All posts tagged: national geographic

Cara Eckholm’s Series on Postwar Bosnia for National Geographic Voices with My Photos

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Last October, I traveled to Bosnia with fellow National Geographic Young Explorer Cara Eckholm to report and photograph stories from postwar Bosnia. She now works for the consulting firm, ReD Associates, out of Copenhagen. Below are excerpts and photographs from the series we worked on and completed together. Exploring Sarajevo, 20 Years After Dayton Peace Accord May 29, 2015 From morning to midnight, in sun or snow, pensioners play chess with passion, swinging life-sized pieces across a board painted onto the pavement in the center of Sarajevo. I struck up a conversation with a crowd of bystanders, and learned that was not always so. Twenty years ago, this square was deserted, a victim of Bosnian-Serb mortars. Now, the chess players razz each other against a backdrop of multinational chains. But the past is never absent in Bosnia, and the storefronts face the once-majestic Austro-Hungarian officer club, still riddled with bullet holes two decades after the country’s ethnic war. Supported by a National Geographic Young Explorers Grant, I’ve been exploring Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital that was …

The Phoblographer: National Geographic Photographers Talk About Their Scariest Moment

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The Phoblographer writer Julius Motal asked me a few months back to tell him about a scary moment in the field while working on my National Geographic Young Explorer Grant projects in the Balkans and the Caucasus. I thought there was one important and not so obvious lesson worth sharing from my experiences: “Don’t trust Google Maps in conflict or post-conflict zones as the roads may be mined,” said photojournalist Amanda Rivkin who worked on two projects in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus with National Geographic Young Explorers Grants from the Expeditions Council. Unless the area has been substantially surveyed, it can almost be impossible to know where landmines are. Landmine accidents are an uncomfortably common occurrence, particularly in post-conflict zones. In some places, landmines aren’t discovered until they’ve gone off. In others, they’re well documented like in the Falkland islands where there are cordoned-off no-go zones. Penguins there have, however, capitalized on them because they’re light enough to not set them off. People, however, are not so fortunate. When data or a “Beware Mines” …

Telluride Mountainfilm Wrap-Up + Press

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Over the Memorial Day weekend, I was in Telluride, Colorado for the Mountainfilm Festival thanks to the support of National Geographic Expeditions Council and the Young Explorers Grant Program. It was a fantastic weekend spent in the company of some great friends, and when it was over and our presentations complete, we sat down and watched my beloved “politics by another means” Eurovision Song Contest. But once it was really over, the local indy paper, the San Juan Independent, came knocking and sent over some questions for a Q + A. Here are the parts that are relevant generally to photography today: […] Q: As a photographer, how do you believe technology has and will affect the field of photojournalism, if at all? Specifically, we are seeing more advanced cameras and equipment at more affordable prices, including GoPros and camera phones, and more “average Joe’s” being able to capture images and moments they could not years ago. Is this a good thing for photojournalism and photography or does it have a negative impact? A: A …

Telluride MountainFilm Festival 2015 with National Geographic Young Explorers

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This weekend I will be in Telluride, Colorado attending the Telluride MountainFilm Festival as a guest of the National Geographic Society (NGS). NGS is a festvial co-sponsor and supporter and has contributed a range of talent and programming to this year’s MountainFilm Festival, including a presentation of photographs by recipients of their Young Explorers Grant. If you are attending Telluride MountainFilm, please join me after 3:30pm Friday May 22 for the Gallery Walk or Sunday afternoon from 12-2pm for presentations by Young Explorers at the Sheridan Opera House. Additionally, Cara Eckholm, who I traveled to Bosnia with in October of last year and with whom I will be presenting on Sunday, will be featured in “Coffee and Conversation” with Ambassador Christopher Hill and Festival Director David Holbrooke (and son of Richard Holbrooke) very early Sunday morning at 8am at the Hotel Telluride.

Postwar Bosnia for National Geographic Young Explorers to Telluride Mountainfilm Festival

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Thanks to National Geographic, the work I shot on Bosnia’s postwar reconstruction last October will be shown for the first time at the Telluride Mountainfilm Festival in May! The festival director is Richard Holbrooke’s son, David Holbrooke, so now I am indebted to both father and son for what they have done for Bosnia.

Explorers Journal: Views of Sarajevo From Young Explorers

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The Explorers Journal blog of National Geographic featured late last week a teaser post about a project I have been working on with recently named Young Explorer Cara Eckholm in Bosnia and Herzegovina on cultural heritage preservation and postwar reconstruction, “Views of Sarajevo From Young Explorers“: National Geographic Young Explorers Grantees Cara Eckholm and Amanda Rivkin have been on the ground in Sarajevo this month. They’re pursing the story of the new urban landscape in Sarajevo, delving into the triumphs and tensions of a city that not long ago was ravaged by war. Through interviews with Sarajevo’s citizens Cara and Amanda are investigating battles over public monuments and museums, the complications of the foreign investments funding the rebuilding, and other stories from every corner of the historic city.

Top 10 Blog Posts of 2012

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The following are the most viewed blog posts on this site over the course of 2012 that were published in 2012: 1. Best of 2012: Azerbaijan and Turkey (430 views) The best images from 2012 include images from Azerbaijan and Turkey. 2. CNN Photos Blog: Bachelor Parties in Prague (198 views) When friends living in Eastern European nations began complaining of noisy, drunken tourists in their historical towns, American photojournalist Amanda Rivkin wanted to dig deeper. 3. Baku Nights (164 views) Women dance on the table at the bar Shakespeare in Baku, Azerbaijan on March 17, 2012. 4. EurasiaNet: Baku Is Bulldozing Its Past (70 views) My images of demolitions and reconstruction in Baku illustrated a story by Ulviyya Asadzade and Khadija Ismayilova entitled, “Azerbaijan: Baku is Bulldozing its Past,” for EurasiaNet (April 27, 2012). 5. British Journal of Photography: VII Photo adds four photographers to Mentor programme (54 views) Photographers Laura El-Tantawy, Nafis Ahmed, Jošt Franko and Amanda Rivkin have been selected to join VII Photo’s Mentor Program 6. Look3 Festival of the Photograph: …

National Geographic Explorers Journal: Explorer of the Week – Amanda Rivkin

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Explorer of the Week: Amanda Rivkin Posted by Amy Bucci of NG Staff in Explorers Journal on August 14, 2012 This week we are featuring Amanda Rivkin, a photographer who decided to focus her lens on Azerbaijan’s offshore oil fields in the Caspian. Using funds from her Young Explorer grant, she followed the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline’s 1,100-mile route, which skirts five conflict zones in three countries representing believers of both Islam and Christianity. Rivkin’s photos reveal her passion and keen sense of storytelling. As she tells us, “I have come to see photography maybe in the vein of ancient epics, for a good photo is crafted like poetry.” In one National Geographic staff favorite, Rivkin captured a man reclining in a crude oil bath at a spa near Baku. Rivkin’s attention to detail, her knowledge about her subjects, and her unique vision will certainly continue to push her into the spotlight. What project are you working on now? I am transitioning from two long-term projects on the role of women in Azerbaijan and the …

June Newsletter: National Geographic publishes BTC pipeline / Fulbright to Azerbaijan

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This is a pretty special newsletter for me concerning announcements. First, I have graduated from the Georgetown University Graduate School of Foreign Service, which ends a two-year chapter of my life first in Washington, DC and then commuting between there and New York over the past year. While it was a fascinating educational experience, I am ready to move on to new projects and pastures. As a photographer, my work grew as well over those two years, for me most notably last summer when I was a recipient of a National Geographic Young Explorers Grant which facilitated travel photographing the social and economic life along the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline which delivers Caspian crude to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan by way of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. Recently, this work was published on the National Geographic website in a photo gallery entitled, “At Five Years, BTC Pipeline Moves Oil, Culture,” with accompanying text by Marianne Lavelle. Lastly, the biggest bit of news. As a consequence of this work and my interest in the people, culture and …

Young Explorers’ Grant Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline Photo Essay Published On National Geographic Website

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Pictures: At Five Years Old, BTC Pipeline Moves Oil, Culture National Geographic June 10, 2011 A New World Unveiled Photograph by Amanda Rivkin The landlocked Asian nation of Azerbaijan forged a powerful connection to the West five years ago with the first delivery of oil through one of the most ambitious energy projects of a generation—a $4.2 billion, 1,100-mile (1,800-kilometer) pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean coast. When the deal was originally struck in 1994 for the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Pipeline, the late Azerbaijan President Heydar Aliyev called it “the Contract of the Century”—the first time a former Soviet state had signed a deal for its oil to reach international markets without going through Russia. It was also hailed as a major policy success for the United States, which had engaged in years of intensive diplomacy to build an avenue for Caspian oil wealth that did not rely on Moscow. (Related: BP’s map of the pipeline route) The BTC has the capacity to deliver 1.2 million barrels of oil per day to the Turkish port of Ceyhan …