FiftyCrows Blog

Social Change Photography

Darcy Padilla’s Award Winning Work, “The Julie Project” – Opens THIS Thursday, May 20th, 5:00 – 7:30 PM

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JULIE – “For the last 16 years I have been documenting the life of an AIDs-afflicted woman, Julie Baird. Julie has been on her own since her sexually abusive stepfather threw her through a glass window when she was 14 years old. She ran away from home, lived on the street, used drugs, contracted HIV, and had five children. When I first met Julie in February 1993 in the lobby of a SRO hotel in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, she was 18 years old and had just given birth to her first child, Rachel. Julie and Jack Fyffe, the 19 year-old father were both HIV positive. Rachel, they said, was their main reason for living.

Throughout the years I have photographed Julie’s complex story of AIDS, abusive relationships, drug use, multiple homes and poverty. A victim of child abuse, Julie often neglected her own children. A high school dropout, she depends on welfare to feed her family. HIV-positive, she fights to stay off drugs.

Julie’s is a story of a survivor. The telling of it enriches the understanding of the poorest and most desperate among us. I am continuing to document Julie’s life and it is my fervent hope that Julie’s story inspires a greater awareness of the plight of people like her.”

Darcy Padilla’s unflinching portrayal of Julie Baird is one of the most in-depth, visceral, and captivating documentaries in recent memory.

Her work has received numerous grants and awards including an Alexia Foundation for World Peace & Understanding Award, Open Society Institute Individual Fellowship, and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship.

The latest iteration of this paramount work will be on display at Fifty Crows Gallery, beginning with our May 20th opening. Doors will be open from 4 PM to 7:30 PM. Fifty Crows would like to welcome everyone to join us in this momentous event. We hope to see you there.

liveBooks RESOLVE Blog feature: Gallery opening – Right now, online and you are invited!

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FiftyCrows partner, liveBooks Inc. is the leading provider of custom photography website. This year they came out with a website deal that offers photojournalist/documentary photographer an affordable yet customized and professional way to have their images on the web. At FiftyCrows, we highly encourage photojournalist and documentary photographers to have a website as it enables their stories to be seen by anyone that has internet access.
The liveBooks blog, RESOLVE is “a collaborative online community that brings together photographers and creative professionals of every kind to find ways to keep photography relevant, respected, and profitable.” The posts feature a variety of topics in the photography industry from new business models to traditional documentary projects. They highlight how and why people are doing what they are doing in the photography world as well as the details and importance of the specific project they are working on. On the FiftyCrows blog I will feature Resolve posts about photojournalist and documentary photography related issues that provide insight on how photography continues to create social change.

Gallery opening – Right now, online & you’re invited!

Thank you for joining us for the inaugural IMPACT online exhibition, a new project exploring the blog medium as a venue for photographic work. RESOLVE is excited to be hosting this experimental new project.

By clicking on the links below the IMPACT logo, you can move through the exhibition, viewing galleries of images, all related to the idea of “Outside Looking In.” Each “gallery” will include a series of images a photographer has uploaded to their blog along with this same IMPACT logo.

At any time you can click on the IMPACT logo to be taken to back to this post, where all the participating photographers are listed. (The “next” button actually takes you to a random gallery, so keep clicking if you get a repeat.)

By allowing viewers to move between different photographer’s online galleries, we hope to gain exposure for their work while providing a multifaceted visual study of the chosen topic.

We also wanted to remind viewers of the important role photographers play around the world, so we asked participants to share images from a project where they had an impact or were impacted themselves. If inclined, they have also included a link to an organization that they believe is having a positive impact on the world. Please help us increase this project’s IMPACT by sharing it with your community.

Enjoy!
The IMPACT Team: Yumi Goto, Miki Johnson, Paul O’Sullivan, Jeremy Wade Shockley

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Gazi Nafis Ahmed: Inner Face

Daniel Beltra: Tropical Deforestation

Fabiano Busdraghi: Physics, adventure, poetry and photography in Antarctica

Shiho Fukada: No Retirement Plan

Sean Gallagher: Desertification Unseen

Bill Hatcher: New Zealand Masters of Sport

Ed Kashi: A “Fady” in Madagascar

Michael Kircher: Adventure for Healing

Pete Marovich: A Look Inside the Old Order

Sara Mayti: The Sound of a 4.16

Thomas Peschak: Saving the Most Important Fish In the Sea

Ian Shive: American National Parks

Jeremy Wade Shockley: The Mountain Kingdom

Art Wolfe: The Ganges River

Rachel Wolfe: Jamaica

Get your calendars out… It’s grant writing time…

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Cross the T’s, dot the I’s, and proof read your proposals. These dates are coming up soon:

Foto8 Summer Show:

ss2010_280Deadline for all entries is 31 May 2010. First place winners receive £1500. Second place wins a slick photo kit.

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Daylight Magazine / Center for Documentary Studies Photo AwardsDaylight / CDS Photo Awards Overview:

Deadline is Saturday, May 15, 2010, 8 p.m. (EST)

The First Prize Winner will receive a solo exhibition at the Center for Documentary Studies, a multimedia Daylight podcast, a feature in CDS’s newsmagazine Document, presentation in Daylight and CDS online galleries, and $1,000 for exhibition-related expenses.

Juror’s Pick Winners will be part of a group exhibition at the Center for Documentary Studies and featured in Daylight and CDS online galleries. Ten Honorable Mentions will be named on Daylight and CDS websites.

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Angkor Photo Festival, Siem Reap:

The deadline for submitting work is May, 28th, 2010.
All photographers will receive an answer by the end of July 2010.

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All Roads Film Project:

Deadline for entries is April 30th!

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Call for Proposals: Moving Walls 18, Documentary Photography Exhibition

Deadline is June 11, 2010, 5pm EST

The Open Society Institute invites photographers and artists to submit a proposal and completed body of work for consideration in the Moving Walls 18 group exhibition.

Call for Proposals: Documentary Photography Audience Engagement Grant: Deadline is July 23, 2010, 5pm EST

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Requests for Proposals: 2-Dimensional Artwork for Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center

Deadline is May 3, 11:59 p.m., PST

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Best of luck to everyone!

Written by fiftycrows

April 23, 2010 at 5:20 pm

Posted in Uncategorized

Fine Print Program – Shelby Lee Adams

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One of the most important components of FiftyCrows is the Fine Print Program, which is a major source of funding for the foundations initiatives. These limited-edition prints have been donated by 35 masters of photography, such as Eve Arnold, Hansel Mieth, and Jacques Lowe. Purchasing a print from the FiftyCrows Fine Print Program enables the foundation to cultivate the future of documentary photography by creating more exhibitions, lectures, and grants. All the prints can be viewed and purchased online at the FiftyCrows website. Please note that if you become a member of FiftyCrows for $35/year you can receive a $200-$1500 discount on photographs from the Fine Print Program. Contact FiftyCrows at info@fiftycrows.org if you are interested in membership or Fine Prints.

Lincoln, Maw and Shorty, KY, 1992. Gelatin silver print, 9x12 1/16 in., signed by the artist, introduced as a Photo Fund Collector Print in 1999 as edition of 100. Market Price: $1000 Member Price: $700

For 25 years, Shelby Lee Adams has been documenting the people of Appalachia. His affectionate portraits of individuals and families speak to us with tenderness and sincerity, and the fact that Adams returns to the mountains year after year is a testament to his dedication to show their challenging existence while maintaining their dignity. Adams has received two NEA fellowships, and his work is also included in the collections of many major museums, including the Art Institute of Chicago, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others. Adams’ photographs have been published in two volumes: Appalachian Portraits, 1993, and Appalachian Legacy, 1998.

Shelby Lee Adams blog

Written by Zara Katz

April 22, 2010 at 12:52 pm

Exhibition Opening: Mimi Chakarova, “The Price of Sex” – Thursday, April 15 , 5:00-7:30pm

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One of the first posts on the FiftyCrows blog was about Berkeley based photographer, Mimi Chakarova who has been documenting sex trafficking in Eastern Europe and the Middle East for the past eight years. This Thursday, April, 15th from 5:00-7:30, FiftyCrows will be holding an exhibition opening for Chakarova’s work, “The Price of Sex”. The intimate portraits and unique curation transcend the confines of the gallery space to tell the harrowing stories of the women subjected to sexual slavery, harsh abuse, extreme poverty, and devastation hardship. Chakarova will be present at the opening.

Below is the original blog post about Chakarova’s work. There are two short videos that are part of Chakarova’s work on a full length documentary film on the subject. Also, check out the many important links on resources and ways to help.

chakarovascreenFor over eight years, investigative reporter and photographer Mimi Chakarova has carried out painstaking, often dangerous, on-the-ground reporting into all aspects of the sex trafficking trade from Eastern Europe, including investigations into the countries of origin, the process of transit, and the initial allure and stark realities these women face in the receiving countries. She has slowly built trust and developed relationships with young women in Eastern Europe who have been trafficked abroad. Over the years she has traveled through Eastern Europe, Southern Europe/Mediterranean regions and the Middle East for this project. Her work has won a 2008 Emmy Nomination and a 2008 Webby Award, and has appeared on PBS Frontline/World and CBS 60 Minutes. This long-term project was also awarded the Inge Morath Magnum Photo Grant for outstanding documentary work.

BACKGROUND

After the fall of the Soviet Union, millions of young women in Eastern Europe came of age amid economic misery. Their childhood fantasies of a better life in the West became a human trafficker’s golden opportunity. Through agents and brokers who arrange the travel and job placements, young women are escorted to their destinations and delivered to their employers. Upon reaching the foreign land, some women learn that they have been deceived about the nature of the work they will do. Most have been lied to about the financial arrangements and conditions of their employment, and most find themselves in coercive and abusive situations from which escape is both difficult and dangerous.

Currently the main destinations for sex trafficking of Eastern European women are Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Israel. Most women are proposed work as seasonal and factory workers, waitresses, domestic servants and au pairs. After arriving in the country of destination, their passports, documents, money, and personal belongings are taken away. They become today’s sex slaves, sold and resold like cattle. Those who manage to escape their traffickers are deported. Back home, they rarely tell their loved ones the truth. The stigmatization of prostitution is every family’s deepest shame.

For more stories, videos, and images go to: http://priceofsex.org

On the website there are two very important links which provide information on ways to help:

HOW TO HELP – http://priceofsex.org/content/how-help

LINKS & RESOURCES – http://priceofsex.org/content/links-and-resources

http://www.mclight.com/

Written by Zara Katz

April 12, 2010 at 10:59 am

Affect/Effect: Photographs That Create Change – Susan Meiselas discusses all potential of photography

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“We have to know about each other. Photography gives us that opportunity.”

-Susan Meiselas

This is an amazing video where Magnum photographer and Open Society Institute – Moving Walls co-curator Susan Meiselas talks about the impact that photography can make on social consciousness. Her personal website is also very interesting as it includes an audio component on every page with her commentary on her work and photography in general. The Open Society Institute is an extremely important resource for documentary photographers with grants, fellowships, exhibitions, online multimedia and portfolios, and a resource center for a multitude of social programs.

Written by Zara Katz

April 8, 2010 at 10:25 am

We’re on WHAT?!

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Dearest Readers,

We’ve made the quantum leap to Facebook. Please do check us out, as this is by far our most convincing virtual reality experience to date.

*****Just click the pic!

-Fifty Crows

Written by fiftycrows

March 19, 2010 at 5:56 pm

Judith Fox on NPR

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Get an intimate, behind-the-scenes glimpse of I Still Do: Loving and Living with Alzheimer’s, as Judith Fox shares her personal account with NPR.  Click here to listen to the interview.

I told Ed that some of the photographs I took of him saw straight through to his soul and asked if he minded being that exposed. He said “No.  You can show my soul; just don’t show my penis.” So that’s our agreement.

For more information on Judith Fox and FiftyCrows, click here.

Written by fiftycrows

March 18, 2010 at 3:06 pm

Judith Fox: I Still Do and Sea of Dreams, Exhibition Opening and Book Signing- Thursday, March 4th, 5:00 to 7:30

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You are invited Thursday, March 4th for an opening and book signing with Judith Fox. We are excited to exhibit two bodies of work by Fox: “I Still Do: Loving and Living with Alzheimer’s”, a powerful, poetic and universal portrayal of aging, loving, humor, mortality and hope, also the subject of a touching photographic memoir published by powerHouse. We also present, “Sea of Dreams”, an abstract depiction of haunting beauty that explores the powerful turbulence beneath the surface calm of the ocean. Seen together, these images offer both direct and metaphoric representation of deep emotion and the resilience of the human spirit. Ms. Fox will be present and signing her new book. Books available for purchase at the gallery.

WHEN: Thursday, March 4th, 2010

TIME: 5:00 to 7:30 pm

WHERE: FiftyCrows Gallery

49 Geary St, Suite 225

San Francisco, CA 94108

For more information on Judith Fox and FiftyCrows, click here.

If you would like a personal invitation please email: exhibitions@fiftycrows.org

Documentary Photography Grant

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The Photocrati Fund

The 2010 Photocrati Fund competition is now open. Deadline for application submissions is March 15, 2010 (by 11pm GMT).

What is the Photocrati Fund?

The Photocrati Fund offers $5000 grants to non-professional photographers to undertake important humanitarian and environmental photography projects. Our goal is to identify outstanding, up-and-coming photographers and give them the resources necessary to pursue projects that will have a tangible and positive effect on the world.

We will offer one grant in 2010. The application deadline is March 15, 2010, and the award will be announced in June 2010. Awardees become Photocrati Fellows for the calendar year from the announcement of their award until the announcement of the following year’s award.

Award decisions will be made by the Photocrati Fund Board, a prestigious panel that includes some of the world’s best-known environmental and cultural photographers. The Photocrati Fund Board and judges for the competition are:

Steve McCurry
Michael “Nick” Nichols
Art Wolfe

Note: The Photocrati Fund and Photocrati.com are administered by Frontier Digital Media, LLC. Photocrati and the Photocrati Fund are sometimes hereinafter referred to collectively as Photocrati.

http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2010/01/get-5k-for-your-documentary-photo-project/

http://www.photocrati.com/photocrati-fund/

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Fifty Crows is dedicated to providing social documentary photographers with the tools and resources to sustain their passionate work.