Artistic Components of The Tech Awards Gala 2009
The Laureates' Films
The films that introduce the Laureates and their projects are unique in the history of The Tech Awards in that they include interviews with the Laureates themselves-most of whom arrived in Silicon Valley just days ago from regions as faraway as Bangladesh, Brazil, Austria, and Nigeria.
See the Laureates' passion expressed personally through these brief films-using their own words and in their own voices. This proposition was both noble and daunting. Hollywood director Sandy Smolan and producer Bill Medsker accepted the challenge to capture the essence of the Laureates and their work in fifteen micro-documentaries filmed at The Tech Museum. Although they were concurrently filming in Georgia, Nepal, and India, they agreed to channel their impressive talent and technology to benefit The Tech Awards.
Smolan's films have been shown on television, in theatres and international film festivals, and now also at The Tech Awards Gala. His critically acclaimed debut feature "Rachel River" was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and took awards for Best Cinematography and a special Jury Prize for actress Viveca Lindfors. His television movies include "The Last Soldier" for HBO, the mini-series "Beach Girls" with Rob Lowe and Julia Ormond for Lifetime, "A Place to Be" for CBS, and "Taking A Stand," an Emmy Award-winning film for ABC, for which he was also nominated for Best Director. His television series credits include the acclaimed pilot for the series "Middle Ages," as well as many other popular network series including "Brothers & Sisters" with Sally Field and Calista Flockheart, "Eli Stone," "Everwood," "The O.C.," "Ally McBeal," "Dawson's Creek," "Chicago Hope," "Brooklyn Bridge," "Northern Exposure," and "L.A. Law."
Sandy Smolan began his career directing documentaries and lived in North Africa for six months shooting "The Maghreb Journals." He was the associate producer of two documentaries for CBS News: "The Cowboy, the Craftsman, and the Ballerina" with Morley Safer, and "Juilliard: A Life in Music," narrated by Charles Kuralt, which won the Peabody Award. Smolan's recent documentary "12 Stones," about the transformation of a group of illiterate women in southern Nepal, received the Jury Prize for Best Short Documentary at both the Tallahassee and Newport Beach Film Festivals and had a special screening last Monday for The Tech Awards Laureates.
Contributing Photojournalists and Agencies to The Tech Awards Gala
With courage and compassion, these remarkable photographers show us a magnificently diverse world and-like The Tech Awards Laureates-focus our attention on complex challenges confronting our planet and its peoples. Heartfelt thanks to the legendary Karen Mullarkey, of KAM Picks Pix in New York City, for coordinating, collecting, and curating the hundreds of compelling photographs projected onto the surrounding screens at this year's Gala, and to Rick Smolan and the contributing photographers and photo agencies around the globe for their inspiring work and generous support of The Tech Awards 2009.
George Steinmetz
Glen Ridge, New Jersey
www.georgesteinmetz.com
Best known for his exploration photography, George Steinmetz sets out to discover the few remaining secrets in our world today: remote deserts, obscure cultures, the mysteries of science and technology. A regular contributor to National Geographic with over 18 major photo essays, he has explored subjects ranging from the most remote stretches of Arabia's Empty Quarter to the unknown tree people of Irian Jaya. Steinmetz's current passion is photographing the world's deserts while piloting an experimental, motorized paraglider that allows him aerial access to unusual and otherwise inaccessible sites.
Brent Stirton/Getty Images
New York, New York
www.reportage-bygettyimages.com
Brent Stirton, the senior staff photographer at Getty Images, specializes in documentary work and is known for his alternative approaches. He travels on assignment an average of nine months a year. Besides regular assignments for National Geographic, CNN and The Discovery Channel, Stirton uses his time and talents on behalf of the Global Business Coalition against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; the World Wide Fund for Nature; and the Ford, Clinton, and Nike Foundations. This year the World Economic Forum named Stirton one of its 200 Young Global Leaders.
Gary Braasch
Portland, Oregon
www.braaschphotography.com
Gary Braasch is an Ansel Adams Award winning environmental photojournalist who creates important images and documentation about nature, environment, biodiversity, and global warming. TIME, LIFE, Discover, Smithsonian, National Geographic, Scientific American and the United Nations have published his images. Braasch is the author of Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World, which Al Gore calls "essential reading for every citizen." His exhibit "Climate Change in Our World" is on view at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, DC through March 2010.
Frans Lanting
Santa Cruz, California
www.lanting.com
Frans Lanting has been hailed as one of the great nature photographers of our time. His influential work appears in books, magazines, and exhibitions around the world. For more than two decades he has documented wildlife and our relationship with nature in environments from the Amazon to Antarctica. He portrays wild creatures as ambassadors for the preservation of complete ecosystems, and his many publications have increased worldwide awareness of endangered ecological treasures in far corners of the earth. In 2006, Lanting launched The LIFE Project, a lyrical interpretation of the history of life on Earth, as a book, an exhibition, an interactive website, and a multimedia orchestral performance with music by Philip Glass.
Magnum Photos
New York, Paris, London, Tokyo
www.magnumphotos.com
"Magnum is a community of thought, a shared human quality, a curiosity about
what is going on in the world, a respect for what is going on and a desire to
transcribe it visually."
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Magnum Photos is a photographic cooperative of great distinction owned by its photographer-members. Acclaimed for their powerful individual vision, Magnum photographers chronicle the world and interpret its people, events, issues, and personalities. Founded in 1947 by the legendary Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, and David "Chim" Seymour, Magnum today encompasses over 60 members of extraordinary talent and diversity.
Abbas
Bruno Barbey
Ian Berry
Thomas Dworzak
Elliott Erwitt
Stuart Franklin
Burt Glinn
Jim Goldberg
David Alan Harvey
Guy Le Querrec
Alex Majoli
Peter Marlow
Steve McCurry
Trent Parke
Gueorgui Pinkhassov
Marc Riboud
Miguel Rio Branco
George Rodger
Chris Steele-Perkins
Dennis Stock
Alex Webb
Drik
Dhaka, Bangladesh
www.drik.net, www.majorityworld.com
Drik of Bangladesh and KijijiVision of the U.K. have created Majority World,* a social enterprise that markets image content to global markets, providing a bridge to access the work of Majority World photographers. It enables the discovery of indigenous photographic talent, promotes ethical standards in trade, and values the in-depth, authentic, balanced view that local photographers provide.
* Majority World is the more accurate term for what has been known as "the developing world" and "the global south."
Abir Abdullah
Adnan
Tanvir Ahmed
Bayazid Akter
Shahidul Alam
Murtada H. Bulbul
Shoeb Faruquee
Syed Ariful Islam
Mustafiz Mamun
Shezhad Noorani
Shahadat Parvez
Naima Perveen
Azizur Rahim Peu
Din M. Shibly
M. Yousuf Tushar
Shaikh Mohir Uddin
Shehab Uddin
Munem Wasif
Aurora Photos
Portland, Maine
www.auroraphotos.com
Exotic, visually dynamic, and diverse describe Aurora Photos photographic solutions, from commissioned work to multimedia production, all supported by a worldwide image archive. Aurora's photographic collection and services have grown and diversified in many ways, while maintaining a flow of new content within a wide variety of subjects, the emphasis always being on quality imagery.
G.M.B Akash
Samantha Appleton
Jose Azel
Robert Caputo
Thomas Cockrem
Ann Eriksson
Peter Essick
Ricardo Funari
Lynn Johnson
Caleb Kenna
Joanna B. Pinneo
Steve Simon
Kadir van Lohuizen
Munem Wasif
Jochem Wijnands
Francesco Zizola
Blue Planet Run
Stephen Digges
Samantha Reinders
David Whitman, Director, The Tech Awards