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Tom Stoddart began his photographic career with a provincial newspaper in his native North East of England. In 1978 he moved to London and, working freelance, started to regularly supply national newspapers and magazines. He has been based there to this day.

During the 1980s he worked extensively for the Sunday Times newspaper. In 1982, he was in Beirut when the Israeli forces bombed Yasser Arafat’s besieged PLO base. He also witnessed international events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Romanian Revolution and the massing of alliance troops in the Middle East for the Desert Storm conflict with Iraq.

Now established as one of the world’s most respected photojournalists, Stoddart is represented by, and works closely with Getty Images, to produce campaigning photographic projects on the serious world issues of our time just like his work the Sudan famine:

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The iconic photographs of Stoddart captures the horrific nature of the famine and drought that was happening in the Sudan in 1998.

At the time the photograph was taken, the Sudan was in the midst of not only a civil war, but also a horrendous famine.   Due to the severity of the war, the delivery of much needed aid and supplies was becoming nearly impossible.  While thousands of people were suffering and consequently dying, the West was, completely unaware of the famine due to few reports in the media.  Though this all changed – supplies were distributed to the Sudan and a few photojournalists were permitted to document the situation, one of those journalists was Tom Stoddart.

Stoddart was already recognized as one of Britain’s greatest photojournalists. Stoddart worked alongside a humanitarian aide organization, this allowed him to witness the famine first hand.

All of the photographs Stoddart captured were in black and white; this helped to focus the viewer’s attention not necessarily on the quality of the photograph, but rather on the subjects in the photograph.  Stoddart’s choice to capture these moments in black and white also kept the focus off of the less important features (color of the clothes, color of the fence, etc…) and instead focused on the “soul” and suffering of the young boy. His photographs, while simple in composition, were still extremely powerful in meaning.

The picture depicts a skeletal young boy who had been waiting for much needed medical and food supplies.  Just moments after the boy received the bag of maize, a man, obviously wealthy and healthy, came by and took the bag from the young boy, Stoddart captured the moment that the man walks away with the life saving food.  The photo shows the agony on the boys face at the lost of (possibly) his last meal.  There are multiple elements of the photograph that cause the audience to attach emotionally to the pain of the young boy.  One interesting factor is that the face of the ‘robber’ is not shown within the frame, which gives the idea that this man is just another well off individual taking from the poor; however, the face of the victim is shown, which allows a viewer to connect and pity the boy.

As stated earlier, the photographer uses  simple compositions to frame his shots – especially particularly with this photo. The framing and angle of the photo focus the viewer’s attention on the pain and suffering of the main subject, the young boy, in the photo.  From the angle of the photograph, the viewer is meant to look down at the boy. According to Stoddart, the downward angle also served as another strong representation:

‘From my point of view,’ Stoddart stated, ‘it’s a symbolic image of Africa as it shows a man with a stick keeping everyone else down. The picture works because of several components – the man’s finger pointing down on the stick, the fact that you can see the maize through the bag and the completely disdainful expression on the boy’s face.’

In terms of space, there is an obvious amount of excess, empty space.  This could be because of the dry and empty conditions of the environment, or it could be the photographer’s attempt at, once again, keeping the photograph extremely raw and simple.  The excess space provides evidence at just how empty the land and the poor living conditions were for the Sudanese.  

The over all composition and display of this photograph was meant to be a harsh and emotional “reality check” for the audience.  This photograph, without words, was able to describe the pain and misery of the Sudanese people. 

This photograph continues to serve as one of Tom Stoddart’s most powerful piece of work.  This iconic photograph represents the rawest of emotions in the most simplest form.  Stoddart allowed the “soul” of the photograph to be more important than excess composition styles.

Christopher Horace Steele-Perkins (born 28 July 1947) is a British photographer and member of Magnum Photos, best known for his depiction of Africa, Afghanistan, England, and Japan.

Steele-Perkins joined Magnum Photos in 1979 and soon began working extensively in the developing world, in particular in Africa, Central America and Lebanon, as well as continuing to take photographs in Britain, but after marrying his second wife, Miyako Yamada, he embarked on a long-term photographic exploration of Japan and one of his photo essays is the: JAPAN. Aftermath of the Tsunami.

VIDEOS

Tsunami Streetwalk 1, Kesennuma

Tsunami Streetwalk 2,  Kamaishi 

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Tsunami Streetwalk 1, Kesennuma and Tsunami Streetwalk 2, Kamaishi can both be viewed in the essays section of the Magnum Inmotion site (hyperlinked)

These works/projects are very simple in concept. Kesennuma and Kamaishi are two of the many Japanese coastal cities that were devasted by the 2011 Tsunami. 

For Streetwalk 1 Steele Perkins visited Kesennuma 23 days after the disaster and took the approach of selecting a single – quite ordinary road, Nainowaki Street, where he took photos of the remains of the properties every 20 paces.

He returned to the same road seven months later and took exactly the same photographs. For each visit he has joined the photos together into a rolling strip and placed the later set beneath the initial set so the properties perfectly align and we can see the direct comparisons.

The message of his work is pretty simple – there was unimaginable destruction in this city and seven months after the  event there has been no re-building, the place is still devastated, it is just a little neater with some of the debris removed. A long road has been flattened, every home and business has gone but by bringing time, an essential aspect of narrative, into the presentation he also shows that the scale of the damage was so great that, after seven months, only minimal progress has been made.

There is a rolling captions in the video, to add information about the details of basic statistics. Also, the sequence of photos is supported by hauntingly beautiful Japanese flute music.

The artists opens this presentation by asking “How can you convey the scale of destruction visited upon japan by the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11th 2011?”

What follows has a sense of being a diary, the photographer very directly involves himself in the narrative by saying “I walked down Nainowaki Street ……..” he is intentionally connecting us to the event through his eyes. “a wasteland of shattered homes and businesses and damaged lives.”

The use of text in this presentation is very effective as it ensures the viewer understands the context. He remains “silent” for nearly half the rolling presentation to allow the visual messages to sink in before starting to provide the statistics (facts).

The story ends by telling us that it is estimated that it will take ten years for the city to return to normal.

The treatment of the other city, Kamaishi, is much the same.

PhotoForum organises free photography talks in London.

Talks happen on the second Tuesday of each month at theprintspace in East London.

I attended the: The Photo Essay: Olivia Harris and Neil Hall – which was the last talk for this year. 

Olivia Harris and Neil Hall met when they were both shooting news for Reuters in London. Olivia and Neil discussed how their approach to photo stories has been influenced by photojournalism, and their struggles to subvert the news format. From long-term personal projects to short client-led commissions, they shared how their work is informed by decisions about access, time and editorial demands, and debate the value of the personal approach in contrast to a commercial one.

 

Olivia Harris is a London based documentary photographer. Her personal work explores women’s changing role in society and the impact this has on all our lives. She spent a year documenting the abortion referendum in Ireland. This work has been widely published. 

Previously she worked as a news photographer in London and Asia for Reuters where she covered stories as diverse as the Olympic Games, the Rohingya refugee crisis, the Nepalese earthquake and elections in Myanmar and Taiwan.

During the talk, she also shared her series of work: The Fast & The Studious which she photographed 16-years olds who belong to the Bangladeshi community who are spending large sums of money to rent luxury cars for their achievement ceremony,  in Tower Hamlets, one of the most deprived parts of London. The teenagers, who are too young to drive, are chauffeured around the neighbourhood and attend the ceremony at school, often before spending a night on the town.

She has also shared that these photos were used by the media negatively published the article. She talked about how you easily lose narrative control over your photos once it is released. You don’t know how is it going to be used or whose gonna publish it though she also said that losing editorial control is not uncommon in the industry.

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Neil Hall is an award-winning photojournalist based in London. His work has been published globally for a variety of national and international organisations. He works throughout the UK and on overseas assignments. He is currently a staff photographer for the European Press Photo Agency.

During the talk, the work that he mostly talked about was the: 21st Century Hermit

where he photographed a woman named (Sister) Rachel Denton who has vowed to spend the rest of her life living as a consecrated hermit in the Catholic faith.

To be honest, I did not enjoy the talk as I did not fully understand everything they said, most of the time the speakers were just talking to each other with soft voices and we were in a large room. The audience asked them a couple of times to speak a bit louder.. a lot of nuisances and interruptions happened during the talk. 

The National Portrait Gallery presents the annual Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition which features one of the most prestigious photography awards in the world. Since the international competition began in 1993, it has remained an important platform for portrait photographers and offers an opportunity for professionals and amateurs to have their work shown to a wider audience.

I went to see Taylor Wessing Photographic Prize exhibition tour with talks from two of the exhibiting photographers: Claudia Legge and Shahid Bashir.

Attendees all gathered around outside first & then we proceeded to Claudia Legge’s work where she explained the story behind her photo.

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Claudia Legge mentioned that colours are really important part of her work and she is also someone who loves animals dearly. So for this work, spent two weeks photographing portraits of armed rangers for Boana Conservancy, in Kenya. As this ranger prepares for his night duties, Legge photographed him against the orange textured walla of their headquarters taken just before sunset hence, it has the harsh shadow effect which framed the subject nicely. Adjusting the collar of his uniform, which he wears with confidence and pride, the portrait captures the courage and responsibility involved in the dangerous struggle against poachers of endangered animals. 

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 Shahid Bashir works as a business psychologist and a visual artist at the same time. He has photographed actors and models waiting to be called out to put their makeup and costumes before going on stage. Bashir was struck by the face and sharp features of model Olga as she waited backstage. He uses a digital camera, but he works against the accuracy and precision associated with digital technologies. So for this photo- Olga – he captured it with an off-focus blur to replicate the feel of an analogue film, creating a portrait with a dreamlike atmosphere. 

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After introducing themselves and their work, they also toured us around and explained the stories behind the prize-winning photographs.

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The images around the exhibition explore many different aspects of the photographic portrait and feature a few famous faces but more often the friends and family of the photographers. This year, a number of photographers have explored many different areas around the world and especially areas of conflict. 

I enjoyed the exhibition and find exhibitions like this is always interesting and entertaining with some wonderful contemporary portraits, the range of photographs offer a wide variety of subject matter which provides evidence of a large number of talented photographers using their skills to record all side of the human condition.

Fazal Sheikh is an artist who documents people through photographs, who are living in “displaced” and “marginalised” communities around the world. He takes portrait photos, although his work also includes: “personal narratives, found photographs, archival material, sound, and his own written texts.” He works by believing that a portrait is, an act of mutual engagement, and only by having a long-term commitment to a place and to a community can a series of photographs be really meaningful. His goal is to contribute to a wider  and better understanding of these groups, to respect them as individuals “and to counter the ignorance and prejudice that often attaches to them. ” 

“Each of his projects is collected and published and is exhibited internationally in galleries and museums. He also works closely with human rights organizations and believes in disseminating his work in forms that can be distributed as widely as possible and can be of use to the communities themselves.”

Here are some examples of his earlier portraiture works.

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A persons portrait almost always carries the  a story behind it. That is, I think, what separates the successful portrait from the others.

The story behind the portraits of Fazal Sheikh is one of displacement and dispossession. He is not known for a specific image, but rather his work as a whole. Sheikh shoots his images all in black and white to create a deeper response from the viewers when looking upon his images. Black and white is typically used to represent a timelessness effect. His main subjects in his photographs are people and places that are not originally outstanding/exceptional. But the way he was able to capture and depict the moment makes the image amazing.

Again, these are portraits of people who were living in marginalised communities around the world. But Instead of just hearing about how refugees in camps are living, we can see the hardship with our own eyes, by the way he shot the photos. 

Yet despite the circumstance of the portraits and the stories behind them, these are humane pictures. I really liked the way he shot/composed this pictures. Very simple but definitely powerful. Powerful in a way that through his photos, you can still see that there is a kindness in them, almost a tenderness, and a sense that even in the face of hopelessness there is a fundamental human dignity. There is respect and, a relationship/collaboration between the subject and photographer to tell a story. Some of the photographs are quite beautiful.

I am always on Instagram, checking out photos but I have to be honest, I am not an avid Instagram uploader. 

It may not sound like a big deal, but it was actually quite of a struggle for me to upload because I’m just not used to uploading a lot of photos on my page.

But for this, I knew I had to change my ways.

I simply just really upload my project responses on my photography account Instagram page. 

I use a lot of hashtags as well just so there will be a lot of people who can see and engage with my work. 

I try my best to be active in posting because this is important. This is one way of getting my work noticed as a photographer. And social media is such a powerful tool to get your work out there.

I would just also like to mention that my photos have also been featured in the YARD MAGAZINE Instagram account.

Susan Meiselas (born 1948) is an American documentary photographer. Meiselas joined Magnum Photos in 1976 and has worked as a freelance photographer since then. She is best known for her coverage of the insurrection in Nicaragua and her documentation of human rights issues in Latin America, which were published widely throughout the world.

Susan Meiselas received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and her M.A. in visual education from Harvard University. Her first major photographic essay focused on the lives of women doing striptease at New England country fairs. She photographed the carnivals during three consecutive summers while teaching photography in the New York public schools.

Before becoming a professional photographer, Susan Meiselas studied anthropology – the influence of which is still evident in the subject matter and methodology of her work today.

CARNIVAL STRIPPERS AUDIO

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In the summer of 1972, Meiselas travelled around the Midwest photographing the “carnies” working on Carnival rides and fairs. This project was not really planned and just happened by accident. She literally stumbled across a “girlie show”. Meiselas was able to gained access to the tent and its strip shows and her grainy images reflect this tough, unglamorous world and the interactions of those inhabiting it.

Meiselas used a Leica to be as unobtrusive as possible, and these images, particularly those taken in the tent, are shocking. Although the men were aware of the camera they were still fully focused on the women on stage, their eyes wide, their bodies were close to the object of their desire.

Meiselas returned for three summers to photograph, She built up a relationship of mutual trust and in some case friendship with the strippers. She worked with them to edit the images and the portraiture was done for their benefit, providing them an opportunity to present themselves as they wished. Most heartbreaking is Lena’s story: one of the girls to whom Meiselas became most close. Her taped interviews record an articulate young woman who quickly becomes only too aware of her role “we aren’t professional show girls, we’re prostitutes pretending to be show girls”. 

Carnival Strippers basically captured the lives of marginalised people fighting to maintain a sense of identity and self worth – within the context of sexual interaction and gender politics in Western society. Carnival Strippers’ edgy black and white action shots and portraiture.

From November 8 to 11, 2018, the Grand Palais displays the best of photography. Paris Photo is four days dedicated to photography.

It was my first time attending Paris photo and I only went there for a day, which was kind of a bad idea as I did not anticipate that there would be sooo many to works too see and it was kind of a lot to take in.

I tried my best to see all the artworks that were there but there were quite a few that interested me.

This 1998 large format Polaroid diptych of teenage faces by Dawoud Bey powerfully pairs direct and indirect gazes. It captures the understated uncertainty of adolescence with grace and understanding, where tentative confidence turns to introspection in an instant.

This is a work by Sayuki Inoue. This work was inspired from the situation of his grandfather, who was bedridden to for two years – he captured his eyes every single day until he passed away. As he gazed into the eyes of a man who was making his final journey, Sayuki became curious about the eyes of newborns when they opened their eyes for the first time in their life. Ever since then, he witnessed the birth of more than 20 babies and have been capturing the moment of when they first open their eyes. 

Artist Annegret Soltau created striking embroidered self-portraits she stitched the images of her own face. It was the first project where Soltau used a needle and thread to draw over a photograph and this style has since become her style. Her imagery, which is both provocative and disturbing, often explores themes related to the self.

Definitely one of my favourite work during the exhibition was this photographs by Erez Israeli. 

Israeli is one of the most famous, young representative of contemporary art in Israel. In his works, he discusses subjects like the Holocaust and the link between the European and the Jewish culture.

My favourite work of his is the Before and After (2009). In this, he literally sewed the Star of David on his chest in order to symbolise the pain of the holocaust that is threatened to be forgotten.

And definitely my most favourite section from the exhibition: the HARD TRUTHS – an exhibition of prize-winning photography from the New York Times.

These are photojournalistic photos. These photojournalists have captured images that are so powerful that when you look at it, it makes it hard to turn away.

We need these images to help us understand our complicated world. 

Rest of the pics I took on the day:

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October 23, I went to the Brighton Photo Bennial to see the series of exhibitions ranging from all kinds of topics. The topic for the biennial this year was ‘A New Europe’, which explored how Europe is changing in many more ways than we may think. The phrase has been used many times by artists and significant figures in politics to describe many events occurring and for this year, it has been interpreted in many different ways.

I went to see all 8 exhibits but I would just like to talk about some of my favourites.

My most favourite work among the exhibitions is the video installation by the London-based artist Hrair Sarkissian, in which the artist metaphorically demolishes a model of his Syrian home before it can be demolished in actual conflict. Homesick (2014) evidences that, that what one leaves behind in migration can still wound deeply.

Another one is  Bill Brandt’s work- first photobook, which was displayed on a glass case and in the form of spreads on the surrounding walls. In its call to the singular attention of the reader. The English at Home (1936), which combines images depicting high society and the working class, is arguably more powerful in the present format than if it had been published as a series of individual prints. The wall text’s subtle reminder of Brandt’s German heritage might go unnoticed at first but is poignant – this great British photographer was himself a first-generation migrant.

The Cross Channel Photographic Mission project, also sparked my interest. There were lots of photos on display which was photographed by various photographers documenting the construction of the Euro tunnel in the late 1980s. It was a project that lasted for over 20 years I found this exhibition to be really interesting to view as it showed how gruelling the building works were and just how much work was put into it.

Next one is Donovan Wylie’s Lighthouse 2017–18 – the work was displayed in a dark space/room and the display – photo mounted on a lightbox, was big enough for the viewer to be absorbed by the image. As the viewer becomes accustomed to the darkened space of the gallery, a faint lighthouse becomes visible in the centre of the image. As the eye adjusts it pulses, creating a sense that this still, backlit image shows a light that is flickering, as if about to stutter off.

Another favourite of mine was the work of Uta Kogelsberger. It displayed a billboard-size series of 28 head and shoulder portraits pasted onto the back of a shipping container. All subjects gazed directly out at the viewer and the world. All reflect some form of alienation from the Brexit negotiations. The portraits are changed during four live performances which take place during the Biennial.

The Biennial demonstrates that our relationship to Europe is much more complex than the issue of sovereignty. All the exhibitions in this Biennial has something about them, and all can be visited in a day. As a whole, they present a thoughtful, gently unfolding experience.