Op 8 juni vindt de 1ste FastForward plaats, een speedcollege over merkdenken. Leer alles over merkbouwen (branding) en het Merk IK in een informatieve en inspirerende bijeenkomst. Verkoop jezelf en je verkoopt ook je werk.

FF#1 geeft antwoord op:

• Waarom merkdenken moet
• Waarom fotografen merken moeten worden
• Wat merkidentiteit is
• Hoe je een merk bouwt
• Hoe je een businessplan-light schrijft (positionering, propositie, relevantie, doelgroep)
• Welke kanalen je kunt gebruiken en hoe
• Een goede website maken
• Gebruik van social media (fanclub, crowdfunding)
• Het verschil tussen communiceren en converseren
• Succesfactoren

De presentatie van FF#1 is in handen van Lars Boering, Adriaan Monshouwer en Marc Prüst.

Extra: Portfolio reviews

In de middag bestaat de mogelijkheid voor een individueel gesprek van 20 minuten met één van de presentatoren over je werk of specifieke vragen over marketing.

FF#1 wordt gehouden in Pakhuis De Zwijger, Piet Heinkade 179 in Amsterdam.

Check for more details the online newsletter or the Spotlighting website

Produced by Invisible Ph t grapher Asia, the IPA Photo 360 Workshop is designed for editorial and documentary photographers who wish to take the next step in their journey and career as professionals. This 2 day workshop in Singapore – tutored by a diverse panel of three experts, including Photo Curator and Editor Yumi Goto, Photographer Tay Kay Chin, and Photo Consultant Marc Prüst – will consist of insightful lectures and one-on-one consultation sessions.

Workshop Outline:

The intensive 2 day workshop will consist of daily morning lectures from tutors Yumi Goto, Tay Kay Chin and Marc Prüst – each offering a pragmatic, honest and insightful look at photography from their personal experience and roles in the industry. This is followed by one-on-one sessions between individual participants and tutors focusing on portfolio reviews, project and portfolio editing, and/or photography and career advice.

Workshop Details:

Date: Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd June, 2012
Workshop Venue: IPA Gallery, 77 South Bridge Road #02-01 Singapore 058707
Instructors: Yumi Goto, Tay Kay Chin & Marc Prüst
Class Size: Limited to maximum 20 participants only
Fees: SGD$380 (Approx: USD$300)

Check out the details here

On the invitation of the CNA and the photographer, I wrote the introduction for the book. An extract follows below:

The importance of appreciation: a comparative view of terres fermes

“I wanted to show the things that had to be corrected. I wanted to show the things that had to be appreciated”. – Lewis Wickes Hine

This book is like a diary, in which we do not see an objective or documentary point of view of the countryside of Luxembourg. We see a highly personal encounter of a man with a community and a way of life he doesn’t quite understand as a city dweller. Slowly but surely we follow the photographer as he gets to know the country and its people. There is no rush, and we become part of the process that the photographer goes through. Step by step, even though the man with the camera remains invisible until the final picture; we follow him as he gets closer and closer to the land and its people.

We can see different kinds of photographic approaches to the subject as Yvon Lambert leads us into feeling what he felt when he spent his time on the countryside. In the first images we are sitting in a car, as we arrive in the countryside: fields covered in snow, overviews of a hilly landscape, a tractor tucked away in the barn, the snow topped rolls of hay. Idyllic, pretty, but then suddenly we see a dead cow, tied up in rope, in the middle of a destitute field. Here, we see an approach that resembles the approach of the DATAR mission in France. This government sponsored program was aimed at documenting the changes in the French landscape. It commissioned several French and international photographers to photograph landscapes in the entire country. The project had both a political as well as a cultural aim, therefore the images went beyond mere documentary. The overall feel of the work, when it was published in two books in the late 1980s, is one of a very harsh reality. The photography itself is of a very high quality, but what it shows is not that of the most beautiful scenery of the country. That same aesthetic quality we can see in the early pages of this book: it is a harsh reality, but shown through beautiful photographs.

Yvon Lambert quietly and honestly leads us inside the countryside as he came to know it during the year that he spent there. By slowly but surely getting to know the landscape and the people he meets, we too, get close to them. Eventually we are shown the beauty of the countryside, the humanity of its people, and the sense of community and commitment they have to the place where they work and live. It does not need to be corrected, just appreciated. This is exactly what will happen once we immerse ourselves into the beautiful images in this book.

Marc Prüst

More information on the exhibition, and how to acquire this beautiful book, check the website of the CNA

From what I have read, heard, and seen the common thread is that World Press Photo has yet again awarded an iconic image, this time resembling a pieta. There is a lack of context in this image, it only refers to Western iconography, it is too beautiful to depict such misery, and all in all it is not an image really worthy of such acclaim.

Personally, I think this image rightly won the World Press Photo of the Year 2011: it shows the power and at the same the limits of photography as a means of communication.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: indeed, as I am a Western man, with a Christian background (as most people born and raised in Europe) I can only look at this image with my own eyes, and I see beauty: strong matching colours, a convincing composition, and a direct reference to Christian iconography. The image attracts my attention: the white glove holding on to the man’s neck is the highest contrasted point in the image, and directs my eye directly to where the man and the woman touch each other most intimately. The direction of the man’s left arm gives the images a dynamic: it leads the eye down to the bottom left, where the woman’s left hand glove drives our eye back to the right arm of the man, which again moves up to the first point I saw: the white-gloved hand grasping the neck. The beauty invites me into the image, makes me want to look at it, contemplate it. Here is a photographer at work who has control over the medium, and does not hide behind intellectual concepts, but simply creates an aesthetically convincing image.

Beyond this circular dynamism, I find several strong elements in the frame: the woman’s unseen eye, but visible in the small crack of her veil, the intriguing tattoo on the man’s arm, the expensive looking handbag, the other people present on the left and the right of the man, providing visual support as shadows but also giving some context to as where this scene is taking place.

Its reference to a pieta is clear, and makes the impact of the image even stronger. The Roman Catholic church for better or worse has had a decisive influence on all visual communication present in our media. Whether one likes it or not, photographs that refer to Christian iconography are effective, and communicate strongly in a large part of our world: namely that with a Christian background. It excludes important and large parts of our world, indeed, but who said photography had to be universal? And again: it is not only the pieta-link that makes this images strong.

Does the image tell the entire story of what is now known as the Arab Spring? Does it give context to what has been happening in Yemen? It obviously does not: but can a single photograph ever provide context? Can it ever effectively explain a multi-layered complex situation as the public uprising in a county such as Yemen?

Photography as a medium can be very powerful: the still image allows for contemplation, it can refer to cultural and visual traditions, and as a representation of reality it forces the viewer to think about the depiction and its meaning. As such, a successful photograph can evoke emotions, and can perhaps even explain something basic about a certain situation, as it refers to memory, and cultural, and historical situations.

But a photograph cannot and does not provide context, it cannot explain a situation, it does not show reality, a photograph does not say more than a 1000 words. A successful photograph creates order in chaos: it makes us contemplate a moment in time. The emotions you feel may need 1000 words to express them, but the photograph can ususally be explained more quickly and easier.

So, why do I think the photograph by Samuel Aranda is a worthy winner of the World Press Photo of the Year 2011 Award? Because its beauty forces the viewer to look closer to what is happening, it shows an intimate moment between two people, and it invites the viewer to read the caption. The caption then provides the context essential to a fuller understanding of the situation, and the story, actually one of the most important stories of 2011. The references that it makes to an existing visual tradition renders the impact even stronger to a large part of our world.

Now, I started taking these courses when I was at University, in 1997, at the time digital photography was slowly entering the consumer market. My course was still traditional: film, developing ourselves and printing at the provided enlargers: B&W prints on Ilford paper.

I now have been working in this industry for a little more than 10 years, with professionals, with amateurs, with students hoping to become pros at one point, and my main point in all my talks, teachings, lectures was: it is about the image. No matter what kind of technique you use, digital, analogue, color or B&W, big expensive camera, of small cheap LOMO or even iPhone or Blackberry phone cameras: as long as the picture you show at the end of the day is convincing, all else is irrelevant.

But, some time ago, I attended a conference in Amsterdam, at FOAM: called What’s Next. I could only attend the event partly, and there was one remark that stayed with me. The first lecture that day was by Fred Ritchin, and he remarked that what we call ‘digital photography’ actually is something different than what we knew as ‘photography’. He made the analogy to the Horseless Cart, the name for a new invention of some 130 years ago. We know it today as the automobile or car.

Like everyone else, I took his remarks in, and have been thinking about specially this one for some time. And, my personal conclusion is that Mr. Ritchin is right. The digital revolution in photography has fundamentally changed our understanding of the photographic image.

For one, it has undermined the call of proof that photography used to have. An image was always more reliable than the written word. This no longer is the case: anything can be created using manipulation. Many things were also possible in the dark room, but ‘the public’ is now aware of the possibilities of manipulations, and no longer accepts the photographic truth. Nobody would have believed the photographs of a dead Osama Bin Laden. The skeptics did not believe the image of the kissing couple during the riots in Vancouver. But, now a movie has emerged on youtube showing the fore- and aftermath of ‘the kiss’: here we have it: the proof the photograph was actually ‘real’ and not a set-up. The proof of truth seems to have been taken over by moving images: we would have believed the movie of the killing of Osama Bin Laden, we only believe the ‘kiss’ now that we see it happening on youtube. We wanted to see the result (dead man, a kiss), we now want to see the action (the killing of a man, the comforting during the riots).

Photography has changed and with it our understanding of the photographic image, and what we perceive as proof. In the Middle Ages, the written word was proof, then the photograph became perceived as a true representation of reality, now the movie seems to have taken over that claim. Once movieshop (photoshop for film) is widespread and user friendly enough, the real question might be: what’s next?

Watch the proof of the kissing couple photograph on youtube here

David Birkitt of DMB Media in London and iBMP in Amsterdam organise a one day workshop on marketing photography with debates, inspiration and portfolio reviews in Amsterdam on 25 May 2011.
All photographers have been there: the struggle of how to get that beautiful project you’vecome up with out there. Marketing your photography is essential in gaining the attention of the audience and the ever changing market.
Are you a established photographer and do you want to be trained and inspired by experts together with fellow photographers? Meet up for one whole day with David Birkitt of DMB media and Lars Boering, Adriaan Monshouwer and Marc Prüst of iBMP on Wednesday 25 May.
The day will start with a lecture by David Birkitt in the morning at 9.30 am. You will then be able to discuss your work and your aproach of the market in a moderated discussion. After lunch 10 selected portfolios will be openly reviewed by the masters and discussed to gain more insight in your project and to give specific advice on how to market your work and move forward. The day will end with a conclusion and some final points of advice.
Interested?
Send your application, resume and a selection of the work you would like to be discussed to:
Boering@luxphotogallery.com
The participation fee for the workshop is €195,- (ex. VAT) and a maximum of 30 photographers can participate. After judging all applications, a selection will be made and only then will we be able to confirm your participation. Once all participating photographers have been confirmed, we will select 10 portfolios that will be discussed during the workshop.
For more information please contact us:
Lars Boering +31(0)651147503 [Boering@luxphotogallery.com]
Adriaan Monshouwer +31(0)651959509 [adriaan@pictureinside.nl]
Marc Prüst +33(0)614733459 [marc@marcprust.com]

About DMB Media:
DMB Media offers a bespoke management service for individuals involved in all aspects of art, commercially based creative projects. DMB works with a select group of established artists and exciting new blood (Martin Parr, WassinkLundgren and others), marrying the right projects to the right artists via longstanding and newly built relationships, nationally and internationally. DMB Media provides links between expert individuals and hand picked creative companies, bringing likeminded people together for ad hoc projects and long term ventures. The aim is to achieve the very highest level of results across all visually presented media and DMB Media is committed to maintaining a fresh perspective by working at the leading edge of the industry.

About iBMP:IBMP stands for Institute BoeringMonshouwerPrüst for visual business development. It is a cooperation by three individual companies. iBMP has an international approach to connect the right project to the right photographer. By working together the partners add different approaches and different solutions in making creative connections become reality. iBMP is training top level photographers, advises companies on their image strategies, curating international exhibitions and sells prints to collectors worldwide. iBMP has three partners: Lars Boering is an advisor to several artists and gallery owner of Lux Photo gallery in Amsterdam. Adriaan Monshouwer of Pictureinside has been actively involved in the international field of photography for years, and Marc Prüst is a curator based in Paris.

application form MC_marketingPhotography_2011

Since 1999, Jeroen Toirkens has been following the lives of various nomad tribes in Central Asia, Russia, Mongolia and the Arctic region. He discovered that globalisation, poverty and climate change are making it increasingly difficult for them to maintain their traditional way of life. Together with Toirkens, I edited the book ‘Nomad’, published by Lannoo in a Dutch/English edition in March 2011. In the book Toirkens creates a diverse and often poignant picture of nomadic life in the 21st century.

NOMAD:

Photography: Jeroen Toirkens

Essay: Jelle Brandt Corstius

Edit: Marc Prüst & Jeroen Toirkens

Design: Wout de Vringer

Publisher: Lannoo

Nomad Invitation

Press release Cooperation PRUST TOIRKENS NOMAD

Call for entries LagosPhoto 2011

In 2010 the first – ever photographic festival in Nigeria took place: LagosPhoto. It was very successful, with over 25 participating photographers, several indoor and outdoor exhibitions, and countless visitors who experienced the wide variation in photographic practice represented: fine art, photojournalism, amateur, professional showcased in Lagos during almost two months.

The African Artists’ Foundation (AAF), initiator and organizer of LagosPhoto, is now launching a call for entries for the next edition of the festival, to be held in October 2011.

As with the previous edition, the main theme of the festival remains ‘No Judgment, Africa Under the Prism.’ Within this theme we are looking for the Hidden Stories of Africa as a sub theme to further guide our selection. Photographers from all nationalities and backgrounds are called upon to submit their stories for consideration to be included in the festival. We are interested in all sorts of stories: positive, negative, objective and subjective. Stories that show a side of Africa we are not used to seeing in the current media. The theme does not indicate a bias towards a photojournalistic approach but rather a sort of guide towards today’s contemporary image culture especially in Africa. Photographic style and approach are very important in the selection process.

Please read the guidelines below for submission carefully before submitting your work for consideration.

Guidelines for submissions for LagosPhoto 2011

LagosPhoto / AAF calls on photographers and curators to submit their work or proposals for LagosPhoto

1. When can I submit my work for the LagosPhoto 2011?

We welcome proposals submitted by 20 March 2011.

2. Who is invited to send in work?

We welcome work and proposals by professional photographers, photography curators and institutions from all over the world.

3. What kind of work can I submit?

LagosPhoto 2011 wants to show the Hidden Stories of Africa, and any photographic story that is connected to this theme may be entered. Besides traditional photographic essays we welcome photographic art projects, and photography based multimedia presentations.

4. What complementary information do I need to add to my submission?

The work should be accompanied by:

•                C.V. with contact details (in English)

•                a short and clear description of the series/project (word/pdf) (in English)

NB. Sending in a specific series is far better than just giving us a web address where the series is to be found.

5. How many series and photographs can I submit?

We have no guideline for the amount of series or photos that can be submitted. Stories need to be edited to relevance; we suggest a maximum of 25 images for one story.

6. What are the technical specifications?

•                We only accept material submitted through DVD, CD-ROM or email (10 Mb max.)

•                Digital files should be provided at high quality and at a resolution of at least 1000×1500 pixels. Images through email preferably in JPEG format.

•                Always save files in RGB or grayscale mode, not as CMYK. If color management is used, please include the color profiles in the image files.

•                Your work should be sent as separate image files, no PDF or Word files. Powerpoint, Director, MPEG files (and such) or video DVDs may only be used when concerning a multimedia presentation that cannot be presented otherwise. Even then send some separate images (stills) in addition.

•                Submissions will not be returned.

7. When can I expect a response on my submission?

Please do not expect a quick reply. We will moest probably receive hundreds of submissions and they will take some time to process. Please rest assured that everything we receive will be carefully looked at and that everyone will receive an answer.

8. How can I submit my work?

All submissions can be sent to our office in Nigeria via email or post:

Lagos Photo 2011 – African Artists’ Foundation

54 Raymond Njoku Street

Off Awolowo Road

Ikoyi

Lagos

NIGERIA

lagosphoto2011@gmail.com

You are also free to send in your work by a file-sharing service like yousendit.com or wetransfer.com

9. How will my work be presented, if selected?

LagosPhoto is not able to ship or show any original artwork under its responsibility. All selected work will be produced under the auspices of the AAF / LagosPhoto. By submitting work you agree to these guidelines.

10. Will I be invited to Lagos for the opening ceremony?

If you are selected to participate in the festival, we will do our utmost to pay for a trip and stay in Lagos for the opening ceremony, however this is not a guarantee. You are of course invited to the opening ceremony and additional program as an exhibiting artist.

Besides photography, the competition is open to multimedia pieces, as long as the project deals with issues related to human rights.

Submission deadline: December 31, 2010
Notification of selected photos & multimedia projects: February 1, 2011

For the 2011 edition of the Anthropographia Call for Entries, we will be selecting 16 photo-essays and 8 multimedia projects out of the entries submitted. These will be selected by a team of curators, including Matthieu Rytz, Founder of Anthropographia, and two guest curators that Anthropographia has identified as definitive in their field. From the selected photo-essays and multimedia projects, two awards will be granted by the team of curators that recognizes the particular achievements of two photographers in representing human rights issues, one for photography, and one for a multimedia piece dealing with human rights issues