About this project
I hope to bring to light five years of intimate, poetic and personal photographic work portraying the daily life of my Cuban farmers' friends. My encounter with them was a very important moment in my life on the island where I also met my future wife and became the proud father of my twin boys Pietro and Stefano.
The Cuban farmland opened up new windows of opportunity for my work. From 2001 to 2005 I spent long periods of time with the farmers. I made new friends while wandering in this unique landscape that strongly reminded me of my Sicilian countryside. I returned regularly to visit my friends Fidel, Miguel, Jose, Inesita and their families. Our interactions allowed me the opportunity to experience and photograph intimate rituals such as working in the fields, sharing meals, smoking sugar-tasting cigars rolled before my eyes by Fidel’s skilful hands, sipping sweet rum shots as we conversed about the sowing and the harvesting of crops and about our families and our existence.
My way of shooting changed. Taking pictures became almost part of this ritual--it was no longer the main priority, just a component of this rich exchange among human beings.
After so many years, I'm finally ready to share my second body of work from Cuba with the public. My intention is to self-publish these color images into a book as I did with my first book in b&w simply entitled Bazan Cuba three years ago.
In the process of making Al Campo, I got over 70 of my students involved. They have greatly helped me to transform my images into a book form. All their precious advise was used to improve on all the aspects of book-making: from the lay-out to the editing and sequencing of all the images. Just two weeks ago, two students made important suggestions on how to improve the book's cover. The more I do books with all their help the more
I strongly believe that choral editing is the best and only way that I can make a book. The plan is to return to the same printer in Italy I used three years ago hoping to make another soulful, beautifully printed book. Most likely, some of my students will join me to help me bring this "little girl" to light as they did three years ago with Bazan Cuba.
With Al Campo, we'll have a different marketing strategy. I'll provide early buyers a discount of 10% up to 20% if they preacquire trade editions of the book before the book's release at the end of June, 2011. (1-to5 copies 10%, 6 to 10 copies 15% 11 and above copies 20%). The idea behind is to get my supporters to spread the word with all their friends interested in photography through word of mouth, which has been such a powerful selling tool for Bazan Cuba, which has become a collector's item simply relying on this incredible network created by my students and friends.
We also want to create a Tsunami wave by sharing and spreading the word through all the social networks (Facebook, Twitters). In order to make each copy more unique we will place a special stamp on each copy prepurchased. Your name will also appear on the thank you page of the newly released BazanPhotos Publishing. www.bazanphotospublishing.com
I hope with your support to meet the financial needs to self-publish Al Campo maintaining complete independence and control over the entire publishing process. My ultimate goal is to reach out to many people, not just photography lovers, that, as I like to say, that have their heart and soul still attached to the rest of their body. EB
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/showcase-59/
http://fotofestival-hannover.de/vortraege2010.html?&L=1#c2987
FAQ
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on June 30, 2011.
Pledge $20 or more Pledge $20 or more
Pledge of $20 You will be invited to the book launching-party in Brooklyn in July 2012. Offer limited to first 100 pledges.
Pledge $25 or more Pledge $25 or more
3 signed postcards of the 3 images used in the book Al Campo limited editions.
Pledge $30 or more Pledge $30 or more
One t-shirt of either Bazan Cuba or Al Campo book's cover picture.
Pledge $40 or more Pledge $40 or more
One signed t-shirt of either Bazan Cuba or Al Campo book's cover picture.
Pledge $50 or more Pledge $50 or more
3 signed postcards of the 3 images used in the book Al Campo limited editions + your name will go in the thank you note of the audio visual specifically created for Al Campo.
Pledge $70 or more Pledge $70 or more
An original signed book's jacket of the Spanish version of Bazan Cuba. Offer limited to 70 items only + your name will go in the thank you note of the audio visual specifically created for Al Campo.
Pledge $85 or more Pledge $85 or more
If you preacquire during this pledge one or more copies of Al Campo before the book is released you will have the unique opportunity to puchase the book with a discount. If you buy one up to five copies you will get a 10% discount and will pay $85 dollars per copy instead of $95. If you buy 6 up to 10 copies you will get a 15% discount and each copy will cost $80 dollars. If you buy 11 copies or more each copy of Al Campo will cost $76 dollars. We will put a special stamp in each book that will be preacuired to make it even more unique. Your name will go both on the thank you page of the newly released BazanPhotos Publishing web page and on the thank you page of the audiovisual specifically created for Al Campo.
Pledge $115 or more Pledge $115 or more
1 Copy of the book Bazan Cuba in English, which has become a collector's item $115. Limited to 50 copies only + your name will go both on the thank you page of the newly released BazanPhotos Publishing web page and on the thank you page of the audiovisual specifically created for Al Campo.
Pledge $300 or more Pledge $300 or more
The original seven paper boards used for the taping of the Kickstarter audio visual hand-written by the photographer + your name will go both on the thank you page of the newly released BazanPhotos Publishing web page and on the thank you page of the audiovisual specifically created for Al Campo.
Pledge $800 or more Pledge $800 or more
An 8”x10”chromogenic collector’s print of of one of 10 selected images from Al Campo book (signed and dated au verso) + your name will go both on the thank you page of the newly released BazanPhotos Publishing web page and on the thank you page of the audiovisual specifically created for Al Campo.
Pledge $1,000 or more Pledge $1,000 or more
Limited edition of Al Campo (choice among 3 images. Each edition is limited to 1 to 50 and it will be stored along with a signed copy of the book inside a wooden cigars-like box) + your name will go both on the thank you page of the newly released BazanPhotos Publishing web page and on the thank you page of the audiovisual specifically created for Al Campo. Your name will also be displayed in a list of Main Sponsors for every Al Campo exhibition in the next 4 years.
Pledge $1,200 or more Pledge $1,200 or more
Limited edition Bazan Cuba ( book plus a choice among three selenium toned silver gelatin black-and-white prints 9.4x11.8 inches. See details on www.bazanphotospublishing.com) + your name will go both on the thank you page of the newly released BazanPhotos Publishing web page and on the thank you page of the audiovisual specifically created for Al Campo. Your name will also be displayed in a list of Main Sponsors for every Al Campo exhibition in the next 4 years. Limited to only 30.
Pledge $1,800 or more Pledge $1,800 or more
An 11”x14” fiber b&w collector’s print of your choice (signed, dated au verso) from the Bazan Cuba book, plus a signed copy of the book Al Campo. Your name will also be displayed in a list of Main Sponsors for every Al Campo exhibition in the next 4 years, your name will go both on the thank you page of the newly released BazanPhotos Publishing web page and on the thank you page of the audiovisual specifically created for Al Campo.
Pledge $2,200 or more Pledge $2,200 or more
Limited edition of Al Campo (choice among 3 images. Each edition is limited to 1 to 50 and it will be stored along with a signed copy of the book inside a wooden cigars-like box), Your Organization's Logo and Name displayed in a list of Main Sponsors for every Al Campo exhibition in the next 4 years. Your name will go both on the thank you page of the newly released BazanPhotos Publishing web page and on the thank you page of the audiovisual specifically created for Al Campo.
Project By
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Ernesto Bazan was born in Palermo, on the island of Sicily, in Italy in 1959.
Photography has been more than a profession: It is his true passion, his mission in life.
At the age of nineteen, Bazan went to New York City to study photography at the School of Visual Arts from which he graduated, in 1982.
Bazan has published several books: The Perpetual Past, Passing Through, The First Twenty Years, Island, Molo Nord.
In 2008, his recently created publishing house BazanPhotos Publishing released his book Bazan Cuba on his fourteen years of life and photography on the island. In May 2009, the book was awarded Best Book Of The Year at the New York Photo Festival. The photographer’s next book, Al Campo, is due to be published in 2011 by BazanPhotos Publishing.
Bazan has had exhibitions in Europe, Latin America and the United States. His photographs have been acquired by collectors and museums including MoMA and the International Center for Photography in New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art SFMoMA in San Francisco and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.
He has won some of the world’s most prestigious photographic awards, among them The W. Eugene Smith Grant; the Dorothea Lang-Paul Taylor prize at Duke University, North Carolina, the World Press Photo award and fellowships from the Alicia Patterson Foundation and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
In 2002, Ernesto Bazan created his own photographic workshops.
Teaching has become his ruling passion.
He lives with his wife Sissy and his twin boys Pietro and Stefano in
Veracruz, Mexico.
