Photojournale Network Community

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In August of 2010, Bangalore witnessed the tragic death of over 40 inmates at the “Beggar’s Home” on Magadi Road. The home was overcrowded with an estimated 2500 inmates squeezed into infrastructure that was meant to accommodate about 500 people. Reports indicate that contaminated food served (ironically) on Independence Day, triggered the incident. Five months later and the Beggar’s Home has been sanitised. The number of inmates is somewhere in the vicinity of 300. The walls are freshly painted, the floors look clean but there still remains a vacant stare in the eyes of the inmates.

The incident in August turned the spotlight onto the issue of how the state is criminalising poverty. The Karnataka Prohibition Of Beggary Act, 1975[1] makes begging a crime. What’s written between the lines of the act is that poverty is a crime, particularly if you are in state of absolute poverty. The sentence for the crime of poverty is custodialisation (read as jail sentence). There is a process laid out in the law to make the arrest and pass sentence. In actual practice the process is followed superficially. Most inmates can’t defend themselves either because they can’t speak the language or do not understand what is happening to them. For example, there are innumerable cases of people having been picked for “looking poor”.

Inmates that the journalist met and spoke to come not only from parts of rural Karnataka but also from areas such as Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odissa, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. There is a common thread of destitution and poverty in their journey lines. It’s not laziness that they are being punished for, it’s their poverty. Many of these inmates are mentally challenged and are being pushed over the brink by the process of custodialisation and being jailed like a criminal. What they need is a facilitative health care program and not a jail sentence.

There is an urgent need to stop incarcerating people only because they are poor and in a state of destitution. Proscriptive Laws that criminalise poverty need to be replaced by voluntary and rehabilitative policies that empower people out of poverty. We need to look deeper at complex root causes such as inequitable economic models and historical oppression through the caste system.

If we breed poverty, we have to deal with – not hide it in a jail cell. The aesthetic sensibilities of “shining India” can not come at the cost of somebody else’s right to freedom and dignity.

This photo essay is shot on the streets of Bangalore and during two visits to the Beggar’s Home in Decemeber 2010 and January 2011.

Please note: There are no portraits in this essay. The reasoning is that since these people are already being traumatized by society and have no particular identity, wrongly giving them an identity would harm their dignity and go against the principles of the project at this point in time.

[1]The Karnataka Prohibition Of Beggary Act, 1975

Biography

Ayush’s influence in photography took birth at a very young age. He grew up feeding his eyes on images from magazines like the National Geographic, Reader’s Digest, Time, Life and others, in which every picture was a story in itself. Not knowing the full impact that the pictures would have, was a boon in itself. It saved him from going through the intricacies of the “opinion” of judging one against the other. Everything was up for grabs.
On a holiday with his family in 1993, shooting on film on a Kodak K10, he took pictures of two things, among many, monkeys along Pushkar lake and the Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi. But it was not the pictures themselves that made the impact on him. It was the sheer thrill of the lingering excitement of seeing the final result on print and the feeling of reliving that moment in his mind and heart. The light, sounds, scents of something that’s history, and a very personal one. To him, photography is something that is private. His individuality is derived from it and his photographs in turn are consequential of this. He believes that any form of art has a very important role to play in fostering a sense of understanding between people in a very direct and unadulterated manner. And photography to him, is the most immediate.

• Freelancing since 2002
• August 2007 to June 2009 – Lecturer in Photography and Digital Imaging at National Institute of Creative Communication (NICC), Bangalore.

Key Projects and Assignments

• Coverage of the Tsunami in coastal Tamil Nadu [2004]
• “Pictures that speak” for the Dalit Foundation. Created a photo-library on Dalit movements, occupations and customs. [2005]
• “Born with Cerebral Palsy” – A project on the lives of children affected by cerebral palsy. [2008]
• ‘Bangalore Bar Culture’ – A small photographic narrative on Bangalore’s age old under belly, the local bars. [2009]
• “Namma Metro” A photo essay on the impact of the Metro Rail construction project in Bangalore (unpublished). [2010]
• Compiling a photo essay for PUCL, (People’s Union of Civil Liberties), about Bangalore ‘Beggar’s Home’ to raise awareness on the need to decriminalize poverty. [Phase I completed in 2010]
• Multiple editorial assignments for Femina magazine. [2002 – 2010]

Exhibitions

• “Unforgettable – The First Pictures” was held in 2003 in Bangalore.
• A participant in a group exhibition sponsored by Bangalore Rotary Club in 2004

Recognition

2007 ‘Honorable Mention’ at the first ever PX3 Prix De La Photographie competition, Paris, for the series on the Tsunami disaster of Dec 2004.

2008 ‘Honorable Mention’ at the PX3 Prix De La Photographie competition, Paris, for the series on the Pushkar Fair, Rajasthan.

2009 Was one of the top ten short-listed photographers of the Redux Scholarship for the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, Manali, India.

Ayush Ranka

http://www.photojournale.com/categories.php?cat_id=187

“The Heart of Kabul”- street photography produced by two young Afgahni students, Ahmad Noman Stanekzai and Mohammed Naveed, participating in the Skateistan photography classes. Photography and journalism are part of a larger curriculum of activities from media production, theatre, art and skateboarding undertaken by the Skateistan NGO in Kabul, Afghanistan. The street photography was first published in the Skateistan magazine as part of ongoing activities to show the students’ work and documentation. It tells the story of two different student photographers view of their Kabul.

Skateistan strives to tell a positive story about Afghan youth told by its youth. Using global media platforms to send a message of hope, unity, peace and cross cultural understanding they connect and share their world with other children in classrooms around the world.

About Skateistan
At the Skateistan facility in Kabul over 300 regular students are receiving training from experienced skateboarders in a secure environment, and other educationally based activities. Currently, there are 18 classroom sessions being held per week, including a girls’ journalism class, a disabled class, and a Back-to-School program that helps kids enroll or re-enroll in public school. The NGO is also running advanced art classes for girls and boys once a week, which include activities such as painting skateboards, paper mache and portrait drawing. Classroom curriculuii include projects based on the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) from the context of life as a young person in Afghanistan and Environmental Health.

For more information visit www.skateistan.org

http://www.photojournale.com/categories.php?cat_id=183

Hermanos en el Camino | Brothers along the Road – Central American Migrants in Mexico

El defensor de los derechos de los migrantes José Alberto Donis se encuentra en peligro luego de haber recibido amenazas de muerte. José Alberto Donis trabaja en el hogar “Hermanos en el camino” en Ciudad Ixtepec, Estado de Oaxaca, México. Amnistía Internacional ha emitido una Acción Urgente a favor de José Alberto Donis y de sus compañeros, incluyendo al director del hogar, el Padre Alejandro Solalinde. Amnistía Internacional urge a las autoridades a proveer protección al personal del hogar y a investigar los hechos. La Acción Urgente puede encontrarse aquí:
http://amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR41/084/2010/es <http://amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR41/084/2010/es>

Este es un reportaje realizado en el año 2008, cuando José Alberto Donis acababa de llegar al Albergue “Hermanos en el camino”. A través de testimonios in situ pretende dar a conocer un punto del largo y clandestino camino que recorren miles de personas cada día, totalmente desprotegidas, huyendo de una realidad que pone a prueba su instinto de supervivencia. Un camino que tiene su origen en las calles de ciudades y pueblos de República Dominicana, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador o Guatemala, y que nos conduce hasta la puerta del albergue del Padre Solalinde en Ixtepec, Oaxaca.

As the defender of the migrant rights Jose Alberto Donis is in danger of his life after having received death threats from a gang operating in Oaxaca, southern Mexico. Jose Alberto Donis works in the home ” Brothers along the Road” in Ixtepec City, Oaxaca providing shelter for the illegal immigrants as they travel north though Mexico. In the past month Amnesty International has announced an Urgent Action in support of Jose Alberto Donis and of his companions, including the director of the home, Father Alexander Solalinde, urging the police authorities to provide protection to the personnel at the home.
Jose Alberto Donis and his companions provide support for some of the thousands of clandestine immigrants that cross into Mexico every day, totally unprotected, fleeing from a reality that manifests as an instinct for survival. A way of life that has its origins in the streets of cities and towns of Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador or Guatemala, and that leads to the door of the shelter of Father Solalinde in Ixtepec, Oaxaca.

Photo documentary / photo journal story by Spanish photographer Noel Criado.

BIO : Noel Criado Photographer

Fotógrafo independiente. Barcelona, (España) 1975

Se inicia en la fotografía a los 26 años en los barrios de la ciudad de Caracas, Venezuela, donde comienza a realizar sus primeros proyectos documentales, noticias y reportajes. Desde hace 5 años centra su producción en temas relacionados con flujos migratorios y fronteras.
Actualmente combina la producción de reportajes para la agencia fotográfica GRAN ANGULAR, con trabajos publicitarios y la docencia de clases de fotografía narrativa en ELISAVA Escola Superior de Disseny y en el IDAT (Instituto de Arte y Tecnología).

links

72migrantes
Curso de Narrativa Visual en IDAT
Teatre Lliure – Infancia entre cayucos
Teatre Lliure – Narrativa visual de 2666 de Roberto Bolaño Fotos 1, Fotos2
Exposición en Museo Picasso

formación

· Licenciado en Administración y Dirección de Empresas por la Universidad de Barcelona y la Maastricht Universiteit, Netherlands.
· Estudios fotográficos en el Institut d’Estudis Fotogràfics de Catalunya (IEFC)
· Curso de especialización. (IEFC) Ensayo Fotográfico en zonas socialmente deprimidas y/o conflictivas. Dirigido por Sergi Reboredo.
· Taller internacional de fotoperiodismo de Ciudad de Gijón. Dirigido por Javier Bauluz.
· Taller internacional de fotoperiodismo de Albarracín. Dirigido por Gervasio Sánchez.
· Workshop MAGNUM (Traffic’09) dirigido por Chin-Chi Chang.

http://www.photojournale.com/categories.php?cat_id=182
Detroit is dying, Some saw Detroit is already dead. But to those who have a love affair with the grit and grime which is the motor city, this is simply a metamorphosis.
As a cyclist and urban dweller, I’ve always been fascinated with bike couriers. Like the Pony Express of the urban jungle, they risk life and limb to deliver the essential documents of the corporate canopy.
In this documentary, I felt that this was the embodiment of a beautiful metaphor: as the great auto industry burns out, a small spark of life flickers at Detroit’s core – the simple and sustainable business of delivery by bike.
One phone call later, I was chasing Tim Sargent, owner of Rock Dove Courier company, down Woodward Ave., dodging pylons, parked cars, and red lights. Energy, thrill and passion, back-dropped by the empty skyscrapers and relics of the old American dream.
Through the exciting life of a bike courier, this collection represents the life of rick and creativity which is essential for those that have any hope for the survival of Detroit’s present and future.

Bio

Troy Shantz is a documentary photographer based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Educated in Radio and Television Broadcasting at Conestoga College in Ontario, (Canada), Troy started his media career as a freelance news videographer and producer.
Troy has since transitioned into documentary media production, mainly through photography. His focus is on long-term projects with a humanitarian emphasis.

http://multimedia.photojournale.com/the-world-i-see-the-tiziano-project/

The World I See | Tiziano Project

The World I See | The Tiziano Project from The Tiziano Project on Vimeo.

The Tiziano Project | 360° Kurdistan presents the journalistic efforts and personal accounts of 12 Iraqi citizens living in the Kurdish north alongside the stories of their professional multimedia journalism mentors. This is a documentary effort by The Tiziano Project, which provides new media tools and training to community members in conflict, post-conflict and developing regions.

The purpose of The Tiziano Project | 360° Kurdistan is to provide you with a robust and complete understanding of life, culture and news in present-day Iraqi Kurdistan.

The 360.tizianoproject.org is a winner in the 2010 New Media Award’s Web Site Awards Competition. http://www.newmediaawards.org/websiteawards/2010/360tizianoproject.html

The Tiziano Project | 360°- http://360.tizianoproject.org

To find out more about the Tiziano organization click here: http://www.tizianoproject.org

http://www.photojournale.com/categories.php?cat_id=179

Durga Puja, the most happening festival in West Bengal and especially in Kolkata, can be sensed with its spurt of fanfare on all the five days of the Durga Puja festival. The city of Kolkata enlivens during the five days of Durga Puja, starting from the day of Bodhon on Maha-Shashti (6^th day) and ending up with the immersion of clay idols in the river Ganges on the evening of Dashami (10^th day). This autumnal festival popularly known as Sharodotsav, recalls the power of female Shakti symbolized by the Goddess Durga who slays Mahishasura (Demon) to re-establish peace and sanctity on earth again. Bengalis all over the world during these days of Durga Puja rejoice to their heart’s content reconnecting with friends and relatives. The famous community Pujas of Kolkata began celebrating Durga Puja since the beginning or the middle of the 20th century and have since been applauded for their creative themes and exquisite skill. The five festive Puja days are spent welcoming Goddess Durga.

Sashti, the sixth lunar day when Goddess Durga is welcomed with much fanfare and gusto. ‘Bodhon’ is a ritual when Goddess Durga is unveiled.

Saptami features the first day of Durga Puja; commencement of rituals; predawn bathing of ‘ Kola Bou‘.

Ashtami the most important day of Durga Puja celebrates Durga’s victory over Mahishasur. Devotees recite the mantras and offer flowers to Devi Durga and pray for her blessings. Durga Chalisa are a set of 40 mantras in four quartets sung in the praise of Goddess Durga. Rituals of animal sacrifices are now substituted with pumpkin, cucumber or  banana.

Nabami commences with ‘ Sandhi Puja ‘, an integral and important part of Durga Puja. It is performed at the juncture of the 8th and 9th lunar day. Sandhi puja lasts from the last 24 minutes of Ashtami till the first 24 minutes of Nabami. During this juncture  (the “Sandhikhan“), Durga is worshipped in her Chamunda form. Devi Durga killed, Chando and Mundo, the two demons at “Sandhikhan” and thus acquired the name of “Chamunda”. Goddess Durga is offered food which is later distributed among the devotees.
Dashami is the day when Goddess Durga accompanied by her children sets out for Kailash, her husband’s abode. With a heavy heart the Bengalis immerse the clay idol of Durga in the sacred Ganges bidding her goodbye and earnestly waiting to see her again the next year. “Sindur Khela” is a major event of Dashami. Married women apply vermillion to each other and greet each other with sweets. It is in the evening when Goddess Durga is immersed.

Durga Puja is a festival is more of a socio-cultural celebration that tends to renew kinship with friends and relatives

A short Bio

Jayati Saha(1968, Kolkata), a senior partner in a law firm, is a self taught photographer based out of Kolkata, India. She specializes in portraits but has interests in photojournalism also. Her work has been widely appreciated in various group exhibitions including those at the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, India and has been used as tutorial material.  Jayati’s first solo exhibition is scheduled in December, 2010 at the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.

The Compelling Image and Photojournale Team Up to Champion the “Emerging Photographer”
To read more about the “Emerging Photographer Program” http://blog.thecompellingimage.com/2010/11/04/the-compelling-image-and-photojournale-champion-the-emerging-photographer/

Photojournale and The Compelling Image are teaming up on developing a publishing avenue for serious emerging photographers. The partnership will introduce a new publishing section to the site that consists of new photography work developed by emerging photographers. Developing work for those photographers in the early stages of a photojournalism career or the serious non professional photo documentarian are the defining parameters of this partnership. Photojournale is proud  to partner with the Compelling Image in providing a platform for publishing and promoting “Emerging Photographers” work side by side with the professional photojournalists and photo documentary shooters within the Photojournale community.

The Compelling Image is an online school for photographers and visual storytellers of all skill levels and interests taught by some of the world’s leading professional photographers in their fields. Instructors include David Bathgate, Ami Vitale, GMB Akash, Daneil Bailey, Susan Wright, Michelle Woodward, Don Mar, Lisa Wiltse, Jonathan Castner and others.

For more information about taking part in the course and this new venture or to view a full range of opportunities and online courses run by The Compelling Image  visit The Compelling Image website.

http://www.photojournale.com/categories.php?cat_id=177

“The 1998-1999 conflict in Kosova claimed the lives of around 13,000 victims, mostly ethnic Albanians. A NATO bombing campaign in 1999 ousted Serb forces from the province bringing an end to the war putting the province under UN administration.

Ten years after end of hostilities and “ethnic cleansing” of Kosovar Albanians at the hands of Serbian troops and Kosovar Serbs, an estimated 2000 people are still missing and unaccounted for. To this day communal mass graves are still being discovered. (The latest uncovered in Serbia, May 2010 where the remains of further 250 Kosovar Albanians were unearthed).

A United Nation’s team of doctors and forensic pathologists work in discovery laboratories sifting through the gruesome remnants seeking to give an identity to the corpses that have been exhumed. The forensic results reconcile the lists of missing persons. The remains are returned to their families, seeking respite and closure as to the fate of their loved ones.

Photography and story by Italian photographer Erik Messori. Photo editing by Isabella Midili and John Horniblow”

Editors Notes:

Erik Messori’s story “A Place Called Kosova” is a reminder story. Its a story about the Aftermath, how communities work to reconcile the atrocities their families have suffered and to try and bring closure to  those whose fate remain undetermined. For me its a follow on story from photo essays such as  Alexandra Boulat’s coverage of the war  in Kosova and her immediate images from the enfolding conflict and ethnic cleansing . In particular I recall Boulat’s image of families fleeing the conflict in tightly packed buses, minus their men folk. This image strikes me, as does  Erik’s work as it reveals the real fate of their men 10 years after their disappearance.

Today the Kosova story may have  fallen from the headlines and been surpassed by more recent conflicts, however, “A Place Called Kosovar” is a stark and relevant reminder that the actions of reconciliation continue today,  tirelessly piecing the fragments of personal histories together in a collective understanding that these stories should not be forgotten or erased from history.  I feel there is a strong sense of human compassion in Erik’s work. It reveals that he has a strong sense of closeness, intimacy and proximity with his subjects and an emotive eye for the moment when emotions reveal the truth.

John Horniblow.

http://www.photojournale.com/categories.php?cat_id=176

Romani people, an ethnic group with origins in South Asia who are widely dispersed with their largest concentrated populations in Europe, especially Central and Eastern Europe, with more recent diaspora populations in the Americas and, to a lesser extent, in North Africa and the Middle East. Their life is managed by seeking necessities and many face discrimination and their integration is almost always a problem in all of the countries. Sánta István Csaba story gives a unique view – “If we try to get closer to them we can know more about their culture and habits.”
Story by Hungarian photographer Sánta István Csaba

Dear Photographers, Rainwater Harvesters and Friends,

Following the success of the previous two editions, the IRHA ( International Rainwater Harvesting Association) and Photojournale are pleased to announce the launch of the third Raindrops Competition, Raindrops Geneva Award 2011 – Best Photographs on the advantages of the use of rainwater

For the first time, this competition will be the result of close collaboration between the IRHA and Photojournale, with their “Rainwater/Eau de pluie/Agua de Lluvia project”. We are sure that this new synergy will attract a wider audience; increasing both the level of competition and awareness of rainwater harvesting.

Through this competition we aim to make the public, too often insufficiently informed, aware of the various advantages that rainwater harvesting offers by providing sustainable access to water. It is in this context that the IRHA and Photojournale invite photographers, professional and amateur alike, to present their vision on the benefits that this celestial resource can have for both humans and nature.

The date for the final submission of photographs is 30^th April 2011 at 12 p.m. (midnight) GMT.

The Awards
1. The presentation of prizes will take place in June 2011.
2. The three best photographs will be awarded prizes as follows;

* The first winner will be awarded CHF (Swiss francs) 1000
* The second winner will be awarded CHF (Swiss francs)  600
* And the third winner will receive CHF (Swiss francs) 400

Submissions and Rules for more information

Buddhism in Myanmar | Budismo en Myanmar

http://www.photojournale.com/categories.php?cat_id=174

Story by Joaquin Gomez Sastre