We are very pleased to announce the acceptance of four new projects: Choosing Hope: Reclaiming the Duwamish River - Tom Reese; Cameras without Borders: Photography for Healing and Peace - Eberhard Riedel; Sufis: Messengers Of Peace - Amit Mehra; Toxic Water, Poisoned People: When Mountains Fall To Pay For Coal - Paul Corbit Brown.

Everyone at Blue Earth wishes to congratulate our new project photographers! We very much look forward to working together to further their projects highlighting these important issues.

Choosing Hope: Reclaiming the Duwamish River - © Tom Reese.

“The Duwamish River can be hard to love, but it flows powerfully through the hearts of those who know it well. The Duwamish is one of earth’s vital arteries conveying lifeblood from mountains to the sea, so it can be difficult to accept that its lower 5½ -mile stretch has been turned into one of the most toxic waste environments in the United States - an industrial sewage canal flowing out past the scenic waterfront of Seattle.”

Cameras without Borders: Photography for Healing and Peace - © Eberhard Riedel.

“Recurrent racism, tribalism and fundamentalist ideology are tearing apart the human fabric. I work with peoples in Africa whose ways of life are under assault and who are suffering the consequences of violence, war and discrimination. This includes the Bushman of Southern Africa and Pygmy in Uganda and Congo, who are among the oldest inhabitants of Africa.”

Sufis: Messengers Of Peace - © Amit Mehra.

“Post 9/11, the general perception to Islam has been quite negative but what needs to be understood is the much larger picture of communal amity it stands for. It is a unique topic, which hopes to enlighten people about the inherent concept and nature of Sufism, the middle path in Islam, as a harmonious philosophy highlighting the benevolence of Islam; an aspect critical to its comprehension in these troubled times.”

Toxic Water, Poisoned People: When Mountains Fall To Pay For Coal - © Paul Corbit Brown.

“Appalachia is the second most bio-diverse ecosystem on the planet and yet it is being systematically destroyed by a cheap coal extraction method called Mountain Top Removal (MTR). Over the last 20 years, over 500 mountains have been destroyed, the water is now toxic with heavy metals and the rate of destruction is rising at an alarming rate.”

Want to help us support great projects like these? Join us for the annual Blue Earth Lottery, an evening filled with fine art photography, gourmet food, and delicious wine, and take home a print donated by one of our world-class photographers like Phil Borges and Subhankar Banerjee! Unlike auctions, every ticket holder is guaranteed a print for their collection.

Join the fun Sept. 30, 2010, 6 p.m. at the UW Center for Urban Horticulture at our annual fundraiser gala! Seating is limited. Order your lottery tickets today.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

A young boy stands next to a mural of a Palestinian rock thrower that was shot and killed at a clash site in Gaza. © Ron Wurzer

Blue Earth currently sponsors about 30 photographic projects.  Over the years, different projects have run their course and moved forward on their own.  But that doesn’t mean they are any less important today than they were when Blue Earth first sponsored them.

This week we’re highlighting Ron Wurzer’s Palestinian Portrait.  His project documents the Israeli-Palestinian conflict post-9/11.  Wurzer’s aim was to help Westerners better understand the social climate in the region.  It documents the lives of ordinary Palestinians as they go to school, to work, navigate Israeli roadblocks, endure power outages, live in refugee camps in proximity to Jewish settlers, and deal with an increasingly violent situation and faltering economy.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

The female’’s role is to produce offspring and participate in the care of the infants.  Poppy, the female shown here, is one of the grandes dames of Rwandan mountain gorillas having produced babies for many years.  Poppy and her infant Ishyaka Laurentine are members of the Susa Group.  As young females grow to maturity, they may and generally do leave their birth or natal group to join another social unit.  It is not abnormal for a female to transition between groups more than once in her life.  Parc National des Volcans, Rwanda. © Gene Eckhart

We are very pleased to announce the acceptance of Gene Eckhart’s Mountain Gorillas… and People: Understanding the Connections and Why They Matter in the summer 2009 round. Everyone at Blue Earth wishes to congratulate Gene, and we very much look forward to working together furthering his work to promote mountain gorilla conservation.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

I’m pleased to report that popular clothing company Nau has just launched their first annual Grant for Change “supporting those who instigate lasting, positive change in their communities.”  This is a somewhat unique grant in that the $10,000 award recipient is selected by popular vote.  Blue Earth project photographer Benjamin Drummond and Sara Joy Steele have been nominated for their Facing Climate Change project for the award, and we encourage your support of their project!  Check out Benj & Sara’s blog for more information about the project and how the grant could help their work.

Visit the Grant for Change program page to cast your vote for Facing Climate Change today!

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

Three women at Fiesta. © Judy Blankenship

Blue Earth currently sponsors about 30 photographic projects.  Over the years, different projects have run their course and moved forward on their own.  But that doesn’t mean they are any less important today than they were when Blue Earth first sponsored them.

This week, I’d like to highlight Judy Blankenship’s project on The Canari Of Southern Ecuador.  Her project emerged as the result of many trips to the region documenting indigenous culture and resulted in a book, Canar: A Year in the Highlands of Ecuador that was published in 2005.  She has gone on to work with the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

We have been pleased to report on the progress this spring of Bert Teunissen with his Blue Earth sponsored project Domestic Landscapes: Eastern Europe highlighting changing domestic interiors across Europe.  Now we are able to report that Teunissen has just added a new series from his recent work in the Czech Republic.  The new work is a collection of compelling photos, many of which were taken inside what might be called “traditional” homes, which capture a lifestyle slowly disappearing from an aggressively modernizing Europe.

These new images are from only one of several series he will be completing during the next two years for the project, including trips to the Ukraine, Russia, and Moldavia.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

An aerial view of the Owens Valley from David Maisel’s “The Lake Project.” © David Maisel

Blue Earth currently sponsors about 30 photographic projects.  Over the years, different projects have run their course and moved forward on their own. But that doesn’t mean they are any less important today than they were when Blue Earth first sponsored them.

Today I’d like to dip into our archives and highlight work from David Maisel’s project Black Maps. Often abstract in appearance, Maisel’s photos of regions suffering from environmental degradation are powerful statements. They speak directly and give first-hand evidence of the damage humanity can inflict on an entire region.

It is easy sometimes to overlook the scope of the damage directly in front of us - Maisel changes the scale.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

We are very pleased to announce the acceptance of three new projects in the fall 2008 round: Finding Trust/The Sarvey Wildlife Project – Annie Marie Musselman; Warriors for Peace – Jon Orlando; and Domestic Landscapes: Eastern Europe – Bert Teunissen.

This past round was the largest to date, and our Board of Directors faced a daunting task in carefully reviewing all the submissions.  I can say that everyone here very much looks forward to supporting our new photographers and working to further their projects highlighting important issues.

Finding Trust/The Sarvey Wildlife Project – Annie Marie Musselman
Working locally in Seattle, Annie’s project began 6 years ago at a small wildlife rehabilitation center where she volunteers regularly.  She believes “animals live with us, and are us, and that we must take care of each other in order to survive,” and her objective is to document “this important human/animal connection and the delicate union that exists between the two.”

Warriors for Peace – Jon Orlando
Based in Boulder, CO, Jon’s project documents the efforts of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to oppose the continuation of these conflicts of which they were once a part.  Through his project, Jon aims to help create “a means for providing a space for the viewers to relate to the veterans on a very personal level.  In creating that space and reintroducing the public to the humanity and emotion of the soldier, this project will challenge the ease with which we accept war.”

Domestic Landscapes: Eastern Europe – Bert Teunissen
Based in the Netherlands, Bert explores how “daylight illuminates the domestic interior, and dictates the way the interior is used and decorated.”  He is particularly interested in this project in documenting the lives of “Europeans who to this day use natural daylight in their everyday lives.” He brings attention to the rapidly disappearing, but “distinctive and celebrated atmosphere that the old Dutch masters - Vermeer, De Hoogh, Israëls and Rembrandt - captured in their paintings.”

Congratulations to our new photographers!

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

Alema Rose, Aler IDP camp, Uganda, 2006 © Heather McClintock

There comes a time in each of our lives when we question who we are, what we wish to become, why we are here.  Sometimes we fall and break, sometimes we rise to what is in each of us, sometimes we do nothing.  Facing my personal demon meant deciding whether to remain on the path I had safely chosen, or find the courage to embrace the elusive unknown.  I hunger and am restless for intimacy, purity, and hope: seeking visual truth as evidence that we are all one.

Over a period of six months I lived in northern Uganda, initially pursuing my desire to focus on humanitarian relief work; and instead finding myself longing to document the strength of will and hope smoldering in every unwavering look, subtle gesture, or shrouded moment of unfathomable contemplation.  The Acholi tribe has gracefully and with fire, shared their strength and courage amidst conflict.  Quietly, yet almost defiantly they entrusted me with their pain and beauty, entwining their demon with mine.  In a voice that soars, they bestowed their stories of devastation and dignity, reflecting the ambiguity and mystery that resonates within each of us.

I am more than this.

After more than twenty years of civil war in northern Uganda and two years of peace negotiations between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the government’s Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF), the peace process has all but been declared dead.  For now, peace in the north has been transferred to instability in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo as the LRA have recently abducted over 159 children, killed at least 52 civilians and reportedly displaced up to 75,000.  In the northern region of Uganda, the Acholi tribe has been caught in the middle of this complex and barbaric civil war, in which countless numbers have been brutalized, and abducted minors comprised almost 90% of the rebel soldiers.  It is estimated that as many as 66,000 children have been abducted by the LRA, wrenched from their families and forced to become soldiers and sex slaves.  The Ugandan government’s strategy of moving northerners into “protected villages” has turned into a displacement nightmare for 1.7 million people - over 80% of the region - who now live in squalid camps and lack access to basic resources.

Uganda, known as the Pearl of Africa, is located in the continent’s geographic heart and bordered by Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and the DRC.  The civil war in the north is an almost incomprehensible conflict that arose from a repressive colonial past and years of division between the north and south.  The end result was a political rebellion that set the stage for an insurgency by the LRA.  Fearing discrimination by Uganda’s government, the LRA represented the Acholi ethnic group in Uganda’s northern districts.  The LRA evolved into its current leadership under religious extremist Joseph Kony, and his cult-like guerilla army, which has combined an apocalyptic spiritualism with opportunistic politics and warlordism.  As the war progressed, the support of the war-weary Acholi diminished; so Kony turned his wrath upon his own tribe.  Geography, porous borders, low risk/high reward raids on civilian targets, regional rivalry and proxy relationships involving the Ugandan government, the government of Sudan, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army and the US government have sustained the life of the LRA, making this Africa’s longest running conflict and as one senior U.N. official described it “the world’s worst neglected humanitarian crisis.”

The Acholi are a proud and gracious people who want nothing more than to be educated, sleep safely in their own homes, have food to eat and clothing on their backs, live in peace; no different than you and I.  We are all inextricably linked in this complicated and imperfect life we share, and while these images only touch upon their unimaginable suffering, it is my hope that they will underscore this simple equation, and that viewers will lend compassion towards all brave survivors of conflict.

Heather McClintock

Gallery FCB in New York is hosting an exhibit “The Innocent” from November 13, 2008 through January 1, 2009 featuring the work of Blue Earth photographer Heather McClintock in Uganda.

For more information on the conflict in Uganda and recovery efforts:

Resolve Uganda

African Youth Initiative Network

Medical Teams International

Freidis Rehabilitation and Disable Center
freidishp@yahoo.no
cjogole@yahoo.no

Rachele Rehabilitation Center: now Rachele Comprehensive Secondary School

On The Commander © Alejandro Tomás

Last evening at the Seattle Central Community College, Blue Earth project photographer Alejandro Tomás presented to an overflow crowd his documentary project “Who Rules US?” profiling an elite group of American power brokers.  The crowd of attendees included students, members of the American Society of Media Photographers (who hosted the event), Blue Earth board members and supporters, as well as the general public.  All were treated to an extended photographic essay detailing a glimpse into the face of power in the US.

Joel Connelly’s article on the presentation in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer includes a slide show of several photos from this intriguing project.

Congratulations to Tomás for a great presentation!

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

From LIFE: A Journey Through Time © Frans Lanting

Blue Earth project photographer Frans Lanting’s multimedia production ORIGINS, an adaptation of “LIFE: A Journey Through Time” and including music by renowned composer Philip Glass, will be performed October 21st in Geneva, Switzerland, at the official Inauguration Ceremony for CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.  ORIGINS will be presented as the entertainment centerpiece of the ceremony, which will be attended by over 20 European heads of state, as well as other scientists and dignitaries.

Our congratulations to Frans for this great honor!

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

A widow in Bosnia examines body bags. ©Sara Terry

Sara Terry’s project Aftermath followed rebuilding efforts in Bosnia as the nation slowly recovered from the war that devastated so much of the land in the 1990’s.  Her work in the series focused on the terrible consequences of this conflict.  She strongly believes that it is vital to tell “the other half of the story,” the story of the people and communities attempting to reestablish their lives.

We are pleased to report that Terry’s efforts did not end with her work in the field.  After completing her long-term project in Bosnia, she founded a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about the consequences of war so often ignored by mass-media.

The Aftermath Project is a non-profit organization committed to telling the other half of the story of conflict — the story of what it takes for individuals to learn to live again, to rebuild destroyed lives and homes, to restore civil societies, to address the lingering wounds of war while struggling to create new avenues for peace.

In addition to its promoting its own programming, The Aftermath Project will be giving two grants in the amount of $25,000 and $15,000 in 2009 for photographic projects furthering its educational mission.  Photographers can find information on applying on their web site.

If you are in the Chicago area next month, the organization will also open its inaugural exhibition at the Gage Gallery at Roosevelt University on September 11th.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

For several years, the small community known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Texas has been in the news.  This summer, over 400 children were removed from their families by state officials, only to be returned soon after by the court.

Blue Earth photographer Stephanie Sinclair recently had the almost unique opportunity to spend time in the homes of the people involved documenting their lives.  Her work is featured in the New York Times Magazine in the article “Children of God.”  Accompanying this article are two slide shows of Sinclair’s images from the daily lives of the women and children of this community.

The phrase “beyond the headlines” is perhaps a bit worn; nevertheless, it really applies to this fascinating series providing a brief moment in the lives of individuals facing an uncertain future.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

Blue Earth project photographer Daniel Beltrá has been keeping busy these days!  Most recently, Daniel’s work has been featured in two double spreads: one in The Guardian this past June and another in July’s Popular Photography.  The spread in Popular Photography also features an interview with Daniel.  If you missed those publications, you can always view several images from his Amazon: Forest at Risk project on our web site.

Oct. 27, 2005. Barreirinha (Brazil). Big river boat trapped on a sand bank East of Barreirinha, during one of the worst droughts ever recorded in the Amazon. ©Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace

I am also very pleased to note that Daniel has generously donated a print to the Blue Earth Annual Lottery, to be held September 18th at the Palace Ballroom in Seattle.  This image (above) is part of a series that won a World Press Photo award in 2006.  If you would like to attend the lottery, and maybe even take home Daniel’s print, you can purchase tickets today via our web site, by mail, or over the phone.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

Photographer Greg Constantine was recently recognized for his work by the Society of Publishers in Asia in their 2008 Awards for Editorial Excellence.  In the “Excellence in Feature Photography” category, Greg was given the award for his work in the International Herald Tribune (one of my favorite newspapers if I may say).  His ability to “capture the heart of the story in images that mesh both news and art” apparently convinced the judges to give him the award.

The full article is available at the IHT.  In addition, Gregg has a fascinating slide show “Millions without a place to call their own” attached to the same piece.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

Camille Seaman, another talented Blue Earth project photographer, is currently sailing the northern seas as Artist in Residence on board the Prince Albert II, June 30-Aug. 25, 2008.  Right now Camille and fellow travelers aboard the ship are exploring Iceland, Greenland and other destinations in the Arctic.  In addition to other shows, Camille will also be taking part in the Polar Attractions Exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA from June 28, 2008-June 07, 2009.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager