Photoshelter blog

The fine people at Photoshelter (which hosts my archive) have an interesting discussion at the moment called Getting Photographers and Non Profits together that mentions my work in Lebanon via PhotoPhilanthropy.org.

It’s always good to feel that you may have contributed something positive…

Stuart Freedman Photographs the work Handicap International to affect Lebanese Policy Change

“Handicap International prides itself on having collaborated with Stuart Freedman on several occasions, the last one to date being his reportage in south Lebanon in 2007 that resulted in a book and an exhibition, both titled ‘Clearing for Peace’. We have granted Stuart Freedman permission to use freely the outcome of this collaboration, hoping that this fantastic body of work receives as much recognition as possible.

Stuart Freedman’s photographic work about the cluster munition issue in south Lebanon has been instrumental for us to lobby decision-makers, diplomats and governmental authorities so that they decide to ban these weapons. The exhibition has traveled to major cities of the world, when and where international negotiations on cluster munitions took place. On such occasions, the book was also distributed to the people involved in the discussions and to media representatives. This series of international conferences came to a conclusion in Oslo on 3 December 2008, when an international treaty banning cluster munitions was signed.”

Sylvain Ogier
External communications Manager
Handicap International

Here are a few images from the set:

Lebanon - Basouriah - Operatives Mohammed Zayat, Mohammed Swaidai and Ali Nini dress in their protective armour and prepare to search for cluster bombs in the Bourj el Shmali area (CBU 144), Southern Lebanon. The area was heavily contaminated with unexploded ordnance after the Lebanon-Israeli war in 2006 - especially with Cluster bombs.

Lebanon - Maaraki - Rusha Zayoun, 17 who lost her leg to a cluster bomb when her father brought it inside the house and it exploded. She has not been to school since and is very shy. Her father, Mohammed Ali Zayoun, 50, has just returned from working as a labourer.

Lebanon - Basouriah - Operators searching for cluster munitions tape off a 'safe line' area
Lebanon - Basouriah - Operatives Ali Tahini and Haitham Mustafa pray at the Control Point
Lebanon - Basouriah - Ernst Worst, 49, a Technical Advisor from South Africa, photographed in his Control Point, CBU 40

Archives – rediscovered images 1

I’m currently going through a rather time consuming process with a really excellent editor, to upgrade my website and portfolios (more about this another time). The project involved going back over many of my stories and looking beyond the initial edit to images that were discarded or forgotten. Unfortunately, many of my originals have been lost or damaged over the years but I seem to have made some interesting discoveries: pictures that I’d forgotten about or simply overlooked. During the next weeks, I thought I might post some significant finds. I start with an image from a story in Mauritania about the wind and the desert.

Mauritania - Chinguetti - A sad woman in a house in Chinguetti.

I remember photographing this woman in a house and her looking terribly forlorn, distant and sad. I never could find out why. My notebook tells me that I was with her and her husband for only ten minutes. Sometimes, perhaps its better not to know…