I somehow knew it was coming. I wasn’t totally surprised. It was just so “improbable” and “unlikely” that it would reach me. But it still did.

I had worked hard. Invested myself. Made changes, built a team and momentum, had a vision and strategy, planned, implemented, increased engagement and income. But time was against it. I knew I had to get significant results within half a year. Realistically, I probably had 4 months.

Yet, it’s not about me. It’s not about what I did or didn’t do. It is just what it is.

Change is good

Change has always happened. Knowledge changes. Measurements shift. Frameworks break. The world is a transient place. It keeps turning. Ideas, ways of doing things, priorities and focus changes. We are all artists in a floating world.

As I reflect on what was and what is now I am thankful. This is actually very exciting!!!! A new door opened. I am still here. Still doing what I love. Still using my talents. Still among great people. Still being me.

I watched PressPausePlay tonight. I had downloaded it some time ago, but never got to see it. Just what I needed. Real. Inspiring. It’s all about change, too. All about how to stay open to it and grasp the opportunities in it.

But change isn’t easy. Sometimes it happens too often. Often it hurts. But ultimately change challenges us to move on, to not get stuck. To not assume. To not play it safe. To not take for granted. But to follow our dreams. To keep the eyes on the horizon and to do keep doing the right thing, despite it all. To live humbly, and to live now.

And you can grab Seth Godin’s ebook “Unleashing the Idea Virus” for free here.

I like what Gary Chapman does in Haiti.

SOP 1 Classroom-Photo by Bethani Montgomery - Image: Gary Chapman

He is sharing the basics of photography, story-telling, humanitarian, non-profit, NGO photography touching on ethics and digital workflow.

I know too much about this stuff anyway. Heck, I am doing a Masters on this. It’s time to pass some on. Time to give. Time to create change.

I’m reminded that I am too busy. That I have been wanting to to speak to my old friend Gavin of Compass Arts Down Under for years now. He lives on the edge, he is not afraid, he is a wild one who passes on his talents, creativity, and passion – empowering those that need empowerment, hope and a vision for the future.

I am changing this “should” to a “must”. Now!

There is more to come.

PS: In case I am rambling on for too long check out this video of what it might take to face some challenges and follow your dreams. Would I do this if each image cost me $500 a shot?

Silver & Light

(via Mediastorm)

This video is addressing the concerns of the poorest households and facilitating the inclusion of smallholders in modern distribution chains should be a priority in all East African countries.


World Bank Link: “Beyond the Nakumatt Generation: Distribution Services in East Africa“, World Bank Policy Note No. 26, Oct 2011)

via @JKE

The recent release of the Leica M Monochrome, has raised a few eyebrows, mainly due to it’s price tag and the audacity of elitism that rings through. The Leica Monochrome is beautiful, classic, minimal and solid. As always, it symbolizes perfection. Made in Germany.

Leica. Das Wesentliche – Berlin, May 10th 2012 from Leica Camera on Vimeo.

Not for the Everyday Shooter

Clearly, the Monochrome isn’t for the everyday shooter, it’s not for the many DSLR entry photogs that want to make it big and become the new rich with their photographic art. Its not really for the working photog either, – like the news/sports/wedding/shooter, where speed and gear and quick deadlines are dictating the workflow and stifling creativity.

No, the Leica Monochrome, like all Leicas, is made for the Image-Artisan, the Artist, the Time-Rich. Those whose highest priority is Quality, Design, Essentialsm – das Wesentliche. Those that want to focus on the image and the Art of taking it. Those who think and see differently, who create in their own time & space and with their own creative agenda.

Daring to simplify, to go monochrome and thus to reject the hype and distraction that colour brings, to force the photographer to focus on subject matter, light, composition and to be of a certain single-mindedness about each shot, is what this camera stands for. Leica stripped back, the quality of the camera and the pieces of art made with it, are now judged by the most subtle differences, and the finest details in shades of grey. And all of that makes this camera so appealing.

Have a look at this video (and enjoy some fun german accent, too .-)

A Critical thought about the Appeal of the Leica Monochrome

If you think about it more critically, Leica built into a camera-body the essence of that, which we imagine to be “pure” photography – envisioned in the decisive moments of Cartier-Bresson, the art and vision of Helmut (Neustädter) Newton, the emotion and realism of Dorothea Lange.

It is this imagining that is part of the attraction, that owning a Leica Monochrome is proof that one is in this league of legends. It is appealing then, one might argue, to the creation not only of images but of self-image, positioning oneself as a “true creative” in the photographic landscape. It is, in a sense, vanity technologically justified – and suddenly it makes the camera not seem that expensive anymore. This is very targeted branding and positioning, the price tag making sure the dream remains a little more unattainable for the everybody. (Which is not unlike how Apple positioned their products before the switch to Intel)

I have no doubt the Leica M Monochrome will be very successful.
What do you think? Any thought’s on this? Show us some love and leave a comment below.

The 1.26 Million EUR Vintage Leica

PS:If you think this the Monochrome is expensive, a Leica might be the best investment you’ll ever make. This 1923 0-Series Vintage Leica, was sold at a Vienna Auction for €2.16 million (US$ 2.79m).

A 1923 vintage Leica with 50mm f1.35 lens

It was one of a series of 25 made 89 years ago, of which there are only 12 remaining. It apparently carries the unique number 116 – which I would assume refers back to the total number of cameras made to that date.

This vintage 1923 Leica fetched 2.16 million Euro at a Vienna auction

“The stuff that inspired us, changed us, and fuelled our love for life and/or God. The things that had us move job, continents and through relationships. It’s based on the belief that when we share our dreams, we are dared to chase them. They remind us that everything is possible. In doing so, we hope to remind all of our readers and each other how important sharing our deepest hopes and desires is… for support, for honesty and for accountability.”

So here I am. I guess I’m here (in Melbourne/Australia, working for an NGO, doing photography, online marketing, communications), because many moons ago, when I lived in Nairobi, in the 90′s, my heart was stirred by the things that went down in East Africa.

It was years of uncertainty in Nairobi (my dad got car-jacked, I got knifed, neighbours got shot and cars burned), while Kenya was transitioning from single to “multiparty democracy”, Kevin Carter won a Pulitzer with his epic image of a starving child in Sudan, Mohammed Amin, covered the Ethiopian Civil War, Mogadishu was going crazy, and there was just so much injustice poverty, corruption, violence as part of the every day. Lifeline Sudan was happening.

It stirred in me the longing, the hope for a better world, a just place, and I knew I wanted to play a role in it.

Loading up at Wilson Airport Nairobi

I had just about finished high school and had the opportunity to get to Southern Sudan. It was a bit of an undercover operation (my code name was Charlie Zoo, and we had Sat Phone). We flew in from Lokichiko, Northern Kenya with an old Convair turboprop plane (the queen’s mum used to own it, I think) delivering 20 tons of food, grain, medication, clothes, maize, sugar, oil, soap etc. to a small town a few flight hours across the border. There were only old people, some women and small kids. Everyone else was gone or killed in the 32 years of war. From the air, most of the land below was burned and bomb craters were everywhere. It was absolutely surreal.

Lifeline Sudan Planes in Lokichokio

World Food Program Lifeline Sudan

Small Sudanese Boy with Walking Stick

There is this one image burned into my mind of a small kid, half naked and malnourished, coming to the airstrip and picking up every little tiny piece of maize that had fallen out of the bags and landed on the ground. I can not forget this vision – it truly made me a different person. It’s the picture I call back to mind when I get stressed about my iphone not working, and when this consumerism stuff gets too important.

I remember distinctly how as I sat in this plane, hydraulic fluid dripping from the cargo door actuator, that I had this “burning bush” experience. There was the inner voice saying “This is for you”. And I knew it was.

I followed this voice. It took me to my creative side – I became a designer & multimedia producer and photographer. Started my own business. I drew me towards aviation & piloting – I wanted to be a pilot to do disaster emergency relief work.

I lived in Germany for 10 years and was now in Australia – and here, having JUST received my wings, it also all crashed. The dream of flying, working in Africa ended abruptly. Heaps of frustration and questions followed.

And yet, it was just the beginning of where I am now and what I do, and I realize in hindsight that it’s all gone full circle. I now work for NGOs in Asia and Africa, I’m using my skills and talents in design, communication and photography. And as I am building the area of shooting humanitarian documentary, I realize, what motivated me wasn’t aviation, it wasn’t design and creative direction, and it is in many ways not even photography per se. (Though I love it!)

Family outside a hut in Lokichokio

What really inspires and drives me to do what I do, to get better at what I do is knowing that I am making a difference. That my work, my photography is actually helping relieve poverty, restoring hope. Fighting for freedom and justice – and ultimately making this world a better place.

So what’s the dream now? I revolves around all of this. Getting into more NGOs. Doing more humanitarian photography. Covering emergencies. Doing online/social media marketing. Being a creative consultant to organizations that work to make a difference, too.

Karl is super experienced and he’s done the all the big NGO names and been a shooting photojournalist for 15 years or so now.

He does what I do or what I am working towards: “Specializing in the photographic documentation of relief efforts and development work of NGOs worldwide, Karl has shot for more than 80 different NGOs in over 50 countries. His images have appeared in publications such as Newsweek, CNN, Geo, Town and Country magazine and The Chronicle of Philanthropy, but the largest majority of his photos appear in the annual reports, newsletters and communications materials of his humanitarian organization clients.”

Now I havent been published on CNN and Newsweek yet, but instead most of my work – like Karl’s appears in NGO publication. Often without attributions or acknowledgments, which is why I’m starting to put my work out here a bit more.

Anyhow, I checked Karl’s site again and found this BTS videos. That’s what it’s like:

Apart from reminding me that I started to do video on my last trip, which I never edited, shame … what strikes me with that, is how different yet similar my approach is. It feels like Karl has heaps of freedom to roam around and shoot whatever he sees, so to speak – which is great.

With my clients work is often more prescribed in a sense that I organise and plan before I leave. I will know (pretty much) what kind of clients I will interview and photograph. So that’s different. And 30min-1hr interviews are pretty much always part of my workflow.

The other video I came across is the is of John Keatley. He seems like a super nice guy, pretty caring thoughtful.

I cringed a bit at the intro, validating his work only because he photographed “celebrities”, but I’m posting this because after the hoohaa of that (at 28:50min) there is a shift to some work he did in Liberia. Quite interesting to hear John’s thoughts on this.

Here’s a sneak peak:

Jodi Bieber : Bringing something that is YOU, into the image. Just recording isn’t enough any more.

Jean-Francois Leroy : Photojournalism is telling me how is the world, how it works, with all the drama, problems, showing, witnessing – for that it deserves respect.

In Kantʼs view however, lying clearly is wrong and telling the truth is a universal maxim (Al-Fedaghi, S 2005). From this point of view it seems highly improbable to find argumentation that would allow for ethical lying, which can be validated with the CI. Perhaps, it is also a matter of defining what exactly one means when speaking about a lie. In other words: What is a lie?

Several thinkers have dealt with this question. Sissela Bok defines a lie as “a statement, believed by the liar to be false, made to another person with the intention that the person be deceived by the statement” (Bok, S 1978, cited in Fullinwider, R 2007). Based on this definition Bok makes a case for a differentiation between lies to enemies, lies to protect friends, white lies etc. She also suggests that a “justifiable lie” should a) have no alternative course of action, b) the moral arguments for the lie must outweigh those against it and c) a “reasonable person” without conflict of interest would approve of it (Bok, S 1978 cited in Al-Fedaghi, S 2005). In thinking about justified lies, Bok also asks for the context and the effects of the lie. (Fullinwider, R 2007)

Looking at cases of media deception then, I want to first consider the case of Claude Lewis, (Eugene Goodwin, H 1983) wearing a white coat to pass as a doctor in order to gain access into a hospital room to interview patients. The second case I want to analyse is the case of the 1991 Gulf War journalist who posed as a mortician to access data relating to the casualties of the war (Society of Professional Journalists, 1993). From the outset both cases look very much alike: a journalist poses to be of a different profession – an act of deception – to get access to information for a story. However, one would also see that the motive, prior knowledge and other available options differentiate the two stories.

From the text it becomes clear that the first journalist only knows that victims are treated at a hospital and wants access to get an interview. The story he finally gets however, is not only based on an interview but rather on his “stumbling” into a scenario that he would otherwise not have had access to. The case also suggests that the journalist did not investigate all the options of gaining access, but rather takes the path of least resistance to get to his story. This story would likely be only of local or perhaps national interest and as such not rank too high on the global public interest scale.

The second journalist tries to gain statistics and data from various sources in an (supposedly) ethical manner, and is left with no other option but to gain access to the information by posing as a mortician. This journalist has a specific goal, namely to get information on casualties of the Gulf War – a war, that ranks highly on the public interest scale both in the US and internationally.

Looking at these two cases from an MI/MU point of view, the gulf war journalist could form an Individual Maxim as follows: In the exercise of my profession I can deceive in order to gain access to information necessary to exercise my profession if all other means have been exhausted. As an universal Maxim this would become: In exercising oneʼs profession, one can deceive to gain access to information necessary to exercise oneʼs profession if all other means have been exhausted.

The ethical consequences of this MU would be that when doing business, no party could fully satisfy themselves that their business partner or colleague can be trusted. Since the ability of humans to see and understand any scenario fully is mostly limited, especially when not all information is at hand or withheld, the weakness of this Universal Maxim is
that it can not easily be ascertained that all avenues or means to achieve the professional goal have been exhausted. An atmosphere of mistrust, in arguably any business activity, would likely become the norm and potentially destroy societies’ ability to work together in partnership and mutual trust and respect. One would always have to reckon with the case that someone might be deceiving, lying or not telling “the whole truth”. Arguably this could further escalate into a general assumption that everything that is being said or done needs to be mistrusted and that contracts, reports and agreements etc. cannot be relied upon. The effects of this could have further impacts, even outside of business, as one would need to establish that the person lying when doing business can be trusted privately. Quite quickly these deduction show that this MU is ethically flawed and thus morally wrong – thus rendering the journalists initial MI and his act of deception unethical.

However, in trying to resolve the paradox of ethical lying, I want to take into consideration an important guide for Kant – motives and intentions. To determine the ethics of a question, Kant would suggest to analyse the motive and the intention of an action. This could also be explained as asking “why” an outcome is desired (motive) and “what” the desired outcome (intention) is (Smith, J 2010). An ethical action would have a strong ethical motive and at least good intentions. In this, Kantʼs reasoning continues to insist that truth telling must be universal (Al-Fedaghi, S 2005), both for a journalist and any other related player or party.

As alluded to earlier, both cases do vary considerably – even if the MI/MU analysis does not initially suggest there is a great difference from an ethical standpoint. The motive of the journalists seem to differ. In the hospital example the motive is to interview a survivor of the incident, with the probable intention to get a quote or eyewitness account for the next days paper. In the morgue case however, the motive is to uncover the truth and realistic numbers of soldiers that lost their lives in the war, with the likely intention to publish the finding and keep official sources accountable.

Looking at these motives and intentions, the second example, which is aimed at truthfinding and discovery of the reality of war-deaths, would arguably be working under a higher moral and ethical objective. In fact, the case for investigative journalism is often made, calling journalists to report without fear or favour, to stand up to intimidation and to reject censors (i.e. the Military). Further, it is even regarded as “imperative that the public’s right-to-know is protected by all costs” (Dorney, S 2009). From this point of view – even without the addition of “by all costs” – it could be argued that the journalist does indeed have the moral obligation to act in the ways that he did.

Adding to these considerations the Utilitarian approach of pain and pleasure, it can be argued that in the hospital case, a probable result is that the patient relays his experience and emotions to a person considered to be a trustworthy physician bound by the rules of the Hippocratic Oath. Finding parts of his disclosure published in the local press, is likely to cause stress and anger and evoke feelings of exploitation and betrayal. On the other hand, the news story is likely to give readers a more realistic account of what happened and allow the paper to publish a more complete insider story rather than just an account of the event. In summary then, from my own ethical point of view at least, greater pain and limited pleasures are probable consequences.

Looking at the morgue case, the journalist will probably collect first hand accounts and evidence of numbers and statistics relating to the war casualties. The publication of information showing the understatement of casualties by the authorities, will illustrate the real costs of the war. Depending on the scale of the discrepancy, a change in public opinion regarding the countryʼs engagement is probable, which could result in a policy change and a troop withdrawal or quicker diplomatic resolution to the conflict. The likely deaths of more troops and civilans could be prevented. On the other, hand the journalist puts himself into a position of danger and possible prosecution. Itʼs obvious that he is using a disguise and pretending to be someone he is not. However, in my view these negative aspects relate primarily to the journalist and let the pain/pleasure balance swing heavily towards the greater good (or “pleasure”) rather than pain.

In summary it could be argued then, that on a case by case basis, Ethical Lying can be resolved, based on motive and intention as well the considerations of the greater good. Further contemporary arguments such as Bokʼs questions regarding alternative actions, or conflict of interest need to be taken into consideration. It has become more obvious that it is unlikely that any one case should become a blueprint for another, as each situation needs to be analysed and various considerations need to be thought through.

—————————
References:
Al-Fedaghi, S 2005, Lying about Private Information: An Ethical Justification, Communications of the IIMA, Volume 5 Issue 3, pp. 47-56

Eugene Goodwin, H 1983, Groping for Ethics in Journalism, p. 153

Fullinwider, R 2007, Sissela Bok on Lying and Moral Choice in Private and Public Life – An Amplification, http://www.infed.org/thinkers/bok_lying.htm

Dorney, S 2009, The Australian Press Council, Forum: Investigative Journalism, http://www.presscouncil.org.au/pcsite/activities/meetings/investigate/dorney.html

Smith, J 2010, Ethics Philosophy and Professional Communication, Lecture COMM2058, RMIT University, Melbourne

Society of Professional Journalists, 1993, Doing Ethics in Journalism, p.109

I’ve tried the Drobo (Gen1) back in the days, which was loud, clunky, heavy and sensitive. And worst of all encoded all my images so that in the worst case, I’d have to get another box to get my files back.

I tried arrays of hardrives and just copying files manually, which worked ok, until drives got too full, and I ended up distributing stuff across devices – all in all a clutter and just unpractical.

And then I got a G-Safe. It’s surprisingly small, quiet and pretty fast with FW800. Sweet. I also got a third drive to back files up and store them off-site, swapping them over weekly. I felt my files were safe. I had peace of mind. Great.

G-Safe Drives OK

Until this little question came up the other day … how do I KNOW?? that the box actually backs up my files as it should? Why does the display not tell me what the box is doing, and why the heck, does it never seem to move files, when I swap drives?

So I searched forums and wrote G-Tech’s customer service, who initially just always stated (like the manual) that “Safe will ask whether you want to rebuild the array by using the data of one drive to the other. You should see a status that indicates it’s rebuilding” which, sounds like a good answer.

However, the problem I found, and which was somehow missed in the old manual, is that I only had this prompt once! Namely, the first time I inserted the drives. Funny that.

I used to 1) unmount the box (G-safe), 2)switch it off, 3)eject the drive, 4)swap it with the offsite, and 5)power it back up. The box would mount and the display confirm that drives are ok. Great. But no updating confirmation as far as I could see!

So I asked customer service again if I am missing something, and it took the Asia-Pacific guys a few days to get an answer from the US, but here is the trick:

The box, only recognises new drives initially and asks for a rebuilt (ie: backup of files from drive 1 to 2). The box then “remembers” the drive ID and when swapped “knows” the drive, not asking for a rebuilt anymore. Not what is intended.

To force the box to rebuilt the array (ie: back up the latest version of files on drive 1) you gotta cheat it a bit. And here is how:

1) unmount the box 2) switch it off 3) eject drive 4) with an empty second slot power up the box 5) a warning will sound and the display read “Drive 2: Missing”.

G-Safe Drive Missing

6) switch off the box 7) insert back up drive (ie: offsite drive) 8) power it up 9) The box should prompt the rebuilt.

G-Safe Rebuilt Prompt

10) Hit enter and let in rebuilt the 2nd slot drive.

G-Safe Rebuilding

Finally! Data is being backed-up.
It’s a bit of a work around. Not too bad really, but I reckon this could be improved.

Here’s what I could see G-Tech do: the box “remembers’ which drive was in which slot last, and when it changes, prompt the rebuilt. (Even if it doesn’t have an “empty slot event” in the between).

Anyhow, my data is back-ed up again. Happy about that.

Perhaps a few more words about the G-Safe?

I reckon it’s one of the best solutions out there. I tested a few things, did some cost analysis of other solutions including docks and swap drives etc, but found this would be the cheapest and safest in the long run and gives me some quality built that cheaper docks or other NASs can’t compare with. It’s not as cheap as other ebay alternatives (who knows when these might fail and you loose all your data). It comes with the drives, it’s a proven solution, it works, its quiet, small, very solid built – it’s worth it – especially if there is some value in your data. It’s prbbly the best small solution out there, I think.

PS: The match-box is just there to help put the size in perspective.

Middle East
Moises Saman: Refugees Flee Syrian Violence in Turkey (NYT)
Ed Ou: Syrians Find Refuge in Lebanon (NYT)
William Daniels: Escape from Syria (Lightbox)
Tyler Hicks: Glimpses of the Armed Opposition in Syria (NYT)
Rodrigo Abd: Inside Syria (Lightbox) from Guardian
Adam Ferguson: Christians Flee Iraq (NYT)
Stefano de Luigi: Cinema in Iran (Lightbox)
Franco Pagetti: Egypt (VII)
Davide Monteleone: Libya : Winners and Losers (VII)
Alixandra Fazzina: Over Mountains, Underground (NOOR)
Jason P Howe: Afghanistan: Saving Private Bainbridge (Telegraph)
Andrea Bruce: Skiing in Afghanistan (NYT Lens)
Larry Towell: Afghanistan (Lightbox)
Tyler Hicks: Bearing Witness in Syria: A Correspondent’s Last Days (NYT)
Javier Espinosa: How I escaped from Homs as Syrian forces closed in (Guardian)
Zohra Bensemra: My journey into Syria’s nightmare (Reuters)

South America
Tyrone Turner: Where Slaves Ruled (Brazil) (NGM)
Meredith Kohut: In Salvador, Prisons Packed to the Bars (NYT)
Spencer Platt: Haiti Landfills (MSNBC photo blog)
Alex Troesch and Aline Paley: Mexican Pointy Boots (Lightbox)
Peggy Peattie: Angels of Milot (zReportage)

MUCH more after the jump

Africa
Pete Muller: Ethiopian Forces in Somalia (Newsweek)
Dominic Nahr: On the Ground: Safe fro Kony? (Lightbox)
Carl de Souza: The Maasai Cricket Warriors (Atlantic) Kenya
Dominic Nahr: Voices of Protest in Senegal (Magnum Photos)
Graeme Robertson: Portraits of Malawi (Guardian)
Jonathan Torgovnik: Rebuilding the DRC (BBC)
Daniel Cuthbert: First on Scene : South African Paramedics (BBC)
David Campbell: Kony2012, symbolic action and the potential for change
World Press Photo Multimedia contest for “Afrikaner Blood BJP: World Press Photo announces Multimedia contest winners
FotoVisura Photography Grant Winners
Kate Holt: Education for All (zReportage)
Chris Kelly: Situation in Southern Kordofan (Photographer’s archive)

Asia
Adam Dean: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Campaigns in Myanmar (NYT)
Rian Dundon: A View From Inside The Other New China (Burn)
Brent Lewin: India’s ‘rat hole’ Mines (National Post)
Pete Pin: Cambodian Americans (NYT Lens)
Sally Ryan: Home No More (zReportage)
Kevin Frayer: Holi Festivities (SecBee)

James Nachtwey: Japan One Year After (Lightbox)
Daniel Berehulak: Japan One Year After (NPR)
James Whitlow Delano: Black Tsunami (Vimeo)
David Guttenfelder: Tsunami, Then and Now (SacBee Frame blog)
Alvaro Ybarra Zavala: Route 45: Japan’s Earthquake & Tsunami Anniversary (Reportage)
Espen Rasmussen: Fukushima Fallout (Panos)
Noriko Hayashi: One Year On (Panos)
Dean Chapman: Fading Memories II (Panos)
Hiroko Masuike: A Japanese Community After the Tsunami (NYT Lens) Related
Chris Steele-Perkins: Tsunami Streetwalk, Kesennuma / Streetwalk 2 (Magnum in Motion)

Russia & Ex-Soviet Territories
Ikuru Kuwajima: Astana, Kazakhstan’s Capital Outside In (NYT Lens)
Sergey Kozmin: Elite Russian Military School for Girls (NYT Lens)
Eugene Richards: ‘War is Personal’ Continues (Lightbox)
Anastasia Taylor-Lind: Siberian Supermodels (VII) multimedia
Stefan Bladh: Youth in Kaliningrad, Russia (Lightbox)
Yuri Kozyrev: On the Campaign Trail with Vladimir Putin (Lightbox)
Rob Hornstra: Empty Land, Promised Land, Forbidden Land (Foto8)
Mila Teshaieva: Promising Waters (Lightbox)

North America
Christopher Morris: A Day With Obama (VII)
Lauren Lancaster: Super Tuesday (New Yorker)
Evan Vucci: GOP Campaign Trail with Instragram (MSNBC photo blog)
Lauren Fleishman: Romney : Super Tuesday (Lightbox)
Stephen Crowley: Smoke-Filled Rooms part 2 (NYT Lens)
Jeroen Oerlemans: Dreaming of Europe (Panos)
Adam Dean: City of Broken Dreams (Panos)
Alfredo Caliz: The Longest Spring (Panos)
William Daniels: Faded Tulips (Lightbox)
Peter Hapak: Olympic Women’s Boxing Hopefuls (Lightbox)
Ben Lowy: Ohio’s Long Road to Recovery (Reportage by Getty Tumblr)
John Pendygraft: If I Die Young (zReportage)

Europe
Tomas Wiech: Poland’s Great Adventure (NYT Lens)
Tom Stoddart: Women of Sarajevo Revisited (Reportage)
NYT Lens (various photographers): Postcard from London
Danko Stjepanovic: North Kosovo (photographer’s website)
Martin Parr: Think of Finland (Magnum)
“I looked through a lens and ended up abandoning everything else’ – Sebastiao SalgadoSebastiao Salgado (Guardian) Sebastiao Salgado (Vimeo)
Martin Parr : Making of ‘Think of Finland’ (Vimeo)
Finland’s press photos of the year… Finland Press Photos of the Year 2011
Fredrik Naumann: A Voice from Rost (Foto8)

Photographers Stories
Ed Kashi (NYT Lens)
Samuel Bollendorff (BJP)
Elliott Erwitt on the art of photographic sequencing (BBC)
Lynsey Addario (Newsweek)
Lynsey Addario (Newsweek)
Davide Monteleone (Develop Tube)
Sean Gallagher (Atlantic)
Alex Prager : this year’s Foam Paul Huf Award winner (BJP)
Sebastian Salgado : The Photographer as an activist (Youtube)
Giles Peress (Youtube)
Pieter Hugo (Vimeo)
Barbara Davidson (LA Times Framework blog)
Homer Sykes (Photoshelter blog)
Olivia Arthur (IdeasTap)
Naomi Harris (Thisisthewhat)
Dominic Bracco II : Turning Point (NYT Lens)
Fiona Rogers (IdeasTap)
Giles Duley : Becoming the Story (TED on Youtube)
Justyna Mielnikiewicz (TED Youtube on Reportage)
Steve Pyke (PicBod)
Mark Power (Impressions Gallery)
John Moore on on ‘Epic’ Libya Battles, Arab World Revolutions (Click)
Shaun Fenn : From Assistant to Photographer: Shaun Fenn’s Professional Transition (PDN)

PDN: Remembering 13 Unsung Heroes of Photojournalism
Guardian: Photographer Lynsey Addario’s Best Shot
Guardian: Photographer Tom Craig’s best shot
Guardian: My best shot: The one that got away
Guardian: My Worst Shot
Guardian: Photographs Not Taken: what makes a photographer freeze?
NYT Lens: Empowerment, Through a Lens
NYT: David LaChapelle, From Photographer to Artist
Verve: Kirsten Luce
Verve: Jeremy Nichol
Verve: Alessandro Grassani

Articles, and Agencies:
Boston Globe: With Hipstamatic app, photojournalists smartphone it in to new exhibit
Why Instagram photos cheat the viewer (CNN)
NPPA: Justin Maxon, Katie Orlinsky Win 2011 Alexia Foundation Grants
KL Photo Awards 2012
Guardian Student Media Awards 2012
Magnum open to submissions again. Apply to become a member of Magnum Photos : 2012 Submissions are now open : Deadline is 08/06/12
VII Photo Newsletter March 2012
Noor newsletter 15 March 2012
Prime Collective March 2012 newsletter
Reportage by Getty Images: Natalie Naccache now part of Emerging Talent
Making Pictures : commercial photo agency : London
Phaidon: The defining images of our turbulent times…VII: Questions Without Answers
Jörg Colberg: Better by Design: The role of design in the making of five modern photobooks (BJP)