Crisis in Afghanistan

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1. Creator Larry Towell on July 26, 2011
  
  Dear All----please read previous post first.
  
  -----FINAL REPORT CONTINUED---------PART 2
  --------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  ..................While flying around Kandahar I could not help but notice the density of military installations below. There is a military building boom underway in Afghanistan that should be obvious to any journalist, and I’m not sure why it is so under-reported. There are 400 US and ISAF military bases and 300 ANA and ANP bases built by the Americans. With that much Pentagon property under development, it seems improbable to me that the US has any intention of leaving in 2014. I also noticed more Afghan soldiers than Americans being wounded and killed, which is a recent trend, as they fight and patrol together. Although our stated intention is to hand over control to the ANA, these soldiers, it seems obvious to me, are just farmers receiving a paycheck with no loyalty to the state. I’d also noticed while I was there, a rash of ANA and ANP recruits shooting their American instructors, blowing up Afghan security chiefs, or helping Taliban inmates escape prison. The head pilot who was tasked with teaching Afghan pilots to fly the week after I left, did not trust the recruits and was concerned about shoot-outs in the sky. Some of the smaller FOBs I’d visited in the past were infiltrated with insurgents dressed as soldiers, or were simply Afghans playing both sides. I’m not convinced that loyalty can be bought, especially given the corruption of the government and the fact that occupation, as I said before, humiliates the entire society, something we do not seem to grasp in the west. Many who do not like the Taliban, are glad there is at least some form of opposition. By looking at history, I also question whether the US training of foreign national armies, police, or intelligence services anywhere ever results in those organizations serving the interests of their people.
  I also want to say that I sincerely liked the brave men and women I flew with who would have risked their lives to save mine, if that was ever necessary, but the overall feeling of this trip was one of grave concern.
  The country borders Iran, (US public enemy #1) China, (the next world power) and, for all intents and purposes, the USSR, (it’s previous worst enemy). Staying there may be a temptation too great to resist.
  On May 16, The New Yorker ran some of my Afghan pictures from previous trips in an article by Jon Anderson entitled “Force and Futility- Is it time to leave Afghanistan? My first exhibition of (part of) the work will be hosted by the London Regional Museum in London Ontario, January 14 – April 29. I will be releasing images sporadically through Magnum syndication as stories evolve. I am hoping to have a completed book dummie by the end of this summer (as well as annotate all video) and will then pursue a publisher. The book will come from the editing and thinking process, so I can’t pre-imagine exactly what it will look like, although I intend to keep the same general style and lay-out I showed you for the kickstarter campaign. I’ll let you know when that happens. Some of your names will be in it.
  I remind you that I shoot film because I don’t believe in the fast food treatment of news nor of photography today. I also acknowledge that I could not be very specific in my original pitch for funding because I knew that the military might google my name during the embed application process, which they did, I know, once I got there. Kickstarter was the first thing that appeared.
  Thank you again for your generosity and support. Of the $14K committed, I received $11,900 and spent $18,500. -----Now the work of public dissemination begins. I hope you enjoyed the gifts. I tried to make them as meaningful as your support was to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Larry Towell
2. Creator Larry Towell on July 26, 2011
  
  PART I
  Dear All
  This is the final report I posted to my backers two months ago but thought I would post to all. The space will not accept its entirety so will send in two parts....Thanks for your interest
  Larry
  --------------------------
  
  Dear Backers May 26, 2011
  
  Sorry for the delay & thank you for your patience. I returned from Afghanistan on May 4 after seven weeks in the field. After barely catching up on sleep, I had to teach a workshop in Toronto and then fly to Vancouver regarding family issues. I am now settling in at home and all 200 rolls of film have been processed, but not yet contact printed. From what I’ve seen, the film looks very good. I worked harder than I’ve ever worked, partly because of the personal nature of the support. It was an expensive trip and I went well over budget, but I was able to flesh out the story on the level I had hoped for.
  I continued my documentation of the inhumane use of landmines, both old and new, and the mushrooming of heroin addiction, which has sky rocketed by 4500% since 2001. I attended a land mine conference graced by over 1000 brave Afghan de-miners, and I gave scans of my previous work to the Red Cross and NEJAT center for internal and educational use. Given the complete break down of the health care system, coupled with the complexity and intensity of this war (80% of the country is in “heavy” conflict; 17% “substantial” conflict, and 3% “light” conflict) basic humanitarian aid has been pushed into the far recesses of media interest affecting fundraising and public education efforts. With many aid agencies and journalists doing a poor job of separating themselves from the war effort, the execution of humanitarian and development assistance has also gone from dangerous to impossible in many areas.
  I hired an expensive but good fixer to help interpret and coordinate interviews and photo sessions with several independent women members of parliament, visits to a number of boys’ and girls’ schools, including a music school created by an Australian Afghan with a masters degree in music (contrary to popular thought, 600 schools have been closed down since 2001) a girl’s basketball team, a new skateboard park, and the mobile mini circus for children, which are all exploring alternative social and educational options. I photographed Pashtun refugees, and found, inside the Charahi Qambar refugee camp, several wounded civilians, including a ten-year-old girl whose arm had been blown off during an ISAF bombing raid on her home village in Helmand. Some refugees carried photos of their dead children killed in such raids. I photographed the beggars, the blind and the abandoned whose numbers swell Kabul, a city built for half a million people that today, due to the war, accommodates nearly four million. I also photographed cock fighting on Fridays, a school for the deaf, Bushkazi, a family preparing for the Persian New Year, home visits by the red Cross, and an abandoned fifty to sixty acre USSR military base piled two layers high in places with discarded tanks, military vehicles, and rusted weapons. I gained access to the political prisoners in Puli-Charki prison to photograph and interview detainees accused of being Taliban. Most were simply people turned in by neighbors to settle feuds, or to take their land. If they do receive a trial, which is unlikely, they will not be released without their families paying heavy bribes to prison officials. The police and court system in Afghanistan is a mockery to justice. Much of the insurgency can be traced to the resentment felt by the majority of the population. Ten years ago, the US government overthrew the Taliban by soliciting the Northern Alliance, the Taliban’s traditional enemies and with whom they were still militarily engaged. The Alliance of Uzbek, Tajik, Hazara, and other ethnic warlords, was rewarded at the resulting Bonn conference by representation in an interim government lead by Ahmad Karzai. The collusion between foreign occupiers (occupations traditionally humiliate the population) and a self-serving government with a bloodied history has helped fuel the insurgency that now engulfs almost the entire country. A 2002 opinion poll conducted by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, concluded that 90% of the population believes anyone with blood on their hands should be kicked out of public office with a majority supporting the idea of war crime trials. I was in Afghanistan last year when Karzai was re-elected in a rigged vote. The day before the announcement of its expected results, OXFAM released a report stating the reason for the conflict was poverty (not the Taliban).
  I had been attempting to arrange an embed with, and/or commission of, the Taliban for some time in order to see how they live, but the al jazeera fixer with whom I’d made arrangements abandoned me. I did find a second person, and after considerable discussion, decided to commission him to do the work. The risk of kidnapping (local Taliban commanders are often left to their own devices to raise revenue to fund their war) was too great. He created portraits and shot some video in Kunar (where I have embedded with the US Army in the past). He originally had a hard time locating a Taliban unit as they were on the run, but did finally receive an invitation. He embedded for five days and did a reasonable job (for a $4000 fee, which was cheap. Had he taken me along, it would have cost more due to the higher risk to his own life.)
  I flew to Herat to visit and photograph the Red Cross as well as the burn ward of the central hospital, where last year, 95 women were brought in after setting themselves on fire. Herat is the world’s capital for self-immolation due to complex social conditions and proximity to Iran where a couple of films had popularized it. The ward is run by a Canadian-Afghan doctor who is no longer paid, due to lack of funding from the Department of Health. I also found a ten-year-old girl who had recently lost both legs and one arm after stepping on an IED that was meant for US soldiers as it was planted near a military checkpoint. In the Red Cross I noticed more IED victims than before, including Afghan soldiers. Only a few survive due to the ever-increasing power of IEDs. In Herat, I also located a family with a fairly extensive set of mujahadeen family snapshots from the Russian war. They had been quite involved in the fighting and allowed me to copy the pictures in the event that I wanted to use them. Near the airport, I saw a huge new industrial complex that seemed to cover two to three hundred acres. All factories were private and surrounded by high walls. I tried to enter several compounds but was denied access, with the exception of one pastry plant, which employed child labor. I also found and talked to children on the roads that were looking for work in the factories. They averaged thirteen years of age, and upon finding employment, would be forced by the factory to quit school. At the airport as I was leaving, I met an Iraqi contractor who said he was building a large US military base very nearby. I spent five weeks in the civilian and human rights sector while my friend photographed the Taliban for five days. I then embedded in Kandahar with a US military medevac unit for two more weeks.
  Medevac was an interesting embed as I flew with two pilots, a medic, and a crew chief on rescue missions in black hawk helicopters. Sometimes there was only one mission a day. Sometimes three or four. It was a process of sitting and waiting, and I was unable to wander more than a hundred feet from the pilot’s table in the event of a call. Occasionally they landed in the middle of combat, but time on the ground was less than a minute and I was expected to stay buckled up. Although I was physically restricted, I did get some significant work. The Army has also begun a campaign to medevac wounded Afghan civilians (including traffic and domestic accident victims) as part of the hearts and minds campaign, which, although it seems commendable, also, unfortunately, militarizes and politicizes humanitarian rescue work. Since the US Army has also become the principal vehicle for development and often humanitarian aid, and by its sustaining support for a corrupt government, the campaign has resulted in the insurgent targeting of humanitarian projects and aid workers. Both foreign agencies and journalists have also done, in my opinion, a very poor job of separating themselves from the war effort..........(end part 1- continued next post)------
3. Creator najib aschrafzai on April 9, 2011
  
  How about giving that $14000.00 dollars
  to a school in Afghanistan so they can buy
  computers.
4. Creator najib aschrafzai on April 9, 2011
  
  I admire your efforts Mr. Towel but frankly
  all these problems that you mentioned in
  your introductory video is already well
  documented.Afghans need humanitarians
  who can help build schools and contribute
  funds to buy computers for them to educate
  their children.I think you should be rather doing
  this rather than doing another photo book
  on Afghanistan which has been done already
  so many times.I know all the artist,poets and
  Photographers had this fascination with Afghanistan
  because of it's exoticism but what Aghans need
  is engineers,doctors,architects to help build
  the country.Also if I were doing this project
  I would document not the misery and helplessness
  of the Afghans but their proud culture of their
  religion,their thousand year tradition of glassmaking
  and their love of poetry.Why must all people
  in the west think that Afghans live in misery
  and in most part of Afghanistan are very well
  developed they have everything including swimming
  pools but you will never hear about that in the
  western media and I think this is very sad.Most
  people in the west think that Afghans are all savages
  but no they are the most hospitable,peaceful
  people in the face of this earth.I don't want
  to see another photobook on Afghanistan I want to
  read about their heroic stories of the love of their
  land and willing to sacrifice anything to protect it.
  What good another photobook would do and you
  are not contributing anything to the culture just documenting
  the miseries like the rest all for profit and gain to
  look good in the resume.All these journalist
  who go there have no clue about the culture.
  Everyone who goes there is because they want
  to make a name for themselves and profit from
  their misfortunes.I don't understand why you want
  to go there when all you are doing is the same thing
  like all western photojournalist totally ignorant
  of what Afghanistan is really about.
5. Creator Larry Towell on February 23, 2011
  
  To everyone who made my project, "Crisis on Afghanistan" possible, I'd like to express my deep appreciation for your support and generosity. By investing in this project on Kickstarter and spreading the word to your own networks, I will now be able to travel to Afghanistan for the final chapter of my project. Through these stories and images, I hope to convey the complexities of what is happening on the ground, and connect the experiences of individuals struggling with foreign occupation, heroin addiction, a corrupt justice system, failing health system and extreme poverty, among so many other daily challenges. Knowing that independent photographers can receive such overwhelming support from civil society gives me hope for my peers who also seek critical exposure and inquiry into urgent human rights and social justice issues around the world.
  
  Special thanks to the Magnum Foundation's Emergency Fund, where you can view my work in Afghanistan: http://magnumfoundation.org/emergencyfund/projects.html…;
6. Creator Thomas Bregulla on January 26, 2011
  
  Congratulations, Larry. I am happy the funding was successful and I am looking forward seeing the outcome. Thank you to let us help you support.
  Safe return,
  Thomas
7. Creator Susan McCabe on January 25, 2011
  
  Congratulations, Larry! Can't wait to see the finished project, and I'm so very proud to have had a small part in making it happen.
8. Creator Tomas van Houtryve on January 22, 2011
  
  Dear Larry,
  
  Congratulations on reaching your goal and on being one of the first established photographers to give crowd-funding a real go. I think your previous work stands above reproach, and I look forward to seeing Afghanistan through your vision.
  
  Wading into the unruly world of internet comment boards and putting to your pitch straight to the public took some guts. There are some great lessons to learn from people contributing comments, and I hope you'll take them into account to make your work even stronger and more transparent. And as for those making snarky comments and using anonymous login names, they remind me of the two grouchy critics on the Muppet Show. Take their criticism with a grain of salt and a sense of humor, and the show will go on.
  
  Safe travels,
  Tomas
9. Creator Larry Towell on January 21, 2011
  
  Dear everyone
  Sorry for the delay. I was quite ill and then on the road for over a week where I had no internet acccess. I will try to address a few questions. The reason I’m photographing landmine victims, heroin addiction, prisons and even soldiers, is because I want to cover some of the victims of this war.
  The little film is just an introduction of sorts. It can’t say everything to everyone but for those of you who know me, you know the nature of my inquiry. Heroin addiction has skyrocketed in the past 4 – 5 years as a direct result of the sense of hopelessness and dispair this conflict has created. There are now over one million heroin addicts. 10% are women. 60,000 are children and we all know the puppet government is complicit. The local NGOS are struggling to rehabilitate a vulnerable population. I’m including landmine victims because the landmine legacy is now completely ignored. There are still 7 million landmines throughout a country which cannot be properly de-mined because of the war. 300 civilians a month step on them. Half a million have been killed. They were supplied by the USA, Russia, Iran, Italy, China.-- The Russian legacy is the direct result of the Reagan legacy. When I was working in Central America as a young man, the CIA was building training camps in Pakistan and encouraging the radicalization of madrasses to build the Mujahedin who became the Taliban, the Northern Alliance, al Qaeda etc. The prisons are full of innocent people accused by neighbours of being Taliban due to jealousies, rivalries, or property. Most are not given trials. Those who may see a judge and are found innocent must pay their way out. Their families must constantly lobby the legal system with bribes. The legal system is a sham. The medical system has collapsed. This is just normal daily life. As a westerner, I will never photograph civilian victims of a drone attack. I can never photograph women. I am still trying to figure things out and I am attempting to photograph daily life, and dare I say, bits of happiness. But access to most places is almost impossible unless you want to turn your story into a military embed, but you must also embed to see the story and to see the Afghan National Army who are malnourished villagers getting paid something for the first time in their lives. It is the hardest country I have ever worked in. Everything and every place is difficult to access. I am however currently working on other situations, but cannot be specific. There is a lot of work to do on this book and I am trying to make some sense of it. I’m not going to make a book that pleases everyone. God knows I couldn’t, but thank you for your interest. I’ll do my best. I also especially thank Eva and Bojan for their words of encourgement and support.
  
  Larry
10. Creator eva.mbk on January 17, 2011
  
  duckrabbit: glad this is sorted out, as a matter of fact I didn't think that me being eva was any more anonymous than being falling soldier, iamnotasuperstarphotographer or duckrabbit.
  
  I have said from the start, the problem here the way I see and understand it (but keep in mind I'm not an English native speaker) is not about the question itself, but about HOW it was made, with an implication.
  
  Further more, Larry Towell isn't a politician, but a photographer/pj, isn't he?
  
  I could subscribe what Bojan Fürst in his comment before mine writes.
11. Creator Bojan Fürst on January 16, 2011
  
  duckrabbit: That was nicely done. Glad you and Eva made up :)
  
  At this point, I am not sure that this is a fair criticism of Mr. Towell's response to Cynthia's valid question. He may still elaborate. Maybe he is on the road. Maybe he thought it was a sufficient response. Maybe he has a flu like me and doesn't feel like typing. Maybe he is just an ass who doesn't care about the opinions of people like me who pledged the equivalent of three rolls of Tri-X to his project. (I doubt that last one- from what I have heard about him from people who actually met him he is a very approachable and congenial person.) There are things I did not like in that video, too. But here is the rub. I pledged my three rolls of Tri-X because the country I live in and the country I am from both have soldiers in Afghanistan and media whose idea of reporting on that conflict is to embed reporters with the troops. I think that's great, but we desperately need to see, hear and read different voices coming from Afghanistan. I want to know about mines, and heroin addicts and everyday Afghanis more than I do about the fact that Canadian soldiers can order Tim Hortons coffee at their base. We are not there to serve Tims. I want to know about Afghanistan because, quite frankly, I am paying for those soldiers to be there and I want to now why and what difference does it make to people whose lives have been so miserable for so long because others fought and fight their proxy wars on their territory. (Incidentally, I am sure that the chunk of my taxes spent on defence would buy a heck of a lot more Tri-X than the three rolls I pledged for this project.)
  
  Mr. Towell is not going to do everybody's perfect story on Afghanistan. He is not going to do my perfect story on Afghanistan (there were very few if any women in that video, for example). But, he is going to do his story. Expecting him to do a story that is anything else would be silly. It's his story he is asking support for. Knowing something of his previous work, I think he has the ability and sensibility to offer a different voice telling a different story than the one we usually hear. To me that was worth a pledge and if I could, I would have pledged more. I might not like the final take, but I will get something different from the usual story about the heroism of our troops.
  
  Do I think it's sad that a photographer of his experience and caliber cannot be send to do this story by a Canadian magazine? Yes. But maybe this is not so bad either. It grants certain amount of freedom and independence although I am not sure that it is a long term solution to the abysmal media content that is these days shoved down our throats.
12. Creator silly comment on January 16, 2011
  
  Eva. My bad. You made an anonymous comment. The ONLY time we have banned someone from commenting they used an almost identical name and it was for a unpublishable comment. Now I know it was not you (by the fact that you anonymous anymore) I have apologized and your comments are appearing again. As I say, my bad.
  
  The original comment by Cynthia was a response to Larry's work as presented in the film. Watching the film I think she asks valid questions. In the video Larry himself says the work is meant to engender debate. I agree that of course he can let the work speak for itself but its possible you could watch the film and think that Russia is to be blamed for Afghanistan's problems.
  
  And since Larry has done a voiceover, he himself is not just letting the work speak for itself. He is positioning it, with a view to raising funds.
  
  Lets hope this work does add to the debate.
13. Creator eva.mbk on January 15, 2011
  
  duckrabbit: yesterday I wrote a comment on your blog, today it is deleted, addressing exactly this subject. Cynthia Cannady, as she is wording her question, is implying that Larry Towell intends to " make a really good and exotic but sad and grisly travelogue on Afghanistan", to which Mr. Towell has responded.
  
  I wrote that Mr. Towell probably could have given a different answer, but also the question could have been posed in a different manner, without implication.
  
  Also, on your blog there's a comment of mine awaiting moderation, it is an answer to the question Iamnotasuperstarphotographer has posted ("Eva, what do you see in Towell’s work so far may I ask?"), which is in theme with the subject. I do not know why you censor my comments, I do not know who Eve C. is, I know it is not me, and I know I have not made racist comments on any blog or site like you imply on your blog.
14. Creator silly comment on January 15, 2011
  
  Eva,
  
  clearly you are not a racist pornographer! Those are the comments that automatically go into the spam box. Write a comment about the subject, instead of trying to change it, as you did here and I promise you it will get published.
  
  To remind you. This is what Cynthia wrote:
  
  'When I first saw this I was eager to contribute, but after seeing the short video, I am less clear. Towell's photos are magnificent and disturbing, but I can't tell his perspective. He begins by attacking the Russians for their intervention and mines, but then seems neutral on the US intervention today. He shows heroin addiction, but doesn't show information on the apparent complicity of the US backed government in heroin trade. Neutrality? Truth? Is the intention to make a really good and exotic but sad and grisly travelogue on Afghanistan? Larry if you are reading this, please respond and let me know if I have misunderstood.'
  
  Did she deserved to be so dismissed by Mr Towell?
15. Creator eva.mbk on January 15, 2011
  
  duckrabbit, how comes that my comments on your blog have been deleted? Plus two of them are awaiting moderation.. not holding my breathe to seem them appear.. since I was asked a question I found it polite I'd answer it.. never mind.. Censorship? Nah.. how could I think of that..
  
  Mr. Towell, very sorry for this to happen here.
16. Creator eva.mbk on January 15, 2011
  
  duckrabbit, no, it is not, because the premise is wrong.
  
  Best regards from a racist pornographer..
17. Creator silly comment on January 14, 2011
  
  Hi Eva,
  
  I'm sorry you fell foul to our policy of not publishing racists or pornographers. It''s very unfair on Larry however to change the subject.
  
  This debate is about the push for funding. Its a shame that Larry is incapable of answering people who ask legitimate questions. He seemed perfectly happy to respond before be reached his target.
  
  Apparently he is some obscure photographer (I've never heard of him) who puts music to pictures of drug addicts and people with their limbs blown off. Sounds awesome. I hope he puts it on youtube, it might be a big hit.
  
  Is this really what Afghanistan needs now?
  
  That's a legitimate question, or not?
18. Creator eva.mbk on January 14, 2011
  
  duckrabbit, from what I know no one is forced to pledge..
  
  It's not just about your comment here, but about the one over at your blog.. where I do not comment, tried a couple times on different threads, but it seems you publish selectively (so I don't have to use the word censorship).
  Could it not be that people inform themselves about who Larry Towell is, where he comes from on a professional level and kind of know where he's heading with this work, knowing what he's done in the past, seen the commitment he's put in it in all these years?
19. Creator silly comment on January 14, 2011
  
  Wow ... what a telling response.
  
  'Please give me your money, in the meantime I'm off to Spain on retreat. I'm happy to go to Afghanistan with your cash and take pictures of heroin addicts but I'm sorry I'm a photographer and completely unwilling or incapable to engage with political background.'
  
  In that case why bother going to Afghanistan Larry? I'm sure you've got lots of heroin addicts in your own back yard.
  
  http://duckrabbit.info/blog/2011/01/larry-towell-answers-the-publics-concerns/
20. Creator Larry Towell on January 13, 2011
  
  Yes Cynthia, absolutely, you’ve misunderstood.
  
  Larry
21. Creator Cynthia Cannady on January 13, 2011
  
  When I first saw this I was eager to contribute, but after seeing the short video, I am less clear. Towell's photos are magnificent and disturbing, but I can't tell his perspective. He begins by attacking the Russians for their intervention and mines, but then seems neutral on the US intervention today. He shows heroin addiction, but doesn't show information on the apparent complicity of the US backed government in heroin trade. Neutrality? Truth? Is the intention to make a really good and exotic but sad and grisly travelogue on Afghanistan? Larry if you are reading this, please respond and let me know if I have misunderstood.
22. Creator Susan McCabe on January 11, 2011
  
  How very exciting, Larry! I look forward to your book, and the stories you have to tell.
23. Creator Larry Towell on January 11, 2011
  
  Claire
  Thank you so much for your support. I would love to look him up and will do so if you tell me how to find him. I made it into the Puli Charki Prison once and intend to go back. Where is he based? Would definitely like to meet him.
  Thanks again
  Larry
24. Creator claire jenkins-robinson on January 11, 2011
  
  My husband is a prisons advisor with the British team in Afghanistan. If you get out there, look him up...I've pledged for him :-) Wishing you all the very best, I look forward to seeing more of your work.
25. Creator Boudewijn Boer on January 7, 2011
  
  I wish you the best of luck with this impressive project. I am glad to be of help by backing this project.
26. Creator Mokhtar Amin & Matthew Groza on January 5, 2011
  
  best of luck to you! your project looks amazing and hits very close to home... i too am trying to fund a project about my story and journey from Afghanistan 24 years ago... http://kck.st/fDFMxz
27. Creator kdllee (deleted) on January 4, 2011
  
  This comment has been removed by Kickstarter.
28. Creator Miki Johnson on January 3, 2011
  
  Thank you for the thoughtful response, Larry. I assumed that you were exploring multiple outlets, I just think it's an important precedent for us to set that we ask these kinds of questions and make our plans clear -- we can look at a photographers' images and decide if they're good, but knowing that they will use them in a meaningful way is harder to discern. I'm glad you enjoyed the links and look forward to following your Katrina trip. Best of luck with this project.
29. Creator Jenny Lynn Walker on December 31, 2010
  
  Hi Larry,
  
  Thank you so much for the update you have sent to backers - much appreciated. The opening paragraph had me close to tears. I have found Handicap International on-line and will be encouraging people to lend support to that organization as well as for this, the final phase of your on-going work in Afghanistan. If there's anyone who can bring dialogue that will shift things forward in a positive direction, I believe you can.
  Happy New Year to you and to your family and thanks a million for the important work that you are doing. May the funds flow abundantly and everyone involved in this whole project receive enlightenment outside the box! This crisis – and all that we have seen and heard that has contributed to keeping it going – has gone on far long enough...
  
  Jenny
  
  PS Here's a link to Handicap International for anyone who may be interested:
  http://www.handicap-international.org.uk/
30. Creator Larry Towell on December 29, 2010
  
  Dear Miki
  Sorry or the delay and thanks a lot for the link to Robert’s work---a firebrand indeed and I envy his energy. The book is the best vehicle for authorship as it allows one to state ones’ opinion, and unlike digital, it is permanent. Results are always hard to judge. In this era however I’m simultaneously trying to move still photos across various platforms including producing a film, a gallery installation, a live public performance, a stand alone audio recording, plus on-line story telling. (Please check out Magnum-in-motion at www.magnumphotos.com.) Also, because my roots are in the Magnum Foundation, I will be providing free image usage to NGOs (who know better how to use them than I do) and trying to broaden to non-photo audiences with links to organizations that get little attention, focusing on human rights, landmines and drug addiction. Everything is currently in process, but we are working together.—I appreciate Robert’s commitment as well. We must all keep thinking outside of the box.
  Regarding emphasis, also thanks for the link. It looks interesting. I’m not of the blogging generation and my writing tends to be private until it’s ready, but I am re-examining. In fact next month I plan to re-trace the path of Katrina with novelist Ace Atkins to be featured on the Foundation site as a daily feed. It’ll be my first time.
  Thanks for all your thoughts!
  Larry
31. Creator Earl Flewellen on December 23, 2010
  
  Today more than ever, vitally relevant art and journalism pales at a time when we need them to be most present, provocative and effective at moving us. As acts of bravery and real contribution, your photojournalism work is inspiring to me. Thank you for persevering through these tough times.
32. Creator eva.mbk on December 23, 2010
  
  Mr. Towell, thank you for allowing me to support work not only you but also we do care about. Stay safe! Regards, Eva
33. Creator Miki Johnson on December 22, 2010
  
  Hi Larry. I made some comments when I shared this project on Facebook and Whitney suggested I make them here too. First, I want to say that I am a huge fan of your work. Not only for the canonical images you've made but especially for the way you have continued to innovate over your very long career. That's why I was not surprised to see you trying out something like Kickstarter, which I have been trying to get photographers to think seriously about for a year at least. I'm curious to see how such a large goal will do on this platform -- and my comment relates to how I think you can be more successful at achieving it. I know that Magnum's Emergency Fund emphasizes distributing the work to non-profits and I see that OSI is one of its sponsors, a group that is at the forefront of using images to effect change. Considering all that, I was disappointed to not see more specifics of how your book/work will be used to help the people you are documenting. I don't doubt that this is on your mind, but at this point in the industry, when so many photographers are asking for funds for so many great projects, it's important (to me and I think others) that we support documentary work that is not just visually stunning but also carefully planned to have a tangible impact. As I said in my Facebook post, a book is a beautiful, important thing, but it's just preaching to the choir if you aren't working with specific outlets to get it into the hands of the people who really need to see it. I worked with Robert Glenn Ketchum on a story about just this kind of thing: http://blog.livebooks.com/2009/03/robert-glenn-ketchum-books-that-make-a-difference-shouldnt-have-to-make-money/ Robert is a bit of a firebrand, and I'm not saying everything he does works for everyone, but I think this is a valid rethinking that we all need to consider. I also urge you to check out http://www.emphas.is/ a Kickstarter-like platform specifically for photojournalists. Thank you.
34. Creator Larry Towell on December 22, 2010
  
  Thanks Shaun and Annamaria, and thanks for your faith in the project.
  Larry
35. Creator Shaun Roberts on December 21, 2010
  
  Best of luck with this project Mr.Towell, please stay safe when you make it back out there.
36. Creator annamaria bartha on December 21, 2010
  
  keep my fingers x
37. Creator Larry Towell on December 20, 2010
  
  Jansen
  Thank your for your comment. I will try to take better pictures than I already have. The circumstance is very humbling. I'm working in Haiti right now without support because, as I stated, the traditional venues have dried up. I don't think however that market should dictate the quality of documentary photography. Most of my projects have taken seven to ten years to accomplish. I think that's completely normal. I promise to do the best that I can.
  thanks for your interest.
  Sincerely,
  Larry
38. Creator Jansen Lonnquist on December 20, 2010
  
  Could you please explain what you are doing thats different? and what exactly do you need to get that you don't already have?