OCULA Tuesday March 7, 2023
Ans Westra, a photographer famed for her portraits of Mori families in the early 20th century, died on Feb. 25 at her home in Wellington, New Zealand. The Dutch-born Westra was 86, notes Ocula. New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi posted Westra's picture of Mori children on horseback to Instagram with the caption “RIP Ans Westra. 1936-2023.” In 1964, her book Washday at the Pwas withdrawn by the New Zealand government after the Mori Women's Welfare League and other groups criticized her depictions of an impoverished rural family for sustaining negative stereotypes of Mori.
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World Nature Photography Awards Tuesday March 7, 2023
German photographer Jens Cullmann’s shot of a crocodile's head — just visible in a mud pool in Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe — is the top winner of the 2022 World Nature Photography Awards. Cullmann says he staked out the pool at a time when an extended drought had reduced the pool to rapidly-drying mud. “I had to be very careful not to disturb the crocodile, even though it was buried in dry mud,” he notes. “They will launch themselves with tremendous speed and power at any animal foolish enough to come too close.”
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Poynter. Tuesday March 7, 2023
At least 8,000 civilians have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, according to the United Nations, and thousands more have been injured. Millions have been displaced. But a recent tweet from far-right radio host Stew Peters, who has a history of spreading conspiracy theories, casts doubt that there’s even a war at all, notes Poynter. As proof of his assertion, Peters points to two photos of the same building in Kiev, Ukraine’s capital.
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The New York Times Tuesday March 7, 2023
The battle for the city of Bakhmut has created a defining moment of the war for both the Russian and the Ukrainian armies. While of no strategic value, the city is simply the next in the line of fire of a Russian offensive to seize the eastern province of Donetsk. But the fighting there has become a marathon contest to see which army can break the other, notes The New York Times, which features a report with images by photojournalist Daniel Berehulak. Russia's efforts, adds CNN, is coming with great cost.
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