"All my life I’ve focused on the poor. The rich ones have their own photographers."
Social documentary photographer
Milton Rogovin's '
life was about seeing. In the literal sense, he was an optometrist. In a more figurative sense, through the lens of his camera, he saw things and people that were often ignored — the poor, the oppressed, the "
forgotten ones," as he called them.' "A librarian in Buffalo's Communist Party, he was called before the
House Un-American Activities Committee in 1957, and was named "Buffalo's Top Red" in the Buffalo Evening News. Losing business and facing intense social persecution, Rogovin turned to photography
in order to create images that conveyed his desire for a more equal and just society, and to give voice to others who were persecuted, who were invisible to most." Mr. Rogovin
died on January 18th at his home in Buffalo at the
age of 101.
Previously on Metafilter [more inside]
posted by zarq
on Jan 21, 2011 -
9 comments
Recollecting a culture : photography and the evolution of a socialist aesthetic in East Germany. "in contrast to Western histories built upon a foundation of works by modernist and early-modernist masters, the history of East German photography was built from a body of images by amateurs and artists, largely unknown outside Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, whose photographs depicted the world from the class perspective of the worker."
From a 1999 exhibition held at Boston University. 100 images, 10 essays. Sadly, a bad interface and small reproductions.
Out of control : photography from East Germany. A 1993 project documenting
"the uses of photography in Eastern Germany after the collapse of the German Democratic Republic (GDR)" also, with small pictures.
posted by arse_hat
on Aug 5, 2007 -
17 comments
Kids with Cameras (warning, embedded QT video in link)
With an
Oscar Nominated documentary,
Born into
Brothels, under her belt,
Zana Briski's spinoff project,
Kids with Cameras, teaches children growing up in difficult circumstances the art and skills of photography to empower them to appreciate the beauty and dignity of their own expression.
With projects in
Calcutta,
Haiti,
Jerusalem and
Cairo, they send great photographers to lead workshops, the children are given inexpensive 35mm cameras to capture
whatever they choose and then the children's
pictures are shown (and
sold) around the world through exhibits, books and film.
posted by fenriq
on Feb 27, 2005 -
7 comments
John Nozum's Sleep Apnea page isn't particularly interesting unless you suffer from the condition. He spends a great deal of time discussing his treatment which included a
Tracheostomy. Some of it's not pleasant to look at but then you stumble onto
this page and things... well... what can I say? I just hope to God this guy never gets a colostomy bag. A few warnings: Although not particularly gory or gross, many of these pictures are unpleasant in one way or another. Also, there's an embedded midi file on every page. BEWARE (it's located at the bottom of the page).
posted by E_B_A
on Dec 4, 2004 -
6 comments
WarPhotoLTD.com is a Croatian photography showcase intended to "educate the public in the field of war photography, to expose the myth of war and the intoxication of war, to let people see war as it is, raw, venal, frightening, by focusing on how war inflicts injustices on innocents and combatants alike." Search by Photographer, War, Award or Collection, though the site is obviously new-ish and has a small database. Here's a particularly
stunning one from their
current collection ("A Decade of War").
posted by dhoyt
on Oct 16, 2003 -
3 comments