Represented by World Picture News photo agency, Paul Taggart exemplifies the concerned photojournalist, an increasingly rare breed. Documenting topics ranging from the Mahdi militias in Iraq, to pirates off the coasts of Antarctica, the aftermath of the Tsunami in Bande Aceh, and most recently the conflict in Lebanon, this young photojournalist has already traveled the world several times over. The panorama presented here is a different look at the recent and ongoing destruction in Lebanon.
Recent assignments have taken Taggart to Antarctica, Indonesia, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Nigeria, Niger, and Liberia; in 2004, he was captured while in Iraq. His work has appeared in Newsweek, TIME Magazine, US News and World Report, The New York Times, Boston Globe, National Geographic Adventure, among numerous international publications. Taggart studied at the Art Institute of Boston (Boston, MA) and is now based in the Middle East.
This panorama is one of a series that I started working on during the aerial bombardment this last July and August. The destruction in Lebanon is so severe that after living through it one almost becomes blind to it...this small project is my effort to stop, take a breath, step back and really look at the brutal devastation that the Israeli offensive had on the civilian population and their homes.
Lou Jones, self-taught photographer and educator, has been a member of the PRC since the late 1970s, and a member of the Board of Directors since 1985. Raised in Washington, DC, Jones graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with degrees in Physics. His work spans fine art, social documentary, editorial, and commercial photography, the latter half of which has taken him all over the world and to the Olympics for over 22 years. His editorial and advertising clients include IBM, Nike, Major League Baseball, Federal Express, National Geographic, and People Magazine.
Jones has been past president of the New England chapter of the American Society of Media Photographers and national board member of the ASMP. His images have been exhibited at venues such as Corcoran Museum of Art (Washington, DC), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, CA), Harvard's Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA), Cooper Hewitt Museum (New York, NY). His awards include the International Photographic Council of the United Nations highest award in 2000. He has published two books: Final Exposure: Portraits from Death Row (1997) and travel+PHOTOGRAPHY: Off the Charts, published in 2006 by Focal Press.
