We are very pleased to be featured in Verve Photo today!

Verve: endurance, fire, force, gumption, gusto, intensity, moxie, passion, spunk, stamina, strength, toughness, vigor.

Photographer and photo editor Geoffrey Hiller has created Verve Photo to feature photographs and interviews by the finest contemporary image makers today. Verve Photo is a reminder of the power of the still image. Verve Photo will also point you to new photo agencies, publications, and inspiring multimedia projects.

Getting advice or just eating on the street is no problem in the capital of South Korea, even when temperatures drop below zero.

Swiss photographers Stéphanie Borcard und Nicolas Metraux were impressed how life and business went on despite chilling winter conditions. A tent, a few plastic tarpaulins and a couple of gas heaters are all it takes to set up a chapel, a fortune teller’s table or a Kimchi restaurant and get working.

Front galleries on swissinfo.ch in various languages:

ENGLISH Chilling out with Seoul food

DEUTSCH Der Kälte trotzen

FRANCAIS Ils défient le froid

ITALIANO Sfidare il freddo

ESPAÑOL Resistencia al frío

PORTUGUES Desafiando o frio

日本語 :: 寒さなんかに負けない

عربي :: وتستمر الحياة!

中文 :: 抵御严寒

What remains when everyone has gone? Reflections on traces and memories.

Swiss photographers Stéphanie Borcard and Nicolas Métraux searched in China for abandoned and empty places and spaces. Each scene appears like a stage where the actors have just left or never appeared. The analogue pictures in black and white impart a timeless atmosphere and encourage the viewer to create his or her own story.

Front galleries on swissinfo.ch in various languages:

ENGLISH Long Gone

DEUTSCH Long Gone

FRANCAIS Partis sans laisser d’adresse

ITALIANO I luoghi dell’oblio

ESPAÑOL Ciudades fantasma

PORTUGUES Longe do mapa

日本語 :: 過去の名残

عربي :: مسافر زاده الخيال

中文 :: 已经过去很久很久了

OPEN SHOW Switzerland #2

SHOW DATE: November 3, 2011 7:30pm to 9:30pm

VENUE: Espace_L | Route des Jeunes 43, Allée G Quartier de la Praille| 1227 Carouge  

Espace_L created by Leticia Maciel’s objective is to foster interaction between a number of different fields, presenting internationally renowned artists along with photographic workshops, a reading environment for the arts and a good cup of coffee.

This month PRESENTERS & PROJECTS are:

Stéphanie Borcard / Nicolas Métraux – Waiting for Saigon
Anastasia Dutova – Illusion
Mark Henley – The Vaults member of Panos Picture
Delphine Millet – Moving Backwards

RSVP ON FACEBOOK Seats are limited

Open Show organizes FREE social screenings where the public can see compelling work and interact directly with photographers, filmmakers and multimedia producers in high-profile spaces.

The organization serves as both a project incubator through local social screenings and distribution platform through a global network of media and gallery partners.

Open Show’s mission is to connect, inspire and educate a new generation of creators and a supporting audience.

Up to five curated presenters (from students to professionals) have 15 minutes each to show their project 20 images on a single narrative topic or visual theme (note this is NOT a portfolio review!) while the audience poses questions or provides project feedback.

Starter food and drink is provided, but Open Show is potluck style (diner canadien).

Please bring your favorite finger food, beverage or donation (10 F suggestion)

Way to go at Espace_L

JOIN OUR TEAM

A volunteer event team is assembling to launch Open Show in Switzerland – contact us to see how you can help.

KNOW A POTENTIAL VENUE?

If you have an event space or know of a great one let us know. Open Show venues fit 50+ people and include universities, galleries, studios, companies, non-profits arts, community spaces and more.

OPEN SHOW SWITZERLAND CO-PRODUCERS

Mathieu Grandjean

Gael Favari

A photographic travel journal across Vietnam by train.

The Reunification Express – one of the slowest express trains in the world – was built by the French in 1936, destroyed during the Vietnam War and rebuilt in 1976. It links Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. Swiss photographers Stéphanie Borcard and Nicolas Métraux were fascinated by its slow pace and name and have called their photo essay Waiting for Saigon. The train evokes a sad past and a peaceful present.

Front galleries on swissinfo.ch in various languages:

ENGLISH Waiting for Saigon
DEUTSCH Warten auf Saigon
FRANCAIS ‘Waiting for Saigon’
ITALIANO Aspettando Saigon
ESPAÑOL Benarés, el Ganges y la noche
PORTUGUES Noites en Varanasi
عربي :: “في انتظار سايغون”
中文 :: 等待西贡
日本語 :: サイゴンを待つ

Spread the word!
Our new postcards just came out of the press…
Send us your address in an e-mail and get one of them with our best wishes from Bangkok!
Hurry up, we are leaving Thailand on the 17th…

Please mail to: info@bm-photo.ch

Chongqing is intersected by the Jialing River and the upper reaches of the Yangtze.
The city serves as the economic centre of the Upstream Yangtze area. It is the major manufacturing centre and a transportation hub for Southwest China.

Chongqing is known to be one of the four furnaces in China. But the furnace is not only about the weather: it is about massive economic developpement.

The signboard of the planning exhibition hall of Chongqing states proudly:

“Welcome to planning exhibition hall of Chongqing, in which the growth rings of this city can be found, showing the course of progress of Chongqing.
Chongqing, composed of an area of more than 82000sq. km, is displayed in front of the world and its 32 million people, with their enthusiasm, diligence and intelligence add colors and glory to this urban picture scroll.
The overall urban planning, like an artist, wields the pen among mountains, waters and cities, the history of old towns records the footprints of their ups-and-downs; the modern design blueprints depict a beautiful future. [...]
Time seems to get back to the remote past from today going into the future looking forward to a glamourous Chongqing. And the sustainable development of both its people and the city itself.
This is our common homeland — the youngest municipality directely under the central Government of China; an economic center in the upper reaches of the Yangze River.
This is Chongqing.”


“Sketches of Chongqing” is a small series of images confronting the human scale with an invasive urban environment.

Discover F8Magazine, an online magazine committed to photography.
We had a recent interview in its #4 issue (July 20, 2011).

Feel free to download it!

Stephanie Borcard & Nicolas Metraux - Soul on the Road | F8mag

Our picture Morning at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum has been chosen to be the photo of the day on FWAphoto.com.

Morning at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
Morning exercises in front of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Minutes after the national flag has been raised, the green space will be completely cleared by the security guards. Hanoi, Vietnam, April 11, 2011.

Our picture has been chosen to be the photo of the day on FWAphoto.com.

Bus to Saigon at the DMZ, Vietnam 2011 - FWAPhoto June 5, 2011
A bus headed to Saigon crosses the former DMZ. In the ricefield, a communist propaganda poster encourages the citizens to vote.
Former DMZ, Dong Ha, Vietnam May 9, 2011.

Older publication on FWAphoto.com.

Kawah Ijen Sulphur Mine, Indonesia 2008 - FWAPhoto January 9, 2010
Workers come here to extract pure sulphur blocks in extremely difficult conditions. Their daily income is about 5 USD. Without any effective protection, they inhale toxic fumes of sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, and hydrochloric acid. These fumes attack the lungs and mucous membranes: their life expectancy is considerably reduced. Sulphur is used for vulcanizing rubber, bleaching sugar and other industrial processes.
Kawah Ijen, East Java, Indonesia, June 18, 2008.

To the complete Kawah Ijen Sulphur Mine Gallery…