There is a food fight going on in France. Well a cheese fight at least. The future is bumping up against the past as it so often does in Europe with big manufactures squaring off against independent producers as we learn in a article in the International Herald Tribune.


Protect me from what I want. © Damaso Reyes

“But Alléosse, premier maître artisan fromager affineur, or master cheese ager, fears that he is one of a dying breed.
He is worried that industrial processes - from sourcing through production and distribution - are squeezing small farmers and threatening to deny consumers the choice, complexity and quality of a product that is considered a luxury in many countries but a staple on French tables.

The giant producers counter that such complaints are sour grapes and that traditionalists are scared of losing market share to new techniques, resentful of their profit. Consumers, they say, are happy with the products available and prices charged.”

As important as heritage is if a culture does not evolve it dies. The question is how should that change come about. There are some that feel the market should decide; others want government to have a strong say in protecting people, sometimes form what they want. Few French or European consumers want the Walmartization of Europe. At the same time the McDonald's that flourish in Paris or Rome are full of Europeans, not Americans.

What do you think?

The question we all must ultimately ask is: what do I want to be?

Sure it sounds like something a 6 year old would say but how many of us have honestly asked and answered that question lately? The reason I mention this is because of yet another article on PDN’s blog extolling the virtues of a camera which shoots video.

“Earlier in the afternoon, Laforet suggested to me that the new cameras, which allow image makers to create commercial-quality still and video images working on their own in low light, were a major technological advancement along the lines of the daguerreotype, the Brownie and the 35 millimeter. However, he said, the technology in the Nikon D90s and the Canon EOS 5D Mark II’s would be a bigger advancement than those preceding landmarks, because, he said, it would “redefine what our jobs are” as photographers. Given their technical skill sets and stylistic sensibilities, photojournalists, Laforet thinks, are the people best equipped to utilize this new imaging technology.”


Film at 11. Berlin 2008 © Damaso Reyes


For me here is what it all come down to: you are in a hotspot right in the middle of the action. Something incredible is about to happen do you A.) shoot stills or B.) shoot video? This is the question thousands of photojournalists will soon have to answer. Some will no doubt decide to shoot video and pull out still images but this is no longer photography it is videography.

The two fields have vastly different needs and you can’t really do both, at least not well. People looking to shoot a lot of video will be frustrated by the limitations of a DSLR. I am not a luddite, as you know I have a digital camera and use it. The real problem is that today photographers are increasingly asked to do jobs for which they have little training and even less desire. That doesn’t really change anything but it is important to note.

As for me, I will stay with the stills. If and when I want to shoot video I will get a video camera. But I am a still photographer. Since age 16 I have had the word photojournalist on my business cards.

It isn’t going away anytime soon…

It seems like immigration, and the tensions that are closely associated with it are never far from our posts here. Today we turn out attention once again to Italy which has one of the most complicated relationships to immigrants of all E.U. member states. As we pointed out recently some immigrants have integrated so well they win top prizes for their culinary achievements.

But that doesn’t mean that anti-immigrant violence doesn’t happen. Last month in Milan an African immigrant was beaten to death after a store owner and his son thought he stole a package of cookies.


The writing is still on the wall. Spain 2005. © Damaso Reyes

“Although there is some debate about whether the killing was racially motivated, the attack on Mr. Guibre was the most severe in a recent spate of violence against immigrants across Italy. The attacks are fueling a national conversation about racism and tolerance in a country that has only recently transformed itself from a nation of emigrants into a prime destination for immigrants.

“A black English person, or French person, or Dutch person, that’s O.K.,” said Giovanni Giulio Valtolina, a psychologist and scholar at the ISMU Foundation in Milan, which studies multiethnic societies. “But a black Italian is a very new thing.”

Italy, like the rest of Europe is changing as immigration continues to accelerate. The question is how will these societies adapt to and integrate their new citizens?

Inclusion is the antidote to radicalism. It seems like an obvious statement but a recent article in the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad points to the conclusions that Dutch researchers came to.


Bridging the gap. Paris 2008 © Damaso Reyes

“Researcher Marieke Slootman says Muslims should become involved in the wider Dutch society. "They can still have orthodox beliefs, but they won't use violence to force these on others if they see the Netherlands as their country," according to Slootman.

"Some of their ideas might clash with our democratic life-style, but listening to them takes the wind out of the sails of those who say the government is the enemy of every Muslim," she says.

“Slootman says it is important to avoid evoking 'us versus them' emotions and politicians must play a role in this. Un-nuanced comments by politicians make Muslims feel more isolated in the community, the researchers say."

If integration is the true goal of Europeans then of course that has to include political integration. As American painfully accepted in the 1950’s and 60’s minorities can’t fully participate in the life of their society unless they are allowed to participate politically as well…

What fascinates me about xenophobes and those who would end all immigration in Europe is how fervently they believe that immigrants will destroy their culture (never mind that no culture can be considered “pure” and is the amalgamation of centuries of interaction) and replace it with their own.

Then we read an article like this one in Der Spiegel which talks about how it really works.

"Once a year, the "Gambero Rosso" (or "Red Crab") -- a kind of Michelin Guide dedicated to the spirit of slow food -- presents its coveted awards to restaurants, vineyards and estates that preserve the traditions of la cucina italiana. And this year the award for the best spaghetti alla carbonara went to Hassen, a Tunisian immigrant. This has made him the guardian of the most Italian of all Italian dishes."


I can be a chef too! Cologne 2007 © Damaso Reyes


When given the opportunity immigrants often do a very good job at assimilating on their own without any pressure from society. It is my observation that it is when immigrants are excluded from opportunity and discriminated against that they tend to huddle together for mutual protection. This article highlights a great example of how immigrants can actually help preserve the cultures they become a part of.

Continuing on our immigration theme from yesterday comes an interesting article from Der Spiegel online about a hunger strike being led by a group of asylum seekers and immigrants in Belgium.

“Debkota and seven other people on hunger strikes are being cared for at the Latin America House in Brussels. They come from Nepal, the Ivory Coast, Congo, Guinea, Brazil and Iran. The hunger strikes are being conducted by illegal immigrants or asylum seekers whose applications for residency permits to stay in Belgium are pending or have been rejected. In recent years, hunger strikes and other protests have become a common way for illegal immigrants to try to stay in the country,” Petra de Koning writes.


A future hunger striker? Vienna 2008 © Damaso Reyes


It’s interesting that such extreme actions must be taken by those seeking a better life. In contrast a recent article in the New York Times talks about how underserved communities in New York are actively seeking foreign doctors and sponsoring their visas. Given the demographic issues facing Europe you would think that more countries would start long needed reforms but as we saw yesterday in Austria the far right can still use immigration and the fear of it as a vote generating machine.

For all of those who missed them while you were gone today marks the return of the Photo of the Day. As you might recall the goal of this daily posting is to both introduce, or reintroduce, you to my images as well as keep you up to date on the latest news from Europe. I hope that my work is not just about documenting history but capturing moments that are relevant to our lives today.


A protest vote. Vienna 2008 © Damaso Reyes


It was no surprise that Austria’s far right Freedom party gained in the recent election this weekend but commentators were shocked at the nearly one third of votes they managed to pull. To say that the party is xenophobic would be charitable. As we read in this article in The Guardian they have long used anti-immigrant sentiment to pull votes, especially in the country’s rural districts.

Austria, like many other European nations, is going to have to come to terms with their need for immigrant labor and how this will change their culture and society. Just because an ostrich sticks its head in the sand doesn’t mean that nothing is happing above ground…

Rochefort-en-Terre


Anniversaries are interesting things. The further we get from the date the harder it is to remember why we are trying to remember. This date means many different things to many people. Some see it as an excuse for war; others remember a pain that tore their lives apart on a clear September morning. For far too many it stands as a gate; a date which can only be seen through the lens of before and after. It is getting harder to remember before and more difficult to understand after.

As always the children shall lead the way…


World Trade Center Memorial Groundbreaking. September 11, 2004. © Damaso Reyes

Rochefort-en-Terre

They say the world is going to end today.

Or not. Sometimes it is hard to know who or what to believe.


Turn on the juice! Geneva 2007.

Just kidding. While some members of the tinfoil hat society believe that our friends at CERN are going to kill us all by unleashing a microscopic black hole in Geneva, those of us in the know have no fear. Of course this is a great moment in science as well as for Europe. After all CERN is doing what we in the United States chose not to: build the world’s largest particle accelerator. With this amazing tool we will push back the limits of human knowledge and it came together through the cooperation and vision of dozens of nations around the world, most of them located in Europe. It’s a great day for science!

Rochefort-en-Terre

The rain is hiding the sun here in France and there are demographic clouds on the horizon for the European Union as well. Eurostat recently released a study which finds that the soon death rate in the E.U. will surpass the birth rate. In just seven years, as we read in this article, the long predicted population decline will begin in earnest.


The writing on the wall in Vienna’s old Jewish cemetery. Austria 2008

Now just how Europe deals with this issue is a subject of some debate. Clearly immigration is one solution but Europe; especially western Europe, is struggling with how to integrate those immigrants already in its boarders and reactionary right-wing politicians in nations from The Netherlands to Switzerland are calling for a halt to immigration all together.

Will Europeans answer the call of nature and get busy? Perhaps. If not the epitaph of Europe may already be written…

Rochefort-en-Terre


Greetings from France! Sorry it has taken me so long to post, but it was a long flight and train ride to get here to Rochefort-en-Terre. Of course it was totally worth it. Brittany is amazing and I actually managed to get over to the coast and shoot a few images of the landscape and the oyster and mussel pickers. Whole families go out on the weekends to pick these bivalve delicacies!


The coast. © Damaso Reyes

Rochefort itself is a lovely small town straight out of the Middle Ages. I promise to grab some shots for you once the rain stops (it might take a while). In the meantime enjoy some images from the coast!


Picking oysters in Brittany. © Damaso Reyes


No sand, only shells. © Damaso Reyes


Low tide. © Damaso Reyes

Brooklyn


Today I am off to France and Rochefort-en-Terre! I will leave shortly but just wanted to let all you in New York know that I will miss you but of course you can stay up to date on my adventures by tuning in right here! See you soon…


La belle France! 2007 © Damaso Reyes

Brooklyn


Just two days to go until I take off for France and of course I have too much to do. But of course the news never stops and if you have some time check out this interesting article about the E.U.’s response to the conflict between Russia and Georgia, I feel it nicely sums up the issues:

“The E.U. always has trouble speaking with a single voice,” said Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and professor of international affairs at Georgetown University. “It will find consensus all the more difficult in this crisis. In Central Europe there’s a sense that we told you so, Russia is again an aggressor state. And in Western Europe there is a much more complicated view of the war in Georgia and an unwillingness to jump to the conclusion that it’s time to man the barricades and contain Russia.”


What to do, what to do? Kosovo 2005 © Damaso Reyes

The next few years will no doubt bring many similar foreign policy and military challenges. The question of course is just how the European Union’s member states will choose to deal with them…

Brooklyn


As much as people take photography, and the work that photojournalists do for granted, the impact that our images have on the way people remember and interpret history is profound. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and the events in Georgia are a stark reminder of the ways in which history repeats itself.

There is a great article in The Guardian about the Czech photographer Josef Koudelka who documented the Soviet invasion and its aftermath providing the entire world with some of the few images of what happened. Risking his life he took more than 5,000 images in one week of the invasion of Prague and smuggled the images out.

“The previously unseen images, though, are powerful for different reasons. They provide a unique visual record of 20th century history as it unfolded, an event of incredible emotional and political intensity that lasted a week yet changed the course of a nation for two decades afterwards. In one brilliantly composed image after another, Koudelka has also captured the energy of mass protest like no one before or since, an energy that flared from angry disbelief into violent protest and then faded just as suddenly. 'When I look at these pictures now, I can't believe I did them. Magnum could not believe it was the work of one photographer. I was everywhere because everywhere I looked in those seven days there is another photograph waiting for me. I did not have time to even think about the danger.'”


Who will watch the watchmen? Kosovo 2005 © Damaso Reyes

While everyone may have a camera, or camera phone, not everyone can be a photojournalist…

Brooklyn

If you haven’t checked The Guardian there is a great unconventional story about immigration. We’ve all heard about how Western Europe needs immigration to deal with its declining birthrate and all that jazz but of course one of the things people fear is the loss of culture and national identity. Well Steven Wells argues that immigration can help save and even infuse rock culture. Here’s a taste:



Where is everybody? Stuttgart 2007 © Damaso Reyes

“Meanwhile, the developing world is bursting at the seams with babies, toddlers and teenagers, many of whom would love to come to the West but can't because of bizarre racist immigration policies and the absurd and morally and intellectually indefensible (not to mention anti-democratic and anti-free enterprise) notion that workers shouldn't be allowed to live anywhere in the world they damn well please.

“The solution is obvious. The West needs immigration like the deserts need the rain. To stave off cultural brain death and save rock'n'roll we must throw open the floodgates of immigration. By doing so, the young will once again outnumber the nearly dead - totally revitalizing music and providing "us" with a new generation of both avant garde artists and audiences for avant garde art. Music in particular would experience the dizzying and exhilarating rush of input from dozens of other cultures, hopefully drowning out the dull, smug, self-referential, post-Smiths indie/hipster monoculture once and for all.”

That’s hot…