First up is an interview that I did for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting recently, talking about my project from last summer on ‘China’s Fragile Forests’, looking at the current threats to China’s Forests. I hope it gives you some insights into my project and how I approached it. Stay tuned for more updates on this project in the new year!

Is this the most beautiful timelapse ever? Quite possibly. Just watch…

It was a very sad day for the environmental movement yesterday, learning that Wangari Maathai had passed after losing her battle with cancer at the age of 71. This inspiring lady who was a Nobel Laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement, was one of the leading world figures in raising awareness about environmental issues.

The above video is a perfect message for all of us who try to figure out what we can do, as individuals, to contribute to protecting our planet. Please spread the word…

Thanks to Elizabeth Conley for posting this link on Facebook

March 15-27 saw the holding of the Washington DC Environmental Film Festival in America’s capital. It was a showcase of short films made about environmental issues around the world and I was lucky enough to have been invited to show some of my recent work from China, as part of the presentation given by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Even though I wasn’t there myself, this was a wonderful opportunity to spread the message about my work on wetlands issues in China and bring this issue to a new audience. The above video is from the beginning of the Pulitzer Center’s presentation, given by Jon Sawyer, the Pulitzer Center’s Director. I’m proud and flattered that they led their presentation with my recent piece on the plight of Dongting Lake, in central China. You can watch the piece by watching the video above.

For more information about the film festival, here is their Missions Statement and outline from their website:

Mission Statement

The Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital seeks to further the public’s understanding of environmental issues – and solutions – through the power of film and thought-provoking discussions with environmental experts and filmmakers. The Festival is a platform that fosters environmental awareness and action.

Founded in 1993, the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital has become one of the world’s largest and most influential showcases of environmental film and a major collaborative cultural event in Washington, D.C.  Each March the Festival presents a diverse selection of high quality environmental films, including many Washington, D.C., U.S. and world premieres. Documentaries, features, animations and shorts are shown, as well as archival, experimental and children’s films at venues throughout the city.  Films are screened at partnering museums, embassies, libraries, universities and local theaters and are attended by large audiences. Selected to provide fresh perspectives on global environmental issues, most Festival films are accompanied by discussions with filmmakers, environmental experts and special guests, including national decision makers and thought leaders, and are free to the public. The Festival’s Web site serves as a global resource for environmental film throughout the year.

I felt I needed to write this post today however, as last night I finally had the opportunity to watch two pieces of work by Tim Hetherington that I felt compelled to share here. The first, is the movie Restrepo, made by Hetherington and his co-director, Sebastian Junger. Set in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan, the movie focuses on the lives of one platoon whom the filmamkers followed for a year, documenting their engagements and experiences dealing with war. To say it’s a powerful film is an complete understatement. It’s one of the most powerful movies about war I have ever seen.

The second piece of work that I felt compelled to share was ‘Sleeping Soldiers’, a conceptual piece by Hetherington focusing on images he has taken, literally of sleeping soldiers, overlayed with video footage of combat situations in Afghanistan. The resulting piece of work is what I believe is a pardigm-shift in storytelling from a photojournalism perspective. It’s hard not to be engaged and at the same time disturbed when watching this short piece. I felt like I was being thrust into the traumatic and turbulent dreams that men who suffer war must endure. I have never seen work like this before presented in such a way.

So, as a small dedication to these men I can only offer links to their work and spread the messages that they were trying to communicate to the world. This is what we as photographers and storytellers all try to do. Spread the word. Tell untold stories. Illuminate darker places. Work for some kind of change for the good. These two men were at the forefront of our industry trying to do that.

Link to Chris Hondros’s Website | Parting Glance: Colleagues and Friends Remember Chris Hondros – New York Times

For a complete list of links to dedications and tributes to Hetherington, Hondros and their work, please visit Photojournalism Links and DVA Foto

This is a really nice little video/slideshow if you are looking for a little inspiration today and insight into the mind of one of the world’s leading photographers, Maggie Steber. I first became aware of Maggie and her work when I was lucky enough to listen to a presentation of hers, when I attended Look3 in 2008. It was a really interesting talk and I wanted to take this opportuntiy to share this video here and share some of her insights into photography.

Thanks to the ever thought-provoking Duckrabbit for posting this over on their blog earlier this week.

Saturday 26th March 2011 marks this year’s ‘Earth Hour’, a global event aimed at raising awareness across borders about the effect we have on our climate and inspire action to manage humanities impact on climate change.

According to Earth Hour’s website: “On Saturday 27 March, Earth Hour 2010 became the biggest Earth Hour ever. A record 128 countries and territories joined the global display of climate action. Iconic buildings and landmarks from Asia Pacific to Europe and Africa to the Americas switched off. People across the world from all walks of life turned off their lights and came together in celebration and contemplation of the one thing we all have in common – our planet.”

China has embraced Earth Hour with gusto with advertisements popping up everywhere in Beijing recently promoting the cause. Last year I headed out the the Bird’s Nest, Beijing’s centerpiece for the 2008 Olympic Games, to capture Earth Hour using timelapse video. The resulting piece shows the crowds who were there to witness the turning off of the lights at this magnificent stadium. In real-time, the change wasn’t quite so dramatic but speeded up to one minute, makes for more interesting viewing.

Quick post today. As Beijing is my Chinese adopted hometown, I couldn’t resist posting this video when I came across it.

‘Live the Language’ seems to be a new series of advertisements for English First, a language training school. I like the feel to these videos and suspect that they have been shot on a DSLR. Many shots throughout the video have that very shallow depth-of-field feel to them that typifies video shot with a DSLR.

Watching this video is also a test of your Chinese knowledge! How many characters can you recognize?

NGC 2841 Galaxy - NASA - http://www.spacetelescope.org/

I thought I’d start the week with something spectacular. I wish I could claim that this is my picture, but alas, it belongs to NASA shot with the famous Hubble telescope. What you are seeing is NGC 2841, a spiral galaxy that is located some 45 million light years away. I’m captivated by astrophotography sometimes and like to peruse astronomy blogs and dip into the Hubble-archives to peruse some of the amazing images out there. This one caught my eye and I thought it would be a great image to start the week with.

As an added extra, I thought I’d throw in a little Carl Sagan for futher inspiration too. Have a great week.

Continuing along the aerial viewpoint theme from yesterday, I thought this video was a fitting follow-up to the somewhat depressing image of pollution hanging over Beijing, taken from one of NASA’s satellites. It also connects nicely in the NASA theme, as this video is of Thursday’s Discovery Shuttle Launch. This is not just any video of a launch but one taken from the window of a passing commercial airliner!

Now the video isn’t the most amazing quality in the world but the quick-thinking passenger who shot it, pulled out their video camera just in time to get a very unique viewpoint indeed.

I am fascinated by astronomy, so am thrilled to see this new vantage point. Shame it will be Dicovery’s last launch. It also seems to mark the beginning of the end for the US space shuttle program. What will the future hold for manned missions from the US? I have a feeling China will have something to say on this matter soon. Stay tuned…