Noorderlicht Photofestival Call for Entries

This is an awesome photofestival run by some great people. Several of the FiftyCrows winners, including Jihan Ammar, Ahikam Seri and Diana Matar have been selected in the past. We've just got word today that the selection of entries for Traces & Omens (Groningen, 4 Sept - 9 Oct), the main exhibition of this year's Noorderlicht photofestival, is in progress.

For both Traces (of the past) and Omens ('older' series that on hindsight seem to be imbued with a predictive value or contemporary work that tries to portray the present as a moment en route to the future) work can still be sent in up until April 20th.

From the staff there, "What strikes us at this stage is that photographers seem to be more focussed
on the past than on the future. However Traces & Omens not only intends to make past flows of time emphatically visible, but also directs itself to the ways in which a future can be presented visually as part of the present. To cover this aspect of the theme, series could possibly focus on some of the following issues:

* Ecology: climate change (global warming, global dimming) as the
consequence of human actions;

* Technological developments and the increasing dominance of technology;
€ the power shifts in world relations and the rise of new booming economies
in e.g. South East Asia;

* Urbanisation: the city at the core of modern society, the changing role of
the countryside;

* Energy: the exhaustion of natural resources (oil, water, wood) and the
development of new sources;

* The (developments in the) position of the so called Third World;

* The (im-)possible clash between the different world religions and
political systems.

They are not so much looking for series in which these developments are shown in a 'journalistic' way. Rather, they're looking for work in which these developments are suggested and imagined photographically: images made in the present that make a future almost tangible. Of course the reverse is also possible: series of work made in the past that in retrospect posess an uncanny prophetic touch.

Entries and suggestions on the abovementioned (and other) topics can be sent to Wim Melis, curator for Traces & Omens.

The last phase of the selection process takes place end of April.

NOORDERLICHT PLACES GREAT VALUE ON ENTRIES BY NON-WESTERN PHOTOGRAPHERS AND
ARTISTS.

For the Traces & Omens theme description, please visit:

http://www.noorderlicht.com/eng/newfest/index.html

And for the submission guidelines:

http://www.noorderlicht.com/eng/info/pandora.html

Submissions in digital form can be sent directly to the curator:

wim@noorderlicht.com

Photographer Jonny Lewis Reports from West Papua

Jonny Lewis, one of the Finalists from last year's FiftyCrows International Fund for Documentary Photography has reported in from West Papua, saying that "it is a time bomb waiting to explode." Like East Timor before it, West Papua is yet another island country known to few and seemingly abandoned by all.

So what's the big deal you ask??

Well, officially, more than 100,000 Papuans have been killed by the Indonesians since occupation; unofficially, the figure is said to be as large as 800,000.

And the US mining company Freeport, (check out their Board of Directors as it includes Henry Kissinger, Roy Stapelton who is also on the Board of Conoco Oil, Gabrielle McDonald who was supposedly a civil rights attorney at one time and now serves on Iran-US Claims Tribunal, and Bennett Johnston former Senator from Louisiana and on the Board of Chevron) has a gold mine in West Papua which contains the largest gold reserves, and the third-largest copper reserves, anywhere on the planet. It is both an engineering marvel and an act of breathless colonialism: the company has, literally, sliced the top off a previously inaccessible mountain, a mountain that was home to the Mother Goddess of the local tribes, thousands of whom were forcibly evicted from their land by the company.

Their mine produces more gold in three months than most gold mines produce in a year. It provides a fifth of Indonesia's entire tax base and accounts for half of West Papua's GDP. By the end of mine's life, Freeport expects to have dumped three billion tons of waste rock into the valleys surrounding the mine: that's twice the volume of earth extracted during the construction of the Panama Canal. It has, according to observers, damaged 30,000 hectares of rainforest in the last three decades, and every day it dumps up to 200,000 tons of mine waste, laced with acid and heavy metals, into the sacred Aikwa river, from which local people used to drink and fish. All of this without one single Papuan giving permission for it to happen; and all of this made possible only by a ring of Indonesian soldiers guarding the mine from the original owners of its stolen land.

What the &*%#!

Write your Senators and let them know that you care. And write Jon and let him know that the work that he is doing to bring this to light is important.

Thanks Jon, keep up the good fight!

Joseph Rodriguez' book Juvenile recognized

I got an email this morning from Joseph Rodriguez, winner of the International Fund for Documentary Photyography in 1994, that his book Juvenile was recognized by the New York Public Library for its 76th Annual Books the Teen Age 2005. I am so glad to see Joseph getting his due for this amazing work. Joe wrote, "It was a beautiful event on Saturday, so proud to sit next to all these great authors and all of New York's librarians and be recognized. This means that Juvenile will be suggested reading the throughout all the libraries in the USA.

Great work Joe!!

Nicholson Gallery Moving to NYC

Last Thursday I went to a very cool gallery "closing" for the James Nicholson Gallery here in San Francisco at the 49 Geary Building. James is heading to NYC's Chelsea district where he will re-open the gallery under the same name. San Francisco is going to miss James and his excellent taste in contemporary photography. From Thomas Wrede to David Maisel, James exhibits the work of emerging and established artists working in the mediums of photography, video, and computer-rendered art from artists with a singular, unique vision who push the boundaries of their medium.

During the evening I spoke with many old friends with some new stories including Maren Levinson who has started a new photo agency called RedEyeReps, Alan Rapp from Chronicle Books who helped to publish Mark Leong's book China Obscura, Tom Meyer of SF Camerawork who is moving into a new office/gallery space this year. I also had a fun conversation with Bill Owens, photographer extrardonaire, and might I mention the President of the American Distilling Institute. What a guy!

Good luck James and we'll see you in Chelsea!

Donna DeCesare wins Fulbright

Donna DeCesare, a winner of the 1997 International Fund for Documentary Photography, and now an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas in Austin, has been awarded a five-month Fulbright Research Fellowship to continue her work in Colombia.

As reported on the NPPA website... She will pursue a documentary photographic project on children affected by Colombia’s civil war, collaborating with UNICEF and the Fundacion para un Nuevo Periodismo (the New Journalism Foundation, founded by Colombian Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez). She will also work with PANDI, a mentoring project for young photojournalists covering children’s issues in Colombia.

DeCesare’s exhibit, "Hijos del Destino: Youth Violence in Latin America," opens at the Atrium exhibit space at the London School of Economics in May, and in June she is scheduled to be one of the keynote speakers at the Photojournalism Biennial at Mexico City’s photographic arts complex Centro de la Imagen. Decesare’s multimedia essay “Mi Odisea Latinoamericana” will be projected there from June 9 to July 10, and she’ll also be teaching a five-day workshop in Mexico City.

We wish Donna a big congratulations. There are few more deserving.

51st Crow Battling Over ANWR

As we've noted on our website in the past months, Dale Djerassi, who we lovingly refer to as the 51st Crow, is battling with the US Senate right now over the future of the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. Dale's documentary film, Oil on Ice, which utilizes some of Shubanker Banerjee's incredible documentary photography, is being aired in film festivals and at private screenings across the country, as well as throughout Washington DC in an effort to stop the oil lobby from ruining prisitine beauty, the invaluable caribou and the way of life of the original peoples of the area.

According to a recent NY Times article, the "Republicans say they are planning a legislative maneuver to push President Bush's plan through that would avoid the threat of filibusters....On Wednesday, a leading Democratic opponent of drilling, Senator Barbara Boxer of California, is planning a news conference with Alaska Natives and a filmmaker (Dale!) whose documentary about the Arctic refuge, "Oil on Ice," is being shown on university campuses around the country. U.S. Public Interest Research Group, an advocacy organization opposed to drilling, is mailing 600 copies of the film to members who will have private screenings in their houses.

So what do we do? Click here to take action dammit!! We're proud of you Dale... keep up the fight.

Adobe Donates Software to 2004 Winners

Adobe has been very generous with FiftyCrows in the past couple of years. Today I received word that they have shipped out new CS software to the four Winners of the 2004 FiftyCrows International Fund for Documentary Photography. Very Cool. Thank you kindly for all the support Adobe!

The Wonderful Wide World of Technology

As the first entry into our new FiftyCrows Blog, I am compelled to revel in the ability of technology to aid us in our efforts. Having been in the tech industry myself, I am far too aware of technology's shortcomings, but alas, it is rather amazing at times. So, we welcome you and invite your comments and inquiries.

I envision this Blog being a conduit to the FiftyCrows Community worldwide. Likewise, I can hardly wait to tell you all about the daily goings and comings of FiftyCrows. So many wonderful things happen here that I think you’ll be interested in knowing about. Like what? Well, let's take this past week: on Monday morning Rena Effendi, one of this year’s winners, and I did a radio interview on KPFA, the country’s first listener supported radio station. Later in the day Magnum photographer and good friend, Paul Fusco, visited to review a short film that FiftyCrows Media is developing of his Chernobyl Legacy photo essay. Tuesday morning, photographer Chris Rainier stopped by for a follow-up meeting about the collaboration between National Geographic’s All Roads Photographer Awards and FiftyCrows. Chris also brought along a copy of his new book, Ancient Marks, which is amazing. Go buy it! Later in the day, Rena Effendi, stopped by to work on her digital slide presentation that she ended up giving last Thursday, thanks to Mimi Chakarova, at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

Well… here we go, diving into the blogosphere…come on and join in. It’s going to be fun!