ZORIAH - A PHOTOJOURNALIST AND WAR PHOTOGRAPHER'S BLOG

TED Photography Talks - Part 4

You can view the other posts in this series by following the links below:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, this is Part 4

 

James Nachtwey fights XDR-TB

James Nachtwey fights XDR-TB Photojournalist James Nachtwey sees his TED Prize wish come true, as we share his powerful photographs of XDR-TB, a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis that's touching off a global medical crisis. Learn how to help at http://www.xdrtb.org

 

Kristen Ashburn's photos of AIDS

Kristen Ashburn's photos of AIDS In this moving talk, documentary photographer Kristen Ashburn shares unforgettable images of the human impact of AIDS in Africa.

 

 

Nathan Myhrvold: Cooking as never seen before

Cookbook author (and geek) Nathan Myhrvold talks about his magisterial work, "Modernist Cuisine" -- and shares the secret of its cool photographic illustrations, which show cross-sections of food in the very act of being cooked.

 

 

Rachel Sussman: The world's oldest living things

Rachel Sussman shows photographs of the world's oldest continuously living organisms -- from 2,000-year-old brain coral off Tobago's coast to an "underground forest" in South Africa that has lived since before the dawn of agriculture.

 

 

Ryan Lobo: Photographing the hidden story

Ryan Lobo has traveled the world, taking photographs that tell stories of unusual human lives. In this haunting talk, he reframes controversial subjects with empathy, so that we see the pain of a Liberian war criminal, the quiet strength of UN women peacekeepers and the perseverance of Delhi's underappreciated firefighters

 

 

Beverly + Dereck Joubert: Life lessons from big cats

Beverly + Dereck Joubert live in the bush, filming and photographing lions and leopards in their natural habitat. With stunning footage (some never before seen), they discuss their personal relationships with these majestic animals -- and their quest to save the big cats from human threats.

 

Too Tired to Make a Proper Post, So You Have to Read This Instead

I have been lying in my hotel room here in Bangkok staring at my computer for about an hour now (actually an hour and twenty minutes if you count how long it took to write this sentence.) Anyway, time to focus...must tend to the blog.

I am working on a story on kids living in the Klong Toey slum who train in kickboxing in hopes of making a life away from poverty.  It has been a long time since I have been in a comfortable place working on a story like this, so it is a nice change.  It is still exhausting though, that part seems to difficult to shake:)

I am still going through the Rohingya refugee story and I hope to have it finished and post it here in the next few weeks.  It has taken me a long time to put this one together, sometimes it is just tough to look at the images.  I hope that the wait will be worth it though, I think it is a powerful story and I look forward to sharing it with you.

Sorry to not post any images this week...tons more will come soon.

For now it is time to sleep.  Maybe the sound of my dripping laundry will put me under...

The Girl With the Teddy Bear

 
A girl hugs a teddy bear on the outskirts of one of Kampala's largest slums.

TED Photography Talks - Part 3

This is Part 3 of a comprehensive collection of TED Talks relating to photography.  

You can view the other posts in this series by following the links below:

Part 1, Part 2

 

Jonathan Klein: Photos that changed the world

Photographs do more than document history -- they make it. At TED University, Jonathan Klein of Getty Images shows some of the most iconic, and talks about what happens when a generation sees an image so powerful it can't look away -- or back.

 

Nick Veasey: Exposing the invisible

Nick Veasey shows outsized X-ray images that reveal the otherworldly inner workings of familiar objects -- from the geometry of a wildflower to the anatomy of a Boeing 747. Producing these photos is dangerous and painstaking, but the reward is a superpower: looking at what the human eye can't see.

 

 

Brian Skerry reveals ocean's glory -- and horror

Photographer Brian Skerry shoots life above and below the waves -- as he puts it, both the horror and the magic of the ocean. Sharing amazing, intimate shots of undersea creatures, he shows how powerful images can help make change.

 

 

Yann Arthus-Bertrand captures fragile Earth in wide-angle

In this image-filled talk, Yann Arthus-Bertrand displays his three most recent projects on humanity and our habitat -- stunning aerial photographs in his series "The Earth From Above," personal interviews from around the globe featured in his web project "6 billion Others," and his soon-to-be-released movie, "Home," which documents human impact on the environment through breathtaking video.

 

 

Rob Forbes on ways of seeing

Rob Forbes, the founder of Design Within Reach, shows a gallery of snapshots that inform his way of seeing the world. Charming juxtapositions, found art, urban patterns -- this slideshow will open your eyes to the world around you.

 

 

James Balog: Time-lapse proof of extreme ice loss

Photographer James Balog shares new image sequences from the Extreme Ice Survey, a network of time-lapse cameras recording glaciers receding at an alarming rate, some of the most vivid evidence yet of climate change.

 

 

Alison Jackson looks at celebrity

By making photographs that seem to show our favorite celebs (Diana, Elton John) doing what we really, secretly, want to see them doing, Alison Jackson explores our desire to get personal with celebs. Contains graphic images.

 

On The Record - It's Me But It's Not?

If you happen to be in London this week I will be speaking with the highly accomplished journalist Nick Davies (famous for breaking the recent phone hacking scandal in the UK) on Monday night after the showing of On The Record.  It will be my first time to see actor Trevor White portray me on stage (so this could be a great chance to see what I look like when I am completely weirded out!) Ha!

Seriously though, the play has been getting amazing reviews and the subject matter is very interesting.  I will post some reviews and the press release below, for those of you that are interested.  

The playwrights, Christine Bacon and Noah Birksted-Breen contacted me in early 2009 and told me about their interest in writing a play, based in part on my experiences in Iraq.  We spent hours on the phone in interviews for them to get the direct quotes from which the play is primarily based.  I never knew if anything would come of the project and was happy to find out that not only did they see it through but apparently they did an amazing job with the production.  I look forward to seeing it on Monday the 8th and if any of you are able to join, please stick around afterwards and say hello.

From the Producers:

Press:

The Times  ‘This play by Christine Bacon and Noah Birksted-Breen is a tribute to the courage, compassion and tenacity of those who unearth and report stories of real significance, often at great personal risk. Partly based on interviews with journalists, and partly dramatised, it makes gripping theatre, in a production by Michael Longhurst that is at once succinct, shocking and wryly funny … Throughout, the acting is riveting, unflashy and full of conviction, while the stories the play tells are truly humbling.’The American photo-journalist Zoriah Miller (Trevor White) maintains that in the United States censorship is rife, thanks to the power of the advertising dollar. “Nobody wants to sell a watch opposite a picture of someone dying,” he says. His images of the Iraq war are devastating; he captures them in the face of pressure from editors who want something lighter.Financial Times  ‘At a time when so much of the British press appears to have been involved in crimes and corruption rather than uncovering them, this is a sobering and heartening reminder of why journalism also matters in a positive way.

Evening Standard  ‘Impassioned … Director Michael Longhurst keeps up the tension throughout. A vital play for grubby times.’

The Sunday Times ‘As the phone-hacking scandal rumbles on, this reminder that journalism and integrity need not be  mutually exclusive is something of a pick-me-up … The production … compresses a lot into 90 minutes as it lays out why the practice of investigative journalism matters’

Guardian  ‘These people are fierce, proud and hearteningly optimistic.

Telegraph  ‘Was I impressed?…Yes”

The Public Review (4.5 Stars) : “The most impressive thing of all is how this play teeters along the line between candour and good taste, showing us horrifying video images to shake us out of our comfortable, democratic cocoon without needing to push so hard that it feels like shock tactics. I often had goosebumps, and at times a lump in my throat, but mostly I felt in awe, and with a desire to find out more”

Spectator ‘On the Record is ‘an excellent, timely and unsettling play … So many plays are just circus routines or museum pieces. This is a living, breathing piece of propaganda in the best sense. It jerks us from our complacency and argues, quietly but with overwhelming force, that liberal democracy is not inherent in any community’s gene code. It has to be replanted and refreshed by each new generation.’

Metro “Warm and Witty”

The Stage : “Human rights theatre company Ice and Fire’s well-timed celebration of investigative journalism is a refreshing contrast to the daily reports of indiscriminate phone hacking recently in the news.”

The British Theatre Guide: “The acting in On The Record is impeccable throughout. Each performer gives a small masterclass in acting …The script by Christine Bacon and Noah Birksted-Breen is well paced and informative”

The Public Review : “The most impressive thing of all is how this play teeters along the line between candour and good taste, showing us horrifying video images to shake us out of our comfortable, democratic cocoon without needing to push so hard that it feels like shock tactics. I often had goosebumps, and at times a lump in my throat, but mostly I felt in awe, and with a desire to find out more”

ReviewsGate: “Theatre at its best showing journalism at its best…Michael Longhurst’s direction is exemplary… leaving the floor to six fine actors who embody their characters’ different manners and inhabit their sense of purpose without any sense of forcing personality or pleading a case...Christine Bacon, Noah Birkstead-Breen and Ice and Fire theatre’s production ensure a gripping, revelatory event”

 

ON THE RECORD

By Christine Bacon and Noah Birksted-Breen Directed by Michael Longhurst At Studio 1, Arcola Theatre, Dalston, London. 20th July – 13th August

On The Record is a searing new play from leading human rights theatre company iceandfire, giving an insight into the lives of campaigning journalists from around the world who put their lives on the line in the cause of truth. Part verbatim and part dramatised, it is personal testimony from real people with a vital role to play in safeguarding freedoms that we can all too often take for granted.

On The Record dramatises stories of six journalists: in Sri Lanka, the Wickrematunge brothers Lal and Lasantha start a newspaper to publish stories that the other papers won’t touch, knowing the enormous risks they run in challenging the powers that be; Lydia Cacho uncovers a Mexican child pornography ring involving politicians and businessmen, becoming a national hero in the process which only just saves her life; Elena Kostyuchenko investigates mafia collusion with the police in Moscow for the paper Novaya Gazeta; American photojournalist Zoriah Miller documents the aftermath of a suicide bombing in Iraq which he feels is the only way to convey the real human cost of the war, but comes into conflict with the US military censors; Amira Hass is the only Jewish Israeli journalist ever to have lived and worked in the Occupied Palestinian territories as a correspondent for the Israeli daily Ha’aretz, and is an outspoken critic of the occupation. On The Record weaves together the stories of these disparate characters linked by their determination to challenge the official version of the truth in their countries, with in some cases, horrifying consequences.

On The Record is written by Ice and Fire’s artistic director Christine Bacon and Noah Birksted- Breen. It is directed by acclaimed director Michael Longhurst whose recent work includes Stovepipe (Bush/National Theatre) and Remembrance Day (Royal Court).