Intended Consequences

So, I absolutely love MediaStorm. My favorites thus far: Evidence of My Existence, which Mark talked about way back when, and Ivory Wars. Oh, and for the Radiohead fans among us, there's a great video to "Creep."

I was totally blown away by their last post, "Intended Consequences." It's about the women who survived the Rwandan genocide and had children from rape. Sex has been used as a weapon for a long time, but I don't think that I've ever heard a story that captured the emotions so well.

Seriously, watch it. Watch the individual stories. Then, watch the photographer talking about his reactions and the process of getting the interviews.

Torgovnik, the photographer, raises an interesting question. He says that all photographers are activists. They have to be.

What do you think?

Fail Faster

This article on "How to Fail as a Photojournalist" is really interesting for those of you who are looking to succeed in photojournalism. Allen Murabayashi wrote this as how the advice we usually hear can be turned around in order to make money, in his opinion. 

ELECTION WOOHOO

Who are the people of America? What are we thinking? What makes us angry and frustrated? What gives us hope? Are some of us really all blue and some all red? Or are we mostly shades of purple? What is the American Dream today?

From http://insight.magnumphotos.com, an explanation of a project called Insight America. More:

InSight America is an innovative documentary project that aims to explore these questions on the eve of one of the most important elections in American history. Calling on the talents of some of the world’s most respected photojournalists, using the Web to update their observations daily, InSight America is a collage of personal investigations and reflections that attempts to capture the things preoccupying Americans during the weeks leading to Election Day.

In honor of Halloween...

I know it is a week early, but seriously Halloween is my absolute favorite. Check out these clowns.

More costumes..

Happy Halloween. I get a little excited.

081020: day before deadline

"Oh hey what's up. Yeah I'm Glenn, I'm just chillin w my shades. Hey Danielle you're doing Housing Rocks the Vote too? I know, Tate plaza sucks so bad."

"Hello Amanda, come sit on this bench and commiserate with us because nothing is happening. In fact I think they're packing up those tables over there."

"Greetings Beth, I love your shirt but please go away and don't shoot this event because Mark will be pissed when he sees like 7 sets of the same pix!!!!"

Aaaand Frannie!!

Polling Place Photo Project

The NY Times is gettin' on the ball with campaign photo stories... only this one is of a different sort. Here's what the site says of their project:

The Polling Place Photo Project is a nationwide experiment in citizen journalism that encourages voters to capture, post and share photographs of this year’s primaries, caucuses and general election. By documenting local voting experiences, participants can contribute to an archive of photographs that captures the richness and complexity of voting in America.

Check it out, it's pretty interesting! http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Berlin Festival of Lights

I want to travel to Berlin before the Festival of Lights ends! These photos are beautiful and I want to see the city lit up in person!   Does anyone want to join me?