ON THIN ICE - Ciril Jazbec

ON THIN ICE is a series of photos from Greenland and one of the chapters in a long-term project concerned with the human face of climate change as it threatens various low-lying regions. 
It shows the life of hunters and fishermen in the remote villages in Northern Greenland. 
In this exploration, I spent most of my time in the village with only 250 inhabitants but over 500 dogs.

One of the main characters of the story is Unnartoq, one of the last remaining people sticking to tradition and living as subsistence hunters.
I don’t speak Unnartoq’s language, so hand gestures and honesty become an even more important factor of communication than usual. For a European, the conditions in Greenland are extreme; low temperatures require one to be exceptionally strong-willed, and will to live is what has always driven the traditional hunters to survive. However, the daily life of these hunters is changing due to climate change, unpredictable weather, higher temperatures, and the resulting thin ice.

The sea used to be frozen for eight months a year, but nowadays it only freezes for few months, threatening the traditional methods of seal hunting.
The story also touches upon globalization worming its way into every nook and cranny of the world, as well as upon global interconnectedness driving youth away from tradition and self-sufficiency.
In Greenland as well, young people are moving to the cities, self-sufficient hunters are disappearing and a 1000-year tradition of hunting and survival in the most extreme of conditions is being forgotten.

Different eyes perceive different sensations and actions, and how one interprets a visual story is mostly the result of inner emotions.
I strive to use photography to tell a story that is reflected through a single person, through his own eyes.

On thin ice will be exhibited at The Rencontres d'Arles in France this summer.



I work as an independent freelance photographer.
I have received the Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2013 with the photo story called “Waiting to Move”.
I believe my profession is about hard work, passion and love.
And nature, if possible.
I am grateful for the privilege of being able to pursue this profession that I enjoy immensely.
-
The harmony that I pursue stems from somewhere in between.


Climate changes - Intimate feelings
“I grew up surrounded by nature, by its authenticity and brutality.
I assumed nature’s graphic style – strong contrasts, clean lines, multilevelness.
I feel overwhelmed by nature.
By the climate changes it has been showing.
By our primal feelings, directing us into the closest intimacy possible.


Tradition - Modernity 
“How do traditional communities live?
How is their tradition facing the modern world?
How can my story become inspiring?
How to create a positive, constructive story?
How to identify possible solutions?
I want to show the world things such as gratitude, solidarity, respect.
These things give me drive.
Searching for hope that illustrates changes.”

Technique - A moment
"The technical side of photography is very important to me.
I always try everything my equipment is able to perform and I always wait for the best capturing moment, of course.
Intuition."


The consistency of one story - The dynamics between stories
“I always jumped from project to project.
Now I feel it is time for long-term stories.
I challenge myself with consistency,
I experiment with the pace.”


Personal projects - Commercial projects
“It is important for me to find a good balance.
Personal projects are an inner journey and an inspiration,
the commercial are an exceptional blend of interesting people and dynamics causing the birth of magic.”


I was born in Slovenia (1987).
I studied management at the Faculty of Economics, before moving to London where I studied MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication where I graduated in 2011.


Awards

2014 – American Photography 30, Selected Winner
2014 – FIPCOM - Environment category, Winner
2014 – MAGNUM 30 under 30, Shortlisted
2014 – LensCulture Exposure Awards, Finalist
2013 – Les Rencontres d'Arles - Photo Folio Review, Winner
2013 – Leica Oskar Barnack Award, Winner Newcomer
2013 – Eddie Adams Workshop, National Geographic Award
2013 – VISA Pour L’Image - Coup de coeur ANI
2012 – PDN Photo Annual - Student Work, Winner
2012 – AOP Student Awards, Finalist
2012 – Picture The Difference, Winner
2012 – The Royal Photographic Society - Environmental Bursary, Winner

On Thin Ice - Ciril Jazbec

On his most recent trip to Greenland, photographer Ciril Jazbec witnessed something magical—a photographic experience that made his “hairs stand on end.”
He was there working on his project, On Thin Ice, a chapter in a larger body of work chronicling the effects of climate change on communities in low-lying regions.

While in Uummannaq, (which is surprisingly the eleventh-largest town in Greenland, even with a population of about 1,200 people) Jazbec came across Children’s Home Uummannaq. Speaking with the director, he learned that one of the ways the facility helps children is by “involving them in the traditional way of life, connecting them with hunters and fishermen”—the sort of cultural traditions often affected by changing weather patterns and globalization, and right in the crux of Jazbec’s goal of putting a human face on climate change.

One night, Children’s Home arranged to take the kids on a special outing—“We decided to head to the ice—to the frozen-over sea—to project Inuk, a Greenlandic language film, onto an iceberg,” Ciril says. The film is especially relevant because of its cast of “nonprofessional Inuit actors”—seal hunters and youth from a local children’s home—and its narrative highlighting the tension between tradition and modernity present in contemporary Greenland.

"In a visual sense, it was one of the craziest things I’ve ever experienced. 

It’s hard for me to describe how much it inspired me and how touched I was. 

Just coming onto the ice with snowmobiles was immensely exciting. 

Before the projector was set up, the children did a couple of dances and sang some Greenlandic songs. I only watched the first 10 minutes of the movie and then I decided to use the tripod to discreetly shoot multi-second exposure photos, trying to capture the images illuminated by the projection. 

I remember a moment where I laid down on the ice, I was watching the stars and the northern lights, and I thought to myself, ‘this is a very special moment."

Ciril Jazebec

Children’s Home Uummannaq projects the Greenlandic language film, ‘Inuk,’ onto an iceberg. 

The film, directed by Mike Magidson, tells the story of a young urban boy, 

who is put in a foster home in the north

 where his guardian sends him to the bear hunter, Ikuma, 

so that he may learn wisdom.

Nielsine Lovstrom 

from the Children’s Home Uummannaq 

cradles a Greenlandic puppy to keep it warm 

while she watches the film.

Jensigne Lovstrom 

from Children’s Home Uummannaq 

watches the movie Inuk. 

She is wearing traditional clothing made out of seal skin.

Joas Korneliussen, a local hunter, 

watches the movie Inuk. 

He helped organize and transport everyone 

to watch the film on the ice using a snow mobile.

Screening a film onto an iceberg sounds logistically complicated . . . and cold.
Jazbec says the preparation took a few days:

“We did some recon on the ice to find a suitable iceberg and prepared a DVD player and sound system powered by a gasoline-fueled generator.
The seats were just sleds covered with deer and musk ox skin.”
And as for the temperature?
“The weather was provided by some higher power . . . It was perfect, about –4 degrees Fahrenheit, with no wind and the most beautiful starry night sky sprayed with northern lights.”

Ron Davis Alvarez and Sofia Hernandez Mejia 

are musicians and music teachers from Venezuela. 

They visited Children’s Home for few months this year to teach the kids music with El Sistema, 

a music program that aims to create great musicians 

while dramatically changing the life trajectory the kids it works with. 

As children caught between the old ways and the new sat transfixed by the film, their faces illuminated with light from the digital projector, Jazbec felt he was able to record images that “don’t just tell the story of a moment, but also capture a larger story about modern Greenland—remote towns caught up in globalization, about young people leaving for the cities.”

Bertrand Lozay, 

French documentary filmmaker and artist from Uummannaq Polar Institute

 turns off the projector after the film screening. 

He conducts research on the disappearance of Greenland’s traditional hunters 

and put on workshops with children from Children’s Home. 

“I’m not interested in merely taking pretty pictures of communities undergoing momentous changes, I’m looking to create a long-term life’s work that stands as a document of a time and a people who lived in this time, reminding us of how things used to be and cautioning us that our planet is delicate and fragile.”

Ciril Jazbec

Learn more about the film Inuk on its site:
http://www.inuk-film.com/

Ciril Jazbec’s project, On Thin Ice, will be on view in an exhibition at the Les Rencontres Arles Photographie from July 7-September 21, 2014.
See more of Jazbec’s work on his website:
http://www.ciriljazbec.com/personal/on-thin-ice

Penumbra

"Acredito que as palavras matam a magia.
Olhando retrospectivamente para vinte anos de trabalho, tudo me parece ter sido uma longa e estranha viagem.
Da inocência juvenil, à consciência da meia-idade.
Um diário com contactos que reflecte felicidade e dor.
Ao longo destes anos tenho andado à procura de respostas.
Mas só tenho recolhido algumas visões e montes de dúvidas. Cada vez mais perguntas.
Viajei pelos Estados Unidos e América do Sul à procura de sensações fortes. Percorri o mundo Árabe em busca da espiritualidade e da renúncia.
Trabalhei na Europa, escavando o passado e interrogando o futuro.
Ansiei pela serenidade no Extremo-Oriente.
O mundo vai-se tornando mais pequeno à medida que olho para o meu velho Atlas.
Às vezes canso-me de viajar, mas sei que o conforto é uma armadilha mortífera. Não tenho escolha.
A fotografia atrasa a morte. Mantém-me vivo. A preto branco."

Paulo Nozolino

Before they pass away

It took over four years for photographer Jimmy Nelson to document 29 cultures and tribes at risk of disappearing from their remote corners of the world.
He set out to “celebrate the beauty of these cultures and their traditional ways of life” and beautifully captured his subjects.

See who he photographed and how he did it below.

http://www.beforethey.com

Ted Grant

“When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. 

But when you photograph people in Black and White, 

you photograph their Souls!”

― Ted Grant

2013 in review

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/year-in-review-2013/#.UsCpUfRdWO4

Kyle Thompson

Muita gente fala sobre o que um fotógrafo tímido fez...
Quando virem isto, vão entender porquê...

Há alguns anos, Kyle Thompson interessou-se por fotografia.
Infelizmente, a sua ansiedade impediu-o de falar sobre isso com as pessoas, e resolveu fazer uma experiência com auto-retratos.

Passou horas, dias, a caminhar sozinho por florestas, a explorar casas abandonadas.
Fez mais de 50 auto-retratos.
Depois de tirar mais de 100 fotos, decidiu publicar as melhores no Reddit.
A partir daí, a vida dele mudou para sempre!


Durante o colégio, Kyle já gostava de fotografia, mas ainda não sabia o que fazer da sua vida.

Ele nunca pensou que poderia sobreviver como artista.

Esta foto foi tirada, usando farinha...

Para fazer este "tornado", ele subiu ao topo de uma montanha na Bolívia.

Depois de encontrar um avião abandonado, num campo de milho, Kyle usou bombas de fumo para tirar esta linda fotografia.

O talento dele é único. Quando ele tirou estas fotografias, não imaginava que o seu talento iria mudar completamente a sua vida.

Depois de publicar algumas das suas fotografias na Reddit, teve mais de 4 milhões de visualizações.

Depois de todo este sucesso, Kyle dedicou-se a tempo inteiro à fotografia, e deixou o seu emprego de entrega de pizzas. Excelente escolha!

Estes auto-retratos, foram tirados com uma Canon60D, uma 50mm 1.8, um tripé, e um temporizador.

O fotógrafo do desejo e de Marilyn: Bert Stern

Teve um importante papel na redefinição da fotografia de publicidade e de moda nos anos 1950 e 1960, mas para o grande público ficará para sempre conhecido como o fotógrafo que captou o ícone Marilyn Monroe, seis meses antes da sua morte, para a revista Vogue.

Bert Stern morreu esta terça-feira,dia 27 de junho de 2013,aos 83 anos,na sua casa de Manhattan, em Nova Iorque. A morte foi confirmada por uma amiga de longa data, Shannah Laumeister. Não se conhecem ainda as causas da morte.

As fotos de Marilyn Monroe, tiradas durante três dias em Junho de 1962, no Hotel Bel-Air de Los Angeles, estão incluídas no livro Marilyn Monroe: The Last Sitting, editado em 2000.

“Foi uma experiência única ter Marilyn Monroe num quarto de hotel, apesar de ter sido transformado num estúdio para poder fazer o que queria”, haveria de proclamar Bert Stern no documentário de 2010 Bert Stern: Original Madman, realizado por Ms. Laumeister.

Muitas das fotos mostram Marilyn sem roupas, ou posando por detrás de lenços transparentes. “Eu não dizia: ‘Posa nua.’ Mas uma coisa acabava por levar à outra”, afirmou o fotógrafo sobre a sessão.

Em várias entrevistas reforçava que tirar fotografias era uma forma de se aproximar de pessoas, de as compreender melhor e de se relacionar com elas de uma forma que não seria possível noutro contexto.

Ao longo da vida fotografou muitas actrizes, mas dizia preferir modelos, porque projectam desejo e “é excitante fotografar o desejo”. A sua carreira de 50 anos conheceu muitos momentos relevantes para lá de Marilyn, incluindo Jazz on A Summer’s Day, o documentário de 1959 sobre o festival de jazz de Newport de 1958, que foi seleccionado em 1999 pelo americano National Film Registry, em reconhecimento do seu significado histórico.

Ao lado de outros fotógrafos como Irving Penn, Richard Avedon ou Mark Shaw, fez parte de uma geração que apostava na clareza das imagens, ao mesmo tempo que ganhavam identidade e vida própria, ao contrário do que era até aí a norma, em que as fotos surgiam nas publicações essencialmente para servir de ilustração dos textos.

Nessa linha, em 1955, haveria de tirar uma das suas fotos mais conhecidas: close-up de um copo de Martini no deserto do Egipto, com pirâmide a brilhar ao fundo. A imagem captada no local, com uma equipa de técnicos e modelos, para uma publicidade da vodka Smirnoff foi considerada extremamente inovadora pela simplicidade.

Segundo o New York Times, nas notas para uma exposição em Nova Iorque, Robert Sobieszek, curador daquele que é hoje o Museu Internacional de Fotografia e Filme na George Eastman House, considerou essa foto como aquela que, na época, viria a marcar uma ruptura, um antes e um depois, na fotografia de publicidade.

Bert Stern nasceu em Brooklyn em 1929, filho de pai também fotografo. Foi aliás durante o serviço militar, no Japão, que começou a trabalhar como fotógrafo. Com a experiência adquirida viria a conseguir trabalho na revista Look como fotógrafo comercial.

Depois de vários trabalhos bem sucedidos – com destaque para a campanha da Smirnoff – não mais pararia, sendo solicitado por revistas, publicidade, estúdios de cinema ou designers de moda, fotografando produtos comerciais, celebridades (Truman Capote, Twiggy) ou estrelas de cinema (Audrey Hepburn, Gary Cooper, Elisabeth Taylor). E a maior de todas elas, claro, Marilyn Monroe.

Ashes And Snow Full

"In exploring the shared language and poetic sensibilities of all animals, I am working towards rediscovering the common ground that once existed when people lived in harmony with animals. The images depict a world that is without beginning or end, here or there, past or present."

Gregory Colbert

O coração da terra

foto de José Miguel Gomez/Reuters

O coração da terra. 

Este é feito de sal-gema e está a iluminar uma mina de sal da Colômbia.

COLÔMBIA, 26.09.2012. 

Um coração de sal-gema na mina de sal-gema de Nemocon, curiosamente uma das mais populares atracções turísticas da Colômbia.

Apesar dos pesares, o mundo guarda-nos momentos únicos. 

Steve Mccurry

When people ask me how they can become a photographer, I almost never mention cameras, lenses, or technique. I say, ‘If you want to be a photographer, first leave home.’
As Paul Theroux, a great writer and friend, further advises,
“Go as far as you can. Become a stranger in a strange land. Acquire humility. Leaving home really means that the photographer (or writer) has to wander, observe,
and to paraphrase Theroux, concentrate on people in their landscape.
That is what I try to achieve in my pictures.

STEVE McCURRY

Um dos meus fotógrafos preferidos. 

Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry é um dos mais prestigiados fotógrafos da actualidade, nasceu na cidade de Filadélfia em 1950.

Depois de se formar em história e cinema no “College of Arts and Archictecture” na Universidade Estadual da Pensilvânia, passou dois anos a trabalhar como fotógrafo para um jornal, mas o seu espírito aventureiro o levou à Índia, onde trabalhou como fotógrafo freelancer. 

A carreira de Steve McCurry ganharia reconhecimento internacional, quando em 1984 conseguiu infiltrar-se no Afeganistão, controlado na época pela Rússia e fazer uma série de fotografias no acampamento de refugiados de Nasir Bagh.

Esta sua foto reportagem tinha de entre muitas, que ficou conhecida pela “Menina afegã” e pela qual Steve McCurry ganhou praticamente todos os principais galardões internacionais de fotografia, incluindo a medalha de ouro de Robert Capa para a melhor reportagem fotográfica, um prémio dedicado aos fotógrafos que exibem excepcional coragem e iniciativa.
A fotografia da “menina afegã”, foi capa da National Geographic em Junho de 1985, tornando-se a mais famosa capa da revista em praticamente 120 anos de existência.

Desde então, especializou-se em fotografar retratos de pessoas em áreas de conflito.
Ele esteve na guerra Irão-Iraque, em Beirute, no Camboja, nas Filipinas, na guerra do Golfo, na desintegração da antiga Jugoslávia, Tibet e Yemen.

Mas o ponto alto na carreira de Steve McCurry, foi a redescoberta da identidade da “menina afegã”.
Em Janeiro de 2002, uma expedição da National Geographic viajou para a fronteira entre o Paquistão e o Afeganistão com a missão de localizar a menina da foto de 1984.
A operação foi coroada de sucesso e finalmente a menina afegã ficou com um nome: Sharbat Gula. Toda a história foi contada na edição de Abril de 2002 da National Geographic e voltou a ser capa de revista mas os olhos que cativaram o mundo e que se tornaram um símbolo da miséria e do sofrimento do povo afegão já não brilhavam com a mesma intensidade.

Steve McCurry não se considera um fotógrafo de guerra, acredita que seu trabalho é mostrar a realidade humana durante um conflito nos rostos das pessoas.

 “Se o fotógrafo fizer as pessoas esquecer a máquina fotográfica, a alma delas aparece na fotografia”.

Ashes and Snow- Feather to Fire

Ashes and Snow is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Gregory Colbert has used both still and movie cameras to explore extraordinary interactions between humans and animals. His exhibition, Ashes and Snow, consists of over 50 large-scale photographic artworks, a 60-minute film, and two 9-minute film haikus. The show will next open in Mexico City on December 15.

This excerpt is entitled Feather to Fire, and is narrated in three languages by Laurence Fishburne (English), Ken Watanabe (Japanese), and Enrique Rocha (Spanish).

More information about Gregory Colbert and Ashes and Snow is available at www.ashesandsnow.com.

Ashes and Snow® and Nomadic Museum® are registered trademarks of Gregory Colbert.



Feather to fire, fire to blood, blood to bone, bone to marrow, marrow to ashes, ashes to snow…
Pluma a fuego, fuego a sangre, sangre a hueso, hueso a tuétano, tuétano a cenizas, ceniza a nieve…

If you come to me at this moment, your minutes will become hours, your hours will become days, and your days will become a lifetime.
Ever since my house burnt down, I see the moon more clearly, I gazed upon the Evens that have fallen in me, I saw Evens that I had held in my hands, but let go, I saw promises I did not keep, Pains I did not sooth,Wounds I did not heal, tears I did not shed, I saw deaths I did not mourn,Prayers I did not answer, doors I did not open, doors I did not close, Lovers I left behind, And dreams I did not live, I saw all that was offered to me, that I could not accept. I saw the letters I wished for, but never received; I saw all that could have been, but never will be.
An elephant with his trunk raised is a letter to the stars; A breaching whale is a letter from the bottom of the sea. These images are a letter to my dreams, these letters are my letters to you.
My heart is like an old house, who’s windows have not been opened for years, But now I hear the windows opening, I remember the cranes floating above the melting snows of the Himalayas, Sleeping on tails of manatees, the songs of the bearded seals, the bark of the zebra, the clicks of the sand, the ears of the caracals, the sway of the elephants, the breaching of whales, and the silhouette of the eland, I remember the curl of the meerkat’s toes, floating on the Ganges, sailing on the Nile; I remember wandering through the corridors of Hatshepsut and the faces of many women, endless seas and thousands of miles of rivers. I remember father to children ,and the taste; I remember the pealing of the peach, I remember everything, But I do not remember ever having left.
I can’t tell if you are getting closer or farther away, I long for the serenity I found when I looked upon your face, Perhaps if your face could be returned to me now, I would find it easier to recover the face I seemed to have lost, My own.
The whales do not sing because they have an answer, they sing because they have a song.
What matters, is not what is written on the page, what matters, is what is written in the heart, So burn the letters, and lay their ashes on the snow, at the river’s edge when spring comes and the snow melts, and the rivers rises, return to the banks of the river, and reread my letters with your eyes closed, let the words and the images wash over your body like waves. Reread the letters, with your hand cupped over your ear.
In the beginning of time, the skies were filled with flying elephants, Every night they lay down in the same place in the sky, And dream with one eye open. When you gaze up at the stars at night, You are looking into the unblinking eyes of elephants, who sleep with one eye open, to best keep watch over us.
Remember your dreams… remember your dreams… remember…

www.ashesandsnow.org
Ashes and Snow® and Nomadic Museum® are registered trademarks of Gregory Colbert.