Faculty member Liba Taylor has traveled the world in search of great photographs
By Baia Dzagnidze
It was 1997 when
photographer Liba Taylor first heard about Joseph Kony, the head of the Lord’s
Resistance Army in Uganda .
A journalist colleague working for UNICEF suggested that they do a story on the
child soldiers of Uganda .
“Back then, nobody
knew about Kony and his activities,” Taylor
recalls. “Although I had visited Africa many times before, I did not really
know anything about child soldiers in Uganda .”
But after arriving
in Nairobi ,
they saw the news that Princess Diana had died.
Former child soldiers of LRA in Gulu |
Battles against difficult odds are nothing new for Taylor, 62, who has
been venturing into difficult and dangerous places in search of adventure and
great photographs since she graduated from college. Now working as a
photography instructor at UNYP, she has had an interesting and successful
career as a documentary photographer, working with many well-known
international humanitarian organizations such as WHO, UNICEF, Save the Children
and UNAIDS, and traveling in third-world countries in Africa, Asia and Latin
America.
The Czech-born
photographer was 18 years old when she left Prague
and moved to London , the day after the
communists invaded Prague
in 1968. She spent most of her life there,
returning to Prague
in 2006.
One of the 20,000 victims of a civil war in 90s in Sierra Leone |
After graduating, Taylor started working as a freelance photographer in London . As she always
wanted to travel, especially in Third World
countries, she targeted the NGOs and United Nations. Those organizations started to realize that a
photo can sell and attract more people, so they created their own magazines and
needed photographers. However, it was not easy to get an assignment, as you
needed to come up with a story. Moreover, the agencies did not pay for a plane
ticket.
“You had to say
where you wanted to go, get all the agencies on board, and make them promise
you a certain number of days of work,” Taylor
says. “They would help you with accommodations once you got there, but you had
to fly there by yourself.”
Girl from orphanage in Hargeisa, Somaliland |
“I knew a lot of
photographers of my generation who were doing stories for the newspapers in London , which was extremely boring for them,” Taylor says. “I never
wanted to do that, and luckily I hardly ever did it. I managed to make my work
with the NGOs and the UN.”
“Once in the ’90s,
I had to go to one place in Africa . It was
just two of us in the car, a driver and me in the desert. No roads, just
special tracks. He knew English but not very well, so I could not interact with
him that much. The only thing I could do was enjoy the view, which makes you
feel like you are high on drugs – the
only words you say are “Uh!” and “Wow!” At one point the driver suddenly took a
sharp turn to the right ʻWhere are we going?’ was my question. ʻWe have to go
there.’ was the response. They follow their nose, and you just have rely on
them.”
Conditions were
often harsh, but Taylor
says she didn’t mind.
Outside of Mother and Child clinic in northern Ghana |
Her work
occasionally brought her into contact with celebrities like Angelia Jolie, whom
she met twice, once in Sierra Leone just before Jolie became an
ambassador for the UN, and later in Sri Lanka . Taylor describes Jolie as
absolutely amazing – committed, hard-working and eager to help. “She doesn’t
have to do it, but she does and she is powerful in her determination,” she
adds.
Award-wining photo shot in northern Kenya |
When she developed
the film, Taylor
loved the picture. She sent it to Face to the World, a competition organized by Christian Aid in London, and won first prize. “I don’t know if that is my very
favorite picture, but it’s the one that is very important and significant in my
career,” she says. “[Winning the competition] was good for my publicity.”
One of her most
interesting projects was “Motherhood,” assigned by an organization called International Confederation of Midwives. Those pictures were taken in Trinidad ,
Peru and Canada . They are quite explicit and graphic – some
clearly show childbirth. Getting such intimate photos was not hard, Taylor says, as she was
introduced to the women in labor by midwives working for the organization. “It’s always good to be
introduced by somebody they know in the community,” Taylor says. “However, some of them said yes,
but some refused. When they say no, you respect them.”
Newborn still attached to his mother by umbilical cord. Trinidad |
“Things come
unexpectedly,” says Taylor .
“I do not plan anything.”
To see more of Liba Taylor's pictures, please visit:
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