Saiful Huq Omi: Interview

Saiful Huq Omi: Interview

Screen Capture Courtesy World Press Photo

Saiful Huq Omi is a Bangladeshi photojournalist, whose photos appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Time and Asian Photography, among others. His work has been exhibited in galleries from Zimbabwe and Russia to Japan and his home country. He received a number of awards, including the All Roads National Geographic Award, and an emerging photographers grant from the Open Society Institute.

I thought his recent interview with the World Press Photo ** was one of the most honest I've seen in a long time. Saiful Huq spoke candidly, and tells his interlocutor something which resonates with many emerging photographers in the world...

"...the world has seen us through the eyes of white photographers from the west.."

Well said, Saiful Huq! That's true, but these days are now gone, never to return. It's now the time for local photographers to show us their cultures, their countries and their creativity...as indeed you and many others like you have already done...and will continue to do.

His Rohingya project gained him a grant from the Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund. He is represented by Polaris Images, and published his first photo book, Heroes Never Die - Tales of Political Violence in Bangladesh, in 2006.

** (The direct link may redirect you to the main World Press photo website. If so, you'll have to navigate to its multimedia library and then to "Meet its Participants")

Via Duckrabbit.

Gali Tibbon: Jerusalem

Gali Tibbon: Jerusalem

Photo © Gali Tibbon-All Rights Reserved

I like Gali Tibbon's work a lot, and her focus on faith-related reportage resonates with me. I found her interview (below) to showcase her images much better than on her website. She's an independent photographer based in Jerusalem, with over a decade of experience in photojournalism in the Middle East. Her work has taken her on assignments in Turkey, Cuba, Egypt, Jordan, Ethiopia, China, Spain and Ukraine.

Her work documents religion, focusing on faith through pilgrimage and rituals, and documenting the various Christian denominations in Jerusalem's Holy Sepulcher, baptism in the Jordan River, the ancient Samaritans, Ethiopian Christianity and pilgrimages across Europe.

It's with pleasure that I watched this interview with Gali on the Canon Professional Network during which she discusses her work.


A must-see!!

Rodrigo Cruz: Women Warriors

Rodrigo Cruz: Women Warriors

Photo © Rodrigo Cruz-All Rights Reserved

The reason I go out onto the streets with my camera is simple: I want to tell people's stories in an intimate way through powerful imagery. -Roberto Cruz

Rodrigo Cruz is a freelance photographer with a particular interest in abuses of human rights, especially against women and children in his native Mexico. His work was published by National Geographic and The Washington Post, and by NGOs such as Amnesty International. He was shortlisted for the 2010 Anthropographia Award for Photography and Human Rights; received an honorary mention in the photo contest ‘Global World: through the lens of human rights’; and was selected last year to participate in PhotoEspaña’s Descubrimientos in Guatemala City.

I met Roberto at the inaugural Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico City in 2008, and he was one of the indispensable members that made it such a success. Many of the photojournalists, whether instructors or students, relied on his knowledge, contacts and assistance for their projects and classes.

Have a look at Rodrigo's Women Warriors and Dance of Mice; these are two unusual traditions practiced in Guerrero in southern Mexico. One of his audio-slideshow projects especially relevant at this time when illegal immigration is being targeted in our southern states is The Promised Land.

For further details on Rodrigo, his projects and talent, drop by Canon Pro Network.

Justin Guariglia: A Leica Interview

Justin Guariglia: A Leica Interview

Photo © Justin Guariglia-All Rights Reserved

Justin Guariglia has had a lifelong passion for documentary photography and Leica M cameras that eventually led to a distinguished career as a magazine and travel photographer.

He currently lives in Taipei, and was recently interviewed by the Leica Camera Blog, in which he says:

"Of course, one cannot travel without money, and that is how I discovered photojournalism. Even back in the late 1990s, unlike today, there was still a good amount of work available—a shoot here, a story there, a portrait needed…so magazine work became the way to pay my bills and to travel and see the world, but I always came back with lots of personal images that editors usually never saw. At that stage National Geographic Traveler and Smithsonian magazines ran short stories on distant countries, and that helped pay my way to see the world."

Naturally the interview lauds the qualities of Leica versus other brands of cameras, and highlights how unobtrusive it is in comparison to the large DSLRS currently used by many other photographers. Justin's lenses consist of a 24mm f/2.8, a 35mm f/2, and a 50mm f/2, although he tries to only carry the 35mm f/2 Summicron.

For Leica fans, there's also a Leica contest with the grandiose name of In The Footsteps of the Great Explorers, which calls for adventurers and travel blog writers to submit their entries, and travel with Leica from mid-January 2011. A very fancy website!!!

Justin Guariglia's interview via The Click

The Daily Beast: Veronique De Viguerie

The Daily Beast: Veronique De Viguerie

Photo © Veronique de Vigurie-All Rights Reserved
One of my favorite photojournalists, Veronique de Vigurie, was featured on The Daily Beast blog in an article/interview titled The Bravest Photographer.

Veronique de Viguerie is based in Paris and, at the age of only 32, has already won prestigious awards including Canon’s coveted Female Photojournalist of the Year Award in 2006. Her photographs regularly appear in Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, Marie-Claire, and The Guardian.

She's known for her empathy with her subjects, and that trait got her in hot water in 2008 when she photographed a group of Taliban fighters who had killed 10 French soldiers. Paris-Match published her photographs, and her critics accused her being used to spread Taliban propaganda.

I recall writing about this, and suggesting that if anyone was to be accused of anything, it should have been the Paris-Match editors.

The article quotes Régis Le Sommier, deputy editor in chief of Paris Match, that he believes de Viguerie is "one of the most daring and promising photographers of her generation."

More of de Viguerie's images are on Getty Images Reportage website.

Jehad Nga Talks to BJP

Jehad Nga Talks to BJP

Photo © Jehad Nga-All Rights Reserved

"I respond more to fashion and fine-art, carrying these fields and variables in photojournalism." -Jehad Nga

The British Journal of Photography (which revamped its website) published an interview with Jehad Nga, one of my favorite photographers. This blog featured many posts on Nga, and his distinctive chiaroscuro style.

Titled From Kansas To Nairobi, the recent interview sheds a light on Nga's decision to join the Institute for Artist Management instead of VII and Magnum.

Nga first visited the Middle East in 2001 spending months in different medical volunteering positions in Gaza. When he interned at Magnum Photos in 2002, he was also training to become an Emergency Medical Technician. But since 2004, when he moved to East Africa, he's been dedicating most of his time to photography, working regularly for the New York Times.

Via photojournalism links

Interview: The Travel Photographer on the Matador Network

Interview: The Travel Photographer on the Matador Network

In a new series on Matador Network's Notebook which features periodic interviews with professional photographers, MatadorU faculty and travel photographer Lola Akinmade caught up with me to discuss my perspectives on travel photography, and my insights on the industry as well as on my photo~expeditions. You can also leave your comments if you wish.

Read the interview, in which I confide that

"it was almost like having two personalities; one being a “starched” banker during workdays, and a more relaxed personality befitting that of a travel photographer during the weekends."

I have a bunch of other interviews, which are listed under My Other Websites on the right.

Peter Turnley: A Life In Photography

Peter Turnley: A Life In Photography

Photo © Peter Turnley -All Rights Reserved
Peter Turnley just penned an introspective published on The Online Photographer, which he describes as one of the few times he so exhaustively expresses his connection to the passion of seeing and photographing.

Here's one of the most insightful excerpts:

"People often ask me how I keep my spirit from becoming cynical, jaded, and pessimistic about the human condition after having witnessed so much despair, so much suffering, and so many conflicts. I try to respond honestly and truthfully, that there are many actions of man that sadden me, distress me, and challenge my optimism. But each time I mentally calculate the sum of what I have seen, I am reminded of the many times that I have seen people of all kinds persevering despite tremendous adversity, and their example leaves me with hope."

A couple of months ago, I met Peter Turnley over a tapas dinner hosted by my friends Wink Willett and Neal Jackson in a neighborhood West Village restaurant. The conversation was interesting; mostly about photojournalism and its ethics, spiced with some of Peter's experiences. All I knew about him at the time was that he was a celebrated photojournalist, having published his work in publications that were and still are household names. I also remembered that he had a twin brother; fact that frequently confused foreign authorities when they showed up to cover the same story.

I also had a flashback to a moment after September 11, 2001 when, finding that I couldn't bring myself to photograph at Ground Zero, walked back through Tribeca and saw Peter (or perhaps it was his twin David...or perhaps even someone else with some resemblance to the Turnleys) on his way to photograph the site. Having a bunch of cameras dangling from our shoulders betrayed us as photographers, and we looked at each other for a second or two, perhaps with a flicker of recognition...but we each went our separate ways. I forgot to mention it to Peter.

Outside Magazine: Antonin Kratochvil

Outside Magazine: Antonin Kratochvil

Photo © Clay Enos-All Rights Reserved

"Antonin detests the notion of self-aggrandizement that photographers make a living off of," says Gary Knight, a colleague of Kratochvil's and co-founder of VII.

That's a statement that made me pay close attention to the interview with Antonin Kratochvil published by Outside magazine. I've been gnashing my teeth and rolling my eyes at this very attitude which is exhibited by so many photographers these days; especially those who are deemed to be "conflict" or "war" photographers. And here's a interview which tells us that Antonin rejects the "war photographer" label outright and hates the self-promotional concept of bearing witness that's in vogue among some photojournalists....a feeling just up my alley.

A very unusual man, with an interesting history. I won't repeat the details here, but encourage you to set enough time to read and savor the interview. You'll enjoy it.

Antonin Kratochvil's website.