For the Financial Times' feature on "Women of 2014," Benedicte Kurzen photographed Nigerian activist Hadiza Bala Usman. Bala Usman's bid to help free the schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram turned into a global social media campaign that fast became a worldwide phenomenon.
Stern published the extensive story by Benedicte Kurzen about the threat of the jihadist sect Boko Haram for people living in Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria.
NOOR photographer Benedicte Kurzen has been covering the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. Travelling from Monrovia, the capital of Liberia to the remote villages in the forest region, near the border with Guinea she has been a witness of the disease and the continuous threat it brings to the health care workers and people who are living and working in the affected areas.
Take a look at the Stern article below and the online slideshow here.
Continuing her long term work on Nigeria, NOOR’s Benedicte Kurzen traveled to the north of the country to cover the Boko Haram kidnappings and turmoil in the region. Le Monde recently published some of her images from Chibok and Maiduguri.
NOOR’s 7th Annual General Meeting was held in New York City from June 9 to 13. This year, we organized a special public event on Friday June 13 for people to come meet NOOR at a PechaKucha evening. With presentations from our photographers, the event showcased NOOR’s dedication to explore the human side of complex, global issues, as well as long-term and collaborative projects.
See some photos from the event below.
Stanley Greene presented his work from Chechnya and Dagestan.
Francesco Zizola spoke about his new ongoing project on overfishing around the world.
Andrea Bruce spoke about her most recent project about the cotton widows of India.
Kadir van Lohuizen presented his Rising Sea Levels project.
Benedicte Kurzen presented her work on the Boko Haram kidnappings in Nigeria.
Nina Berman first spoke about NOOR's outdoor installation project at Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. Later, she presented her work Evidence, part of NOOR's Modern Day Slavery group project.
Jon Lowenstein presented his long-term project about the South Side of Chicago.
In light of the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in Nigeria by Boko Haram, NOOR's Benedicte Kurzen traveled to the country's north to cover the story. Her images from Chibok and Maiduguri were published in French weekly Le Point. See her work in the tearsheet below.
All of NOOR's photographers have a strong connection to World Press Photo, as award winners, Joop Swart Masterclass participants and educators, jury members, or supervisory board members. To celebrate this fact, and with the World Press Photo Awards Days fast approaching, NOOR presents a small pop-up exhibition in an informal setting, featuring relevant work by all our photographers.
NOOR's pop-up exhibition is currently hanging at the Cafe de Engelbewaarder, which is situated just over the canal from Het Compagnie Theater, the location of this year's World Press Photo Awards Days. The exhibition runs until May 12th.
Address Engelbewaarder: Kloveniersburgwal 59, 1011 JZ Amsterdam.
This exhibition is supported by Nikon Europe.
All printing by FotolabKieKie.
Exhibition photos by Jen Tse.
As part of the NOOR-Nikon Masterclass for Documentary Photography, Jon Lowenstein gave a public presentation at SALT Galata on Wednesday night. About 70 people from the wider photography community in Istanbul attended. Jon showed and talked about his long-term ongoing project on Chicago's South Side, including his short film "A Violent Thread". He touched upon how local communities and their problems are representative of bigger social issues on a larger scale. Jon also expanded how he uses photography to engage with the community and how he collaborates with the people from his own neighbourhood.
The next morning, Kursat Bayhan, one of the participants from Turkey, presented a project that his newspaper Zaman initiated, called "Time in Turkey”. This gave the group a good example of how a newspaper in the region understands the importance of photo features.
The group continued with a long debate about ethics in photojournalism, led by Benedicte Kurzen. She stressed that in every step that we are taking as photojournalists, from getting ideas to having your images published, mistakes can be made. The group discussed issues to do with setting up, preserving the identity of the people that you photograph and work with, privacy laws, the importance of caption writing, post-production, altering content and misuse of images by clients when they are taken out of context. Integrity, being transparent, being able to stand for what you are doing as a photographer, and taking responsibility are key in this process.
“It is good that we are bringing up these examples of ethical misbehavior, since it is happening all the time in this industry and it jeopardizes our credibility," said Stanley Greene. "We need to be responsible because the public trusts us and we have to make them trust us.”
Images by Frank Zuidweg.
On the third day of the NOOR-NIkon Masterclass for Documentary Photography in Istanbul, our participants learned about being sensitive and compassionate storytellers.
“As photographers we have a big responsibility to inherit the stories of the people that we photograph," explained Benedicte Kurzen during her presentation. "We have to ask ourselves how we represent the countries that we are covering and realize what is the perception at the end of the road for the audience back home.”
“I feel that I am kind of close to you guys in a way. I am 34 and I have been shooting for about 11 years now," she said. "I see that you are having the same questions that I am having sometimes.”
She first showed a personal body of work about eight years of South Africa, the country she recently left to move to Nigeria. Benedicte, who moved away from home when she was 17 and moved to Palestine when she was 23, said that she sometimes still struggles to understand where she belongs and how she participates and observes in the places she lives and works.
"I also realized that the way people perceive you plays an important role," she said. "For example, in South Africa, white people are sometimes still associated with apartheid. For me humbleness and respect are therefore key.”
When discussing how to work with editors, Benedicte stressed that if photographers have knowledge that editors might not have, they need to communicate it. “You know your country better that any editor who sits in an office in New York, London or Paris,” she said.
You should never say "no" to an editor, Stanley Greene added, but personal vision is critical. Ideas often come from the text department, but aren’t always visual, he said, which is why you need to explain beforehand how you see the story and how you want to shoot and visualize it.
The group continues to learn a lot and have a great time at the masterclass!
Images by Frank Zuidweg.
After a great first day, NOOR photographers had practical and creative advice to share on the second day of the NOOR-Nikon Masterclass in Documentary Photography in Istanbul, Turkey.
“The danger, for all of us, is that you stay in the comfort zone. Whereas if you try and experiment, you might be surprised with the outcome”, explained Jon Lowenstein, recapping the individual portfolio reviews.
“I can see that some of you struggle with what you feel are important elements for the story and your creativity. The illustrative images are often the weakest ones,” said Benedicte Kurzen.
“Having an ‘idea list’ is great, but when you follow the list too rigidly, you miss out on the images that are magical,” continued Jon.
“I sometimes work with a list of things to capture in order to tell a story, but an ‘emotional’ list. Feelings that I am trying to show in images: fear, isolation, relief, etc.,” said Andrea Bruce.
In the afternoon, three groups were formed and each group discussed and edited a small assignment the participants prepared around the theme of "fragile".
“It has been a great experience editing my work with Andrea and the other participating photographers," said Achilleas Zavallis from Cyprus. "Having the input from these photographers with diverse backgrounds, coming from different countries, gave me a new perspective on my own work. Being able to get their collective knowledge helps me to look at my work with a fresh set of eyes.”
The masterclass continues until the end of the week. Check back to see how the next few days go!
Images by Frank Zuidweg.
