bold steps

i usually enjoy "burying the lead" to my stories here...putting the "key" to the story somewhere towards the end....to make you read the whole thing!!!  or simply to pique your sense of "discovery"...

not this time....

i announce now, to the readers of this forum, the offering of a $5,000. (u.s. dollars) stipend/grant for one exceptional photographer to help support their personal work.....this will be based on the photographs being sent to me now....

the deadline for sending work will now be extended to november 15, 2007....this will be based entirely on work produced between july 15, 2007 and the closing date.....the stipend will be awarded  by december 15, 2007...Merry Christmas!!

i have already been flooded with material....good material....but, i have decided to totally max out the influence of our new found collaboration...for my "original bloggers" (and i know who you are) who have already sent in their 20 picture limit, you will be allowed another 20 and this extra time ....but, the limit on essays or  singles  from  any  "newcomers"  to our  forum  will still be  20  photographs presented  as  an  essay  ( or combo of essays)  or  20  single  images...

so, for  my  steadfast loyal  readers with whom i have had the most amazing dialogue  for the last 6 months, you will be faced suddenly and surely with more  competition....but, for you also i  will go in, take a look at the work already submitted,  and provide you  as much personal  feedback and guidance as i possibly can....

as you know, i am in the process of creating a non-profit fund so that i can provide funding for some of you to go out and do the work you love....so, this symbolic stipend is coming backwards from the way i eventually want to work...this stipend is coming at the end for many of your projects, rather than at the beginning...but, i just wanted to do something now...it just feels right, that's all...

many of you have in such good faith submitted work, that i just felt i wanted to do something in good faith back..besides, this extra time and maybe little incentive will make some of you do the best work of your life...if that happened to just a few of you, the "reward" to me would be immeasurable....

this grant is, at best, a token stipend....not enough funding to really go do something of major significance...so it is only  a gesture...my gesture alone....before the non-profit is actually up and running...while committees are meeting, i will just step out....to the limited extent that i can..

i hope this will be an  incentive for future funders to see what can be done with this  online collaboration and community which has been growing daily...for them to see what an amazing  creative community we now have..this is a bold step for me personally...but, if i am asking for others to take a bold step, i must take one myself...no, i am not a wealthy man with money to give away...my rent is late (among other things)....but, i am some sort of "risk taker"...i will take this risk alone...

please know that i am not "buying" your photographs or "using" your photographs or "selling" your photographs..as a member of the most powerful photographers rights agency in the world, Magnum, i will only try to set as much of an example as an online  "publisher" as i  do as a contemporary working photographer...i will treat all of you exactly as i expect to be treated...viva photographer copyrights!!   period....

in our helter skelter world of diminishing financial returns for our work,  and  often Kmart style  selling of photographs, and almost zero production monies available to many, i just  want to go on record  as  providing just  a little bit of light  and morality  and significance  to  the  journalistic and artistic merits  of so many of you out there hungry to  do  serious photographic work...this is just a tiny  "brick in the wall",  but this is what i stand for anyway..

ELIGIBILITY

there will  be no age,sex,cultural,racial, or religious discrimination of any kind for this stipend....i will be only "discriminate" with the work chosen based on its over all integrity, visual acuity, and authorship components.....lifelong personal friends are not eligible, nor are Magnum photographers or other established agency or magazine iconic photographers...i want to discover someone...by "discovering" one, i will expose many...

WHERE TO UPLOAD WORK

ftp.digitalrailroad.net

login: davidalanharvey-blog

password: upload

OUTCOME

quiene sabe...who knows??  it would be nice to think that some generous funders and/or corporate sponsors would become a part of our overall initiative here....as you know, my thought was to do at least one good annual magazine/book and traveling exhibition both from work presented here and from my workshop students production from around the world...at the very least, we will have a powerful online presentation and exhibition..

also , as most of you know, this has been an online work in progress from day one....our collaboration...and things may shift a bit from time to time just by the nature of this effort...please remember, only one person will receive this hopefully growing stipend this time around, but many of you will be exposed positively to a group of your peers and established editors, publishers, etc etc....

so,if all of us are having fun and all of us our learning, then we should  let everything evolve in a natural positive way...if not, we "cash in our chips" and go home...certainly there is nothing lost.... and the experience so far has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career..i want you to feel the same...

your thoughts and questions please....i am sure i forgot to mention something!!!

p.s.

from now on, any purely tech questions i think would be better dealt with by michael courvoisier and off of this site...just to avoid clogging up our more esoteric chat....so please go to: blogquestions@gmail.com....mike is there to help

Comments

[Jorge Prat Altuzarra]

David:

Excelent news again! Thanks. I'll consider submiting some more images to may essay (yes, I consider myself an original blogger), but I'll try to resist the temptation of adding less powerful ones just for the purpose to make 40, since editing is aready something difficult to task.

If you can give me some insights about the essay I already submitted, I'll bery happy.

Thanks in advance

Jorge

[Rene Braun]

wow. I had 3 projects completed for your upload and chosen 1. It is great to hear that I might be able to do one more. I hope I'm considered one of the few who were here before (whatever before means). I'll start working on editing another batch...

It's very generous of you to keep us involved on such scale. I expect now the flood gates to truly give a way to the flood.

[Martin]

David…

For me this is great news. If I have more time I will fell more comfortable. No more one day shooting :)
But I will work like having short deadline time. I will shooting at all!! Ha!
And to be sure; I can send two essays? One now, and one to November 15?
I think I will send only one. best 15 pictures...

Martin

[bobblack]

David......

I am not sure what to say about you.......

my son, instead:, when he was 9:

Dima: dad, why is it that there so many people seem to be sad around here.....

Bob: I dont know sweetheart. I am not. I have you and mommy.

Dima: yea, me to......(pause, kicking snow). weird..

Bob: what honey?

Dima: how some people just seem to make people happy, like they had a magic finger or something....

David: you have a magic, swelling heart....

weird, i entered this only to show u pictures...

I would never submit more, 'cause i want you to know personally, that those pics were for you, not cash...that other people will swallow them, is all the cash i need my friend, really....

honestly: i'd take a good homecooked meal and 3 bottles of wine and a long long chat with you and my wife and son and friends, over this news....that's what i see now: the meeting, :)))...

distill this life and swing-sing it wide....

that's what you are doing....

and that aint about grants, i know u know that: orchard keeping

hugs.
b

now run down to Magnum and pick up that CD i told u about Quest ;)))))...

[Martin]

ok.
I'm not sure i understood everything, so I will send you my photos at end of weekend as I promised.

martin

[martin]

Bobblack

I’m jealous about your yours words. I wish to operate english language like you do. I feel read you like child.
My English is child speech.

m

[david alan harvey]

bob...

did you tell me something that was waiting for me at Magnum??? totally missed it, or forgot or ????

anyway, will do....

yes, sitting around a table with some fine wine, fire in the fireplace, friends, and home cooked meal sounds just perfect to me too....

oh yes, the dates of my workshops at home are: sept 22-29 and another one (after a week of recovery) oct. 6-13

if you are around then or anytime at all, please stop by....i am not sure that new york is quite ready for both of us in the same place at the same time, but what the hell??

martin...

do not be confused....maybe i was not clear...you have until november 15.....and you can submit 40 photographs....one essay or more depending on what you like, but not to exceed 40 in all...if this is still not quite clear to you, just keep asking questions...and just keep taking pictures..

[Gunnar Mjaugedal]

Bobblack nice writing!
Gunnar

[david alan harvey]

rene....

yes, you are an "original"!!!

[Martin]

It's clear now!!

martin

[nelson d'aires]

David,

now i understand even more why your Magnun colleagues gave to you the "title" 'Magnum's first "minister of education"' ;)

cheers,
nelson

[cathy scholl]

#1 thought: What an incredible person you are David and what a great thing you are doing. Groundbreaking. I'm thrilled to be involved in any way possible.

#2 thought: (After realizing the chance I would be selected is slim to none) I wasn't doing it for the money before so why should I care now? The opportunity for "personal feedback and guidance" from you is PRICELESS and all that I am learning thru this experience is icing on the cake.

#3 thought: I am usually more motivated to shoot when traveling than at home. This is the first year since 1994 that I can't go off to India or somewhere great to shoot but due to this assignment I am shooting more "at home" and enjoying it as much as any exotic destination. So I will continue to shoot and have fun and learn. All is well.

[Michael Kircher]

David,

Well, what can one say? You're just too much! Thanks.

(Everything that follows is assuming I, too, fall into the "original" crowd.)

If I may be so bold (it is the theme after all, yes?) I'd love to get some feedback from you when you find a free moment. (email would be fine.) I realize a lot of folks will ask this of you and you can do only as much as you can do...but I ask anyway, hopefully.

I sent three small essays the other day. For this extension, I'd like to focus on the one ten image essay, the fisherman. Your brutally honest way of reviewing would help immeasurably. (I guess that really goes without saying!) Even if it is to say, "wrong direction altogether, make a real change!" Or something like that.

Thanks for everything, and looking forward to the next couple months!

Mike

[robert]

david; your far to kind many blessings to you & yours. i also fingers
crossed hope that i'm an original participant ? Been reading and following your words since almost the inception of this blog. However i never commented as i was intimated to begin with. For me i like to dip my small toe in the water before jumping in.

[robert]

intimadated is what i meant=apologies i pulled a bob black.

[Giancarlo Mori]

Well, it seems that between Bob Black's profusion of eloquence :) and what everyone else has added, there not much left to say but a huge Thanks to you, David. I always feel awkward when paying someone a compliment, but in this case I have no qualms just openly bowing to your generosity and heart.

I was ready to upload my set tonight -- after a couple of late nights to edit (yeah, I need a LOT of time to edit well...) -- and now this feels like a great gift, a break to pause, breathe, and have the time I like to really edit well.

David, FYI, I will send you an email on the side about one specific question I have...

Thanks again, and thanks to Michael C. for his untiring efforts to support all of us over the last few days.

- Giancarlo

[Neil]

Well my shots are up to the blog address (as distinct to the septblog). I hope you enjoy them. Looking forward to whatever critique comes of this. A peg to bang in the rockface of photographic subjectivity.

To check, I can now go shoot my ass off for a November 15th deadline?

Well done with the first injection of cash, something to start a ball rolling, or make one roll faster.

I like the image of sitting back and chilling with wine, food and friends, Bob, my image has a log fire somehow too.

Its good we can all talk amongst ourselves here too. You fellow blog-commenters often say exactly (eerily) what I was about to. I guess its food for us to know we not alone!

Cheers!

Neil

[Velibor Bozovic]

I just hope Martin gets a raise by 15 Nov!? It looks like he'll be very, very busy.
Congratulations David, you are one of a kind... Seeing your work and reading your thoughts makes me wanna meet you and ring your bell next time I come to NY...
And it is not about the money and exposure you are going to provide for some, I believe that whoever is exceptional photographer will sooner or later get the exposure deserved...but... I am impressed how you pushed loads of people to get out and work, that is something special, many are talented but only a few go and work hard, therefore your push is of a great significance... All the Best,

[LVM]

ok i'll try to say somenthing in the right way. these grant it's a new an unexpected gif. since the first time I discovered your space i've been wandering why; why you spend you're time doing this, why you care about our doubts, fears...
i don't know yet why, i only know i'm gratefully.
after been a reader for a while i decided to give myself a chance, start a new proyect, try to find my own photography. and believe me: i didn't do that since a long long time. And the best was that i dind´t do it for you or for this "oportunity", i did it because i realized the need of keep walking, keep learning, keep loving what i do and try to do at my best.
i'm still shooting on the project i've submitted a few days, i like it and I hope upload some more pictures,hope you could someday give me some feedback; but even if you could'nt i feel now more a photographer than a few months....
again, thanks.

[Ken Ponzio]

David, thank you.
Thank you for your passion, thank you for your heart, thank you for your time, maestro.

Best regards,

Ken

[Carlos Rubin]

Thank you David...now that I have some extra time I can plan a lot better what to do...thanks for this great opportunity.

Carlos Rubin

[herve]

Well, David, about this assignment, I am sure I am not the only one here who feels they would try their best (or worse!) at "authorship" for a bag of peanuts, probably all i'll deserve anyway :-), but talk about walking the talk.

Thanks for your selflessness and dedication. They are as great a lesson as any advice you could give us on photography proper.

[Igor]

Ciao David,

I posted 20 pictures in the first submission, now is possible change the subject and posted other new subjekt?

Ciao Igor

[clive evans]

David old boy
This truly an excellent thing you are doing, especially in vew of "our helter skelter world of diminishing financial returns for our work, and often Kmart style selling of photographs"
I won't be able to send you anything to see,nearly this whole years "extra"time has been spent building our house in rural Ireland.................so You and L had better come and stay[You see I wasn't that drunk!]
Well done and thanks.............
Clive
www.clive-evans.com

[tomé]

i'm glad simply as a witness of this process, seeing things take shape like this - what a manifesto.

kudos.

[SF Jason]

David,
Glad to have another chance, as I was not satisfied with what I had in cue for upload. LOL
However... I found inspiration in creating a story out of some photos I took while traveling to Scotland with a Scottish BagPipe band last month.
The strangest themes can reveal themselves when you least expect it.
Oh joy!
-sfjason

[David McGowan]

David,
Somewhere between high school and now I learned how to get my assignments in on time. Now I'm not sure whether I like having the extention or not. I'm torn between shooting more or editing what I have to create a more rounded story.

Did I read correctly that you'd be advising to push us in a particular direction? If I knew what you were interested in seeing more of based on what's been submitted so far, that would help a lot. Please advise when you have the time. Thanks!

David

[asher]

David- your generousity of spirit is boundless!

[david alan harvey]

igor...

yes, you can change the subject, or take the extra time and make the first one even better....i will take a look and advise accordingly...

lvm....

my motive?? a fair question....

first,

your doubts and fears are the same as mine, or at least, were the same as mine...i can relate to all of you easily...

second,

i have been "teaching" since i was 22 and right after my first workshop as a student...watershed experience for me...i have, my whole working career, worked with emerging photographers..what i do online is just a natural extension of what i have always done anyway...no "invention" here, except the invention of the net...

third,

a belief in life "payback" and "payforward"....this is both....

fourth,

who cannot see that traditional print media are basically "over"?? but, there are so so so many exciting things going on with the net...

print is , of course, the best way to see photographs...the computer screen is never going to be the same as a fine print hanging on a wall, or the same as a well printed book or even a quality magazine...so print is and always will be the best place to see good work...

but , the net allows new communities to build...it takes the "mystery" of audience building away...we can get to print in a whole new way..

fifth...

this is fun!! doing something that is "fun" can lead to things out of our immediate imagination....

cheers, david

[David McGowan]

Clive,
I've found that things that strike us as common or uninteresting based on our personal geography can be completely intriguing to someone on the other side of the planet. I'd be totally interested in how they build houses in the Irish countryside. You should shoot that!

[Michael A Shapiro]

David,
Would you take a look at my entry and tell me whether to trash it and go for something else?

How strict is the start date of the project?
Thanks,

Michael

[arie]

david...you know that i have been among the first to join your group (and that i will submit my work for our experience)....BUT could we please come back to our philosophical discussions about photography and how the creative process works? it would be sad to see this blog turn evolving around this group project only.

to that end, i have a question (as always:) ): to me, photography is about the experience the photographer lives while shooting his/her project...when i looked at your book "divided soul", it was hard for me to relate to the subjects in your pictures because i was not there, i did not live the experience as you did...you were there, you had the excitement of that experience, you talked to these people, you made friend with them, you maybe helped some of them is a very personal way...but I am supposed to be touched by another person pictures...to me photography is a very personal mission that is very hard to share with people. yes i can admire the technique or the originality of the approach (or of course be impacted by war pictures or famine pictures...), but what about the subject??

i am not sure if i am clear in this question but i would love to hearback from you on this...

arie

[Bobblack]

David :)))

yes, i wrote you a few emails...they must have disappeared ;)))...it's about John V and his Quest for land dvd....check you emails beginning today and last week (sent u 2 or 3): not about me...but there was a private thanks too :))))...i replied via the email you'd written at...but, im sure if you back...i'll send again the email.....

ny is big enough for u, me and this entire mad, brilliant forum and then some, hell, it's newyork!..;p)))...

will get back to you next week...i would love to jam...more words later....running

hugs,
b

[Lance Rosenfield]

david - as an aussie friend of mine used say as he pondered with eyes staring into space, "it's all happ'ning."

i've been prepping my images for this submission... and now today's announcement.. i'm totally thrilled to witness the germination and flowering of this forum and community. "it's all happ'ning."

abrazos amigo!
lance

[Seth Bourget]

very cool david and very generous of you. Not so much for the money but for the time you've been investing in the collective "us". Although I don't comment frequently I check your blog almost every day eagerly anticipating a new post.

I didn't have time to make any pictures during your previous window of opportunity but I'm hitting the road next week to start a project so this extension will allow me to contribute some images. Even if I don't 'win', being able to participate in this will surely be a great experience.

--seth

[Rafal Pruszynski]

zim floored..thats great...

Now, 2 questions

1. I still havent uploaded my 20. Theres no time limit on that now, anymore, right? Because you say we have 20 + 20 more that we will be able to upload. Ill try uploading my 18 today.

2. You said theres a bit of flexibility in terms of the July 18th date being the date of the uploads. How strict is this now since thers money involved. obviously a year or so before is too much, but how about a week or 3 weeks? As you know I started taking the TKD story about the time the idea of publishing began floating around here. So many are from June. However, if it is strictly July 18th and after I will abide by that ofcourse, happily, and get new work now that theres time and not upload anything now. Or I will work on something totally new:)

[david alan harvey]

michael....

i think we have to stick with mid-july....that is four months of shooting...that is a lot!! i know you are not working full time on it, but i have to draw the line somewhere otherwise there is no end to the "exeptions"

but, i will take a look soonest and let you know what i think of your submission...i do not have access right now to the site...

arie...

i was confused by your question...not sure exactly what the question is...do you mind please re-stating??? it seemed to go one way and then went another....ask me , ask me again!!

i think we printed out about 1000 pages of this blog the other day...only about 8 pages of it have anything to do with this group project....it seems high profile at the moment because of the technicalities etc, but even as i look at my last 15 posts, only two have anything to do with this project...

but, having said this , i agree that we cannot let the group project even dominate in anyone's mind....

i will keep writing about other subjects of interest, publishing student work, publishing the work of my established colleages, showing my own work in progress and answering any questions you have about the creative process or anything else you may want to discuss..

cheers, david

[Dylan]

David,
Very briefly...I too have been a silent observer to this blog for so long I feel I know some of you a little too well. The main reason I don't post more, is your group is so thoroughly educated and seem to hit all the points. But after reading your words here today, I must join the others in expressing how magical it has been. You truly are a gift to the profession. I don't think you can hear it enough David, that is, thank you.

Arie, I absolutely must agree with your latest post...the philosophical discussions and the creative process has been among the real magic of this site. I don't think David would let that get away, but damn, everyone would understand...he's got to get some rest!
Good luck to all of you.

~Dylan

[arie]

david...sorry i have not slept for 8 days now (anne-camille is one week old today and is particularly active during the nights)...

before i ask my question again, i must tell you what i have done with some outputs of this blog: i printed all the pages and selected the best (my best) selection of sentences you wrote about various topics (and my questions to you as well)...i did some collages (putting some pictures of you and other photogs i admire)...

back to my question: i wrote above that photography is a very personal experience...to me its value lies in the fact that i, as a photographer, was there with the subject, experienced the thrill, talked to the subject... i have some difficulty to understand how another person (the viewer of the photograph) can appreciate fully my pictures (or you pictures)...in other words, i take pictures not because i want to share them with other people but because i want to go through the experience of meeting my subject, getting excited...to live the experience...it is almost as photography is fork me a selfish act....

Am I sick doctor harvey?

arie

[Bobblack]

david:

last post for tonight...just sent you an email: explaining my last 3 (lost?) about JV's Quest for Land....:))

sorry for off topic, sorry guys...

have to call family...

hugs
b

[Rafal Pruszynski]

noted:) Ill go back to my Harvey folder tonight and take out what was taken before July 15th:) Then keep shooting:) Sounds great David. Plus this gives me time to do the story I wanted to do which will be next week. Hopefully it will come out.

Great news David!

[janet]

I just want to say that I've been reading your blog since day one when you started it after san miguel last year and although I've mostly been a reader, (posted once, seoul girl 2), you've widened my world and vision. I feel as if all you people here have so much to offer and I look forward to reading what you have to say. When you don't write for a few days I hope you are okay! Thank you for all you do. Your pace, David, is amazing.
Maybe I'll even upload some images if I feel I have anything worthy.

this is fun!

janet

[Glenn]

Geez this is just what it would be like working on THE dream assignment,working heart and soul,day and night sending in the pics and the editor saying ,Nice!.....What else can you get me?
I'll raise you the 20 I've allready sent you and have annother 20 pictures by Nov 15.
Man I would give anything to be in the room when you get together with brother Bob,He's doing great work with his Toronto slide shows.He showed a few of the pics that I have also sent you ,Just happy that there is finally somewhere I can send this stuff.
Do you think that photos taken between 2 longditudenal lines would be sufficient glue to bind together a theme?

[cathy scholl]

No offense to anyone who has posted today for the first time...I'm sure there are many who have been here silently all along and haven't felt the need to comment until today but that was a question I had initially... When you offered to work with the "oldtimers" and give them a break and an opportunity to submit more I wondered how would you know who has been around and who hasn't...but then you said "I know who you are" so that was cool..but it does seem that there may be quite a few folks who you haven't "met" yet here...both "new" and "old."

I have no answer or even a great suggestion as to how to deal with who is a newcomer and who is not but perhaps as you said...if someone has already submitted their twenty or have been discussing their twenty with you they would be "grant fathered" in...I'm sure you'll come up with something appropriate.

[Sidney Atkins]

David and all blog members,

Though I've been reading this blog for some months I certainly am NOT one of the 'original bloggers' and will happily limit myself to 20 images for upload. I am naturally also happy to have the extra time to make the photo essay better. In any case, I'm pretty confident that I won't, and shouldn't, win. Somebody both younger and more talented and inspired than me should get it. But I have to add my own heartfelt praise to everyone else's kudos for David's vast generosity of spirit- not just for the stipend, but for organizing the whole project and giving so much of himself and his time to help other photographers.
I think I wrote once before that my primary interest in participating is not to 'win' anything but to be part of the ongoing process, to have a stake in the group and where it is going. As a former college teacher (English, geography, and international studies) who is almost as old as David, I think I may have a little insight into some of his motives and satisfactions in conducting first this great blog and now this great project motivating so many photographers to really 'focus' on their own photographic work.
An aside here- I probably should have spoken up a lot sooner when David was still in Seoul, but I really appreciated Bob Black's lengthy comments here about the social and career pressure on young Koreans, especially women, to have 'perfect' physical appearances. Then I realized he was writing from Toronto, not Korea, and I was impressed that he had gained his insight there. I was reading the blog well before then, but it was David's assignment in Seoul and Bob Black's and others' comments that really sucked me in, since I spent a good deal of time in South Korea in the 70s and 80s, I speak and read the language fairly well, and it was the first place that I really made a serious effort at journalistic and 'street' photography. I still keep up with events there, and the country and people have a very special place in my heart and dreams. David, I hope someday to get a chance to show you some of the pictures I took in Korea in the late 70s and early 80s.
I also wanted to make a comment on editing and photo essays. My own background is probably a little different than many of you, since I was a geography teacher and not a professional photographer. I have put together dozens and dozens of slide shows over the years (in the days before Power Point!) to illustrate lecture content, using my own images but also other people's, as well as maps, charts, etc. and so the criteria for image choice, sequencing, number of slides, content, etc. were very different than say for a magazine spread or a portfolio. I was looking for images that contained information, sometimes very specific information, and the graphic qualities of the images were secondary. This attitude, a priority on the information, is still with me to some extent though it has been modified a good deal as I've switched the focus of my interest more and more to photography. But for me personally, photography still tends to be more interesting and meaningful if it's 'subject driven'.
The reason I bring this up now is because I think it's an interesting topic to consider in putting together photo essays. I suspect that many contributors to this blog (?) see themselves as primarily photographers, and naturally they want to present their most striking, vivid, arresting images, as well as manifest 'authorship' which often means a highly developed and recognizable style. In a photo essay that is 'subject driven', I think sometimes that very graphic or stylized images can help and sometimes they can get in the way. The real challenge seems to me to be combining the recognizable authorship and attention-getting graphic quality with enough fidelity to the subject so that someone else who knows the subject well will say not only 'Wow! Beautiful!" but also "Yes, that's true! I recognize that as real."
There's a famous 'first-time visitor-to-Japan-syndrome'. Most people when they first go there don't recognize it as the country they expected- somehow they were led by all they had seen before, in movies, magazines, even National Geographic, to expect something quite different than the reality. Generations of image makers, both Japanese and foreign, have followed certain traditions and mindsets, either consciuosly or unconsciously, in 'representing' the country visually. No one image is a lie, but the cumulative effect is a distortion. I lived in Kyoto for almost two decades, and I often saw photo essays on Japan that had me thinking, 'Is this the same country I know?' I'm very happy to say that David's pictures of Tokyo in the November 1986 National Geographic (how's that for ancient history??!!) are an exception- when I look at that spread, I can say, 'Yes, this is the country I knew'. So there's a little tension there, maybe, between style and content. Incidentally, I am no paragon in this matter. The pictures I took in Japan are probably even more of a cumulative distortion of experience than most! Maybe I am making this more complicated than it needs to be, but it's something I think about in seeing and creating a photo essay. So how do you balance graphic quality and fidelity t6 the subject? Any ideas, reactions?

Whew! What a long posting- apologies to all, but I've been wanting to bring this up.

Sidney

[Rafal Pruszynski]

So david, should I upload anything by this week or just wait till the November deadline?

[alex vo]

woohoo...great news.

david...

i've been a follower of this forum since february...but, rarely leaves a comment. am i eligible to sudmit more than 20 images??...if not...20 images is better than nothing yeah??

hi-five
ozzy al

[Michael A Shapiro]

Last one for tonight for me too.

I need to apologize. I immediately asked for more attention without even saying thank you for doing any and all of this. David, you have a big heart.

Michael

[david alan harvey]

ozzy al...

yes, no problem...

sidney...

this is always an interesting discussion...i think you are basically asking, which is more important, the rendering of the subject "true" or the artistic "interpretation" of the photograher...

well, i do not think you can eliminate the subjectivity of the photographer...and the more "stylistic" the photogapher , perhaps the more "subjective"...but, another question arises and that is, is subjectivity a negative...i would say no..

let's look at alex webb... a terrific stylist, who just happens to also be a very good journalist...he knows the journalistic story and uses all the basic tenets of journalism i.e. honesty, integrity,knowledge of the issues and then uses his style to tell the story....

bad , non-artistic pictures which are "true" to the story may not, in some other way, really "tell the story" because they have no texture or feeling and/or emotion...

maybe the "way" you tell a story is equally important as the story itself ...just like the "way" one singer delivers the lyrics could be so much more effective than another singer repeating the same lyrics but with a bad voice and no delivery style....is bad delivery even still a song???

if we are talking about documentary, then i think you need both delivery style and message integrity to make a "whole"..

david

[herve]

Dear friends,

David, tell me if that sounds OK to you, but we all have the same level of excitement visiting, sharing this blog, we have David in common, yet I think the extended deadline could be an opportunity for us to share more with each other. The idea would be that we really work as a network of friends, contacting each other, throw some ideas about our assignment, some pix, and get feedback while offering some as well. Of course, it's not about contacting everyone, pick a few, but eventually there will be something of tightening of the ties that bind us already logging in.

it would become more and more natural (even after the assignment) to inter-act with each other, and share specific pictures, new ideas of essays. We'd get to know the person behind the name or the link.

The greatest thing about the net for me, has been to make friends, not just acquaintances, with people I would have never had the chance to meet otherwise, even though we shared the same passion.