Category Archives: News

The Frontline Club Award

Posted on June 21, 2008 | Leave a comment

John D McHugh was awarded the club’s first ever award for journalism last night. The award was given as a result of his outstanding work and dedication to covering the war in Afghanistan. Although John D is a photographer, he also covered the story using audio and video.

To read more about John D’s experiences, see his blog.

On his last trip he was filing pictures and copy for The Guardian.

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The 20th Visa Pour L’Image, Perpignan, France

Posted on June 18, 2008 | Leave a comment

You often hears talk amongst photographers asking who’s going to Visa or Perpignan. This talk refers to Visa Pour L’Image which is an annual festival of photojournalism, which takes place in Perpignan in the south of France.

This year’s festival, the 20th, will run from the 30th of August until the 14th of September. During this two week period there will be some 30 exhibitions dotted around the beautiful city; the venues are very interesting in themselves – there is a convent and even a prison.

The professional week runs from the 1st to the 7th of September. This is open to professional photographers, newspaper and agency photographic staff and apart from the above exhibitions it incorporates talks and presentations, evening screenings (on a huge outdoor screen – this is also open to the public), a chance to show projects and portfolios to the agencies present and generally network.

This year will be the fifth time I’ll be attending the festival. If you’ve never been, take a week off and check it out. You’ll see some great work exhibited and if you’re a professional, getting accreditation will open up a whole lot more. The talks and presentations are given by photographers at the top of their game and its an ideal and unique opportunity to see the world’s picture editors all under one roof.

To top this off, the town is beautiful with some great restaurants. The social scene is one of the great things about the festival too. Just check out the Cafe de Post near the Castillet and you’ll see photographers and editors drinking and chatting the night away ’till the very early hours.

One tip – book your accommodation now as the town gets packed during the professional week.

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Posted in News, Photography, Pictures, Travel

America’s Forgotten War – Videos

Posted on June 12, 2008 | Leave a comment

I’m pleased to say that John D McHugh’s back from Afghanistan and The Guardian have now posted the latest in a series of videos which he shot whilst out there; “Lost in Translation“.

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Will We Ever Learn?

Posted on May 29, 2008 | Leave a comment

I’ve been in Fromelles (France) for the past few days. Yes, I know, I hadn’t heard of it either I’m shameful to admit. It was the scene of a very bloody battle during WWI and they have just started to excavate a mass grave where around 250 British and 170 Australian troops were buried by the German Army.

To find out more about the actual battle, check out this link and the links on that page.

What really struck me was seeing the large area being excavated and the care and respect shown by battlefield archaeologists from Scotland’s Glasgow University and members from the Australian Army. It was really touching to meet a couple of Australian families who had made a pilgrimage here as they have relatives which they are sure are here at the site.

However, having driven around Fromelles, one realises that there are numerous graves. VC Corner is home to over 400 unidentified Australian soldiers. At Le Trou Aid Post cemetery there are a further 358 soldiers.

I read the visitors book at VC Corner and there were many touching messages from relatives and other visitors. The message “Lest we forget” was repeated over and over.

Alas, we keep forgetting the horror of war. I just don’t understand how we let this happen over and over again.

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In The Picture with John Moore

Posted on May 24, 2008 | Leave a comment

Frontline Club – “John Moore has spent most of the last year photographing Pakistan’s slide into instability and in December 2007 was one of the few photographers present at the assassination of Benazir Bhutto”.

There are still spaces available for his talk. Book at the Frontline Club.

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Posted in News, Photography