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  1. A challenging talk on any number of levels…

    Calling on documentarians to focus on the dignified, courageous, and beautiful, regardless of context… A stark contrast to the irony and detachment of so much contemporary photography…

    The balancing forgiveness and justice, in the story about the warlord Joshua… How do you balance justice and forgiveness? How do victims and perpetrators find a way to live side by side, as they must in Liberia (and many other places)? There’s are no easy answers.

    Much to think about.

  2. I completely understand where Mr. Lobo is coming from and I applaud him. It seems that just about every PJ/docu shooter is driven to do stories about death, dying, injustice and misery. You are expected to have a story in your portfolio about one of these topics when you come out of school or you aren’t interested in doing “serious work”. As a result they seem to stay on that track. But then I’ve always thought that those topics are easy to do. If you go to a war zone or cover a disaster or spend time with a family whose child is dying and can’t come back with emotionally powerful images then you should have become an accountant. It’s harder to find quiet stories and show them in a compelling way. But there are thousands of stories that need to be told that are not about the ocean of pain in the world

    When I started being a news/documentary photographer I decided to focus on stories that showed the humanity and strength of people. Even when I do portraits I want the image to in some way be honoring the human spirit. Mr. Lobo is doing great work and he should be an inspiration to hundreds of good photographers who are needlessly treading on tired subject matter.

  3. The way to go, at least for me.

    Focus on what you want if you are to bring positive change instead of focusing only on what’s wrong.

    A great proof it’s also possible to make it’s way looking at the positive and to bring positive change with that.

    Thanks for sharing this, very motivating.

  4. Thanks for an inspiring presentation and finely said words of wisdom on finding what really matters in your work..


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