we produce beautifully crafted multimedia » Where it’s at

‘You are thirst – and thirst is all I know’ (inspired and inspiring photofilm)

duckrabbit — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 12:51:46 +0000

Every now and again duckrabbit has the pleasure of training someone who understands that to nail a great photofilm has as much to with sweat as it does talent. David Mansell-Moullin has worked his photofilm ‘To The Desert’, close to perfection.

Short, poetic and speaking to my heart. I hope it speaks to yours too (comments always really welcome, details about the poem and music below)

The poem “To the Desert” is by Benjamin Alire Saenz. The music is from the soundtrack “Desert Capriccio” by Yo-Yo Ma.

‘”The classes and tutorials that I have taken with Benjamin (duck) have not only been inspiring but opened my eyes to the possibilities and power of working with photo-films. His experience, insights and suggestions have proven invaluable in taking my practice to another level.”

If you would like to be trained by duckrabbit we have a few spaces left on courses running in May/June and July.

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

duckrabbit — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 19:51:11 +0000

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 Director/Photographer Melanie Burford.

“Its not a job, it’s who you are. We are losing it. I don’t think we’ll ever get it back.”

Please watch this, share on Facebook and Tweet. You may not see a better photofilm this year and guess what, no shallow depth of field in sight.

Where it’s at: Jonathan Worth

duckrabbit — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 23:02:46 +0000

They hate him but we love him, Who ‘they’ are, we are not exactly sure, but Jonathan Worth would be a hero of the photography world if there was any justice. Not that he would care anyway.

Jonathan pisses a few people people off (but makes many more happy) by giving things away for free. Since last year he’s been running a free undergraduate photography course through Coventry University. Tens of thousands of people are accessing the podcasts from the course, which has had some top, top educators like David Campbell teaching on it. Whilst a lot of University’s are ripping students off Jonathan has managed to subvert the higher education system, piss off a few people in photography and get paid for it. That makes him cleverer than duckrabbit (we inadvertently piss people off and occasionally get paid, but don’t get very far with the subversion)

Why?

I’ll ask him and then pop it up here.

In the meantime I’m hoping that Jonathan will invite me to talk on the course. I’ll do it, but only for free.

(by the way, I’ve never met Jonathan. When we shout that we like something, its always genuine)

UPDATE:

Told you he was a good teacher. Fifteen minutes after I put this post up one of his students is already doing the explaining:

Hi RabbitDuck. Well, as a student of Jonathan, I don’t really know who ‘they’ are.

Perhaps you mean closed organisations who feel threatened by what they cannot control.

The people who are annoyed, are those that just don’t ‘get it’ …yet.

It’s not simply about giving things away ‘free’.
It’s about leveraging ‘free’.
In a ocean of information, directing and harnessing the waves, instead of resisting them.

A paradigm shift, applying open source/Trans-media philosophy to photographic practice.

= Collaborative Creativity & Innovation.

Watch this TED video: http://www.harpreetkhara.com/archives/8001

Twitter @HarpreetKhar

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

duckrabbit — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 09:33:07 +0000

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 side he’s become a killer of photographers.

How so?

duckrabbit trained Pete in the basics of producing photofilms. Not long ago he took himself off to Sri Lanka and produced the following photofilm for MSF UK.

I have to tell you it’s much, much better than the efforts of many professional photographers.

So if I have a budget and I can either hire Martin Nachtwey or Pete Masters, I would hire Pete. Why? With Pete I get some great pictures and I also get a cracking photofilm; something that ACTUALLY gives voice to the people I am trying to help.

If you are a photographer, one with a website telling me that your passionate about human rights, poverty and social injustice, and you want to work in the humanitarian sector, then you need to compare yourself to Pete, a guy who only picked up a camera and a microphone twelve months ago. He’ll never have a trust fund sponsored show at VISA, but his work is reaching a hell of a lot more people.

Sooner or later every decent sized NGO will have a Pete, god knows they need one. Hopefully a fair few of them will be professional photographers, who have picked themselves up other skills.

Which brings me to what really matters. Not Pete, not Martin, but Suvarna, and her brave road to recovery.

Suvarna’s story from msf_uk on Vimeo.

Where It’s At – Ivor Prickett

duckrabbit — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 18:08:04 +0000

duckrabbit is writing this from De Prague, a rather wonderful bar/restaurant in Beirut. Forget that though. I’ve just had the pleasure of sitting through an edit of Ivor Prickett’s work on Gali: Abkhazia’s frontier with Georgia.

Some of you may have seen Ivor’s work featured in last month’s BJP.

If I come across photos that make me more excited this year, you can skin me and cook me.

Ivor you are an astonishing talent. THANK YOU.

Here’s a sneak preview of one of the shots. More on this later.

What a total, utter, inspiration! Thank you Colin Rich (where it’s at)

duckrabbit — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:30:52 +0000

Pacific Star II from Colin Rich on Vimeo.

This is the second trip of my home made high altitude weather balloon photography project, Pacific Star.

The balloon was launched at 5:37pm (PST) from Oxnard, CA and reached an altitude of 125,000 feet snapping photos and recording video along the way.

The balloon burst, the parachute deployed, and the payload floated down for 35 minutes, landing near an old olive orchard Northeast of Santa Paula.

Created by Colin Rich
http://www.facebook.com/colinrich1

Zen and the art of Japanese Ferries – Where it’s at

duckrabbit — Sun, 09 May 2010 10:28:17 +0000

When one of my students on the Photojournalism Masters at LCC asked me if he could send me his first multimedia feature I said sure. A decision I started to regret that when he told me that it was a ten minute feature on ‘Japanese Ferries’. It sounded like an exercise in self-indulgence.

True to my word I sat down to watch the feature on election night, thinking I’d take in the first minute and fire back a polite and encouraging response. This is what I actually wrote,

‘Quite simply one of the greatest pieces of multimedia I’ve ever seen. I am utterly in awe of what you’ve done here David. Will be putting this up on the blog. Magnum in Motion eat your heart out.’

Ok so I was seriously pissed at the time. I watched it again and had the same response.

David Willems work transcends any experience of photo films I’ve had before. Watching it is a form of meditation.

How do you do that? Take a subject as ugly as a Ferry and turn it into a film that slowly and effortlessly walks the viewer into a space of nothingness, of peace?

You have to go the full distance though and you have to watch the CODA at the end (after the credits) which kicks you out of thoughtfulness and brings a smile to the face.

Someone should put this on as an installation in a gallery in the heart of London. Meditation for the masses.

Japanese Ferries from david willems on Vimeo.

An exploration into ferries to and from Shikoku.

part 1 ferries by day
part 2 ferries by night
part 3 coda with music by eddie wally

Please use headphones to fully enjoy the slow journey.

Inspiration: Stuart Freedman (where it’s at)

duckrabbit — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:14:25 +0000

I popped up some interesting words by Stuart on the blog last night, but if you want a masterclass on how a photographer can cover gritty stories, without reducing the people in the photos to freaks for pity and pennies, then spend some time on Stuart’s website.

It’s a masterclass in thought provoking reporting of the kind we rarely see these days because of the emphasis on aesthetic over story. In Stuart’s work the story comes first. Even more important are the people in the photographs.

In Rome David asked me why I loved photography so much. I couldn’t remember. Stuart’s work reminded me why.

You know the reason why we have a pop sometimes on duckrabbit is not because we don’t care about photography.

Sometimes we care so much it hurts. But we don’t believe that you can care too much.

In that we are not alone.

You should also check out his blog too. Well worth a read.

Where it’s at – Gregory Halpern

duckrabbit — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:01:22 +0000

“Between 1994 and 2001, the endowment of Harvard University tripled, making the school the wealthiest non-profit in the world, second only to the Vatican. In the same years, Harvard heavily outsourced many service jobs to lower-paying companies, thus resulting in average wage cuts of 30% for the schools’ custodians, food-workers and security guards.

In response, I got involved with a student group called the Harvard Living Wage Campaign and I began this project. My goal was to publicize the situation, to share the stories of a number of service-workers I had come to know, and to raise questions about the prevailing class-structure at Harvard and on college campuses in general.” Gregory Halpern

If you’re not aware of the work of Gregory Halpern (which I wasn’t until a week ago), then please, please, please spend some time reading Asim Rafiqui’s account of his work here, and then spend some time with the photographs here.

I do want to add one thing.

Too often we celebrate the photographer and not the cause. It’s a kind of disease in an industry where very few people are prepared to challenge unless the gods be shaken and they feel their wrath. That’s stone age thinking, because there are no gods, only emperors who have clambered up the pack of cards (often through great work) and whom our adulation clothes.

It says nothing about photography and everything about us that we are only interested in a ’cause’ when a ‘name’ photographer is attached.

Halpern, like Rodriguez, like Crow, like White, like Chiba, like Rafiqui (see our Where It’s At Links) are only interested in one voice being heard, and that voice is never their own. That’s why we celebrate their work.

Salão Escola de Beleza Afro – Tiana Markova-Gold (where it’s at)

Tiana — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:22:13 +0000

Some photography creates distances, puts the people in the pics out on some distant horizon you’ll never reach, nor would you want to. Other photography closes the gap, creates understanding and feels like a genuine conversation. Mostly, but not exclusively, that’s the photography I love and that’s the photography Tiana Markova-Gold creates.

I first came across her photos on one of the webs best blogs, Photography Lot. What do I love about her work? Just the feeling that it wouldn’t matter to Tiana whether she is photographing people in New York City, or Haiti, she’s going to approach those people exactly the same way. That’s a precious and all too rare quality to find in a photographer, the maturity to put the person in the frame, to put their story before your style.

Professionally that’s a lonely road to take because the photography world celebrates style over everything else. I’ll let you into a secret though, on a personal level its much more satisfying. Awards give you a rush to the head and afterwards nothing. The relationships forged here last a lifetime in peoples hearts.

duckrabbit would like to thank Tiana for generously sharing this work with us and our readers. Please do leave comments.

DUCK

Home to some of the world’s most beautiful beaches and luxury hotels, Rio de Janeiro is also a city of the starkest inequalities imaginable.

Roseli, 35 years old, grew up and continues to live in the streets of central Rio with her mother, two sisters and one brother. Roseli has seven children, none of whom are with her. Both of her sisters are pregnant. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2009.

In addition to the four million people (one third of the city’s population) living in favelas, there are thousands of women and children who make their home and their living in the city streets. The instability and dangers of life on the streets have created a complex subculture that is little understood by the rest of society.

Juliana, 22 years old, and Stefani, 26 years old, live in the streets of central Rio. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2009.

Women and children living in the streets are easy targets for police brutality and other forms of mistreatment and exploitation. Many sniff glue, called cola, or smoke crack to give them a temporary escape.

Glauciette, 24 years old, Juliana, 22 years old, and Roseli, 35 years old, live in the Praça de San Francisco in central Rio. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2009.

Founded in 1994, Centro de Estudos e Ação Excola empowers women and children living in the streets of Rio de Janeiro to make long-term positive changes in their lives. In 2003 Excola began the Salão Escola de Beleza Afro (Salon School of African Beauty) program, which trains and certifies 20 young women each year as beauticians.

Glauciette's six children live with various family members in a favela outside the city. She has been living in the streets of central Rio for five years. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2009.

These women also received counseling, access to condoms and health information. The women are continuing to meet in the small salon space Excola rents in central Rio, and many of them have started offering hair and beauty treatments in their neighborhoods.

Roseli and her sisters were raised in the streets and are now having their children in the streets. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2009.

Stefani bathes on the steps of the church in Praça de San Francisco. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2009.

The hairdressing skills these women have learned provides them with the possibility of becoming economically independent, creating a viable alternative to begging or prostitution and increasing their self-confidence and self-esteem. For many of the women, the salon also provides their only reprieve from the dangers of the streets.

Putting on lotion and perfume after bathing on the steps of the church. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2009.

The Salão Escola de Beleza Afro (Salon School of African Beauty) program trains and certifies 20 young women as beauticians each year, many of whom are living in the streets when they join the program. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2009.

The Escola de Beleza (Beauty School) program rents a small salon space in central Rio where the women can see clients, practice their skills and spend time together in a safe place off the streets. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2009.

Joelma and Isabela braid Jucelia's hair. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2009.

For many of the women involved with Escola de Beleza, the time they spend in the salon is the only reprieve they get from the streets. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2009.

Roseli puts drops in her eyes to relieve irritation. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2009.

Wenderson is the name of Glauciette's youngest son. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2009.

Juliana and a boyfriend. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2009.