2018 Year in Review

Happy New Year!  My wishes for you is a happy, healthy and joyous year filled with many, many memorable moments. Twenty eighteen was a wonderful year for me in so many ways.  It encompassed my first full year living in Arizona after 17 years in Las Vegas.  The opportunity to expand and connect with new businesses and stories is exactly what defined my year, some of which I will highlight below. At the beginning of 2018, I connected with local charity Gathering Humanity, which assists in resettling refugees in the Phoenix-metro area.  My work with them included photographing their all-volunteer teams as they stock and pull items in their warehouse, as well as how they set up apartments for incoming refugee families. Gathering Humanity is operated strictly on donations and no volunteers or co-founders take any money from the organization.  More recently they have been assisting in the arrivals of asylum seekers from the Southern U.S. border due to overcrowding in detention centers. International travel continues to be a large part of my documentary repertoire.  In April I visited Jordan for two weeks, followed by two days in Bahrain.  I truly believe the heart of any country is best experienced through its people and that is one of the reasons why I am so drawn toward photographing portraits of the people I meet throughout my travels.  Whether a street vendor, a school kid, a well-connected businessman, or a women simply walking with her children, each face has a story and it is through those stories that we can feel the true essence of a country. In September I was fortunate to be selected to attend Missouri Photo Workshop.  There under the mentorship of Dennis Dimick and Mary Beth Meehan, formulated and documented a story on Morgan Branson, a 24 year-old women from Mountain Grove, Missouri, who owns and operates a mobile slaughtering and butchering service.   By doing the killing herself, Morgan assures a humane practice for her clients, most of whom run small farms in the area, and go to her for the convenience of having the work done on their own property. Morgan’s passion for working with animals and animal products stretches into her other businesses: breeding dogs and making custom leather handbags. I was interviewed by Marie Gardiner for her series on profiling international female photographers for SRB Blog. In this interview I touch on my beginnings of photography, how I mentally and physically prepare for my international expeditions, as well as how I foster connections with my subjects so that I can capture authentic portraits of my subjects. In the fall I made a return trip to Iceland for a continuation of my project interviewing and photographing local Icelandic women.  As of January 2018, Iceland enacted a law mandating that all companies with 25 or more employees receive government documentation proving they pay men and women equally for the same job.  Iceland has long been designated as the best country to live in for gender equality, therefore the implementation of this law, although widely accepted countrywide, is still facing some challenges as shared by some of the local women. Early winter I spent a week in Havana, Cuba, documenting and exploring a story on the local Muslim population.  Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world with Cuba’s Muslim population growing day by day.  Currently there is estimated to be about 3500 Muslims throughout Cuba, with over 95% of them being converts.  In 2015 with the support of the Saudi government, the largest mosque in Latin America opened in Havana.  While in Cuba, I was able to interview and photograph locals, exploring the reasons why Cubans are converting to Islam, challenges to those conversions, as well as document the lives of Cubans living in Havana, and photograph inside the mosque in Old Havana. The end of 2018 brought the documentation of the large influx of asylum seekers presenting themselves at the Southern U.S. border.  Currently detention facilities are over capacity and therefore ICE is releasing detainees into Arizona several days before their travel arrangements are made. Hundreds of people are bussed into the Phoenix area each week where churches and organizations such as Gathering Humanity are trying to fill the gap by providing a hot meal, a shower and a place to sleep.  At the request of ICE, faces of the asylum seekers are hidden for safety concerns 2019 Plans Looking forward, I have a lot of plans and ambitions to further my documentary photo projects. Some locations I will be visiting in 2019 include New York, Uzbekistan, Pittsburgh, Portugal, Croatia, Montenegro, and Florida. I will also be obtaining my FAA Part 107 certification for a drone pilot license so that I can incorporate drone and aerial technology into my storytelling. This will be a unique service where I can offer extended material and content on the stories I cover. Here’s to a prosperous, happy and healthy 2019!

VIEW THIS POST

Equal Pay in Iceland

I recently made a return trip to Iceland with my group of traveling female photographers.  It was a pleasure to explore the island and along the way meet, interview and photograph so many local Icelandic women on their thoughts about living in the world’s best country for gender equality.   As of January 1st of 2018, Icelandic law went into effect where any company with 25 or more employees, must receive government certification they are paying men and women equally for the same job.  It’s a landmark law, which further pushes Iceland ahead of any other country in its quest to make genders equal throughout their society.   When I returned recently, I visited the northern and western parts of the island, and this time had the opportunity continue my project of meeting, interview and photograph local women, (you can see last year’s project here).  Only this time it was imperative to get their opinion of the new lew.  Here is a collection of some of those interviews. “Being a business owner, of course, we feel a little bit different how we’re treated, as if we are men.  I feel treated a bit differently financially.  Maybe it’s more of the older generation; they will first turn to my husband if he is with me, about this business which he has nothing to do about.  And same with my sister in law because her husband lives here in town and he gets all kinds of requests about this business but he is doing totally different business. But people turn to the man. It’s like some people, some don’t grab the idea that it’s just owned by two women, not two families.  So ina way it’s like it’s a family business and we work here.  And people really have to realize that we work here because we own it, not our families.  We have always had equal pay.  And Ithink if a business is owned by a woman, it most likely has always been equal pay.  So also in the smaller businesses, it’s difficult.  Like in our business we have 18 people working here and they’re young.  And they’re friends, and they speak together, so everyone knows everything, about everyone.  Same in Husavik, a small town, everyone knows everything.  So we have always made a point on having, it doesn’t matter, boy or girl, you get the same pay for the same hours.   I think for different businesses, for the restaurant businesses, you have equal pay.  More likely than if you are in a factory, or like some shops. For man gets better paying jobs and it’s usually based upon them being stronger.  I also worked with disabled people, and there the man always get higher pay. But they also have the more difficult patients.  They have the patients that you have to lift, and also they have the patients that have a temper.  Because we just couldn’t handle them physically.  So in a way it’s understandable.  They took the really, really difficult cases. Here in Husavik I think also in general in Iceland, a lot of women chose to work not full 40 hours.  I feel it is more with older women who do not have children, small children anymore.  And they don’t’ work on Fridays.  So they have a part time work.  And it’s like they want to have this extra day, house, you know, go and shop and do whatever it is they need todo.  Maybe it’s less valuable person if you’re not available for 100% job.  But it’s just something I’ve been thinking about.  I don’t know if it’s really like that,but I worked some places where it’s difficult to keep full service on Fridays because so many of the employees don’t work. “ “I think that we are in a really strong position here in Iceland because the voice of the woman is very strong here in Iceland compared to other countries.  I come from a country called Kosovo so I can see the difference between these two countries.  Kosovo was in a war 20 years ago so they are still trying to progress in many other aspects, but we can see a difference between here in Iceland compared to Kosovo.  I think compared to the countries in Europe we are in a strong position even though we are still fighting for our rights.  I think Iceland is like the country to be admired in this terms. I think the new law is really great because I used to work in a restaurant, a few restaurants where the male waiters were paid like a lotmore, and even though I had been working there a few years and had longer years, but just because he was a male, he had a right to get more paid.  And it was like not reason behind it, just because he was a male and asked more about his salary and to be paid more.  And I thought I only deserved it if I did a good job.  I thought that the managers would appreciate me and raise my salary by themselves, not me only applying for the raise.  When I started working here at the bank, the bank already had this agreement, because they have more than 25 people working for them, so they already had it, the certification. Even though the law for certification is in process now, the bank already had it and I was really proud of it.  We are not supposed to talk about our salary in our work,but there was a guy working here and he told me his salary and I was like,okay, we are equal to his pay.  I was really proud to be a part of this company that has these rights.” “I like it here.   I work for a company where we get the same salary.  So I think it’s fine. I’m 19.  I like it here.  I’m really into, like my brothers they like to paint their nails, and it’s never been a problem.  No one makes

VIEW THIS POST

Refugee Images Featured at Mayo Clinic Conference

I am very excited to share this video of Julia Lorence and Chance Marostica from the 2018 Mayo Clinic Transform Conference. Featuring my images, they spoke about REACT (Refugee Education and Clinic Team) – a collaboration between students from Mayo Clinic School of Medicine & undergraduate students from Arizona State University. This conference, hosted by Mayo Clinic, is the preeminent annual event for people dedicated to boldly creating the future of health care. At Transform 2018, they explored pivotal opportunities that produce health that matters to people and offer a platform that features expanded opportunities to connect, network, and collaborate. Julia had reached out to me regarding my work with local Phoenix charity Gathering Humanity, and I was happy to provide my imagery documenting refugees for their talk. It was an absolute pleasure and honor knowing that in some small way, I have come full circle. I grew up in Rochester, Minnesota, a Mayo kid whose father worked at Mayo Clinic for 38 years, and I also graduated from Mayo High School. To see my imagery on display at a groundbreaking conference that brings education and healthcare to those in need, warms my heart. You can see the full video here.  

VIEW THIS POST

Missouri Photo Workshop – MPW.70

I recently had the honor of being selected to attend the prestigeous Missouri Photo Workshop. Thirty-nine photographers from 18 states and nine countries explored Mountain Grove, Mo., an Ozark town turned into a laboratory for improving research and visual story telling skills.  There I met Morgan, a young local woman who carefully preens her makeup and long blonde hair each morning before going to her job as a kill-in-the-field butcher. Under the guidance of two mentors, Dennis Dimick and Mary Beth Meehan, they coached me through the pitch, formulation, daily feedback on my story, as well as the final edit.  It was lifetime of learning packed into a full week where I not only extended and expanded my skill set as a photographer, but also met and networked with the likes of the photography industry’s top photo editors and photographers from National Geographic, the Washington Post, Nature Conservancy, and more. Hands On:  Morgan’s Life with Animals 24-year-old Morgan Branson has made a life in her hometown of Mountain Grove by owning and running a business unusual for a young woman: a mobile slaughtering and butchering service. By doing the killing herself, Morgan assures a humane practice for her clients, most of whom run small farms in the area, and go to her for the convenience of having the work done on their own property. Morgan’s passion for working with animals and animal products stretches into her other businesses: breeding dogs and making custom leather handbags.

VIEW THIS POST

Women in Photography: An interview with Yasmin Tajik

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Marie Gardiner for her series on profiling international female photographers.  Marie herself is an accomplished photographer and contributor at SRB Blog, so as you can imagine I was overjoyed to be considered one of her chosen subjects.  In this interview I touch on my beginnings of photography, how I mentally and physically prepare for my international expeditions, as well as how I foster connections with my subjects so that I can capture authentic portraits of my subjects. You can read the interview in its entirety HERE.     Here is an excerpt of the interview where I share the inspiration behind my travel, documentary and humanitarian photographic endeavors.  

VIEW THIS POST

People of Jordan

  I recently had the pleasure of taking a trip to Jordan, one of my all-time favorite countries.  A trip back to the Middle East is just what my soul needed to connect to

VIEW THIS POST

World Wildlife Day

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”   -Mahatma Gandhi Today is World Wildlife Day and with all the distractions of war, conflict,

VIEW THIS POST

Pin It on Pinterest