International Site Profiles: 3rd Eye Film & Photojournalism

We're periodically posting short profiles that will collectively provide a starting point for an exploration of international blogs, online magazines, and pages.

We recently profiled the Afghan Photography Network. Today we continue with a related site also based in Afghanistan, 3rd Eye Film & Photojournalism.

THE BASICS
Site:  3rd Eye Film & Photojournalism
Location: Kabul,Afghanistan
Recommended sample post: Post-2001 Afghanistan; Changes, Challenges and Developments by Basir Seerat - post from the site's weblog explaining the organization's background and contemporary work in English
Frequency of posts: Not applicable
Founded: organization founded 2007; website founding date unknown
In a sentence: 3rd Eye is a physical space of photographic community, exhibition, and education as well as a multi-generational collective of Afghan photographers and filmmakers focused on broadening the composite image of the country.

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In a country with an illiteracy rate of over 90% and in the aftermath of a Taliban regime that almost entirely prohibited the taking of photographs, images have become crucial in the struggle to define Afghanistan, to communicate ideas and direct its future. All sides involved in the on-going conflict are now using images to influence the vision of the country's direction.

3rd Eye members focus specificially on promoting a forward-thnking, positive image of the country in the midst of reconstruction and on-going military operations. Tellingly, a recent exhibition at 3rd Eye was entitled "New Afghanistan through Afghan eyes."

The site is an outgrowth of the education and exhibition center. The site hosts member biographies as well as a loosely curated photo gallery organized by theme and a page with a couple of videos created by members. Images in the gallery fall into what you could perhaps call "popular journalism."

International Site Profiles: Afghan Photography Network

We're periodically posting short profiles that will collectively provide a starting point for an exploration of international blogs, online magazines, and pages.

Today we continue the series with a look at the Afghan Photography Network.

THE BASICS
Site:  Afghan Photography Network
Location: Afghanistan
Recommended sample post: Fardin Waezi
Frequency of posts: Not applicable
Founded: February 2013
Last updated : February 2013
In a sentence: APN is a newly launched project that promotes the work of younger Afghan photojournalists who work in "one of the world's complex and contested information environments."

APN launched last week and is a very welcome addition to the online international site community. It aims to provide an international audience with an experience of the country through local eyes, to raise awareness of the practice of Afghan photojournalists, and also to improve business and networking opportunities for member photographers. Easy to navigate and in English, the site provides a single point of access to explore the work of 34 Afghan photographers through 8-12 image portfolios. On the site's blog, they publish member portfolios and also just published an interview with member Jawad Jalali that hopefully will be a recurring feature.

The site is a model that I hope spreads to other countries in the south half of the globe; a similar style site for Colombian photojournalists would be a welcome and overdue project.

Reading Shortlist 3.2.12

The Reading Shortlist is an occasional post with a listing of recommended readings and links. A recommendation does not necessarily suggest an agreement with the contents of the post. For previous shortlists, please visit the site links page.

Andrea Frazzetta, The New York Times Magazine, "Nollywood's Walk of Fame" Frazzetta's images accompany an article written by Andrew Rice for the magazine about the $500 million-a-year "Nollywood" film industry of Nigeria.

James Dodd, Flickr, "A parting note" Dodd explains his reasons for leaving Flickr and in doing so gives an insight into the current state of what was once a central hub for photography community and sharing. He also touches on the question of sharing your work online for free.

Robert Frank, LIFE (May 21, 1951), "Speaking of Pictures" After checking out this early photo essay by a 26-year-old Frank in Paris of....chairs, I'm prepared to say The Americans is better.

Sam Grobart, The New York Times, A Review of the Lytro Camera Grobart examines the first Lytro which allows you to focus the image on your computer in post-production. Includes a link to an example image that you can experiment with.

Impossible Colors, Wikipedia A fascinating thought: that under special artificial laboratory conditions it is possible to see colors ordinarily impossible. Hat tip to T. F. Tolhurst.

Liverly Morgue In case you missed it, The New York Times launched a new blog on Tumblr featuring images from their photo "morgue" of millions of pictures. The reverse sides of the images are provided and are frequently as interesting as the images themselves.

Sebastiao Salgado, Looking Back At You This link is to part one of a six-part documentary on YouTube about the Brazilian photographer Salgado. Includes lengthy interviews, video of his working process from his cameras to his prints, and footage of him working in the field.

Alec Soth, Minneapolis StarTribune, A photographer's-eye view of Martin Parr Soth calls Parr the "Jay-Z of documentary photography." Includes a link to a second article with a video about Parr's visit to Minnesota to photograph ice this past January.

Larry Towell, CNN, Faces of the Taliban Magnum photographer Larry Towell hired an Afghan journalist in order to enter Taliban camps to make these photographs that give a face the insurgency group.

Pieter Wisse, 500 Photographers Blog, Shut down your computer and go live! Wisse eloquently gives us the reminder we all periodically need to hear. Thanks Pieter.