VISUAL THOUGHTS 视觉观点

I was surprised to learn the other day that a friend of mine and fellow photographer, Lance Rosenfield, had made it onto CNN. I wasn’t surprised that he was in the limelight because he is an excellent photographer…see proof here and here.I was surprised  because he was on CNN since he had just been detained and harassed whilst on assignment photographing a BP oil refinery in Texas.

The above video is an interview with Lance from the Anderson Cooper show on CNN a couple of days ago. Lance outlines his experiences of being followed by the police, detained and quizzed after having taken pictures of the refinery.

It’s understandable that sights such as this will be sensitive to people randomly turning up and taking photographs. It’s equally understandable that they may stop people and ask what they are doing. What isn’t understandable is the way that those people can then be treated by the authorities as was outlined by Lance in his interview. The fact that Lance’s personal information was given to BP security by the police, despite his protests, is worrying. The fact that he was also intimidated by the threat and subsequent arrival of a Homelands Security Officer sounds excessive and uncalled for. Was this really needed when I am sure Lance outlined he was a professional photojournalist working for a reputable publication?

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A couple of years ago, a friend of mine sent me a link. It was a link to a documentary that would give me a new insight into China, like I had never had before.

Made in 2007, “Please Vote For Me” is a documentary by Chinese director Weijun Chen, following the lives of three young schoolchildren as they bid to become the first class president, embracing a new concept…voting.

Following these students though the whole process of the build-up to the election we see a microcosmic display of Chinese society played out beautifully through the lives of three very different children from very different backgrounds.

I do not want to give anything away for those who haven’t seen it, but  the interweaving of the stories of the three children and their preparations are so well done and draw you into a real dramatic climax with a level of drama that is hard to beat.

I can’t encourage you enough to find an hour to sit and watch this documentary. Once you do, please come back and let me know what you think!

Recently, I have started to venture more into the video world and this summer, I will have a project which will allow me to start to really produce more video-work. As I start to add the moving image to more of the work that I do, I start to look more to the video world for inspiration. If I am honest, I always did this anyway as I am a huge movie and documentary fan and drew inspiration from these for many many years for my still work. Now, I am starting to watch videos, movies, documentaries in a different way, mainly trying to visualise in my mind how they were conceived, shot, edited and created.

This week I was blown-away by two videos, actually advertisements, that I caught online. You can get inspired by advertisements? Seems a little odd I guess, for a photographer who concentrates mainly on documentary subjects, but the answer is yes. Each of these videos is quite different, but they both have their own sense of ‘wow’ factor about them. Clever ideas and beautifully shot.

Now I must admit, that with the first video I am slightly biased as I am a big football fan, however I think the video is just beautiful and the editing is really very good (watch out for the hilarious inclusion of Homer Simpson). Now, in the second video I will never use the techniques they employ (this will become obvious after you watch it) but I really like it because it’s nearly impossible not to want to watch it a second time to figure out what you just missed! It made me think a lot about our perception of scenes we view quickly. Don’t want to give too much away though!

What did you think? Which do you prefer?

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A couple of months ago, I stumbled upon a hilarious comic. His name is Joe Wong and I wanted to share one of his videos with you here on the blog.

Originally from China, Joe Wong is a relatively new American immigrant, and focuses his act on the experiences he faces in his new culture. Drawing upon daily happenings adapting to his new life, he offers hilarious anecdotes about being a newly arrived immigrant and his journey from China into becoming an ‘all American immigrant’, as he has dubbed himself.

By poking fun at himself and national stereotypes, Joe relates the differences between China and the West in hilarious fashion and offers them up in a completely fresh and interesting way with a dry delivery that is quite unique.

Enjoy!

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Earth Hour | Beijing | China

Last week I posted the first competition for my blog, based on the recent video that I shot to coincide with Earth Hour here in Beijing. If you missed the video, you can watch it here on Vimeo or YouTube.

The challenge was to find me within the video, walking in front of the camera. Sounds easy huh? Yes, except for the fact the that the video is time-lapse and condenses the whole earth hour into one minute, hence making my two appearances very very brief.

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http://www.vimeo.com/10864307

I am delighted to announce here on my blog that this month’s issue of National Geographic China contains a 12-page essay of my images and text, about my Pulitzer Center-sponsored work on “China’s Growing Sands”. This is a wonderful opportunity to reach out to a new audience in China and bring wider attention to the issue of desertification, which is gripping the north of the nation.

I considered just posting photographs of the layout here as a traditional tearsheet display, but then I thought it would be more fun to create a short video to showcase the layout. Also, this story only appears in the Chinese edition of National Geographic this month, so I wanted those not based in China to be able to see the excellent layout, as if you were flicking through yourself.

Please click on the video above to begin and thumb-through the magazine article with me on Vimeo. If you prefer YouTube, please go here. read more »

http://www.vimeo.com/10718110

Earlier this week I released a video titled ‘Earth Hour: In One Minute’, a time-lapse video that captured last month’s Earth Hour at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing. I thought it would be fun to use this video as the basis for the first competition that I have run through the blog. Up for grabs is a half-day (3hours) one-on-one workshop with me here in Beijing. Maybe you’d like to brush up on your editing, your night photography, your photoshop skills, your street photography? No problem. We’ll have 3 hours to target anything you want, FREE.

Okay, so how to win? In my time-lapse video I actually appear twice within the video by walking into the foreground. (I was waiting alone in the cold for an hour doing the video, so I had to entertain myself somehow!) The challenge is to tell me the correct second count at which I appear, both times. To clarify, it’s the second count on the YouTube/Vimeo counter NOT the clock in the bottom-right of the screen you see counting down the Earth Hour. You can watch the clip on either YouTube or Vimeo. They are exactly the same. read more »

Double click window above to watch up to HD 1080p on YouTube

Last weekend, I was sat at home wondering how I could test out my recently purchased Canon 7D. I had been waiting to get this camera for a while as it has video capabilities and comes at a relatively affordable price, compared to most high-end camcorders. I had seen the quality of videos that the camera could produce and I was keen to get my hands on one and to see what it could do.

I was trying to think up ideas when I stumbled on a news piece about Earth Hour that evening. I am sure you are well aware of the concept, however if you’re not, head here to Earth Hour’s site to get more background info. In a nutshell, Earth Hour is a ‘call to action’ against climate change by switching off lights for one hour on a specific date, with millions of people taking part all around the world. This year, the date was Saturday 27th March 2010 from 8:30 pm to 9:30pm.

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I was asked recently by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to answer some questions with regards to my reporting on the subject of desertification in China. This is part of their initiative titled ‘Meet the Journalist”, offering viewers a chance to get ‘behind the scenes’ and find out some of the motivations and working practices that go into the reporting by the grantees. I was happy to answer a few questions on my reporting, all of which can be found now on the Pultizer Center’s YouTube channel, which is well worth checking out.

The first of the videos can be found below.

Question 1 “Why did you decide to report on this issue?”

Please head here to view answers to the following questions: What was your biggest hurdle reporting on this issue? How is this story related to issues in the US? How has climate change news coverage evolved since you started reporting on these issues, and what could be done better?

It’s a small milestone for the Sean Gallagher Photography Blog today (well, yesterday, technically)…we’ve hit 6 months blogging! I just wanted to take a moment to say thanks to everyone who has stopped by, read what I’ve had to say and commented on some of the pictures, videos and articles that I’ve posted.

The most popular post over the past 6 weeks has been the video that I shot and produced in North Korea, here. It’s been popular on my YouTube channel too, getting nearly 1000 views, as of today.

The most popular page on the blog has been the WEEKEND WORKSHOPS page, which is getting a lot of interest. We are just about to announce our workshops for January, so please stay tuned, they will be posted any day now!

Thanks again for stopping by. As you know, we’re on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube so stop by and see us there as well. Here’s to the next 6 months…at least!!!