Published by The Reportage Foundation
Issue 6 / Winter 1999
As time goes by
The 20th century has given us the birth and, some would say, the beginning of the death of photojournalism. The photographs which follow [in issue 6] are taken from a monumental book, Century, conceived and edited by Bruce Bernard, published by Phaidon, an ambitious attempt to outline the history of the last 100 years as the camera has seen it. Daniel Meadows, a documentary photographer and lecturer, discusses the nature of contemporary reportage photography and raises the disturbing question: will we ever see this kind of work again?
A world without faces
Patricia Strathern, a writer and picture editor based in Paris, describes the disturbing threat to photojournalists in France following a spate of recent lawsuits taken out against them
Issue 5 / Spring 1999
Running wild available on this site
The thrill of the drag hunt is one of Ireland's best-kept secrets. Photographer Tony O'Shea celebrates the excitement of the race, and the writer Kevin Dawson explores the connection between man, dog and land
The marginal cost of labour
Imre Benko has been photographing the lives of the steelworkers of Ozd, in Hungary, since before the collapse of Communism. Sandor Szilagyi, a fellow photographer, reflects on the significance of the pictures and argues that democracy has done little to improve the lot of central-eastern Europeans
White heat
The photographer Teru Kuwayama has spent four years looking at the darker side of New York's music clubs. The author Tom Beller takes a fictional glance at the images
Through the looking glass available on this site
Eric Dexheimer spent two years immersed in the lives of autistic children and young adults. He was struck by the suffering, but also by the moments of joy in which his subjects briefly escaped their private worlds. Text by Patricia Strathern
Badlands
The name Chernobyl is associated throughout the world with nuclear disaster. Few people, however, have heard of the small village of Muslumovo, whose inhabitants face the highest radioactive risks in Russia. The photographer Nicolai Fuglsig and the writer Mads Lindberg visited this blighted region
World Press Photo: a tale of two women
The photographs that won the World Press Photo Contest in 1998 and 1999 are remarkably similar. Both portray women in distress after cruel acts of civil conflict. Patricia Strathern talks to Hocine, last year's winner, about the controversy surrounding his image while Colin Jacobson discusses this year's winner and argues that it is visual unsuccessful
Issue 4 / Winter 1998
After the storm
When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, their rigid fundamentalism shocked the West, but the peace and stability they brought gave hope to many Afghans. The photographer Nikolai Howalt documents daily life in this war-torn country, while William Reeve provides the background story
Unfinished business
The long-awaited government inquiry into the Bloody Sunday killings, when 14 people were shot dead by British troops in Derry in 1972, begins next February. No one has waited for it more eagerly than the families of those killed. They have been demanding justice for the past 26 years, challenging the hastily produced Widgery Report of 1972 which exonerated the soldiers. Joanne O'Brien has spent the past year photographing and talking to the relatives. They agreed to be photographed where their relatives were shot
Moving pictures available on this site
Photojournalist Tom Stoddart recently produced a powerful yet disturbing set of images from the famine in southern Sudan. But does such work really make a difference? Here Colin Jacobson says it depends on the photographer's vision, while John Sweeney argues that compassion fatigue is just a convenient myth
Stranger in paradise
Roger Hutchings has photographed in many trouble spots around the world, but in recent times he has turned his attention to the fashion business
Living and dying in Mexico City
Salvador Chavez is a crime and disaster photographer for Mexico City's pre-eminent tabloid newspaper. Every day he witnesses the worst horrors of the city, and yet he says he loves his job. The photojournalist Tomas Muscionico and the writer Sam Quinones observed him at work
Issue 3 / Summer 1998
Of mice and gods
For Hindus, Banaras in India is a sacred city existing outside time and space. The photographers Michael Ackerman and Witold Krassowski present two personal views of this mysterious place which has frequently eluded Western understanding. The writer Peter Popham adds his own story
Wall memorial
The tearing down of the Berlin Wall was widely applauded in 1989, but now it is being rebuilt as a memorial. Christian Jungeblodt photographed the final stages of this curious reconstruction. Tony Paterson reports
On the job
Pornography is strictly business for those involved: a business that is sometimes exploitative, but nonetheless lucrative for both the men and women who participate. Paulo Pellegrin looks behind the scenes of one of the world's fastest-growing industries. Words by Paul Sussman
Breaking the silence
These women in France have been battered, beaten and abused. So why do they want their photographs taken? Photographer Lizzie Sadin tells how she found that her camera could be used as a weapon to remove the taboos that still surround domestic violence
And God created the fiesta
The photographer Silva travelled all over Italy to record a revival of interest in traditional popular festivals. Text by Alexander Chancellor
Rough justice
Four years after the horrors of the civil war in Rwanda, tens of thousands of Hutus are still awaiting trial in Tutsi prison camps. Although the conditions are appalling, few try to escape - revenge killings are rife. Photographs by Rune Eraker, text by Philip Jacobson. Additional reporting by Gunnar Kupperud
Blaming the messenger
The extraordinary hysteria that surrounded the death of Princess Diana one year ago placed the role and behaviour of press photographers under public scrutiny. Roy Greenslade, media commentator and former editor of the London Daily Mirror sets the scene. Colin Jacobson reflects on the book, Death of a Princess by Thomas Sancton, published by Weidenfeld and Nicholson. Fiona Macdonald-Smith talks to photographers in the UK who were caught up in the events surrounding the tragedy
Issue 2 / Winter 1998
(Special issue in association with the International Federation of Journalists on the occasion of the European Year Against Racism and Xenophobia)Between a rock and a hard place
For several years, migrants from all over Africa have crowded into Morocco clandestinely, seeking to enter Spain, Sebastiao Salgado photographed the conditions experienced by these migrants and the obstacles they face when trying to enter 'Fortress Europe'
In the mix
Questions of ethnic origin and identity are at the forefront of the European cultural debate. The photographer Clement Cooper argues that people of mixed race have been consistently overlooked. Andrea Stewart talks about his attempts to redress the balance
Pride and prejudice
The European Soccer Championships held in England in 1996 were presented as trouble-free despite fears of crowd violence. But David Modell photographed an uglier side among a minority of aggressive English supporters. Richard Williams reports
Neither here nor there
Many immigrants who come to live in Europe retain strong emotional and familial links with their country of origin. Kadir van Lohuizen photographed Irma Blanker, a Surinamese woman residing in the Netherlands and accompanied her on a visit to her homeland. Wilma Kieskamp tells Irma's story
Sans everything
Gregoire Korganow photographed the efforts of African immigrants in Paris to obtain official recognition and get a roof over their heads. Patricia Strathern explains the background story of the 'Have-nots'
Albanian report available on this site
A concise presentation of Joachim Ladefoged's World Press Photo Award winning images on the turmoil in Albania
Issue 1 / Winter 1997
(Special issue in association with the International Federation of Journalists on the occasion of the European Year Against Racism and Xenophobia)Under a Chinese cloud available on this site
Manuel Bauer travelled nearly 2,500 miles photographing the Chinese presence and influence in Tibet. His reportage provides disturbing visual evidence of how the culture and identity of a centuries-old people are being progressively eroded
Troubled waters available on this site
Thanks to overfishing by foreign trawlers, the fishermen of Senegal are facing extreme hardship. Gideon Mendel put to sea to photograph a threatened way of life
The sadness of S-21 available on this site
The catacomb-like heaps of bones exhumed from Cambodia's killing fields are a familiar, if grisly sight, but they are victims without faces. Less well-known are the prisoners of 'S-21' photographed by the Khmer Rouge
Covert operations available on this site
Patricia Strathern talks to Michael von Graffenried, one of the few photojournalists willing to report the civil war in Algeria
Neighbourhood watch
Johannesburg has one of the highest crime rates in the world an a ferocious gang scene to go with it. Jodi Bieber, a young South African photographer, spent several months hanging round with the homeboys
Lost and found, the last Greeks of Istanbul
Despite years of official discrimination, a tiny Greek minority continues to live in Turkey's ancient capital Istanbul. But when Costa Sakellariou started photographing the community, the Turkish authorities took a distinctly unhealthy interest
The fog of war
The Bosnian War was a gift for the media and they made it the most extensively covered conflict in history. So why, asks television reporter Peter Morgan, did that fail to make us understand it any more clearly?
Credits reportage 1997-1999, published by The Reportage Foundation: Colin Jacobson (editor), Simon Esterson and Harmen Hoogland (design), Menno van de Koppel (publisher), Androna Calles Hopkin, Fiona Macdonald-Smith, Matt Seaton, Juliet Summerscale, Carolyn Watts (editorial team). Printed by Drukkerij Mart.Spruijt (NL), paper Job Parilux Matt. Subscription service was provided by Hugh Pincott and his staff of SKS (UK)
