Blognotes from a photographer life...

Feb 22, 2009

ROHINGYAS HELL

Rohingyas are a Muslim minority stranded and persecuted in Myanmar by the army junta, and certainly not loved by the majority Buddhist population. So they have escaped for 30 years to neighboring Bangladesh, counting on faith solidarity in spite of the country poor conditions.
But most of them are not accommodated in the two UNHCR camps and find themselves in makeshift camps where life is as hard as possible.
This man, reduced to skin and bones, had gone searching for firewood, an illegal activity, and had fallen breaking a leg. We found him like this, with an infection giving him a high fever, with no possible cure at all. All his wife could do for him was washing is body to offer some relief. I wonder if he is still alive after few days..
No wonder most of these people try to escape by see toward Malaysia: an impossible trip, still better than starving and see your family die in here.

Feb 16, 2009

THE SHIP BREAKING YARD

In Chittagong the ship breakers work goes on. After the great images of Sabastiao Salgado gave relative fame to these poor workers, nothing is changed. Hundreds of gigantic, rusting ships lay in the sands, cover the horizon, await to be demolished piece by piece. And thousands of workers do the job, walking in a mud full of oil and chemicals.. I went in shooting, after some difficulties, and went on for an hour.. before a severe manager realized I was there, and told me to show off. They resent the press criticism on the working conditions: I wonder why...

OH YES, DHAKA IS CHAOS...

Dhaka is a mess! It really is! Wild, crowded, noisy.. the traffic is the worst I've seen, with thousands of rickshaw mixed to the cars in an incredible confusion.. In other words it is a photographer's paradise as much as it's the inhabitants hell. Then you get to the river, at sunset, and the traffic moves on the water... After all this is a gigantic delta..

Feb 11, 2009

PISTORIO FOUNDATION: A NEW SCHOOL...

Me and Massimo had the privilege, a few days ago, to participate the inauguration of yet another school financed by the Pistorio Foundation. Pasquale Pistorio, here shown between a group of fellow Sicilians (I guess), is supporting mostly the education in disadvantaged countries, rightly asserting, I think, that schooling is the essential way out of many difficult social environments. We had the occasion to talk and listen of his long life and work experiences, and his preoccupation that the economic crisis we are entering may produce an even greater, and badly dangerous social divide. Something all of us should worry about..

MYANMAR IN FOTOlogie...

Italian news.. Sul sito di FOTOlogie, al link http://www.fotologie.it/pistolesi.html potrete adesso trovare la galleria di immagini dedicate alla situazione in Birmania/Myanmar.
Colgo l'occasione per ringraziare gli amici di FOTOlogie per la vetrina offertami e sottolineare il bel lavoro che stanno facendo per valutare il nostro lavoro!

Feb 3, 2009

CREEPING IN THE SOUL..

Chiang Mai is a city really difficult to define today.. Modern, yet with spots of religious tradition. Crowded with Thai and international tourists, but with many local faces strolling in the streets. And thousands of kids going to school. Or visitors having their Sunday dinner in the courtyards of the Buddhist temples, while loudspeakers transmit the evening prayers. Is this the coming reality of the world? Modern, tech, cosmopolitan and yet molten in an ancient soul?
Take as symbol the glasses on the nose of this Monk sacred effigy.. Probably my limit, but I had never seen this before: modernity is creeping into the soul?