Another issue of the on-line photography magazine Blueeyes, edited by John Loomis and his team, is always worth a good look, and the seventeenth issue which appeared recently is another fine one.
‘Little Voice‘ is a powerful essay by Lisa Wiltse (b 1977, Weston, Connecticutt, USA) who got her BFA from the Art Institute of Boston in 1999 and is now a staff photographer for the Sydney Morning Herald. Her work has concentrated on humanitarian issues in Central America, Uganda, India. In Little Voice, she looks at the consequences of the annual flooding in Bangladesh, which this year displaced some 9 million people. The country is one of those most at risk from global warming, with a sea-level rise of only 1 metre being enough to flood half the country. Her essay demonstrates the emotional power of black and white photography at its best.
Cosmin Bumbut’s work on Blueeyes is very varied, with both colour and black and white and a wide range of subject matter and approach, coming from a number of different projects. Among the best images for me are several interiors, including a fine image of a two people and two where we see through doorways. Born in Romania in 1968, he studied at the Film Photography Dept 0f the Film & Theatre Academy in Bucharest, and he is now based in that city as a freelance photographer.
Bumbut was also one of the founders of Punctum, which is a downloadable Romanian photography magazine – the latest edition includes work by Lois Greenfield. Don’t miss looking at the pictures from Rosia Montana on his own site.
Kelly Shimoda was also born in Connecticut, but in 1976, and is a Brooklyn based freelance. She studied American Civilization & Latin American Studies at Brown University and worked for six years before taking the Documentary Photography and Photojournalism certificate program at the International Center of Photography in New York. In 2005 she founded the collective Veras Images, on whose site you can see work by her and ten other photographers.
Her project on Blueeyes, ‘Last Saturday Night‘, uses richly emotional colour to look at the final nights of the last two roller disco skating rinks in New York that closed early in 2007. Some of those skating there had started as kids 40 years ago.
As well as these major portfolios there are several other contributions worth looking at, and of course the archives. Blueeyes publishes documentary photography projects that focus on social, political, and environmental issues, and welcomes submissions of suitable unpublished projects – see the simple and clear guidelines on the site. But like many worthwhile things in photography, Blueeyes is a labour of love, produced without sponsorship and advertising – and without payment to any of those concerned.