Comments on: The Prix Pictet prize has just been announced http://duckrabbit.info/blog/2009/10/the-prix-pictet-prize-has-just-been-announced/ and this is our BLOG, where photography, art, audio and journalism collide (sparks may fly)... Tue, 22 May 2012 21:08:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: duckrabbit http://duckrabbit.info/blog/2009/10/the-prix-pictet-prize-has-just-been-announced/comment-page-1/#comment-6748 duckrabbit Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:59:11 +0000 http://duckrabbit.info/blog/?p=5581#comment-6748 Thanks for that Rob and Ciara, Yes I saw those other extraordinary photos on pollution in China. Important work. I agree also there needs to be focus on China, but as Rob points out it needs to be balanced. And yes industrial pollutiona and green houses gases are totally separate, although both a product of energy production/consumption. One will affect the quality of the environment now, another is a factor (one of many) in climate change. Thanks for that Rob and Ciara,

Yes I saw those other extraordinary photos on pollution in China. Important work. I agree also there needs to be focus on China, but as Rob points out it needs to be balanced. And yes industrial pollutiona and green houses gases are totally separate, although both a product of energy production/consumption. One will affect the quality of the environment now, another is a factor (one of many) in climate change.

]]> By: Rob Godden http://duckrabbit.info/blog/2009/10/the-prix-pictet-prize-has-just-been-announced/comment-page-1/#comment-6746 Rob Godden Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:41:46 +0000 http://duckrabbit.info/blog/?p=5581#comment-6746 I agree. I saw Nadav Kander presenting this project - following the Yellow River from ocean to source I believe - at a PhotoVoice talk in London last year. I like the work but never got the impression it was aimed at highlighting climate change. I came across Lu Guang's work a week or two ago on the NYT website and think it is a much stronger set on the subject (though see below). I think there is a legitimate reason to focus on China - not to politically 'bash' but to highlight the communities seriously impacted by China's economic development, particularly in regards to health and livelihood. Whether that warrants selecting photos of China two years running is doubtful - they should probably spread their focus more equally. From what little I know most advanced economies have gone through a similar phase of fucking up their environment before trying to sort it out at a later date (i.e. air pollution, soil degradation, pollution of rivers etc.). I don't think being critical from the comfort of an OECD environmentally sound haven provides many legs to stand on. Not that should give a carte blanche to ride rough shod over the environment but it does seem a little like 'do as I say, not as I do' - or something like that. One also might want to distinguish between industrial pollution and production of green house gases, which are two different things, no? I agree. I saw Nadav Kander presenting this project – following the Yellow River from ocean to source I believe – at a PhotoVoice talk in London last year. I like the work but never got the impression it was aimed at highlighting climate change. I came across Lu Guang’s work a week or two ago on the NYT website and think it is a much stronger set on the subject (though see below). I think there is a legitimate reason to focus on China – not to politically ‘bash’ but to highlight the communities seriously impacted by China’s economic development, particularly in regards to health and livelihood. Whether that warrants selecting photos of China two years running is doubtful – they should probably spread their focus more equally. From what little I know most advanced economies have gone through a similar phase of fucking up their environment before trying to sort it out at a later date (i.e. air pollution, soil degradation, pollution of rivers etc.). I don’t think being critical from the comfort of an OECD environmentally sound haven provides many legs to stand on. Not that should give a carte blanche to ride rough shod over the environment but it does seem a little like ‘do as I say, not as I do’ – or something like that. One also might want to distinguish between industrial pollution and production of green house gases, which are two different things, no?

]]> By: Ciara http://duckrabbit.info/blog/2009/10/the-prix-pictet-prize-has-just-been-announced/comment-page-1/#comment-6735 Ciara Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:36:29 +0000 http://duckrabbit.info/blog/?p=5581#comment-6735 The 'why China again' thought struck me as well. It's strong work and I'm glad it wasn't one of the more fluffy projects (Mt Fuji etc - which by the way is pretty old work) which won the prize. I am happy to see that Ed Kashi won the Madagascar commission because for me his work was the one which hit all the right notes in terms of what this year's Pictet was meant to be about. Some of the people in the running for that prize are able to sell their prints for huge sums of money, so it's also great that strong photojournalism - so hard for people to fund and get published these days - is getting support through the prize jury in this way. For another take on Chinese pollution - this time by local photographer Lu Guang, who has just won the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography - see this http://www.chinahush.com/2009/10/21/amazing-pictures-pollution-in-china/ Worrying stuff. The ‘why China again’ thought struck me as well.
It’s strong work and I’m glad it wasn’t one of the more fluffy projects (Mt Fuji etc – which by the way is pretty old work) which won the prize. I am happy to see that Ed Kashi won the Madagascar commission because for me his work was the one which hit all the right notes in terms of what this year’s Pictet was meant to be about.
Some of the people in the running for that prize are able to sell their prints for huge sums of money, so it’s also great that strong photojournalism – so hard for people to fund and get published these days – is getting support through the prize jury in this way.
For another take on Chinese pollution – this time by local photographer Lu Guang, who has just won the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography – see this http://www.chinahush.com/2009/10/21/amazing-pictures-pollution-in-china/ Worrying stuff.

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