Last Thanksgiving I photographed Alexander Shatravka and his wife, Irina, in northern Maine for a story about Soviet dissidents for the February 11th, 2010 issue of Apu, an old finnish all family weekly magazine founded in 1933. Marrku, the creative I worked with on this story, told me that “apu” means “help” in English and that when the magazine was founded it was sold in the streets by poor people.

I’m very pleased with the layout and the way the photographs ran. Thanks for a pleasureable experience, Markku and Apu!

I’m down in the Mississippi Delta for 1 more week attending Barefoot Workshops’ 2-week Mississippi Delta Workshop. The experience has been remarkable and in my opinion the best workshop environment for learning documentary film making.

Our instructors are Chandler Griffin, Julie Winokur, Teddy Symes, and Yoni Brook — all amazing individuals with a wealth of knowledge they have been sharing. Plus, we have the fotune of having previous workshop alums with us. Check out Barefoot’s website if you have ever wanted to learn and experience doc film making.

Fields, Clarksdale, Mississippi, 2010

I’m down in Clarksdale, Mississippi for the next 2 weeks at a documentary film making workshop presented by Barefoot Workshops. We’ll learn documentary story telling through video, film and sound capture, editing with Final Cut Pro, and more. Check out Barefoot if you have not already.

Here are a couple installation pictures of Uganda: A River Blue at AnastasiaPhoto. See the photographs if you’re in New York and join us March 4th from 6:30-8:30 P.M. for the opening reception.

I flew into JFK a couple weeks ago and the light was truly gorgeous.

Skyline with the water, rays of light, and clouds

Looking down at the water

A night ago, before going to bed, something told me to look outside into the darkness, and so I did. I turned off my computer monitor and gazed through the nearby windowpane. You can imagine my surprise when in the snow I saw a large, unmoving object. At first I thought it was a neighbor’s old Christmas tree being thrown out that had somehow blown into my yard.

Then I realized it was a large deer, asleep but awake, listening to the woods. It was somehow simple but also extraordinary. I immediately thought of Amy Stein’s Domesticated series, though my photograph is nowhere near as beautiful as are hers!

Here’s a spread from the beautiful Uganda: A River Blue catalogue Josh Gomby is designing.

Uganda: A River Blue

Reception: March 4, 6:30-8:30PM

Exhibition: February 5-March 31, 2010

AnastasiaPhoto is located at 166 Orchard Street, New York, New York.

From the press release:

“AnastasiaPhoto is pleased to present the first solo exhibition by photographer David Wright: A photographic collaboration with the NGO, A River Blue.

These luminous works were made over two months in northern Uganda where A River Blue is located. The photos depict a school that is funded by the charitable organization A River Blue in a formerly internally displaced persons camp, as well as images of the citizens and landscapes of the surrounding village of Alebtong. This series of photographs was recently selected as 1 of 3 winners in the 2009 Conscientious Portfolio Competition.”

Additionally:

A beautiful A River Blue catalogue designed by Josh Gomby and printed by Booksmart Studio in an edition of 250 will be released at the opening reception. It will be available for purchase through donation (any amount — your choice) and 100% of the proceeds go to A River Blue. Support A River Blue and take home a memorable piece of the exhibition. The picture below is of the booklet cover.

The opening reception and exhibition are open to the public. We encourage you to bring friends, family, and colleagues, and learn about A River Blue, northern Uganda, and AnastasiaPhoto.

I became familiar with Matt Eich’s work in 2006 when he was named the 61st College Photographer of the Year. Two years later Matt applied for Pause, to Begin with his “Carry Me Ohio” series and was selected as 1 of 15 Pause, to Begin photographers. Matt recently began making a series of photographs titled James River Blues.

A little bit about the work from Matt’s blog post:

“It explores the James River in Virginia, which starts in the mountains and cuts 410 miles through the state before emptying into the Chesapeake Bay. I have so many childhood memories linked to this river that I was instantly drawn to it when we moved back here in June. My eventual goal is to start at the headwaters and take a canoe trip to where it empties into the ocean. For practical reasons I began the project around Smithfield which is about 45 minutes to an hour from where we live in Norfolk.”

Matt pitched the project to a hospital being built near the river and was subsequently commissioned to create 27 images. We recently collaborated on printing his stunning images and chose a paper to Matt’s liking (Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Baryta — the same paper all of my exhibition prints are made on) and a comfortable print size for the images.

Here are a couple installation pictures of the stellar finished framed prints:

Matt Eich is a photojournalist and colleague based in Norfolk, Virginia where he lives with his wife and daughter. Matt is represented by Luceo Images.