Via Cowboys and Indians Magazine
December 21, 2024
December 16, 2024
HEALTH CARE un-covered published previously, for eight grueling months, Jennifer Braunagel endured debilitating pain from rheumatoid arthritis while her insurance company, Aetna, denied coverage for Actemra, the only medication that offered hope. Her struggles were both emotional and physical – confronting endless roadblocks like prior authorization and step therapy, tactics big health insurers like Aetna, Cigna and UnitedHealth use to cut costs at patients’ expense.December 18, 2024
Waiting for election results at a Trump watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center. They came faster than expected, with former President Donald J. Trump declared the winner early the next morning.
Mark Peterson for The New York Times
“It was before people knew Trump was going to win. It was shortly after they let a lot of the public in. They could have been waiting hours in line. They kept filing in and filling up the chairs until all of them were full. They were all dressed so alike. I took five frames and that was that.” — Mark Peterson
From the project “Watching the Total Eclipse Across North America,” April 8
As darkness raced across the sky during the total solar eclipse, people in Niagra Falls gathered outside to look up for a moment of reverence.
Ashley Gilbertson for The New York Times
December 16, 2024
#onthisday, December 16, in 1944, The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, the last major German offensive campaign of WWII began. With the onset of winter, the German army launched a counteroffensive that was intended to cut through the Allied forces in a manner that would turn the tide of the war in Hitler's favor.
The "Bulge" was the largest and bloodiest single battle fought by the United States in World War II.
“I never wanted to be a fighter, but I always wanted to be a photographer. I decided to photograph portraits of the people in my unit, because they were the people I lived with. We slept together, we risked together. We did so much together. I never saw soldiers. I saw human beings. I saw red blood, human blood. The battlefield, in a way, helped me, because when the war is on, that’s all that it is, fighting all the time. You know that it can happen to you. What do you do about it? I took pictures.” –Tony Vaccaro
In the spring of 2025, Monroe Gallery of Photography will present a major exhibition commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Details to be announced soon.
December 12, 2024
U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise a U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, Japan, Feb. 23, 1945. (AP Photo/Joe Rosenthal, File)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A photojournalist who captured one of the most enduring images of World War II — the U.S. Marines raising the flag on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima — will have a block in downtown San Francisco named for him Thursday.
Joe Rosenthal, who died in 2006 at age 94, was working for The Associated Press in 1945 when he took the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo.
After the war, he went to work as a staff photographer for the San Francisco Chronicle, and for 35 years until his retirement in 1981, he captured moments of city life both extraordinary and routine.
By Hafsa Maqsood
December 10, 2025
December 9, 2024
Via Freedom Of The Press Foundation
December 5, 2024
By Stephen Dando-Collins | 4 December 2024
Early on Christmas Day, 1942, 26-year-old George Silk rose from his cot at battalion HQ at Soputa in northeast Papua and began walking to the Buna battlefront 10km away.
Around his neck hung his two cameras – a Rolleiflex Standard for close-ups, and a 35mm Zeiss Ikon Contax fitted with a telephoto lens for distance shots.
Silk was a New Zealand camera shop assistant who’d turned up in the Canberra office of Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies in January 1940.
He talked Menzies into hiring him as Australia’s second government combat photographer, and after working in North Africa, Silk was reassigned by the Australian Department of Information (DOI) to the New Guinea campaign.
For close to three years Silk had striven to take the ‘great’ war picture, something to emulate or surpass Robert Capa’s famous 1937 shot from the Spanish Civil War, The Falling Soldier.
Now, with the Australians and Americans starting to gain the upper hand in the fight against the Imperial Japanese Army in Papua, Silk was anxious to get his best shot before the Battle of Buna-Gona ended.
So, on December 24 he dragged himself from his hospital bed outside Port Moresby, where he’d been laid low by malaria, and hitched a ride back to the front.
On the track to Old Strip, Silk, rounding a bend in the tall kunai grass, saw two men approaching side-by-side. One was a wounded Australian soldier, Private George ‘Dick’ Whittington.
Barefoot, walking with the aid of a long stick, his eyes were covered by a rough bandage. Guiding Whittington was volunteer Papuan carrier Raphael Oimbari, a farmer in his twenties.
It almost seemed as if Silk would be intruding if he photographed the pair. “I wanted to take the picture, but I didn’t at first,” he later recalled.
But his documentarian’s instincts kicked in. Using his Rolleiflex from the waist with the pair less than two metres away, Silk snapped a single shot without even looking down into the viewfinder.
Seemingly unaware of him, the wounded soldier and carrier passed Silk by. Hurrying after them, he obtained the soldier’s details before the pair continued on.
Later that day, Silk joined Whittington’s 2/10th Battalion. Clicking away in the thick of the fighting that afternoon, he collapsed face-down on the battlefield. Malaria had caught up with him.
Towards sunset, an Aussie soldier found the photographer lying with the dead all around him. Evacuated to Moresby, Silk ended up in a malaria ward.
You can’t keep a good photographer down. Silk was soon back at the front. At Giropa Point on December 31 and January 1, he took what he considered his two best pictures of the war, close-ups beside Bren-gunners and Vickers-gunners with bullets whistling all around. Again, Silk collapsed with malaria, and again he ended up in hospital.
Meanwhile, another George, American Life photographer George Strock, snapped three dead American soldiers on Buna Beach.
In hospital, George Silk learned the DOI had banned his two Giropa Point photos – one showed a dead Digger, while one of the Bren-gunners had dropped down dead beside him seconds after he took his picture.
At the same time, Silk’s photo of Whittington and the ‘Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel’ was also banned for being ‘too graphic’.
Silk was incensed. So, he wined and dined a young female clerk working in the DOI’s Port Moresby office and brought her into a conspiracy.
She had prints of his three banned pictures made at the DOI’s Sydney photographic laboratory and sent to her.
She gave them to Silk, who passed them to a war correspondent friend, who had them approved by the American censor at GHQ in Brisbane. Silk then gave his prints to George Strock, who smuggled them to Life.
Strock knew the Pentagon banned publication of photos of American dead, but was appalled by apathy towards the war at home. He was determined to jolt his fellow Americans into getting behind their troops.
On March 8, 1943, Life published Silk’s The Blind Soldier, full page.
Readers hailed it the best picture of the war. A month later Silk was fired by the DOI. Parliamentary backbenchers called for him to be charged with treason. His friend Damien Parer resigned in protest at his treatment.
Meanwhile, Life management struggled for seven months to gain War Department approval to publish Strock’s Three Dead Americans.
Going all the way to the White House, they discovered that, like George Strock, President Roosevelt was determined to cement Americans behind the war effort by being honest with them. With his approval, Three Dead Americans appeared in Life on September 20, 1943, shocking America.
In 2014, Time magazine would describe it as ‘the photograph that won the war’. Two iconic images, and one amazing story. ❂
The Buna shots: The Amazing Story Behind Two Photographs that Changed the Course of World War Two, by Stephen Dando-Collins, is published by Australian Scholarly Publishing. It’s the never before told story of two arresting photographs, two courageous photographers, and the quest for truth in war. You can order a copy here: https://bit.ly/3ZQ5DpV
November 29, 2024
In the 2023 photograph Ancestral Strength by Eugene Tapahe, four Indigenous women — Cayuse, Umatilla, Newe Sogobia, and Tséstho’e — stand side by side wearing brightly colored traditional garb, staring toward the sky behind the photographer. The stark winter beauty of the background in Wyoming’s Teton National Park further highlights the women’s projected power.
In the 1949 photograph Southern Pacific Steam Engine by John Dominis, a steam engine plows through a snowy landscape at Donner Pass, California.
Both images showcase forms of strength, but that’s not the tie that binds them. Both are part of Frozen in Time, an exhibition that Monroe Gallery of Photography describes as an “imaginative survey of compelling images.” It covers a range of human experiences, from the joy of exploration in George Silk’s 1946 shot Tourists Climb Fox Glacier in Tasman National Park, taken in New Zealand, to the ugly brutality of war in Tony Vaccaro’s White Death, Pvt. Henry Irving Tannebaum Ottre, taken in Belgium in 1945.
It opens with a reception from 4-6 p.m. Friday, November 29. — Brian Sandford
details
Through January 19
Monroe Gallery of Photography
112 Don Gaspar Avenue
505-992-0800, monroegallery.com
The new exhibition "Frozen In Time", an imaginative survey of compelling images that reveal moments in history and the unseen and unexpected layers of our world in winter, opens with a public reception on Friday, November 29, from 4-6 pm.
November 25, 2024
In each of the six regions of our contest model, a selection of entries per category will first be made by a regional jury, chaired by the regional jury chair.
The juries are made up of professionals from and/or working in the region they are judging, who are well-equipped to place the stories into a cultural, political and social context.
Once the regional juries have made their selection of entries, the global jury, composed of the six regional jury chairs and one additional member, the global jury chair, decides on the 2025 World Press Photo Contest winners. From those, they will then choose the World Press Photo of the Year and the two runners-up.
The global jury is assisted by a secretary. The secretary is responsible for all procedural matters and ensures the rules and procedures are fairly and properly applied. The secretary does not contribute to debate on the merits of any entry, and has no vote in the balloting.
By Kathaleen Roberts
November 24, 2024
Winter brings both beauty and brutality.
Open at Santa Fe’s Monroe Gallery of Photography, “Frozen in Time” brings images of both joy and despair by some of the most renowned American photojournalists. The photographs cover the 2016 protests during the Standing Rock pipeline construction, a skating waiter at St. Moritz, Switzerland, in the early 1900s, and images of the grim winter conditions during World War II.
Several of the photojournalists worked for Life magazine.
"It always makes for a beautiful, serene, contemplative experience,” said Michelle Monroe, gallery co-owner, of the frosty season. “We know it’s cold, we know it’s quiet, we know there is a veil of light.”
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection: Ice Skating Waiter, St. Moritz, 1932
Alfred Eisenstaedt’s “Ice Skating Waiter” encapsulates the grace of skating while balancing a tray of glasses and liquor.
“He had a very rudimentary camera with glass plates,” Monroe said. “He said the whole thing was a technical challenge.”
The photographer focused on the chair until the waiter swanned by.
Tony Vaccaro’s photograph of soldiers partially buried in snow during the 88-day Battle of Hürtgen Forest captures the longest fight on German ground of World War II. An estimated 24,000 were killed, wounded or captured.
“There was no one more uncomfortable than the other,” Monroe said. “You couldn’t even find any comfort being together. (Vaccaro) said there was a lot of dark humor.”
In 2023, Navajo photographer Eugene Tapahe took “Ancestral Strength” in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park.
Tapahe was studying at Utah’s Brigham Young University when the pandemic hit. He decided to take four Native jingle dancers (two of whom were his daughters) across the country.
“The jingle dress has always been used for healing,” Monroe said. “Since the schools were closed, perhaps he could heal the country. They went all over performing. It had a tremendous effect on people.”
Those stops included Mount Rushmore, Yosemite and New York’s Central Park.
Ryan Vizzions photographed the protests over the Standing Rock pipeline in 2017, including a portrait of a medicine man.
“He was a spiritual counselor and guide for everything there to keep people in focus,” Monroe said.
“(For) a lot of the older photographers, in order to be put on the front page, it was to get out there and get a shot of this latest snowstorm,” Monroe said. “She was part of the Photo League (cooperative.) They were shut down by the Red Scare movement for being subversive.”
The photographs also include images of the 1939 Russo-Finnish War, harsh winter conditions in the northern Soviet Union taken during its collapse in the 1990s and several ice skating scenes, including Truman Capote at New York’s famed Rockefeller Plaza in 1959, as well as tranquil snow scenes of the American West.
Monroe Gallery specializes in photojournalism. It was the recipient of the 2010 Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Excellence in Photojournalism.
'FROZEN IN TIME'
WHEN: Opening Reception on Friday, Nov. 29, 4-6 pm; exhibition continues through Jan. 19, 2025
WHERE: Monroe Gallery, 112 Don Gaspar Ave., Santa Fe
MORE INFO: monroegallery.com, 505-992-0800
November 18, 2024
TOPEKA — The editor of the Kansas newspaper raided by police last year has a message for journalists struggling with their sense of purpose.
Go on the offensive.
Eric Meyer, editor and publisher of the Marion County Record, delivered remarks Friday as he was inducted alongside his mother, Joan, into the Kansas Press Association Newspaper Hall of Fame.
“I think this is a time when we have to establish for the people of this country the fact that we are important, that we have things that we can tell them that they will want to know, that they will want to change their positions about,” Meyer said.
He added, in a nod to the results of the presidential election: “Let’s not make America great again. Let’s make democracy great again.”
Police raided the Marion County Record newsroom and the home where Meyer lived with his mother in August 2023 under the false pretense that journalists had committed a crime by looking up a public record. Joan Meyer, the 98-year-old co-owner whose profane clash with police officers was captured on camera, died a day after the raid from stress-induced cardiac arrest. The raid spawned five civil lawsuits and a criminal charge against the police chief who led the attack on a free press.
Meyer said he is “an odd duck” because he retired to run a newspaper, rather than retire from it. He returned to Kansas during the COVID-19 pandemic to take over the publication his parents had operated for decades. After teaching journalism for 20 years at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Meyer wanted to practice what he had been preaching — that journalism is still vital.
“We’re not talking about the future of journalists. We’re talking about the future of democracy,” Meyer said. “Because without journalism, there is no democracy. We can’t have an informed public making informed decisions that will lead our country if they don’t have information, solid information that’s reliable. Getting their attention, though, is a very serious problem.”
WITNESS: Nate Gowdy’s Lens on January 6th, 2021
January 9 - February 15, 2025
On January 20, 2017, Nate Gowdy stood at the U.S. Capitol, camera in hand, as Donald J. Trump—with right hand raised and left atop the Lincoln Bible—took the oath of office, vowing to end “American carnage.” It was an ominous prelude to a presidency that would redefine American political expression.
Four years later, on January 6, 2021, Gowdy returned to Washington, DC, prepared to document Trump’s “Save America” rally at the Ellipse. Instead, he witnessed surreal scenes unfold: militants marching, kneeling in prayer, posing for group photos, breaking for hotdogs, rampaging against the Capitol’s sworn protectors, and leading thousands to defile the Inauguration Day stage.
This fine art exhibition, WITNESS: Nate Gowdy’s Lens on January 6th, 2021, examines that day as a theater of chaos and conviction. Gowdy's stark, unflinching images depict the U.S. Capitol, one of democracy’s most sacred symbols, as it becomes a haunting set piece in a dystopian tableau of domestic terror—an inside job.
Twice assaulted for being deemed "fake news," Gowdy persisted in exposing the truth. Shot on assignment for Rolling Stone, his images transcend traditional photojournalism, revealing the kinetic energy and raw emotions of insurrection: vulnerability, rage, fear, and euphoria. These are not just photographs of an event but intimate portraits of the humanity—and inhumanity—that defined it.
Through this collection, Gowdy challenges viewers to confront the complexities of identity, power, and the fragility of democratic ideals. WITNESS invites us to reflect on the contradictions of that day, presenting the Capitol not only as a battleground but as a mirror to the nation itself. What do these images reveal about us—and what do they demand we reckon with?
On January 20, 2017, Nate Gowdy stood at the U.S. Capitol, camera in hand, as Donald J. Trump—with right hand raised and left atop the Lincoln Bible—took the oath of office, vowing to end “American carnage.” It was an ominous prelude to a presidency that would redefine American political expression.
Four years later, on January 6, 2021, Gowdy returned to Washington, DC, prepared to document Trump’s “Save America” rally at the Ellipse. Instead, he witnessed surreal scenes unfold: militants marching, kneeling in prayer, posing for group photos, breaking for hotdogs, rampaging against the Capitol’s sworn protectors, and leading thousands to defile the Inauguration Day stage.
This fine art exhibition, WITNESS: Nate Gowdy’s Lens on January 6th, 2021, examines that day as a theater of chaos and conviction. Gowdy's stark, unflinching images depict the U.S. Capitol, one of democracy’s most sacred symbols, as it becomes a haunting set piece in a dystopian tableau of domestic terror—an inside job.
Twice assaulted for being deemed "fake news," Gowdy persisted in exposing the truth. Shot on assignment for Rolling Stone, his images transcend traditional photojournalism, revealing the kinetic energy and raw emotions of insurrection: vulnerability, rage, fear, and euphoria. These are not just photographs of an event but intimate portraits of the humanity—and inhumanity—that defined it.
Through this collection, Gowdy challenges viewers to confront the complexities of identity, power, and the fragility of democratic ideals. WITNESS invites us to reflect on the contradictions of that day, presenting the Capitol not only as a battleground but as a mirror to the nation itself. What do these images reveal about us—and what do they demand we reckon with?
November 20, 2024
Native Art Market Brings Indigenous Artisans to Washington for Curated Shopping Experience
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian’s Native Art Market returns to the museum in Washington, D.C., Dec. 7 and 8. This annual event invites lovers of art and craftsmanship to meet Indigenous artists and learn about traditional Native arts and contemporary Native creativity. Forty artists will offer authentic, hand-crafted works of art, including jewelry, fashion, photography and pottery. Serious collectors and casual shoppers will find one-of-a-kind pieces at a wide range of prices. During the market, guests will enjoy music by DJ JonRay.
Museum members will have early access to the market during a preview party Dec. 6, from 6 to 8 p.m.
The list of artists scheduled to attend includes Gallery photographer Eugene Tapahe, whose work is featured in the current exhibition "Frozen In Time".
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Faces of Ground Zero: A Conversation with Joe McNally
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET
Award-winning photographer Joe McNally’s "Faces of Ground Zero: Portraits of the Heroes of September 11, 2001" is comprised of 246 large-scale polaroids featuring individuals who responded to 9/11 and contributed to the rescue and recovery operations at Ground Zero. A cross-section of these responder portraits will be on view in the Museum beginning this November. In conversation with Executive Vice President of Collections & Chief Curator Dr. Jan Ramirez, McNally will discuss his undertaking of this project in the emotional weeks following the attacks, how this medium served to uniquely capture this community, and his own experience interacting with those at the heart of this tragedy.
This program is presented as a complement to the Museum’s exhibition Faces of Ground Zero. The exhibition will be on view starting late November 2024.
More information and registration here.
November 17, 2024
Today is the final day for the exhibition "The Best Of Us".
At the conclusion of every exhibit, we find ourselves discussing our impressions, thoughts, and the feedback we received from gallery visitors and collectors. This time, our reflections are deeply meaningful.
"The Best Of Us" was an exhibition depicting the ideals and diversity of the human experience; through nearly 50 photographs which explored the characterization of extraordinary and everyday people who renew our faith that all things are possible and exemplify our ideals. People who exemplified the best traits of humanity: kindness, empathy, compassion, consideration, patience, generosity, resilience, and the willingness to make a difference.
Opening on October 4, as America headed into the final stage of a Presidential election, the images in the exhibit emphasized the necessity of understanding and appreciating photojournalism.
There have been many exhibits that we wish could have run longer, and this another; it will be difficult to see it come to an end. Since the opening on October 4, the exhibit has been seen by many hundreds of viewers: young, old, tours, school groups, veterans, politicians, museum curators, collectors, the "famous", and even a few homeless. We have seen parents quietly explaining the situation behind a photograph to their children, we have seen people softly weeping, and the quiet of the gallery has occasionally been startled by someone gasping "Oh my God!"
This exhibition has affirmed our steadfast belief in the power of a photograph. The introductory wall text included this quote from Maya Angelou: "Be sure you do not die without having done something wonderful for humanity”.
We are so grateful for all of the participating photographers, so many of whom we have been privileged to have known know personally. For those who are no longer living with us, we thank their families for preserving their archives. For those still working, we honor your commitment and service to humanity.
Thank you to all who visited the exhibit and thank you for your kind words and shared emotions. It has been deeply moving to see "The Best Of Us" personified in visitors to the exhibit.
“I cannot tell you where our history is leading us, or through what suffering, or into what era of war or peace. But wherever it is, I know people of good heart will be passing there.” -Carl Mydans, Life photojournalist
View "The Best of Us" and other past exhibits archived here.
November 7, 2024
Growing Up in Climate Chaos
When you’re a teenager, everything can feel like a crisis. But for these teenagers living in areas around the world affected by climate change, the sense of growing crisis is real — not in some hazy future but today, disrupting their adolescence in ways both large and small…
Obama Mchembe pays attention to rain. He has to. When the roads flood, he stays home from school for days at a time. Floods, heat and drought make it harder to grow crops, so his family struggles to buy staple foods, including maize flour, rice and sugar. ‘‘In the past, it was normal for us to eat foods like rice,’’ Mchembe says. ‘‘But now, for a month, we can eat rice once or twice.
Mchembe worries about what climate change means for the future, both for himself and for his country. He and his classmates have started planting cassia trees in a field beside their school — a simple act that ‘‘makes all of us feel courage.’’
November 6, 2024
Celebrated Native American art exhibit comes to UVU’s Museum of Art at Lakemount
In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, the Utah Valley University Museum of Art at Lakemount is pleased to present an art exhibition by Diné (Navajo) artist Eugene Tapahe. “Eugene Tapahe: Between the Worlds” opens with a reception on Tuesday, November 12, from 5-7:30 pm. The exhibition will remain on view through February 15, 2025.
“Eugene Tapahe: Between the Worlds” explores multiple meanings, connecting the contemporary world with tradition while highlighting the relationship between people and the land. Curated by Katherine Jackson, professor of art history at UVU, the exhibition includes a combination of Tapahe’s installations, photography, and performance, engaging people and places while mapping monuments as sacred sites throughout the modern world.
“I draw inspiration from my Diné (Navajo) traditions and modern experiences. My work reflects the fragility and resilience of Native American culture. I strive to unite these two worlds in my concepts while transcending worldly uncertainties. Through various visual mediums, I intend to celebrate and honor the identity and culture of Native Americans. Ultimately, the persona of my work offers unity, hope, and healing,” said Tapahe.
Tapahe is Diné (Navajo) and originally from Window Rock, Arizona. He received his MFA in studio art from Brigham Young University. Tapahe has exhibited his work in prestigious shows at the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Heard Museum Indian Fair & Market, the Cherokee Art Market, and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. He has received awards for his photography from the Cherokee Art Market (2018) and the Museum of Northern Arizona (2019), and he was honored with two International Awards of Excellence from “Communication Arts” magazine.
Tapahe’s work is in the permanent collections of numerous museums, including the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Arizona State Museum, the Minnesota History Center, the College of Wooster Art Museum, the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art at Utah State University, and more.
His art is represented by the Modern West gallery in Salt Lake City, Utah; Monroe Gallery of Photography in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Rainmaker Gallery in Bristol, England; and Four Winds Gallery in Sydney, Australia. Tapahe resides in Provo, Utah, with his wife, Sharon, and their two daughters, Erin and Dion.
“Eugene Tapahe: Between the Worlds” is one of several concurrent exhibitions at the UVU Museum of Art at Lakemount. The annual Faculty Art Exhibition highlighting the work of 41 artists teaching at UVU is on view in the upstairs galleries through November 20, in addition to several exhibits of artwork from the museum’s permanent collection.
At Utah Valley University, we believe everyone deserves the transforming benefits of high-quality education — and it needs to be affordable, accessible, and flexible. With opportunities to earn everything from certificates to master’s degrees, our students succeed by gaining real-world experience and developing career-ready skills. We continue to invite people to come as they are — and leave ready and prepared to make a difference in the world.
For more information, visit UVU’s Newsroom website for fact sheets, maps, leadership bios, history, photos, b-roll, filming policies, and a list of interview-ready faculty experts at https://www.uvu.edu/newsroom/# or scan this QR code.
