Gordon Parks Awards US of A …
A nice little bit of recognition recently when one of my images from South Korea was awarded “Honorable Mention” (i.e. 4th!) in the “26th Annual Gordon Parks International Photography Awards”. The awards celebrate the work of the eminent coloured US photographer Gordon Parks who not only produced brilliant photo essays as a staffer for ‘Life Magazine’ but also directed the 1971 movie ‘Shaft’. (Who doesn’t remember Isaac Hayes great ‘Theme from Shaft’ which won an ‘Academy Award’.)
Gordon Parks died in 2006 aged 93 but the Gordon Parks Center continue to promote his work, make it available to the public through exhibitions, books etc and support artistic and educational activities that advance his ideal of “the common search for a better life and a better world.”
The theme for this years awards and exhibition was “The Face of Poverty” … a subject covered prominently by Gordon Parks own work. Amongst the winners and finalists were entries from the US, Bangladesh, Japan … and Australia (me!). My image (below) was made in Seoul South Korea whilst documenting the many homeless individuals that exist around the main railway station and at the time facing eviction by National rail network Korail. I made the pic as s small boy stopped to stare at a homeless man preparing his cardboard box bed for a nights sleep in a station underpass.
Details of all the prize winners can be found at http://www.gordonparkscenter.org/photocontest/items/WinnersFinalists%202014.pdf
Image © Brian Cassey
‘Genesis’ Story in Walkley Mag …
The latest edition of the Walkley Magazine has hit the streets … and within is published (at the request of the Walkley Foundation) “In the Beginning” … my story on the ‘Genesis Project’ exhibition.
‘Genesis’ developed from an a germ of an idea I had … to explore the early images of now experienced photographers … the catalysts that transformed a child, teen or young adult into a potential devoted pro photographer. The moments when through creating an image they realised “this is what I want to do – become a photographer and make photographs – to capture life’s moments”.
The exhibition was a major featured event at this years Head On Photo Festival in Sydney. Was pretty chuffed when contacted by the Walkley Foundation and asked to contribute the ‘Genesis’ story to their prestigious magazine. Posted below are grabs of the three pages as published where you may read the story and see some of the images. (As mentioned in the previous post I was also asked to present a ‘power talk’ and visual presentation on the project at the Walkley ‘Storyology’ event in Sydney.)
There is more on the ‘Genesis Project’ on my blog at … https://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/blog/2014/05/genesis-project-great-company/ … and … https://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/blog/publications/2014/05/genesis-france-world/ … and … https://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/blog/travel/2014/05/curating-genesis-project/
Images in these pages © Fiona Wolf, Katrin Koenning, Ben Lowy, Glenn Campbell, John Donegan, Chris Rainier and Brian Cassey