Photograph of Professor Fred Hollows and Tran Van Giap in Vietnam 1992 and Giap -Preventable Blindness Vietnam in 2012
March 5th, 2012 § 4 Comments
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Just a couple of weeks ago I traveled with Gabi Hollows, wife of Fred, and board member at the Fred Hollows Foundation and Miranda Devine, writer from the Daily Telegraph to Vietnam to photograph and see what had transpired in the life of Tran Van Giap, the then nine year old boy pictured with Fred in the iconic photograph that has been the visual reference for The Fred Hollows Foundation for twenty years now since it first started in 1992. It was twenty years since our journey with Professor Hollows journey and we wanted to see with Gabi the blindness prevention program today after twenty years of FHF involvement. See here Miranda Devine’s Story in the Daily Telegraph
VIDEO The Making of an iconic photograph
In 1992 I was working at the Daily Telegraph newspaper as a staff photographer. I cannot quite recall exactly how it happened but one morning the then picture editor Anthony Moran called me over into his office and asked me if I wanted to travel with writer Miranda Devine and Professor Fred Hollows and his team to Vietnam to do a story on the Australian eye doctor and his mission to train the Vietnamese eye doctors modern cataract surgery. Suffering from cancer and very ill Professor Hollows had just been released from hospital and had been cleared to go. It was my first overseas assignment and to do a photojournalistic story like this was an opportunity I had been wanting for a while.
I did not realise it but the trip turned out to be my big break. It evolved into twenty years, involved one way or another with international preventable blindness stories and the Fred Hollows Foundation. My first big professional break was getting a cadetship at NewsLimited as a photographer, my second was being selected onto the staff at the Daily Telegraph newspaper after finishing my cadetship and my third was to get this assignment.
As much as this first overseas assignment was a big break for me, it turned out to be a life changing break for a nine year old Vietnamese boy Tran Van Giap as Miranda tells in her story. published last weekend in the Daily Telegraph in Sydney and Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne.
The basic story for Giap in 1992 was as Miranda explains so well, that Giap had he had a shard of glass lodged in his right eye for two years and his left eye was severely damaged. Giap and his father made a 170 km journey to Hanoi from their home and spend 25 days in hospital only to be told by Vietnamese doctors nothing could be done to help him.
It just so happened that the day they were to leave for their home Professor Hollows and his team arrived with Miranda and myself and two TV crews from Australia.
The moment in the photograph happened as I recall after a morning of surgery and photographing Professor Hollows and the visiting eye surgeons Dr Sanduk Ruit from Nepal and Dr Stephanie Young from Sydney working with and training the Vietnamese surgeons in intra ocular lens surgery (hProf Hollows was not operating as he was far to unwell at this time to do surgery).
In the afternoon Professor Hollows walked around a court yard outside the surgical rooms looking with a torch light at the eyes of patients waiting to be seen. Large groups of people were gathering, Professor Hollows sat down on a bench to be interviewed by the television reporter at the time Christopher Zinn. When the interview finished I was clustered on the ground close to Professor Hollows and I believe it was around moment that a few children had been pushed up before him and Giap came up to professor Hollows. He looked at his eye and suggested then that Giap’s problems were trauma and was complicated. He straight away organised for Dr Sanduk Ruit from Nepal one of Professor Hollows training surgeons, to examine and to operate. The rest is the history of Giaps life since then.
It was the first time, just last month that I had seen him since the day I made that photograph in 1992. Today he lives in Ho Chi Minh City, he is newly married to Binh, his wife of only a couple of months, he is studying for his masters degree in mathematics and driving his motor bike so confidently in his new home in Ho Chi Minh city.
The portrait of him I wanted in 2012 was to be with his year 12 maths class from last year. I wanted to make a portrait of him that represented what he had achieved twenty years after his surgery. Before the portrait I photographed him riding his motor bike to his home, with his wife Binh at a cafe, working in the classroom with his students.
The portrait was made towards the end of the class. I setup my portable Canon speed lights and photographed him and the class trying to bring a compositional eye to centre on him but include the reference and energy of the class. I made a couple of portraits with Gabi and with him and the photograph from 1992. It was made a little more difficult as he was wearing the same closes as the students.
Before the portrait I filmed some video on my Canon 5D Mark 2 as i do these days on assignments like these. Miranda asked the questions and I recorded a video interview with him, clipping my wireless lavalier microphone to his shirt to record sound into both the camera and my separate recording device, a Zoom H4N.
It was really great to see him after all this time, it’s not often you have a photograph that is so useful to so many people for such a long time and I don’t think it is about to end, the influence of the photograph or the work to avoid preventable blindness in Vietnam or the developing world.
Special Thanks to David Britton, Andy Nilsen, Dr Huynh Tan Phuc and Ngoc Vo From the Fred Hollows Foundation who made it all happen.
Blog Featuring John Leongard
March 8th, 2011 § 5 Comments
Some months ago early September 2010 actually I was sent a link to this great interview with John Leongard
made by Scott Kelby. I think photographers, picture editors and those that watch the creative process may get some thing from
John’s Blog.
http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2010/archives/11324
Interview with John Leongard
When I was studying photography at Sydney Technical College and working at News Limited as a Cadet photographer in the early 1980s John was the picture editor of Life Magazine. Certainly the world of journalism photography has changed a lot since then although Johns advise rings just as true today as then. I found the article useful despite not being a picture editor myself.
The Forgotten by Jenny Evans
March 1st, 2011 § 1 Comment
I have watched photographer -photojournalist Jenny Evans evolve this work of hers on horse racing jockeys over some time now. Through her photography first and then this multimedia Jenny has been trying to bring awareness to the public of the life of some of these riders after a fall. This is the aim of all concerned photojournalism, to bring awareness and hopefully change through a photograph or a series of photographs accompanied by words for some context. The multimedia on the web has taken that work to another level now. I recommend this very emotionally powerful presentation. Multimedia address here at vimeo http://vimeo.com/17870377
Jenny states in her Vimeo introduction “more than 300 riders have lost their lives since Australian racing first began. While accident insurance has become an essential feature of racing, all too often there are cases where jockeys and or their families are plunged into financial and mental hardship.”
”Dedication and bravery are prerequisites of almost every sport, and these qualities are found in abundance in racing. Australian jockeys are elite athletes who quite literally place their lives on the line every time they compete in a race. Sadly, serious injuries are a frequent occurrence, and more than 300 riders have lost their lives since Australian racing first began. While accident insurance has become an essential feature of racing, all too often there are cases where jockeys and or their families are plunged into financial and mental hardship.” from Jenny’s multimedia introduction on vimeo.Checkout Jenny’s work at http://www.2evos.com/
Alan Davies and the NSW State Library Collection
December 14th, 2010 § 1 Comment
The ‘Iconic Australian Photography’ short story by the History Channel is now showing on Foxtel (channel 44) and via the NSW State Library’s website. Curator of photography at the NSW State Library Alan Davies discusses the collection in a five minute video production.
Alan discusses, a beautiful story, one that I had not heard before of two mates Max Dupain and Damien Parer. Alan also relays the story of discovering in a shoebox of negatives the photography of George Caddy and his photographs of Bondi Beach acrobatics from the 1930s and 40s.
Alan Davis NSW Sate Library Curator of Photography
It is a brief outline of the workings of the library and it’s collection with it’s million plus photographs. Two of my own photographs flash before the screen for less than a second during the presentation.
One a photograph I took of Australian Aboriginal runner Cathy Freeman as she realised the expectations of a nation winning gold in the 400 metre final at the Sydney 2000 Olympics . The second photograph I made as a guest of a friends wedding as the groom swiped the top of a profiterole wedding cake with a Naval College World War I ceremonial sword.
Cathy Freeman winning 400m at Sydney 2000 Olympics.
The art director for TIME Pacific back in 2000 Susan Olle kindly hired me to photograph the two weeks of the Sydney Olympics. TIME pacific needed a specially accredited photographer of their own just in case at any time during the Olympics they needed a photographer to make a portrait, attend a demonstration, or photograph a particular person in an event. I was not really needed for the sports action, they had Joe McNally from the USA assigned and another photographer based in Russia. TIME had access to Allsport’s photographs (now Getty images). I photographed a different sport every day over the two weeks. I covered beach volleyball, rowing, swimming, the marathon, equestrian, kayaking and of course athletics.
I remember very clearly just how much Australian expectation there was for Cathy Freeman to win the 400m. Australians wanted, actually needed her to win. Standing high up in the stand I had a very ordinary position facing the finish line with my 600 mm lens on my main camera and a 80-200 mm lens on the second camera using 400 ISO colour negative film. I photographed it because I just wanted to be there to watch history being made. Up in the stand I was with hundreds of photographers all elbow to elbow. After photographing most of the event with the long lens I switched to the 80-200 zoom and once she got up from the ground after sitting down for what seemed ages it could have been between 5-7 minutes I made photographs of her walking and waving to the crowd. In a number of frames I included in the picture the time of her run, the final places on the board, I composed her very small in scale to the enormous crowd. I have had many positive comments from writers on this photograph none from photographers. It is not a photographers photograph, it is a historian’s photograph, it is all about time and place. TIME Pacific published it across two pages as the opener to the coverage that week and some seven or so years later Alan Davies purchased the photograph for the NSW State library archive in 2004, one of twenty or so I have with the library. This Cathy Freeman photograph was one of a number of images I selected for the final edit of the games. It was Susan who actually spotted the image and considered it as some thing special amongst perhaps twenty or so photographs of the Cathy Freeman race. Susan chose it for the magazines opener for that weeks coverage otherwise the photograph may have passed by any notice in the busyness and stress of the time.
Cathy Freeman winning the 2000 Olympics 400m
Felicity and Dat cut the cake
Felicity and Dat’s wedding in contrast was not work. I just took some photographs for a close friend’s wedding. When you are not commissioned you can do what you want. I actually like photographing weddings, especially when I can work in a documentary style. At some quiet time in the proceedings, usually after the ceremony I make some portraits of the couple and their family, an image to put in a frame where the couple are at their best and the photographs reflect a sense of place.
In this case I had the camera-lens combination I always used to loved when I was using film, a 28-70 mm Zoom on a Canon SLR and a 35 mm on my Leica rangefinder camera. It was time to cut the cake and as I waited to document the event Dat lifted the sword and just took a swipe at the top of the cake I instinctively lifted the camera and took the photograph. I must have pre focused without thinking about it as the photograph was nice and sharp, a little movement although that added to the energy of the image. It happened so quickly I had no time to think, I just did it. Alan purchased this photograph for the library and it along with the Cathy Freeman photograph. Some year latter they featured in the book on the collection the library published in 2004 called Eye for Photography.
The key for photographs presented to the library is, their information and their historical significance. It’s nice to have a few photographs in the archive at NSW State Library.
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Beating the Odds -ABC News Investigative Unit
November 16th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
- Beating the Odds ABC Investigative Unit.
Beating the Odds- ABC News Investigative Unit
I am at the end of a run of blog posts, we have just come out of the Reportage weekend and I am just getting the hang of the process of blogging. If you have not already come across this web journalism Beating the Odds then you must see this. It one of the most exiting aspects of photojournalism I feel at the moment. The fact that I can with the press of a play button view a multi feature that can be expanded to fill our lap top screens and we can watch it any where in the world and when ever I wish is wonderful. The issue of course is broadband speeds so the sooner that good access is provided for rural areas and in the developing world the better for everyone. I met Ed Giles the photographer and co reporter of
on the weekend of the Reportage and found he and his work very impressive. Of course Beating the odds is made with a team of specialists Investigative Unit Editor Suzanne Smith and Reporter and multimedia producer Eleanor Bell and Executive Producer Matthew Liddy. It was suggested at the Social Media seminar on Saturday at Reportage that it is this hybrid of visual communications in the ipad, the iphone and similar devises that will be the future of your current newspapers and magazines.
Reportage Retrospective Reviews
November 15th, 2010 § 1 Comment
The Reportage couple of days of projections and seminars have come to an end.
ADAM FERGUSON won the Reportage Festival’s professional category for his photo essay on Afghanistan.
Liz Loh-Taylor won the student category for her project that looked at the background to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Here are two links to stories based on the Reportage 1999-2010 Retrospective Exhibition and a multimedia on the projections with interviews with Stephen Dupont and Adam Ferguson.
ABC Online....Review of Reportage Retrospective 1999-2010 Exhibition.
ABC Online Review of Reportage Retrospective 1999-2010 Exhibition.
Sydney Morning Herald Article by Linda Morris and Multimedia Review.
SMH Review of Reportage Retrospective 1999-2010
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Stephen Dupont’s Afghanistan at the ACP
November 10th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Due to work I missed the opening night of Stephen’s exhibition on Afghanistan. Probably just as well because a week later during the day I spent over an hour pouring over the extensive exhibition which included book layouts, collages, proof sheets, films and photographs. If you are a young photojournalist or documentary photographer or filmmaker starting off, Stephen shows you how it can be done. It is a powerful show, it is informative, and emotive. Stephen’s diary entries featured throughout the exhibition allowed me to experience the evolution of the work in Afghanistan trip by trip for over sixteen years..
If you want to know what happens when a suicide bomber strikes, Stephen shows you, image by image. If you want to see how a book proposal is created, Stephen has a full layout. The videos shown outside the exhibition space in the seated area helped explain the story behind some of the still images, in particular the burning of the Taliban soldier which is shown in the exhibition almost mural size. I loved seeing the book proposals, work shown in the glass cabinets and his travel memorabilia.
The last room of the exhibition creates the balance for the conflict images, it features portraits made of the common man in Afghanistan. Made through a polaroid camera and a simple backdrop, the subjects present themselves naturally to the camera, revealing the spirit of each individual.
Lots more on behind the scenes of Stephen’s making the Afghan portraits, films and a series of photographs of the
Exhibition at Stephen Dupont’s Website and his Blog
Brunette Downs -Northern Territory
November 3rd, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Photographs from assignment on Brunette Downs in the Northern Territory. Der Spiegel writer Takis Wurger and myself spent 5 days on Brunette Downs, one of the largest cattle stations in Australia it is said to be bigger than some countries. Henry and Burnadette Burke opened up all doors to the property to us with very warm hospitality. We had a taste of most aspects of the daily life of the property as we crossed the length and breadth of the 12,212 sq km Barkly Tableland property. We witnessed the repairing of a problem bore, went out with cattle muster, stayed overnight sleeping under the stairs along with a muster team camped out on location, we watched the movement of the muster from a muster helicopter, observed the drafting of cattle in the yards, and watched the three carriage road train drop animals off in a new paddock.
The work is highly skilled, physically demanding and requires a lot of strength and patience.
Australian Cattle Property Brunette Downs – Images | Michael Amendolia – Photography.
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Hi..my first blog post
November 2nd, 2010 § Leave a Comment
see www.reportage.com.au for more information
My first Blog. Hi…. I start my first blog post by reminding people in Sydney and interstate that the Reportage Festival of Documentary photography starts this Thursday the 4th November. Reportage which started in 1999 by myself and my friends and colleges Stephen Dupont, David Dare Parker, and Jack Picone has since the year 2001 been managed and directed by Jacqui Vicario with feedback and contributions from year to year by the founders. The opening this Thursday starts with two exhibitions at the Australian Centre of Photography.
There is an exhibition of Edmund Clark’s photographs of Guantanamo Bay and photographer and creative director, Billy Plummer curates an exhibition of real, uncommercial work, from the undiscovered talent emerging on Flickr in an exhibition called Flickr. Reportage Without a Cause.
The festival continues the next week at the National Art School in East Sydney with a ten- year anniversary of REPORTAGE exhibition, two nights of projections, a weekend seminar series, and a Masterclass by Jack Picone and Stephen Dupont.
Hope to see as many people as possible there.
Cheers Michael
