Here are the first 35mm photos for the REJECTED : ) Alberta Foundation For The Arts Grant project pictures. This project (Families Of The Mae Sot Garbage Dump)was rejected by the grant jury but I said f-ck it and went 100% on my own dime to shoot it, they did not think it was important enough to fund but I did. I hope the next grant, also for to document the dump families is accepted or I will have to struggle through and fund it with Gerry's security guard grant money once again. The first rejected grant was for $5000 the second attempt asks for $3500 (which will only pay part of my total costs), I should find out soon whether I got the 2nd grant or not.
All the photos were made on Tri-x with 2 Leica M6 bodies and 3 lens a 21mm, 28mm and 50mm. On my next trip in Oct I plan on shooting 3 camera bodies so I do not have to the lens change over, I will also have 3 cameras to change off to if I run out of film in 1 or 2. Last trip I had 2 cameras with film run outs and missed a possibly good photo op.
Tonight I am multi tasking, developing 4x5 in the Jobo, scanning 35mm, transferring all my digi files to DVD as a backup and uploading photos to this blog.
Some of the images were shot a bit farther away, I was decided to try some compositions like this after viewing the wonderful book Africa by Sebastiao Salgado. In the book Salgado photographed the African landscape or the peoples interaction with the landscape using a 35mm camera and black and white film.
I feel projects like "The Families Of The Mae Sot Garbage Dump" that deal with important social issues need to be supported and funded, these stories need to be told. Th foundation for the arts folks thought not, they said no. Getting the door slammed in my face, getting angry and pissed off can be a good thing, it drove me to work harder to try and make important photographs, and prove the no people wrong. On some days when I was melting in the sun, I pushed myself harder, pushed myself to go back another day because I thought what I was doing was important no matter the lack of grant support. Even one of my photo/art friends thought that tax money should not be used to fund stories like this, the money is being spent either way, why not try to use it to raise awareness about a forgotten people. The story of the child above who lives and plays in garbage, needs to be seen, talked about and hopefully changed.
The Burmese families at the dump were kind, considerate and friendly to me, I owe them a deep debt of gratitude. I will return in October with free b/w and color photos, I will try to help in small ways that I can, am really looking forward to the trip back. I might try to print and sell a calendar to help raise some funds that I can donate at the dumpsite or the local school.
Ok enough ranting on my part, now just a bunch of new photographs.
All the photos were made on Tri-x with 2 Leica M6 bodies and 3 lens a 21mm, 28mm and 50mm. On my next trip in Oct I plan on shooting 3 camera bodies so I do not have to the lens change over, I will also have 3 cameras to change off to if I run out of film in 1 or 2. Last trip I had 2 cameras with film run outs and missed a possibly good photo op.
Tonight I am multi tasking, developing 4x5 in the Jobo, scanning 35mm, transferring all my digi files to DVD as a backup and uploading photos to this blog.
Some of the images were shot a bit farther away, I was decided to try some compositions like this after viewing the wonderful book Africa by Sebastiao Salgado. In the book Salgado photographed the African landscape or the peoples interaction with the landscape using a 35mm camera and black and white film.
I feel projects like "The Families Of The Mae Sot Garbage Dump" that deal with important social issues need to be supported and funded, these stories need to be told. Th foundation for the arts folks thought not, they said no. Getting the door slammed in my face, getting angry and pissed off can be a good thing, it drove me to work harder to try and make important photographs, and prove the no people wrong. On some days when I was melting in the sun, I pushed myself harder, pushed myself to go back another day because I thought what I was doing was important no matter the lack of grant support. Even one of my photo/art friends thought that tax money should not be used to fund stories like this, the money is being spent either way, why not try to use it to raise awareness about a forgotten people. The story of the child above who lives and plays in garbage, needs to be seen, talked about and hopefully changed.
The Burmese families at the dump were kind, considerate and friendly to me, I owe them a deep debt of gratitude. I will return in October with free b/w and color photos, I will try to help in small ways that I can, am really looking forward to the trip back. I might try to print and sell a calendar to help raise some funds that I can donate at the dumpsite or the local school.
Ok enough ranting on my part, now just a bunch of new photographs.
