Jasmeen Patheja, like any good artist, squirms when I ask if she is also a social activist. Patheja has created a collaborative project and now a web site to better understand the issues of sexual harassement and rape in India. If you want to get involved and can help her out, I am sure she would welcome hearing from you.

I commended Jasmeen's use of her camera when she and her friend Pallavi were teased (in India it is called “eve teasing”) by some random guy on the street.

Melissa Lyttle mentioned The St. Petersburg Times as a paper that is photo-friendly because several of the photographers working there have their own photo-driven columns and upper management is visually savvy.

Gerik Parmele who runs the terrific website – photocolumn.org – has just posted an article by photojournalism Prof. David Rees about creating photo columns at your publication.

If you are considering doing this kind work, please brush up on your writing skills or get one helluva copy editor. Either way, it just might reinvigorate your work and will boost your presence in the newsroom.

Magnum Photos announces the third $5000 Inge Morath Prize to be awarded to a woman photographer under 30 years of age. The prize is designed to assist in the completion of a long-term documentary project.

Inge Morath was an Austrian-born photographer who was associated with Magnum for almost 50 years. She died in January, 2002. As Morath devoted much of her enthusiasm to encouraging women photographers, her colleagues give this award as a tribute to her efforts.

Send the following support material as part of your application:

a] Send a project description (maximum one page)
b] Between 40 and 80 slides in a carousel or on a CD.
c] A CV (maximum, three pages) including photographer's name, telephone number, e-mail address, plus shipping and mailing address with return envelope.

Send support material to:

Magnum Photos Inge Morath Award
c/o Magnum Photos
151 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10001
USA

Deadline: June 1, 2005
Award Announcement: July 15, 2005

“My name is Bryan Meltz and I have been reading Tiffinbox for years now, and I wanted to write to you and show you a few pictures and let you know that I was recently awarded the 2005 Yarka Vendrinska Award from The Maine Photographic Workshops, and I'm pretty sure and I read about it through your site.”

I am so pumped and honored that information found here on my site motivated Bryan [“a female photographer,” she reminds people because the name throws people off a bit] to apply for this photography scholarship and win it.

Now I know two people who have won this prestigious award. First, of course is Robb Hill who told me about winning the award last year and now Bryan, a photographer based in Atlanta, Georgia. Congratulations!

Quite honestly connecting photographers to opportunities such as this is the central objective behind Tiffinbox. And to have achieved it with such resounding success really makes me proud. From your end, it pays to bookmark, subscribe to the webfeed or keep checking this site. If you hear of fellowships, internships, awards, contests, please do not hesitate to email me at tiffinbox[at]pipalproductions[dot]com.

This month I have been publishing images of a young London-based lawyer-activist named Tahir Amin who is interested in using photography in social justice causes. He is just getting his feet wet and some of us have been chiming in with advise to improve his skills.

June and July promise to be very interesting months for this site because I will be publishing images that are likely to make you squirm and question your beliefs. So, come back and visit often. There is something for everybody here.

I began last Friday by blacklisting spammers. Well, I actually listed the IP addresses they so liberally use. I have decided to make this a Friday ritual.

“I want you to copy and paste these numbers in your respective ban-lists. This has to be a group effort. Ok? Please help me, help you, help us.”

So here is this Friday's offerings:

68.36.21.58
200.151.121.74
24.42.140.140
80.9.9.44
68.121.87.225
213.113.111.153
24.162.108.100
24.10.7.99
172.198.82.41
193.150.208.145
172.131.63.205
24.57.179.137
68.39.160.197
64.139.81.211
194.129.118.249