Blog - Links to other blogs: June 2005 Archives

Frequent Photoethnography blog contributor, MuseumFreak, has a post on her site with links and continuing discussion about autism, anthropology, and (mis)representation:

A common aphorism thrown around the autistic community is: "NTs (neurotypicals, the opposite of autistics) assume everybody thinks like them until proven otherwise; autistics assume nobody thinks like them until proven otherwise." Because, a lot of the time, other people's motivations don't make SENSE. The experience of being an autistic is a lot like the experience of being an ethnographer--we're in a culture we don't understand, and forced to rely on our ability to observe to learn, get by, and adapt to the world.

Hajnal Lszl Endre wrote to me about his his new site EtnoFoto , which consists of wonderful documentary photography from Hungary:

This website is run by the 'Foundation for the Visual Research of Culture'. The aim of the photo gallery found on this website is to accomodate publicity for artists and photographs who take on the task of introducing the colourful nature and multicultural phenomena of social groups living side-by-side in the Carpathian Region/Basin. Furthermore, these artists and photographs wish to understand the inter-cultural contacts between these groups and try to promote their mutual approach. All this work is undertaken by the widest possible understanding of the notion 'social groups' including ethnic groups, urban subcultural groups, religious communities, representatives of certain professions, and the visual representations of forms of celebrations, presentations of different customs, community events and values.

(Via EtnoFoto .)

Continuing with yesterday's neo-Luddite theme, the New York Times has an article on documentary photographer, David Burnett, titled Which Camera Does This Pro Use? It Depends on the Shot - New York Times:

Mr. Burnett was explaining why in this age of ever more plentiful megapixels, at this moment when the concept of "film" seems as old-fashioned as a rotary telephone, he has spent most of the last two years lugging around a 55-year-old 4-by-5-inch Graflex Speed Graphic camera, complete with tripod.

The Washington Post reports that the U.S. Leads In Mental Illness, Lags in Treatment:

"One-quarter of all Americans met the criteria for having a mental illness within the past year, and fully a quarter of those had a 'serious' disorder that significantly disrupted their ability to function day to day, according to the largest and most detailed survey of the nation's mental health, published yesterday.

Although parallel studies in 27 other countries are not yet complete, the new numbers suggest that the United States is poised to rank No. 1 globally for mental illness, researchers said."

...

Less than half of those in need get treated. Those who seek treatment typically do so after a decade or more of delays, during which time they are likely to develop additional problems. And the treatment they receive is usually inadequate.

Younger sufferers are especially overlooked, the survey found, even though mental illness is very much a disease of youth. Half of those who will ever be diagnosed with a mental disorder show signs of the disease by age 14, and three-quarters by age 24. But few get help.

(Via TalkLeft.com.)

Rob Galbraith's site has an article titled "Alex Majoli points and shoots" about a Magnum photographer who is using a digital point-and-shoot for his award winning documentary photography:

In 2003, Magnum photographer Alex Majoli shot some big stories for Newsweek magazine. He spent a month in China shooting documentary images of daily life. He was in Congo for two weeks and Iraq for almost two months. In those two places he was shooting war.
...
It would seem reasonable to guess that all that award-winning work in remote and frequently dangerous places must have been shot with big, fast, bulletproof pro SLR cameras. But in fact, Majoli shot every frame with Olympus C-5050 digital point-and-shoots -- the same camera your snap happy Uncle Maury takes to Disney World."

(Via The Leica Users Group.)

A student named Aaron Milhalik has produced a nice documentary photoessay of Starbucks as his final project for BD Colen's Documentary Photography and Photojournalism course at MIT. Take the opportunity to explore the other final projects on Colen's site as well. If you know of student work at other colleges, please submit it for posting.