This assignment was quite unexpected and arranged at fairly short notice which made it all the more exciting. It was also my first assignment travelling from Australia so quite unusual to be checking in at Perth airport and flying to Bangkok then Kigali rather than just going back to London and Jersey..!!

The aim of the trip was to give photographic coverage to 3 of the UK’s largest regional newspapers, the Manchester Evening News, the Liverpool Echo and the Yorkshire Post. Each had a journalist on the trip with the intention of reporting on CAFOD funded projects in Rwanda in time for fund raising events during Lent.

I’d been to Rwanda once before but only very briefly stopping overnight on the way to the Congo so it was a great opportunity to go back and have a closer look. These days, virtually everyone knows Rwanda due to the genocide back in 1994 and it was the ongoing repercussions of this horrific event our reporting was to be based on. As a bit of background, over one million ethnic Tutsi and moderate Hutus were tortured and murdered during a 100 day rampage by the Hutu dominant government and its supporters. Neighbors, friends and even family members turned on each other. Children lost their families, women were beaten, raped and saw their families cut down in front of them.

During our days there we interviewed a number of woman and orphans and they all spoke of the isolation they felt once the killing was over. With no one to turn to and no one to share their experiences with, the words, “I felt there was nothing to live for”, “I wanted to die” were repeated time and time again. With CAFOD’s support, local NGO, Avega East encouraged those with similar stories and living near each other to join together in associations. As well as providing trauma counseling on an individual and group basis, the charity provides small loans so the survivors can take control of their lives once again.

Below are a few of the pictures taken during the trip. I’ll also be posting links to the articles written by the journalists. For further information about this and the rest of CAFOD’s work please click here.

The Liverpool Echo-Online article

Names on the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre.

A view over Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. Now peaceful and one of the safest cities in Africa.

Joselyne Ingabire (43) in her garden at home in Rwamagana. During the genocide her husband and family were killed and she was raped and became pregnant and caught HIV. She is now a volunteer counsellor with NGO Avega East.

Odette Mukambayiha who was raped and widowed during the genocide and now lives in Nyagasambu Village where Avega East paid for 35 houses for genocide widows

Collette Musabwasoni (47) lost her husband and five children in the genocide. She nows lives in Nyagasambu Village where Avega East paid for 35 houses for genocide widows. She runs a food stall business paid for by micro credit.

Widows tending their banana plantation in Nyagasambu Village where Avega East paid for 35 houses for genocide widows. They are assisted by micro credit programs enabling them to grow bananas to both eat and sell.

Kiramuruzi sector Abishyize Hawiwe Cooperative who are helped by Avega East to grow bananas. L-R Mukabutare Theopiste & Mukamutara Phelomene carrying bananas.

www.fotofreo.com

I’ve just heard some great news..!

I’ve been awarded a scholarship to attend a 5 day Magnum Workshop Fremantle which is headlining this years FotoFreo 2010: The City of Fremantle Festival of Photography. This is an incredibly exciting opportunity and really couldn’t have come at a better time in my career having just turned freelance.

I submitted the Mongolia story as part of my application but the written statements took quite some time to prepare. I’ve always been interested to know how other photographers gained grants or scholarships so I’ve copied my entry below. I’m certainly not saying this is a model application by any means but it may give other photographers an indication to what is needed. Every admission guideline and photographers history is different but hopefully this will give you an idea of what could be included in your statement.

What I have had reinforced is that you never stop learning. Moving into a freelance environment brings many new challenges from setting up your own computer system to branding and business knowledge. Then there is marketing and developing your own personal style. Each newspaper has its own house style but when you become freelance you can really start putting your own signature to your work that evolves over the years. The Magnum course will give me the opportunity to concentrate my mind and give me more focus and direction which is invaluable.

I’ll keep you posted with any new updates….

How will this opportunity benefit your career ?

This course starts just at the time of an exciting and major changing point in my photojournalism career.  I have recently left my job of 8 years with a UK newspaper and I am about to embark on a freelance career, which I hope will bring greater freedom, creativity and meaning to my work. I am also about to undertake my first long term project. The opportunity this course offers to receive guidance and advice about the dynamics, evolution and creative changes of how a long term project evolves would be invaluable to me.

I thoroughly enjoyed and learnt a great deal working for the Jersey Evening Post, however my true passion is documentary photography and reporting on humanitarian issues. During my time at the paper I used all my holiday time and unpaid leave to go on self assigned and commissioned projects.

Whilst I have had a very positive response to my work and received a number of accolades I feel I have much more potential to fill. My commitment to photojournalism is as strong as the day I started and I believe I would greatly benefit from receiving advice about refining my style, being taught stronger editing skills and having the opportunity to learn new camera and technical skills.

The chance to interact with such established photographers, seeing and learning how they work, operate and conduct themselves would be invaluable as well as being able to discuss and debate contemporary photography practice with other photographers.

This would be my first formal training environment since leaving university and I would relish the intensity and opportunity that this course offers.

…………..

Once again, it’s been awhile but believe me, behind the scenes I’ve been very busy..!!

I haven’t actually shot many pictures which is a bit frustrating but as many of you know, a lot of time is spent sorting out computer systems, archives, marketing, research and everything else that goes into creating a new business and organising foreign assignments so thankfully getting out there and doing what you are supposed to and love doing is just around the corner.

Good progress is being made and I’ll hopefully be posting about some very exciting new projects coming up in the near future so watch this space…!!

As for now, I thought I’d let you know that an image from a shoot I did last year for Rotary Jersey has been awarded Nominee status in the 5th Annual black and White Spider Awards. I’m certainly more of a color shooter and this was my first black and white project I’ve shot in quite some time so it was a pleasant surprise for it to be recognised. The picture was part of a series I did at Jaipur Foot in India. You can see the whole series and text here but basically Jaipur Foot is an incredibly inspiring Ngo set up by the highly energetic and dedicated D.R Mehta. Every day, hundred of people from all over India travel to Jaipur to receive artificial limbs and polio survivors are given tricycles or calipers. All of these services are given for free and it’s literally a lifeline for thousands of Indians who from here can start making a life for themselves with their new found mobility. I only had two days there after shooting the polio eradication story but found the atmosphere positively infectious. In a matter of hours you saw peoples lives transformed.

The image below was shot in the fitting centre where people wait for the limbs to be made. The guy on the left lost his leg in a train accident (most amputations are caused by train incidents) and on the right is an army officer with his new artificial limb next to him. What I liked is the fact all limbs and fittings are completed in an open room so patients can see exactly what is happening. You can see on their faces they are apprehensive but by having everything open the whole process is hopefully demystified.

A Jaipur artificial limb stands between two amputees waiting for a limb fitting.

It’s been a while since the last post but a lot has been happening….

By far the most important and certainly the most exciting is I took voluntary redundancy from the Jersey Evening Post and I’ll be emigrating to Perth in Western Australia in about 5 weeks..!!

It was a tough decision leaving a fantastic full time newspaper job (during a recession..!!) but the time was right and my wife Terese was keen to return home. It’s going to be a steep learning curve setting up a new photography business and all the hassles of being freelance but it will be a great challenge and hopefully rewarding.

The plan is to concentrate on my foreign assignments and humanitarian work over the next few years and also make contact with the various newspapers over there..I’m still very much a newspaper photographer at heart..!

The last 8 years at the JEP have been amazing. I was incredibly fortunate to be offered the job in the first place. There is very little movement in the department so when a position comes up it is always hotly contested. I had little experience then but bags of energy and enthusiasm which sometimes counts for a lot. I’ve leant an enormous amount and the opportunity to work on foreign assignments as well as the day to day work was great.

I’ll miss the crack with the other guys who are a great bunch and it has been a real privilege to be part of that. The last few weeks where typically busy and varied so below are some of jobs I did…

I’ll keep you updated with any more news but for now it will be the occasional freelance job and lots of packing..!!..

Jersey Live 2009. Dizzee Rascal on the Main Stage. (Jersey Evening Post)

Jersey Live 2009. Dizzee Rascal on the Main Stage. (Jersey Evening Post)

Armed police surround the Royal Court at the start of the trial of one of the UK's most notorious drug criminals. (Jersey Evening Post)

Armed police surround the Royal Court at the start of the trial of one of the UK's most notorious drug criminals. (Jersey Evening Post)

Jersey International Air Display 2009. RAF Red Arrows. (Jersey Evening Post)

Gladys Manning and her sister Christine Manning who claim to have seen a UFO in their back garden in Gorey. (Jersey Evening Post)

Jersey Now Autumn Fashion. (Jersey Evening Post)

With only a week to go we are putting the final touches to the exhibition and generally getting very excited about the festival. This is our fifth year hosting the Jersey Amnesty International Human Rights Film Festival and it has come a long way since its conception.

Considering Jersey has a very limited audience base with a population of 90,000, the attendance figures in previous years we think are exceptional with up to 250 people (a full house) paying to see and hear what is happening to people beyond our little Island. This proves to us that there is an appetite for hard hitting documentary films in Jersey that will challenge the audience and that people are willing to engage in human rights issues.

We hope this year will be equally well attended.

We have extended our program this year to include even more high profile speakers and for the first time, two guest photojournalists. I’m particular excited that two of the best photojournalists working today, Teru Kuwayama  & Balazs Gardi have given up their time to come to Jersey to give us an insight into how they operate in Iraq and Afghanistan. They have both just returned from Pakistan so their first hand knowledge and experiences of what is happening in the region will be fascinating.

With them they are bringing their highly acclaimed exhibition Battlespace which will be on display at the Jersey Arts Centre from June 15th for two weeks. This exhibition comprises of images from over 20 photojournalists who have worked in Iraq and Afghanistan and aims to show the public an unsanitised view of what is happening in these continuing conflicts. Alongside this will be my recent work from Mongolia looking at the effects of rapid urbanisation on the capital Ulaan Baatar and the street children who struggle to survive the bitter winter there.

Couple that evening with film directors, Oscar winning documentary films, prominent human rights lawyers and Moazzam Begg, a former British prisoner of Guantanamo Bay who will talking about his experiences there, it’s sure to be an insightful, challenging but rewarding week.

We hope to see you there…