insights into photography
I updated my website today, new images in Product, Academic, PR and Personal sections, go and have a look here
James Nachtwey grew up in Massachusetts and graduated from Dartmouth College, where he studied Art History and Political Science (1966-70). Images from the Vietnam War and the American Civil Rights movement had a powerful effect on him and were instrumental in his decision to become a photographer. He has worked aboard ships in the Merchant Marine, and while teaching himself photography, he was an apprentice news film editor and a truck driver.
In 1976 he started work as a newspaper photographer in New Mexico, and in 1980, he moved to New York to begin a career as a freelance magazine photographer. His first foreign assignment was to cover civil strife in Northern Ireland in 1981 during the IRA hunger strike. Since then, Nachtwey has devoted himself to documenting wars, conflicts and critical social issues. He has worked on extensive photographic essays in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, South Africa, Russia, Bosnia, Chechnya, Kosovo, Romania, Brazil and the United States.
Nachtwey has been a contract photographer with Time Magazine since 1984. He was associated with Black Star from 1980 – 1985 and was a member of Magnum from 1986 until 2001. In 2001, he became one of the founding members of the photo agency, VII. He has been exhibited all over the world
(c) Antonin Kratochvil. All Rights Reserve
James Nachtwey TED Talks Lecture
James Nachtwey Time Photos September 11 2011
“When the attack first started, I was in my apartment in the South Street Sea Port, directly across Lower Manhattan. I heard a sound that was out of the ordinary. I’m far enough away so that it wasn’t alarming but it was definitely out of the ordinary. It came from the direction of the World Trade Center so I went to the window and saw the tower burning.”………..MORE Digital Journalist by Peter Howe
Afghanistan, 1996 – Mourning a brother killed by a Taliban rocket.
SeeJames Nachtwey’s astonishing images on his website here
Associated links : http://vsmeets.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/as-close-as-it-gets-james-nachtwey/
Associated links Empty Kingdom
Photojournalist James Nachtwey is considered by many to be the greatest war photographer of recent decades. He has covered conflicts and major social issues in more than 30 countries.
Why you should listen to him:
For the past three decades, James Nachtwey has devoted himself to documenting wars, conflicts and critical social issues, working in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, South Africa, Russia, Bosnia, Chechnya, Kosovo, Romania, Brazil and the United States.
Nachtwey has been a contract photographer with Time since 1984. However, when certain stories he wanted to cover — such as Romanian orphanages and famine in Somalia — garnered no interest from magazines, he self-financed trips there. He is known for getting up close to his subjects, or as he says, “in the same intimate space that the subjects inhabit,” and he passes that sense of closeness on to the viewer.
In putting himself in the middle of conflict, his intention is to record the truth, to document the struggles of humanity, and with this, to wake people up and stir them to action.
He is the winner of the 2007 TED Prize, awarding him $100,000 and one wish to change the world. This was his wish: “I’m working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.”
On October 3, the story breaks … and we would like you to witness it.
“Reticent about discussing his own life beyond the basic facts, he’s clearly one of those rare characters who focus singularly on their work with a missionary-like sense of purpose.” — Salon.com
There is a job to be done…to record the truth. I want to wake people up! – James Nachtwey
I want my work to become part of our visual history, to enter our collective memory and our collective conscience. I hope it will serve to remind us that history’s deepest tragedies concern not the great protagonists who set events in motion but the countless ordinary people who are caught up in those events and torn apart by their remorseless fury. I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated. – James Nachtwey – International Center of Photography Press Release
I used to call myself a war photographer. Now I consider myself as an antiwar photographer. – James Nachtwey
I want to record history through the destiny of individuals who often belong to the least wealthy classes. I do not want to show war in general, nor history with a capital H, but rather the tragedy of a single man, of a family. – James Nachtwey
It is very hard to say where you’re going until you get there. That kind of thing is based very much on instinct. As a photographer, one of the most important lessons I have learnt is that you have to learn to listen to and trust your own instinct. It has helped to guide me – this far at least. – James Nachtwey – “World Press Photo 1996 Yearbook”
David duChemin is a world & humanitarian photographer, best-selling author, and international workshop leader. David uses his powers for good and not for evil.
Here is the start of his article on being a Humanitarian Photographer
David duChemin’s Thoughts on Starting Out.
1. First, you don’t need to get paid for your images in order to create great, world-changing stuff. It helps, but it’s not necessary. Thinking so creates a trap and makes your images more about money than about truth and beauty and witnessing to what is and what should be. Money can be a means to an end, but is not the end itself. If it is, you’re in the wrong line of work. Consider commercial photography..….MORE
Mhong village Laos ©Keith Barnes
From Toad Hollow via Lightstalking
“It’s been a truly wonderful week online in the world of photography, and Toad Hollow Photography has been busy collecting the best set of links to tutorials, great photography and interesting blogs to share with everyone. This is a really great list highlighting wonderful work by some of the best photographers who are active online, and we hope you enjoy looking at these pieces as much as the Toad did in bringing them to you.”….MORE
Here is a taste of all that lovliness
Check out the Toad’s photoblog featuring Canadian landscapes and historical artifacts, and his Fine Art Landscape Photography website.
TUTORIALS
Ask JoeB: Chainlink Fence – another wonderful and highly informative blog post from Joe Baraban discusses textures and lines in art. The image being critiqued is just wonderful, producing fabulous leading lines and a frame for the slightly out of focus window in the background. This is a truly wonderful post sure to teach almost everyone something about image composition, and specifically photography.
Ask JoeB: Zoom Range – another post from Joe Baraban delivers a critique on a specific composition. The comments and thoughts he shares with the reader are guaranteed to help almost everyone with their image compositions, producing a post that is a real gem in this weeks links list. This quick read is well worth the time to visit.
Photography Exercise That Teaches You How to Shoot Better – a wonderful tutorial exercise that is spot-on and will undoubtedly help everyone who reads it create better compositions in their own craft. This short article is full of details on a great concept that I am just heading out the door to try myself…
Bringing Beauty Home with Panoramas – master photographer Lee Brown shares with us a truly breathtaking panorama landscape photo, but he also does one better by sharing some really great tips and tricks for capturing these types of images. Lee goes into pretty great detail in this post, discussing some of the more technical points behind the challenges that are encountered with panoramas.
GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY
Learning to See Part 9 – our very own @tomdinning continues his running series “Learning to See” with this absolutely profound post. Magic, indeed, is seen, captured and shared by Tom in this epic article, leaving the reader with a strong sense of the profound, as well as a renewed eye to the craft. Once again, the harshest critic is ourselves, and when we look through all the rules and geometry that intrinsically makes up the art of photography, and more generally, imagery, we find ourselves.
The Shed – moody, eerie, dramatic and absolutely wonderful! This incredible black and white image as photographed and shared by Jim Denham delivers a piece of imagery that is compelling and captivating; a must see shot in this weeks list for sure!
Oxford School of Photography 