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Short Photo EssaysThis series begins with a cover story on senior yoga instructor Felicity Green for Ascent Magazine, Winter 2008 issue, followed by glass artist Janis Miltenberger at work in her studio, shot for The Penland Book of Glass: Master Classes in Flamework Techniques, published in 2009 by Lark Books. The next series chronicles a salmon fishing opening on Jack Giard’s traditional reef-net gear off Lopez Island, followed by a series of architectural views of living spaces that tie together the indoor and outside environment. The concluding series focuses on Lopez Island community theatre productions of The Grapes of Wrath and Fiddler on the Roof. Click Here To View Short Photo Essays Gallery The Balkans – Bosnia and Herzegovina – KosovoFor the past six years, I’ve explored ways that photographs bear witness to the struggles, accomplishments and lives of individuals and communities. My focus has been in the Balkans, a region that I first visited in the 1970’s as a young photographer and college student. The connections I made with people, the mix of cultures and architecture, and the beauty of the region affected me deeply. Many years later, I was drawn back by my instinct to share the earlier pictures with people who had been cut off from their past by the Bosnian War of 1992-1995. On returning there in 2003, I found people I had photographed as children over 30 years earlier. I shared the original pictures with them, and recorded their stories. These trips evolved into a book project, a slide show, and a traveling U.S. exhibition. Each of these formats has been a way of creating a connection between viewers and the people I photographed whose lives and efforts I respect and honor. Each has led toward re-vitalizing my energy to pursue documentary photography in the service of peace and social justice. Recently a new opportunity has opened up to share the Bosnia photographs, with exhibitions in the communities where they were taken. The shows are being organized by Fatima Maslic at the Travnik Regional Museum in the geographical heart of Bosnia – Travnik, a city that has a long history as a cultural and crafts center. The project is made possible through grant by CEC Artslink, based in New York. In 2008 I revisited Kosovo for the first time since the 1970’s and again located places and people from the original trip. The outbreak of war in 1999 in Kosovo had forced them to flee with their families and most have struggled to begin life again in the midst of hardship–in a young country that seeks its place in the international community. I plan to visit the region again in 2010 to continue the work that is sketched out in this collection of 2008 Kosovo photographs. In a time of international tension, I hope to link people together through photographs and stories that become our common ground, our opportunity for connection across borders. Click Here To View The Balkans 1970's Gallery Click Here To View Bosnia & Herzegovina 2003 Gallery Click Here To View Bosnia & Herzegovina 2008 Gallery 1 Click Here To View Bosnia & Herzegovina 2008 Gallery 2 Click Here To View Kosovo Photos |
