A Modest Proposal – Dog for Thanksgiving

Eating dog for Thanksgiving may be considered shocking and taboo by many Americans but is actually a well documented practice.  When Franklin Delano Roosevelt first commissioned a survey of American’s eating habits as part of the WPA, turkey was often substituted for duck, pig, rabbit, and other household livestock.  In amongst the list is dog. It is not surprising that dog gets on the list more often in times of financial crisis, when other types of protein are harder to come by.  Although a modest proportion of the American diet overall, dog meat consumption spiked in 2008 and has not dropped considerably since.

Continue reading “A Modest Proposal – Dog for Thanksgiving”

Battle of Balaclava – Poems, Pictures, and Immortality

Battle of Balaclava – Prologue

“Captain Dames of the royal Artillery leans against a wall in camp during the Crimean War”, Roger Fenton 1855 – ©Corbis

The Battle of Balaclava is one of the most famous battles of all time, despite being a comparatively minor engagement in the Crimean War.  The futile heroics of the soldiers who fought there may have gone relatively unnoticed if not for a picture and a poem.

The battle itself is fraught with anecdotes and personalities that combine to make legend. The events of October 25th, 1854 evolve like the episodes of a Greek tragedy, with the fate of the soldiers hinging on the acts of a handful of characters. Continue reading “Battle of Balaclava – Poems, Pictures, and Immortality”

Exposição Tours de Césio – Fotógrafo Mexicano Jan Smith

Galeria Eduardo Fernandes – Exposicao Jan Smith, Tours de Cesio

Exposição Tours de Césio

Selecionadas para a XV Bienal de Fotografia no México, chamadas pelo Cape Times da África do Sul como “belas composições da ausência” e descritas pelo Mainichi Shimbun do Japão como “uma voz visual firme e elegante”, a série chega de forma íntegra ao Brasil pela primeira vez.

A radiação é invisível. É desafiante mostrar sua capacidade destrutora a não ser por meio do retrato da desolação e do abandono.  As imagens reunidas em Tours de Césio mergulham na intimidade dos espaços pessoais que tiveram que ser abandonados.  Elas falam sobre a permanência e o direito de pertencer à aquilo que não pôde ser mais habitado. Continue reading “Exposição Tours de Césio – Fotógrafo Mexicano Jan Smith”

Graffiti in Chernobyl – April 26

Yellow Cake Art – The Graffiti of Chernobyl

Chernobyl Graffiti - Photograph by Jan Smith

Yellow Cake Art Yellow cake is used in the preparation uranium fuel for nuclear reactors.

In 2006, twenty years after the Chernobyl disaster a group of seven artists from Russia, Belarus and Germany entered the abandoned city of Pripyat to create street art.  Their work was a tribute to the former inhabitants.  Unfortunately, barely six years later, many of the pieces are fading or falling victim to the elements.   Yellow Cake Art is a visual tour of the pieces I found while exploring Pripyat and developing my own work on nuclear landscapes.  This is a tribute to their work. You can see the entire slide show here: Yellow Cake Art

To see the original project of Konstatin Danilov, Denis Averyanov, Ivan Malakhov, Kim Koster, Tobias Starke, Sergey Abramchuk, and Niels Grugel please visit here. Continue reading “Graffiti in Chernobyl – April 26”

Photo Brigade – Feature Jan Smith Mexican Art Photographer

Photo Brigade Feature - Jan Smith Photographer

Photo Brigade – Jan Smith Photogrpher

A small feature showing my Fukushima – Cesium Tours  work in Photo Brigade

About Photo Brigade

The Photo Brigade is a community formed by photographer Robert Caplin as a resource for freelancers to showcase their work to a larger audience of photographers and photo lovers through social media. The goal is to strengthen the freelance photographic community, to share the latest work of freelancers and students, and raise awareness for photographers who otherwise might not have the opportunity to share their work with a large community of like-minded people.