Photographer Interview: Chester Higgins Jr - Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of my interview with photographer Chester Higgins, Jr. Read part 1 of my interview and see some of Chester's elegant black & white portraits.

D&B: Why did you decide to remain with The New York Times for this long?

CH: The NYT is the most influential newspaper in the world. Working at the NYT offers me the daily opportunity to exercise my eyes with each new assignment. It gives me a unique window into the various levels of our society. I love my job. The constancy of having such a job gives me the financial freedom to save and do the research necessary to execute my personal projects.

Copyright Chester Higgins, Jr.

Q. What advice do you have to give on the business side of photography to aspiring photographers?

CH: I believe that in order to make a living as a photographer, you must see yourself as a business. Your skill is your eye. Your product is your images. In order to make money, you have to find your market. That means finding who or what entity is willing to pay you for your skill; there is immense competition so you need to do something to stand out from the crowd. Finally, there is the issue of getting paid. This requires more skills: knowing how to make an invoice and calculating what you think your labor is worth as well as your expenses.

Breezeless: A Contemporary Japanese Photography Exhibit in New York, Post 2011 Tsunami

Haruna Kawanishi, Call Sign # 2, 2009

Sous Les Etoiles Gallery presents "Breezeless" an exhibition dedicated to Contemporary Japanese Photography running from June 23 - August 26, 2011.

Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983–1993

Ai Weiwei, Lower East Side 198? 

After being held for 80 days without charge, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was freed yesterday and the world will now watch the next steps of this notorious government critic.

Before Ai Weiwei became internationally recognized as an artist and activist, he lived in a tiny apartment in New York's East Village, and was a prominent member of a community of expatriate Chinese artists and intellectuals in the neighborhood's then burgeoning avant-garde scene.

The Windrush Generation: Photos Document Britain's First Wave of West Indian Immigrants

On June 22 1948, former troopship the Empire Windrush docked in the port of Tilbury, Essex with nearly 500 passengers, mostly from Jamaica, on board. The arrival of the ship marked the beginning of large-scale West Indian immigration to Britain, changing the country's social landscape forever.

View the photos in this unique gallery (sourced from Getty Images) published in the Telegraph online: In pictures: the Windrush generation.

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White Slavery Week at Old Picture of the Day Blog

"White" slave girl Rebecca Huger, 1863

Perhaps you had similar thoughts as I did to reading the words "White Slavery Week": Really, there was such a thing as "white slavery"?

Photographer Interview: Chester Higgins Jr - Part 1

To many of you, Photographer Chester Higgins, Jr. probably needs no introduction. For those who don't know him, you've likely seen his images in The New York Times where he's been a staff photographer since 1975.

Bringing a unique, compassionate view of humanity to his work, Chester's someone we can all learn from. I'm delighted to publish this 2-part interview offering insight into how this photographer has mastered his craft.

D&B: What made you want to become a photographer?

CH: In the Western mind the understanding or appreciation of African people usually is confined to a very narrow set of possibilities. However, the canvas of expression that Westerners have reserved for themselves is broad, complex and nuanced. We African people living in the west have inherited a canvas that is not only narrow, but skewed, and by design unfinished.

PhotoEspana PHE2011 Festival

PHotoEspaña, International Festival of Photography and Visual Arts, set out to become a Festival generated by popular demand in 1998, and today it has earned its place as one of the most relevant visual arts events in the world.

The fourteenth annual PHotoEspaña festival will be held in Madrid from June 1st to July 24th. Lisbon, Cuenca, and Alcalá de Henares will also host parts of the festival. This year's theme is Interfaces: Portrait and Communication.

The expositions of the festival will consist of 70 exhibitions of 370 artists and creators, from 55 countries. Cindy Sherman, Thomas Ruff, Ron Galella, Alfredo Jaar, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Dayanita Singh, Kan Xuan, and Nancy Burson are among the participating artists.

Black Utopic, 2001 - Copyright Liliana Angulo

Following this year's theme, Columbian photographer Liliana Angulo's self-portrait work "Black Utopic" (this is one in a series of 9 images, see them all on her blog) challenges and explores racial stereotypes in Latin America. I'd love to be a fly on the wall to hear the comments and reactions of the Spanish festival-goers to this piece (considering Spain's former colonizer status).

Of special interest to me was this 1925 studio portrait of a Chinese-Panamanian family by featured photographer Carlos Endara . My mother's family is from Panama and although the Chinese have been in that country since the mid-1800's, it's always blown my mind to see/hear them speaking Spanish with a Panamanian accent.

Beatriz Luthas de Limchin, Panama's First Carnival Queen of the Chinese-Panamian
District,1925 - Carlos Endara, Courtesy: Colección Casa Museo Endara

I find this formal portrait fascinating... my eyes dart all around taking in the ornate headwear and dresses, their multi-cultural facial features, each woman's unique expression and the 2 little ones seated on the floor. A beautifully composed portrait reminiscent of James Van Der Zee's work.

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Chinese Photographer Chi Yin Sim Added to The VII Mentor Program

Chi Yin Sim is a photographer based in Beijing. A fourth-generation overseas Chinese, Sim grew up in Singapore. She studied history and international relations at the London School of Economics as well as political science.

Sim is especially interested in social issues and is currently working on projects in China. Her work has been published in The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune and the Los Angeles Times.

Sim was a journalist and foreign correspondent for Singapore’s national daily, The Straits Times, for nine years where she contributed both written and photographic content before leaving at the end of 2010. She reported on labor migration in Southeast Asia early in her career and has completed a book of photographs and essays on female Indonesian workers, to be published by the International Labor Organization in 2011.

In 2010, she was one of three photographers awarded a Magnum Foundation scholarship for a summer program in “Photography and Human Rights” at New York University. Sim also did stints at both Magnum Photos New York and the International Center of Photography. Sim will be mentored by Marcus Bleasdale.

Source: VII Photo Agency press release

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