Shannon Szwarc: Award-Winning Photojournalist

If all goes well, next fall the Photography Center will showcase the work of talented local photojournalist Shannon Szwarc. Shannon is the newest hire at the Ledger-Enquirer, and we are fortunate to have him working in our community.

Take a look at his website and his "Riverwalking" blog.

I am especially impressed by Shannon's black and white work, published in his book, “Wilderness Within Wilderness Without”, which chronicles the nine months he shadowed a group of troubled youth living and learning in a therapeutic wilderness program in Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania. Along with the honor of being asked to present at the National Association of Therapeutic Wilderness Camps, the book received national recognition in the Photo District News Photo Annual and several universities have since hosted exhibitions of the photographs.

The work is spare, inspired and poetic. See for yourself.

Like Shannon, Keep Shootin'.
Kenny

Photojournalism: Lost Links

Several of you were puzzled by the two links included in my last post, wondering what they had to do with each other. I just followed the links and discovered why; the picture stories I linked to are updated frequently and so the links change as well. The original link targets were photos of refugees in Myanmar and China who had lost virtually all their belongings. One couple was attempting to save a family photo album, the other a large framed wedding portrait.

Photographers who document their family's life are providing a precious resource for future generations, as are professionals who are hired to do the same thing on special occasions.

Follow the links anyway to see some of the best of the week's photojournalism, and look for a new class next fall at the Rankin Arts Center, Family Photojournalism:On Assignment, taught by the Ledger-Enquirer's Robin Trimarchi.

Keep shootin' your families!
Kenny

Photojournalism

I have a newspaper clipping, A "Thought for the Day" from the Ledger-Enquirer by Author Robert Fulghum (All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten), posted on my refrigerator: "If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you have a problem. Everything else is inconvenience."

Photojournalists, our globe-trekking brothers and sisters, need no such reminder. Look here and here to see the past week's events through their eyes, their lenses. Each of the two links takes you to one in a series of photographs; make sure to take a look at all the photographs in the series, but first, notice the one thing that those two images have in common. Post your comments, please.

Have a safe, productive week, and no matter what happens,

Keep Shootin' and keep in touch.
Kenny

A Love Story

The beginning of a relationship necessitates heightened sensitivity and understanding. There will be doubts and misunderstandings. Only patience can lead to mutual trust, developed in small increments. Do not attempt to force or rush this process. There will be times of heady excitement and quiet admiration, with anticipation of pleasures to come. Before long, you will be tempted to engage in tentative and gentle physical explorations. Take it easy. Don't rush. At these times, you must keep in mind that a lasting relationship is not based on pure physicality no matter how enchanting the object of your desire, but that it will only progress to a long-term commitment if there can be mutual respect. And be clear that there will be weaknesses as well as strengths; it would be unreasonable to expect perfection. Be gentle and tolerant. Intimacy will grow, but it will take time and cannot be rushed. If all goes well, soon you will become more familiar with each other, and handling will forge awkward fumbling and fondling into more satisfying and productive caresses and eventually into a comfortable working partnership.
At this stage you will be ready to accompany your new camera into the world.

Bill Jay, from LensWork, No.76, May-June, 2008
www.lenswork.com

Is Bill Jay talking about photographers and their cameras? The creative process? Love and life?
All of the above?

Howard Finster Portrait to Museum Collection

Anyone ever hear of the Reverend Howard Finster? I made a series of portraits of Howard in 1981 in "Paradise Garden", his masterpiece folk art site built on reclaimed swampland in Pennvile, Ga. Pennville is about three hours north of Atlanta in the mountains and I spent a lot of time with Howard while co-producing a documentary video, "Howard Finster: Man of Visions", for a cable tv station in Atlanta with a friend, Calvin Burgamy.

Howard was about to become the most famous folk artist of modern times. He had just completed album covers for Talking Heads and REM and within a few years had won wide acclaim in the art world and become a pop culture celebrity, even appearing on the Tonight Show and cracking up Johnny Carson.

Howard was one of the most charismatic people I have ever met and his colored pencil drawing I purchased when our filming was finished, is one of my most prized possessions. See more of his work here.

I am currently preparing three of my portraits of Howard to ship to the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, in Atlanta, which has acquired them for their permanent collection.

Exhibit Opens at the Photography Center

Friends: Please join us at the Photography Center ( 9 10th St., directly across the street from the side entrance to the Rivercenter, just off Broadway) next Friday night, 7-9:00PM, for the opening reception of the BFA Thesis Exhibition of CSU Senior Justin Hadley. We will fill the main gallery with Justin's large BW portraits of his friends and family members, all photographed with the same backdrop and simple lighting technique-very democratic. The resulting portraits are compelling. Justin's subjects look right back at the viewer, and the work seems to ask for an exchange of some kind, like all good art. I am excited to present this fine young photographer's work. Come mingle with other photographers and art lover's in Historic Rankin Square in Uptown.