Inspire Me Monday: Ami Vitale

Happy Monday folks! I am alittle late getting this out there today but I claim a pass as I am prepping for my move to Zambia!

This week I had to do an Inspire Me Monday on Ami Vitale because when it comes to inspiration she delivers!  Ami makes beautiful images that have the power to tell the full story in a single click of the shudder. I am so inspired by the repetitive themes within her work as she shows issues with water, maternal health, environmental images, etc.

When I was sorting through her images on her website, I felt as if I was reading individual chapters of a very concise book. Ami sticks to what she knows, but she brings a new dimension to similar themes. Shooting similar subject matter often leads to static repetitive images, Ami seems to take on that challenge and prove that it is as simple as changing your perspective and stretching your photographic imagination.

I challenge myself this Monday to make beautiful images in an everyday situation, all it takes is looking beyond what is in front of you and show casing it in a new way. I hope you all are inspired this week!

Inspire Me Monday: Newseum

 Happy Monday Friends! I had a truly inspiring weekend which was a great start to my preparing for this weeks Inspire Me Monday. I had a great friend in town and we decided to head over and see the Newseum. This was my first time to visit the Newseum, so naturally we headed to the Pulitzer Prize Winning Photography Gallery

Little did I know that upon stepping foot in that gallery I would be caught in a time warp. I made it through the first wall of photos, and sat down in one of their digital booths where you could watch interviews of the photographers and I was LOST for the next three hours. The work and the artistry of the photographers stopped me in my tracks and I was lost in their stories and in the beauty or horror of the moments that they captured.

I learned about the risks that they took to show the world a story, the grief that held them due to what they saw, and the lives they changed forever with actions that were not captured on film. I will say that I was truly inspired. I could not rip myself away, and I have spent the last two days thinking about the images that I saw.

For this week, I am inspired by the bravery of the individuals who document real life, who do not shy away from ugliness, who inspire us by capturing the quiet beauty in times of sadness, the ecstasy of life, and the starkness in humanity. My motto for this week is carpe diem as so many photographers have done before me.

Fantastic Nonprofits in Lusaka

Since I arrived in D.C. in August, my goal has been to make connections with non-profits working in Zambia. Luckily for me D.C. is the city of non-profits. I am so excited that I have had several one-on-one meetings with the non-profits which has only increased my motivation toward humanitarian photography.

The Lubuto Library Project is providing literacy and library services to Zambia’s orphans and vulnerable children in cooperation with the Zambian government and the nation’s network of educational institutions. I was very surprised to hear that 1 in 5 children in Zambia have been orphaned due to AIDS/HIV and many of these children live in group homes or are left the street. Lubuto is provided them not only with a library with which they can pursue an education, but also a balanced selection of reading which allows them to direct their education to areas of their interest. Lubuto is creating online software where the children can learn bimba alphabet, and have found some children's books that are no longer in Zambia written in the Bemba and Nyanja languages which they have scanned and are now utilizing as resources for their children. I was truly inspired by the work they are doing and cannot wait to see the library in person!

http://www.lubuto.org/ 

Africa Fighting Malaria is a non-profit health advocacy group founded in 2000 and based in South Africa and the United States.  Their mission is to make malaria control more transparent, responsive and effective.  They conduct research into the social and economic aspects of malaria and raise the profile of the disease and the issues surrounding its control in the local and international media.  AFM strives to hold public institutions accountable for funding and implementing effective, integrated and country-driven malaria control policies and to promote successful private sector initiatives to control the disease. I cannot express how serious the Malaria problem in in Africa, the organizations that promoting and supporting prevention and truly saving hundreds of lives.


http://www.fightingmalaria.org/

Taking the Leap of Faith

“…That the moment one definitely commits oneself then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.
A whole stream of events issues from the decision raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
Begin it now.”
-Goethe

Inspire Me Monday: Larry Towell

There are always a million reasons not to make the big commitment. Let's face it, we don't have the time or the money. Our paying work is keeping us too busy, and we're behind on a hundred other things that seem more important than the long term photo project.

That's why this week I decided to focus on the work of Larry Towell who shows us that if you invest time into your subjects than that intimate knowledge comes out in a powerful way in your photographs. I saw Larry's work on with the Mennonites for the first time this summer while going through the Engaged Observers exhibit at the Getty museum. The shot of the family at the table blew me away, those reflections are AMAZING! You can't deny the technical quality of his work, but the truth is that the story as a whole really drew me in.

When a Mennonite loses his land, a bit of his human dignity is forfeited; so is his financial solvency. He becomes a migrant worker, an exile who will spend the rest of his life drifting among fruit trees and vegetable vines, dreaming of owning his own farm some day. But for these who struggle with God at the end of a hoe, the refuge of land, Church, and community may be at least a generation away.
—Larry Towell (Canadian, born 1953), The Mennonites, 2000

The Old Colony Mennonites are a nonconformist Protestant sect related to the Amish that originated in Europe in the 1500s. Over the centuries, they have migrated between countries to preserve their way of life, living in colonies where faith and tradition are intertwined and modern amenities.The complex history of the Mennonite people, and the simplicity of their way of life are two contradicting factors that draw you in their world.

Towell’s work documented the Mennonites’ way of life for the historical record and inspires greater understanding today for a group whose attempts to embrace life could be easily overlooked. In spending a decade on a subject that would be of only passing interest to mainstream media, he asserts a form of visual reporting in which reflection takes precedence over profitability and immediacy.

Larry worked on this project for over a decade. Yes, that's right, a DECADE! So throw away all of those excuses, and be inspired to go big. Be it a month, a year, or five years, you can be the author of a visual story that deserves to be told! As for me, two years in Lusaka seems like a good place to start!

Inspire Me Monday: Prabuddha Dasgupta

Happy Monday my fellow photogs! If this photographer doesn't inspire your Monday than I don't know what will. When I first stumbled upon Prabuddah Dasgupta photography, I was blown away. This self taught photographer has his own vision of the world and it is breathtaking!

What struck me the most about this website is the difference between Dasgupta's personal work and his commissioned pieces, while there is a beauty in his commissioned photography, the power in his photography is in every selection of his personal work. He uses every trick in the book to bewitch you with his imagery. Abstraction, mystery, darkness, reflection, refraction...consider this my mind being officially blown creatively.

If this isn't sheer motivation to go out and shoot your own personal projects, than I'm not sure what else will do it! Your best photo work comes from you, the things you are passionate about. Now I think I have to go and purchase The Edge of Faith so I can pass his work every single day and be reminded that you have to be behind the wheel of your best work.

Shoot Snap Shot: Italian Style

This weekend, I had the pleasure of participating in my first annual Italian Sauce making tradition. For those of you who don't know, I did marry an Italian. And if there is anything I've learned in the four years we've been together it's that Italians take their sauce very seriously. I think it could also be considered hazing for new family members as you know that the entire family will hang you out to dry if you mess with their sauce. I took it upon myself to do some documentary photography of the sacred process. Here's a sneek peak from the shoot.

See the final edit from the shoot at www.crystalinerandazzo.com, under Personal Projects.