Flipbook Goes Live on Mediastorm

Today Ed Kashi's Iraqi Kurdistan Flipbook went live on Mediastorm.org. The piece is being shown on a larger screen.

Blog Design

There has been some discussion here in the studio about the design of the blog and weather it is working. What are your feelings on the white text over the black background? Is it legible enough? If it were to be changed, what would be the best way to change it? All you bloggers get blogging.

Links to Flipbook Comments

Flipbook link

Flipbook link

Flipbook link

Flipbook link

Flipbook link

Flipbook link

Flipbook link

Flipbook link

Iraqi Flipbook Statement

In the past week there has been a lot of reaction and subsequent discussion spawned by the web publication of a new multimedia piece that I conceived from my work in Iraqi Kurdistan. I would like to explain my motivation and purpose and philosophy behind this work, and multimedia in general.

This all began last year when I was editing my first National Geographic story shot digitally. The process revealed this flipbook effect in certain aspects of my shooting style and current approach to still photograpy. I have been working in multimedia for about 6 years now, shooting a bit of video, capturing audio, making stills to create narratives for the web. I see the formation of the flipbook idea as a reaction to this opening in my own vision of what is possible between the intersection of stills, moving images and audio. My work is virtually always about storytelling and issue reporting, not conceptual ideas. My work is based in the formal elements of trying to capture real life in real time and then present it with passion and context to tell a story that will reach people. If art is created along the way that is always the goal, but working within these strictures often can make it challenging. My primary purpose is to tell important stories in a powerful way using the visual language of still photography.

But what I'm learning , or seeing, is that my ways of accomplishing this are expanding, changing, morphing into other things that I could have never envisioned or anticipated even 5 years ago. Simultaneously, the profession and way of life I've dedicated myself to over the past 25 years has changed in ways that make it more difficult to get one's work compensated and published. The structural changes in photojournalism and the editorial space which uses photo reportage, has dramatically shifted to a more fiscally and politically conservative position. It's a position that runs counter to my own personal beliefs and frankly gets in the way of my goals. So a few years ago I decided to take matters more into my own hands, create a non-profit with my wife, Julie Winokur, and continue to work on my personal projects and passions without the bitterness and frustrations that the media world presents today. Furthermore, I've learned that if you build it they will come. If I can find other ways to produce and disseminate my work, the media will buy and publish it. This all seems to make sense to me and allows me to continue what I do best and love most...passionate, intimate storytelling about relevant subjects of social and political issues. This is where multimedia fits in. There is now a potentially powerful and engaging way to tell stories in a new form, through new mediums and to reach new audiences. And I can still remain true to the passionate principles that link me to the life of the still photographer.

The flipbook is merely an outgrowth of this creative opening in my own consciousness. For me it was an interesting idea to string together thousands of my own still images with the music and produce something I've never done before and haven't really seen much of in the contemporary photojournalism scene. I"m well aware that I"m borrowing a very, very old technique and just updating it with the newest tools. But it's very exciting to think that something which began in my own mental laboratory has now been seen by hundreds of thousands of people around the world in just the first week of it's public "outing." This work is also a result of great collaborations. Having Lauren Rosenfeld, Brian Storm and Eric Maierson to help me make real what I envisioned in my head has been critical. Making multimedia is essentially a collaborative effort.

I believe we all dream of producing work that has the stamp of our own authorship. Whether you don't care if your closest friends see it or the whole world sees it, there is still a commonly shared goal, dream, passion, belief in, desire to create something that is purely our own. I am also driven by a desire to share that work with others; to get reactions, make people question, think, open their eyes, hearts and minds to a story I want to tell. As Joan Didion has simply put it, "we live to tell stories."

I learned years ago that envy, bitterness and the desire to please this profession are all recipes for internal discord, loss of energy, inspiration and ultimately a creative dead end. I love what I do more than ever and eagerly hope to do it for a lot longer. Part of making that a reality is to stay inventive, fresh and open to new ideas. If others don't see my work that way, that is par for the course. I"ve also learned that this profession and the arts in general are suffocated by people's opinions, prejudices, petty politics and the age old problem of "monkey see, monkey do."

My goal with this flipbook and anything else I do, is to communicate in an engaging and powerful way. This is a very humble dream, yet one lined with creative, professional and personal landmines and roadblocks. To flourish, and not merely survive, one must have the backbone and energy to avoid those pitfalls and break through the road blocks. Everything else is excuse, weakness, lack of willingness to take risks or just simply frustration.

Ed Kashi

Debate over Iraqi Kurdistan Flipbook on Lightstalkers

Check out this conversation and commentary on my Iraqi Kurdistan Flipbook project that is up on msnbc.com and mediatorm.org

Iraqi Flipbook discussion on Lightstalkers

Uganda Photo Camp Blog

Please read Margaret Aguirre's blog which gives a great recap of the 10 day National Geographic Photo Camp in Uganda that I just took part in. Margaret is the the head of communications for IMC, the International Medical Corps, which is based in Los Angeles and was one of the main sponsors and facilitators of this camp.

Margaret Aguirre blog

Weblink Regarding the Flipbook

Interesting post regarding the Kurdistan Flipbook project.

SionPhoto

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ED

Thursday, November 16 is Ed Kashi's birthday!

From the studio to Ed who is far away in Uganda...... Happy Birthday!

STUDIO NEWS - IRAQI FLIPBOOK

The Ed Kashi Iraqi "Flipbook" is making its public debut today as the top headline on MSNBC.com. To view the flip book go to the MSNBC.com site: MSNBC

PDN Online also ran a feature story about the flip book today. For more information about the creation of the presentation please visit the story here: PDN

The flip book features thousands of images that Ed made while on assignment for National Geographic in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2005. Ed's story was featured in the January 2006 issue of National Geographic. For more info: NGS Magazine

Meet the Studio

When Ed is traveling to exotic locales like Uganda, you can often find myself or someone else from our studio who will take on the mantle of the "official blog keeper" from time to time. I run the studio for Ed, I have been working with him since January 2005. Aside from the day to day operations of running the studio, I am also the Webmistress of the Edkashi.com site. If you haven't seen our new site design yet, I highly recommend taking some quiet time to check it out soon!

I'll be stopping by the blog occasionally to report the latest news on the homefront. In addition to myself, we hope to have contributions by Michael Curry, our digital guru. I'll try to persuade Mike to reveal some of his magic to everyone, he's saved us so many times and has deservedly earned the title "Hero" in the studio.

Lauren Rosenfeld works closely with Julie keeping Talking Eyes Media running smoothly. You'll be seeing Lauren's name popping up a bit lately! Lauren worked with Ed on the initial concept of his Iraqi Flipbook that is making news today (see the next post). Hopefully we will see Lauren posting here soon about the magic she works for Talking Eyes Media!



And that brings us to Julie Winokur, writer, director, producer extraordinaire! In addition to her creative talents, she is Ed's beautiful wife and all around Mom, not just to their children, but to all of us! We'd be lost without her!

With that out of the way, stay tuned for more exciting news from Uganda and New Jersey!

~Kristin

Photo Camp in Uganda for Refugee Children

I am now taking part in a wonderful project in Uganda. National Geographic Photo Camp is holding its first international Photo Camp, with the support of the International Medical Corps. I've participated in two others, in San Francisco and New York, but this is the first one being held abroad. We are in western Uganda teaching three two-day workshops to refugee children ranging in ages from 12 to 20. The participants are mostly from the Congo and Rwanda. So far it's been a dizzying experience with not enough sleep and too much to do. But the children are lovely and patient and seem to be getting a lot out of it. The goal of this workshop is part photo class and part art therapy. I've attached a few images of mine and one image by a very talented young man from the Congo who is 17. His image is a setup tableau of the difficulties the people face here when they get sick. They get malaria and don't have enough food, but their neighbors come to help and share what they have. He set this up on his own without any guidance from any instructor. This is quite an inspiring image and is filled with insight into the plight of the people here.

His image is the one of the man lying on a straw mat surrounding by villagers.

Comments from Holland about Ed Kashi's Sandwich Generation multimedia story

Subject: Beautiful Herbie!

What a great film about Herbie,so realistic and so emotional, we are in the middle of almost the same situation.......We are dividing the care for my father with caretakersorganisation here in the village and a lot of volunteers. He is still living in his own house 80 years old, he has no alzheimer but is almost blind, lost my mum and have a kidneyinsufficiencyproblem. With four children we are constantly searching for the balance between work, children, friends and taking care of our dad.

I think these kind of films must be shown often, so everybody could learn from it. More people getting older and less money goes to the care/healthorganisations here in this country!

Thank you for making this film, we are inspired by your work, thanks!! I will send the url to a lot of friends here in Holland.

Kind regards Esther Pennarts


Esther Pennarts photographer/filmmaker

American Photo Blog about Kashi's Iraqi Kurdistan Flipbook

Read this posting by David Schonauer, editor of American Photo magazine, about a recent innovative auction by Brian Storm of MediaStorm, of one of my new projects.

AmericanPhoto

Journal entries from June 2006 detention in Nigeria

If anyone is interested in reading about my recent detention in Nigeria at the hands of the Nigerian security forces, please go to the link below. I was on assignment for National Geographic magazine when it happened, working on a story that will be published in their February 2007 issue.

SFGATE