Just Sayin'

Flashes of Hope

Narayan Mahon — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:09:48 +0000

“Flashes of Hope is a nonprofit organization that changes the way children with cancer and other life threatening illnesses see themselves through the gift of photography and raises money for pediatric cancer research. The portraits, taken by award-winning photographers, help children feel better about their changing appearance by celebrating it. For families of terminally ill children, it’s especially important to have a portrait that preserves forever the beauty, grace and dignity of their child.”- That’s their mission statement. It’s a fantastic organization. They print the photos and give the albums to the families. – Here is their website- http://www.flashesofhope.org/

So when I moved to Madison, I looked to see if they have a chapter here and I signed up to volunteer a day for them. That day was last month. It was an emotional experience. I was a bit out of my element with this type of photography, not to mention working with kids. Of course, it’s sad to see kids that are so very sick, but what makes this worth it is to give them and their parents a slight and brief reprieve from the needles and lab tests.

A few days ago I received a very sad email from the chapter coordinator saying that one of the kids, a 17 year old girl, lost her fight with cancer. I think that is the power of this program; that the family will have some beautiful photos of their child. I hope I captured a part of this girl’s personality and spirit and her family sees that in the photos.

Assignment: Rolling Stone- Tom Morello

Narayan Mahon — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 18:59:24 +0000

Probably the coolest assignment during all this mayhem in Madison has been for Rolling Stone Magazine. The assignment was to shadow guitar star and protest rocker Tom Morello- of Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave and The Night Watchman. Morello was a blast to shoot and the day was full of frozen fists raised high in to the sky. It was a nice break from the rest of the time I have been spending documenting the historic events that have been taking place at the state capitol for the last month.

Here is how it ran in the magazine, plus a few that didn’t run… and I couldn’t be more happy with how it came out and the images the editor used.

Assignment: Madison Madison- Kaleem Caire

Narayan Mahon — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 20:14:16 +0000

My plan for this portrait was to shoot it outside, in high reeds and snow to convey an idea of wilderness and frontier- endless possibilities. Kaleem Caire, the subject of the story, is starting a new private school in Madison, Wisconsin (he is also the president of the Greater Madison Urban League) and I thought this would be a good express that idea, considering there is not yet a location for the new school. Unfortunately, the day of the shoot happened to be the coldest day of the year, with a high of 9 degrees, so with the consideration of the flash tubes, my fingers and the risk of frost bite, we had to keep it indoors. Fortunately the Urban League shares a building with a public library, so I settled with a more literal cue for education and the endless possibilities of learning- and that’s what they went with. I also tried a couple other ideas. Below is how it ran in the magazine and a few others I liked.

Photo Essay: Madison Protests

Narayan Mahon — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:28:33 +0000

A photo essay from the protests that have been taking place for two weeks at the State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. Protesters have been demonstrating against a controversial budget bill by Republican Governor Scott Walker that would cut state employee benefits and curtail state employee collective bargaining rights, effectively eliminating labor unions.

More images are available at http://narayan.photoshelter.com/gallery/G0000M2D5TmC7aO4

To license images for web or print use, please contact me at nm@narayanmahon.com

Assignment: New York Times- Madison, Wisconsin Protests

Narayan Mahon — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 01:30:07 +0000

For the last 2 weeks, minus a few days here and there, I have been on assignment for The New York Times covering the large protests and demonstrations that have been taking place at the State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. Huge crowds, at times reaching 70,000 to 100,000 people, have been protesting Governor Scott Walker and his “Budget Repair Bill.” It’s been huge news, the biggest thing happening in the US for 2 weeks now, which has been keeping me busy, not just for New York Times, but also for Wall Street Journal and Rolling Stone. Photographing this type of event can be exciting, at least for the first couple of days, then it becomes quite monotonous and you see the same thing every day, so visually it becomes difficult to continue making interesting and unique images.

I have put up some of those tearsheets from NYT, plus the Isthmus, a weekly publication here in Madison.

Also there are two slideshows online-

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/02/28/us/20110228_WISCONSIN.html

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/02/16/us/WISCONSIN.html

- Images from the protests are available for licensing for editorial purposes. If you are looking for images, please contact me.

Old Tearsheets

Narayan Mahon — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:40:34 +0000

I came across some old tearsheets that I finally got around to scanning and posting.

Jack Magazine- July 2007- Breakdancing!

Wizard Rock- Harry and the Potters

Maxwell School- University of Syracuse- Fall 2007

PDN- Photo District News- May 2010

PowerHouse Magazine- 2008

Transitions Abroad Magazine- April 2007

Mare- Netherlands- March 2010

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)- September 2009

French Guiana photos in Harper’s Magazine

Narayan Mahon — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 21:57:50 +0000

I am always excited when I have newly published work to announce, but this one is the most exciting, and I have been waiting a long time for this issue to actually come out, which is now in the February issue of Harper’s Magazine.

Some background on how this story, about illegal gold mining in French Guiana, came together. I first came across this issue when I was still living in Istanbul and I was thinking of a large project about modern era colonies. I was first thinking about Greenland, French Guiana and American Samoa. So while researching Greenland, I was put in touch with a writer who was working on a story there. This writer happened to live in Seattle, to where I was about to move back (I later went to Greenland and worked with another writer on a story about Greenland’s autonomy from Denmark). The issue of illegal gold mining in French Guiana is something I continued to researched and later applied for a fellowship at Johns Hopkins’ International Reporting Project, fortunately I was only a finalist. After actually doing the story, I say fortunately. So, I am back living in Seattle and I get together for coffee with the writer I first talked to about Greenland, and I mentioned this story in French Guiana. Amazingly, he not only was familiar with the story, which has never received much attention, but knows a writer who has been researching the exact same story, and he put us in touch. Enter Damon Tabor, the writer of the story. Damon worked up a magnificent pitch and sent it off to Harper’s. We also worked up a proposal to get a travel grant from the Pulitzer Center of Crisis Reporting, a great organization from which I received a grant to do a story in Somaliland in 2009. We earned the grant from Pulitzer Center and Harper’s took the story and in March 2009, we flew to Guyana and then bussed our way over to French Guiana, where we worked for one month, going on patrols with the French military, and looking for gold with the Brazilian miners. The trip was exhausting and mostly sleepless. We trekked through challenging terrain, slept in hammocks, ate French MREs and drank Amazon well water. It was a very wet and hot time in the jungle. It was also a challenge technically. My camera equipment was constantly being bombarded with humidity and moisture. Dealing with the miners was also a constant challenge. Arranging access was the biggest issue. I can’t imagine having done this story on my own, which is what I would have done had I received that fellowship. I am very proud of how this story turned out, with the story Damon told, with the support we received from the Pulitzer Center and from Harper’s.

The story is a great read, definitely worth picking up a copy.

More about the project can be found on the Pulitzer Center website

Also, more photos are on my website- http://www.narayanmahon.com/frenchguiana.html

And here is the tearsheet of the first few pages-

New Portfolio and Promo Cards

Narayan Mahon — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 17:27:54 +0000

In preparation for my upcoming trip to New York City to meet with photo editors, art buyers and art directors, I’ve made a new portfolio and promo cards. I try to meet with editors in NYC about once a year… well, whenever I am in The City I try to see editors. I will be there from December 5th to the 15th. I don’t know if the trip will be fruitful and lead to any assignments but I feel the need to try. Emailing can only go so far and regardless of all the ways to someone, sitting face to face still rules. For this new portfolio, I thought I would combine my commercial and editorial portfolios. In my previous portfolio books, I have only shown commercial work, with a section for personal work, which was my Lands in Limbo project. This time I have removed the Lands in Limbo section and printed a separate book that is only Lands in Limbo work, so if there is time, I can show more of that project. That’s the plan, at least.

So here are the new materials I will bring with me-

Promo/Leave-behind cards (front/back):

The New Portfolio-

Assignment: USA Today

Narayan Mahon — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 15:27:53 +0000

This past weekend I headed a little north to the small town of Portage, Wisconsin to shoot an assignment for USA Today. The story was about travel agents and how there is some kind of resurgence in the business, which of course has been battered by people like me and everyone I know buying and booking tickets, hotels, rental cars and vacation packages online. So I went up to Portage to photograph the owner of a travel agency that is talked about in the article.

Here are a couple photos and how it ran in today’s issue-

Assignments: Wisconsin Governor-elect Scott Walker, Senator Russ Feingold and Senator-elect Ron Johnson for The New York Times

Narayan Mahon — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 17:35:34 +0000

Well, I am sure we are all suffering from Post-Election Traumatic Stress Syndrome. For me it means a little more work, a lot more driving and even more biting my tongue. This campaign season I was sent to follow mainly one race, the Senate race between Senator Russ Feingold and Ron Johnson. After the election, I got an assignment to photograph the newly elected Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

Some photos and tearsheets from a few recent assignment-

Governor-elect Scott Walker

US Senator-elect Ron Johnson

Senator Russ Feingold