ZORIAH - A PHOTOJOURNALIST AND WAR PHOTOGRAPHER'S BLOG

Disaster Photojournalism Workshops - The Controversy and Why The Critics are Wrong

My critics are wrong.  Offering to teach photojournalists to work in difficult situations and to help to maintain their personal safety while documenting the struggles of their fellow human beings is NOT UNETHICAL.  Charging them, donating half of the money to charity and using the other half to cover my expenses and fund future projects is no more exploiting the situation and the Haitian people than the staff and assignment photographers who get paid thousands by major publications for their work.  If people are going to go after those that make their livings on others' suffering, then lets drag reporters, journalists, TV crews, educators, and a million other professions into the mix.   But before you do that, picture the world without these people.

My ability to teach is backed up by my past students, their testimonials and my 100% satisfaction track record on my workshops.  My ability as a photographer is backed up by my client list, my bio and, most importantly, the work I produce.  

For all of you who do not believe I should be able to refer to myself as a photojournalist, you give me good reason to want to disassociate myself from a title you have muddied with your arrogance, close mindedness, and disrespect.  Until I find another name for what I do, one which separates me from the crowd of sheep I have learned to have such little respect for, I will continue to call myself a photojournalist and be proud of what it means to me.  Keeping the title, if nothing else, will add a bit of diversity to the profession.

For those of you who would like to find out more about this, you can do so by visiting the sites below:

http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/zoriah-in-haiti 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/victoria-fine/is-to-ethical-to-charge-p_b_451899.html 

http://j1111.blogspot.com/2010/02/learning-to-cover-tragedy-in-middle-of.html

And one coming here:

http://www.wired.com/rawfile/

Photojournalism Workshops - Haiti Earthquake Intimate Group Workshop

I have decided to offer a special small group workshop in Haiti focused on photographing the aftermath of the earthquake.  Subjects covered will be working in disaster zones and other difficult and dangerous situations, survival and logistics in difficult environments, photograph people, working with NGO's (Non Governmental Organizations) and aid organizations, editing and digital darkroom technique and marketing and making your stories available for the world to see.  

In addition to working together as a small group, each student will receive one full day of one-on-one training in the field.  This will allow each student to have their personal needs met and get one-on-one instruction in addition to that of the group activities.

This workshop is open to a maximum of four students.  Cost is $4000 USD  for seven days and students will be required to pay their own expenses.  This will be a difficult workshop both physically and mentally and students should be prepared for minimal comforts.  Students will sleep in their own tents and should bring their own supplies such as food and water purification (you will receive detailed instructions on what to bring in advance of the workshop.)  The workshop will either begin on March 8th, March 15th or March 22nd depending on the preferences of the group.  Workshop tuition must be paid by March 1st.

This will be a unique experience to not only train in the field but also help keep up awareness of a very important issue that will soon fade from the news, while the needs of the Haitians will continue.  

For more information please fill out a workshop application found at the bottom of the page of www.zoriah.com/workshops and emailed the address found on that page.  Please note that this workshop is intended for advanced students and those already on a career path.  Age limits and other restrictions apply.  Students will be required to fill out release waivers, medical waivers and provide their own medical and evacuation insurance.  More details will be provided to students upon receiving their applications including detailed packing lists etc.

For information on other photojournalism workshops and one-on-one training in the field in other parts of the world, please visit www.zoriah.com/workshops for more information.

50% of the money raised from this workshop will go to my friends at Hospice Saint Joseph, which was completely destroyed in the quake.  They were my friends and support before the quake and after and I look forward to helping them.  They are currently providing medical care for those affected by the earthquake and staging a small camp on their property.

Photos of The Earthquake in Port au Prince, Haiti - The Haitian Earthquake in Pictures

The earthquake in Port au Prince, Haiti has left devastation and immense pain in its wake.  What was always a difficult situation in an impoverished country has become a true nightmare for the Haitian people.  

The streets of Port au Prince, Haiti are filled with rubble, smoke, human remains and the smell of the dead.  Downtown Port au Prince is what one might picture as the end of days.  Bodies decompose on the streets and the hands of the dead and trapped reach out from the rubble.  Hundreds of Haitians are fighting for survival, looting the destroyed stores and fighting for what they have pillaged.  I witnessed countless beatings and was twenty feet away from a young woman when she was shot in the face and killed by police (I will post these images in my next post on the earthquake in Haiti.)  A photos of her husband crying over her body is in this post.

Refugee camps are literally on every block and public parks have become make-shift homes to thousands.  Families construct shelters out of flimsy fabric sheets and sleep in the squalor of waste, refuse and dirt, cooking simple meals in the same gutters that must be used as toilets and bathing areas.  In the several dozen refugee camps I visited, I never once saw an aid worker, food supplies, shelter supplies or any form of assistance or education as to how to avoid disease and survive in this difficult situation.  While it is necessary to search for survivors, it is also necessary to take car of those who have survived.

Although the situation after the earthquake in Haiti is horrible, the spirit of the Haitian people is truly strong and beautiful.  Although there is violence in the streets, the vast majority of people are just struggling to survive and helping their friends, family and neighbors to do so also.  Much, much more needs to be done to help the people of Haiti recover and live in dignity and this need will continue for a very long time.  This disaster will take years to recover from, not just months.  We must continue to pay attention to the situation there and remember that while there is dire and immediate need there, this will not go away after a few weeks of media attention and fund raising.  I urge all of you to get involved in any way you can in the effort to help the Haitian people.

 

A woman passes in front of the burning remains  a destroyed building in downtown Port au Prince, Haiti in the wake of the Haitian Earthquake.

A body decomposes on the streets of Port au Prince.

 A man cries after is wife is shot dead by police during looting in downtown Port au Prince.

A family photo of a young child lies in the rubble of a home destroyed by the earthquake.  

Residents navigate the remains of their home in search of lost belongings.

Haitians search through destroyed shops while a fire burns dead corpses on the street.

Men try to dig items out of their destroyed home.

The arm of a corpse decomposes on the street.

A woman recovers in a hospital from injuries she sustained during the earthquake.

A man covers his nose to block out the smell of decomposing bodies while walking down the streets of Port au Prince.

A man who sustained serious injuries to his face during the earthquake recovers in a hospital in the Dominican Republic.

A woman shrouded in the smoke of burning garbage in a large, make-shift refugee camp in Port au Prince, Haiti.

      

Haitian Earthquake - Documenting the Earthquake in Haiti

As those of you who follow this blog already know, I was in Port au Prince, Haiti just three weeks ago working on a project.  As news of the earthquake and its severity came in, I knew I could not sit back.  Haiti is the first country I have ever been to in which I saw individuals in slum areas were so poor that they were actually eating cakes made of sand.  This level of poverty is unacceptable and is now, after the earthquake, an even more dire situation.

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I have spent this week working on a way to get back into Haiti and it appears I have finally found one.  I am now in the airport on my way into the Dominican Republic and will then head into Haiti by land…with a little luck.  I dont have as much time to put into this project as I would like, but my heart is with the Haitian people and I would like to do what I can to show the world what they are going through, and what they will continue to go through.

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A woman makes pies out of sand, water and salt in the Cite Soleil slum in Port au Prince, Haiti.  Many Haitians were so poor even before the earthquake that they were forced to eat these cakes of sand.
 

Photography Archives - Land Mine and Cluster Bomb Campaign

I have been digging through my archives this week working on a set of images for the Manitoba Campaign to Ban Landmines.  I will post the full set of images here soon as well as make another post about the process of re-editing older work.  Below is an image I shot in Lebanon in 2006 that I never liked until yesterday when I re-edited it and realized how disturbing it actually is.

A farmer exposes his back, which is pocked with metal shrapnel, in a hospital emergency room after running over a cluster bomb while tilling his fields.  Land mines and cluster bombs usually injure civilians and children instead of the soldiers they may be intended for.