Photography art Gallery Friday Round Up - 29th August, 2014|Photography Art Definition

This week Friday Round Up celebrates the 26th Visa pour l'image International Festival for Photojournalism which starts in Perpignan, France on Monday 1st September. In Part One of our coverage we preview the exhibitions on show this year. Part Two will be published next Friday and features interviews with Vlad Sokhin about his book Crying Meri, which launches at Visa, and also with photo-media specialist Samuel Bollendorf. Plus the winners of the Visa awards and Getty Grants.

Also, for those who are in Sydney this weekend, three exhibitions open at the Australian Centre for Photography. Presented in association with Reportage Projects 2014 are Jodi Bieber's Between Darkness & Light; Ashley Gilbertson's Bedrooms of the Fallen; and Poppy - Trails of Afghan Heroin by Robert Knoth and Antoinette de Jong. For more information visit the Reportage site.

Festival:

Visa pour l’Image – Part One

Alison Stieven-Taylor

This time last year I was winging my way to Perpignan from Melbourne via Doha and Paris, for the 25th instalment of Visa pour l’image, the international photojournalism festival. This year unfortunately I won’t be attending, but with all the photographers who have kindly offered to “have a drink, or several, for me at La Poste” I’ll be facing a very big ‘virtual’ hangover! Thanks everyone :-)

Perpignan (C) Alison Stieven-Taylor 2013

The professional week of Visa kicks off on Monday 1st September and once again hundreds of photojournalists, along with photo editors, agencies and other industry professionals will descend on Perpignan, in the south of France. This picturesque town gets behind the Festival each year showing extraordinary support for the event and visitors could be forgiven for thinking its name is Visa not Perpignan.

Evening screenings draw large crowds (C) Mazen Saggar

Once again festival director, and creator, Jean-François Leroy and his team have put together a comprehensive program of exhibitions, evening screenings and talks that capture the breadth of work photojournalists are undertaking around the world. Admission to the exhibitions is free throughout the two weeks of the Festival, but exhibitions stay up for a further fortnight allowing school groups to also visit and learn about the important role of photography in bearing witness. Last year more than 8000 students from France and Spain attended.

(C) Alison Stieven-Taylor 2013

The Palais des Congres (above) is the business hub of Visa. It is where seminars and talks are held, where the busy festival and press offices are and where major sponsor Canon is housed. Many of the major agencies are here also including Getty Images. Each day of the professional week, on the top floor of Palais des Congres, agencies and editors meet with photojournalists who have an unprecedented opportunity to show their work and gain critical feedback. Over copious cups of espresso deals are done, old acquaintances renewed and new friends made. Once the doors are closed at the Palais des Congres everyone adjourns to La Poste where conversations last well into the early hours.

Exhibitions:

While there continues to be discussion around the future of photojournalism in its traditional context, the exhibitions presented at Visa remind us that without the work of these courageous, insightful and ultimately talented photojournalists, many of these stories would not be told. And those without means to communicate to the rest of the world will remain silent.

The Photographers in the North

This exhibition, the brainchild of photojournalist Patrick Chauvel, showcases the work of the Vietnamese soldiers who became photographers during the Vietnam War and presents images rarely seen.

Chu Chi

Chu Chi

Doan Cong

Doan Cong

Hua Kiem

Hua Kiem

Mai Nam

Mai Nam

Typhoon in the Philippines:

AFP, Leading in the Wake of Haiyan

© Philippe Lopez

© Noel Celis

Football as seen through the eyes of children

in Cidade de deus Favela

Christophe SimonAFP chief photographer, Brazil

Amateurs Make the Front Page

30 Pictures that have not changed photojournalism

Curated by photographer Samuel Bollendorff in partnership with sociologist André Gunthert, this exhibition looks at the amateur pictures, from 2001 to now, that made the front pages. My interview with Samuel will be published on Photojournalism Now next week.

Bruno Amsellem (Signatures)

Rohingyas, A Silenced Minority (Burma)

Mary F. Calvert (Zuma Press)

The Battle Within: Sexual Assault in America’s Military

William Daniels (Panos Pictures)

Train for the Forgotten - Russia (for National Geographic)  This train travels through Russia providing medical services for those who live in the most remote parts of the country.

Guillaume Herbaut (Institute)

Ukraine, From Independence Square to the Donbas

Yunghi Kim (Contact Press Images)

Africa, The Long Road Home:

From Famine to Reconciliation

1992-1996

Olivier Laban-Mattei (The Mongolian Project/MYOP)

Mongolia – There is no El Dorado

Sebastián Liste (NOOR)

On the Inside of a Venezuelan Prison Controlled by Inmates

For Time Magazine & Fotopres

Klaus Nigge (National Geographic)

The Bald Eagle in the Aleutian Islands

Ian Parry Scholarship

Exhibition of works by scholarship winners

and patron Don McCullin

Adrian Fussell Winner 2012

Rasel Chowdury Winner 2011

Anne Rearick (Agence VU’)

South Africa – Chronicles of a Township

Jorge Silva (Reuters)

The Skyscraper Slum Caracas

Sean Sutton (MAG/Panos Pictures)

The Eye of the Storm (Philippines)

Pierre Terdjman

Central African Republic

Gaël Turine (Agence VU’)

The Wall of Fear (Bangladesh)

Alvaro Ybarra Zavala (Reportage by Getty Images)

Stories of a Wounded Land

(The effects of agribusiness in Latin America)

Michaël Zumstein (Agence VU’)

Terror and Tears in The Central African Republic

For Le Monde

Tributes to fallen photojournalists:

Chris Hondros (Getty Images)

Testament

Anja Niedringhaus (AP)

A Tribute

Transmission Series

Apart from the amazing breadth of exhibitions, one of the highlights of Visa is the Transmission Series, which this year will be run by photographer Christopher Morris. Transmission is designed to share the collective wisdom of experienced photojournalists and photo editors with emerging photojournalists. Morris will be joined by MaryAnne Golon, director of photography at The Washington Post, Jérôme Delay Associated Press’ chief photographer in Africa, photographers Yuri Kozyrev and Sebastián Liste from NOOR and Peter Bouckaert, director of Human Rights Watch. What a fantastic line up.

To find out more about Visa pour l'Image visit the website here.

Photography art Gallery Friday Round Up - 17th October, 2014|Photography Art Definition

This week on Friday Round Up amazing work by Daniel Berehulak on the Ebola crisis, Katie Orlinsky's Bear Town, Gerd Ludwig's Nuclear Tourist, Murray Fredericks' new show opens in Sydney, Andrew Quilty wins the 2014 Nikon-Walkley Award for Photo of the Year and Majid Saeedi's Life in War launches in New York.

Picture of the Week:

Day to Night

American photographer Stephen Wilkes overlaps dozens of images to create his amazing "Day to Night" photographs. Check out the story on this series on TIME Lightbox.

On the frontline:

Daniel Berehulak - Ebola Crisis

Australian photojournalist Daniel Berehulak continues to produce some remarkable work. His coverage for the New York Times on the Ebola crisis is intense. Once again he's risking his own safety to bring us the stories we need to see. Please take the time to look at these images and consider that he was shooting this story covered in the same protective gear as those pictured. In addition to his usual photographic equipment, Berehulak also had to carry multiple changes of suits, gloves and other protective items to work in what is effectively a war zone where the enemy is invisible.

All images (C) Daniel Berehulak

Climate Change:

Katie Orlinsky - Bear Town

American photojournalist Katie Orlinsky's photo essay for Al Jazeera America shows the impact of climate change on the Arctic's wildlife. In the Alaskan town of Kaktovik, polar bears are seen frequently scavenging for food as the ice recedes, and armed residents are joining the polar bear patrol to keep locals safe. The proliferation of polar bears is also becoming a tourist attraction. You can see more photographs and read the story here.

All images (C) Katie Orlinsky

2014 Nikon-Walkley Award:

Andrew Quilty wins Photo of the Year

From the Nikon-Walkley website: "Andrew Quilty’s striking “Baby Burn Victim in Boost Hospital” has been named the 2014 Nikon-Walkley Photo of the Year. The image shot by Quilty in an observation room in the emergency ward at Boost Hospital in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province, Afghanistan, was the clear stand-out for the judges." Congratulations to Andrew who is currently based in Afghanistan.

Book Launch & Exhibition: New York

Majid Saeedi - Life in War

Iranian photojournalist Majid Saeedi was the winner of the 2014 FotoEvidence Book Award for his long term project, Life in War, shot in Afghanistan. This book and subsequent exhibition launched in New York last night at the Bronx Documentary Center, 614 Courtlandt Ave, Bronx, New York. Visit the FotoEvidence site for details on both the book and exhibition. Alison Stieven-Taylor's review of Life in War will be published on this blog next week.

Chernobyl As A Tourist Destination:

Gerd Ludwig's Nuclear Tourist

Twenty-eight years ago the name of Chernobyl was etched into the annals of history. Many can recall where they were when they heard the news that there had been a reactor accident at an atomic power plant in Russia, although few at the time really understood what that meant including officials. In the months that followed people around the world reeled as we learned in more detail the devastating effects of the failure, which had been caused by human error. The fallout continued long after the headlines had faded.

National Geographic photographer Gerd Ludwig made nine visits to Chernobyl, the Exclusion Zone and the abandoned city of Pripyat over 20 years to record not only the physical devastation, but the ongoing impact of the disaster on the people of this region. Now his photographs show that Chernobyl has become a macabre tourist destination. Read the full story and see more images on National Geographic.

All images (C) Gerd Ludwig

Exhibition: Sydney

Murray Fredericks - Topophilia

The Greenland Icesheet Series

Internationally renowned photographer Murray Fredericks made six trips to the centre of Greenland's Ice Sheet between 2010 and 2013. The result is his latest series, Topophilia, which comprises large format photographs of the icecap, as well as stills from the abandoned war missile defence station.

The Ice Sheet

The Abandoned Missile Station

But his new exhibition is so much more than images on walls. Taking full advantage of the multi-purpose spaces of the Annandale Galleries, Fredericks' exhibition is an immersive experience with an amazing, all-encompassing 160sqm cinematic video installation plus another video installation with three monitors. It’s not your average photographic exhibition, but then Fredericks is not your average landscape photographer. Think “epic,” “majestic,” and “breathtaking” and you’re getting close. A must see for those in Sydney.

Still from the video installation

All images (C) Murray Fredericks

Until 8 November

Annandale Galleries

110 Trafalgar Street

Annandale