Sebastião Salgado's WORKERS: An Archaeology of the Industrial Age was a gargantuan body of work that fueled my desire to become a documentary photographer. Now comes MIGRATIONS: Humanity In Transition.

For six years and in more than forty countries, he focused his lens on the plight of the dispossessed, both on the road and in the refugee camps and urban slums where they lived.

An exhibition of more than three hundred photographs, will be on display at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and the Ackland Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from February 1 through March 28, 2004.

Read more about Salgado's exhibit here.

Concerned about your privacy? Not entirely keen on giving up personal information while registering with the likes of The New York Times or The Washington Post? Been the recipient of SPAM and lots of it? You aren't alone and I really do feel your pain.

For a solution, check out BugMeNot. BugMeNot “was created as a mechanism to quickly bypass the login of websites that require compulsory registration and / or the collection of personal / demographic information.”

So, if you are feeling particularly squeamish about plugging in your name, adress, telephone number, email id or any other bit of information, this is your way out. Yes, this will tilt their statistics and the cyber-cops may question your ethics, but I suspect not everybody is going to do this. Life will be in balance, again. Phew!

I remember mentioning Subhankar Banerjee‘s name once before. This may have been in the days before Tiffinbox was in existence, when I slipped an occasional email through the SAJA Yahoo! Groups photojournalists forum.

Banerjee's name popped up again in my inbox, thanks to Blue Earth Alliance's most recent newsletter. BEA is a wonderful group which I urge all you documentary photographers to check out. For several years now they have played an important role, as an umbrella organization, to collect funds for freelance documentary work. It's the brainchild of Natalie Fobes and Phil Borges, two very compassionate photographers I have had the pleasure meeting when I lived in Seattle.

But back to Banerjee. Leave aside for a moment the fact that his images are absolutely beautiful. It's the activist in him that piques my interest. His work (you will read of more of this when you click the link below) convinced law makers in Congress to stall oil drilling in the Alaskan wilderness. His work apparently threatened those whose interests lie in plundering the wilderness. His work was censored by the Smithsonian and the resulting media attention only jolted his name and work into the limelight.

“For his relentless pursuit to protect the Arctic Refuge ecosystem and its native cultures he was awarded the first Cultural Freedom Fellowship from the Lannan Foundation in November 2003. Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowships were established to help individuals who have demonstrated leadership on behalf of world cultural freedom, by promoting cultural diversity and strengthening cultural traditions and ties. The purpose of the Fellowship for Cultural Freedom is to encourage and support leaders in American and foreign communities to contemplate, reflect, write, and study. This $100,000 fellowship is given to Banerjee to continue his work in the Arctic Refuge and study other topics on social and environmental impacts of globalization. In addition the foundation gave a $400,000 grant to support his continuing educational outreach through additional exhibits and lectures around the country.”

His first book, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land was finally published in April 2003.

“Before Banerjee started this project he had not published a single photograph anywhere.” Inspired?

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land
By Subhankar Banerjee

With the eye of an artist and heart of an environmentalist Subhankar Banerjee set out to do a visual portrayal of the ecology and native cultures of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in March 2001. He came back to Seattle briefly in late May and returned to the Arctic with renewed enthusiasm after his project got sponsorship from the Blue Earth Alliance under the mentorship of Natalie Fobes, who advised Banerjee during the five month long planning of the project. Later in the year Helen Cherullo, publisher of The Mounatineers Books decided to publish a book with Banerjee and Smithsonian agreed to host a solo exhibit of his work. With all these to look forward to he returned to the Arctic again in March 2002 to continue shooting that lasted seven continuous months.

His first book, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land was finally published in April 2003. However, even before the book was officially released, it took on a political life of its own. Senator Barbara Boxer held up an advanced copy of Banerjee's book and urged all her colleagues, “I wish every member could have a chance to take a look at this beautiful book”, before voting on drilling for oil in this pristine land.

That day bipartisan Boxer-Chafee amendment to strike the language for oil drilling from the budget bill won by a narrow margin (52-48 votes) at the Senate. Banerjee's work became visible in Congress, that later resulted in Smithsonian to marginalize his exhibit. The exhibit was moved from the prominent rotunda to a downstairs gallery and all descriptive captions for the images completely expunged and Smithsonian attorneys sent off letters to Banerjee's publisher asking her to remove the Smithsonian name from the
book. This resulted in a national controversy that got tremendous attention from press and media. Stories came out in New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Seattle PI and other newspapers and magazines around the world.

This major media attention resulted in the California Academy of Sciences to recreate a new show of Banerjee's work that was hosted in a grand manner with all necessary contexts last year at the Academy in San Francisco (September ­ December 2003). This Academy sponsored exhibit will travel around the country till end of 2007 visiting major museums in Albuquerque, Cambridge, Chicago, Seattle, Fairbanks and others. A separate show of his work sponsored by the Alaska Wilderness League and The Wilderness Society is currently on display for ten months at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Banerjee gave numerous lectures around the country last year to raise awareness about the arctic refuge. Many of his lectures were sold out audiences of over 800 attendees. CSPAN Book-TV televised his lecture numerous times last year in summer and fall. For his relentless pursuit to protect the Arctic Refuge ecosystem and its native cultures he was awarded the first Cultural Freedom Fellowship from the Lannan Foundation in November 2003. Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowships were established to help individuals who have demonstrated leadership on behalf of world cultural freedom, by promoting cultural diversity and strengthening cultural traditions and ties. The purpose of the Fellowship for Cultural Freedom is to encourage and support leaders in American and foreign communities to contemplate, reflect, write, and study. This $100,000 fellowship is given to Banerjee to continue his work in the Arctic Refuge and study other topics on social and environmental impacts of globalization. In addition the foundation gave a $400,000 grant to support his continuing educational outreach through additional exhibits and lectures around the country.

Banerjee also received the 2003 Special Achievement Award from the Sierra Club. Banerjee will be giving lectures in twenty-five cities and he will have eight exhibits that will be hosted in sixteen cities in 2004.

Besides activism to help preserve the refuge, Banerjee also wanted to bring back photographs and his vision on photography that would inspire the next generation and push the field of photography forward. Museum curators have commented that he has taken Eliot Porter's vision to another level. In addition to natural history museums, the major art museums are now showing serious interest in his work.

Former New Yorker photography critic and current editor-in-chief of Interview, Ingrid Sischy, evaluated his work in an extensive story in the December 2003 issue of Vanity Fair:

“Banerjee's landscapes seem epic, and there is something about them that is haunting. His photographs have an authenticity, a gravitas, and a beauty that more rote imagery is without. One day Banerjee's work maybe seen as part of this legacy [19th Century greats such as Carleton Watkins and Timothy O'Sullivan]. When you see Banerjee's most memorable pictures, its not hardship that's evident but beauty. A nonformulaic beauty. He shows the beauty of ordinary scenes and of the passing of the seasons. He isn't afraid of what others might see as “a mess”. He finds grace in tangled-up branches and unruly weeds. They [Banerjee¹s photographs] are relevant to both art and science; in fact, their strength is that the two ways of understanding the world can¹t be untangled in these pictures.”

Commenting about his own work he wrote, “Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is an extremely remote land with very harsh climate. Very few people have ever visited this place besides the indigenous peoples who have lived there for thousands of years. The landscape is grand yet very simple and the existence of life is modest and fragile. The challenge I had as an artist was to portray this simplicity and fragility while maintaining the grandeur of the land. I chose simple compositions and almost no use of bold light to highlight the subtleties. Eliot Porter once wrote, “The wide blue sky, the big landscape, the mountain scene, the comprehensive views ­ these I believe are best portrayed in black and white.” However, I believe I have tried to use color as a fundamental dimension to portray Comprehensive Views, just like Porter used color for Intimate Landscapes.”

The support from the Blue Earth Alliance and the seminar that he attended provided inspiration that took him on a lifelong journey. He still remembers the stories that Natalie Fobes shared during a BEA seminar about her Pacific Salmon ­ Pacific People project, and her persistence to never give up. “Shooting From the Heart is the mantra she taught us all and it will always remain in my soul like a sacred chant”, says Banerjee. Before Banerjee started this project he had not published a single photograph anywhere.
“Dream really does come true, if you are willing to sacrifice and never give up.”

Ok, so, it's NOT a clip-contest. But all you folks with digital cameras – this is your chance to show your stuff. The 2004 Philadelphia Conference Monthly Digital Competition is underway. I am assuming it's meant for working photojournalists but check the rules and submission guidelines before sending in pictures of Fluffy the dog.

Enter photos taken in January 2004. The Photo of the Month winner will be awarded a $100 gift certificate from Allen's Camera Shop of Levittown, PA. 215.547.2841.

Participation is quick and easy. Click for instructions:
http://www.philadelphiaconference.org/competitions/monthly/

Shared username (pconf) and password (pixels) will get you access to the competition and submission pages.

Matt Stanley is our monthly competition chair and can be contacted for more information. DEADLINE 01.07.04, 11 p.m.

(Membership dues may be required later in 2004, but free members may participate until then.)

I am not entirely sure of the deadline. 01.07? That's almost a month ago now is it. Time does fly when you are having fun.

It's capitalism pure and simple. If you are an illustrator you are better off suspending any political scruples you may have. That misguided notion according to The Wall Street Journal's Tunku Varadarajan.

I have a very small part on a show called “Threat Matrix” on ABC. I think it's at 8:00pm in most time zones. Have a look if you feel like watching me speak in another language and take three shots to the chest!

The show will be broadcast TONIGHT!

Via Vivek Kumar

Shilpi Gupta‘s documentary When the Storm Came has won an award at Sundance. Bravo!

Via Eightlinks and Wired magazine:

“Tarnation may be the first feature-length film edited entirely on iMovie, and it cost $218.32 in videotape and materials.”

To me, this redefines the expression shoe-string.

“The film also includes more than 200 photos culled from [Jonathan] Caouette's huge archive. Unable to afford to scan the photos, Caouette tacked the images to a white wall and filmed them.”

So much can be created with so little. All it took Caouette was a Macintosh, the freebie editing software – iMovie and videotapes. And yeah, a whole lot of inspiration and motivation, too.

But, not everyone has to or can work in the same manner as Jonathan Caouette. If you dig hard enough in your own backyard, I am sure there are all sorts of funding opportunities.

Painful as Tarnation may be to watch (I haven't seen it yet), Caouette's resolve to get this film done has landed him at Sundance this year.

If you have $ 220 chilling in your pocket, what do you intend doing with it? Top 5 creative responses will be published here on Tiffinbox. Email me at: tiffinbox{at}pipalproductions{dot}com.

Woooo-hooo! Thank you for making Tiffinbox part of your life. More than mere numbers, I know there are actual people behind those 50 email addresses. Your opinions and suggestions are always welcome. Feel free to comment on anything I post (below each post, you will see a link to COMMENT).

On the site, you have a button to TELL A FRIEND. Please help me spread the word about Tiffinbox. It would be great to create a community around Tiffinbox and connect each of you, from different walks of life pursuing different career and life paths.

The site grows and everybody benefits only if and when I hear back from you. If you know of desi photojournalists, artists, designers and writers who have web sites, please send me their URL's. I would, upon review, be happy to link to them. If you know of events that this audience would like to know more about, let me know.

So email me: tiffinbox{at}pipalproductions{dot}com. And, thank you once again!

No sooner had I posted my TOOT!, self-proclaimed “Type Diva” Aparita Bhandari chimed in with hers. You go gurl!

As promised, I am publishing here (see below for link) an article she recently wrote for the Toronto Star. The Star published it on January 6, 2004.

For the record, I am looking for your work published by or in the mainstream press. And if you could limit the published date to within the last six months, that would make it current and relevant. Thanks!

TORONTO STAR, Jan. 6, 2004. 01:00 AM

Bollywood extends its reach
More movie plots set outside India

Indian filmmaker subs T.O. for NYC

© APARITA BHANDARI
SPECIAL TO THE STAR

New Delhi foreign locales, especially the musical numbers these movies are famous for. Usually part of a dream sequence, these songs take the hero and heroine to the Swiss Alps, the deserts of Egypt, and even Niagara Falls.

A new trend in many Bollywood movies, however, is to set parts of the plot outside India. It's a matter of India's film industry acknowledging the growing South Asian diaspora, which spends big money to catch a Bollywood flick.

Toronto was a recent Bollywood beneficiary when one of India's premier film companies, Dharma Productions, copied the Hollywood custom of using T.O. as a stand-in for NYC – at the same time most Hollywood houses stayed away
because of SARS.

The film is the latest Bollywood hit Kal Ho Naa Ho (Tomorrow May Be Or May Not). It's the third offering from Bollywood whiz kid Karan Johar, who turned writer-producer with the film.

It's a New York story, says Nikhil Advani, the film's director.

“(Zinta) plays a girl who travels to Manhattan to work and study,” explains Advani, who lived in New York for a month to research the city's vibe.

“(Ali Khan) plays a young Manhattan bachelor, whose parents may live in Long Island or Connecticut. And Preity is a very regimented and strict character, very focused, like New Yorkers. But like the city, which can be cold on the surface, she too has a heart.”

It's hard to miss the American angle in Kal Ho Naa Ho – the American flag unfurls across the wide theatre screen, as Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan serenades Zinta, singing the Bollywood version of the Roy Orbison hit “Pretty Woman.” And the opening lines of the movies do include “Yeh hai New York” (This is New York).

But look closer and you'll see hints of Toronto: the film's stars dining in a downtown Toronto restaurant; scenes of the TTC trundling by; actors reading Canadian newspapers.

“I've grown up with Hollywood movies set out in New York,” says Advani, reeling off names of directors with a New York penchant, including Woody Allen, Martin Scorcese and Edward Burns.

“And when I researched those films, I found that most of them were shot in Toronto. Toronto offered a lot – a similar skyline to New York, similar architecture. And of course, the cost is almost one-third of what we'd spend in New York.

“But then when we started shooting, we found it was necessary to shoot in New York. We just weren't getting the vibe. New York has such an essential character. We shot only two scenes and one song in Toronto.”

Within a week of its release, Kal Ho Naa Ho collected a cool $2.8 million (Cdn.) in India and $2.5 million (Cdn.) outside India. In the U.K., it opened at No. 6 and registered the highest per-screen average for the week. In the U.S., it just missed the million-dollar mark during its first weekend. It's commonly acknowledged that Johar aims his movies at what are called non-resident Indians (Indians living outside India) and resident non-Indians (Indians living in India who largely reject Indian society).

Johar's previous two directorial ventures were Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (Something Happens) and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (Sometimes Happiness, Sometimes Sadness). Kuch Kuch Hota Hai had a marginal non-resident Indian plot, with Bollywood brat Salman Khan starring as an England-residing suitor. The movie's university sets looked more Beverly Hills 90210 than any Mumbai or Delhi school.

Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, however, saw Shah Rukh's errant son character take off to England after a major family spat with his towering father, played by Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan. Shah Rukh had made the ultimate filial boo-boo by marrying a girl from the wrong side of the tracks.

And Kal Ho Naa Ho, while being a New York story, still has a plot that reads like any other Bollywood story: New Yorker Naina Catherine Kapur (Zinta) has the weight of the world on her shoulders, with a family forever squabbling because of a horrible secret. Enter “angel-in-disguise” Aman Mathur (Shah Rukh), who's in New York to treat his heart condition. Mathur brightens up
Kapur's life. Kapur falls for Mathur, although he is dying. Naturally, Mathur pushes Kapur towards best friend Rohit Patel (Saif Ali Khan). Copious tears and some laughs ensue.

Bollywood aficionados in New York were amused with Johar's geographical gaffes. Kapur, who lives in Queens, jogs all the way to Central Park, or regularly ends up at the Brooklyn Bridge, in pensive moments, in a manner of
seconds.

Bollywood lovers in Toronto are also chortling at the way Toronto masquerades as New York.

“Who are they kidding,” reads one message on a South Asian Web site based in Toronto. “They are showing TTC and (Canadian newspapers) and PMCL (a Greyhound service that serves Central and Southern Ontario) and Canadian flags and calling Toronto NYC.”

“They were also on (King Street),” reads another post. “Most of the shots with Saif Ali Khan (were) in Toronto. It was soo exciting to see Toronto and all the TTC buses.”

For some Torontonian viewers, such liberties are part of typical Bollywood fare.

“It's a beautiful story, I think, and if Bollywood movies can shoot songs in Europe and Vancouver, even when the story takes place in India, then why can't they do that in this movie,” reads another post.

Wherever it's set, Kal Ho Naa Ho has tapped into a successful formula. It is still playing at Toronto's Albion Cinemas at 1530 Albion Rd. in Etobicoke.