Picture of the Week #8 - January 19, 2009 - "Jungle Temple - Angkor Wat, Siem Reap Cambodia" 2000 This haunting Jungle Temple was only discovered in 1875. It is said to have been built around the year 1000. At the time there were 1 million people living here. At the same time there were less than 75,000 people living in Paris. For some unknown reason the entire place was abandoned and became overgrown with foliage and trees as you can see here. About 1875 a French botanist was hacking his way through the jungle and came upon this ancient city which had become known only as myth. It is now a World Heritage Sight and a National Park. We were taken here by our good friends Heidi Eckes and Alberto Lensi in 2000 after our excursion through Bhutan. It is truly a magical place and one that ranks up there next to the Pyramids and the Great Wall of China.
Picture of the Week #7 - January 12, 2009 "Mad Man" This craggy faced old man was originally photographed in 1972 as part of a Music Video that I was producing and directing for the rock group Dr. Hook and the Medicine show. The song was titled "Carry Me" and dealt with alcoholism. Not sure how to portray alcoholics I went down to the bowery in New York and secretly hid a camera inside my coat with a long cable release in to my pocket. I was naively hoping to take pictures without anyone seeing me. I was wrong. I was immediately spotted by another poor soul who asked me for a quarter to take his picture. I obliged. In no time he became my guide and I spent $30 that day photographing many down trodden homeless living in doorways and cardboard cartons. This particular image is from that series which in 2003 I exhibited in Black and White and titled "Holy Men - Medicine Men - Mad Men" at the Le Deux Cafe's Gallery in Hollywood to overwhelming critical praise. An editor from Vanity Fair said and I quote: "Stephen Verona's work recalls the greatness of Steichen and Weegee with all of the passion of Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans. A must see". It doesn't get much better than that. So, I put down my paint brush and focused entirely on photography.
Picture of the Week - January 5, 2009 "A Woman Informing Herself" was originally taken in Cairo Egypt in 1989 when I was going around the world. With Muslim women having little identity in the modern world I thought that this woman informing herself was graphic and to the point. You can feel her face under the veil. This photo also won the top prize from the International Library of Photographers in 2008 as well as the Editor's Choice Award.
