Bob Krist on The Digital Trekker

© Bob Krist-All Rights Reserved
Bob Krist is of course an acclaimed photographer, author, educator and writer, who works regularly on assignment for magazines such as National Geographic Traveler, Smithsonian, and Islands. He won the title of "Travel Photographer of the Year" from the Society of American Travel Writers in 1994, 2007, and again this year at the 2008 convention.

Not only does he have an interesting (and highly educational) blog, but Matt Brandon of The Digital Trekker interviewed Bob over the phone, and has this engaging conversation for download on his Depth Of Field post. Two professionals speaking with each other is always a treat...this one in particular.

Bob Krist's Photo Traveler Blog
Matt Brandon's The Digital Trekker Blog

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VII Magazine

Photo © Ashley Gilbertson-All Rights Reserved
The announcement that the VII Photo Agency launched VII The Magazine has already been reported and blogged about for a few days already. The magazine is a syndicated online publication with photo stories and interviews with VII photographers.

The beta version of VII The Magazine is presented in the Herald Scotland newspaper, and in Lens Culture.

The first issue of the magazine features multimedia slideshows of projects by several VII photographers, as well as interviews with Jessica Dimmock and Ashley Gilbertson about their projects featured on the site.

I was particularly interested in Ashley Gilbertson's interview, and struck by one of his statements:

"If you show me one more picture of a soldier kicking in a door, I'm going to blow my head off."

I sense Ashley speaks for, not only war photographers, but for many of the sentient public who's been subjected to repetitive and unimaginative visual (and intellectual) presentations of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and who's had (if they're anything like me) enough of the same stereotypical coverage which passes for cutting edge reporting in our media. I call it the stagnation of war photography...the same scenes over and over, perhaps from different angles...and with no back story. In fact, if I didn't read the captions beneath these images, I wouldn't be able to tell if it was in Iraq or in Afghanistan...or whether they'd been made yesterday or a year ago. Stagnation.

Ashley's powerful and poignant photo essay The Shrine Down The Hall, which shows some of the empty bedrooms of the over 5000 U.S. military personnel killed in the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan, rammed home the horrors of war much more effectively than seeing (and hearing) yet another photo essay by a gung-ho war photographer following US soldiers in an Afghani village, rounding up "Taliban" members (or whatever the caption writer decides they are), covering their heads with potato sacks while pointing guns at terrified women.

We need to see more work like Ashley Gilbertson's and much less of the kicking of Afghan or Iraqi doors....please.

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George Steinmetz: Aerial Views

The New Yorker magazine's online edition is featuring a video in which George Steinmetz discusses his career and techniques with Lauren Collins, who had traveled with him to Algeria.

George Steinmetz is a photographer known for his explorations of remote deserts, obscure cultures, and mysteries of science and technology. He is regular contributor to National Geographic and GEO Magazines, and explored subjects ranging from the remotest stretches of Arabia’s Empty Quarter to the unknown tree people of Irian Jaya. He has won numerous awards for photography during his 25-year career,including two first prizes in science and technology from World Press Photo. He has also won awards and citations from Pictures of the Year, Overseas Press Club and Life Magazine's Alfred Eisenstadt Awards.

Once you're done with watching the interview in the video above, take a look at Steinmetz's website. You'll be rewarded with large gorgeous photographs of the remote areas he explored, both from the air and on land.

I think his aerial photographs are more accessible and intimate than those by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, because he photographs from a motorized paraglider at heights of 100-500 feet above ground, rather than a small airplane.

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The Travel Photographer: GlobalPost

The GlobalPost's Full Frame features photo essays and conversations with photographers in the field, and it has just featured a slideshow of my photographs, along with an audio interview in flash format. The slideshow is titled Unusual Cultures, Unusual Places, and can be seen either by clicking on the arrow in the above image, or by clicking on the link.

GlobalPost has published nearly 3,000 stories, videos and photo galleries since January including numerous in-depth series on a very broad array of major international issues, and have nearly 20 syndication partners who have reached agreements to use GlobalPost content in print, on-air, or online.

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WIRED: Kanepari & Ferguson

Photos © Adam Ferguson (L)/Zackary Canepari (R)-Courtesy WIRED

"The photojournalist has long been known as the lone wolf, traveling solo to the far-flung corners of the world to document experiences few are capable of seeing. By function, it’s often a solitary quest, lonely and alienating; rarely as romantic as the photographs make it appear."

What a great start for the Raw File article written for WIRED by Bryan Derballa!

The article deals with the friendship and healthy competition between Adam Ferguson and Zackary Canepari, two immensely gifted photojournalists working in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. It appears that they helped each other, and edited one another’s work, always hoping to improve its quality.

WIRED's Raw File's article is in essence two interviews: Ferguson giving his views on Canepari's work, and vice-versa. Quite an interesting read...naturally, they pat each other on the back, but that's what friends do, especially those whose camaraderie withstood difficult circumstances.

Both photojournalists are content to be doing what they want to do at this time. Canepari is back in California pursuing personal projects, while Ferguson is still shooting in Afghanistan.

Zackary Canepari was featured on TTP a few times, and Adam Ferguson's work in Orissa was featured here.

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Ami Vitale: Interview

Photo © Ami Vitale-All Rights Reserved
I regret two things. While Ami and I traveled side by side to Manali for the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop on the latter section of a 20 hours road trip marred by unforeseen twists and turns (including fender benders and police shake-ups), we were both so knackered that conversation was limited, and I regret that both she and I were so immersed in tutoring our respective classes at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, that it was difficult to get to know each other beyond some passing pleasantries.

So it's with pleasure that I found this interview with her on The Adventure Life, the personal blog of Steve Casimiro, West Coast Editor of National Geographic Adventure. It fills in the gaps very well, and features updated information on Ami and her work.

Ami has worked on contract for National Geographic for many years, and her work was published in all or most of the top-name magazine and newspapers. One of the questions raised in the interview relates as to what Ami was doing in India. Well, that 'mystery' is is now solved.

Via (and with thanks) duckrabbit multimedia blog

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Marc Silber Interviews Deanne Fitzmaurice

In this video interview, Marc Silber discusses photography techniques with Deanne Fitzmaurice, a Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist.

Deanne talks about how to approach your subject, and how to “layer” (a perceptive term) one's photographs and of multimedia, among other things. While not really new, there is sensible advice in this video, and it's given in an attractive low-key non patronizing conversational tone. Highly recommended interview for its content and for its style.

Via The Click

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Pop Photo: My Interview

What is it Like to be a...Travel Photographer?

That's the question I was asked by Carolina Hidalgo of Popular Photography, who talked to me a few weeks ago, part of an ongoing project in which she interviews several professional photographers about how they landed their dream jobs.

I often remember Costa Manos' admonishment that I needed to 'complicate' my photographs...to make them less simple, and to have them tell a story. Some 10 years ago in Old Havana where he was teaching a street photography workshop, he was the one who planted the seed of storytelling in my consciousness. I recall my ego being badly bruised at first, but it quickly recovered when I realized he was exactly right.

Popular Photography & Imaging, also called Popular Photography or Pop Photo, is a monthly American consumer magazine founded in 1937 and the world's largest imaging magazine, with an editorial staff twice the size of its nearest competitor. It has a rate base (subscription and single copy sales) of 400,000 with a total audience of 2,085,000.

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Lens Culture: Munem Wasif

Photo © Munem Wasif -All Rights Reserved
Munem Wasif is a Bangladeshi documentary photographer, who started his photographic career as a feature photographer for the Daily Star, a leading English daily of Bangladesh. In 2007, he was selected for the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass in the Netherlands, and subsequently won International Award "F25" of the Fabrica and "City of Perpignan Young Reporter’s Award". His work is exhibited at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, at the International Photography Biennial of the Islamic World in Iran, at Fotofreo, the festival of photography in Australia and at Visa Pour l’Image in Perpignan. He is represented through Agency VU in Paris.

The superb Lens Culture blog brings us exclusive audio interviews with Munem, who spoke of the ecological and personal disasters in Bangladesh caused by a vast influx of shrimp farming.

Another interview with Munem appeared on TTP here.

via The Click

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Franck Vogel: The Bishnois

Photo © Franck Vogel -All Rights Reserved
The Canon Professional Nework (Europe) brings us a feature on Franck Vogel's project photographing the Bishnois in India. The project was recently a major cover story for the 30th anniversary edition of GEO France magazine.

This features dovetails quite neatly into my plans for a photo~expedition in early Spring 2010 to South Rajasthan and the Rann of Kutch to cover tribal life (including the Bishnois and Rebaris, amongst many others), and Baneshwar Fair.

Anyway, back to Franck Vogel and his project. In 2006, he began documenting the lives of the Bishnois in India. This tribal group (the article calls it a "sect") bases its way of life on 29 principles formulated in the 15th century by Guru Jambheshwar. Many of these are involve environmental protection, especially protecting trees and wildlife.

It's an interesting read as to how the photographer went about getting access to the Bishnois. I'm certain that Vogel was able to discern the difference between the authentic Bishnois and those who are featured on virtually all the tour itineraries in Rajasthan..especially the rather demeaning and obviously staged "opium"-drinking ceremonies.

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WSJ: Bob Krist's 'A Focus on Storytelling'

You actually need to think about what kind of photos you want. I say inspiration is for amateurs. Even though you aren't working for a magazine, you can still give yourself a little assignment...When you shoot with a mission, you start to think in terms of a storyteller, rather than a person walking around waiting to be hit with a bolt of, "Wow, that's beauty."
-Bob Krist

The Wall Street Journal (yes, The Wall Street Journal...imagine that!) has an insightful interview with the legendary travel photographer Bob Krist with his take on visual storytelling, and suggestions to make better travel photographs.

As for his quote, Bob's right on the money. Photographing with a predetermined and well researched mission will force you to become a visual storyteller.

The WSJ not only offers us an interview, but also an audio slideshow (SoundSlides format) of Bob's photographs and his narration.

Previous posts on Bob Krist have appeared here on The Travel Photographer.

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Gary Knight: FT Interview

©Gary Knight-Courtesy FT-All Rights Reserved.
"You find when you photograph the poor the world over that, unless you’re trying to make them appear without dignity, people understand what you’re doing and they collaborate."-Gary Knight

The Financial Times' Weekend Magazine published an interview with VII co-founder and photographer Gary Knight, who turned his lens on Brazil’s penal system, and found brutality, overcrowding and a controversial evangelist pastor with a strange power over inmates.

A worthwhile read from a leading, and thoughtful, photojournalist. Claire Holland, picture editor of FT Weekend Magazine, conducted the interview.

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liveBooks: Art Wolfe: New Business Model

liveBooks, the company which provides custom photography websites has featured an interview with Art Wolfe, described as a conservation and fine art photographer, who is reinventing his business model by selling his stock images directly through his liveBooks website and a Photoshelter account linked to it.

The quality of the recording is not that good, as it's recorded in the open air but one gets the sense how Art Wolfe decided a few years ago that he had to diversify away from his stock photography, and enter the world of television through his Travels to the Edge series. Click the above image to take a listen.

(via The Click)

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Marcus Bleasdale: Banker-Photojournalist

I just read an article in the UK's Telegraph on the photojournalist Marcus Bleasdale, and his change of career from banker to photographer. The article highlights how someone who clearly didn't feel comfortable in the world of finance moved towards the uncertain and dangerous life of a photojournalist involved in conflict.

The article starts with this:

"As an investment banker, Marcus Bleasdale was paid £500,000 a year to sit in front of 10 computers and 25 phones. 'My job was to produce for the bank,’ he remembers, 'almost like being a battery chicken, sitting there laying eggs.’ There were perks, of course, and before the age of 30 Bleasdale was the owner of two houses and a 1968 Porsche 911, and he spent weekends skiing in the Alps.
"

And ends with this:

"Does he feel he has changed? 'I think I appreciate life a lot more. I think I’m more sensitive. I think,’ he concludes, 'I’m a nicer guy.’"

Marcus Bleasdale spent 8 years covering the brutal conflict within the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the work was published in his book “One Hundred Years of Darkness". He is widely published in the UK, Europe and the USA in publications such as The Sunday Times Magazine, The Telegraph Saturday Magazine, Geo Magazine, The New Yorker, TIME and Newsweek, LIFE and National Geographic Magazine. In 2004 he was awarded UNICEF Photographer of the Year Award, the 3p Grant and the Alexia Foundation Grant. Marcus was awarded a World Press Photo award in 2006 and the Olivier Rebbot Award by the Overseas Press Club 2006, and is represented by VII.

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Magnum Blog: Advice To Young Photogs

Alec Soth's recent post Advice to Young Photographers on Magnum's blog is extremely useful, and I think it's certainly a must-read for many emerging and established photographers. Not only does it include Alec's own advice to image-makers, but also sensible advice from about 35 other Magnum photographers ranging from Abbas to Alex Majoli, from Constantine Manos to Paolo Pellegrin, and from Olivia Arthur to Susan Meiselas. Some of the advice is obvious, but others are witty and thought provoking.

Perhaps it's Abbas's advice of wearing good shoes that takes the fillip. Whether it does or doesn't, it certainly gave me the excuse to show my photograph of a tsechu dancer during the Wangdue festival in Bhutan. This amiable fellow may never be a photographer...look closely, and you'll see that his dancing shoes are so well-worn that they almost have no soles!

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1 on 1: Kirsten Luce

Photograph © Kirsten Luce-All Rights Reserved
The Travel Photographer blog occasionally posts interviews with both travel and editorial photographers. This interview is with Kirsten Luce, a freelance photojournalist working in New York City. Her work was published in The Washington Post, Los Angeles Time, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Houston Chronicle, Miami Herald (International Edition), AP, Bloomberg News and CARE International. She recently attended the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico City, and her photo project featuring Clowns in Xochimilco received wide acclaim.

An enormously talented photographer and photojournalist, Kirsten recently took the time to respond to TTP's questions.

1) TTP: When did you decide to become a photographer? Who or what influenced your decision?

While enrolled in art school at the University of Georgia, I took a photojournalism class and promptly switched majors. my professor, Jim Virga, was a newspaper photojournalist turned educator. He took a practical approach to photojournalism that spoke to me. He taught us the basics: how to put together a portfolio to apply for jobs. I got my first newspaper internship with a portfolio compiled from these class assignments. If it weren't for the perspective that I gained from him and my classmates, I would not be a working photojournalist.

2) TTP: Do you have any formal training regarding photography?

I took 3 or 4 photo classes in high school/college and I interned at The Birmingham News in Alabama for six months.

3) TTP : If you had the choice, where is your favorite place to live and work as a photographer in the world and why?

I absolutely fell in love with Mexico. I won a grant to study journalism and lived in Colima, a small university city in western Mexico, and I have been consumed by the country ever since. I went there for a semester and ended up staying for several months longer, freelancing for the AP, and eventually taking a newspaper staff job in McAllen, Texas on the Mexican border. I very well may end up back in Mexico some day.

4) TTP: Describe your own favorite image, and describe how you went about creating it.

Photograph © Kirsten Luce-All Rights Reserved
One of my personal favorites is from my first few weeks in Mexico in 2004. I was at a carnival with my Swedish roommate and snapped some photos of a street performer. It doesn't have much news value but it makes me smile. It ran in a little Mexican newspaper that I would contribute to. They paid me $3 to use it.

5) TTP: Describe a day in your professional life.

My professional life was recently turned upside down. I chose to leave my staff job at a newspaper on the border to move to New York city and freelance. It's my self-designed grad school. I wake up, contact editors, brainstorm, edit recent projects and plan for future projects. If I have an assignment, I photograph, edit and FTP the images.

6) TTP: Tell your funniest, scariest, most bizarre, most touching story from a photoshoot!

Earlier this year, I accompanied a Mexican reporter to cover the aftermath of a shootout between suspected drug cartel members and Mexican soldiers in a small border town in Mexico. When we arrived, the situation was still very tense and at least three people had died. There were hundreds of people gathered in the streets to watch the story unfold. The chilling part was that no one would talk to us. No one wanted to be photographed, in fear that they would be identified as a witness. No one even wanted to be seen with us. It was my first glimpse of just how powerful the cartels are in Mexico and how intimidated the local population remains.

7) TTP: What types of assignments are you most attracted to?

I love photographing assignments that give me time and access to whatever it is I am covering. I prefer to work alone, as I don't like photographing things with other photographers or videographers present. At the newspaper, I would really enjoy photographing a 'day in the life' of a person or place. When you have the time and access, you can wait for the right light and moments.

8) TTP: How would you describe your photographic style?

Subtle, textured and quiet...but I am evolving.

9) TTP: Who or what would you love to photograph that you haven't already?

There are too many things. At the moment I am drawn to Arctic cultures. I have spent a lot of time working in the heat, and look forward to documenting people that live under vastly different environmental conditions.

10) TTP: Describe the photo gear, as well as (if digital) your computer hardware and software you use.

I photograph with Canon gear. I own a 5d, 17-35, 24 1.4, 70-200 and a 550ex strobe. I prefer to travel light. I miss my Mark II from the paper but adjusting to the 5d. It's a fine camera. I still use Photo Mechanic and Photoshop, but transitioning into Lightroom. I have a wireless internet card that makes my life a lot easier...so I can transmit images from virtually anywhere I am.

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Shiho Fukada: E&P Winner

Photograph © Shiho Fukada-All Rights Reserved
Editor & Publisher has just announced its 9th Annual Photos of the Year winners. Shiho Fukada, won the grand prize for her work in The New York Times covering the May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, China. The Travel Photographer offers its congratulations to Ms Fukada for the well-deserved award.

An outstanding photographer, Shiho Fukada has been featured many times on The Travel Photographer. Here are some of the links:

Kashgar Photo Essay

PDN Photo Annual 2008

Digital Photo Pro Magazine

TTP's Photo of the Year 2007

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John Stanmeyer on Malaria Project

John Stanmeyer is a co-founding member of VII, and works regularly on assignment with National Geographic magazine. Here's is a recent interview (via Canon Professional Network) of him discussing his latest long-term assignment with the magazine, involving the global scope of malaria.

A thoughtful interview with one of my favorite photographers...John Stanmeyer's Malaria .

This blog has previously featured John Stanmeyer's Malaria work (link)

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Stanley Greene: Interview in Perpignan

Here's an impromptu (and very personal) interview with photojournalist Stanley Greene of NOOR agency in the streets of Perpignan. Stanley recently traveled to Afghanistan and shot a powerful photo story about the crisis of drug abuse and infectious disease.

I met Stanley while we were teaching courses at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico last June, and I must say that this interview is exactly what Stanley is all about...at times tough and opinionated, but also immensely compassionate and considerate. I recall telling Stanley that it had been a privilege meeting him...I normally don't say stuff like that unless I seriously mean it. What I didn't say was that meeting him was -for me- one of the highlights of the workshop...but I hope he guessed that.

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Jehad Nga: Somalia Through A Lens

Brightcove posted a 5th of September interview with Jehad Nga at the Frontline Club in London. Jehad is a talented emerging photographer who, for the last 3 years, worked in and around Mogadishu, Somalia.

In this video, he presents a selection of his images, and is interviewed by a rather verbose Rob Walker of the BBC World Service.

For more on Jehad Nga on TTP: (here) and (here)

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