Life in a Day: Participate in a Worldwide Self-documentary Project July 24

Life in a Day's idea is this: to document July 24--a single day on earth---from as many perspectives as possible. It's up to you what and how much you film. Videos must be uploaded to their site between July 24 and 31.

I don't shoot much video, but I think even I might participate. Youtube is calling it an "historic cinematic experiment". There are a few prompts, but the rest is up to you.

Huh... one of the "don'ts" is no music, and others include not infringing on various forms of other people's intellectual property, and trademarks. Makes sense unless you are the owner of that intellectual property... like music, for example? [Can it really be a representative day on earth without music or high art?]

Make a video. Have fun. Upload it. If you do it, can you send me a link?

~Lys

Free screening of "An Unlikely Weapon- The Eddie Adams Story"

There will be a free screening of the documentary "An Unlikely Weapon" the Eddie Adams story, April 14th, 2010 at Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT, White Hall, Viewing Room #1 on the midtown campus.

There will be a short talk/presentation by Professor Marcy May from the WCSU History Department on photography and it's impact on our historical memory before the start of the movie.

The talk will start promptly at 7pm with the movie beginning immediately after.

Free and open to the public.

Tony Donovan's "Ardoyne, Belfast, Ireland 1971-1972" at NESOP

© Tony Donovan

Tony Donovan of Ivoryton Studio's portfolio of work from Ardoyne, Belfast, Ireland 1971-1972 will be exhibited from November 16, 2009 to January 8, 2010 at The Garner Center for Photographic Exhibitions, New England School of Photography, 537 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA. There is an opening reception November 19, 7-9 pm.

Donovan, who was a 26-year-old filmmaker at the time, ended up by chance living in a brick row housing estate in the small community of Ardoyne, in north Belfast, Ireland and photographing its residents with his Leica. "To a lot of Irish Americans, [Ireland] was the promised land," said Donovan. What he saw when he got there was more like a police state.

"At the time the images were made, no one was interested in the work--people didn't want to talk about it," Donovan said. His time in Ireland coincided with some of the worst civil unrest caused by paramilitary groups who waged a war against British rule. Donovan worked on a scaffolding gang rebuilding houses that were burned during the conflict. He says there was around 60% unemployment among the men of the community, as well as high rates of alcoholism and suicide. Some of these problems continue to this day.

As an outsider, Donovan had to gain the trust of his neighbors, and he often photographed children playing in his neighborhood. His images capture the contradictions in Ardoyne's street life, at once tender and supercharged with tension. The black and white carbon pigment prints for the exhibition were made by Still River Editions from the original negatives.

Lys

Michele Muir's "Every 71 Seconds - Memories of Alzheimer's"

© Michele Muir

"Every 71 Seconds - Memories of Alzheimer's" is a black and white photo essay by Michele Muir about the lives of those affected by Alzheimer's disease. It will be exhibited at Mill Street Loft, 25 Pershing Ave. Poughkeepsie, NY from June 20 to July 31. There will be an artists' reception Saturday, June 20, 3 to 7 pm with a gallery talk, music and readings.

Muir's photographs follow the lives of people with Alzheimer's over the course of a period time--whether an afternoon, a day, a few months, or a couple of years. The images show the confusing and sometimes subtle changes that occur from moment to moment, from day to day in those coping with the disease. The relationships between those with the disease and their caregivers show both tenderness and frustration. Some of the images are metaphorical or symbolic. All of the images are infused with compassion, as Michele works for an Alzheimer's organization, and in addition, her father has Alzheimer's.

More information about the exhibit may be found here.

I printed much of the exhibit, and found it an emotional experience.

~Lys