Asian Photography Blog » News

Dispatches

yaohong — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:18:56 +0000

Mort Rosenblum and Gary Knight (from VII) have unveiled a new magazine – dispatches. The magazine’s financed by Dr. Simba Gill, an entrepreneur, scientist and businessman in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. And it’s not one of those pdf magazines that you get free online.

dispatches took root on an olive farm in Provence, flourished on a Kashmiri houseboat, and was toasted into reality with champagne at the East Gate of Angkor Wat. Its founders are a photographer who believes his lens should not filter out humanity, a reporter who feels real news can only be seen from up close in its historical perspective, and a pharmaceutical executive who thinks entrepreneurs should do more than make money.

The first issue focuses on America and features photos by Antonin Kratochvil (I’m a fanboy!). In a rare mix of great writing and photography, dispatches looks too enticing to just glance over at the newsstand. If anyone wishes to surprise me with an international subscription, I promise not to tell myself!

Get tempted over at their site.

(via On Shadows)

World Press Photo Award Interviews

yaohong — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:47:16 +0000

I know I’m a little slow in posting this but I was learning so much going through the video interviews last weekend that I completely forgot about posting it. For those who are unaware of it, the World Press Photo awards has a lovely collection of interviews up on their site. Worth ~~wasting~~ spending time at it during work. :)

Sichuan: Earthquake

yaohong — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:40:23 +0000

Depressing news from China circulating the media about the earthquake that struck Sichuan province earlier today. More than 12,000 people dead and many more still stuck under rubble. The government is seeking aid from the international community, while rescue teams continue battling storms to save survivors.

(via Reuters)

Myanmar: Cyclone Nargis

yaohong — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:50:50 +0000

Very shocking news from the cyclone that ravaged through Myanmar over the weekend – almost 22,500 dead with a further 41,000 missing, and hundreds of thousands without food, water and shelter. The military government is seeking help from the international community, yet they are placing excessive and unnecessary conditions on aid. The problem is compounded with bad transportation to many afflicted areas, mainly in villages around the Irrawaddy delta. Scenes of mass destruction and corpses strewn across rice fields can be seen in most of these places; one town suffered almost 10,000 deaths.

I hope that the military junta relents and let aid in. They cannot just sit back and watch the entire country suffer.

(via Yahoo! News)

Dith Pran

yaohong — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:43:05 +0000

Dith, reuniting with his family in Siem Reap, 1989
© Steve McCurry/Magnum

Immortalized in The Killing Fields, Cambodian photographer, Dith Pran, passed away yesterday due to pancreatic cancer.

“You’ve probably seen some pictures with his smile. He had a smile that would light up a skyscraper,” Sydney Schanberg.

Lieh Haoy, Dith.

link

Polaroid

yaohong — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 15:35:55 +0000

I hope this isn’t real, I was just starting to get into polaroids. News like this makes me feel really sad. I think I will go stock up on some boxes next week before they disappear from the shops.

Kenji Nagai

yaohong — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 13:36:23 +0000

My condolences to the family and friends of Kenji Nagai, the Japanese photographer, who was killed in the chaos happening in Myanmar at the moment. Read a touching story about him here. There’s even a video of his death.

It saddens me that conflict seems to be never ending. I’ve been keeping a close tab on the news from the country and hearing what my Burmese friends have to say about it was truly eye opening.

Events similar to what we have been witnessing were common place but it is the first time that the world is able to know about them due to technological advances. The role of a photojournalist or a citizen journalists becomes even more powerful when their images can be transmitted around the world in seconds.

I hope that the conflict stops soon. Perhaps the masses would be able to topple those in power, I pray for them.

Portfolio Launch

yaohong — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:20:55 +0000

After three weeks of development, I have finally launched my personal portfolio! Fully made in Actionscript 3, I employed XML to make maintenance easier. It was hard transiting to AS3 from AS1/2 but somehow I managed to get around some tight spots. It’s been weeks of sleeping at 5-6am, I think I can finally rest for the next few days.

I’ve tried to make it user-friendly, functional and fast loading. Did away with the flashier stuff. Please do send me comments on things that I could improve upon. There is still work to be done, so I can’t rest yet.

While it’s Flash only at this point, I am hoping to develop a html/php version sometime soon. It’s difficult doing everything yourself but I’m too broke to hire someone else to do it.

Edit: Had some problems with the root file references, resulting in pictures/xml/text not loading. They’ve been rectified. Not sure if the comments for the blog works, think I’ve set the wrong settings since the start!