Geo Magazine - October 2007

Last night, I was sitting in the ICP library, flipping through books, and killing time before meeting up with a friend, when I happened to glance over at the magazine rack. There, nestled comfortably among all the back-issues of PDN and Aperture, was the October issue of Geo Magazine, staring back at me seductively. A look inside the issue reveals a 12-page feature that was the result of a one-week assignment, a return trip, and (on my end) a few years' worth of occasional visits before that, as part of a long-term project that I've been working on. (The picture above is an outtake from the assignment.) For this feature, I had the great fortune to work with a highly intelligent staff writer (Gabriele Riedle), and I also relied heavily on the tremendous expertise and guidance of two photo editors that I greatly admire, Nadja Masri and Tina Ahrens. It's my most impressive tearsheet by far, and I still can't believe that it all worked out so amazingly well.

And, on a side note, Chris Marker's new book Staring Back is both incredibly powerful and highly relevant. That may be surprising to hear from a "purist" like myself, since Marker digitally manipulates his images. What I like is that he alters his photographs in ways that challenge our assumptions about documentary work--and in such a purposefully obvious manner that one cannot fail to notice it, even at first glance. It's the rare photo book where the way in which the photos are presented becomes one of the main themes of the book. (And it's also the real reason why I was running so late last night. Thank you, ICP library.)