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"There is an unmistakable seriousness as well as a handsome hospitality in the range of method and morality, topic and topography on show." Times Higher Education Supplement The past two decades have witnessed an explosion of interest, research and writing on visual culture within the humanities and social sciences. journal of visual culture is an international, refereed journal which is a site for astute, informative and dynamic thought on the visual. The journal publishes work from a range of methodological positions, on various historical moments and across diverse geographical locations. It promotes research, scholarship and critical engagement with visual cultures.

Photographies seeks to construct a new agenda for theorising photography as a heterogeneous medium that is changing in an ever more dynamic relation to all aspects of contemporary culture. Photographies aims to further develop the history and theory of photography, considering new frameworks for thinking and addressing questions arising from the present context of technological, economic, political and cultural change. Photographies will investigate the contemporary condition and currency of the photographic within local and global contexts. The editors seek research papers and innovative visual essays, shorter papers engaging new debates, review essays evaluating publications, cultural events, key developments, exhibitions and conferences. Photographies aims to: - establish a sustained and dynamic forum for the development of the history and theory of photography, - consider new frameworks for thinking and addressing questions arising from digital technologies and economic, political and cultural change, - examine contemporary uses and currencies of the photographic within local and global contexts, - identify, develop and discuss emergent critical debates and practices, - publish work in the humanities and social sciences which has a bearing upon our understanding of photography thereby locating debate within a wider community.

Liz Jobey looks at the best new photography books

Academics and artists at London Metropolitan University worked with photographer Paul Trevor to make a selection of his images of East London digitally available to artists, students and researchers. The Collection includes 500 images (chosen from a total of 120,000) of the Spitalfields area from the 1970s to the 1990s, a period of rapid social and physical change. The Paul Trevor Collection is part of a larger archive project at London Metropolitan University, which will eventually include oral as well as visual narratives, that aims to represent aspects of the lives of local East End communities in their distinctive social, economic and political contexts. The process of producing this photographic dimension of the archive was lengthy and gave rise to challenging questions. What are the aesthetic, historical, and social dimensions of creating a photographic archive and how might these be related? Which factors contribute to the construction of a photographic archive as a relevant resource for public history and/or academic inquiry? How can aesthetic and social/political discourses work together to achieve this end?

December 14, 2008 On the Road Robert Frank discusses his book, "The Americans," with Philip Gefter. The book is an intimate visual chronicle of common people in ordinary situations drawn from several trips he made through his adopted country in the mid-1950s.

Susan Meiselas with Phong Bui by Phong Bui On the occasion of her current exhibit Susan Meiselas: In History at the ICP (International Center of Photography), on view until January 2009, Rail Publisher Phong Bui met with the photographer on-site to talk about her life and work.

Sharbat Gula - 'The Afghan Girl' photographed by Steve McCurry for National Geographic.

please watch these in advance of the session -Take Care by MediaStorm because of it's great use of stills and video to combine for a moving and aesthetically powerful visual narrative, it's great character development and that fact that within a short time frame you get transitions and a transformation within the story. I'm impressed that this project came out of a one week workshop, which is testament to the collaborative effort that so often is part of a successful multimedia work, but also to Gillian Laube's visual sophistication. http://mediastorm.com/training/take-care -Blanco- by Stefano de Luigi is a great example of multimedia that is more conceptual, evocative without being journalistic and visually stunning. While the reliance on special effects might turn off some, I find it quite effective in this case. As multimedia developments and evolves as a new medium in the context of photojournalism and the profession of photography, we must remain open to using the new tools and techniques available to us. http://magazine.viiphoto.com/feature/show/267 -50 Milligrams Is Not Enough- by Bob Sacha and Scott Anger, produced by Pam Chen for Open Society Foundation. This marvelous piece highlights a worldwide issue in healthcare, told in an intimate, moving, visually lush way. This piece is a great example of visual storytelling and advocacy journalism, done with the highest aesthetic qualities. Great character development, in a wonderfully told plot, with sensitivity and high journalistic standards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWeUDNyqo1I -Leaves Keep Falling- by Ed Kashi, produced by Talking Eyes Media, is a short film and strong example of advocacy journalism. About the lingering impact of Agent Orange on the children of Vietnam, it mixes stills and video in a linear narrative to keep a story that seems old alive and relevant for new generations to remain aware of. It was produced for a foundation in cooperation with an NGO working to support families

Episode III - Enjoy Poverty is the second in a series of three films by Martens that raise issues regarding contemporary image production. For Episode III Martens travelled for two years with his video camera in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an area marked by humanitarian disaster, questioning why the Western 'poverty' industry are benefactors rather than the people in the images. Working with Congolese photographers, he attempts to guide them in earning a living from poverty photography - a project doomed to failure. Episode III was screened at London's Wilkinson gallery for several weeks this winter, and during that time Martens also spent an evening discussing his work with ArtReview's J.J. Charlesworth. This is the second and final part of that