– David Campbell, who teaches International Multimedia Journalism as part of the Beijing Foreign Studies/ Bolton University joint MA program, had environmental activist photographer Lu Guang as his guest speaker. Lu spoke about his resilience in documenting the many ongoing environmental crises in China despite the consequences.
Bottom up activism against environmental problems in China is very much alive as more Chinese are seeing a clean and safe environment to live in as a fundamental human right. NYT Lens did an excellent feature of Lu Gang’s work last year while NetEase (translated into English) interviewed Lu on how he overcomes the multiple challenges in capturing China’s many environmental crises.
– Lu Guang was also awarded the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography. W. Eugene Smith was a LIFE magazine photographer was known for his vivid and gruesome coverage of the Pacific Theatre of World War II (as well as his “incessant perfectionism and thorny personality”). Here, Life republished Smith’s 1948 feature “Country Doctor”, an intimate portrait into the life of general practitioner Ernest Ceriani in rural Colorado. Considered one of the finest pieces of photojournalism of his time. Smith’s other iconic photo of mercury poisoning in Minamata Japan in 1956 was “Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath”. Devastating.
– Amidst the news of renewed economic sanctions against Iran as it builds up its suspected nuclear program, The Atlantic’s In Focus puts together a series of photos that more accurately reflects Iran’s people and society. A pleasant and alternative look into Iran’s youth, strong and independent women in action and day-to-day life.
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