Tiffinbox

Thresh

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Via Sanjay Cherubala

Preeti Vasudevan‘s new dance company Thresh is on its way to India for four weeks.

Thresh is an international group that creates projects revealing crossovers and exchanges at cultural boundaries. Its unique group consists of independent artists, designers and choreographers each recognized for their contributions in the field of performing arts. Thresh's form of dance-theatre expresses a dialogue with the present, yet remains in constant conversation with traditions of the past. Thresh strives to create discussion between artists from different parts of the world and to keep the path of constant exchange alive.

Salgado’s Transition

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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.

Bug Off!

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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!

Mr. Banerjee’s Wilderness

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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?

[Read more…]

Clips, Got Clips?

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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.

Kiran@TV

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kiranrao

Kiran Rao, a friend from my days at Microsoft (oh, quit hissing) and now an actor in Hollywood says this:

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!

Doing The Dance

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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.

50!

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Your site stats for 1/19/2004:

Your site “TIFFINBOX” received 2 new subscribers today.
It has 50 total subscribers and is ranked #250 on Bloglet.

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!

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