vps2010

ViewbookPhotostory2010

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With the Viewbook PhotoStory contest, we strive to offer an international arena in which to show and prove the impact of photographic narratives, and offer an engaging and prominent platform for photography artists. This book is dedicated to all the participating photographers and we hope that it will bring their work to the attention of many people who care for inspiration and future collaboration; that this is not a final stop, but a way station for them. I would like to thank all those who took part, our partner GUP Magazine, Blurb, everyone in the Watchers Network and our supporters for making all this possible.

Enjoy the book!

Alrik SwagermanContest Director / Co-founder Viewbook.com

Foreword

The search for narrative strength

We started this second edition of the Viewbook PhotoStory contest with a question: “To what extent can narrative strength arise out of a series of images and evoke emotions in viewers?” As Garry Winogrand ironically stated, no single photograph has any narrative ability, it just displays a subject captured by a camera; and so we challenged photographers around the world to show what narrative strength they could unleash in a photographic story built up of a series of images. In this yearbook, we are proud to present the six stories that succeeded best, according to our five expert jury members. These six stories made their creators the winners of the Viewbook PhotoStory 2010 Jury Prizes.

Between July and October, 751 photographers from 123 different countries submitted series of various quality. After a pre-screening, 496 series that met the required criteria were published on the viewbookphotostory.com website for the public to see. Many series did not pass the pre-screening, mainly due to bad editing, or the lack of any narrative elements. Even brilliant work by respected artists did not pass this stage, while other series of moderate images that did contain a narrative made the cut. A conceptually interesting series of highly artistic images does not by definition have to be a story.

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Lauren Heinz - editor of 8 Magazine, London UK

Even if it’s a subject that has been done many times before, I want a photo story to show me, in a visually-innovative way, another perspective. I also look for stories that evoke a sense of compassion with the subjects, or even a sort of collaboration between photographer and subject. I’m not interested in work that looks like it was shot in a day’s time, but longer-term dedicated projects. Time spent, more often than not, is really reflected in the quality of the work.

1st Jury Prize Documentary

‘Ivan and the Moon’ by Daria Tuminas

All the images ’in between’ are connected to each other, both on the level of correlated motives that create certain rhymes.

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The narrative in Ivan and the Moon is neither chronological nor event-related. It does not have a strict and one-interpretation-only plot. At the same time, the construction has its own logic: from the idea of seeing the secret world (through the metaphor of a chest) of two boys (the first picture) to the strange conflict at the end, and back to the calm, mysterious state in the last photo.

All the images ’in between’ are connected to each other, both on the level of correlated motives that create certain rhymes and on the level of hypothetical story interpretations. In any event, each picture is supposed to provoke some inquiry and the question “What is going on?” Moreover, I decided to add the ’double/look-alike issue’. The two brothers are reflections of each other. Many people even think that they are twins. I included only two pictures (at the beginning and the end) that show them together. I chose to have their individual portraits in the main corpus of works, so that it is no longer clear who is who.

I used two types of pictures: the ones that portrayed the characters and the ones that represented the surroundings – be these landscapes, interiors or details. It was important to show that the world around the boys is itself magical and their games and fantasies are consequences of being a part of this world.

Daria Tuminas

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Ivan is the elder; he is 16. Andrey, nicknamed ’Moon’, is the younger at 14. The two brothers live in a remote village in the northern part of Russia. They differ from city teenagers a lot – they have completely divergent moral values and live in a fairy-tale world: they go hunting and fishing, know how to use a joiner’s chisel, play with ghosts in abandoned places, do not want to move to a city, love nature (I have never heard city boys say something like: “Look! The sunset is so beautiful tonight!”...). Mature and childlike at the same time. Naive and enigmatic. In this ongoing project, I want to show the mysteriousness of the brothers’ world.

Ivan and the Moon

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Still missing -> Marcel Feil

Jury comment

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Education

2010 – 2011 Master’s in Film and Photographic Studies (Leiden University, Faculty of Humanities)2008 – 2010 Master’s in Mythology and Folklore Studies (St. Petersburg State University, Faculty of Philology and Arts). Thesis: The cultural practice of making photo collages in rural communities (based on material collected during expeditions in the Arhangelskaja area, Russia, 2008-2009)2002 – 2008 Specialist programme (St. Petersburg State University, Faculty of Philology and Arts, Russian Language and Literature Department), specialisation Folklore Studies. Thesis: Photography as a source of visual folklore context. Source study and/or interpretation. Cum laude diploma

Exhibitions

2010 – WE Photopolygon. The space and people of the former USSR. 2000. Organised by the Photopolygon project2009 – Look-alike series, Gallery of Modern Art, Pushkinskaja, 10, St. Petersburg. Organised by the Goethe Institute in St. Petersburg

Daria Tuminas / Bio / CV

I was born in 1984 in St. Petersburg, Russia. My background is rather diverse. I have always been interested in approaching photography in several ways.

First of all, I am involved in academic research. I wrote a Master’s thesis about amateur photography at St. Petersburg State University. I am currently following the Master’s in Film and Photographic Studies at Leiden University, and planning to write a paper on some of the issues facing contemporary photography. Regarding my professional achievements, I used to teach the Photography as a Cultural Practice course at the St. Petersburg State University. I am also a freelance journalist, and write articles and critical essays on various aspects of photography.

In addition, I have coordinated and curated an International Summer School in Photography, focusing on the new language of documentary and journalistic photography and the blurred borders of these practices with art photography. Finally, I have started taking pictures myself. Ivan and the Moon is my first project. It is ongoing and I hope to shoot it over several years. My main goals are to work as deeply as possible on several long-term ’magic documentary’ projects, as well as continuing the theoretical side of my activities.

Daria TuminasTel: +31 634829615 [email protected]

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Alison Zavos - publisher of Featureshoot.com, New York USA

The idea behind the work is usually the first thing that draws me into a photo series. The subject matter should be current, or if not, then shot in a new and interesting way. Image quality should be consistent throughout the series and leave me wanting to see more.

1st Jury Prize Conceptual

‘All That You Leave’by Luis Lazo

I wanted the images to flow from one to the next in an uninterrupted poetic narrative.

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For All That You Leave, I wanted the images to flow from one to the next in an uninterrupted poetic narrative. This was mainly achieved by the limited colour palette and muted tones of each image, creating a kind of echo throughout the story.

My work is mainly concerned with the fragility of time and memory. So my main consideration for this story was to engage and record the silent and fleeting nature of these little moments, to express their importance to me and capture their distinctive spontaneity.

Luis Lazo

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When I was about seven years old, I was forced to leave Chile with my mother. I started collecting plane tickets, timetables, small toys, anything that would remind me straight away of who I was and where I had been: my photography is still a little like that.

A few years ago my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease; she no longer knows who I am. These two events, in particular, have informed and focused my photography.

Memories, like photographs, are selective and our inability to physically capture a memory means that we can only ever capture a fleeting representation of it. Whether painful or joyous, its ephemeral presence can stay with us forever.

All That You Leave

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In a world where banality, frivolity and the outright superficiality of photography and life in general take centre stage, Luis Lazo’s work is a breath of fresh air.

His simple, intimate images do not need much support from meaningless texts that so often accompany meaningless conceptual photographs these days.

They are soulful, placid moments which bring the words of the late, great Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa to mind: “Poetry is everywhere, in the earth and in the sea, in the lakes and rivers . . .there is poetry in this table, in this paper, in this ink pot.”

One can only add that his photographs of apparent trivial moments, which are far from trivial, ultimately nurture our soul.

Ernesto Bazan (Documentary Photographer)

Jury comment

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Education

1989 – 1991 First-class Bachelor of Arts degree, Visual Communication, Photography and Art History (Wolverhampton University)1986 – 1988 Distinction, Diploma in Art and Photography (Bourneville School of Art)

Solo Exhibitions

2010 Disposable, Dina Mitrani Gallery, Group Show, Miami, USA2007 Weeds, Chateau La Thibaudier, Arts Festival, France 2006 Un Voyage Intemporel, Chateau d’Hardcourt, France2005 Instants Fugaces, Chateau d’Hardcourt, France

Group Exhibitions

2010 Exposure II, Dina Mitrani Gallery, Group Show, Miami, USA2001 From Hiroshima to Sarajevo, Smiths Gallery, London, UK

Awards

1991 Agfa Portrait Photographer of the Year

Professional Experience

1993 – 1996 Film Stills Photographer1995 – 2001 Editorial Portrait and Advertising Photographer2001 – 2007 Fashion and Advertising Photographer

Luis Lazo / Bio / CV

Luis Lazo was born in Santiago, Chile. He studied Art History and Photography at Bourneville School of Art, before gaining a first-class honours degree in Visual Communication from Wolverhampton University. After assisting, he worked as a stills photographer on feature films. He began shooting portraits for Harpers and Queens, The Telegraph Magazine and Premiere Magazine, amongst others. He later shot fashion for publications including British GQ, Twill in Paris and So-In in Japan.

He has had solo and group exhibitions in England, France and the USA.

Luis’ work interweaves personal memories, landscapes and portraits to reveal stories

of shared experiences in a reflective and moving manner, capturing the relationship of the human subject, in time, history and emotion.

Luis Alejandro Lazo20 rue St Pierre86300ChauvignyFranceTel: +33 [email protected]

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Jon Levy - publisher of 8 Magazine, London UK

“The first thing I want to see in a photo story is a sense that the photographer has thought about how to present the work to me in the sequence and idea of the images together. 12-15 images is usually enough to convey the feeling of the story being told. Following from this is the need for the photographer to also have in mind which group of people, which audience his work may be for and what it is he/she wishes to tell them. Almost all of this can be thought out before the first picture is even taken. What’s the story? How do I want to tell it? who is it for? and how best should I present it to them? There are many variables along the way there but each choice should be made in order to help the story along. Digital or analogue, 35mm or large format, on screen multimedia or prints in a box, on a wall in and magazine or online. these are all part of the narrative process and I want to see individuals who have thought about this because invariably there images and their stories make sense.”

Alleen LR?

2nd Jury Prize Documentary

‘Exodus’ by Aaron Vincent Elkaim

I attempted to articulate this narrative through eliciting an overlying feeling and symbolism in each image.

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This project’s narrative was a challenge for me to express through photography. It is the narrative of a vanishing history, of a co-existence, identity and homeland that have been abandoned and are now longed for. I attempted to articulate this narrative through eliciting an overlying feeling and symbolism in each image, whether it be an artefact, moment, landscape or reportage, with the hope that together a greater picture would emerge. Each image is significant in its content - the coin, the pilgrimages, the holy landscapes, the Muslim guardians - but it is through how these images are translated emotionally that the narrative is expressed.

The creation of this work was a deeply personal experience. My father is a Moroccan Jew. He and his family left for Canada in the 1960s, and therefore I am part of this story as well. I felt it was crucial for me to experience this journey on a personal level as much as a journalistic one. I aimed to capture the experiential; each moment was part of my own journey of discovery and only through those experiences did the story finally become clear to me. The original purpose of this work was to reveal a history of co-existence that many don’t know ever existed, but the series of images and its emotional narrative are simply my journey through the remnants of this history and my reflections on those experiences.

Aaron Vincent Elkaim

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Moroccan-Jewish history began over 2,000 years ago. Protected under the Islamic Principle of Tolerance, Jews flourished, holding high positions in trade and government. The Star of David was a symbol shared by all Moroccans, appearing on currency and even the national flag. During the Holocaust, when asked for a list of Jews, King Mohammed V declared, “We have no Jews in Morocco, only Moroccan citizens.” Jews and Muslims were united by culture and kingdom. Following World War II, Zionist recruiters targeted Moroccan Jews to populate the new State of Israel. Israel’s expansion marked the beginning of the Moroccan-Jewish exodus. Though 300,000 Jews inhabited Morocco in 1940, less than 4,000 remain today. What remains is a Jewish past nearly abandoned, fragments of Morocco’s Jewish culture left under the protection of Muslim guardians who devote their lives to a history that isn’t even their own, yet entirely is. Amidst breathtaking landscapes are holy saints, abandoned relics and sacred spaces. Within these spaces are pilgrims, desperately seeking to identify with what remains. This work represents a journey into the void left by this cultural exodus, while also revealing a history of co-existence, sacrificed in the wake of Zionism.

Exodus

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A Moroccan coin from the early 1900’s. The star of David was used on Moroccan currency since the Merinid Dynasty in the 13th Century. It was replaced with the pentagram, representing the five pillars of Islam, by the occupying French government in 1915. It is thought that the change was due to rising anti-Semitism in Europe.

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Hanninia, left, shakes hands with a Muslim man in the El Zama Synagogue of Marrakech. Hanninia spends his days guiding tourists around the synagogue, the last one remaining in the Mellah or Jewish Quarter. He lives there alongside Muslim caretakers who maintain it and neighbourhood children who collect Dirhams leading tourists to the site.

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Sunset in the Anti-Atlas Mountains of Morocco.

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Rabbi Youseph Pinto, who lives in Israel, lights the candles of pilgrims visiting the tomb of his grandfather the Saint, Rabbi Haim Pinto, in Essaouira, Morocco.

A man stands outside the fortified wall to the Mellah, or Jewish Quarter, in the coastal city of Essaouira. Es-saouira once flourished as a city with nearly as many Jews as Muslims. Although they were generally socially segregated, they worked together making Essaouira a prosperous trading port. Today about five Jews remain.

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A candle fueled fire burns during a pilgrimage to the tomb of the Jewish Saint Rabbi Haim Pinto, in Essaouira, Morocco.

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A bird flies on the road out of Asatz, a town in southern Morocco visited annually by Jews in search of the sacred Etrog fruit which is used in a waving ritual during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

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The preserved home of Baba Sali, the famous Rabbi Yisrael AbuHatzeira, is seen in the southern town of Rissani. The name Baba Sali means Father of Prayer in Arabic. He left to Israel in 1964 but his home in Morocco remains a site for pilgrimages.

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Leader of the Jewish Community of Marrakech and Essaouira, Jacky Kodoche, leads the prayer during the holy day of Shabbat in Essaouira, Morocco.

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The tomb of the Jewish Saint Rabbi David Oumouchy sits in the mountains in the Ouarzazate region of Morocco. His tomb has become a major site for Jewish pilgrims who have built housing around the cemetery to accommodate the annual pilgrimages. Many pilgrims say that they owe the Rabbi for their successes in life and marriages.

Stars of David can still be seen above doorways in the Mellah, or Jewish Quarter, in the coaster city of Essaouira. Essaouira once flourished as a city with nearly as many Jews as Muslims. Although they were generally socially segregated, they worked together making Essaouira a prosperous trading port. Today around five Jews remain.

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A portrait of King Mohammed V hangs in a shop next to the Jewish cemetery in Fez. Many Moroccan Jews consider Mohammed V a saint for his role in protecting them from the French Vichy government and the Nazi’s during WWII. When a demand for a list of the Jews living in Morocco was made, he replied, “We have no Jews in Morocco, only Moroccan citizens.”

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Mustafa Watahi, 63, stands for a portrait in his home where Jews and Muslims once shared water from the same well. Growing up along side the Jews of his town of Ksar El-Kabir he was entrusted as the guardian of the Jewish Cemetery and the Jewish Saint Rabbi Yehudah Zabali.

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Two girls walk down the street of El Jadida, once home to a large population of Jews.

A classroom lays empty in the Lebovich girls’ school in Casablanca, Morocco. The school once had over 1000 students attending, today only 30 remain enrolled.

42-year-old Ahmed Elhrouz, right, took over as the guardian of the Jewish Cemetary in Larache, Morocco after his father passed away twelve years ago. He raises animals on the property to supplement the meager income he receives from the Jewish community. He is seen next to his friend Baruk Bark Bnahmed Stati who guards the Christian cemetery adjacent to the Jewish one.

Sefrou was once referred to as Little Jerusalem for its high population of Jews and well-developed reli-gious life. Today only a few Jews remain and mostly poor Muslims populate the Mellah.

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Sefrou was once referred to as Little Jerusalem for its high population of Jews and well-developed religious life. Today only a few Jews remain and mostly poor Muslims populate the Mellah.

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Madame Banmou rests behind the counter of the kosher butcher shop in Casablanca with the shop owner Aiice Amar. She says her business does well, as both Jews and Muslims purchase from her.

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A wealthy Moroccan Jewish family holds a party for the Mamounia festival in Casablanca Morocco. The Mamounia is originally a Moroccan Jewish holiday when Jews opened their doors to their Muslim and Jewish neighbours to share in the festivities.

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The Mellah of Rabat was once home to a large population of Jews, but is now home to the poorest Muslims in the Medina.

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29-year-old Abdullae Abudssif lives with his 85 year old father Abas on the grounds of the Jewish Cemetery in El Jadida, Morocco. A close Jewish friend who left to live in France entrusted his father as guardian of the Cemetery in 1955. Unsupported by the Jewish community for years, they have had to resort to raising animals on the Cemetery grounds for a living. After 55 years they are being forced to vacate the land. While his father has no ill feelings towards the Jewish people, Abdullae resents them for taking his fathers life and strength while giving little in return.

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The road to the southern Moroccan village of Illigh. Illigh was once home to large population of Jews but their homes now lie in ruins after they were abandoned during the exodus to Israel.

Rabbi Guigui who now lives in Israel lectures Zalman Haskelevich on the impact of the holocaust and why the Jews left Morocco for Israel inside the synagogue of an old school in the city of Meknes, Morocco.

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Jewish pilgrims pray around the tomb of Rabbi Amran Ben Diwan during his Hilloulla or pilgrimage in Ouazanne, Morocco during the holiday of Lag BaOmer. During the yearly Hilloulla hundreds of Jews return to his gravesite where they sleep for three days, pray and celebrate. His is only one of many Hilloulot that take place all over the country.

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A man prays at the tomb of the Jewish Saint Rabbi David Oumouchy in the mountains in the Ouarzazate region of Morocco. His tomb has become a major site for Jewish pilgrims who have built housing around the cemetery to accommodate the annual pilgrimages. Many pilgrims say that they owe the Rabbi for their successes in life and marriages.

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A Jewish gravestone in Fez, Morocco.

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Aaron Vincent Elkaim is able to give a rare glimpse into the lives of Jews in Morocco. He touches both the bygone and the contemporary. With a very good feel for the use of colour, he takes the viewer onto a journey into history, where today and yesterday merge.

Kadir van Lohuizen(Photojournalist)

Jury comment

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Awards

2010 Official Selection, Reportage Photography Festival, Australian Centre for Photography2010 American Photography 262010 HM Photo Essay, Fine Art, New York Photo Festival2010 PX3, Portrait Personality and Photojournalism2010 1st Place Personal Essay, PDN Photo Annual2010 Bronze Award, Visual Culture Awards2010 Finalist, Tom Hanson Photojournalist Award, The Canadian Journalism Foundation2009 Ontario Arts Council Visual Arts Grant for Emerging Artists2009 HM Photo Essay, News Photographers Association of Canada Picture of the Year2008 Reuters Assignment Award, Eddie Adams Photography Workshop2008 3rd Place Multimedia, HM Picture Essay, News Photographers Association of Canada Picture of the Year2008 Emerging Photographer Award, Photo Life Magazine2008 Award, Image International Competition, Photo Life Magazine2007 HM, National Geographic International Photography Competition2007 Winner of the NPAC Student Photographer of the Year Award2007 Winner of the ECNPA Student Vision Award2006 Short-listed for the Ilford Image on the Box Competition

Exhibitions

2010 Runway, Contact Photography Festival, Gladstone Hotel, Toronto2010 On-line Interactive Exhibition, National Film Board of Canada 2010 Screening of Jewish Morocco, Reportage Photography Festival2008 – 2010 Canada-wide Group Exhibit, Photosensitive Cancer Project

Aaron Vincent Elkaim / Bio / CV

Aaron Vincent Elkaim (born 1981, Canada) is a freelance photographer based in Toronto, Canada. He came to photography after earning a degree in Cultural Anthropology and Film Studies at the University of Manitoba, in his hometown of Winnipeg. Aaron specialises in editorial photography and has prioritised his personal work to focus on documentary photography with a cultural investment.

Aaron believes that the greatest photography is open-ended; he doesn’t believe in a beginning, middle or end to a photo story but simply wishes to illuminate it, urging the viewer to ask questions rather than simply providing answers.

Aaron’s work has been acknowledged internationally, garnering recognition at the New York Photo Festival, American Photography 26, PX3 2010, PDN Photo Annual, National Geographic, the News Photographers Association of Canada and the Ontario Arts Council. He is an Eddie Adams Alumni and was recognised as an Emerging Photographer in 2008 by Photo Life Magazine.

Aaron Vincent ElkaimTel: +1 6473432319 [email protected] www.avephoto.ca

Education

2008 Diploma in Photojournalism (Loyalist College, Ontario, Canada)2006 Diploma in Professional Photography (PrairieView School of Photography, Manitoba, Canada) 2003 Bachelor of Arts, with a double major in Cultural Anthropology and Film Studies (University of Manitoba, Canada)

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Frank Kalero - artist OjodePez, Berlin DE

I want to see how the photographer has invested time and brain to make the pictures. that it is not just the result of a lucky day. That behind the series there’s engagement and dedication. I would like to feel that no images are missing in order to understand the whole series.I expect that the photographer tells me something, and that he’s doing it in a beautiful way, no matter if he’s talking about hunger, pain and death, or glamour, still life and puppies. I want to be able to watch the picture for a while, thinking, enjoying with empathy, and flying away from my coffee table.

Alleen lR?

2nd Jury Prize Conceptual

‘A Portrait of America Left Behind’ by Brandon Schulman

With this project, it was more important for me to find a flow, a feeling that is created with the sequence of images and what the viewer’s reactions may be.

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Establishing a narrative with photographs of different locations and subjects can sometimes be tricky. However, with this project, it was more important for me to find a flow, a feeling that is created with the sequence of images and what the viewer’s reactions may be. A narrative is used for telling a story; my project is more a documentation on what is and what was, and the results on our spaces. My narrative, by intent, is the impact ’we’ have on the land and our environment. It is an attempt for me to tell a story through the things I see in rural and urban areas throughout this country. How we as a people are experts at building something out of nothing, and how nature reclaims its space when we are done. How we use the landscape and alter it with concrete, wood and steel. Thus a narrative is established through placement and suggestion. A visual essay through frames and storytelling through placement.

I needed and wanted an intimacy in my images, but that can be difficult when the subject matter is not yours and you are far away from home. I mostly slept in and shot from the same vehicle for the whole project; which I feel is a major part of the process and the mental space that it creates. I always try and be considerate of what this project might say, and to express the fact that there is no judgment involved in this work. The images are merely plates of what I see…a place, a moment and a time. A reflection on the conditions and state of the nation.

Brandon Schulman

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A photographic study of the American landscape and the impact that humanity has on it. It is a series covering the multitude of different places across this massive country; even though they are all different, there seems to be a common thread. This series covers over 15,000 miles and two months in the field. All the images, shot on 4x5 film, mostly from the roof of my camper where I also sleep, are scans from C-prints printed in my home.

A Portrait of America Left Behind

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While Brandon Schulman’s series A Portrait of America Left Behind follows the well-established tradition of documenting the American West, what sets it apart is its ability to convey an uneasy silence, a feeling of standing still. Using the leitmotif of the car, a symbol of America’s golden era of industry, Brandon creates a powerful visual metaphor for the decay of the American West. The car is seen only as a motionless object: stopped, abandoned, stalled, even gone, leaving behind empty parking lots, and a pervading sense of absence.

Sam Barzilay (Director New York Photo Festival)

Jury comment

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Education

1999 – 2001 Bachelor’s in Advertising Photography (Brooks Institute of Photography, Santa Barbara, CA)

Awards

2011 Honourable Mention, Hearst 8x10 Biennial2010 Finalist for General Fine Art Series, New York Photo Awards2001 2nd Place in Student Category, Communication Arts. Best in Show award, Brooks Institute of Photography

Exhibitions

2011 Hearst 8x10 Biennial, Alexey Brodovitch Gallery at the Hearst Building, New York, NY2010 The Art of Photography Show, LYCEUM Gallery, San Diego, CA

Strange Beauty show, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO2004 Bolivia show, Splashlight Gallery, New York, NY2001 Casa de la Cultura, Santa Cruz, Bolivia80 Print Duel Exhibit, Brooks Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA

Brandon Schulman / Bio / CV

Brandon Schulman has lived with photography all his life. His father’s love of the photograph carried from one darkroom to the next. All of the photographs in this series are C-prints printed in his basement colour darkroom. His respect for the negative to positive process means he continues to shoot 4x5 film. Photography for him has been a respectful understanding of place and space; a study of the subject and a way to ’control’ the viewing of it. A specific colour palette remains, with a purposeful frame present over a common scene that most people would pass by. Over the past three years, Brandon has driven more than 19,500 miles in his old pick-up truck, sleeping in the back, and shooting from the roof to provide a different perspective for his plates. Following a path of desire, he zigzags his way across pre-picked states. What is left is A Portrait of America Left Behind.

Schulman hopes that this project will one day be displayed in a major museum and published as a book.

Brandon Schulman313 Devoe St.Brooklyn, NY 11211Tel: +1 2122033957 [email protected] www.brandonschulman.com

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Roy Kahmann - collector, gallery-owner and publisher, Amsterdam, NL

A good photo series is just like a good book. The visual narrative build-up is so exciting that you keep on looking, and beyond that search for surprising details and meaning. A series of images that says it all, but at the same time raises questions and intrigues me completely. As a gallery owner and collector, I stick to those narrative works that contain many stories.

Alleen LR?

3rd Jury Prize Documentary

‘In Ramallah I Can Breathe’ by Guy Martin

How do I communicate something different in an area that is saturated with imagery of suffering and turmoil?

Alleen LR?

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The series In Ramallah I Can Breathe is an attempt to document the rise of the middle, secular classes in the Palestinian West Bank. With all my photography, I intend to create an intense relationship between the viewer of my pictures and the people in my images. So, by focusing my attention on the complex social, religious, cultural and quite often banal intricacies that are involved in the daily life of Mona Enab, I hope that my pictures cover universal themes such as love, relationships and family.

Throughout the time I was working on this project, I became very aware that Mona is not an exception. Women just like her, many educated in the USA and Europe, are striving to bring modern, secular and relaxed attitudes to the Palestinian Territories. Moreover, I was very, very aware of the photographic stereotypes that exist in the Muslim world, particularly regarding women. How do I add something to the debate? How do I communicate something different in an area that is saturated with imagery of suffering and turmoil? I found that by focusing on her car racing and her daily life, it offered me an exclusive insight into the Palestinian Territories’ under-documented middle classes. A group vital to any future plans for a viable peace solution.

Guy Martin

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Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Occupied Palestinian West Bank, is home to a growing educated and secular youth. After years of economic stagnation, Israeli military incursions and poor infrastructure, this once-occupied city is coming back to life. Ramallah’s youthful population, which was too young or innocent to get involved in the iconic martyrs’ funerals, stone-throwing or call to arms at the beginning of the new millennium, are now coming of age in a culture surrounded by Americana, tourism and relaxed Western attitudes to a myriad of Islamic sins: alcohol, sex and relationships. Mona Ennab, a 24-year-old Muslim woman and a Ramallah local, is one of those taking advantage of this city’s new freedoms. She has become one of the famous faces on the West Bank’s growing street-car racing scene, which stretches across the battle-scarred towns of Jenin, Nablus and Hebron. Here, she competes against macho Palestinian men and trains in the gaze of Israeli military watchtowers. The project focuses on Mona’s daily life as she tries to live somewhere on the bridge between the Palestinian culture she and her family respect, and the modern, secular lifestyle she so loves and desires.

In Ramallah I Can Breathe

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Every Thursday, 24 year old Mona Enab sits and watches the men of the ‘Ramallah Racing Team’ practice at an abandoned piece of land on the outskirts of Ramallah close to the separation barrier.

Marwa Saleh celebrates her second-place finish overall in the Bethlehem Speed Test. The result is a shock to many of the spectators who did not quite realise that a member of the Speed Sisters had achieved a result. Hundreds of spectators stay and watch as her friends and girlfriends drive her around Bethlehem on a victory lap.

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Mona and her car racers from Team Ramallah fuel up at a petrol station near Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem.

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Ramallah as seen during high school graduation day, when young adults from all over the city release fireworks into the night sky.

Mona downs a shot of tequila on a night out with friends at Ramallah’s famous SnowBar. A popular hang-out for the West Bank’s wealthy and trendy young people.

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Party people from all over the West Bank dance into the early hours at Ramallah’s coolest hang out SnowBar. The place is packed with Palestinian, Lebanese, Egyptian and Jordanian kids. Muslim and Christian. They all want to sample the increasingly vibrant nightlife in the Palestinian territory.

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Upon returning home from a night out with friends, Mona finds that the family car has been fire bombed by her neighbour. The motives are not immediately clear.

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A family album picture of Mona when she was younger. This picture would have been taken around 1998.

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Mona and her mother talk about life, relationships, love and family late into the night on the balcony of their family home in Ramallah.

Thursday practice on an abandoned piece of land outside Ramallah. The land is very close to an IDF checkpoint. Weekly permission must be granted to be able to train there.

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At a wedding in a village called Deir Dibwan, outside Ramallah. Mona had to attend the wedding under pressure from her mother and sister.

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Mona with her boyfriend at Almound bar, another popular hang-out for Ramallah’s affluent middle class. Mona is making fun of Mahmoud for trying to make her go home early.

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After a day of family commitments, Mona decides to cool off in a pool in the entre of Ramallah.

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he view of Al-Manarah Square from the popular Stars and Bucks coffee house in the centre of Ramallah.

135

On a trip to the Dead Sea, Mona and her friends pull into a petrol station that is popular with Israelis and IDF soldiers. Her and her friends’ Palestinian number plates draw much attention.

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Car racing trophies and memorabilia in Mona’s family home.

Mona and her boyfriend, Mahmoud, help each other across a squalid area of the Dead Sea fenced off with razor wire. The couple were turned away from the Israeli-owned, modern beach resort just up the road. This area of the Dead Sea is popular with other Palestinians who are unable to enter some of the developed tourist resorts dotted along the West Bank-stretch of the Dead Sea.<

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Mona puts her hand out of her boyfriend’s car in to the warm summer air on the drive back to Ramallah from the Dead Sea.

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Bethlehem’s famous disco, Cosmos, is open seven days a week until 4am. The club is full of wealthy, middle-class West Bank locals and adventure tourists keen to sample Bethlehem’s little-known nightlife scene. The club is popular with young adults all over the West Bank because it’s a place that Muslims and Christians can meet and have a good time, despite the religious constraints that might be felt in more conservative towns in the West Bank. Here, Mona and her friend Hamoud dance hand in hand at the end of the night.

139

Car racers from all over the West Bank came together for the Bethlehem Speed Test on August 6 to compete for the title of fastest man in Palestine. The race took place high on a hill overlooking Bethlehem and is the home of President Abbas’s private helicopter airfield.

140

Marwa Saleh celebrates her second-place finish overall in the Bethlehem Speed Test. The result is a shock to many of the spectators who did not quite realise that a member of the Speed Sisters had achieved a result. Hundreds of spectators stay and watch as her friends and girlfriends drive her around Bethlehem on a victory lap.

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Mona relaxes for a few brief moments after a stressful day full of traditional, religious and family commitments.

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Within the genre of the documentary, people are always keen to find new angles. The sudden view of things from their reverse, unusually unnoticed, side, comes upon us like a revelation. Guy Martin’s focus on the banality of Ramallah’s everyday life is a brave attempt to reach such a revelation. Instead of the oriental ‘other’ we see actual people, with whom we can feel connected. Away from the extreme chaos and drama of its atrocities, we are offered a nuanced view of a place that is even more complicated than we can imagine.

Erik Vroons(Editor GUP Magazine)

Jury comment

144

Education

2006 BA (Hons) in Documentary Photography (University of Wales, Newport)

Awards

2005 The Guardian/Observer Newspaper Hodge 2004 Runner-up, IMPACT PHOTOS, Tom Webster Award

Guy Martin / Bio / CV

Guy Martin (born 1983) comes from England’s windswept South Cornish coast and graduated with a first-class BA (Hons) in Documentary Photography from the University of Wales, Newport in September 2006.

Guy began pursuing long-term personal projects while studying at Newport, one of which, Trading over the Borderline, a project that focused on Iraq and Turkey’s trade routes, won him the Guardian/Observer Newspaper Hodge Award and was a runner-up in the IMPACT PHOTOS Tom Webster Award. Since 2005, he has been pursuing a long-term project in Southern Russia and the Caucasus focusing on post-conflict issues, including the rebirth of the Cossack movement, and the Georgia/Russia War and its lasting implications. In 2010, Guy started a four-year study of the build up to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

He is a regular contributor to FADER Magazine, The Guardian/Observer, The Times and Sunday Times, HUCK, and the New Statesman. He is represented internationally by ZUMAPRESS and is a visiting lecturer in Press and Editorial Photography at the University College Falmouth’s BA (Hons) Editorial Photography programme.

Guy MartinTel: +44 [email protected]

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Grant Scott - Editor Professional Photographer Magazine, UK

I’m always looking for someone who can create a narrative without relying on repetition or technique to provide a visual link.

3rd Jury Prize Conceptual

‘Fatalistic Tendency’ by Tushikur Rahman

The story’s narrative is not the traditional one which has a beginning, middle and end, with some details in between

Alleen LR?

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This story is an autobiography. It’s about a period of my life. The story’s narrative is not the traditional one which has a beginning, middle and end, with some details in between. Each picture is individual, and represents an individual state of mind during a particular time of trauma.

I was never able to write a diary, because usually what people write in a diary creates mental pressure for me, even just thinking about it. This story is like a very personal diary about me. So I was faced with the dilemma of whether to share the diary or not. I knew it would impact the people around me. Their perspective on me would be changed. I then decided to share the diary, to tell people about the mental condition a person goes through during a traumatic period of time. I am still working on the project and trying to express my state of mind; I will be trying my whole life.

Tushikur Rahman

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The story is about the unexpected depth of sadness running through it. On the other hand, nightmares lead to a slashed wrist which looks suspiciously like a suicide attempt. We all dream about the same horribly burned man. The creepy, surreal fantasy features are terrifically overwhelmed in the inner label of the mind, the fantasy of a world like the one shown in the movie Monster’s Ball. Finally, he turned into blue [the paranoid delusion].There is one place in which one’s privacy, intimacy, integrity and inviolability are guaranteed. One’s body and mind, a unique temple and a familiar territory of sense and personal history, space and time are warped by sleep deprivation, the frequent outcome of anxiety and stress. Gradually, one who wishes to commit suicide loses his mental resilience and sense of freedom. He feels alien and objectified, unable to relate to, communicate or empathise with others. He is floating in the dreams and eventually floating in the sky. The taste of suicide. The true sensation. He feels the extreme fantasy.

Fatalistic Tendency

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There is a fine line between pleasure and pain. Pain is not simply the removal of pleasure, and pleasure is not simply the removal of pain. In this series, Rahman expresses the fatalistic tendency to balance between these two aesthetic concepts. Suicide as an act of despair may be vast and overwhelming, but the photographs communicate something delicate and small.They represent a gentle and calm beauty that confusingly contrasts with the cruelty and horror of a self-chosen death; something that is at the same time tragic and gloomy, joyful and lucid. This photographer clearly understands something about the astonishment and mystery of darkness, solitude, and silence.

Jury comment

166

Education

2010 Photojournalism diploma, 2nd year, 2nd semester (Pathshala South Asian Media Academy)2006 A-Level (private)2004 O-Level (Oxford International School)

Exhibitions

2011 Selected with the work Fatalistic Tendency to participate in Chobi mela VI’s (an international photography festival in Bangladesh) digital presentation2006 – 2008 Curated several exhibitions in different galleries2006 Was part of an exhibition on documentary photography at the Alliance Française de Dhaka

Guy Martin / Bio / CV

Tushikur Rahman (born 1987, Bangladesh) is a documentary photographer who prefers to work on social issues, both urban and rural. In 2009, Tushik enrolled on the BA in Photography at the Pathshala South Asian Media Academy. He has participated in various international workshops conducted by renowned teachers and practitioners, including Stuart Freedman, Jorge Villacorta, Shannon Lee Castleman, Abir Abdullah and Munem Wasif.

He is also passionate about travelling and capturing thrilling subjects, including the lives of ‘Tiger widows’ and a full sequence of a tiger being slaughtered by hundreds of people in Shatkhira, Bangladesh. Between 2005-08 he travelled across Bangladesh to capture the lives of various people living in a Sufi order, their unconventional lifestyle and their love of and passion for music. In 2010, he finished Fatalistic Tendency, a harrowing project concerned with depression that results in violence. Tushik is looking forward to working on serious social issues which may have been overlooked and neglected by the majority, and he wants to present them with a greater intensity so that people are obliged at least to think about them.

Tushikur RahmanTel: +88 01915220211 [email protected] www.lightstalkers.org/tushikur-rahman

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Marcel Feil - Curator Foam Museum Amsterdam, NLMarcel Feil (1968) is curator at Foam_

Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam. After studying Art History at the University of Amsterdam, he worked for the Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture for four years. For the following four years, he was a staff member at the Amsterdam Centre for Photography, curating small exhibitions of work by young, emerging photographers, organising lectures and the educational programme. He has worked as curator at Foam since 2002, where he has organised a wide range of historical and contemporary photography exhibitions. He is also one of the editors of Foam Magazine, the international photography magazine published by Foam Museum.

Sam Barzilay - Director of Exhibitions of the New York Photo Festival, USA

Sam Barzilay is the director – and a founding member – of the New York Photo Festival. In past lives, he has been a curator, a visual artist and a social documentary photographer. In 2007, his collaborative work on collective responsibility and the consumption of violence was the focus of a three-month exhibition by the Oslo ByMuseum in Norway. He is currently residing in New York City, awaiting marching orders from the voices in his head.

Ernesto Bazan - Photographer, Teacher and Publisher, Mexico

Ernesto Bazan was born in Palermo in 1959. He received his first camera when he was 14 years old and began photographing daily life in his native city and in the rural areas of Sicily. Photography has been more than a profession: a true passion, a mission in his life. Ernesto has published several books: The Perpetual Past, Passing Through, The First Twenty Years, Island and Molo Nord. In 2008, his new publishing house, BazanPhotos Publishing, will print his latest book, Cuba, on 14 years of life and photography on the Caribbean island. His photographs have been acquired by collectors and museums, including MOMA and ICP in New York, SFMOMA in San Francisco, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, Durham, the South East Museum of Photography in Daytona, the Fondazione Italiana della Fotografia in Turin, the Biblioteque Nationale in Paris and the Musée Rattau in Arles.

Roy Kahmann - Owner of Kahmann Gallery and Co-publisher of GUP Magazine, NL

Roy Kahmann (1959) is the owner of Kahmann Gallery and co-publisher of GUP Magazine. Roy has collected photography throughout his 30-year career as an art director and designer for advertising and design agencies, his vast collection ranging from national to international photographers. The collection has still never been exhibited, but inspired Kahmann, besides managing two successful businesses, to invest a lot in photography-related initiatives.

The 2010 Jury

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Kadir van Lohuizen - Documentary Photographer, Amsterdam, NL

Kadir van Lohuizen started to work as a freelance photojournalist in 1988. In 1989, he joined photo agency Hollandse Hoogte in Amsterdam, and Agence VU in Paris in 1966. Over the years, Kadir has captured many African conflicts: Sierra Leone, Angola, South Africa, Mozambique and former Zaire. His work has been exhibited around the world and published in many books, such as Aderen, on the world’s seven great rivers, and Diamonds Matter, about the diamond industry.

Judging ProcessThe entries were judged in two rounds. First,

the jury reviewed a shortlist of the entries and moved those with the strongest appeal through to the second round. The winners were chosen based on the judges’ determination and the combination of four criteria:Narrative strengthPhotographic excellenceOriginalityArtistic brilliance

Pre-selectionBefore entering the contest, all entries were

screened to see whether they fit into the chosen category and whether the series had the required photographic and creative quality. Photo series that were regarded as too clichéd or brutal, for example, did not make it through the pre-selection. The entries that did were published on the viewbookphotostory.com website, where they competed for the public and jury prizes.

Public VotingViewbook PhotoStory is a public, online event

that everyone can be part of. Every visitor to the site was able to vote for and comment on their favourite photo stories. Special prizes will be awarded to the public winners.

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Viewbook PhotoStory 2010 is an international contest to which photographers are invited to submit a contemporary collection of images that convey a compelling narrative. While a single image has a narrative in itself and can be strong in isolation, Viewbook Photostory’s focus is specifically on showing series of images, in a well-chosen sequence that triggers a reaction and combines a narrative with photographic excellence. Viewbook PhotoStory is the ultimate international arena for showing and proving the impact of these narratives, and offers an engaging and prominent platform for photography artists.

Viewbook PhotoStory is initiated and organized by Viewbook.com in association with GUP magazine, backed by Blurb and many supporters.

Viewbook.com is an innovative online portfolio service that enables photographers to easily create custom portfolio websites, client presentations and photo galleries in one place, instantly. Viewbook.com offers flexible formats and complete tools that enable photographers to present and promote their work with more creativity and less constraints. Viewbook portfolio websites and proof albums can be fully customized, including the addition of branding elements, smooth scalable slideshows, full screen views and video - all with a users own web address. Sharing and embedding portfolio’s in blogs and social networks can’t be easier.

Viewbook.com is winner of the Professional Photographer USA Hot One 2010 Award as well as the Professional Photographer UK Ultimate Website 2010 Award.

GUP Magazine is your Guide to Unique Photography. Published bimonthly and distributed worldwide, GUP devotes each issue to a specific theme, featuring every angle of photography. And yes, there’s a lot to see. From the extensive portfolios of respected photographers and young talent to a comprehensive listing of international gallery and museum exhibitions. It is these features that make GUP a smart and inspirational guide for photographers, industry professionals and all those interested in the art of photography.www.gupmagazine.com

Blurb is a company and a community that believes passionately in the power of books. Blurb enables anyone to design, publish, market and sell professional quality books. Download Blurb’s free, award-winning Blurb BookSmart software or use your own programme if you want to make your book straight to PDF. With complete creative control, no minimum orders and global distribution, photographers can transform their inspiration into extraordinary books. You can create a portfolio, a client presentation, or sell your book in our online bookshop. You can even name your own price and keep 100% of the mark-up.

Organization

170







Ivan and the Moon by Daria Tuminas

Exodus by Vincent Elkaim

In Ramallah I can Breathe by Guy Martin

All that you leave by Luis Lazo

A Portrait of America Left Behind by Brandon Schulman

Fatalistic Tendency by Tushikur Rahman

Jury Prize winners

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The Flight by Imran Ahmed

Let the world know we still do it with our hands by Thanasis Lomef Zacharopoulos

The Empty House by Gianluca Cecere

Wu Xing by Laura Petreike

Drowning Bride by Dwi Anoraganingrm

Reset by Julia Katharina Ziegler

Public Prize winners

173

Foreword 5

‘Ivan and the Moon’ by Daria Tuminas 7Daria Tuminas 8Ivan and the Moon 9Jury comment 30Daria Tuminas / Bio / CV 31

‘All That You Leave’ by Luis Lazo 33Luis Lazo 34All That You Leave 35Jury comment 56Luis Lazo / Bio / CV 57

‘Exodus’ v Aaron Vincent Elkaim 59Aaron Vincent Elkaim 60Exodus 61Jury comment 86Aaron Vincent Elkaim / Bio / CV 87

‘A Portrait of America Left Behind’ by Brandon Schulman 89

Brandon Schulman 90A Portrait of America Left Behind 91Jury comment 116Brandon Schulman / Bio / CV 117

‘In Ramallah I Can Breathe’ by Guy Martin 119Guy Martin 120In Ramallah I Can Breathe 121Jury comment 144Guy Martin / Bio / CV 145

‘Fatalistic Tendency’ by Tushikur Rahman 147Tushikur Rahman 148Fatalistic Tendency 149Jury comment 166Guy Martin / Bio / CV 167

The 2010 Jury 168

Organization 170The 2010 Jury 172Contents 174

Colophon 175

Contents

174

Colophon

Coordination: Alrik SwagermanPublished by Viewbookwww.viewbook.com

Book design: Paul Swagerman www.paulswagerman.nlAssisted by Frank van Leeuwenwww.frankvanleeuwen.nl

Editing: Cecily Layzellwww.gupmagazine.com

Photography: Luis LazoDaria TuminasVincent Elkaim Guy Martin Brandon Schulman Tushikur Rahman

Printed by Blurbwww.blurb.com

All rights reserved. This book or parts of it may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, the photographers or the authors. The utmost care has been taken to present the information as accurately as possible. Neither the publisher nor the authors can be held responsible for any damage that may result from the use of that information. All efforts have been made to contact copyright holders.

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