ZORIAH - A PHOTOJOURNALIST AND WAR PHOTOGRAPHER'S BLOG

Dollar Street

I have had to keep a lot of my work over the past year silent, until now.  I am very excited to share this amazing new project with all of you, it's called Dollar Street.  It is very different from what I normally do but equally challenging and fascinating.  

About a year and a half ago I was contacted by Anna Rosling Rönnlund at the Gapminder.  Gapminder has an interesting mission statement that you can read but personally I like how they sum up their work as "We are a modern museum that helps make the world more understandable..." 

Anna had this great idea about making a website that would allow anyone in the world to look at photos that would help them understand how others live around the world.  Basically an intimate look inside other people's homes to show how they eat, sleep and solve other problems of comfort and survival.  It fit in perfectly with why I began photojournalism in the first place, in order to show people what it really looks like to struggle in difficult places and impossible situations around the world.

Last spring I took off for Malawi, the first of ten countries I would work in during the first year of this project.  I was equipped with my camera gear and a list of 130 household items that I would photograph in each home.  Gapminder provided me with statistical data that I would use to identify families living in the lowest level of poverty.  I would then spend a day with each family photographing the interior of their homes...items such as a toothbrush, bed, roof, meal and other details that tell the stories of their lives.  

I am posting the first public information about the Gapminder Dollar Street project below.  It is a TEDx talk that Anna did two weeks ago in Stockholm.  They are working hard on a website for the photos and  I will post that as soon as it is ready, but building a platform like this may take a while.

Lectures and Workshop at Hobart and William Smith Colleges Next Week

I will be giving a public lecture, hosting a seminar/workshop and attending several classes at Hobart and William Smith Colleges next week.  More information is below as well as a link to the article on the Hobart and William Smith Colleges website:

 

If you accidentally landed on this page searching for Photojournalism Workshops you can find information on Zoriah's international, one-on-one workshops by following this link.

 

Zoriah Lectures at Hobart and William Smith Colleges

 

"Award-winning photojournalist Zoriah Miller, commonly known as Zoriah, will join the ongoing dialogue of reconciliation with a workshop and a public talk, as part of the HWS Symposium on Genocide and Human Rights.

With a focus on his stunning photographic images and work in conflict, crisis and genocide situations, Zoriah will lead a workshop on Monday, Nov. 12. The workshop is limited to 25 people, and will take place a 3:30 p.m. in the Fisher Center in Demarest Hall. To secure a space in the workshop, contact Professor of Religious Studies Michael Dobkowski at [email protected].

The following evening, Zoriah will address the community in a talk on Tuesday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. in the Geneva Room of the Warren Hunting Smith Library. The lecture will delve into his captivating work, exploring what it means to encapsulate the strife and emotion of people and places in crisis through images.

A documenter of wars, genocides, conflict and crisis, Zoriah has worked to convey the true horrors of human crises in developing countries. Zoriah's photographs have been published in countless magazines, journals and newspapers including the New York Times, Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, BBC News, NPR, Rolling Stone, The United Nations and Fortune.

Zoriah has worked as an embedded photojournalist for the U.S. Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, as an embedded military photographer for the U.S. Marine Corps, and as a freelance news photographer for several news organizations. His work has garnered numerous awards including Top Photojournalist of All Time by Infinit Posterous, the Grand Prize in the 2009 PhotoPhilanthropy Activist Awards, and Photojournalist of the Year in 2006 by Morepraxis. Zoriah has held exhibitions in more than 40 locations internationally, and has lectured at universities and conferences throughout the world.

The talk is part of the Symposium on Genocide and Human Rights that this year continued to explore the theme of reconciliation, justice and witnessing.

"Last year, we heard from those who have worked to prevent genocide," explains Professor of Religious Studies Michael Dobkowski, who serves as chair of the symposium's steering committee. "However, this year, we consider a post-genocide world. How do we move on? How can we represent genocide that is not in the present - and how can we truly see it and learn? This year, we will learn from those trying to rebuild, to achieve justice and those seeking reconciliation - whether it is with their enemies or their own demons."

Through the symposium's incredible speakers such as Zoriah, Dobkowski hopes that each member of the community can take away something important to use in their own lives. "Many of our speakers describe horrible atrocities - and yet they have no hate, only love," remarks Dobkowski. "How can this be? How can we all learn to do the same?""

Lecture and Exhibition Thank You Notes

I have been shooting all week and have not had time to make a proper post, so let me take this time to send out a few thanks:

First of all, my thanks to Russian Photo Magazine for bringing me to Moscow last month.  It was also a pleasure to meet, lecture and exhibit with landscape photographer Dan Ballard, extreme sports photographer Krystle Wright and wedding photographer Dina Douglas, all of whom are considered to be at the very top of their fields.  More importantly though, they are all really nice people.

A late thank you to Tammy, Shireen and everyone at Webster University Genave for bringing me out to lecture at their wonderful Media Trends Conference and for their hospitality.  I look forward to seeing you all again in the spring for next years conference.

My next lecture will be in New York in November at the Hobart and William Smith Colleges.  I will post details as soon as I have dates and confirmation if any of the events will be open to the public.

If you are interested in booking lectures you can follow that link.  If you are interested in attending I post information on lectures on this blog.

I also have some work on display at ZIA Gallery in Chicago this month and will have a solo exhibition there in the spring. 

More photographs next week...

Zoriah Will Be The Keynote Speaker at Webster University in Geneva, Switzerland

If you are in Europe and would like to attend one of my lectures, I will be speaking at Webster University in Geneva.  I will be giving a keynote presentation for their annual Media Trends Conference, the subject of which is "New Media Tools and Human Rights.)  I will be giving a short introduction to the conference on the morning of March 26th, hosting a photography workshop during the day on the 27th and giving a speech, slide show and time for questions on the evening of the 27th.  I believe the event is open to the public as long as you register, I am providing links below so you can check it out if you are interested.  There will be lots of other accomplished presenters there over the two days and the event will be very informative.  

The conference is free to attend, all you need to do is register below.  There will be a dinner on Sunday night at Port Gitana that costs 60 CHF.  I will be there the whole two days and also at the dinner, so it would be a pleasure to meet any of you that are able to come :)

Media Trends Conference Schedule

Registration for the conference

Recent Interview on Radio France

I am busy here in the West Bank this week so while you are waiting for the pictures, here is an interview I did while I was in Paris two weeks ago on Radio France.  The questions they asked me had to do with photographing poverty, so if that subject is interesting to you, you can find the interview below.

INTL MEDIA UNESCO RECUT 19-2

(04:52)

 

If the embeded content above does not play, you can find the interview here.