As many of you know, one of the issues that is dear to my heart is AIDS and HIV. It is also one of the reasons I became a photographer.
I started a series on HIV in rural America in 2006 and part of the project is going to be screened at the AIDS ATHENS FILM FESTIVAL in Georgia, on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1st.
The Film Festival will be showcasing international and local short-films on HIV/AIDS to build awareness and understanding of the disease. It highlights people living with HIV, their challenges and victories, vaccine research, prevention and activism throughout the globe.
World AIDS Day Film Festivals are happening all over the country. Check to see if there is one in your area.
Click here to see the project, Positive Lives.
Here are some more images from my project on beauty.
I often find interesting links on photojournalismlinks.com and this one struck a chord in me as I am sure it does with any photojournalist - photographers talking about food they have had in the field.
I have definitely had my share of interesting foods while photographing but one time in Africa the family asked me to cook for them. I had been photographing this family for a couple of days and they asked me to join them for dinner one night not knowing I would be the cook.
After remembering this, I went back to my photos from that time and found these that one of their children had taken of me cooking their traditional dishes.
I recently posted images from my time in Zambia on my website. Check them out here.
Here is some of my work from a project I have started on beauty.
Here are some photos from the last couple of weeks at The Dallas Morning News.
For those in Tennessee, Trapped will be screened in Johnson City tomorrow evening, Nov. 15 at 6:30p.m.
Here is the blurb from their site:
Trapped: Mental Illness in America’s Prisons
7 min (USA) - Directed by Jenn Ackerman
Ms. Ackerman, a photographer by training, produces her very first documentary on the important, often overlooked issue of the mentally ill in America’s prisons. Given access to a mental health unit of the Kentucky prison system, the result is a visually spectacular, haunting, and informative movie.
This is the second installment of Photographs and Friends - A way to brag about the people that inspire me most.
Kainaz Amaria, www.kainazamaria.com
Kainaz just finished an internship at The US News & World Report and is now at The St. Pete Times in Florida.
She is extremely friendly and passionate - two attributes that make her stand out as a photojournalist. And she ceases to amaze me with her work ethic and leadership. Her work ethic is contagious and makes you strive harder than you thought was possible.
She is a great storyteller and it is emphasized in her multimedia. Her recent project on the election is a great example of that and was highlighted last week on Multimedia Muse.
She is one of those friends that always will be successful with whatever she does and is constantly finding stories that are newsworthy and important to tell.
With that said, the first image is from her project on B.W. Cooper and public housing in New Orleans. Click here to see the whole story.
The second is from a story on a family in Athens living in a motel. Click here to see the whole story.
I am one step closer to the goal I set out for myself when I first picked up a camera - to have a book published by the of age 35.
I received word the other day that I am a finalist for the the Center of Documentary Studies First Book Prize. While I may not win, I am just excited as in the next couple of weeks, one of my dreams has the possibility of becoming a reality.
Newspapers throughout the country are focusing their efforts on telling the stories of Americans during these difficult times. The Washington Post is adding daily to its series - Hard Times.
Every time I see a project on today’s economic struggles, I am reminded that as photographers we have an opportunity to not only take photos but to be historians.
This summer was the first time I saw myself as a historian more so than a photographer. The way our society deals and treats mental illness will change in the next 30 years just as it has in the last 30 years. We look at photos from 1950 of mental hospitals and cringe and wonder how we could have treated people that way.
I always thought of a historian as someone who photographed a war or a significant event but in reality, as photojournalists we document history.
Here are some images from my second week at the Dallas Morning News.
Click here to see more from the Diwali Festival.
