January 21, 2012 - While listening to Jermaine Jackson being interviewed and speaking about his brother Michael, I felt like an ass. To have someone in the same room as you describe how hurtful the allegations and jokes were, really hit me hard.

The Shoot: Jermaine was incredibly soft-spoken and almost seemed shy and timid upon meeting me. But as soon as the video camera started rolling, or when he heard the click of the shutter, his smile beamed and he opened right up.

The Technical Stuff: The one light used was a Interfit Super Cool Lite 655 2-Light Kit (1320 watts of constant lighting) since that was what I used for the video portion of the gig (yes, video). The photos with the mirror and outside were with ambient light. The camera was a Nikon D3S.

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And her father is calling it a Christmas Miracle. Link to the CBC Story.

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via nytimes.com

Must see this. Five Iraq photojournalists document their country's experience over nine years. I remember a discussion a few years ago with some fellow photojournalists about the value of having local press telling their own stories. As a photographer we like to believe that we can travel to another country and be able to be faithfull to our craft and produce a compelling story of the people we are covering. But I think having locals tell their own story goes beyond the photos themselves and empowers the local people with a sense of having control of their lives and their stories.

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via guardian.co.uk

An interesting set of portraits. One reason is access.

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Artist John Newsom in his studio.

I've always been extremely interested in how artists create. But, it's intimidating to prepare yourself to capture portraits of such talent. Or so I thought. Working with John was such a pleasure because of the collaborative effort. I spent the evening with him as he worked on one of his pieces. Starting from a blank canvas. It was amazing to see something so beautiful start to form before me. Just the energy, spurts of laughter, joy, anger, and determination. Thanks John.

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I met Mike and James in North Carolina, working at a power plant. They are not celebrities. They make an average wage, and probably live in average homes. You might pass them on the street and not give them a second look. But I can't help but look at them and talk to them. They are the workers. They get their hands dirty and are not ashamed to do so. They make an honest living. Hopefully, a first in a series to come.

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A great pre-Halloween surprise, I was contacted yesterday by the CEO of the American Photographic Artists (formerly Advertising Photographers of America) to let me know that I had received first-place honours in their prestigious national photography contest for my portrait of writer Philip Roth. Wow! Seriously awesome. And once again, thank-you Mr. Roth.

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See the full gallery on Posterous

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I guess like everyone else, I wanted to visit the site before the ten-year anniversary tomorrow. Part of it was curiousity, and partly to pay tribute. The sky was cloudy and grey, but still warm and humid as is many of the summer days here in New York. I don't know if I was just tired from the ferry over, but I felt drained. The mood at the site was very low key except for when a pack of UK firefighters rode in on their Harley bikes. For NY, it was strangely quiet and felt amost like we were visiting a church. Everyone was very friendly and tourists shared quick smiles with one another and except for the chattering from journalists, most people just came to pay their respects. They just didn't know where to do this.

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Just wanted to share some recent photos of the British Royal Couple tour in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They arrived just in time to kick-off the Calgary Stampede, and I must say Prince William looks quite dashing in a cowboy hat.

Ok, enough about them. Geesh, shooting these things can be a crap-shoot. They set media positions for us, but then the jostling begins. My colleague Christopher Pike, who had already photographed them in Ottawa and PEI, warned me to get there early. The tour had arranged shuttle service for us, but choosing the comfort of a bus with no hassles with parking, meant you probably get a horrible shooting position. Thanks to Calgary photographers Leah Hennel and Chris Bolin for helping out. Lock arms and keep those aggressive Brits out. Just kidding. Met some incredibly funny photographers from the UK.

The Technical Stuff: Long lens, long lens, long lens. Add a teleconverter. A big shout out to Nikon Pro Services Canada for lending me a sweet 200-400 f4 lens for this. It was nice to be able to have long glass and a zoom. Next time, I'll ask for the 600mm lens too. Oh, and a sherpa.

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All photos copy-righted Jimmy Jeong 2011.

The Technical Stuff: Photo taken with my Nikon D3S with ambient lighting. I was planning to bring in some strip lights but given the short amount time I had, I wanted more opportunity to shoot a few different locations in the store.

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Cheers

jj

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All photos copy-righted Jimmy Jeong 2011.

If you look into those hills, most people would never know that there are hundreds of men and tonnes of heavy equipment fighting in the trenches to contain the fires. A true statement about a lot of the firefighting efforst that go on in Alberta forests - their efforts go unnoticed for the most part. But I was fortunate to spend a day on the ground, in the air and among these brave folks who consider their work a calling rather than a job.

I never knew how regimented a wildfire campaign was until I saw the army-like operations for myself. Similar to a general, the incident commander has several unit commanders below them. Information is a key ingredient to waging these campaigns with fire behaviourists using aerial photos, maps, and computer generated predictions to recommend the next course of action. Giant tractors, custom built off-road water trucks and air support all aid in the battle. Each unit highly coordinated. They have to be, the time and resources are precious. Each load from one of the heavy air tankers costs $50, 000 per drop of fire-retardant. So air drops usually consist of a lead scout plane and a in-the-air traffic controller.

These photos were all taken around Slave Lake, Alberta after huge fires destroyed nearly 40% of the town.

Thanks to Morgan Kehr, from SRD, for the tour and the chance to share this with you.

cheers

Jimmy

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This is probably one of my favourite photos from my Northern Alberta Tour for the Rural Alberta Development Fund. It never fails that whenever I visit these towns in the prairies I always run into a least one character that sticks in my mind. When I first met Tom, he shook my hands, showed me several electric scars, and told me he was legally pronounced dead. But he says he came back from the dead, and now stresses the importance of safety to his welding students.

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ALL PHOTOS COPYRIGHTED JIMMY JEONG 2011

In 1899 the Canadian government missed the isolated community of the Lubicon Cree, whose traditional land is around Lake Lubicon in northern Alberta, Canada. They have never surrendered the rights to their land and there is an ongoing treaty dispute. Amnesty International has called on Canada to settle these disputes and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights has found Canada in violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. There is no running water to the community and there is an increased encroachment of oil and gas development in the area.

On April 28, 2011, 28,000 barrels of light crude oil spilled from Plains Midstream Canada’s 45-year-old Rainbow pipeline less than 12km from the community. The spill traveled down and settled into a beaver dam 3kms away from Lubicon Lake, the traditional hunting ground of the Lubicon Cree Nation. The school in Little Buffalo was closed when teachers and children nearby complained of nausea and dizziness. No one from government or the oil company came to visit to warn of the dangers of the spill.

On May 5, 2011 I arrived on scene in the area to document the massive oil spill. Over the course of the next nine days, returning a second time, I've tried my best to tell the story. This first post is a brief introduction. It has definitely been a struggle to try to edit the photos and tell this complicated story. I hope to post further stories in the coming weeks.

There are two chiefs in Little Buffalo. There has been controversy over the leadership in Little Buffalo. Some residents are frustrated with what they describe as self-proclaimed Chief for life Chief Bernard Ominayak. But they did describe him as a fearless and hard-fighting leader during struggles in the '80s. I don't know enough to go further into this. There had been a recent election in which Steve Noskey was elected as the chief, but the election has been disputed and is not recognized by the Canadian government. When I was in Little Buffalo, I saw first-hand how this has led to further confusion and miscommunication. During a town hall meeting when they were trying to decide whether or not it was safe to reopen the school, Chief Noskey and the school principal had very little information on whether it was safe. Meanwhile, the Alberta government and the media write that there has been communications with the band leaders (not always mentioning the names of who they contacted). 

The community has a population of around 300, with many families with small children. The land around Little Buffalo is rich in varying eco-systems and is criss-crossed by waterways and soft marsh and lakes. And rightfully the people were worried that the contamination could easily leak into nearby lakes and streams affecting much of northern Alberta.

She recalled a recent dream she had as several of us huddled around in her kitchen, including several of her grandchildren. In her dream she was visited by a bear which she wrestled. Growing more and more weary, she held on to the bear as it struggled in her arms. She says that the bear will visit you and nudge you in your dreams to remind you to keep helping your community. Lillian admitted that she had been getting so tired after so many years of trying to help her people, with constant battles and problems. But she was glad that she had been reminded to keep going.

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I was extremely pleased to get an email notifying me of winning an award in the 2011 Communication Arts (magazine) Photo Competition. The photo will be included in the prestigious Communication Arts Photo Annual. Kind of crazy because I remember as a student trying to scrape enough cash every year that this annual came out. Thanks to Randall Moore, assitant photo editor, at the Globe and Mail for this memorable assignment. Here is the original blog post.

2011 Communication Arts Photo Competition Jury

Leslie dela Vega, photo director, Fast Company, New York, NY
Mimi Haddon, Mimi Haddon Photography, Marina del Rey, CA
Robert Krivicich, creative director, Weymouth Design, Boston, MA
Steve Mitchell, creative director, Hunt Adkins Advertising, Minneapolis, MN
Jerry Takigawa, principal, Takigawa Design, Monterey, CA

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I love great Alberta stories. And this really sets the bar. My colleague Jason Franson and I had the unique opportunity to work on this great story for a great client who just knew that this story needed to be told through photojournalism. No shiny photos! No make-up! Just warts and all.

It's a story about a small hockey-loving-farming village of under 400 in southern Alberta, Canada which was facing the possibility of closure of it's only school. The local residents saw the writing on the wall, with the loss of your school, your town will soon follow. They saw nearby towns fade away because of it. How can you raise a family without a school?

So they decided to build a world-class Female Hockey Academy which would see an substantial increase to their local school's enrollment. (and a 10-1 ratio of females to males in their highschool).

Warner had an NHL-level ice rink (which was once an old grain elevator storage space) so they decided to band together and make better use of what they had. Putting in over 36,000 volunteer hours, 80-year-old grandmothers were painting walls, families were holding bake sales and garage sales, families opened their homes to billet hockey students in the early years until a permanent resident was built in an old renovated Mormon church. It was the Big Spirit of a Small Town thing.

And with a huge help from the Rural Alberta Development Fund to aid in operating costs, the academy is self-sustainable now.

The photos were taken by myself and Rogue Collective colleague Jason Franson. (All photos are copyrighted)

Thanks so much to Lauren and the great people at Incite Marketing, and also to Courtney at RADF who discovered this great story.

Laura-Marie Doenz was one of the first to volunteer her time. She also opened up her home to girls attending the hockey school. Her  family has been farming the land in Warner for over a 100 years. Her daughter-in-law was able to get a teaching job at the Warner school with the increased student enrollment. Photo by Jimmy Jeong

Photo by Jimmy Jeong

Photo by Jimmy Jeong

Bob Heppler is a local farmer and the hockey team's equipment manager. Photo by Jimmy Jeong

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