“‘Stunning image’ I heard someone comment about one frame and then ‘I love that frame’, I heard myself say about an image showing a group of men standing above a mass grave of unidentifiable bodies. What am I saying? Photographically it is a powerful and well composed frame, but if that’s my only response to it, what the hells the point? … I don’t need a Magnum photographer to tell me my image is well composed or nicely seen and powerfully shot, although I’d be fucking thrilled if they did. What I need is Joe public to tell me that my image made him get up off his wobbly chair, forget his thirst for overpriced lager and go out and help make change. To tell his mates to donate to a cause, to volunteer somewhere or to continue raising awareness about the issue I photographed. That is what photography is about; not this self-congratulatory bullshit that the inner circle of photographers in the industry seem to relish.”

Read the full text here: http://niahafphotography.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/making-a-change-using-photography/

So I thought I’d combine the two. Check out http://www.norwaybynight.sqsp.com/ for updates from the trip. I’ll probably end up posting a trip-in-review on this blog sometime later. All the best, and thanks for looking. – Andrew (and Pops Burton)

All images © 2011, Reuters; © 2012 Reuters; or © 2011, Getty Images; © 2012, Getty Images

Training session for the wait staff at Dans Le Noir?, a new restaurant in New York where diners eat in a pitch black room, and the entire wait staff is blind.

A Behind the scenes look at the Occupy Wall Street movement’s offices in the Financial District. Coincidently, right around the corner from Wall Street proper.

Two quick frames from an OWS protest outside the Democratic Party headquarters in Des Moines, IA.

Unloading alligators for a promotional event. Spot the ‘gator tail?

Aftermath of the Giants’ Superbowl Ticker-tape parade.

Ms. Wintour at Fashion Week.

The first ever gay marriage in the Empire State Building. Valentines day.

Irish Boxer Matt Macklin trains in New York

What I found was, I wasn’t too interested in the candidates. Hold on, precursor: I know what my job is as a photojournalist, and I know what frames need to be made, and I enjoy taking those photos, too. It’s just that, this specific blog post is a personal collection of my favorite frames, a separate selection, that collectively say something different- these the images that have stuck with me.

Anyway, the candidates: they just seem a bit obvious. We all know what Mitt Romney, or Rick Perry, or Michele Bachmann look like, and the candidates are all so controlled, managed: I just don’t think photos of them say much. The photos say, “Rick Santorum stood next to an American flag.” “Ron Paul spoke at a lectern.” But, it doesn’t say much about what is going on.

I’m interested in making frames that comment on the state of politics in America, comment on the direction our nation is headed, comment on the media, comment on the state of the country. In saying something about the people that make up the US, and how we interact and the topics that matter most to us – economics and religion and social issues. And I’m interested in looking at the facade that is created in the process of a campaign. That’s my goal, anyway.

So that’s what this edit is about. Looking beyond the candidates and the hype. Looking at what exactly makes up a campaign. The work is chronological, from Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Thanks for looking.

All images © Getty Images, 2011 & 2012

Official blurb: Starting on September 17, 2011, people affiliated with the “Occupy Wall Street (OWS)” movement began protesting in New York City’s financial district. Within weeks, the movement had spread internationally, inspiring “tent cities” where protestors lived and staged marches, group conversations, street theater, music and other public events. Initially the movement was an outcry against corporate and political corruption, greed, unemployment and financial and social inequality, though it grew to encompass protests against war, environmental destruction and human rights abuses. OWS protesters called for radical policy change and a re-hauling of the political system. At the movement’s core, demonstrators affiliated with OWS claimed it was a non-violent movement, though violent actions were taken sporadically from both authoritarian figures and protestors. By the third month of the OWS movement, thousands of protesters had been arrested internationally. This body of work explores the OWS movement in New York in its entirety.

Images are:  © 2012, Getty Images, or © 2012, Associated Press or © 2012, Reuters

Chapter One: The Camp:

Chapter Two: The Protests:

Chapter Three: The Violence:

Singles:

(From South Sudan’s independence)

(From the Belmont Stakes)

(From a portrait series completed in South Sudan)

(From a feature story on a maternity ward in Juba, South Sudan)

(From the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Second floor of an office building, 3 miles inland.)

(From the Egyptian revolution)

(From South Sudan’s independence)

(From a meeting between Mrs. Palin and Mr. Trump)

(From a refugee camp near the border of Sudan and South Sudan)

(From New York Fashion Week)

(From protests in Paris, France)

(From the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami)

 
Story: Occupy Wall Street

Starting on September 17, 2011, people affiliated with the “Occupy Wall Street (OWS)” movement began protesting in New York City’s financial district. Within weeks, the movement had spread internationally, inspiring “tent cities” where protestors lived and staged marches, group conversations, street theater, music and other public events. Initially the movement was an outcry against corporate and political corruption, greed, unemployment and financial and social inequality, though it grew to encompass protests against war, environmental destruction and human rights abuses. OWS protesters called for radical policy change and a re-hauling of the political system. At the movement’s core, demonstrators affiliated with OWS claimed it was a non-violent movement, though violent actions were taken sporadically from both authoritarian figures and protestors. By the third month of the OWS movement, thousands of protesters had been arrested internationally. This body of work explores the OWS movement in New York in its entirety.

Story: Beyond Violence: The Egyptian Revolution

Starting on January 25, 2011, the people of Egypt rose up in protest against their government. The movement successfully toppled the dictatorship of President Hosni Mubarak in just 18 days, but instability continued throughout the year. Amidst the coverage of those first 18 days, the news media frequently focused on the most violent, graphic images demonstrating the most sensationalistic moments of the revolution. In contrast to that coverage, this body of work attempts to look at the quieter, more communal moments occurring during the February, 2011 chapter of the revolution. These are the moments beyond the violence.

Story: Aftermath of the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami:

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 undersea earthquake struck 45 miles off the northeast shores of Japan. The earthquake triggered a tsunami which destroyed hundreds of miles of coastline, as well as towns, businesses and homes. At it’s peak, experts say the tsunami reached a height of 124 feet; over 30,000 lives were lost in the disaster and at some points, the tsunami reached up to 6 miles inland from the coast. This body of work attempts to explore both the human and ecological aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.

I was going to write a lengthy post about my experiences on the streets of New York over this past year, as both a citizen and as a journalist. About my repeated experiences with the NYPD, both good and bad. About the general culture of fear and intimidation that they purposefully create. How they do a very good job at it. How if you spend any amount of time on the streets of New York, you don’t feel protected, you feel watched. About how if you are an upstanding citizen, you should never feel that way. How as a member of the media, you quickly start to get worried doing your job. And all the time you spend defending yourself. As in: “No i’m on assignment, I’m, not a terrorist, I’m taking a photo of this building for the real estate section…” and “yes I DO have a right to be here…” and “no, photography on a sidewalk is NOT illegal.” How long ago, I stopped wearing my NYPD press pass because whenever an officer saw it, they only threatened to take it away. And for all the respect we are expected to pay them while doing their jobs, the respect is never reciprocated.

And then I had another thought: Fuck it. Let the photos speak for themselves.

(All photos taken over the past 12 months. Shot on assignment for various news organizations, or on my own, or during assignment, but for myself.)

Hakan Tale runs a store that sells granite. In 2007, before the US housing market (and whole economy) fell a part, he purchased a home on Staten Island for his growing family – he is married with three children. For the last four years, he has fixed up the house with his own hands – fixing a leaky roof, knocking down drywall and adding to the exterior. When his granite business slowed,  he applied for a mortgage modification, which Chase bank denied. In the process of their denial, they proceeded to overvalued his house by more than $100,000, and then incorrectly sited his month income $4,000 short of what it actually is. He believes part of the reason Chase bank is denying him the mortgage modification is due to the fact that he added value to the house, and they want to foreclose on him.

__________

Hamson McPherson has owned and lived in his house since 1976. He rents out the second floor, and lives on the first. He receives income from the renters, has his savings, and receives a pension. The article explains it best, but the short version includes McPherson being denied a mortgage modification by Wells Fargo, The bank miscalculating his income despite being provided the proper paper work, and the bank then refusing to make public papers available to him and the legal team attempting to help him.