Street photography isn't easy, especially when you have to consider privacy laws and of course personal safety. Joerg Colberg's fine blog Conscientious is full of wonderful links to photographers working in this special genre of photography. He introduced me to a terrific site called In-Public that you should definitely check out.

There are only a few of us who can walk the walk and talk the talk. Are you one of them? If you shoot on the streets of your neighborhood or anywhere else, I want to hear from you. I have already introduced you to Robb Hill‘s fine work. But I know there are lots of other undiscovered photogs out there. If you work in South Asia, I want to know about you and I would love to see your work published here on Tiffinbox.

The Earth Institute at Columbia University invites you to a lecture and slide presentation by SUBHANKAR BANERJEE “Alaska: Barren Wasteland or Safe Haven of Biodiversity?”

Introduced by Professor Don Melnick, director of the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation Wednesday, October 6, 2004, 7:00 – 9:00 pm at Rotunda of Low Library

Columbia University, 116th Street and Broadway

The event is free of charge and open to the public. There will be a reception in the Faculty Room of Low Library from 6:00-7:00 pm, with Subhankar Banerjee, where his book will be available from the Columbia University Bookstore. On October 6, photographer and

conservationist Subhankar Banerjee will present findings and photographs from his two year, 4,000 mile journey through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in northeastern Alaska.

Banerjee's research resulted in a collaborative book of his photographs and essays by some of the world's leading conservationists and environmental thinkers, including Peter Matthiessen, Fran Mauer, William H. Meadows, George B. Schaller, David Allen Sibley, and Terry Tempest Williams.

Published in 2003 by Mountaineers Books, ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE: SEASONS OF LIFE AND LAND became influential in the national debate over energy resources and proposals to drill for oil within the refuge–at one point flourished on the floor of the US Congress by Senator Barbara Boxer.

Solo exhibits of Banerjee's photographs have been on display at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, American Museum of Natural History in New York, and Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. In New York, Banerjee's photographs are now at the Gerald Peters Gallery, 24 East 78th Street, through October 15, 2004. Banerjee is the first recipient of the Lannan Foundation's Cultural Freedom Fellowship, as well as a recipient of the National Conservation Achievement Award from the National Wildlife Federation, a Special Achievement Award from the Sierra Club, and the Daniel Housberg Award from the Alaska Conservation Foundation. For more information on Subhankar Banerjee, ANWR, and related artistic and conservation projects, please visit the WORLD WITHOUT BORDERS website

For more information on the Earth Institute at Columbia, please visit here.

For more information on the event, please call 212-854-3142.

The book Avedon at Work will soon arrive in my mailbox. Meanwhile, I have been watching the QuickTime clips on Digital Journalist. Might be worth your while, too.

Jim Richardson finally has a spot on NikonNet. He is a terrific photographer and joins an august group of legends in the field.

According to The New York Times, auction houses in the US are preparing for major sales this November. Painting and photography will go on the block. Who is selling and who is buying? But, more importantly, how are these auction houses offering sellers such high guarantees? It's a world I know nothing about.

“Baroness Marion Lambert, wife of Baron Philippe Lambert, a member of a Belgian banking family, is parting with her entire collection of contemporary photographs at a smaller auction house, Phillips de Pury & Company, in collaboration with Philippe Segalot, a Manhattan dealer.”

She hopes to fetch $10 million dollars for about 300 photographs. If you have friends who are photographers, it might make sense for you to support their work by buying their prints. Just an idea.

And speaking of auctions, I am sending two of my earliest black & white prints to Delhi for an auction to benefit an eye institution called Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai. I'll post more details about that here in a couple of days.