei Liankevich

Belarus Portfolio

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Is the story over or are we still in the middle of it somewhere? Is it the country itself? Is it Belarus that makes reality and fiction seem to be layered like transparencies? The pictures of Andrei Liankevich seem to suggest that at least. For example, when a lonely Communist marches across a foggy square. Or when a soldier poses in a comfortable armchair among his trophies: the naked antlers on the wall and the no-less trophy-like twin sons held tenderly and creepily on his lap – Nestor and Pollux? Remus and Romulus? Cain and Abel? If they are supposed to stand for a dually new beginning, this might take place once again within that historical cliché that has helped give Belarus its sense of unreality. History has certainly provided plenty of signs.

No other region in Europe suffered as much during the Second World War as Belarus: the bourgeois intelligentsia were practically wiped out, the number of war victims was the highest relative to the total population, and the infrastructure was destroyed. Later the country was the remotely controlled ally of the old Communist powers, and the same clique is still in power today. And yet the very fact that Liankevich can depict the somnambulistic conditions of his country the way he does is proof that there is a young generation of Belarusians whose creativity is in the service of change. Fantastic elements of an unattainable dreamland and a caricatural focus on pseudo-Soviet deco-propaganda à la Lukashenko provide a backdrop against which innovation has been going on for a long time.

 

Bio

Born in 1981, Belarusian photographer, born in Grodno and based in Minsk (Belarus). Andrei obtained his BA in Economics from Belarusian State University. In 2004-2005 he studied at the Caucasus Media Institute in Yerevan, Armenia. As a part of the programme, he spent few months living and travelling with Yazidi minority in Armenia, and his final photo project about Yazidi’s life, got award from the World Press Photo seminar. In September 2007 Andrei was invited to take part in Focus on Monferrato master class project in Tuscany (Italy). In June 2008 he participated in programme supported by French Association Pour l’Instant, shooting a photo story on “Modern family institutions”.

Andrei tought a course on Photojournalism at the European Humanity University, Belarusian University, in Vilnius (Lithuania). Since 2005 he cooperates with European Press Photo Agency (EPA) and in 2007 he joined Anzenberger agency. Andrei has worked with Nasha Niva, one of the few independent Belarusian newspapers during 2001-2008. His works are also published in such international medias as New York Times, Le Figaro, Newsweek, Die Zeit, Spiegel, GEO, GEO Lino, International Herald Tribune.

He has presented his works in more than 30 exhibitions in Europe and USA. In 2008 catalog  of Andrei’s photographs was published.  Later this year Andrei’s photos were included in “EAST” photo book and “Break Lines. Touch Points.” -photo book with photo story  “Unknown Country”, publisher: “Reporters without Borders” organization. And “This day of Change” photo book having 132 photographs of the project, published in Japan.

In 2009 Andrei won a prize at the Humanity Photo Awards 2009 with his work about

 “Pagan traditions in Belarus”, and was among finalists of  “Magnum Expression Award”.

 

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Andrei Liankevich

 

Editor’s note:

Please only one comment per person under this essay.. Further discussions should take place under Dialogue..

Many thanks… david alan harvey

Published on November 29, 2009 by burn magazine. 26 Comments

erica mcdonald – the dark light of this nothing

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Erica McDonald – The Dark Light of this Nothing

Janet: Hi Erica..(kiss)

EM: Hi, Where’s Adele?

Janet: Adele’s inside..Erica, this is my family, that’s uh..Donny, my sister in law, Sharon, Angie…David and that’s my brother John..

EM: You’ve got a good memory.

Janet: I’ve got a good memory, I have 38 nieces and nephews, I have to..this is just a little quarter of it.

EM: I’m trying to get people to talk about what the neighborhood was like and what it is like now and..

Janet: You want some dessert? Steven would know that, my husband would know that, and so would Mary.

EM: No thanks, I’m okay. Yeah, Mary was just talking to me a little.

Anthony: I wasn’t born here..I don’t know anything..

Janet: You was SO!  He’s full of crap! Where were you born? Where were you born?

Anthony: I was born in Staten Island.

Janet: No he wasn’t.. He was born here in the house on..

Anthony: What the hell is this? you gotta talk to this thing?

EM: It’s a microphone.

Janet: Dad, just talk about..

Anthony: What am I gonna tell? I was born over on 3rd street. And the place was beautiful at that time, we had a nice time, not too much traffic, I’m old, that’s why. We used to play stickball in the middle of the street, there was no traffic, you could play stickball. right? Today you can’t even walk in the friggin street, too many cars.

Janet: You played Skellies..

Anthony: Skellies, well, we played all kinds of games. Kick the can, you know, stuff like that. What else did we play?Johnny on the pony, Johnny on the pony..You know what that is? She don’t know…(looking at EM) On the fire hydrant, and everyone’s gotta jump on his back and try to make him fall. We played a lot of games, when we grew up it was a nice neighborhood..There was no computers, of course not. You had to add in your mind. We didn’t even have a television. That’s why we used to go out and play. No it was nice, it really was, it was nice around here.

Janet: We used to play cards, knuckles..knuckles..We used to play over here everyday, and Grandma would come out and go “Why can’t yous play on your own stoop, whattaya gotta play here for?” Because we live here, Grandma! People would come and have to get up to the house and we’d always have cards and we had to move and the people would get annoyed..cause we were sitting down playin’, but what else were you gonna do?

Anthony: When we were young we used to play stickball, or stoopball, you hit the ball against the stoop, or punchball. And when we grew up we were poor, in plain English, it’s the truth. When we played football, you know what we used for a football? You rolled up a newspaper, seriously, you taped it, and that was a football, we couldn’t afford a football..it’s true..and if we had a baseball, eventually the cover would fall off, we used to tape it up..yeah, we couldn’t buy another baseball, we were all poor. And the glove was falling apart..it’s true..now what, what do they call all these people around here now, they all got money, what are they, Yuppies? Right, they’re all Yuppies? No, I grew up in a good time, I’m glad I grew up when I did.

In the summer time, when it got very hot, nobody had air conditioning. Not like today. Everybody had a fan, that was all you had, was a fan. But, if you had a fire escape, you could go out and sleep on the fire escape.

Janet: Remember? Grandma used to feed us on the fire escape. My cereal, on the fire escape, every morning. And our favorite game was, what we played was jump rope, all day long. I didn’t need anything else. Grandma used to stand by the window and yell at us, “What are you doing? what are you doin?” Yeah, double dutch…All day, I could play jump rope all day long..double dutch. And be happy.

***************************************************************************

This piece is meant as a tribute to those long term residents who have sustained the Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York neighborhood for generations and are now in an increasing minority. The old guard is losing their sense of community. A new, affluent population, drawn by Park Slope’s popularity as one of America’s best neighborhoods, is swiftly overshadowing the working class.

The title of this body comes from the words of the philosopher Derrida that reflect on the experience of the loss of  “what I myself am not” and on the interiorization of the Other in his irrevocable absence.

***************************************************************************

Many warm thanks to Rachel Been, Anna Maria Barry-Jester, Kelly Lynn James, Jacob Silberberg, Tom Sullivan, Andrew D. Sullivan and John Westfall for assisting in the making of the street portraits, and an especially big thank you to Sana Manzoor for her assistance which was both generous and gracious.

For all the thoughtful feedback and editing help, thank you to Joe Colligan, Jason Eskenazi, Paul Fusco, Eugene Richards and Andrew D. Sullivan.

Thank you Jim Powers for loaning me your lens! and to the Burn community for going on this ride with me.

DAH..thank you from the beginning to the end. Way back when you wrote on Road Trips that you might have “a good idea…why not really “show our photographic hand…” in the most provocative way…so, here is my idea: i give out short assignments or projects….on an individual basis…at the end each photographer presents this work right here for us all to see…for example, i ask Erica if she has time to shoot portraits on…” and somehow that idea turned into this work..though after a much longer wait than you had in mind! Thank you sincerely for your ideas and energy and care and for all that you do.

 

Bio

Erica McDonald is mostly a self taught photographer, taking inspiration from a myriad of social documentary and portrait photographers. She has a strong belief in the importance of lineage in photography and working in a continuum.

Erica is a thankful recipient of a Keyholder Fellowship at the Lower East Side Printshop, and her work has been exhibited in New York and Paris including in Chelsea and by PowerHouse, at the burn gallery and the Camera Club of New York, and has been included in projections at LOOK3, Palm Springs Photo Festival and the Slideluck Potshow. Awards and nominations include IPA/Lucies, PX3, The NY Photo Awards and the Magnum Cultural Foundation EPF. Her work has been published in Mother Jones, Boston Magazine, YES! Magazine and is part of The Collector’s Guide to Emerging Art Photography. She loves dogs, large and small alike, and is based in NYC.

A larger selection of images from this project is available for publication as a book. Please inquire with me directly at erica@ericamcdonaldphoto.com

 

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Erica McDonald

 

Editor’s note:

please only one comment per essay….

-david alan harvey

Published on November 25, 2009 by burn magazine. 110 Comments

aaron joel santos – orphans of agent orange

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Aaron Joel Santos

Orphans of Agent Orange

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The Vietnam Friendship Village is an Agent Orange orphanage and care center founded in 1998 by George Mizo, an American veteran of the Vietnam-American War. It houses 120 children in six homes spread across the small, intimate complex. Located just outside of Hanoi, it is a place of both enduring hope and profound sadness.

During the Vietnam War, the US dumped roughly 80 million liters of the defoliant Agent Orange across Vietnam. Now, four decades later, the dioxins continue to effect the lives of thousands across the country. The children in the Friendship Village are all victims of this war, all suffering from the after shocks of the chemical substance.

But what sets the Friendship Village in Hanoi apart from many of the other orphanages and centers that take in children of Agent Orange is the care that it provides. Funds given to the village by benefactors and organizations from across the world give the children there access to food, shelter, schooling and health care. Often these funds far exceed what their families would be able to provide for them back home. So there is hope here. But hope in the most dire of circumstances.

 

Bio

Aaron Joel Santos is a freelance photographer living in Hanoi, Vietnam. His photographs have been published in a number of international magazines and newspapers and shown in galleries in the US, Malaysia and Vietnam.

He enjoys local cuisines, warm and humid temperatures, cheap beer and good people. So Vietnam just kind of fit.

 

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Aaron Joel Santos

 

Editor’s note:

Please only one comment per person under this essay.. Further discussions should take place under Dialogue..

Many thanks… david alan harvey

Published on November 22, 2009 by burn magazine. 30 Comments

thomas bregulla – everyday

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Thomas Bregulla

Everyday

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There are those everyday repetitive tasks… So small, so little, we don’t even think while doing them. We do them – every day. But without them, something would be missing in that day.

Somehow, that makes these little everyday tasks important. By telling this little story about my everyday life, I wanted to make them special, .

These images show me in my everyday situations. Like they happen, more or less, every day. I made the images with a tripod or just by putting the camera in front of me.

I hope this essay makes us stop and think about the little and everyday things we have in life. The things we often forget that we are doing.

Bio

I was born 1965 in Salzgitter, Germany. After several years in southern Germany, I moved to Bonn where I live today. My main job is in telecommunications, where I am a program manager in an international context. I like to outline a story and take pictures according to that. Photography is a good balance for my current day job, allowing my creativity to go different ways.

 

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Thomas Bregulla

 

Editor’s note:

Please only one comment per person under this essay.. Further discussions should take place under Dialogue..

Many thanks… david alan harvey

Published on November 21, 2009 by burn magazine. 65 Comments

cutouts??

noid-b.davidson(2)


Bobby Davidson (www.untitledproof.com) likes cutouts….representations…..it is not too hard to figure out what this Parson’s School of Design student is trying to say with the above created cardboard cutouts image….it pretty much says it all in our current landscape of everyone taking pictures of everything….does this symbolize the end of photography as we know it (or should i say knew it)??

not on your life…if young photographers do not see today/now/ this moment as offering them more than any previous generation’s wildest dreams, then they should just go back to bed….every generation has to re-invent something…whatever my generation had, they pretty much built themselves…it only looks now like perhaps it was handed to them, but alas life just ain’t like that…sure there are problems now and yes there were problems then…different problems,  but things needed to be revolutionized, changed, modified, re-worked, then as now..so what is new??…

most problematic today is simply figuring out how to finance our passion….but, this will be done, this will be done….the smart ones, the positive thinkers, the doers, will figure it out…they already are….personally, i am so so pleased to just be able to lend a small helping hand to the next generation…what could be more worthy in life than the passing on of knowledge to the next in line??….leads to the big warm all around….give it away is what i say…please do it the first chance you get…this time may come sooner than you think….

Burn is almost one year old…a lot has happened since our original powwow in my loft just before Christmas last year….go back and search for the photos taken at the time….read what we were thinking…how we came up with our name, who said what to whom,  who took the lead, who gave the time , and who created this organism…who is the who? you is the who that’s who…

right now our repository of distributable content from Burn contributors would rival potential output of most medium sized agencies….young photographers have clearly chosen Burn as one of THE places they want to be published along with MediaStorm, 100 Eyes, NYT Lens blog, Aperture, Foto8 , PDN, Digital Journalist, etc etc…today’s online photo world is no longer a zero sum game….instead of competition it is co-opetition….like minded peer groups often supporting the other…an umbrella under which well meaning serious communicators in the arts and journalism can co-exist and thrive…it is about trust…it is about authenticity….this affirmation from the young generation gives me only one thing…a sense of responsibility….dammit, i have dug myself into a hole…i cannot quit now!

in the last few weeks i have been working to establish relationships with the established giants of the media as well as keeping things operating with stealth….for it will be stealth that will save us…the giants do not have stealth, but they know it when they see it….they may be welcoming partners after all….not necessarily out of altruism, but out of a combo of a sense of the right thing and practical production costs….we are in the right place at the right time , the right connections , the right content, and the ability to produce on demand…  a bridge to the future…..beyond those types of relationships, i have also now a grant writing team in place as well as other funding possibilities soon to be announced so that photographers published here receive a fee and commissioned work is well funded…both for the emerging and the established photographers…obviously my goal is to make the emerging, the established…and the established, keepers of the flame…

i may be asking a lot of you, but i surely plan to pay you back..with an on demand print magazine by the end of the year, with a possible Burn book imprint,  alternative gallery shows, $15k grant, international seminars, and with cold beer in my refrig for any of you who stop by…who doesn’t know that??

the other morning at 3am, i woke up out of a deep sleep and was wide awake instantly…sometimes, maybe always, my ideas come to me at the weirdest times and for no apparent reason…lightning bolt….always simple, nothing complicated, obvious, pretty straight forward ideas….i am not an intellectual, but i do think about things….esoteric and utilitarian concepts coming together….yes, a dreamer forever, but i do like to see product on the table so to speak…anyway, i woke up with an  idea and title for a new magazine(as if i needed more work! and Anton hates me for this!)….anyway, four hours after my “wake up call” we bought circusmagazine.org…

Circus …the online magazine for the REAL EMERGING PHOTOGRAPHERS…..

young photographers aged 15 and under…..not a kids magazine…the opposite….

an international magazine produced by the very young generation that would appeal to “adults” as well as to their own peer group..sophisticated…leading edge….

when you think about it for even a few seconds you can see it…killer…

yea, yea kids with cameras is nothing new….that is the point…we will  work with schools, aid organizations, inner city groups, NGO’s,  etc etc to create a child safe site and allow a real home for all this work which is being done worldwide….just as we know that the walls of grade schools are filled with great art , we know that the purity of the very young will manifest itself in something very very special….i will ask Burn photographers to help …with their ideas and with their time and with their curatorial efforts…so now i am digging a hole for you!! you can’t quit now…..told you.

with the combination of Burn and Circus we have nothing but interesting things to think about….and work to do….if you do not see it that way, i suggest you log off now….if you do stick around,  i plan to continue nurturing  this audience as much as i can…i can only do so many Skype calls in a day, or portfolio reviews in a day and your patience is appreciated… but, many of you know that i do give it a good try….

why would i do this?  simple…if i discover even one strong talent out of a thousand , then i will have done my bit…

if i can mentor one book, one show, one photographer who makes a mark, then all is well…and the work in progress nature of Burn allows all of us to see a cross section of what is being produced today…for better or worse…and the more good photographers who are inspired here, or developed here, will only lead to stronger content ,therefore making us more viable for support with each passing day…and Burn will pull Circus, and Circus will push Burn and, well,  you get it i am sure….smart crowd….

why i am writing this just before a 24 hr marathon flight is beyond me…avoiding packing and paying last minute bills could be a reason…not having written a Dialogue post in a long time could be another….or, more likely, i just have built up energy and it has come out somewhere…this is too damn long, but i do not have time to really edit…so this is raw…..like a contact sheet or whatever…please just remember the good parts…laughing.

oh by the way, remember the story from last july on my stray cat, now constant companion, Simone?

well,  Simone is pregnant…now what??

Published on November 16, 2009 by david alan harvey. 1,526 Comments

michael loyd young – blues, booze and bbq

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Michael Loyd Young

Blues, Booze and BBQ

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“The Mississippi River Delta is flat country.  Not a hill in sight.  It is often way too cold or way to hot.  Yet there is a subtle beauty to it.  Large plantation owners used to rule this delta country and I imagine what it may have been like 100 years ago.  I can almost smell the history from the front porch where I sit now, as a thunder storm rolls loud and black across the flats, creating waves in the wheat fields resembling a green tumultuous sea.”

“From these former cotton fields came a new art form.  Out of commerce, out of slavery, out of greed, out of necessity, out of Africa, came the BLUES.  Yes, the music; blues, jazz, rock n’ roll and rap came from these cotton fields.  Out of these blood and sweat fields and out of these little one room churches came the voice of an enslaved people.  The voice of the men and women that toiled in these fields is the BLUES, and it is a voice heard around the world”

(text from the book forward by David Alan Harvey)

Blues, Booze, & BBQ documents the 150 miles of Highway 61, the famed blacktop road snaking from Memphis, TN down to Greenville, MS. At the halfway point, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, sits Clarksdale, MS, the city considered the birthplace of the blues and the location of Robert Johnson’s famed “Cross Road Blues” intersection of Highway 61 and 49.

The Delta has been home to blues legends such as Charley Patton, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Ike Turner, Cadillac John Nolden, B.B. King, T-Model Ford, Mississippi Slim, Big Jack Johnson, and Willie King, among countless others whose music has become the glue that holds these communities together as they struggle to survive.  The photographs, taken at juke joints, in private homes, or just hanging out, illustrate the bond blues creates between the Delta and its people. It is through this music that the people pass on their heritage and culture to future generations.

Bio

Michael Loyd Young lives in Houston, TX. Since 2002 Young has worked on several projects, traveling to 21 different countries documenting cultural symbols and the impact they have on the daily lives of the people he photographs. This is Young’s first book. All proceeds will be donated to the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, MS. He is currently working on his second book documenting the hunting and fishing culture along the Gulf Coast, from southern Texas to the Florida Everglades.

PowerHouse Opening December 10, 2009 7-9 PM 37 Main Street Brooklyn, NY 11201 (718) 666-3049 .

Blues, Booze, & BBQ is available NOW. Simply click on the PowerHouse link below to order.

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Michael Loyd Young

www.powerhousebooks.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

Published on November 16, 2009 by burn magazine. 47 Comments

dimitri stefanov – not about football

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Dimitri Stefanov

Not about Football

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In a time when Real Madrid is spending millions on mega-stars, this is the story of the Orcasitas FC, an amateur football team on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain. Its players are plumbers, postmen, butchers and so on. They once had the dream of reaching the top but for one reason or another they never made it, and have to make do with training twice a week after a hard day’s work, and play every sunday at the local clay football pitch, for a small audience, mainly their relatives. And even if they don’t earn millions or play in first division stadiums, they go for it, they put their hearts in it, they have all the passion. That’s why this is not about football, it’s about life, fight, mud, it’s about a struggle, the love for a sport, it’s about them, the real gladiators of football.

 

Bio

Dimitri  Stefanov is a 22 year old Bulgarian photographer based in Madrid/Spain. Born in Bulgaria, at the age of 13 his parents decided to leave Bulgaria to make a living in Spain. He is currently working in an essay about Bulgarian dailylive on the countryside. He won the “Future Award” 2008 in Madrids EFTI Masterclass, also a scholarship from Albarracin photojournalism workshop in 2009.

 

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Dimitri Stefanov

 

Editor’s note:

Please only one comment per person under this essay.. Further discussions should take place under Dialogue..

Many thanks… david alan harvey

Published on November 13, 2009 by burn magazine. 28 Comments

dhiraj singh – my name is dechen

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Dhiraj Singh

My Name is Dechen

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I was in Manali for the Foundry Workshop. We had to find a subject for a multimedia photoessay as part of the workshop. Walking around the streets of Manali I was looking for something that I could connect to. And then after two days of aimless wandering around, I stumbled upon this monastery. There I saw this window which had scribbling and doodles etched with perhaps lipstick on it. It made me curious. As I stepped closer to inspect it, Dechen appeared out of nowhere. And as I started to talk to her, I was fascinated by her Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde personality. The recesses of her mind were a ceaseless stream of consciousness poem. I have noticed increasingly that what we see in the media are the ends of the spectrum – either the very pathetic or the supremely glamorous. There is no room for the ‘everyman’ of daily life. This is what drew me to Dechen – her everyday-ness. She could talk to you about mundane things and get away with it. But, if you caught her in one of her moods, you would never think that she could be a ‘normal’ person. Her anomaly, at some level, touched me. There are so many Dechens around us everyday. Very rarely do we see them at all. I’m happy I found one.

The story is basically a glimpse into the outer expressions of the inner being of a woman who I met at a monastery in Manali during the summer. She was just an ordinary person I bumped into while on one of my wanderings in the sleepy town and without her explicit co-operation this project would never have been possible.

I would like people to think about the “Dechens” they pass by everyday. Stop, take a moment to acknowledge their existence and the fact that they too lend a brush stroke in the canvas of life.

This essay has been published in RESOLVE – The liveBooks Photo Blog and a blog by my multimedia instructor during Foundry Workshop, and on Tewfic el-sawy’s  The Travel photographer.

 

Bio

Dhiraj Singh is an independent photographer based in Mumbai, India. A graphic designer by profession, he turned to photography to explore the world around him. He has been working professionally since mid 2007 and began by focusing on stories from India. His work has been published in Newsweek, Vanity Fair, Lens Blog, New York Times, Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, L’Espresso, Respekt, The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times and others. Dhiraj recently won the third place in the ‘war and disaster’ category at the China International Press Photo Award-2009 and third place in Spot News at “The Asia Media Award” 2008. His work has been exhibited at Global Gallery in Sydney, Australia and The National Maritime Museum, Finland has a permanent collection of his images.

 

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Editor’s note:

please only one comment per essay….

-david alan harvey

Published on November 11, 2009 by burn magazine. 39 Comments

albertina d’urso – abruzzo earthquake displaced

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Albertina D’Urso

Abruzzo Earthquake Displaced

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On April 6, 2009 at 3:32 am, a massive earthquake rated 5.8 on the Richter Scale occurred in the region of Abruzzo, Central Italy, leaving 307 dead and about 70,000  homeless. The epicenter was near L’Aquila, the capital, which together with surrounding villages suffered the most damage.

This essay takes us way past the news event and into what happens after. Most of the displaced are now surviving for more than 6 months in tent camps, containers and train berths.

 

Bio

Italian photographer Albertina d’Urso (Milan, 1976) studied at the ICP (International Center of Photography), at TPW (Toscana Photographic Workshops) and at the Agency VII. She is focused mainly in social and humanitarian reportage. Her dedication to this kind of issues begun in 2004 when she went to Mumbai to help a charity dealing with long distance adoptions: her work gave life to a book, Bombayslum, published by Skira, and an exhibition at Libreria degli Atellani in Milan and deeply changed her life and her career.

In 2006 she participated to the “Kabul mission of the municipality of Milan”, a work aimed at showing the consequences of the war in Afghanistan and the efforts of the mission ISAF 8 and the Italian NGOs to restore the situation, culminated with the “Milano-Kabul no stop” exhibition in the Arcade Vittorio Emanuele and with two books: Respiro del Mondo 5 Afghanistan, Kabul, and Km 5072, Milano-Kabul no stop. In 2007 she was selected for “Focus on Monferrato Masterclass” a project that consist in 12 photographers, guided by Stanley Greene and Kadir van Lohuizen, to document different sides of life in Piedmont and won the “Canon Young Photographers Award” with her project “Welcome to Compton”, a reportage about gangs and violence in Los Angeles. In 2008 Albertina exhibited “Spirit of Shekhawati”, a work about this small region of India forgotten by the economic boom. In the same year she was featured in “Young Blood”, the annual contest of Italian talents who have received international prizes in the creative and research fields and won an award at the festival “Orvieto Fotografia”.

She also received various recognitions at the IPA (International Photography Awards) in 2005, 2006 and 2008; the PX3  (Prix de la Photographie Paris) in 2006, 2008 and 2009, and was among the nominees for the New York Photo Awards 2009, contributed to collectives books as CHILDREN, moments of humanity (2006) and the series of books Asia Unique (2008). She also partecipated in several collectives exhibition including: “13×17padiglioneitalia” (travelling all around Italy since 2005),”Scatti per Bene” (Sothebys, Milan, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008), “Convivio” (FieraMilanocity, Milan, 2008), “Male di Miele” (Wannabe Gallery, Milan, 2008).

 

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Albertina D’Urso

 

Editor’s note:

Please only one comment per person under this essay.. Further discussions should take place under Dialogue..

Many thanks… david alan harvey

Published on November 9, 2009 by burn magazine. 18 Comments

edoardo pasero – half life

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Edoardo Pasero

Half Life

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Half Life is a personal project that is born of two needs; photographically narrate my life, thus building a kind of extended self portrait composed of several blocks, the individual images, not so much through withdrawal pictures of myself as in pictures of what I see around me and trying to make so my identity. Secondly, the desire to devote myself to a photographic project that I do not put thematic or stylistic limits, a “place” where to express freely the possibilities of the medium and the pure desire to take photos and frame. 

The images are in sequence but my desire is that the series can be seen stirring the pieces, just as the mind does with the memories, wear temporal references, as well Bergson describes the concept of “duration”. I also decided not to give the viewer any information or description about the time, so I hope that the work can thus de-personalized and take a more “universal” so that the viewer has the possibility of getting lost and imagined.

To cite Minor White, “life is like a cinema of stills”.

Half Life is the juice of the last two years of my life; started with a relocation, a new relationship, new people and friends, but also, as always happens when you start a new path, especially if this path is melted with love and friendship, many controversial feelings.

Now there’s no more relationship, I’ve just relocated again and again meeting new people; this is how we consume ourselves and our time and photography is the only way, at last for me, to record this “consuming”. Coming from a really different approach to photography, this work helped me to engage deeper with people at the point that human beings became my only real photographic interest; even when I take a photo of a place this is related to the presence, or to the absence, of someone.

To point the camera to someone in the right way can let you stole a part of intimacy hard to find in other ways. All you need is a click.

Part of this work was featured on the 2008 portfolio issue of Shots Magazine and on F-Stop Magazine. As for the technical side, all is taken on film with some medium format cameras.

 

Bio

Born 1978 in Alessandria, Italy, I now work and live in Milan. Self tought, during the last years photography became my only real interest, an interest that I try to continue beside my everyday jobs, trying to take the best from myself and from the others.

 

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Edoardo Pasero

 

Editor’s note:

Please only one comment per person under this essay.. Further discussions should take place under Dialogue..

Many thanks… david alan harvey

Published on November 5, 2009 by burn magazine. 31 Comments