Qandil, Iraqi-Kurdistan. PKK guerrilla fighters dance around the fire following the tradition of the celebration of Nawroz. March 20, 2015. Bnar Sardar / Metrography.
Goktapa, Iraq. Rahima, Ali and Dhuha by the river. April 17, 2015. Bnar Sardar / Metrography.
Sitak, Iraq. Muhammed’s mother (right) makes bread. Every few days the women make bread for all the families in the building. January 26, 2015. Rawsht Twana / Metrography.
Kirkuk, Iraq. Abdullah Hazbar from outside his tent. Abdullah was wounded by Iraqi war planes’ bombing when he left his village with his family. Metrography IDP project is funded by Free Press Unlimited. January 27, 2015. Hawre Khalid/ Metrography.
Sulaymaniah, Iraq. With a picture of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader, and Iraqi President, Jalal Talbani in the background, female peshmerga Paxshan Omer adjusts the stock of her Kalashnikov assault rifle in the family home in Sulaymaniah. As well as being a single mother, her husband having died of illness in 2000, Paxshan is also one of 500 female peshmerga fighters who are based at the Farmanday peshmerga base near Sulaymaniah in Iraqi-Kurdistan. July 16, 2014. Pazhar Mohammad / Metrography.
Kirkuk, Iraq. Hewar cleans the living room in the house where she lives with her family in the early morning. Hewar Faris, 22 year old from Kirkuk, is the goalkeeper of the female football team Solav, as well as being an actress in a mixed theatre company. September 25, 2014. Hawre Khalid / Metrography.
Kirkuk, Iraq. Kirkuk residents are seen on an amusement park ride at the Baba Gorgor Park in Kirkuk, Iraq. July 29, 2014. Hawre Khalid / Metrography.
Kirkuk, Iraq. Two Iraqi men waiting to play pool inside a billiard room in Eskan, North-East Kirkuk. June 23, 2014. Hawre Khalid / Metrography
Musak village, Iraqi Kurdistan. Iran-Iraq border. In the back is Gmo mountains, the border with Iran. A smugglers’ car goes up the road the brings to PJAK (Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan) to move goods to another village and get the load ready to be smuggled into Iran. December 28, 2014. Aram Karim / Metrography.
Daquq, Iraq. A peshmerga fighter shoots RPG at the front line in Wahda village, Daquq during the heaviest fight in the area since the beginning of the war. September 30, 2014. Bandan Atta / Metrography.
Musak village, Iraqi Kurdistan. Iraq – Iran border. The checkpoint of PJAK (Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan). All smugglers have to go through this checkpoint and pay a fee. A PJAK fighter eats his dinner. December 27, 2014. Aram Karim / Metrography.
Shlake, Iraqi Kurdistan. Iraq-Syria border. Syrian smugglers transport gallons full of petrol to Al-Malikiyah (Derik) Syria.The walk takes 4 hours from Iraq to Syria. January 10, 2013. Aram Karim / Metrography.
Tralawa Border, Iraqi Kurdistan. Iran-Iraq border. An Iraqi smuggler plays with his mule to in the water to freshen up in the summer’s heat. June 26th, 2009. Aram Karim / Metrography.
Sinjar mountains, Iraq. Runak Bapir Gherib, 14 year old from Shengal makes her way down the mountain after 7 days. She is with her mother and sister (in the back) waiting for a car to drive them away. She took the gun from Shengal to protect her family. YPG also gave weapons to the people who wanted to fight, but it has been impossible to verify whether this weapon was given to her by YPG or family members. August 12, 2014. Zmnako Ismael / Metrography.
Daquq, Iraq. Peshraw Omer, a peshmerga fighter from Penjwen sits in his house with his children at the home after returning from the front line in Daquq. August 15, 2014. Bandan Atta / Metrography.
Rick Gershon and MediaStorm did not set out to make a feature length piece when they went to Houston. Gershon was there to shoot client work for Neighborhood Centers, but then he met the Greer family. Marilyn Greer, the 58-year-old matriarch of the family, had recently been diagnosed with dementia. Gershon recognized the opportunity to turn a shorter client piece into a longer story, Swan Song, which documents the struggle of two young daughters who have to make hard choices in the face of their mother’s debilitating disorder. (more…)
Before going to Central Park, where he makes bubbles for tips for a living, Nathan Freeman sits on a bench as a group of curious tourists pass by on the morning of Tuesday, August 12, 2014, at Columbus Circle. Freeman, who does not have a permanent home, spent the previous night on the steps of the Columbus monument. Photo by Leif Reigstad.
An African vendor showcases his accessories on 125th street outside of the Apollo Theater in Harlem, NY, on Thursday, August 7, 2014. Photo by Mikayla Vielot.
A woman takes a cigarette break while speaking on the phone in the garment district on Thursday, August 14th, 2014. Photo by Tal Trachtman Alroy.
An NYPD officer Serrano and a Rockefeller Center security guard Conald Pierre socialize just outside the British Empire Building in New York City on Wednesday, August 13, 2014. Photo by Saif Alnuweiri.
A woman sits with her younger neighbors on footstep of her apartment on West 136th St. in Hamilton Heights, New York City on Sunday, August 24, 2014. Photo by Mohamad Yaghi.
Women sit in front of a bodega eating mangoes at W. 173rd and Amsterdam Avenue in Washington Heights, NY, on Thursday, August 7th, 2014. Photo by George Steptoe.
Eon Okami, 23, sells comic books in front of the Bronx Criminal Courts in New York City. Photo by Justine Calma.
Angel P., 22, on Madison Street in Ridgewood, Queens, NY on Sunday, August 24, 2014, where he works as a car washer. “We do this everyday, wash cars, repair them, paint rims, smoke, drink; everything,” Angel said. Photo by Antoine Goldet.
A woman waits for someone to help carry her groceries in Jackson Heights, Queens on Wednesday, August 13, 2014. Photo by Myra Iqbal.
A woman passes in front of a store in Washington Heights on Broadway and 161st Street on the morning of Saturday, August 23, 2014. Photo by Asthaa Chaturvedi.
A hair dresser looks out of the window of the salon where she works in Washington Heights, NYC, on Saturday, August 23, 2014. Photo by Asthaa Chaturvedi.
Just outside a basketball court on West 112th Street in Harlem, a young couple shares a romantic moment on Wednesday, August 6, 2014. Photo by Olivia Lace-Evans.
A youth from the Bronx, New York, makes a slam dunk in his makeshift basketball hoop in the mid-afternoon heat on Wednesday, August 13, 2014. Photo by Emily Palmer.
An elderly woman has a conversation with her dog, overlooking a Bronx street on Wednesday, August 13, 2014. Photo by Emily Palmer.
Yorel ‘Exile Child’ Oheem and his boa constrictor on West 59th Street, New York City on Thursday, August 21, 2014. Photo by Liz Lucking.
A dog takes itself for a walk in the West Village of New York City on Wednesday, August 13, 2014. Photo by Jacqueline Williams.
Barbara Lorber shares her ice cream cone with a friend in NYC’s the West Village on Sunday, August 24, 2014. Photo by Jack Crosbie.
Zeus the cat isn’t a particularly helpful gardener in the West Village, NYC, on Sunday, August 24, 2014. Photo by Jack Crosbie.
Brooklyn, 9, Remy, 7 and Alfie, 3 play in the back garden of their new home in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York on Saturday, August 9, 2014. Photo by Chloe Mamelok.
Lloyd McNeill, 89, getting lunch at Pepe Rosso Social, one of his usual spots in New York City on Monday, August 25, 2014. Photo by Alina Abouelenin.
Emily Hope Price, cellist in the band “Pearl and the Beard,” composes a song for the anniversary of her friend’s death at her apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn on Thursday, August 7, 2014. Photo by Chloe Mamelok.
Israel Martinez demonstrates a salsa move during a dance rehearsal at his studio in Long Island City, Queens, on Wednesday, August 13, 2014. Photo by Meridith McGraw.
Jessica Chrustic, an urban beekeeper, relaxes with her cat just after the adrenaline rush of inspecting the hive in her backyard on Thursday, August 7, 2014. She pauses in front of a family photo gallery wall in her home in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Photo by Maya Albanese.
After Beetle Bum the Magic Clown’s show, children wait to eat a birthday cake in a Brooklyn home in New York, on Sunday, August 12, 2014. Photo by Miriana Palau.
A fabric salesman, originally from India, at the B.K. store in the Garment District in New York City on Thursday, August 14, 2014. Photo by Tal Trachtman Alroy.
Russel, 32, takes a break from his shift at the Kabab King restaurant to eat in Jackson Heights, New York on Wednesday, August 13, 2014. Photo by Myra Iqbal.
A commuter at the Utica Avenue train stop walks past a police advertisement requesting information about a homicide in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn on Thursday, August 14th, 2014. Photo by Lonna Dawson.
Utilizing subway time: Isamar Jimenez freshens up on the subway at 96 Street before meeting her boyfriend at the movies on Monday night, August 19, 2014. Photo by Jenny Luna.
Adrian Michna looks out at Coney Island, New York, from the F train on Saturday, August 9, 2014. Photo by Gautham Thomas.
Commuting on a mini motorcycle: Lexington and Martin Luther King Blvd., East Harlem on Wednesday, August 6, 2014. Photo by George Steptoe.
Richard Powers, transformed into Beetle Bum the Magic Clown, walks down Fort Hamilton Parkway in Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday, August 12, 2014, on his way to entertain children attending a nearby party. Photo by Miriana Palau.
A woman walks past New York Criminal Court in Chinatown, New York City, on Wednesday, August 6, 2014. Photo by Tess Owen.
Marqui, a.k.a. “Andy LaSalle,” walks on a bench near a playground at the General Ulysses S. Grant Houses in Harlem, on Thursday, August 7, 2014. He says it’s a concentration exercise he does often. Photo by Leif Reigstad.
Carlos Konig, 48, plays “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” for 20-month-old twins Michiho, left, and Michiya, right, along with their mother, Rieko, in Central Park in New York City, on Saturday, August 23, 2014. Photo by David Ok.
A young man looks at his phone at the intersection of 116th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem on Friday, August 22, 2014. Photo by Miriam Sitz.
Alberto Jose “A.J.” Pichardo at work at Katz’s Delicatessen in New York City on Thursday, August 14. Photo by Alanna Weissman.
As tourists and workers walk by, Màiri Mason, 23, plays Celtic music with her bagpipe in front of Grand Central Station in New York City on Sunday, August 17, 2014. Photo by Arianne Alcorta.
Two local residents joke around on Nostrand Avenue in Crown Heights, New York City, on Saturday, August 9, 2014. Photo by Tess Owen.
Peter Allen, 20, spends his day visiting friends in the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx on Thursday, August 28, 2014. Photo by Benjamin Bergmann.
Sikandar Khan, 64, relaxes in the square near his local mosque before the next prayers at Jackson Heights, Queens on Friday, August 15, 2014. Photo by Myra Iqbal.
Robert Leslie, a 23-year-old musician who has built a following from subway performances, plays at Karma Bar in lower Manhattan on Thursday, August 14, 2014. Photo by Isabelle Muge Niu.
A woman sits outside her shop in Chinatown, New York City, on Saturday, August 9, 2014. Photo by Emily Silber.
A group of elderly people play a board game and chat late at night near Hester Street Playground in Chinatown in New York City on Thursday, August 7, 2014. Photo by Darwin Chan.
Right to left: Friends Joshua Walton, 35, Tenzin Woiser, 22, and Pedro Velez, 28, celebrate after Woiser took the ALS ice bucket challenge on the rooftop of Walton’s apartment in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, New York, on Thursday, August 21, 2014. Photo by Shivam Saini.
Salima Koroma didn’t think her first first out-of-state assignment would be the historic protests over the police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. She’s been producing video for Time’s online video team for just about two months, and last week they bought her a one-way ticket to Ferguson, Missouri.
Before starting at Time, she graduated from the documentary program at the Columbia University Journalism School, where she produced her own documentary, Bad Rap, and was a producer for NowThisNews. Columbia Visuals talked to Koroma about her experience producing video from Ferguson.
Brent McDonald is a senior video journalist with the New York Times. He produced “Standoff in Ferguson,” a three-minute video for the Times that was published on August 14th, in the midst of protests over the police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
McDonald has been producing video for over ten years, and has been with the Times since 2005. Columbia Visuals spoke with him by phone from Ferguson, Missouri, on August 15th. He told us about the mood there and gave us some details on his production methods. (more…)
If you’ve never attended a portfolio review, it can seem daunting. It’s tough to show your work to an editor, let alone a room full of them. Asking for feedback isn’t easy, but the insights you get can be invaluable. So grab our list of portfolio reviews, find one near you and get your work together! Survive your first review with these handy tips. (more…)
Today’s Follow Friday post is a little different because the only suggestion we’re making is for you to follow –well, us.
We hope our posts so far has been helpful and we have more great stories lined up. We’re excited to work on a product that helps us all make better visuals and we want your voice in the discussion!
Follow us on Twitter, @ColumbiaVisuals, and tweet at us with your suggestions for stories, people producing work you’d like to know more about and things that stump you in this industry. Community is vital in producing quality work, and we think your thoughts matter. Let us know what you’d like to learn and we’ll add it to our suggestion box.
See you there! #askCV
When Southern California Public Radio began engaging their listeners’ eyes as well as their ears, they wanted to bring some fresh perspective to something a lot of people do every day: taking photos with a smartphone.
This week, three Instagrammers who share what they’re shooting when they’re on assignment. Live vicariously through:
Andrea Bruce. A member of NOOR, frequently on assignment for the New York Times. Latest shots are from Syria, Lebanon and Afghanistan.
David Yoder. A National Geographic shooter, not all of Yoder’s Instagram posts are taken with just an iPhone, but it’s fun to see what he’s shooting when he’s in the field.
David Guttenfelder. Associated Press chief Asia photographer, currently shooting from North Korea.
Helpful tweets:
PBS MediaShift tweets articles from their own blog and other sources on the changes happening in digital media. It’s a great source of information on where and how our work fits in journalism today.
DuckRabbit tweets from the DuckRabbit blog, a production company that spotlights photographers, and gives advice to the visual community.
NPPA. If you don’t follow the National Press Photographers Association, you should. It’s a great resource for legal information and inspiring image makers.
Today we give you three photojournalists who work internationally and promote their stories through Instagram. Their mobile photography is a mix of personal work and journalism. Check out Ivan Kashinksy, Lynsey Addario, and Michael Christopher Brown.
Three places on Twitter to find tips on making your visual work stronger: Raw File, MediaStorm, and Sombra Projects.