As of today, Sean Gallagher Photography can now be found on Twitter. I’ll be posting shorter updates on Twitter, keeping you up-to-date with all my announcements and news from China in bite sized pieces. My handle for Twitter is @gallagher_photo
Photo of the Week | 29.06.09
China. Beijing. A young boy in a hutong near Tiananmen Square. 2005
I first came to China in the autumn of 2005. I had just finished a 1-year paid internship at Magnum Photos in London and upon the completion of the internship, Magnum gave me and my fellow interns a grant in order to help begin our work as photographers. The grant basically enabled us to afford a plane ticket to anywhere in the world. I decided to go to China.
For 6 weeks, I walked the traditional alleways, or hutongs, that make up the old part of the center of Beijing working on a story about the disappearance and destruction of these traditional neighborhoods. One evening I came across this young boy, standing, watching the world pass him by in a hutong to the south of Tiananmen Square. At this point, I spoke virtually no Chinese which presented the challenge of trying to capture a portrait without being able to communicate with my subject. So, how do you do it?
China Dialogue – Bridging the divide
If you have any interest in China, especially in environmental issues related to the middle kingdom, you MUST visit the website China Dialogue. Set up by leading UK journalist Isabel Hilton in 2006, the website has become one of the de-facto go-to websites for all issues covering the numerous challenges China is currently facing with the environment. What makes the site unique, besides the fact it deals exclusively with environmental issues is that it is bilingual, published in both English and Chinese Mandarin. Not only are the articles bilingual, the comments sections are also translated so that dialogue can take place between netizens from the west and those within China itself.
This week, China Dialogue has published my photo essay from my recent work on desertification in China for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. You can view the article here. Whilst I am always happy to see my work published in whatever form it may be, I am most excited when it is published in an arena that allows different potential audiences to view and understand the work, in this case, through the bilingual nature of the site.
RESOLVE: Long photo essays: Research, plan, and stay flexible
As mentioned in an earlier post, I have been asked to be a guest contributor on the Livebooks blog, RESOLVE. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be describing the processes and working practices that I employed whilst covering my Pulitzer-sponsored project on the subject of China’s Growing Sands. If you missed the first post on finding a story and looking for funding, please visit it here. My second post has just gone up on RESOLVE and covers the subject of research and planning. To see how it looked on RESOLVE, click here. Below is the reproduced article.
Before I was awarded the grant from Pulitzer, I had to have it clear in my mind what I wanted to achieve with this project and how exactly I wanted to achieve it. I had already been working on the subject of desertification on-and-off for over a year, so I already had a good idea of most of the main issues.
First Exhibit of China’s Growing Sands – You’re Invited!
On Saturday July 4th at 6 p.m. at Cafe Zarah in Beijing, a selection of images from my Pulitzer-sponsored China’s Growing Sands project will go on display to the public. Located in the heart of Beijing, Cafe Zarah is a beautiful location for the first select showing of these images. Please take a moment to visit their website, to see what they have on offer.
The exhibit will be on for one month, however at 6 p.m. on July 4th (Independence Day) I shall be giving a brief talk and introduction to the work and will be available to answer any questions that people may have about my project. Also, we will be projecting my multimedia presentation on China’s Growing Sands from 6 p.m., so if you are able to make it, try to get there a little earlier to catch the presentation.
If you happen to be a member of the Foreign Correspondents Club of China you’ll get 20% off a large selection of drinks on the showing of your membership card. If you’re not a member, don’t worry, the drinks are very reasonably priced anyway!
Also, all the framed prints will be on sale throughout the duration of the exhibition on a first come, first serve basis. If you would like the prints signed, either catch me at the exhibition or drop me an email to arrange.
I look forward to seeing you!
Photo of the Week | 22.06.09
China. Beijing. Lightning storm over the city. 2007
‘Photo of the week’ is to be a regular feature here on the Sean Gallagher Photography Blog. Every Monday, I shall post an image from my archive and write a little bit about it to explain my choice. The choice may be because it didn’t make the cut into my portfolio site, or maybe it will be tied in to something in the news, or maybe it’ll just be a photo I really like.
So here is the first one I have chosen for you.
China’s Growing Sands – Multimedia
The above multimedia piece, China’s Growing Sands, is the culmination of my work for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting from April to May of this year. One of the stipulations of my grant was to produce a multimedia piece for internet distribution upon completion of my travels. This kind of stipulation would have been non-existent a few years ago however today it is becoming the norm as organisations see the potential of presenting work online and are expecting their reporters to be able to handle multiple roles.
RESOLVE: Online photography community
One of the blogs I regularly check out is RESOLVE, the blog of liveBooks. It’s a great resource and window into the workings of photographers, across a spectrum of genres. They have regular contributions from excellent photographers such as Ed Kashi, Reza and Art Wolfe, all writing detailed articles about various aspects of their lives as pro-photographers. When I was beginning photography, one of the biggest insights for me was to read about photographers’ thoughts on what they were shooting, why they were shooting it, how they were shooting it etc. I believe no matter what stage of our careers we are at, we can still learn, and it’s great to read about the experiences of other pro-photographers to help improve and learn from others’ experiences.
I was flattered recently when Miki Johnson, the editor of RESOLVE, asked me to become a contributor and write about my experiences whilst conducting my recent work for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. I’ll be contributing a series of about 4 posts over the coming weeks for RESOLVE, detailing many of the facets involved with my trip including preparation, shooting in-the-field, post-production and distributing the final work. You can read my first post here, which deals with finding the idea for a story and applying for funding.
Welcome to the new Sean Gallagher Photography Blog
First…Thankyou for visiting the new Sean Gallagher Photography Blog. This blog will be an area for me to keep you updated with what I am currently working on here in China, my thoughts on photography in general and hopefully a window into the life of a photographer in China.
So you may be wondering, why a blog now?
Please Check Back Soon
Thanks for visiting the Sean Gallagher Photography Blog. I’m not quite ready to go, but please check back soon as I’m nearly there!
