It’s been some time since I blogged. Last time I hit the keyboard here on WordPress I was in Kathmandu. I’ve traveled a lot since then as well as having had the time to settle down here in Cairo. I’ve been covering recent events here for a number of newspapers and broadcasters mostly in Australia.

One of those is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s 24 hour news channel, ABC News 24. Last night, I spoke to them after one of the biggest protests here in Cairo since the fall of Mubarak. Some say fifty thousand turned out in Tahrir Square yesterday, but I think it was many more.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-19/protesters-return-to-tahrir-square/3681868

Have a listen to what I saw in the square yesterday, from my conversation with the ABC’s Andrew Geoghegan.

Bodhinath, Kathmandu, Nepal, July 2011.

I snapped this one a couple of days ago, after the workshop group visited the Bodhinath temple in Kathmandu for a sort of evening street photography session. The sun was just about gone, and this woman was selling corn by the entrance to the temple.

Today is the last day of The Jack Picone Photography Workshops’ Kathmandu session! The week has really torn by, and I’ve been impressed by the students’ work and dramatic improvements in photographic storytelling since monday. Also, we’re seeing some really nice (and one very intense) multimedia stories being produced.

One in particular, on maternity wards here in Nepal, has some incredibly strong colour photographs along with a great scripted voiceover by the photographer.

Another student has been working in a Nepalese dementia home, here in Kathmandu. He’s produced an intense and quite harrowing story with plenty of great sound recorded on scene.

Final projections are tonight, at the Hotel Vajra in Kathmandu. If you’re about, come along around 4pm, have a beer with us and see the show!

And another, for the road… I love the dogs in Kathmandu. They’re everywhere, on almost every street corner or shop front, just kind of hanging out and sleeping or watching the world go by.

Street dogs, Kathmandu, Nepal, July 2011.

This is a real disaster for Apple… think about how many major production houses will be seriously considering moving away from FCP as their platform.

I have to say – I worked in FCP X for the first time this week while tutoring multimedia production on The Jack Picone Photography Workshops here in Kathmandu, Nepal. It is very, very fast and provides a real ‘in’ for those who haven’t used the suite before in its ease of use. But… these changes seem to have really dumbed down FCP and if the unreliability Mediastorm are reporting is anything to go by, there’s no way I’d trust it.

I will be sticking with FCP 7 for now and keeping my distance from FCP X.

See Mediastorm’s series of FCP X reviews here:

http://mediastorm.com/blog/2011/07/15/final-cut-pro-x-it-was-good-while-it-lasted/

I caught a couple of young Nepalis playing with pigeons in Kathmandu’s ancient Durbar Square earlier today.

I’ve been getting out and about to do a bit of street photography and multimedia recording before the 2011 Kathmandu installment of The Jack Picone Photography Workshops starts tomorrow.

Very excited about working with Jack and Stephen Dupont again. We’ve got a great crew of students who are already out and about shooting stories before we’ve officially begun – should be a cracker of a week!

After the workshop finishes I’ll be heading up in to the hills to chase down a story idea on Chinese influence and encroachment on the remote high Himalaya… but more on that later.

And after that, it’s an assignment on glacial melt in Greenland and then a move to Cairo for at least the next twelve months.

So, one is indeed on the road again.

For now, it’s time to kip out before tomorrow’s workshop session.

Not to say I haven’t been working the whole time. I had an interesting assignment at Parliament House in Canberra a few weeks ago, and some other work here and there, as well as the newsroom production tasks that help keep a roof over my head here in Sydney. What I mean is getting to scanning the archive of negatives I’ve got from previous trips and shooting on the street here at home, and combining these stills with the hours of audio that exist on my drives.

One of these bodies of work I have procrastinated on for far too long is from Nepal, from November/December 2008. I spent around a month wandering about on the streets of the capital, Kathmandu, and in the hills of the Annapurna Himal, in the centre of the country.

Nepal’s one of the poorest countries in Asia. One quarter of its people live below the poverty line, and the Gross Domestic Product is US$1200. Not much, really. The political situation has been fraught with uncertainty for years, after a long-lasting and violent Maoist rebellion across most of the country, and the until-recently ruling royal family ripped apart by internal conflict.

One of the country’s largest sources of income is tourism, money brought in by those who want to see one of the most stunning parts of the planet – the Himalaya.

‘Nepal: The Political Landscape”, is a series that is only in its beginning, but I’ll continue it when I return to Nepal this coming July. In it, I’m looking at the beauty of the country, both in its landscape and people, but seeking what lies beyond that surface. It’s a place that has been wracked by conflict, with massive natural resources (especially the vast amounts of frozen fresh water) that are being coveted by its larger neighbours, China and India. Hope you enjoy the beginnings of what will be a much larger body of work later this year.

Nepal: The Political Landscape

For work, this year has been really amazing. Great assignments from ABC News Online and News 24, a chance to work with the ABC’s Online Investigations Unit, work in a number of festivals, and an exhibition with Amnesty International.

I have to say though, my ‘work’ highlight for the year was being involved in Jack Picone and Steve Dupont’s Reportage workshop. Working with Jack, Steve, David Dare Parker and (as an extra, added bonus) Robert Pledge from Contact Press Images was an absolutely pleasure and a blast – those guys are not only brilliant at what they do but a complete hoot. The students were also not only brilliant photographers but super keen to learn and a complete pleasure to work with.

Really looking forward to the Kathmandu and Bali workshops in 2011.

So I’m signing off now for 2010, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone, and now it’s time for 2011!

Right after some sleep, that is…

The night, with an open-air exhibition, starts at half six, and the projections start at 8… tickets available from Moshtix… come along!

I’ll also be helping Jack Picone, Stephen Dupont and David Dare Parker teach the Reportage Masterclass, from next Monday the 15th through to Saturday the 20th. It’ll be a great chance for the keen documentary photographers to get across both traditional and contemporary forms of documentary photography from some of the most experienced documentary photojournalists around. The workshop will give students a chance to shoot assignment-based traditional photo essays and multimedia stories in Sydney, with tutoring through the week from Jack, Steve and David. I’ll be helping out with the multimedia productions.

There’s still places out there, so sign up if you’re keen!

PROJECTIONS

Projections at The Cellblock Theatre
National Art School, East Sydney.
Thursday 11 & Saturday 13 November

Participating Finalists:

Aaron Vincent Elkaim (Canada), Adam Ferguson, Agnieszka Rayss
(Poland), Ahikam Seri (Israel), Aletheia Casey, Amnon Gutman
(Israel), Andy Drewitt, Carlo Bevilacqua (Italy), Claire Martin,
Conor Ashleigh, Craig Golding, Daniel Berehulak, Dean Dampney,
Donald Weber (Canada), Ed Giles, Gary Ramage, Glenn Lockitch,
Hannah Robinson, Helen Rimell (UK), Ian Flanders, James
Brickwood, James Whitlow Delano (USA), Kate Orne (Sweden/USA),
Katrin Koenning, Khaled Hasan (Bangladesh), Krystle Wright,
Lisa Wiltse (USA), Lisa Maree Williams, Liz Loh Taylor,
Michelle Tyrrell, Mike Berube (Canada), Nick Moir, Paul
Jeffers, Richard Wainwright (UK), Rodney Dekker, Steven Greaves
(USA), Steven Siewert, Tracey Nearmy, Yu Chen Chiu (Taiwan),
Zann Huang (Singapore)

If you missed it, take a look here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/beating-the-odds/

Also, ABC News Online published an article today about the win… http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/22/3046290.htm?section=justin

“The ABC News Online Investigations team has been awarded the prestigious UN Media Peace Prize in Melbourne for Best Online report.”

The special report Beating the Odds, published last month, won the category in a tough field.

The multimedia report explores the issue of kids at risk in struggling communities and how families under pressure can be supported.

The disappearance of Mount Druitt school girl Kiesha Abrahams served as the catalyst for the report, which focused on the experience of people living in Mount Druitt and the surrounding suburbs.

The special highlighted the pressures of crime, unemployment and family breakdown facing children growing up on the fringes of Australian cities.

ABC reporter Eleanor Bell and photographer Ed Giles spent time in the community asking locals to reveal their daily reality and what they thought could be done to help children at risk.

The stories were told through the eyes of those living within Mount Druitt, and included content created by locals.

I’ll be taking part in “No Mans’ Land”, on writing for conflict, and “Free-To-Air Television is for Old People and Idiots”…

For more details, dates and so on, have a look-see:

Ed Giles’ Artist Profile

ABC News Online: Beating the Odds