Upcoming Grant Deadlines at Open Society Institute

The Open Society Institute's Documentary Photography Project has a couple of upcoming deadlines for Grant opportunities- the Production Grant deadline is Friday, March 20 at 5pm, and the Distribution Grant deadline is June 19, 2009.  These are some fantastic opportunities for funding and support, definitely worth looking into. Production Grants: The Open Society Institute Documentary Photography Project and Arts and Culture Program announce a grant opportunity for documentary photographers from Central Asia, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Mongolia, and Pakistan. Approximately 20 grants in the amount of $3,500 each will be awarded to photographers to produce a discrete body of work on a current human rights or social justice issue in the region. Grantees will also be assigned an internationally recognized photographer as a mentor to work with in workshops at the beginning and end of the grant and throughout the grant term. The aim of the Documentary Photography Project is to support creative work that…

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March Digital Journalist now online

The March Digital Journalist is now online.  This month features Anthony Suau's feature on The Housing Meltdown.  You've probably seen his World Press Photo winning image of the police detective clearing a house, but the rest of the series is definitely worth a look, it's a very powerful take on what's going on in towns across the country right now. Of covering the story with detective Robert Kole, Suau says: "I was on edge each time we approached a home over the next day and a half I rode with him – I always wondered what emotion we would find next. Between evictions he took me to streets on which every home was closed as a result of foreclosures. I worked the streets of crack houses and boarded up complexes as he stood closely by. "Don't even think of coming here on your own," he told me as we pulled away." Lots…

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Intended Consequences at Aperture Gallery

Jonathan Torgovnik's exhibit for his project Intended Consequences is now on view at the Aperture Gallery, through May 7.  There will also be a panel discussion on Wednesday, April 29, 2009, at 6:30 (check the gallery's website for more info). Torgovnik's book, Intended Consequences: Rwandan Children Born of Rape will be released on April 7, 2009, coinciding with the fifteenth anniversary of the start of the genocide. If you haven't seen it yet, you can view the full multimedia piece here, and get more information on the project at http://www.foundationrwanda.org/.

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Improving Audio on the Canon EOS 5D Mk II

Kevin Reylek over at B&H has done a fantastic review of options to record better audio with the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Kevin writes: "While the onboard mic performs as advertised, I found it to be serviceable at best. Consisting of just 3 tiny pinholes on the front of the camera body, the mic doesn't have the greatest pickup distance or quality. It is capable of picking up general ambience and voices, but it also picks up a fair amount of handling noise, which can mar an otherwise suitable recording. So, if you're recording video clips with the goal of having them heard as well, then an add-on mic is a must." They did multiple testings with several mics, and you can listen to the results at the bottom of the article.  While some of the options might seem a little impractical and unwieldy, if you're serious about using a 5D…

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2009 World Press Photo Winners Announced

Anthony Suau, USA, for Time Congratulations to Anthony Suau, the 2008 World Press Photo of the Year winner for his image of an armed officer of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department moving through a home in Cleveland, Ohio, following eviction as a result of mortgage foreclosure. Jury chair MaryAnne Golon commented: "The strength of the picture is in its opposites. It's a double entendre. It looks like a classic conflict photograph, but it is simply the eviction of people from a house following foreclosure. Now war in its classic sense is coming into people's houses because they can't pay their mortgages."  (you can watch MaryAnne talk about the photo here) You can see the rest of the winners in either a gallery or a list.  There's some amazing work in here from around the world, definitely worth checking out.  Congratulations to all of the winners!

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