Writing Here:

duckrabbit
David White
Ciara Leeming
John Macpherson
Peter
Sara Trula
Carl Pendle
Joni Karanka
Mike Lusmore
Madeleine Corcoran

Images of Sexual Violence (1): Saying Things Kept Silent, Showing Things Kept Hidden

Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye is a story about a young black girl in 1960s America who is sexually abused by her father. It’s beautifully written and painful to read – speaking fearlessly about the realities of poverty, race and gender. It unearths the causes of victimhood and the silence which surrounds and supports the [...]

Ever thought about killing the person who leaves dirty cups in the sink?

For me there is always a story under the story in the best photofilms. James Hooker gets this.

Earlier this year I was invited to spend a couple of days with the undergraduates on the photojournalism course at London College of Communication (alongside duckrabbit’s teaching on the Masters course there). I’m not sure if they [...]

‘Showing Congolese as only traumatized victims (or killers) may be highly offensive … but mostly it’s untrue.’

Yesterday I put up a post that in part explored how highly staged and stylized photography has come to define how we perceive women survivors of rape in The Congo. I’ve been pretty amazed that no-one wants to defend what has become the pre-eminent way of working on projects as a documentary photographer/photojournalist? Shouldn’t we [...]

Beautiful, eloquent, thought provoking. Damn thing made me cry.

Those are just a few of the words that come to mind watching Margaret Cheatham Williams’ photofilm Goodnight Moon (first spotted on the excellent Innovative Interactivity).

There’s been a lot of debate around the use of cinematic techniques to film traumatic events. Dan Chung’s video of the aftermath of the Japanese Earthquake is a classic [...]

“I have four babies, beautiful, gorgeous, why should I ever think about suicide? I had these thoughts in my mind. I was messed up.”

This is an astonishing photofilm about how one small fishing community has been affected by the BP Oil disaster. What the photofilm lacks in context about the disaster it makes up for in emotional punch and as good a set of documentary photography as you are likely to see.

I take my hat off to [...]

Thought provoking post about Japan earthquake on Phil Coomes BBC Viewfinder blog

followed by a series of even more thought provoking responses to Jake Price’s black and white pictures on show.

Here’s just a few:

 

I think of all the bullshit around photography the idea that somehow a photo in black and white is a deeper more truthful representation of life is amongst the most [...]

Hidden History: The Irish At War, Damian Drohan

Goddamn this is a project and a half barrel of whisky.

Immense.

Damian Drohan is one of the most committed students duckrabbit has had the pleasure to train. It gives me great honor to introduce you to his monumental project about the unknown, unrecognized Irish veterans of World War 2 (be sure to check out [...]

‘Finally! … Our Truth’

Got a cool email this morning. Samira Hack, who was a prominent voice in the Open Eye documentary and photofilm I made with Joseph Rodriguez got in contact with Joseph with these words:

‘All that I can say is, Finally! I am very pleased with the results that [...]

Open Eye: Lebanon’s missing (Radio documentary and photofilm on the BBC)

(PLEASE SHARE THIS IMPORTANT STORY)

If you didn’t get to listen to the fascinating and harrowing piece on the BBC World Service this morning about the photographer Dalia Khamissy‘s attempts to document what happened to the thousands who were kidnapped and disappeared during the Lebanese civil war, then you can listen again here. You can [...]

The film that would win the World Press Multimedia Award (if there was a public vote)

Obviously the top people at The World Press know a thing or two about how to run a competition. For their latest award, they’ve decided that the FIFA World Cup football selection model is the way to go. Well, not quite …

According to someone commenting on the duckrabbit the nominators of this years multimedia [...]

‘Invisibility would be my superpower’

Great little video about Street Photographer Matt Stuart who comes across as not just a wicked photographer but a top bloke.

Thanks to Olivier at BJP for sharing this.

[...]

“Photography is an incredibly limiting medium”

Really lovely and inspiring video about Alex Soth.

So interesting to compare this with the video of Plankton I put up earlier in the week.

Pretty pictures but journalism my arse

Ciara Leeming summed it up beautifully on the BBC recently when she said the problem with many ‘photojournalists’ is that they have little understanding of journalism.

Dominic Nahr’s set of pics in TIME is a great example. Why? Where is the coherency and where is the story?

To be fair to Dominic he’s run around [...]

Open Eye, The Missing – Imm Aziz

“If I had only known that my sons were going and that I would not see them again I would have thrown myself under the wheels of the truck that took them.” Imm Aziz

Palestinian Amina Hassan Banat, 78, better known for Imm Aziz, sits on a sofa placed under the framed portraits [...]

Open Eye – The Missing

I am pouring myself and the photographer Dalia Khamissy a large whiskey (thanks Val for the Chrimbo Jamesons). This one we have earned.

Tonight I finished mixing a radio documentary for the BBC about the estimated 17000 people who were kidnapped during the Lebanese civil war, and never seen again. If any of you listen [...]

“Just me and a blank sheet of paper” – YES

A little while back on old friend from the BBC got in touch to ask if I would spend some time talking with Sally Flatman, the producer of BBC Radio 4′s Christmas appeal. The appeal supports Connections (St Martin’s in the Fields) vital work with homeless people in London.

To cut a long story short [...]

War Never Looked So Hip

(amended title because Joerg’s was MUCH better)

Take a look at this picture by Damon Winter, as featured on the (excellent) New York Times, Lens Blog, and part of a series featured in the newspaper:

The photographs have been taken using an iPhone that automatically applies heavy processing with an iPhone app. On [...]

Photofilm, ‘The Collector’ – Damian Drohan

Good to see another one of duckrabbit’s students getting their work shown on the BBC.

Damian Drohan is one of the most committed photographers I’ve had the pleasure of working with. I’ve been in awe of the way he has been seeking out Irish World War Two veterans to both photograph and record their stories.

[...]

Is Seeing Believing? (powerful, powerful, photofilm)

In many ways sound is the ultimate visual medium. When we listen to something, or someone, we create images in our mind.

One of the clichés of photography, particularly humanitarian photography, is that it gives people a voice. Watch the video on the front page of the VISA website to see exactly what I mean. [...]

Pete Masters, MSF’s web editor, fires a warning shot to photographers

On paper Pete Masters is the web editor of MSF UK, and although he is a bit of a geek, Pete is so much more … he’s duckrabbit’s best ever student.

Now whilst MSF go into really troubled places and save lives (and a lot more), Pete isn’t all humanitarian, because secretly on the [...]