Monthly Archive for November, 2012

Thomas Bregulla – Five to Nine

Thomas Bregulla

Five to Nine

4:30 a.m. the alarm rings. no, actually it is three alarms ringing. another day to meet a colleague in another country.

email and phone or videoconferences take you only so far. nothing beats a face to face meeting.

traveling and i have a love hate relationship. it’s part if my job and if i didn’t travel for a while, i’d miss it, however if the sequence is longer than 4-5 weeks, it’s tiring. the trips are usually 1-2 days, depending of the location; at max. 3 days.

the business trips give you a feeling of wealth. flying, taxis, hotels. the jet-set.

and then there are the repetitions. queueing everywhere. boarding, de-boarding, security, ID check, hotel.

sightseeing? yes, definitely in the taxi, in the tram or in the bus.

 

 

Bio

Thomas is a program manager for an internationally acting company across Europe. His first contact with burn magazine was in 2009.

This work is an interstage of the whole essay. The work continues, the focus may change. Working internationally since 2004, Thomas started to take pictures while traveling.

Since 2010, the idea came up to bring the pictures together as an essay – the idea was born, the pictures now followed the idea. During this time the traveling also changed – from one-day trips to four-day journeys to the same location. The continuing of this work has to reflect the new challenges and circumstances.

The work seen here is the first milestone and shows pictures from Vienna, Budapest, Bucharest, Athens, Frankfurt, Cologne, Prague, Zagreb. The location in fact does not matter. It could be anywhere.

Anybody who travels for business frequently recognizes the places and situations. They are anywhere and anytime.

Safe travels everybody.

David Alan Harvey motivated me to start this as an essay. The edit was supported during a workshop with Marcus Schaden and Wolfgang Zurborn.

 

Published on November 27, 2012 by burn magazine. comments closed.

Yup that’s my family..


shadowing a big wave rolling under the Nags Head Pier today. This pier survived Sandy and is one of our fav hangouts.

Published on November 24, 2012 by david alan harvey. 5 Comments

Filippo Mutani – The Backstage Diaries

valeria marini fashion show. milan 2009

Filippo Mutani

The Backstage Diaries

Originally being a reportage photographer, I landed into fashion quite randomly, being assigned by an Italian magazine to follow Karl Lagerfeld in his 2009 Venice Chanel Cruise fashion show.

I was immediately more attracted in the before and after, in the work and humanity behind the fashion shows, than in the shows themselves. Assignement after assignement, fashion week after fashion week, “The Backstage Diaries” is now quite a body of work, collecting 3 years of fashion backstage shootings, mainly between Milan and New York City.

“The Backstage Diaries” have been widely published (A magazine, Vogue.it, Vanity Fair, Elle France, by the others) and have been awarded with international photographic prizes such as IPA, NPPA, and WPGA.

I hope that “The Backstage Diaries” will become my first photographic book in a very near future.

 

model tao in david delfin backstage, new york fashion week- sept 2009.
Chanel Cruise Fashion Show, Venice, Hotel Excelsior, 2009.
chanel cruise fashion show. venice, hotel excelsior, may 2009
chanel cruise fashion show. venice, hotel excelsior, may 2009
salvatore ferragamo fashion show, milan 2009
Jo No Fui backstage. Milan 2010
Albino backstage, Fashion Week, Milan, 2009.
David Delfin backstage, New York Fashion Week, 2009.
Academy of Art University backstage, New York Fashion Week, 2009.
academy of art university backstage, new york fashion week- sept 2009.
Frankie Morello backstage, Milan, 2010.
Costume National fashion show, as part of the S/S 2011 Milan Men’s Fashion Week, 2010 in Milan, Italy.
C’N’C’ Costume National backstage, Fashion Week, Milan, 2010.
Les Copains backstage, Milan, 2010.
2010 Campari’s calendar backstage with Olga Kurylenko
Andy&Debb Fashion Show, New York Fashion Week, 2009.
David Delfin backstage, New York Fashion Week, 2009.
Seduzioni Diamonds, Valeria Marini backstage, Milan, 2010.
Karl Lagerfeld walks his Chanel his Cruise Fashion Show, Venice, 2009.
cesar galindo fashion show, new york fashion week- sept 2009.

 

Bio

Filippo Mutani is based in Milan, he teaches reportage and communication at IED Institute and at Il Sole 24 Ore Master School.

He is a worldwide contributor for Getty Images, represented for licensing by Art+Commerce.

His work appears in T-The New York Times, Financial Times, Newsweek, The Guardian, Internazionale, Touring/National Geographic, Elle, Grazia, Cosmopolitan, Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair, IL, Max, A magazine.

 

Related links

Filippo Mutani

 

Published on November 23, 2012 by burn magazine. 16 Comments

Torture etc…

The whole reason for Road Trips is to give some of you an idea about “process”. Not to suggest there are any rules about process heaven forbid. Yet seeing how someone builds a project can be helpful I think for thinking about your own work. Everyone “builds” differently and I build differently each time myself. Yet assembling the pieces of the puzzle so to speak is by its very nature painful because that is just the way it is. If there were a “formula” then that would kill the very nature of creativity. In this short video by Brandon Li you get a quick snippet of the agony and the ecstasy.

Thank you Brandon for joining us for a few days. This one is a whole lot different than your first piece from the Lucies, and points up once again that in fact going from point A to point B can never be a straight line.

Published on November 18, 2012 by david alan harvey. 7 Comments

Paris Photo


I have just arrived in Paris for a meeting with my Burn Magazine team and to attend Paris Photo. Here my iPhone works again during my after dinner coffee in my favorite after dinner coffee spot and well, Paris is still Paris. What not to love.

Diego Orlando and Eva-Maria Kunz, my loyal “family” on BurnBooks are with me here in Paris. We have had a good year since producing (based on a true story) in June…in the five months since publishing our limited edition book set in Rio we are almost sold out on an ascending pricing scale, have won Best Publisher honors from the Lucie Foundation, and we are on the short list of ten top books by Aperture/Paris Photo for Best Book out of a field of 600 books submitted in 2012.

Tomorrow at Paris Photo, at the Grand Palais, our team will be signing books at the Magnum booth at 2pm. If you are in Paris please stop by to say hello. I know many of our Burn friends are around and I so look forward to seeing you again. And surely there will some time for a cold beer and our usual camaraderie. For sure the spice of life.

We are also on press right now at EBS in Italy producing a super large format “newspaper” version of (based on a true story) which we will distribute for free 2,5oo copies, half of our press run, in Rio de Janeiro to schools and art classes in the favelas. As a payback to the Rio community, where I was so kindly accepted as an outsider making photographs of the Carioca culture for both our book and for the recent essay in NatGeo. Now in Paris you can see the dummy for this new “newspaper” format.

The pleasure for me in making photographs has always had an element of payback for the people I photographed. I always want for my subjects to get as much out of being photographed as I get in making the photographs. One of the beauties of the iPhone is that you can instantly send subjects their picture. Way better than my old method of handing out Polaroids.

Twins Roberta and Renata Tavares, my friends from Rio, and key characters in (based on a true story) will be coming to Miami/Art Basel for our exhibition there in December. Roberta had joined us along with Candy Pilar Godoy in Sydney, Australia for the HeadOn Fest show of our book. So the “family” aspect is just always there for me.

For sure all in this audience are a bit more “family” I think than would normally be associated with an online blog. Surely we arm wrestle a bit in the comments section here, but that is why we are here. To share ideas about our mutual first love – the art of photography in all of its manifestations.

Join me now in Paris Photo, or in Miami/Art Basel  in December. Those of you who already know me well know this is not an idle invitation. For sure when we meet it is always special. High fives all around to this Burn audience.

-dah-

 

Published on November 16, 2012 by david alan harvey. 54 Comments

James Robertson – Off Piste in Afghanistan

Ski touring with Untamed Borders in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2012

James Robertson

Off Piste in Afghanistan

Bamian is situated at a six hour drive North of Kabul. Historically it has benefited from its location on a trade route and, subsequently, its resultant cultural tourism.

It is a long time since silk, spices and Buddhism crossed through Bamian and the last 30 years of turmoil in Afghanistan has all but destroyed tourism in the area.

However, in 2008, the Aga Khan Foundation launched a project to encourage ski tourism in Bamian. Since then several groups of Western tourists have travelled to the area to experience skiing in virtually untouched mountains.

While there is a recent history of skiing in areas close to Kabul, this does not exist in the more rural and mountainous areas such as Bamian. Having seen Western skiers enjoying the snow, the local youth have fashioned their own skies from wood and metal.

While the Aga Khan Foundation actively supports the training of local guides and local skiers in general, these young Afghanis don’t want to wait for equipment and instruction to be provided for them.

 

Ski touring with Untamed Borders in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2012
Ski touring with Untamed Borders in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2012
Ski touring with Untamed Borders in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2012
Ski touring with Untamed Borders in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2012
Ski touring with Untamed Borders in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2012
Ski touring with Untamed Borders in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2012
Ski touring with Untamed Borders in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2012
Ski touring with Untamed Borders in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2012
Ski touring with Untamed Borders in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2012
Ski touring with Untamed Borders in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2012
Ski touring with Untamed Borders in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2012
Ski touring with Untamed Borders in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2012
Ski touring with Untamed Borders in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2012
Ski touring with Untamed Borders in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2012

 

Bio

James Robertson is a photographer working in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Having won the Guardian Student Photographer of the Year 2008, whilst studying physics at university, he now divides his time between working as a photographer for Bonhams Auctioneers Edinburgh and producing his own documentary and sports photography work.

 

Published on November 15, 2012 by burn magazine. 14 Comments

Beach Dog

down here in the Outer Banks beach dogs rule… nobody cares what kind of car you drive as much as do you have a cool beach dog.. i mean a value system is a value system…oh i am not even in the game.. no dog .. i am a wannabe beach dog owner..you can’t always get what you want.

Published on November 15, 2012 by david alan harvey. 22 Comments

Pete Marovich – Shadows of the Gullah

Instead of embracing the native islander communities from the beginning and making sure that they were part of the process, rampant development and increased taxes pushed many of the landowners to sell out. “They [developers and town government] have gotten away from what made the island great. It’s lost it’s charm” says Grant.

Pete Marovich

Shadows of the Gullah

The Gullah people are direct decedents of slaves who were brought to the islands from West Africa. After arriving in America, the Gullah created their own community steeped in religion and African traditions. They are known as Gullah in North and South Carolina and Geechee in Georgia and Florida.

When slavery was abolished in 1863, the Gullah people of the Sea Islands remained on the land after slave owners abandoned the area. They continued their traditions – making sea grass baskets, burying their dead by the shore, farming vegetables and fruits and living life simply. Having lived this way for decades, the Gullah are believed to be one of the most authentic African American communities in the United States.

But development is now taking over these once isolated lands and consuming the Gullah way of life.

The Gullah/Geechee Coast extends for hundreds of miles between Cape Fear, N.C., and the St. Johns River in Florida. In 2004, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the Gullah/Geechee Coast one of the 11 most endangered placed in the United States. “Unless something is done to halt the destruction, [the] Gullah/Geechee culture will be relegated to museums and history books, and our nation’s unique cultural mosaic will lose on of its richest and most colorful pieces,” states the National Trust Website.

I moved to Beaufort, S.C. with my family in 1974 when my father, who was in the Marine Corps, was transferred to Parris Island.

At age 13 I was quite unaware of the challenges of the Gullah/Geechee people. What I did see were the changes that were going on in nearby Bluffton and Hilton Head Island. I witnessed firsthand how the development of high-end residential communities known as plantations where taking over the land. I was just not conscious of the effect this was having on a community.

Since the late 1950’s the Gullah/Geechee people of the Sea Islands have been losing their lands due to sharply rising property taxes caused by resort development. They have struggled to prevent their culture, which is rooted in the land, from being assimilated.

In accord with Kickstarter’s guidelines, I have a set number of days to raise all the funds, or the project receives nothing. Marovich’s project has an 40-day fundraising window, from start to finish.

When completed, the photography will be presented as a traveling exhibit and a book. A portion of the funds raised on Kickstarter will cover the cost of framing the exhibit which will be made available to Gullah/Geechee organizations free of charge except for the cost of shipping and insurance.

To learn more and see images from the project, readers can visit the project’s fundraising page here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/1957876924/shadows-of-the-gullah.

 

Instead of embracing the native islander communities from the beginning and making sure that they were part of the process, rampant development and increased taxes pushed many of the landowners to sell out. “They [developers and town government] have gotten away from what made the island great. It’s lost it’s charm” says Grant.
Reverend Ben Williams performs a river baptism on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
Reverend Ben Williams performs a river baptism on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
Gullah shrimpers Gene Orage and Diogenese Miller aboard the Rip Tide.
Gullah shrimpers Gene Orage and Diogenese Miller aboard the Rip Tide.
3/28/04- Daufuskie Island Friends and Family day on Daufuskie Island Photo by: Pete Marovich
Yvonne Wilson and her kids on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina
Annual Native Islander Gullah Celebration on Hilton Head Island
Scenes from Hog Hammock on Sapelo Island, Ga, and shrimping with Brendan

 

Bio

Pete Marovich is an award-winning photojournalist based in Washington, D.C. He covers the White House and Capitol Hill for numerous media outlets.

 

Published on November 12, 2012 by burn magazine. 24 Comments

Michal Solarski – Hungarian Sea

Michal Solarski

Hungarian Sea

The Hungarian Lake Balaton is the largest in Central Europe.

As Hungary is landlocked, the lake is often called the Hungarian Sea. From the 1960’s onwards, Balaton became a major destination for ordinary working Hungarians as well as for those from the Eastern side of the Iron Curtain, who were rewarded for their work in building socialism with a permit to travel across the border.

As we could not dream of traveling to Spain, Italy or Greece, Balaton was the closest and most achievable destination for ordinary Poles to see what’s out there. My family and I were among the lucky ones who could go and spend holidays in what appeared to us as a paradise. Equipped with government-issued food vouchers and some little amount of pocket money in local currency, we were heading South to a warm, colourful and pleasant place. For us, coming from sad, cold and almost monochromatically grey Poland it was like a window to the world.

Twenty-odd years later, going through the pages of my family album, I found only one photograph of Balaton. It was a blurry picture of me, my sister and my parents, that was taken somewhere on one of the lake’s piers. This snapshot was the only reminiscence of six subsequent summers spent by the lake.

The photographs below are my attempt to create what my parents failed to do. I try to see the world through the eyes of a little boy who used to holiday there with his parents and sister over twenty years ago. Strolling among ruins of the glamorous (back in the day) concrete villas of Castro, Brezhnev and Honecker, the memories start to flood back.

Balaton has hardly changed, it is almost exactly the same as when I left it. Perhaps a bit more rusty, but the atmosphere remained the same. Only now for me it is no longer a paradise. I have grown and changed.

‘Hungarian Sea’ is a part of the bigger body of work about the summer holiday resorts in post-communist countries. It will be continued in the region of the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea.

 

 

Bio

Michal was born in Poland. After graduating from University, where he got a distinction for his studies, he decided to go to London to pursue his career as a photographer. After a few years doing odd jobs, he finally established himself as one.

He divides his professional career between advertising and documentary photography, traveling extensively between the UK and Eastern Europe, where he produces his documentary work. Most of it is strongly based on his own background and experiences.

He is the winner of 2012 Flash Forward UK, and his work has been published in GQ Magazine, The Mail on Sunday, and Finch’s Quarterly Review.

 

Related links

Michal Solarski

 

Published on November 9, 2012 by burn magazine. 56 Comments

nightwalk #2

Big Sur , California                                      Sand Dollar Beach campground

 

 

Published on November 8, 2012 by david alan harvey. 28 Comments