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Sept. 13: Week in Photography
Your lens to the internet's most powerful photographs. 📸 MOST POWERFUL PHOTO OF THE WEEK 📸 Brittany Hosea-Small / AFP via Getty Images It was hard to pick a photo this week. There's a lot going on, with the entire West Coast fighting unprecedented wildfires, which have left at least 14 people dead, destroyed full towns, and turned the sky an apocalyptic orange.
The scenes of people recovering what they can from their homes fail to do justice to the enormity of the damage, to the totality of their loss.
Almost more disturbing were the images of people carrying on like nothing was wrong. Brittany Hosea-Small captured this image for the AFP of a woman walking in San Francisco as though the sky is supposed to be that color, as though the world wasn't on fire, as though the only concern amid a pandemic, political turmoil, and climate change is getting steps in.
Obviously, this woman could have been extremely concerned — and haven't we all dealt with a lot this year? The images of people fleeing, of yet more burned-out cars and yet more flames felt both par for the course of 2020 — and absolutely terrifying. Is this the new normal?
📸For Your 👀 Only: A LOOK AT THE NEW ERA OF ANTHROPECENE The Lost Year seriesprofiled how people from different generations are coping with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as we hit the six-month anniversary of lockdown measures this week. This was a cross-newsroom effort that is well worth a read, and presented a challenge visually — how to present each person as an individual and also signify that these stories were connected? BuzzFeed News worked with Jackie Russo, who created beautiful remote portraits of each person. Here, she tells us a bit about the process.
HOW DID YOU START TAKING REMOTE PORTRAITS LIKE THIS?
I started taking remote portraits at the very beginning of lockdown in the US (just before it began in Mexico, where I live). The idea to try and make portraits via video chat occurred to me right away, as I think it did to many photographers, but it took some trial and error to land on the setup I have now. I started with screenshots, which were underwhelming, then started to include my laptop in the frame, and eventually arrived at the fabric backdrop I currently use. Jackie Russo for BuzzFeed News The draped backdrop came into play because I really wanted to give the remote portraits the same aesthetic respect as I would an in-person portrait. Additionally, I often think about the use of skeuomorphs in technology — for example, the iconography we see on our computer screen that recall familiar objects from the tangible world to help us use our devices, such as the trash can icon that holds our deleted files. The backdrop in the remote portraits is a giant skeuomorph, pulled from classic painted portraits, to help the viewer understand that they are looking at a portrait, despite its tech-based unfamiliarity.
IS IT HARD TO CONNECT WITH PEOPLE THROUGH A SCREEN TO ESTABLISH RAPPORT?
Surprisingly, connecting with people through the screen isn’t as difficult as I expected it to be. When I first started taking remote portraits, I worried that I wouldn’t be able to capture evocative images because of the many layers of distance between myself and each person. But I think the overarching shared experience of the pandemic has opened the door to unique and significant connections with a huge spectrum of people. Establishing rapport is often as simple as asking “How are you?” because that question is loaded in a way we all understand, and it usually leads to a conversation about our respective feelings and experiences during the pandemic. We all have something in common right now.
Jackie Russo for BuzzFeed News ARE KIDS OR OLDER ADULTS HARDER TO WORK WITH THROUGH A SCREEN?
Without question, it is harder to photograph seniors through a screen. Even young kids are more tech-savvy than I am and have no problem wrapping their heads around what we’re doing. They’ve grown up with video calling, selfies, and near-constant exposure to imagery, so they have an astounding proclivity for image-making (and technology). On the other hand, every senior I’ve photographed remotely deserves huge credit for their patience with the somewhat tedious process of making these portraits.
IS YOUR APPROACH FOR A PORTRAIT SERIES LIKE THIS ONE VS AN INDIVIDUAL PORTRAIT?
The main difference in approaching a portrait series versus an individual portrait is that I like to have some visual element that ties the images in a series together, while setting them apart from all the other remote portraits I’ve done. For the Lost Year series, Kate Bubacz and I decided to introduce a sweep of royal blue fabric, because we wanted the images to feel even more formal, like family portraits across generations. In other series, I’ve used light as a unifying factor and changed out other props in the setup. Jackie Russo for BuzzFeed News WHICH IS YOUR FAVORITE FROM THIS SERIES?
Jackie Russo for BuzzFeed News 📸THE WEEK'S PHOTO STORIES FROM BUZZFEED NEWS 📸 This week, I wasn't kidding when I said the world was on fire. Not only do you have the West Coast wildfires, but one of the largest refugee camps in Europe was destroyed by fire this week, leaving thousands displaced. I wish I had better news, but for now, I do not. There's always hope for next week though. HELLISH SCENES FROM THE WEST COAST Josh Edelson / AFP via Getty Images SEE THE FULL STORY
HEARTBREAKING PHOTOS SHOW THOUSANDS DISPLACED AFTER FIRE DESTROYS A REFUGEE CAMP Angelos Tzortzinis / AFP via Getty Images SEE THE FULL STORY
📸SOME HOPE 📸 Eduardo Soteras / AFP via Getty Images Members of the Tigray Circus rehearse in the city of Mekele, Ethiopia, on September 7, 2020. - Leaders of the circus provide training to disadvantage young people, hope it will undergo a revival after years of under-investment. "That's it from us this time — see you next week!" —Kate “Today everything exists to end in a photograph.”— Susan Sontag Want More? Go To JPG Homepage
📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by the News Photo team. Gabriel Sanchez is the photo essay editor based in New York and loves cats. Kate Bubacz is the photo director based in New York and loves dogs. You can always reach us here.
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