Photo 2011 © Peter Gonda / www.Photofade.com
We photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing, and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth can make them come back again. We cannot develop and print a memory.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Photo © 2011 Kamal / www.photofade.com
I also became close to nature, and am now able to appreciate the beauty with which this world is endowed.
James Dean
Photo © 2011 Kamal / www.photofade.com
Damien was taken to a public square where he was physically tortured and made ready for his execution. His punishment, in part, consisted of flesh being torn from his breast, arms, thighs and calves with red hot pinchers while in his right hand he held the knife that he had used to commit the crime. Damien was then drawn and quartered; his body burned and his ashes thrown to the wind.
What had Damien done to deserve this punishment? He had attacked the king. There had been an outpouring of public sympathy for the king and demands for punishment of Damien. Damien was punished by the political system in place at the time.
A few decades later the winds had changed. In accordance with demands of the people for punishment of the King, the King was sent to the guillotine. The King´s head was severed as the people watched to ensure that justice was done. The King was dead. The political system was changed.
A few centuries later, the world had moved forward. People had high speed intenet, television and telephone connections. People heard the cries of a new Damien when he was arrested, during his trial and at his execution. People listened to the taunting voices of his executioners. People heard the political voices that promoted and sanctioned Damien´s execution. People were told that Damien killed his fellow citizens for power and money. People were told that Damien was holding weapons of mass destruction. The political system was remodelled.
THE SEGUELS
The arrest of Damien II caused outrage around the world. There were calls across the globe for his immediate release. People watched his arrest on television. They watched his bail application hearing and heard the strict conditions and monetary surety that he was required to pay to ensure that he would not leave the jurisdiction.
The wheels of justice, however, move slowly. This may explain why the justice system was chosen as the weapon to be used against Damien II. It will provide time for the information that Damien II had obtained and the steps that he had taken to to show political and economic injustice to be forgotten and the actions taken by the political system against Damien´s liberty to die down. It will give the political system time to repair the threat that Damien II posed.
It will be some time before we know what will happen to Damien II. Do the charges against him have any legitimacy or are they ¨cry wolf¨stories intended to undermine his activities and smother revelations that he had made? Will the political system use its power to punish and make an example of Damien II for its own interests?
Damien II´s arrest for sexual assault allegations caused him to seek protective custody. This is a tool often used by the political system to brand the alleged offender. It is an enduring brand that has the ability to destroy lives. The tool provides the people a fairy tale designed to distract; it is a modern version of ¨ Little Red Riding Hood¨. It is written and directed by governments.. The theatrical effects when the sequels are released are spectacular. The purpose of the story is to guard the forest without thought for the destiny of the wolf. The Damien sequels will be played with new actors and in new locations but the story remains the same, political plots.
Text © 2011 Charalee Graydon / www.photofade.com
Photos © 2011 Collection / www.photofade.com
Viajar por las carreteras de Mexico es una aventura y un placer visual.
A voyage in Mexico is an adventure and visual pleasure.
La civilizacion aborigen en continente americano.
Indiginous civilization on the American continent.
Los niños Mexicanos con un pegueño burro nos muestran la vida rural Mexicana como gran atractico visual.
Mexican children with a small donkey illustrate the rural life of Mexico.
En Mexico hay grandes plazas con redondas fuentes de piedra que muestran la influencia española en loa arquitectura mexicana.
Mexican architecture clearly shows Spanish influence in the style of its plazas and fountains.
Patio con arcos blancos y fuente en medio; tipico español de origen andaloz.
This patio with its white arcs is typical of the Andaluz region of Spain.
Photos © 2011 Collection / www.photofade.com
A Mexico from the Past
Photographs that document a Mexico from the past, taken from the 1960´s. They capture memories of Mexico and its rich culture and traditions. The photographer shows us a country that was rapidly becoming more urban . He also shows us Mexico´s countryside, its people, its buildings and historical sites. The photographs are infused with the sense of pride emitted by the Mexican people as they present the beauty of their country to the visitor. We see the people, their streets and bazaars and events from their daily lives. The photographer visited Mexico almost every year from 1960 to 1965. His photographs were taken in different areas of Mexico. He provides us a map but, unfortunately, it does not record his journey. Fortunately, this project allows us to re-create his journey and to create your own using the photographs that he has provided us. The ¨Unknown photographer¨ and Photofade invite you on a voyage to Mexico.
Text © 2011 Charalee Graydon / Diego Lopez Martinez / www.photofade.com
Photo 2011 © Peter Gonda / www.Photofade.com
Photo 2011 © Peter Gonda / www.Photofade.com
Thai Kickboxing
Muay Thai, known to westerners as kickboxing, has a history that runs back to the Ayutthaya period in the 14th century and has since survived to become Thailand’s national sport. Sometimes referred to as the Art of Eight Limbs due to the usage of blows from the feet, knees, hands and elbows. It has been used in actual combat but in times of peace, for mere spectacle, performed before Kings and now in present day Thailand, for the general populace. It struck this photographer as pure irony that in a Buddhist country, where to touch anothers head (the seat of ones spirituality), and secondly to point your foot at another (the symbol of earthly existence and thusly the lowliest) were the two greatest insults – that audiences watched enraptured while one man kicked another in the head. This is the cause for the Wai Khru Ram Muay pre-fight prayers that each fighter performs. These photos were taken on the island of Koh Phangan. Some are of boxers in training, others of actual fights and lastly of audience reactions.
Text 2011 © Peter Gonda / www.Photofade.com
Photos © 2011 Kamal / www.photofade.com
Photos © 2011 Kamal / www.photofade.com
On April 22, 1970, after seeing how ineffectual his government was at handling a disastrous oil spill off the California coast, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson created Earth Day saying, ‘I am convinced that all we need to do to bring an overwhelming insistence of the new generation that we stem the tide of environmental disaster is to present the facts clearly and dramatically. To marshal such an effort, I am proposing a national teach-in on the crisis of the environment to be held next spring on every university campus across the Nation. The crisis is so imminent, in my opinion, that every university should set aside 1 day in the school year-the same day across the Nation-for the teach-in.’
It is now 41 years later, two generations further along and the world’s richest nations and it’s worst polluters are still hemming and hawing over the finer points of greenhouse emissions while the problems ever worsen.
Text 2011 © Peter Gonda / www.Photofade.com
Photo © 2011 Kamal / www.photofade.com
Photo © 2011 Kamal / www.photofade.com
An International Picture of Death
Death and bereavement cut our hearts like a knife. We grieve. We reach out for symbols to show that we have been touched by the death of another. Knowledge of the inevitable faces us.
This 21st century photograph art project was taken at Notre-Dame- de- Neiges Cemetery (also known as the Mount Royal Cemetery) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. This is one of the oldest rural cemeteries in North America, having been founded in 1852. The photographs show us the diversity of a multi-cultural society. The bereavement symbols chosen show love and respect for people who have come to Montreal from different countries and cultures. This photograph exhibition illustrates that death is international.
Societies have, for centuries, used symbols of remembrance and grave markers to record the lives and deaths of people. As shown by these photographs, the symbols become works of art. The grave markers and their location provide a historical context of the time and culture of the person who died. They are telling us a story about life and death.
Text © 2011 Charalee Graydon / www.photofade.com
Photo © 2011 Kamal / www.photofade.com
Bushehr is a city beside the Persian Gulf. In 1996 I had been teaching a class in photography for the Youth Association for Cinema. One of my students invited me and another photographer to visit the city Bushehr where he lived. He gave us a tour of the city. One of the interesting areas of Buschehr was its port area and the fish market. When I was walking along a tiny street in the fish market I saw this picture that I found interesting. I noticed the writing on the door both in English and Persian saying welcome and small store. When I saw the man with a moustache riding his bicycle down the street I took this photograph, a perfect complement to the message on the door and the Charlie Chaplin picture.
Text © 2011 Charalee Graydon / www.photofade.com
Photo 2011 © Peter Gonda / www.Photofade.com
Aldous Huxley once spoke of the Doors of Perception. e.e. cummings had a line of poetry that mentioned – the color of your countries. On my visit to India in 2005 I was perceiving a vast array of colors, particularly with that country’s doors. Many having that doorkeeper of Parvati’s, Ganesh, the elephant-headed deity over the threshold. His presence there to keep out the unworthy but also to remove obstacles from ones life. These then are the photos.
Text 2011 © Peter Gonda / www.Photofade.com
“If we looked down at the world from space, We would not see any
demarcations Of national boundaries.
We would simply see one small planet, Just one”.
Dalai Lama
Photo © 2011 Kamal / www.photofade.com
