Lisa Barnard, a friend of a friend, and noted UK visual artist, is coming to DC in August, a bold move when most natives are eschewing the confines of the Beltway for cooler climes. However, she has good reason: the annual AUVSI conference, which coincidentally, I once covered in a PR capacity, and let me just say, Bravo, it was a surreal, eye-opening event. In her own words Lisa seeks:
a student of photography who might want some work experience and who has knowledge of lighting and digital media. The dates will be from the 16th – 19th August, although I shall be there from the 12th. It wont be for all the hours within that day as I will be attending some conferencestoo. I have $80 a day to pay in my budget and that has to include expenses, I am not requiring any assistant to take any responsibility, just chat and general physical support. Ideally, someone who is interested in politics, war and capitalism within their practise.
Interested parties should contact her directly via her website. And really who needs the beach when you could happy snap unmanned vehicles? ; ) But I jest, I am sure Lisa will offer an interesting opportunity on many levels. If you are interested in learning more about Lisa’s own practiCe, she attaches her statement of her intentions with the unmanned vehicle conference:
Working Title: Whiplash Transition.
Part 1: AUVSI Washington DC
This photography and video project will be investigating the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems
(UAV’s) in the USA.
Revolutions in Military Affairs (RMA’s), is the term used to denote the paradigm shift in the essence
of what war is and what it will become. Although unmanned machines are already in operation in the
ever-changing battlefield, the ramifications of the development, building and use of UAV’s including
the political, ethical and legal aspects, is unknown and not widely discussed.
Peter.W.Singer states that, a UAV can shoot an apple at 800 metres but it cant tell if it is an apple or
a tomato. It is the concept or added information that helps the operator determine what the subject
is. I shall be attending the Aerial Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) conference
in Washington, where the latest developments in UAV’s are being promoted to the military, by
companies such as, Boeing and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. I will be capturing, using
a Canon EOS 5D, some of the UAVs in the conference environment. The UAV cannot discern sex, age
and cultural identity. Within the conference environment I am hoping to record – using a Canon Eos
5D – myself negotiating this location where war, capitalism and technological innovation collide. This
video will further question photojournalism’s truth claims, and embrace the dialectics or contradictions
that I feel is inherent and of paramount importance to my photographic practise.
Lisa Barnard