April 29, 2016

Friday Round Up - 29th April, 2016

This week it's all about Head On Photo Festival which opened in Sydney tonight. A crowd of around 1000 packed the Lower Sydney Town Hall to find out who were the winners of the prestigious Head On Photo Awards that are sponsored by Fujifilm this year. Congratulations to...



HEAD ON PORTRAIT PRIZE


First place: Antonio Heredia - Survivor




“Some years ago, 29 year-old lawyer Oscar Prieto was diagnosed with brain cancer. Following surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Oscar was able to beat the disease. Nowadays, he is the president of ASATE, an organization which provides help and guidance to those affected by brain cancer. By showing his own scars, Oscar tries to inspire and demonstrate that one can overcome cancer.”

Second place Giles Clarke - Toxic Trespass



“Sameer, 16, is held by his mother Wahida at home in Bhopal's Jamalpura neighborhood. Sameer was born to parents contaminated by carcinogenic and mutagenic water stemming from the 1984 Union Carbide gas tragedy which has claimed 25,000 lives to date. For decades thousands of families have used contaminated water leading to serious illness and birth defects, as afflicted Sameer. The title refers to scholar-activist Sandra Steingraber's concept of toxic trespass, in which toxic chemicals enter our bodies without our consent.”

Third place Kristian Taylor-Wood - HighScroller, Lauren Winzer



“Lauren is one of the shining lights of the increasingly fashionable tattoo industry. Her quirky and unique pop-art tattooing style and expertise at blogging and social media have made her one of the most recognised names in the tattoo game. Lauren currently has 205K followers on Instagram, with the likes of Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus banging on her door to get inked. This portrait is part of a larger series named HighScrollers.”

LANDSCAPE PRIZE

First place David Chancellor - Giraffe, Blue Sheet, Eastern Cape South Africa




“The Fallen. There's a moment between life and death, sleeping and waking that passes in an instant. For the briefest of moments one can see the beast at peace, calm and in a world that only he inhabits. All the chaos and trauma that went before is no longer bothersome; whilst vets regroup or hunters high five he waits patiently for life to start once more, or for some this is the end, and as I watch, the eye no longer is the gateway to the soul, but rather a reflection of the sky.”

Second place Paul Hoelen – Vanilla Sky



“Mining access roads built through the salt pan lake of Lake Lefroy, south of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.”

Third place Yasmin Mund - Rooftop Dreams, Varanasi



“It was 5:30am and I had just arrived at my guesthouse in Varanasi and instinctively climbed the 7 flights of stairs to see the sunrise over the famous river Ganga. As I looked over the side of the rooftop terrace my jaw dropped in disbelief. Below were mothers, fathers, children, cats, dogs, monkeys all sleeping on the roofs. It was mid-summer in Varanasi and sleeping without AC was difficult.”

Landscape NSW Award Ireneusz Luty - Manly Beach, Sydney



“Part of the series City de Noir. City de Noir assembles a suite of black and white images that focus on presenting intimate moments extracted from the urban environment. Through this, the selection draws attention to and captures both fleeting moments and particular contexts that might represent the unseen and overlooked life within the city of Sydney. Pictures employ long-exposure infrared techniques to capture the dynamism with a sensitive restraint of palette and temporality.”


MOBILE PRIZE

First place Andrew Robert Morgan - Losing Independence




“My grandfather, Albert, is forced to take a back seat ride home after a family dinner because he is no longer allowed to drive at night. He is an extremely independent 87 year old man, but the truth is that he cannot continue doing everything himself.”

Second place Markus Andersen - Veil 




Third place Ako Salemi - Freedom




“A woman covered by a burqa passes by the Roze Sharif holy shrine in Mazar-e-Sharif, where white pigeons often congregate. The pigeon is the symbol of freedom in Afghanistan.”


STUDENT PRIZE

First place Isabelle Sijan – Girl See’s All




“Girl Sees All depicts the average teenage girl looking at life’s obstacles. This is represented via the snow-caps of New Zealand’s Mount Cook, which can be seen as a double exposure in the subject’s eyes. While the mountain may seem out of place, especially considering the somewhat empty background, it acts as a representation of the obstacles in one’s life – whether a physical challenge or mental – and thus is not equally reflected in the setting behind the girl.”

Second place Pia Wylie - Façade



“My artwork involves placing a physical object in the form of a mirror into the natural environment, blending and blurring the lines between reality and the reflection of reality via the manmade. I love the idea of allowing a photograph, something that is 2D to show multiple facades. I aim to evoke a sense of contemplation and allow the audience to create their own personal reflection through the complex and almost surreal image.”

Third place Ana Burenkova - Stunned



“The water was colder than they thought it would be. I managed to capture the exact moment that they both realised they'd made a terrible mistake.”

To find out more about Head On Photo Festival which is on in Sydney at various venues visit the website here.

April 22, 2016

Friday Round Up - 22nd April, 2016

This week on Friday Round Up a sneak peek at this year's Head On Photo Festival and the Pulitzer Prize for Photography winners. Next week Friday Round Up will be live from Head On's opening night in Sydney.

Farewell Prince
I woke this morning to the news that one of the greatest musical talents of my generation was dead at 57. Shocked and saddened at his untimely demise, I want to acknowledge his passing here. Losing David Bowie and now Prince... I began my career as a music journalist and he was one of my favourites. I still have his vinyl albums...rock on.





Festival:
Head On Photo - Syd
ney

Australia's largest photography festival, Head On, opens next week in Sydney for a month-long celebration of photography in all its forms. Annual photographic festivals face the challenge of keeping it fresh and programming events and exhibitions that will appeal to loyal followers and also attract newcomers. This year the programme features an eclectic and engaging collection of exhibitions that reinforces the capacity of photography to peel back the layers of human complexity, to transport us to new worlds, to reveal difficult truths and hidden stories as well as to entertain.

Here's a sneak peek at what's in store:


Swiss visual artist Catherine Leutenegger’s Kodak Cityis an anthology that reveals what remains of Kodak as a business and looks at the impact the company’s decline has had on the inhabitants of Rochester, where Kodak’s headquarters was situated for more than a century.


(C) Catherine Leutenegger


(C) Catherine Leutenegger


(C) Catherine Leutenegger


(C) Catherine Leutenegger


1% -Privilege in a Time of Global Inequality, curated by Myles Little, a photo editor with TIME magazine, which features around 30 images, by various photographers, that define the upper echelons of wealth.



Canadian-born, Perth-based photographer Mark Lehn's photo essay of the Bajau Laut nomads, known as the ‘sea gypsies’, captures this group that lives a stateless existence in boat dwellings in the Sabah region of Borneo.

 
(C) Mark Lehn


  (C) Mark Lehn


 (C) Mark Lehn


 (C) Mark Lehn

Three Australian female photographers - Raphaela Rosella, Dutch-born Ingetje Tadros and Kerry Payne Stailey - who are all doing really interesting documentary-based work and tackling highly emotive subjects, have exhibitions too.

(C) Raphaela Rosella -You'll Know It When You Feel It

(C) Ingetje Taros
(C) Kerry Payne Stailey

 Australian landscape photographers Paul Hoelen, Scott McCook and Sheldon Pettit take an aerial view to highlight the environmental impact of mining practices in Australia. These works look like abstract art on first viewing and are visually stunning, but their underlying message is clear, as is the ecological devastation.

© Paul Hoelen Photography

© Paul Hoelen Photography


© Paul Hoelen Photography

There is host of umbrella exhibitions too including two Melbourne photographers whose shows are definitely worth checking out:

Living in the Middle of Hackney documents the lives of five young people in one of London’s most marginalised suburbs. This series shot in 2015 follows on from Nicola's original 2008 commission to create a series of portraits of teenagers deemed ‘at risk of exclusion’ by virtue of their demographic. A lot has changed in Hackney in the ensuing eight years and Nicola found a suburb in the midst of gentrification creating an even greater gulf for those on the margins.

(C) Nicola Dracoulis

(C) Nicola Dracoulis

(C) Nicola Dracoulis

Nathan "Natti" Miller's Notes from the Mississippi Delta
Natti describes this series as “visual notes of a traveller with a camera passing through”. What he doesn’t add is that this traveller has a highly developed eye and his visual rendering of the Mississippi Delta is rich in textural notes and emotions that encapsulate the essence of the blues.

(C) Nathan Miller


(C) Nathan Miller

(C) Nathan Miller

To find out more visit Head On here

Pulitzer Prize 2016 - Photography
Four New York Times photographers, together with the news agency Reuters, won this coveted award for their intense coverage of the refugee crisis in Europe. Congratulations to Tyler Hicks, Mauricio Lima, Sergey Ponomarev and Daniel Etter.


(C) Daniel Etter


 (C) Mauricio Lima


(C) Sergey Ponomarev


(C) Tyler Hicks

April 15, 2016

Friday Round Up - 15 April, 2016

This week on Friday Round Up - Winners of Chris Hondros Award, inaugural Magnum Photography Awards, Grief and Glory at Magnet Melbourne and Donna Ferrato's unfailing commitment to expose domestic violence.


Awards:
Chris Hondros Award
(C) Bryan Denton


Award-winning freelance photographer Bryan Denton is the recipient of this year’s Chris Hondros Fund Award, which was established in honour of Getty Images photojournalist Chris Hondros who was killed in 2011 while on assignment in Libya. 

Denton is a regular contributor to the New York Times and has worked throughout the Middle East, Africa, South East Asia and Afghanistan. Iranian photographer Kiana Hayeri is the recipient of the award in the Emerging Photographer category. Both will use their awards to pursue longterm projects. 

(C) Kiana Hayeri

Magnum Photography Awards

Magnum co-founder Henri Cartier-Bresson

In 2017 Magnum Photos celebrates its 70th anniversary. In the lead to a year which will feature numerous events and exhibitions, the inaugural Magnum Photography Awards has been launched and is now accepting entries. Magnum has joined with LensCulture to present these awards. There will be 12 Winners and 20 Finalists from Documentary, Street, Portrait, Fine Art, Photojournalism and Open categories. In addition, the jury will select 7 photographers as "Jurors’ Picks” and award 5 "Student Spotlight” awards to young, up-and-coming talents. Enter here.


Exhibition: Melbourne

Grief and Glory - Victoria’s Unseen Anzac Photographic Treasures



















Until 2 May
Magnet Galleries
Level 2
640 Bourke Street
Melbourne

Photographer & Activist:
Donna Ferrato - I Am Unbeatable

(C) Donna Ferrato

In 1982 American photographer Donna Ferrato took a photo assignment that changed her life. Shooting for Playboy Japan, Ferrato photographed the open marriage of a couple living in New Jersey. What she discovered wasn’t a happy-go-lucky lifestyle, but one of hidden domestic violence. 

More than 30 years later she is still fighting for the rights of women who are victims of domestic violence. Her series I Am Unbeatable celebrates those women who have left their abusers, but that’s only part of the story. Watch this incredible video on The Atlantic to learn more about her unrelenting commitment.

(C) Donna Ferrato


(C) Donna Ferrato


(C) Donna Ferrato


(C) Donna Ferrato

(C) Donna Ferrato