insights into photography
Jason Larkin is a documentary photographer and part of the Panos photo agency in London. Previously based in Cairo, his career has seen him shooting for international periodicals across the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. His work has been recognized with multiple awards, including the prestigious PDN Arnold Newman Portraiture prize. He is currently based between London and Johannesburg – http://www.jasonlarkin.co.uk.
Jack Shenker is a London-born writer who has reported from across the globe, with work spanning Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Gaza and the Mediterranean. Since 2008, he has been Egypt correspondent for the Guardian, and his coverage of the 2011 Egyptian revolution won the Amnesty International Gaby Rado award for excellence in human rights journalism. He is currently based in London and Cairo – http://www.jackshenker.net.
Hard copies of ‘Cairo Divided’ are available at no cost beyond postage and packaging fees. Full details here
Olivier Laurent writing in the BJP has this to say
Cairo Divided © Jason Larkin.
Divided is a two-year investigation into Cairo’s social and architectural changes, self-published for the first time in its entirety in newspaper form.
Divided is the story of how the megacity, Cairo, is turning itself inside out. “The project started when I was living very close to the American University of Cairo,” says Larkin. “I remember when the university announced it would be moving to the outskirts of Cairo, a lot of people were surprised. The university sees a lot of students from abroad thinking they would be studying in Cairo, but instead they’d find themselves in the desert.”
Larkin checked the situation out for himself, visiting the construction sites of these huge, new compounds. “There was a lot going on, but no one was speaking about it in Cairo,” he says. “I started investigating, and found these huge developments.” Quickly he realised that once completed, there would be a massive exodus of people from the city to the outskirts.
But these new cities lacked “all the bits they need to function as normal cities,” he explains. “There are huge compounds, ministries, headquarters, office blocks, but no social housing.” The poorest and working classes wouldn’t be able to move to these new towns, in effect dividing Cairo’s population, he says. “I was alarmed by that. I wondered how Cairo was going to change when people start to move there.”
His images, with Shenker’s essays, have now been released in a 32-page newspaper self-published by Larkin in association with Panos Pictures. “There were many reasons for choosing this format – the first one was because of the elections in Egypt. I really liked the idea of coming out with something free that I’d be able to pass on to universities or people learning the politics or the language of this country. I thought it would be a great way to reach people. Egypt is in a very complicated situation and I think a lot of the time people miss out on the real context of what is going on. They are just hearing the daily news. I thought it would be great if people were able to pick up a copy of Divided and have a better understanding of what is actually going on in Cairo and in Egypt.” ..….MORE
Cairo Divided © Jason Larkin.
So it is that time of the year when different organisations choose their best photos of the year. Depending on the reason for the organisation the choice will often be skewed to reflect it’s purpose. The Denver Post has some of the very best photo galleries on the web, every week they show wonderful, inspiring, inventive and eyecatching images so any roundup of the year they produce will be one worth looking at in detail. This year the DP Captured pblog has a best of in 3 parts and this is part one, share this gallery with your friends on facebook or elsewhere, get more people interested in fantastic photography. See all of this gallery here
A Guastavino Company spiral staircase at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York, on Jan. 25, 2011. The Guastavino Company was founded by the Catalonian architect Rafael Guastavino y Moreno, who arrived in New York 130 years ago. The domes and arches built by the Guastavino Company are everywhere in New York, but you have to look for them. (Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times)
An anti-government protester reacts before Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was to make a statement February 10, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak made a statement in which he refused to step down, defying expectations that he was preparing to resign. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
Ball kids dry the court with towels after rain stopped play during the match between Samantha Stosur of Australia and Flavia Pennetta of Italy during day one of the Federation Cup tie between Australia and Italy at Domain Tennis Centre on February 5, 2011 in Hobart, Australia. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images
Murray and Kelly James look at their destroyed house in central Christchurch, New Zealand, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011. A magnitude-6.3 temblor collapsed buildings, caused extensive other damage and killed dozens of people in the city. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
An injured anti-government protestor rests in a house in Tahrir Square after clashes with supporters of President Hosni Mubarak on February 3, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt. The Army positioned tanks between protesters who had been battling with supporters of President Hosni Mubarak for the second day in and around Tahrir Square in Cairo. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
Oxford School of Photography 