Friday, December 29, 2023

Santa Fe New Mexican's Pasatiempo: Monroe Gallery of Photography’s This Fragile Earth

 Via Pasatiempo

December 29, 2023

By Brian Sanford

Worker cleaning oil spil inNiger Deltal holds out his oils-covered arms and hand with a machette in one hand
Ed Kashi

A worker subcontracted by Shell Oil Company cleans up an oil spill from a well owned by Shell that had been left abandoned for over 25 years, 2004


PHOTOGRAPHY

Documenting damage

In one of the more disturbing images in Monroe Gallery of Photography’s This Fragile Earth, a subcontractor for Shell Oil Company takes a break from cleaning up an oil spill at an abandoned well owned by Shell, holding out his hand. At first glance, it appears to be covered in human blood. Further examination reveals it’s actually covered in Earth’s blood: oil. The untitled image was captured by photographer Ed Kashi in 2004.

Equally troubling, but perhaps more resonant to New Mexicans, is Aftermath of Calf Creek/Hermits Peak Wildfire, taken near Mora in 2022 by Santa Fe New Mexican photographer Gabriela Campos. It features a panoramic view of the charred landscape left by the most damaging wildfire in the state’s history.

This Fragile Earth, which runs through January 21, juxtaposes images showing human-caused environmental devastation and the effects of climate change with others that highlight nature’s magnificence. Among the latter are Taos Gorge, taken by Henry Monroe in 2018, and an untitled image showing a giraffe beneath flying storks at Shaba Game Reserve in Kenya, taken by Bill Eppridge in 1978.

The exhibition’s goal is to motivate awareness and change, say gallery owners Michelle and Sid Monroe. It’s supplemented by a virtual exhibition, Stephen Wilkes: This Fragile Earth, Day to Night, showing that photographer’s images of nature’s splendor. Wilkes, of Connecticut, used a technique in the pieces that captures the passage of time from day to night.

Many of Wilkes’ images show details of locations relatively few humans have visited: Churchill, Manitoba, near Hudson Bay; Ilulissat, Greenland; and Chilko Lake, British Columbia. While humans are only visible in one of the images, others feature caribou, wood bison, polar and grizzly bears, zebras, and elephants. Wilkes gave a talk about the images, as well as his documentation of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, at the gallery on November 30. View it at monroegallery.com.  — Brian Sandford

Ed Kashi - PHOTO TALK - WTF-STOP PODCAST

 Via What the F-Stop Podcast - Life Through Photography

December 28, 2023



Ed Kashi is a renowned photojournalist, filmmaker, speaker, and educator who has been making images and telling stories for 40 years. His restless creativity has continually placed him at the forefront of new approaches to visual storytelling. Dedicated to documenting the social and political issues that define our times, a sensitive eye and an intimate and compassionate relationship with his subjects are signatures of his intense and unsparing work. As a member of VII Photo, Kashi has been recognized for his complex imagery and its compelling rendering of the human condition.

Kashi’s innovative approach to photography and filmmaking has produced a number of influential short films and earned recognition by the POYi Awards as 2015’s Multimedia Photographer of the Year. Kashi’s embrace of technology has led to creative social media projects for clients including National Geographic, The New Yorker, and MSNBC. From implementing a unique approach to photography and filmmaking in his 2006 Iraqi Kurdistan Flipbook to paradigm shifting coverage of Hurricane Sandy for TIME in 2012, Kashi continues to create compelling imagery and engage with the world in new ways.

Along with numerous awards from World Press Photo, POYi, CommArts, and American Photography, Kashi’s images have been published and exhibited worldwide. His editorial assignments and personal projects have generated fourteen books.

In 2002, Kashi in partnership with his wife, writer + filmmaker Julie Winokur, founded Talking Eyes Media. The non-profit company has produced numerous award-winning short films, exhibits, books, and multimedia pieces that explore significant social issues.

In 2019, The Enigma Room, an immersive installation, premiered at NYC’s Photoville festival and has since been seen in Israel, the Netherlands, South Korea, and New Mexico, USA. The Enigma Room is an experimental multimedia projection created in collaboration with Brenda Bingham, Michael Curry, and Rachel BolaƄos.

Kashi is represented by Monroe Gallery, located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. For print sale inquiries, contact info@monroegallery.com


Ed Kashi's photographs are included in the current This Fragile Earth exhibition, on view through January 21, 2024.





Thursday, December 28, 2023

Through the lens 2023: Gabriela Campos

 Via The Santa Fe New Mexican

December 28, 2023


Gallery Photographer Gabriela Campos shares some of her favorite images from 2023.


color photograph of an ironmonger in protective gear spinning molten iron while fellow artists throw liquid iron onto a plywood wall behind him that causes a cascade of yellow sparks

Kelly Ludeking, a Minnesota ironmonger, spins molten iron while fellow artists throw liquid iron onto a plywood wall behind him during the biennial Iron Tribe gathering March 2 in Las Vegas, N.M. The gathering, started by Highlands University fine arts professor David Lobdell in 2001, has become a can’t-miss event, particularly for professors and students in the West and Great Plains.

Gabriela Campos/The New Mexican




Full gallery here.



screenshot of newspaper page with Gabriela Campos' favorite photographs of 2023





Thursday, December 21, 2023

TIME's Best Photos of 2023 Includes Gallery Photographer David Butow's Image From The Maui Willdfire

 

Via TIME

December 21, 2023


A girl who, unable to get an abortion, becomes a mother before starting 7th grade; a mass of twisted metal and ash, all that remains of a home in the wake of the Maui wildfires; Bad Bunny, one of the year’s most engaging entertainers, stepping out in a pink mohair coat adorned with a bow: These photographs, all featured in TIME during 2023, constitute a map of where we’ve been and what we’ve seen, connecting us with the greater world. Sometimes we may feel we live and work in isolation, but it’s never true: there are always those facing challenges as formidable as our own, or even more so, and there are joys to be had, too. These are just a few of the gifts great photographs can bring us, a collapsing of the distance between others and ourselves.

We’re reminded how our world is changing around us when we see a flutter of birds over Delhi, a city cloaked with smog that puts both animal health and that of humans at risk. A 14-year-old Georgia teenager named Malayah faces the camera resolutely, a reminder that paying attention to the mental health of young people will make for happier, more well-adjusted grownups tomorrow—the world will be in their hands someday. And a group of citizens light candles for Tyre Nichols, beaten and killed by Memphis police in January, at the community skate park he used to frequent as a youth in Sacramento, Calif. We need to remember our dead, especially those whose deaths fill us with anger—but it’s also important to recall the things that brought joy to their lives, because even for those whose lives aren’t cut down prematurely, time is fleeting.



color photograph showing burnt remains if homes following wildfires in Maui

David Butow
: Ruins of a home in the small hillside town of Kula. "What Remains After the Flames: Scenes From the Ash-Colored Streets of Maui," September 4 issue.


David Butow's photograph "The landscape of destruction, Lahaina, Maui, seen on August 24, 2023" is featured in the current exhibition "This Fragile Earth", on view through January 21, 2024


black and white photographs showing burnt remnants of car, homes, and hillside following wildfires in Lahaina, Maui







Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Report Warns of Attempt to 'Criminalize' Newsgathering in the US

 Via VOA

December 20, 2023


WASHINGTON — At least a dozen journalists faced arrest or charges related to their newsgathering across the U.S. in 2023, with most working for local media outlets.

The incidents and their impact on the ability of journalists to cover the news are detailed in a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

Based in New York, the Tracker has documented what it sees as press freedom violations inside the U.S. since 2017.

According to the Tracker, many of the cases this year involved attempts to prevent journalists from engaging in regular reporting practices — from asking questions to investigating public officials. It cited around 30 cases of journalists or media outlets being summoned and asked to identify a source or hand over reporting materials.

“What was interesting this year was an apparent criminalization of general newsgathering,” said Stephanie Sugars, the report’s author.

The number of cases of journalists arrested is lower than previous years, when the Tracker documented dozens of cases as media covered unrest and large-scale protests. Still, the findings are a concern, the nonpartisan group said.

In one case from October, police arrested a small-town Alabama newspaper publisher and a reporter for publishing an article that authorities said contained confidential grand jury evidence.

While leaking information may be illegal, it is not a crime for news outlets to publish that information, so long as the reporters are not involved in illegally obtaining the materials, press experts say.

In another case, a reporter at an Illinois newspaper was cited for asking city officials too many questions about flooding in October.

“That is normal newsgathering,” Sugars told VOA from New York.

In the Illinois case, the charges were dropped.

In a separate incident in Ohio, NewsNation correspondent Evan Lambert was ordered to stop a live broadcast while Governor Mike DeWine was giving a press briefing in February. Officers then forced Lambert to the ground and arrested him.

The governor expressed concern and said he was not aware of the incident at the time it occurred.

Lambert filed a lawsuit in November over the incident.

Meanwhile, an Arizona judge in April granted a restraining order against a local reporter after the journalist looked into a state senator’s residency claims. Another judge later rejected the restraining order. And in July, two California reporters were accused by a local police union of stalking for trying to contact a police officer at her home.

“Attempts to criminalize routine journalistic activities, such as contacting public officials or the subjects of stories, send a chill through the heart of newsgathering,” Sugars wrote in the report.

It’s unclear whether police and officials in these incidents were unaware of what constitutes normal newsgathering or whether they just didn’t care, Sugars said.

But, she added, that distinction also misses the point.

“Whether they know that it is general, basic newsgathering or not is less important than the fact that they just don’t like it and are using the tools at their disposal to retaliate,” Sugars said.

Another factor that links many of the cases in the Press Freedom Tracker’s report is that most incidents took place at the local level, affecting smaller or regional publications.

That’s likely a byproduct of the decline of local news coverage, according to Sugars.

The U.S. has lost more than one fourth of its newspapers since 2005 and is set to lose one third of all its roughly 6,000 remaining print newspapers — mostly weeklies — by 2025, according to a report by Northwestern University’s Local News Initiative.

“That lack of constant scrutiny has created an atmosphere where local officials feel like they are no longer responsible for answering questions,” Sugars said.

First Amendment experts say such violations make it harder for journalists to do their jobs.

“If you’ve got these instances of law enforcement overreach, again, it impairs the press’s watchdog role," said Gabe Rottman of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, or RCFP.

Rottman, who is director of the RCFP’s Technology and Press Freedom Project, said that it is important for government officials to understand the role journalists play in their community.

Fewer journalists were arrested or charged in the United States in 2023 than in the past few years, the Tracker report found.

Thursday, December 14, 2023

Dare to Dissent with Photojournalist Jeff Widener, best known for his image of "The Tank Man"

 Via NPR

December 14, 2023


Sometimes, the most dangerous and powerful thing a person can do is to stand up not against their enemies, but against their friends. As the United States heads into what will likely be another bitter and divided election year, there will be more and more pressure to stand with our in-groups rather than our consciences.

So a group of us here at Throughline decided to tell some of the stories of people who have stood up to that kind of pressure. Some are names we know; others we likely never will. On today's episode: what those people did, what it cost them, and why they did it anyway.


Guests:

Alexandra Lloyd, author of Defying Hitler: the White Rose Pamphlets and fellow by special election in German at the University of Oxford.

Johnathan Eig, author of the biography King: A Life.

Jeff Widener, a photojournalist best known for his image of the Tank Man.


Listen here:



Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Behind the Headlines: Victims of Newsroom Raids in Marion and Tampa Tell Their Stories

Via Freedom of the Press Foundation

December 11, 2023 


Freedom of the Press Foundation Director of Advocacy Seth Stern is joined by special guests Eric Meyer from the Marion County Record and independent journalist Tim Burke to discuss updates on these troubling incidents and what's next in the fight to defend and foster a courageous press.





Saturday, December 9, 2023

Limited Offer: Free streaming of documentary film "Under Fire: The Untold Story of Private First Class Tony Vaccaro"

Underfire The Untold Story of Tony Vaccaro from Passion River Films on Vimeo.

 


On November 14. 2016 HBO Films premiered “Under Fire: The Untold Story of Private First Class Tony Vaccaro”. The film tells the story of how Tony survived the war, fighting the enemy while also documenting his experience at great risk, developing his photos in combat helmets at night and hanging the negatives from tree branches. The film also encompasses a wide range of contemporary issues regarding combat photography such as the ethical challenges of witnessing and recording conflict, the ways in which combat photography helps to define how wars are perceived by the public, and the sheer difficulty of staying alive while taking photos in a war zone.

We are pleased to offer for a limited number free streaming of this important documentary. Contact the Gallery for details. The film is also available from Amazon and Apple TV+.

Tony Vaccaro passed away peacefully on December 28, 2022, eight days after celebrating his 100th birthday.

Throughout the month of December, we will be posting tributes and memories of Tony Vaccaro on our Instagram feed. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation's Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona is currently featuring the exhibition American Icons: Wright and O'Keeffe, photographs by Tony Vaccaro; and his work is on display at Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe.

View a selection of available fine art prints from Tony Vaccaro here.


Fund for Nuclear Waste Exposure Victims in Limbo as Congress Balks at Cost

 The New York Times, Dec. 8, 2023:  “The members that worked on this policy once upon a time, they left out states like New Mexico — and not just the entire state,” Mr. LujĂĄn, who has pushed to expand eligibility to individuals in most western states, said in an interview. “They left out the entire county where the first bomb was tested. That alone shows the people have been left out.”



color photograph of residents from Navajo communities, some with protest signs,  gathering on Uranium Remembrance Day, Church Rock, NM July 16, 2016


Nina Berman: Residents from Navajo communities gather on Uranium Remembrance Day, Church Rock, NM July 16, 2016

The biggest nuclear catastrophe in US history occurred July 16, 1979 when the dam at the United Nuclear Corporation's Church Rock uranium mill tailings disposal pond broke sending over 1,000 tons of solid radioactive mill waste and 93 million gallons of acidic, radioactive tailings solution into the Puerco River and contaminating Navajo land. The clean up is still on going. Mining was stopped on Navajo land but there are now calls to revive it. For the past few years, residents of the Church rock community march to the site to honor all those who died and were sickened by uranium mining and to demand a thorough clean up and compensation. This year, residents acknowledged the significant of July 16 as not only the day of the uranium spill, but also the day of the Trinity test, July 16, 1945, and expressed solidarity – through a sharing and reading of letters, with New Mexico residents impacted by the first nuclear test.



Monday, December 4, 2023

Remembering Tony Vaccaro on the anniversary of his 100th birthday and subsequent passing

 

Galleriests Michelle and Sid Monroe pose with Tony Vaccaro in front of his photograph of Sophia Loren at a Pop Up exhibition in New York, 2016
Tony Vaccaro with Michelle and Sid Monroe at his Pop Up exhibition in New York, 2016




Beginning in 2016, Monroe Gallery of Photography presented annual exhibitions of photographs by Tony Vaccaro to honor his birthday, December 20. He travelled to Santa Fe to attend 3 exhibits and meet hundreds of collectors and enthusiastic admirers.

To celebrate his 100th birthday in December, 2022, Monroe Gallery of Photography hosted two exhibitions, in New York City and Santa Fe. Despite recently having been hospitalized for emergency surgery for complications from an ulcer, Tony recovered and attended the pop-up Tony Vaccaro Centennial Exhibition of his photographs in New York City. The City of New York officially proclaimed December 20, 2022 “Tony Vaccaro Day”, and Vaccaro was feted by friends at a surprise birthday party at his favorite local Italian restaurant that evening.


Tony at his Centennial Pop Up exhibition in New York, December, 2022



Tony Vaccaro passed away peacefully on December 28, eight days after celebrating his 100th birthday. 


 Throughout the month of December, we will be posting tributes and memories of Tony Vaccaro on our Instagram feed. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation's Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona is currently featuring the exhibition American Icons: Wright and O'Keeffe, photographs by Tony Vaccaro; and his work is on display at Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe.