Justin Stailey

0:29 VII Insider Splash The VII Foundation 1:31:39 VII Engage - A City Ruptured” with Ashley Gilbertson and Renee Melides Over the course of the last year and a half, the Covid-19 pandemic depleted our economy, affecting people’s homes, livelihoods and wallets. To document the hardships, as both a lament and a tribute, Ashley Gilbertson spent 8 months photographing how the pandemic economy ruptured New York, witnessing stark examples of widening inequality, the changing ways of work and commerce, and ultimately tears in the fabric of the place—even amid growing signs of hope for immunity and recovery. In this discussion, Ashley discusses the project with the editor of the project with whom he worked, Renee Melides. The duo discusses their year of COVID-19 coverage in New York City, the genesis of the project, the complex production of a months-long story from initial pitch to publication, and the importance of collaboration. Ashley and Renee also look at many images from the series, and give insight to the stories behind the pictures. Renee Melides is a Photo Editor at The New York Times and is currently based in New York. Renee also worked for The Times in both their London and Hong Kong bureaus. Prior to this, she was the Deputy Photo Editor at Monocle Magazine in London. Before venturing into the realm of photo editing, Renee spent her years as a photojournalist. Working for clients such as The Financial Times of London, Reuters, Monocle Magazine, The Age, Australian Financial Review and the Sydney Morning Herald, to name a few. Renee has interned at both the VII and Magnum photo agencies and CNN International. In her spare time she also works on her own personal documentary projects and visual stories. Ashley Gilbertson is an Australian photographer and writer living in New York City recognized for his critical eye and unique approach to social issues. Gilbertson is a member of VII Photo, a frequent contributor to major media outlets and a collaborator with the United Nations. For over twenty years, Gilbertson’s work focused on refugees and conflict, an interest that in 2002, led him to Iraq. His work from that country was awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal, and in 2007, Gilbertson’s first book, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, was released, going on to become a bestseller. Post Iraq, Gilbertson shifted his focus to veterans, drawing public attention to post traumatic stress disorder and suicide. Gilbertson’s second book, Bedrooms Of The Fallen, a collection of photographs depicting the intact bedrooms of service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, was released in 2014. That work received a prestigious Ellie award. Today, Gilbertson documents global migration in Africa and Europe, and works on climate, social and health issues in the United States and Asia. He writes regular opinion and news stories for outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, ProPublica, and UNICEF. In 2014, a multimedia story on the militarization of the South China Sea earned him an Emmy nomination. He has worked on commercial assignments for Apple Computer, Axa Insurance, and the Ad Council. Gilbertson’s prints and books are included in permanent collections of numerous museums and art galleries around the world, and has been exhibited widely at institutions including The Smithsonian (Washington), Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne), Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas), The Museum of The City of New York, and The National September 11 Memorial Museum (New York). The VII Foundation 2:05:09 John Stanmeyer’s Kit: On Assignment with National Geographic There is no one photography kit. Some can be large, and some can be small—it all depends on need and style. From times when an extensive collection of items is necessary, to more insignificant day-to-day kits, and creating endlessly with the camera phone that is always in his pocket, John Stanmeyer has done it all over the years. In this VII Insider session, John shares his experiences preparing for assignments and how he thinks about what gear is necessary. John shares his philosophy of minimalism and simplicity, and gives insight into what feels just right for him, to help guide others to committing not to more and more gear, but to less—and the limitless possibilities he finds in bringing a simple collection of tools into the field on an assignment. In a wide-ranging Q+A, John also discusses long-form and short-form storytelling with a small kit, sharing examples not so much of the gear, but what one can do with their gear. John Stanmeyer is an award-winning photojournalist, Emmy nominated filmmaker and educator, dedicated to social, humanitarian and political issues that define our times. For more than 15 years, John has worked nearly exclusively with National Geographic magazine, producing over 19 stories, resulting in more than 14 covers. Between 1998 and 2008, John was a contract photographer for Time magazine. His years with Time resulted in 18 covers. In 2001, Stanmeyer co-founded with six of the world’s leading photojournalists, the prestigious VII Photo agency. Today VII represents more than 30 photographers from around the globe. Stanmeyer is an Emeritus member of VII and also is represented by Nat Geo Image Collection agency and is a member of Ripple Effects Images, a collective of artists and storytellers working on issues related to women, empowerment and equality. He is the recipient of numerous honors, including the prestigious Robert Capa award, POYi Magazine Photographer of the Year and the World Press Photo of the Year in 2014. John lives with his dog, Elfriede the Great Dane, in the southern Berkshires of western Massachusetts. The VII Foundation 1:18:45 VII Insider: Sebastião Salgado (Portuguese) Internationally-renowned photographer Sebastião Salgado has spent years documenting the vast lungs of the Earth that stretch through his native country of Brazil and neighboring nations. “Amazônia” is his ongoing comprehensive survey of isolated indigenous communities, wildlife, and the aerial landscapes of the untouched regions of the Amazon. In conversation with VII Photo Agency Mentor Program photographer Leonardo Carrato, Salgado talks about the challenges involved in multi-national and global long-term projects, and the importance of photography as a powerful tool for change, citing real-world examples where it has made a difference. Sebastião Salgado was born in Aimorés, Minas Gerais, Brazil and now lives in Paris. A trained economist, he began his career as a photographer in Paris in 1973. He worked successively with the agencies Sygma, Gamma and Magnum Photos until 1994 when, together with Lélia Wanick Salgado, they founded the photographic press agency, Amazonas images, exclusively devoted to their work. Salgado has travelled to more than 100 countries for photographic projects that, in addition to countless publications in the press, were published as books, with conception and design by Lélia Wanick Salgado. These titles include Other Americas (1986), Sahel, l’Homme en détresse (1986), Workers (1993), Earth (1997), Exodus and Portraits of Children of the Exodus (2000), Africa (2007), and Genesis (2013). In 2015, he published the book Perfume de Sonho, a trip to the world of coffee. The book Da minha terra à Terra (2014) tells the origins of his work. His most recent books include Kuwait, A Desert on Fire (2016), in 2019, Gold, Serra Pelada Gold Mine. Traveling exhibitions of these works have been and continue to be presented internationally. The vast majority of these exhibitions were curated by Lélia Wanick Salgado. Sebastião Salgado has also received numerous awards for his photography. He is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and an honorary member of the United States Academy of Arts and Science. He received the commendation of the “Order of the Rio Branco in Brazil” and is “Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. On April 13, 2016, he was elected a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts de l’Institut de France, assuming the chair previously occupied by photographer Lucien Clergue. In that same year also in France, he was appointed Knight of the Legion of Honor. He received the Itamaraty Cultural Diplomacy Award from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the Brazilian Embassy in Paris. In 2016, in Brazil, he was appointed Doctor Honoris Causa, Federal University of Espirito Santo. He was also recently elected an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in the USA, and was honored with the German Free Trade Peace Prize. The VII Foundation 1:11:45 Reporting the Siege of Sarajevo The Siege of Sarajevo remains the longest siege in modern European history, lasting three times longer than the Battle of Stalingrad and over a year longer than the Siege of Leningrad. Reporting the Siege of Sarajevo provides the first detailed account of the reporting of this siege and the role that journalists played in highlighting both military and non-military aspects of it. The book draws on detailed primary and secondary material in English and Bosnian, as well as extensive interviews with international correspondents who covered events in Sarajevo from within siege lines. It also includes hitherto unpublished images taken by the co-author and award-winning photojournalist Paul Lowe. In this VII Insider talk, Lowe and co-author Kenneth Morrison discuss the book in conversation with VII photographers and co-founders who covered the siege — Ron Haviv and Christopher Morris. They overview the scope and structure of the book, the process of putting it together, their experiences covering the historic event, and the siege’s importance to the history of the journalism profession. Dr. Paul Lowe is a Reader in Documentary Photography and the Course Leader of the Masters program in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London, UK. Paul is an award-winning photographer who has been published in TIME, Newsweek, Life, The Sunday Times Magazine, The Observer, and The Independent, amongst others. He has covered breaking news the world over, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, Nelson Mandela’s release, famine in Africa, the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, and the destruction of Grozny. Kenneth Morrison is Professor of Modern Southeast European History at De Montfort University, UK. He has written extensively on the modern history of the Western Balkans and is the author of Nationalism, Statehood and Identity in Post-Yugoslav Montenegro (2018), Sarajevo’s Holiday Inn: On the Frontline of Politics and War (2016), Montenegro: A Modern History (2009), and the co-author of Reporting the Siege of Sarajevo (2021) and The Sandžak: A History (2013). Kenneth was a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2018 and has previously acted as Specialist Adviser on Western Balkan politics for the UK House of Lords International Relations Select Committee. He is currently writing a book focusing on the utility of hotels in urban conflicts. Ron Haviv is an Emmy nominated and award-winning photojournalist and co-founder of the VII Agency, dedicated to documenting conflict and raising awareness about human rights issues around the globe. His first photography book, Blood and Honey: A Balkan War Journal, was called “One of the best non-fiction books of the year,” by The Los Angeles Times and “A chilling but vastly important record of a people’s suffering,” by Newsweek. His other monographs are Afghanistan: The Road to Kabul, Haiti: 12 January 2010, and The Lost Rolls. Haviv has produced an unflinching record of the injustices of war. His work in the Balkans, which spanned over a decade of conflict, was used as evidence to indict and convict war criminals at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. President George H.W. Bush cited Haviv’s chilling photographs documenting paramilitary violence in Panama as one of the reasons for the 1989 American intervention. Haviv is the central character in six documentary films, including National Geographic Explorer’s Freelance in a World of Risk and River of Gold. He has provided expert analysis and commentary on ABC News, BBC, CNN, NPR, MSNBC, NBC Nightly News, Good Morning America, and The Charlie Rose Show. Haviv is a founding member of VII Agency based in New York. Christopher Morris was born in California in 1958 and began his career as a documentary conflict photographer working almost exclusively for TIME Magazine, where he has been on contract since 1990. He has been credited with redefining political coverage in America during his years working at the White House for TIME Magazine from 2000 till 2009. Simultaneously to his career as a photojournalist, Morris has expanded his work into the fashion world. He has received various awards, including the Robert Capa Gold Medal, the Olivier Rebbot Award, the Journalism Award from the Overseas Press Club, two Infinity Awards for photojournalism from the International Center of Photography in New York, the PDN Look Fashion Editorial Award and numerous World Press Photo awards. Morris is a founding member of VII Agency based in New York. The VII Foundation 47:56 “Congo in Conversation” with Finbarr O’Reilly As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world in 2020, swiftly closing down borders, Finbarr O’Reilly and 11 Congolese photographers—who were collaborating on a vast project addressing the human, social and ecological challenges that the DRC faces today—quickly adapted themselves to the new reality and created a unique collaborative online chronicle, an uninterrupted and unprecedented stream of articles, photo essays, and videos housed on a dedicated website called “Congo in Conversation” that has also resulted in a bilingual monograph of the same name. The 11th Carmignac Photojournalism Award funded the project. In this VII Insider talk, VII agency photographer Ziyah Gafic and Finbarr discuss the project’s evolution and execution, the history and politics of photojournalism in the Congo, the importance of diversity and representation in photojournalistic narratives, and using institutional power and privilege to lift up underrepresented voices and develop the next generation of storytellers. Finbarr O’Reilly is an independent photographer and multimedia journalist, and the author of the nonfiction memoir, Shooting Ghosts, A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War (Penguin Random House 2017). Finbarr lived for 12 years in West and Central Africa and has spent two decades covering conflicts in Congo, Chad, Sudan, Afghanistan, Libya, and Gaza. He is the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize exhibition photographer and a frequent contributor to The New York Times. His photography and multimedia work has earned numerous industry honors, including First Place in the Portraits category at the 2019 World Press Photo Awards. He was also winner of the World Press Photo of the Year in 2006 and earned a 2020 Emmy for the PBS Frontline documentary, Ebola in Congo. Finbarr is a Canon Ambassador. Ziyah Gafic is an award-winning photojournalist and videographer based in Sarajevo focusing on societies locked in a perpetual cycle of violence and Muslim communities around the world. He covered major stories in over 50 countries. Ziyah’s work received many prestigious awards such as multiple awards at World Press Photo, Grand Prix Discovery of the Year at Les Rencontres d’Arles, Hasselblad Masters Award, City of Perpignan Award for Young Reporters at Visa pour l’Image, Photo District News, Getty Images grant for editorial photography, TED fellowship, Prince Claus grant, and Magnum Emergency fund grant. His work is regularly published in leading international publications. Ziyah authored several monographs including “Troubled Islam – short stories from troubled societies”, “Quest for Identity,” and the most recent, “Heartland.” The VII Foundation 1:06:09 Creating Impact New Visual Perspectives on the Climate Crisis This symposium explores three urgent questions about creating impactful communications on the climate crisis, in advance of the UN Climate Change Conference 2021 (COP26) to be held in Glasgow, Scotland starting 1 November 2021: How can visual images and stories impact the climate crisis agenda? Are there new global voices and perspectives emerging? How can images improve public engagement ahead of COP26? Hosted by VII Insider, the symposium is a collaboration between Climate Visuals, University of the Arts London’s Photography and Arts Research Centre, Slideluck Editorial and The VII Foundation. VII Insider events are made possible by the generous support of PhotoWings. This hour-long event, held on 30 June 2021, also introduced the Climate Visuals programme, its evidence base and previewed submissions to ‘Visualizing Climate Change: An Open Call for Photography’, which is a partnership with TED Countdown. Moderator: Paul Lowe Participants and Agenda: Toby Smith, Climate Visuals Introduction to Climate Visuals, its evidence base on impact, and the concept behind the ‘Visualizing Climate Change’ initiative Maria Teresa Salvati, Slideluck Editorial A personal selection from the Open Call highlighting new voices and perspectives on climate change Nichole Sobecki, VII Recent photographic work on the climate crisis Moderated Q&A The VII Foundation 1:22:04 Digital Silver Imaging Technical Webinar Series B&W Workflow How you execute your black & white conversion can make-or-break your image and your print. Simply selecting “grey scale’ results in soulless black & white conversions. Photoshop® and Lightroom® expert Joe Brady shares how he converts his images from color to black & white. Joe steps you through the process in clear easy to follow steps. Also included is a how-to on the Nik Silver Efex Pro plug-in. Instructor – Joe Brady Topics include: Creating a dynamic black & white conversion Demonstrate best practices using Lightroom® and Adobe Photoshop® Review of Nik Software Silver Efex Pro plugin Black & white printing options Question and answer The VII Foundation