September 2010 Archives

Photojournalist Marcus Bleasdale delivers this multimedia slideshow report on the recent increased violence in Kashmir due to threats by a US pastor to burn the Koran.

The Kashmir Conflict arises from the Partition of India in 1947 into modern India and Pakistan. Both the countries have made claims to Kashmir, based on historical developments and religious affiliations of the Kashmiri people.

In Jammu and Kashmir, India, the violent Islamic insurgency has specifically targeted the Hindu Pandit minority, violated their human rights and 400,000 have either been murdered or displaced. US Congressman Frank Pallone stated "The conflict in Kashmir cannot be separated from the global war against terror; over the past fifteen years militant forces have used violence against the Pandits."

Recently the violence increased due to an American pastor's public statement to burn the Koran. The plan was called off but it heightened tensions in the Muslim world and subsequently tension in the Kashmir Valley and the protests led to 18 being killed and hundreds wounded.

Wow! We're thrilled to announce that photographers from 47 countries have submitted photos, so far, to participate in our Lens Culture International Exposure Awards 2010 global photography competition.

Due to a technical glitch over the weekend, some photographers were cut off from completing their submissions. So, we have extended the deadline for entries through the end of the day today. If you have not entered your photos yet, today is your last chance!

You can enter your photos here today.

Winners will be announced on October 15, and the international traveling exhibitions of winning photographs will begin in Paris in February 2011, then San Francisco in April 2011, and New York in June 2011.

Here are the countries that are represented in our Awards competition so far:

Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bangladesh
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
China
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
England
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Hong Kong
India
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Jordan
Luxembourg
Malta
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Scotland
Serbia
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Trinidad
Ukraine
United States
Venezuela
Vietnam
Wales

Thanks to everyone who has entered, so far. Our judges will have lots of top-quality images to review and rate. Check back for the winners on October 15!

First of all, apologies to many photographers who got stopped mid-entry process yesterday. We have now extended the deadline for 2 extra days to make sure everyone can enter who wants to.

What happened:

Terrible combination of human error (mine), timezone confusion, and technical glitch.

I thought we had set the deadline for entries for our Lens Culture International Exposure Awards 2010 for midnight yesterday, San Francisco time. BUT, apparently the system stopped accepting new applications at midnight Paris time (so, it stopped 9 hours earlier than planned). Sorry!

We got it fixed, finally, after a flurry of emails from photographers notified us of the problem. And we've decided to extend the deadline 2 days.

So, if you weren't able to complete your submission for the Awards, please try again today and tomorrow.

Sincere apologies and best wishes to everyone.

- Jim Casper, editor

http://www.lensculture.com/awards

Deadline to enter your photos to win Lens Culture International Exposure Awards is midnight September 18. Details at: http://www.lensculture.com/awards.

The prizes are big -- including traveling exhibitions of 60 winning photographs that will be featured in galleries in Europe and the US.

So, enter your best photos today!

One of our winners from last year, Stella Johnson, is featured TODAY on NPR's Picture Show. Congratulations, Stella!

This is so much more than an ordinary photography contest. All 29 of last year’s winners and honorable mentions have continued to achieve notable success with their photography careers. Since October 2009, they have featured in more than 30 exhibitions worldwide, been published in over 50 different publications and received more than 20 additional awards. Many of the winners have also earned grants, won valuable commissions, and sold prints to both public and private collectors. Several earned gallery representation and places in mentoring and further study programs. Read more here.

You can see the 2009 Award winners here: http://bit.ly/2009AwardWinners

And best of luck to everyone who enters. Cheers!

San Francisco-based photographer Jock McDonald has traveled the world making photographs, including hundreds of classic black-and-white portraits of people of all ages and all cultures. He teamed up with animating genius Paul Blain to create this amazing video that slowly and seamlessly morphs one face into another into another. Decades of images create an ever-evolving portrait of humanity. Watch the full-screen version if you can.

Burlesque is a peculiar show and art form with roots going back to nineteenth-century theatre. Born in the Victorian music halls England it is a popular show that makes fun of the powerful and the elite, featuring saucy strip tease, frenetic choreography, orchestral music and comic turns. The contemporary version is often embellished with fetish and punk elements. It is in fact a vital culture that is forever evolving and is not just a tribute to the past. View the multimedia slideshow by Giovanni Cocco who is currently in the VII Mentor Program for photographers.

Cocco's series offers a sympathetic but slightly different perspective on similar subject matter so excellently documented by Susan Meiselas in her 1976 book Carnival Strippers.

Photographers --

You have just one week left to enter your photographs in this global competition. Deadline is September 18 at midnight Pacific Time. All photos will be reviewed and rated by a stellar international jury of photography experts. This year, 6 winners will be awarded cash prizes, and 25 additional photographers will win honorable mentions.

If you win an Award or an honorable mention, here's what you get:

• Cash prizes if you are one of the six top Award winners.

• Influential international exposure for you and your work via Lens Culture (seen by 2.7 million yearly visitors worldwide).

• Your photograph(s) will be included in a high-profile international traveling exhibition at great galleries in Paris, New York, and San Francisco.

* Your photograph(s) will be published in the Lens Culture International Exposure Awards Winners' book.

This is one photography competition that really delivers results for your photography career. Enter today!

http://www.lensculture.com/awards

Berlin-based photographer Adam Magyar sees things differently that most humans, and that's one reason his art is so completely unique and captivating.

He makes his "photographs" using a variety of scanner cameras -- some he makes himself, others are high-tech tools typically used for quality control screening of high-speed manufacturing, or for photo finishes in races.

I wrote about him and his work last year, shortly after I discovered it (http://bit.ly/scanner-photos), but I was completely blown away by a huge outdoor presentation of just one long continuous image of 160 walking people that was commissioned with the help of Rhubarb-Rhubarb in Birmingham England this summer. It's so much fun to look at the details in this image, and it makes your mind do backflips trying to unravel what it is that you are actually seeing.

Here's the way the Walking As One exhibition project website explains it:

How it works

This is the type of image which Adam makes – the scanner captures absolutely the present time. To its left the people are in the future and to the right they are in the past... Of course the people on the right are a few minutes older than the people on the left...

Adam uses the same technologies as the finish line cameras at the Olympic Games, which take thousands of images a second and records through a 1 pixel wide slit. The time and space slices are then placed next to one another to generate an image without perspective. This method is capable of recording movement only, with static objects and buildings appearing as stripes and lines.

So, no matter which direction the people were "really" walking (left to right, or right to left, in front of the camera), in the stitched-together image they are all walking in exactly the same direction with everyone else.

Three cheers for the Rhubarb-Rhubarb team for organizing this great production (and a similar one in London), and for making this crazy art available to the public.

For more info about Adam Magyar, check out his website: www.magyaradam.com