2012 is here and we are now on Twitter, so follow us @explorenation
Category: news
KL International Photoawards 2012 : Call For Entries
KLPA is an annual portrait photography competition, now in its 4th consecutive year. Open to all levels of international photographers in 3 categories- Portraits, The Photo-Essay, Open.
Top finalists and winners will be selected by a jury of 5 judges from the arts and photography industry. Top cash prize of USD$3,000. Pacsafe products and a specially commissioned trophy will be awarded to first and second winners from each category.
Submissions open 1 to 31 March 2012. Closes 31 March 2012.
Special sponsor Select Awards prizes from Pacsafe, Anti-Slavery International and FotoVisura.com.
KLPA 2012 will culminate in an Awards Evening in Kuala Lumpur in June where all the main prize winners will be invited to attend a presentation ceremony. A public exhibition will run in conjunction.
Please visit the main website to register your participation and to receive notifications.
KLPA is supported by Time Out Kuala Lumpur & MAP KL and is organised by explorenation.net and KL Photoawards Malaysia.
Twitter @klphotoawards
Website www.klphotoawards.com
Explorenation Alumni Opening Evening : So Far, The Future Gallery, London
Thank you to all that attended, it was a great evening at So Far, The Future gallery. Thank you to Rebecca and Andreas, the gallery owners too. Do pop by and we will be holding another reception from 12 noon this Saturday 26th November. The exhibition runs until the 30th November 10 to 6 pm. The photographs look amazing when printed, framed and displayed in a gallery setting, and we hope to do more of these gallery sessions next year, as I think it is important to display images on a wall and appreciate them in this format rather than looking at them on screen.
November Alumni Exhibition : All welcome!
Explorenation.net welcome all to their 2nd Alumni exhibition of selected photographs in London. Presenting the photographs of 10 alumni members from the 2010/11 photography workshops held in Rajasthan, Cuba, Istanbul and personal works. The alumni members participating in this exhibition are :
Bruno Couck (Belgium)
David Pearl (UK)
Fernando Perez (Spain)
Franco Pagnoni (Italy)
Keng-Fun Loh (Singapore)
Ivy Tan (Singapore)
Katalin Horvath (USA)
Kirstin Furber (UK)
Leanna Chong (Malaysia)
Steve Leroy (Belgium)
Reception : Thursday, 24th November from 6:30 pm
Drinks : Saturday, 26th November from 12 :00 noon
Exhibition : 24th to 30th November
Venue : So Far The Future Gallery, 44 Emerald Street, London WC1N 3LH
All photographs are for sale.
AOP Open Awards 2011
© Steven Lee 2011
This year’s AOP Open Awards Exhibition, Presentation and Party will be taking place at The Dray Walk Gallery in London’s vibrant Truman Brewery.
My entry here is in the shortlist and will be exhibited and included in the accompanying catalogue. It was taken in Nice earlier this year, from my series ‘Azuristic’, documenting the tourism industry of the Mediterranean coast.
The Exhibition also falls within East London’s Photomonth and will be open to the public on the 14-16 October Friday 11-8pm, Saturday & Sunday 10am-6pm. The Private View is taking place on Thursday the 13th October.
The AOP Open is RSVP only!
LAURA EL-TANTAWY : Artist Talk Report
© Laura El-Tantawy 2011
In the Shadow of the Pyramids is Laura El-Tantawy’s current project documenting Egypt’s popular uprising. Her Artist Talk yesterday evening at the Green Cardamom Light Gallery was informative and totally engrossing and drew a small crowd of interested audience. Egypt is experiencing a change that is unprecedented in the modern historical context. As an Egyptian and living in the UK, she is determined that her work be seen by Egyptians in Egypt. That is her ‘end game’ to this current project. And a book.
Ultimately, though, she would love to be able to display her powerful and moving photographs in Tahrir Square one day, and invite the people of the revolution to see them at “Ground Zero’ as it were. Liberation Square as it is also known, was the hallowed ground on where the Cairenes gathered in their thousands to over several weeks prior to the ousting of the president. It was also the place where they celebrated with street parties after Mubarak’s resignation.
© Laura El-Tantawy 2011
For me, Egypt has also carved a significant moment in my life.
At 8:45am on 17, November 1997, 58 foreign tourists and 4 Egyptians were brutally massacred by terrorists at the entrance to the Temple of Queen Hapshetsut, Valley of the Queens in Luxor. This was a dark day for Egypt. My parents, aunt and I were with a group, about to enter the Valleys at about 8:30 am led by our tour guide. Usually, the guide would lead the bus driver pass the ticket office and straight to the Valley of the Queens first, being the closer of the two Valleys. That fateful morning, our guide decided to head for the Valley of the Kings instead. Had he stuck to his routine, our bus would have arrived right at the moment when the attack took place. The two Valleys are separated by a hillock. We were fortunate. Not so, for a South American couple who shared our dining table on the Nile boat. They joined another tour group and left earlier that morning.
Myself, taken by my aunt outside KV7, Tomb of Ramses II, Luxor, approx. 9:00 am, 17 November 1997
My discovery tour to Egypt ended abruptly the next day as I was ‘forced’ to fly home via Cairo, ordered by my better half, who read the headline news on the Evening Standard in the London underground. My discovery of Egypt is thus incomplete, and what better way than to make a return to the Land of the Pharoahs, a historical Biblical land to so many, and a nation that is in transition.
Thank you to Laura who’s work peeked my curiosity once again to visit Egypt, and thank you to all those that attended explorenation’s inaugural Artist Talk.
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See also here.
Global Classroom Workshop with LimKokWing students
In May this year Andy and I ran a half-day Camera Clinic for some students from the Limkokwing Global Classroom in their London campus. Once again, last Thursday, 29th, I led another similar workshop, in sweltering 28C temperatures here in sunny London. This time, there was supposed to be 30+ students, but only about half materialised from the Indian Summer weather we have been enjoying in early Autumn. Nevertheless, we had a Go! and I sent all of them out in groups of 4 or 5, onto the streets on an assignment for a ‘make-believe’ inflight magazine article, requesting images of ‘Summer in London.’
With students in various disciplines, from Business Studies, Accountancy to Graphic Design and Games Software, it was difficult to run a technical photography class. Hence, I resorted to good old creativity, imagination and Lady Luck which I believe every one of us possess in some form or another. Thanks to Linda Noor for organising this session.
I am awaiting results from the challenge.
LAURA EL-TANTAWY : Talk & Slideshow Evening : Friday 30th September
In the Shadow of the Pyramids is the current project by photographer Laura El-Tantawy.
Laura El-Tantawy , 2011 by Steven Lee
I met Laura briefly at the National Gallery cafe to talk about her fund raising efforts through emphas.is a crowd funding website to enable her to complete the final chapter in her documentation of the popular uprising by the ordinary people of Egypt. These events which centred in Cairo, and particularly Tahrir Square was broadcasted all over the world by mainstream news channels and literally shook the leaders of the Arab world off their feet.
Laura’s photographic style is unique, part journalistic, part documentary and part fine art, raw and powerfully emotive, and totally artistic. Trained as a journalist and worked as a newspaper photographer in the USA, she is passionately absorbed to covering the forthcoming elections in a ‘new’ Egypt in October and November.
[Check out Magnum’s David Alan Harvey’s skype interview with Laura here. DAH’s BURN magazine are Laura’s media partner on this project and they sponsored her in February to cover the revolution in Egypt. Their continued support now is part of their counted effort to see the project through to print as a book.]
Laura will be giving a talk about her latest project, accompanied with a slide projection of photographs taken before and during the uprising in Egypt. This is a fund raising evening (non-obligatory), which is open to anyone who would like to learn a bit more about the events unfolding in Egypt, her style of photography and her first hand experience on the ground. Your support is most appreciated. Watch the video below for her personal address, and help spread the message. Apologies for the rather short notice of this event, but I’m sure it will be a great evening out!
Laura has indicated that the first 20 RSVPs will receive a special ‘memento’ postcard print from her on the evening!
Venue
Green Cardamom Light Gallery, 5a Porchester Place, London W2 2BS
Time : 7:00 to 10:30pm : Free entry
Date : Friday, 30th September 2011
RSVP to : info@explorenation.net or leave a comment below.
(Nearest tube : Marble Arch or Edgware Road)
About Laura
Laura El-Tantawy is an Egyptian photojournalist & artist based in London. She studied journalism & political science at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia (USA) & started her career as a newspaper photographer with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Sarasota Herald-Tribune (USA). In 2005, she started work on her first book documenting a changing Egypt. As part of the urge to understand the issues, in 2009, she accepted a six-month fellowship at the University of Oxford (UK) to research free speech in Egyptian media.
In 2008 she was nominated and accepted to take part in Reflexions Masterclass, a two-year photography seminar directed by Italian photographer Giorgia Fiorio and French curator Gabriel Bauret. Her work has been published & exhibited in the US, Europe, Asia & the Middle East. She exclusively works on self-initiated projects.
Laura is the founder of www.illdieforyou.com, a project documenting farmer suicides in rural India.
www.lauraeltantawy.com
This event is organised by explorenation.net
Explorenation is 3 years old!
Dear Friends of Explorenation
Cheers!
To celebrate our 3rd year, some of us are heading down to Bordeaux this week for a long weekend of touring the wine country, and sampling its produce! There will also be some photography…
Thank you for another great year of inspiring photography workshops. Over the last 21 months we have visited Rajasthan, Cuba, Istanbul, Bordeaux, the Isle of Wight, and have run several digital darkroom sessions, some introductory camera clinics, and a few short London workshops offering a taster of what we do. Have a look at our planned photography workshops for 2012 and the remainder of 2011 below. As always, we will be offering an interactive and user-friendly format for all photography enthusiasts from beginner to advanced level, who want to improve their technique and explore their creativity. We work with small groups, go to interesting places, and ensure a variety of photographic possibilities with a format that includes daily shoots, evening slide shows, personal camera clinics, and of course some downtime to develop your portfolio, practice your technique, or simply relax.
Consider joining us on any of the following workshops over the next 12 months:
- Berlin Iconography November 10-13, 2011
- Carnavale! Venice at Carnival February 16-19, 2012 (£375 + travel & accommodation)
- Morocco Pathways March 17-25, 2012 (c. £1,000 incl. accommodation, meals & local travel)
- Cuba Libre II June 6-17, 2012 (c. £1,500 incl. accommodation, meals & local travel)
For more details on content see the attached document, or visit https://explorenation.net/2011-12-workshop-programme/. Some dates may vary depending on take-up. We can also arrange specific tours for groups with a particular destination in mind.
All the best, and keep shooting!
Andy & Steven
Thinking Inside the Box
Hortus Conclusus
The Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens commissions an artist / architect to design and construct a Summer Pavilion ever year over the summer months. This year, Swiss architect Peter Zumthor designed a large oblong black box with a oblong garden in the centre, lit by natural light from the open roof. Visitors wander in from all sides through dimly lit darkened corridors and emerge into a spectacular mature garden full of muted colours, shapes, leaves, and grasses swaying the breeze. There are bees pollinating the flowers and children playing hid and seek among the tall grasses. There are cafe style stools and table set all around the garden, where the public may relax and enjoy the assault on their senses.
The Pavilion is open till 16 October, 2011 and is worth a visit.
explorenation.net ~ photography posts, workshops, writings and thoughts by Steven V-L Lee 
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