Reflections of a new father visiting an Agent Orange orphanage
Yesterday I went to an orphanage outside Hanoi, to work on a story about Agent Orange. There’s a new report out from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, saying the chemical defoliant could be causing heart disease and Parkinson’s in US Vietnam veterans. Of course this means it would be having the same effect on [...]
Robert McNamara, US Secretary of Defense during Vietnam War, dies aged 93
McNamara was famously remourseful about his role in the Vietnam War in his later years, as recorded by Errol Morris in “The Fog of War“. His critics said that was much too little, too late. Though unlike Donald Rumsfeld, he did seem to genuinely carry the burden of his role in the deaths of thousands [...]
Balazs Gardi and Teru Kuwayama talk at the Frontline club
Two great photographers discuss their work in and around Afghanistan. Both shoot primarily black and white film, Teru often with a plastic Holga, and Balazs often with a Hasselblad X-Pan. They both create haunting, affecting images, very different from much of the conflict work coming from the area.
Fotorim magazine interview, HIV/AIDS project
Berna and the good people at Fotorim magazine must have been a bit starved for content for their April issue, as they kindly produced an interview with me, discussing a project covering HIV/AIDS in Vietnam and thoughts on photography in general. You can read the whole thing in both Turkish and English over here on [...]
Olympic Divers: behind the images
I’ve been really overwhelmed by the positive response to the diving images that won prizes at both World Press Photo and the Sony World Photography Awards. I want to thank everyone for the kindness, I’m really humbled by this experience. When I entered these competitions, I honestly didn’t envision winning. I really only entered to [...]
First Place, Sport: Sony World Photography Awards
Today the Sony World Photography Awards were officially announced, and I won first place in the Sports category. My winning entry was a tighter edit of a series that placed 3rd at the World Press Photo competition a month ago. This is really exciting news, especially as the organizers are going to fly me out [...]
World Press Photo award
Yesterday I awoke to some very good news – I placed 3rd in the Sports Action Stories category of the World Press Photo contest, the world’s largest and most prestigious annual photojournalism contest. The work I submitted was shot during the Beijing Olympics Games in August, 2008. You can view the series on the World [...]
Urban panoramas
I’ve been working with a real estate consulting firm the past few months, photographing some of their projects in Hanoi and Danang. Most of the shoots were at construction sites, in varying stages of development. Here’s an image shot from the roof of a hotel in Hanoi, overlooking the southern edge of Hai Ba Trung [...]
TIME Magazine Hero of the Environment 2008: Vo Quy
I had a really fun portrait assignment with TIME Magazine last week. They were doing their environmental heroes issue, and Hannah Beech had written about Vo Quy, a gentle, good-humoured 79 year-old ornithologist and a strong voice for environmental awareness in a country that has seen incredible urban and industrial growth in the past two [...]
Portraits: Hanoi International Music Festival
This past weekend was the first ever Hanoi International Music Festival, organized to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Minsk Club, the venerated Belarussian motorcycle appreciation society. Bands and DJs from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Thailand, England and, of course, Vietnam played all day long at the American Club, and all night long at various [...]