Migration drama above the skies of Gibraltar

This time of year sees a life and death drama unfold on numerous occasions above Gibraltar's skies. Tired migrating raptors reach the cliffs of the Rock of Gibraltar after crossing the sea. Here they are met by territorial Peregrine Falcons Falco peregrinus brookei and Yellow-legged Gulls Larus michahellis.

The Peregrines are defending their nest area and have daily battles with the gulls for rights to airspace

The gulls do the same, hanging in the wind above the nests, ready to pounce on anything that comes near...

The levels of aggression increase now that the young have hatched...

So migrating raptors are up against it...

For starters, they have the sea crossing, often in high winds. Here a Booted Eagle Hieraaetus pennatus struggles to reach the Rock. In the background, Ceuta on the North African coast, where it has come from, with the tall Rif Mountains behind.

Utterly exhausted, it crash lands

Others, like this Black Kite Milvus migrans, are immature birds in moult or with many flight feathers missing. This doesn't help either...

Then there are the gulls and the falcons...

That also forces unexpected landings...

Some of these birds recover and fly off but others are not so fortunate...

they ditch in the sea, and drown...

So this is the real drama of life and death. Can we blame the gulls and the falcons? I think not. They are just defending their own...







Photographer #455: Neil Krug

Neil Krug, 1983, USA, is a photographer and director based in Los Angeles. Together with his girlfriend, now wife, Joni Harbeck, he founded Pulp Art Book, a collection of photography and commercial work in limited edition prints, books and films. In 2011 he released the LP-sized Pulp Art Book: Volume One with images of Joni shot with polaroid film years past its sell-by date. The narrative photographs remind us of spaghetti westerns and the artistic expressions of the 60s and 70s in B-movies and on LP covers. Pulp Art Book: Volume Two is expected to be released in June of 2012. This time the Poliziotteschi films were a major influence. Neil has created a vast amount of CD / LP covers for bands as My Chemical Romance, Scissor Sisters, Ladytron and The Pierces. Among his commercial clients are Warner Bros. Records, Warp Records and Burton Snowboards. The following images come from the portfolios Ladytron - Gravity the Seducer, Pulp Art Book: Volume One and My Chemical Romance.

Website: www.neilkrug.com

Photographer #454: Manabu Yamanaka

Manabu Yamanaka, 1959, Japan, is a photographer who focuses mainly on societal outcasts. In 2009 he released a monograph entitled Gyahtei which shows the six major series he has created during a period of 25 years, all with titles that originate from Buddhism. One of those series is Jyoudo; a collection of photographs portraying physically deformed human beings, including some of the worst kind of deformation imaginable. Manabu noticed that even in this state "I saw how truly natural each one of their lives really were." Amongst his other subjects are elderly photographed in the nude, street children and homeless people. His images are strong, powerful, (un)comforting and might sometimes be hard to digest. His latest body of work is a series of images that show unborn and deformed embryos. His work has been exhibited extensively throughout the world and has appeared in numerous publications. The following images come from the series Jyoudo, Gyahtei and Fujohkan.

Website: www.ask.ne.jp/~yamanaka/

Photographer #453: Deborah Luster

Deborah Luster, 1951, USA, is a photographer based in New Orleans, USA and Galway, Ireland. In 1988 her mother was murdered by a hired killer. In 1998 it led her to start the project entitled One Big Self: Prisoners of Louisiana in which she photographed inmates of three Louisiana prisons. The photographs were published in a monograph in 2003 together with texts from poet C.D. Wright. She photographed each person as they presented their very own selves. The entire archive consisted of tens of thousands of portraits and she has given +/- 25.000 wallet-sized prints back to the portrayed. Her recent body of work, Tooth for an Eye: A Chorography of Violence in Orleans Parish, was released as a monograph in 2011. It consists of images that function as an archive of historical and contemporary homicide sites in New Orleans. She researched city police homicide reports and photographed the exact locations of the murders. "By approaching cityscapes through the disorienting context of homicide, the work disturbs the deep crust of stereotypical visual interpretations of New Orleans." Her work has been exhibited on numerous occasions, mainly in the USA. The following images come from the series Tooth for an Eye, One Big Self and Rosesucker Retablos.

Website: www.deborahluster.com

Photographer #452: Julio Bittencourt

Julio Bittencourt, 1980, Brazil, started his photographic career in 2000 as a photographer and assistant photo editor for the newspaper Valor Economico in Sao Paulo. Since 2006 he has been working as an independant photographer. In his series In a Window of Prestes Maia 911 Building he documented the residents of possibly the largest squat in the world. The building had been vacant for over a decade. In 2003 the 'Movement of the Homeless' had moved in hundreds of homeless families. They created a new community who drove out the vermin and drug dealers and created workshops and a library. In 2006 the new residents were told that they would be evicted. The project was released as a book in 2008. For his project Citizen X he focused on the housing problem in Brazil again. He shows abandoned spaces that represent "both a testament to the magnitude of the problemas well as a source of potential hope for change."  His personal project Ramos focuses on an artificial salt water lake surrounded by 15 favelas run by drug-trafficking gangs. Even though violence plagues the favelas, the park has been mostly free of problems. It is a crowded and polluted place where people enjoy the beach, sun and Brazilian rum. His work has been exhibited on numerous occasions worldwide and published in prestigious magazines as Time, Stern and GEO. The following images come from the series Ramos, Citizen X and In a Window of Prestes Maia 911 Building.

Website: www.juliobittencourt.com

Photographer #451: Bela Borsodi

Bela Borsodi, 1966, Austria, studied graphic design and fine art before moving to New York in 1992. His work often incorporated photography but it wasn't until 1999 that he started to fully focus on still life photography, which is still the main direction of his work. He concentrates on editorial and advertising photography and is strongly influenced by his graphic background. He combines ordinary objects and puts them in an unusual context. In his much acclaimed series Foot Fetish for V Magazine he put images of naked bodies of women in awkward positions inside women shoes. For Yalook he created a series of photographs and videos in which clothing was folded to resemble a face that spoke. Amongst his advertising clients are Galeries Lafayette, Hermes, Nike and Puma. He has also created images for editorial clients and magazines as The New York Times Magazine, Another Magazine and Stern. The following images come from the editorial series Livraison #2: Hidden Objects, Tatler #19: Seperation and Stern #36: Aus dem Schatten Getreten.

Website: www.belaborsodi.com

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450 of 500 Photographers have been featured on this website. 9/10th completed and 1/10th still to come.
To celebrate this milestone I would like to make you an offer you can't refuse. During the period of the next 50 photographers up until the completion of this website I'm offering my personal and signed photography book 'I believe in 88' at a 38% discount; it's an opportunity to support this website. Update 27-04: The package includes some cool 500 Photographers stickers.

Short project statement: "After a violent encounter with a group of neo-nazis at the age of 14 where Pieter Wisse was stabbed in the stomach, he decided to take a closer look at the daily life of the people who call themselves neo-nazis in former East Germany, a group of people at the edge of our society."

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A tribute to: Lauren E. Simonutti (1968-2012)

Lauren E. Simonutti, 1968, USA, passed away last week due to complications from her illness. On March 28th, 2006 she started hearing voices and was diagnosed with "rapid cycling, mixed state bipolar with schizoaffective disorder". She felt she was going mad and spent her last years almost in isolation. She turned the camera on herself and the space she was living in. She has left us with an impressive, honest and strong body of work. With her photographs she gave a voice to those that suffer in isolation.
"Over (five) years I have spent alone amidst these 8 rooms, 7 mirrors, 6 clocks, 2 minds and 199 panes of glass. And this is what I saw here. This is what I learned. I figure it could go one of two ways - I will either capture my ascension from madness to as much a level of sanity for which one of my composition could hope, or I will leave a document of it all, in the case that I should lose." - Lauren E. Simonutti
The following images come from the series The Devil's Alphabet and 8 Rooms, 7 Mirrors, 6 Clocks, 2 Minds & 199 Panes of Glass.

Website: www.edelmangallery.com & www.lauren-rabbit.blogspot.com

Photographer #450: Sølve Sundsbø

Sølve Sundsbø, 1970, Norway, is a fashion photographer and director based in London since 1995 where he studied at the London College of Printing. While studying he assisted world renowned photographer Nick Knight, who became an important mentor to him. Today Sølve is one of the leading photographers in his genre. Among his clients are big names as Yves Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Gucci. He created editorials for the Italian Vogue, i-D and Interview. His series 14 Actors Acting, made for The New York Times, received an Emmy Award in 2011 for New Approaches to News & Documentary Programming: Arts, Lifestyle and Culture. Solve has an experimental approach to his photography, using a vast amount of techniques and styles, creating larger-than-life, sophisticated and innovative images. He is not afraid to tread uncommon paths. For an YSL fragrance campaign he convinced them to create and use an image of a full-frontal male nude, causing some controversy. The following images come from Interview Magazine: Scarlett Johansson, Vogue Japan: The Virgin Spring and W Magazine: The Everchanging Face of Beauty.

Website: www.artandcommerce.com/ss & www.solvesundsbo.info

Photographer #449: Miti Ruangkritya

Miti Ruangkritya, 1981, Thailand, studied Photojournalism at the University of Westminster. His work is mainly documentary based yet he tries not to restrict himself in any way. He is currently working on an ongoing project that consists of a polaroid installation placed on the beach of Nongkhai in Thailand. A dining table displays the polaroids without placeholders, inviting the viewers to pick up the images and be involved. By adding mattresses and swimming rings he wants to create a relaxed atmosphere for the audience to enjoy the work outside of a typical gallery exhibition. In his series On the Edge he took a closer look at Siem Reap, a city he had visited in 1991 when there was only one hotel and one bar. Today the city has massively exploded in size consisting of 5 star hotels, restaurants and bars. Miti viewed the city from a distance "from the vantage point of someone approaching (or perhaps momentarily escaping) the city." His work has been exhibited in London, Paris and Thailand and his portfolio will be featured in the May 2012 edition of the British Journal of Photography. The following images come from the series Imagining Flood, Northern Route and On the Edge.

Website: www.mi-ti.com

Where the Imperial Eagle is Lord and Master

We spent some time watching and photographing the rare Spanish Imperial Eagle Aquila adalberti in one of its traditional haunts, in the Monfrague National Park of Central Spain.

This is the home of the Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus, which nests in colonies on the impressive cliffs

Here the vultures come and go as they please, it seems, but this time they weren't to have everything their way...

The morning seemed quiet enough, even a newly arrived Short-toed Eagle Circaetus gallicus pausing to look for unsuspecting snakes

An adult Imperial Eagle arrives - it has decided to nest on some trees close to the Griffon colony

It patrols the cliff line and even comes down near to the vultures' nests

It is an amazing bird at close quarters...

...and it chases off any Griffon that ventures near!

We watched the eagles for a couple of hours and Stewart came home with a wonderful range of images of this spectacular eagle. All where the Mediterranean forest meets the cliffs in Monfrague