Monkey of the Day

Another monkey from Tito's collection of stuffed admirers... Lena Philipson photo.

Children Of the Mangroves Redux

--Archive Photos--


A Salvadoran boy in El Espino, 2006



A Roma girl in Ukraine, 2008

LUND--I am (I hope) declaring "News From El Salvador: The Children of the Mangroves" finished, done, complete--at least in its present form. There were always some parts I wanted to tighten, a music track to add, a short interview to add and one or two or three parts of different interviews to cut. That is all done, finally, and if it isn't perfect then it will remain imperfect until I go back and spend a month in El Espino getting the footage the film deserves for a second incarnation. But this incarnation is done and better still, it is accompanied by a 20 minute short version that concentrates solely on the currileros, the clam-digging children of the mangroves. The short omits a lot of the background interviews and footage on the state of El Salvador today and though most of the footage it contains is present in the long version they are really different films. But both, along with a slide show, are contained on the DVD.

It is good to get that finished. I want to go back and will just as soon as I can find the funding to do so. But in the meantime I have been putting new galleries up on my website www.andrewtonnphoto.com so go and check out Faces of Transcarpathia and one of a Roma settlement outside of Barackzas, Transcarpathia. Both were taken this summer while I was in Ukraine with SARA. If the unrelenting black and white social documentary gets to you then check out Swedish Summertime in Skåne for a colorful look at the lighter side of life. Now it is time to begin editing the Ukraine footage in earnest.

Monkey of the Day

Here we have a sad, stuffed monkey from Tito's museum of sad, stuffed animals...

Monkey of the Day

LABIN, CROATIA

From the Archives: Semana Santa in Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras, 2006

LUND--When I went to Central America a few years ago I shot a fair amount of film as usual. That was the trip, however, that I discovered SARA and was introduced to the currileros. Upon return most of my energy was put into printing shows of that one subject and raising money to make the film, "News From El Salvador: The Children of the Mangroves" which I finished this winter. Many of the printed stills, in fact, were taken digitally with a Nikon D1x though many were shot with the Leica as well. The point remains, anyway, that the huge majority of the film I shot on that trip has never been scanned or printed. The additional fact is, out of a four month trip no more than two weeks were spent in El Salvador. In other words there is a large amount of widely varied material from around Honduras and Guatemala.

A while back I began chatting with a guy working at a local photo lab. Turns out he is an American named Justin who has lived here about nine years. The other day I asked him if he could give me some tips on my negative scanner as he is not only a knowledgeable and skilled photographer but a highly experienced lab man. So he came over and gave me some tips on my Nikon CoolScan V and then we tried to unravel the mysteries of Sweden and the Swedes. I don't know if we accomplished that but we did manage to scan this picture (shot on Ilford HP5 with a Voigtlander 15mm on the M6) drink a few beers and have a good conversation.

Salva-dillo: From the Archives...

USULATAN PROVINCE--We turned from the main highway down a narrow, two-lane road that until only a few years ago had been a dirt track that often washed out during the rainy season leaving the coast cut off from the rest of the world. We saw these two boys playing with their pet, perhaps future dinner, and I asked the driver to stop. The armadillo didn't seem all that happy with the attention, would most likely have been off doing whatever it is that armadillos do, but he posed politely anyway.

What Was I Thinking Anyway??

LUND--I don't want a D700. I want a Nikon D3. Of course I want a D3. Yeah, the 700 is smaller but not so much smaller I'd carry it anytime I wouldn't carry a D3. If I wanted a small, easy to carry SLR that would be a D40 or D40x. Even if it is an amateur model it is still an SLR and takes real lenses. And if I really want to carry a small camera it would probably not be SLR time anyway but pocket camera time. So there, that is it, this time I mean it. The D3. Now I just need $4,500. But I did finally get a Swedish freelance job today. It even pays real money. Just not that much...