Fortune Rejects Chris Ware Cover

Fortune Magazine commissioned Chris Ware to do the cover for their annual Fortune 500 issue. He responded with the brilliant critique of capitalism you see above. Fortune promptly rejected it. (Via Kottke.)

Regimento Infantaria Nº 14: Operating the new Pandur II armoured vehicle

Located in the center of Portugal, in the city of Viseu, the 14th Infantry Regiment (Regimento Infantaria Nº 14) is an icconic military unit of the Portuguese Army. Nowadays, the Viriatos, as their soldiers are known, compose one of the two infantry battalions of the Brigada de Intervenção (Intervention Brigade, the medium brigade of the Portuguese Army).

This regiment is modernizing its forces and structures, namely by receiving the new family of Pandur II of wheeled armoured of vehicles. During a report with them, last February, it was possible to watch some of the field training with this new vehicles, which are being assembled in Portugal in the region of Barreiro.

A full report of the exercise has been published, this week, by the Brazilian defence website Defesa Net:

http://www.defesanet.com.br/nato/pt_viriato.htm

Pedro Monteiro

Bravia Chaimite: The history of the first Portuguese-built armoured vehicle

A new article about the Chaimite armoured vehicle has been published, this time by Tankograd Militärfahrzeug, a leading publication in the area of military vehicles.

The article, fully published both in English and German, offers a comphreensive narrative of the history of the development, production and operation of this Portuguese-built vehicle which has been in operation for over almost forty years with Portuguese and foreign military and security forces. It also presents new developments and inedit photographs which complete the previous articles published by Motor Clássico. The magazine can be purchased online here.

Pedro Monteiro

Brigada de Intervenção: A new combat brigade for the new century

The April issue of Fuerzas Militares del Mundo brings a comphreensive article about the Brigada de Intervenção (Intervention Brigade, the medium brigade of the Portuguese Army) focusing its structure, missions and equipments and challenges that this combat brigade, created in 2006, is facing. Special attention is given to the Pandur II armoured vehicle programme which, in the mid term, will constitute the backbone of the brigade.

MAGAZINE DISTRIBUTED IN: Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Chile, Peru and USA.

Pedro Monteiro

Tales From FotoFest

The stage is set for portfolio speed-dating

I've always wanted to go to Houston for FotoFest. The shows, the people, the line dancing. One year I'll get down there. In the meantime I asked a two friends, Phil Toledano and Justine Reyes, who attended the portfolio reviews this year to report back from the trenches. It's been a few days since they returned home, but you get the idea.

Phil Toledano
Now I know what it’s like to be a cow at the meat-yard, waiting for the compressed-air bolt to the forehead.

Fotofest is a very interesting experience-it peels back the little band-aid the covers the giant weeping rash of desperation that all (ok-most) of us suffer from. Of course, it’s useful-for some of us, it’ll crack open a career. But (to quote George Bush, which I try and do as much as possible) make no mistake-we’re all down here dancing about like monkeys, selling our wares. Is this a little bleak? Well, I suppose so, but then again, I am the Morrisey of photography.

Sometimes I’m asked what I hope to get out of a meeting. Honestly? The only thing I’d like to hear is something along the lines of: “I’ve never seen genius of this importance before in my life-hang on, let me get the curator of MOMA on the horn” That would be great. Or a screaming artgasm ‘when harry met sally’ style, reviewer white-knuckling the sides of the table.

But I’ll settle for a group show in Nebraska.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve had a good time, and I’ve had some lovely conversations with some people who seemed (at the time) interested. I also met some really great photographers (red Sonja and death reyes-shout out to my peeps!)

We all ask each other how it’s going, and it’s a question I find very hard to answer. Some people liked my work, others, not so much. You really don’t have any clue. It can take a week, a month, or a few years.

Justine Reyes
Last day at Fotofest. Trying to summarize this experience seems like an extremely daunting task at the moment. I am exhausted. Being a first timer I guess I didn’t quite know what to expect. For only four days a lot is packed in. I met with ten reviewers today alone and then did an open portfolio night.

On the good side I have gotten to know some really lovely people, talented photographers and critical thinkers. It has been fun looking at people’s work and getting feedback on my own.

On the bad side there is at times this odd competitive/aggressive energy that I naively wasn’t expecting to encounter.

All in all I am glad I got to come and be a part of it although I don’t think I will be able to process this experience fully until after I return home and escape the vortex that is Fotofest.

Plagiarism: The World's Oldest Profession

With much (too much) discussion of late about plagiarism in the photography world, it's important to have some historical context. To wit, You Thought We Wouldn't Notice points to the interesting similarities between the lions in Peter Paul Rubens's “The Meeting of Marie de Médicis and Henri IV at Lyon” and Paul de Vos's “The Ark of Noah.”





Theft seems to be the one true constant in the long human history of creative expression.