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Emphas.is will be present at this month’s photojournalism festival Visa pour l’image in Perpignan, France, from Monday, the 3rd until the 9th of September.

Several photographers who produced their stories through emphas.is will have exhibitions and screenings. Erika Larsen who is currently raising funds for her book “Sami – Walking with reindeers” will be exhibited, Robin Hammond‘s ongoing body of work “Condemned” will also be shown as an exhibition, Remi Ochlik‘s work “Revolutions”,  and William Daniel‘s work on Syria will be screened at the evening projections.

In addition, on Friday the 7th of September at 5pm William Daniels, Peter Dench and Rian Dundon will be signing their books at Visa’s official bookshop Chapitre in the courtyard of La Poudriere. And on Saturday the 8th at 5pm Peter Dench and Rian Dundon will hold another signing session.

In the spirit of bringing photographer and their audience together, we are inviting backers of Remi Ochlik’s “Revolutions” and Rian Dundon’s “Changsha” to pick up their copy of the book during both days’ sessions.

Should you be present at this year’s festival and would like to show us your ongoing project or book project, please drop us an email at: [email protected] or [email protected] to arrange an appointment. Please, attach a PDF of your work.

We hope to see you there!

Due to unforeseen professional obligations at the start of his crowdfunding campaign, Jocelyn Bain Hogg from VII has not been able to dedicate sufficient time to his book campaign. Therefore, we have decided to extend the funding period for ‘Tired of London, Tired of Life’ on Emphas.is by 30 days.

Jocelyn is confident that he can reach his goal and so are we. Since he started communicating about his book funding campaign a few days ago, when he got back from his assignment, the project has gained significant momentum.

‘Tired of London, Tired of Life’ is an artist collaboration between Jocelyn, the artist Paul Davis and the designer Henrietta Molinaro, which gives a more gritty, real and humorous view of the Olympic city to be. Visit the project here.

A few people have recently reported problems making their pledge towards a project with their credit card using PayPal. There are many possible causes that can result in such credit card errors, and PayPal doesn’t give specific explanations on how to  make the payment go through processing again, with the same or different credit card.

Here are some causes for credit card rejections and possible solutions:

The Credit Card Is Linked or Associated with a PayPal Account

Mostly the reason a credit card is not accepted by PayPal when using it without signing into a PayPal account is that the credit card is already linked to a specific PayPal account. If you’re using a credit card that is linked or assigned to a PayPal account, try login to PayPal during the payment process. You can change the source of funding to make the payment with after you are logged in. You can opt to use your credit card instead of your PayPal balance.
The Credit Card Is Previously Used in PayPal Account or Assigned in Closed PayPal Account

PayPal remembers a credit card’s details even when it’s already been removed from the account. The information will also be remembered even if the PayPal account which linked to the credit card is closed and deleted. In this case, try another credit card, or assign the credit card to a PayPal account, and pay with the account by logging in.

PayPal Limit on Non-Member Credit Card Usage

According to PayPal, there is a limit based on the number of times, the amount of the transactions, the type of merchandise being bought, that a credit card can be used within the system without having to verify ownership by opening an account. The restriction is for security and fraud protection reasons. There is no workaround to this limitation, but you should be able to use another credit card. If there is problem, try using another email address. Or else, register a PayPal account.

Credit Card or Email Address Raises Flag in the Transaction

Closely linked to reasons above, some part of the transaction raises a flag on the server that stops the payment. Two possible flags are on credit card or email address. Try changing either the credit card or e-mail address or both when attempting to pay again.

Cookies Problem

Try using another web browser and/or delete cookies and attempt to pay with the PayPal gateway using your credit card again.

Credit Card Is Not Confirmed in Account

Contrary to some of the reasons above, if the credit card has been linked to an account, but not yet confirmed, try to complete all credit card information such as Card Verification Number or Security Code, and confirm the card by entering the PayPal code shown on the credit card statement on special refundable charge by PayPal.

In all cases, the problem won’t arise if you add the credit card to PayPal account, and use it as funding source to pay the transaction through your PayPal account.

A Country is not supported
Paypal regularly expands the countries it serves. However, lately also a few countries have been removed from the supported lists. In this case backers should use a card issued in a supported country or contact us for a wire transfer.

Photography as a tool for reconciliation

Last week CNN ran an interview with photographer André Liohn about the group project “Almost Dawn in Libya” that André has initiated. ADIL is an exhibition project curated by Paolo Pellegrin and Annalisa D’Angelo using photography as a tool for reconciliation in Libya. With the help of local organizations the project aims to bring four exhibitions to four Libyan cities – Benghazi, Misratah, Tripoli and Zintan.

Lynsey Addario, Eric Bouvet, Bryan Denton, Christopher Morris, Jehad Nga, Finbarr O’Reilly and Paolo Pellegrin, who all covered the Libyan conflict in the country and along the borders, joined forces to create a neutral arena were different people, with different opinions, expectations and experiences of the war, will be invited to see and react to how independent eyes saw their reality. They want to expand the lifespan of their images and bring them back to the very people they photographed.

They are two thirds of the way already, but need to raise an additional $4,600 within the next three weeks to make the project see the light of day.

With Paolo Pellegrin’s signed art print, that was offered as the $1,500 reward, already gone, André Liohn has decided to offer one of his signed art prints as a new reward to help them reach their funding goal.

Rebel fighting against pro government soldiers inside a  building in Tripoli street down town Misratah. ©André Liohn

You can claim this reward here.

Уже в течение более двух лет мы, трое фотографов, Ольга Кравец, Мария Морина и Оксана Юшко, снимаем проект про Грозный. Вот его сайт http://groznyninecities.com/. За два года у нас было несколько выставок, мы получили несколько призов, но в то же время все держится на нашем голом энтузиазме, потому что почти никто в мире уже не заинтересован в освещении Чечни – особенно так, как она есть на самом деле. Поэтому мы начали кампанию по сбору денег на проект, на сайте, где фотожурналисты могут обратиться непосредственно к аудитории http://www.emphas.is/web/guest/discoverprojects?projectID=345 и любой заинтересованный человек может поучаствовать.
Как поддержать “Грозный: девять городов” через сайт Emphas.is

1. Откройте ссылку http://www.emphas.is/web/guest/discoverprojects?projectID=345
Прокрутите страницу вниз и нажмите на кнопку FUND THIS PROJECT

2. Затем пройдите в раздел PLEASE SIGN UP
Emphasis создал короткое видео для тех, у кого могут возникнуть проблемы с регистрацией

http://blog.emphas.is/?p=703

3. После того, как регистрация завершена, вы должны выбрать, какую сумму вы хотите внести в проект. Можно выбрать из следующих опций:

$10 – доступ в закрытый раздел проекта на сайте, где мы будем рассказывать вам, как идет работа, как только вернемся в Грозный. И еще немного любви от нас.

$25 – веб-доступ к новым частям нашей видео-инсталляции

$30 – набор открыток с личными благодарностями от нас всех

$100 – ваше имя на сайте проекта или отпечаток 30×20 cm

$250 – арт-объект работы молодого чеченского художника

$500 – номерной отпечаток с подписью автора

$1000 – набор из трех отпечатков с подписями, по одному от каждой из нас

$2000  – логотип вашей организации на нашем сайте

3. Введите ваш адрес для получения выбранного подарка (при желании остаться анонимным, вы все равно получите подарок, но в этом случае вам надо будет кликнуть на

I want to be an anonymous backer for this project. Do not display my name in the recent backers list.

4. Как только вы нажмете CONFIRM, вас перебросит на сайт PayPal – надежной платежной системы, где после аналогичного процесса регистрации вы можете платить кредитной картой.

ЗАРАНЕЕ СПАСИБО за вашу поддержку!

We’re proud that five projects have been fully funded through Emphas.is so far; however, there are some that did not reach their funding goals in time. We are dedicated to making the process at Emphas.is transparent, providing answers to potential questions in our F.A.Q. We want to be particularly clear about what happens to the money a backer pledges to a project that does not reach its goal.

Because we trust that photographers have carefully formulated their budgets, when that full budget is not met, the money is returned to the backers through the PayPal system that supports all Emphas.is transactions.

Although we would love for every Emphas.is project to be fully funded, we never expected it. Understanding what projects the public is eager to support and how to explain the necessity of stories are important lessons we can learn from unfunded projects. We continue to analyze the results and interview Emphas.is photographers so we can pass on what we learn to the larger crowdfunding community.

If you have backed a project that did not reach its goal, we hope you will help us continue this learning process by reinvesting the money you pledged in another project – and letting us know why those projects are important to you.

We are excited to introduce three new Emphas.is projects, which reach from a small town in Pennsylvania to the entire continent of South America.

Tati Almeida, whose son was arrested and disappeard by the Argentine military in the early 70's. Photo by Joao Pina.

Joao Pina: Shadow of the Condor

Between 1975 and 1978, at least 60,000 people were killed in Operation Condor, a secret military plan to eliminate political opponents of dictatorships in six Latin American countries. Joao has been documenting families affected by Operation Condor for the past nine years and hopes to complete his project with help from Emphas.is. Backers will accompany him on a trip back to Brazil, the first of three trips that will also take him to the other affected countries: Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Paraguay.

A funeral in Misrata, Libya. Photo by Michael Christopher Brown.

Michael Christopher Brown: The Libyan Republic

While photographing in Libya last month, Michael was wounded in the same attack that killed photojournalists Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington and injured Guy Martin. Deciding to return to Libya despite the danger, Michael has launched an Emphas.is project where backers will help him make sense of the current conflict, also uncovering the lost pieces of Libya’s past and present daily life.

Dinah "Dee Dee" Bacon and her children hadn't had a stable place to live for over a year. Photo by Justin Maxon.

Justin Maxon: Chester, PA, Rally against violence

Since forging deep connections with the people in Chester over the last few years, Justin has decided to go beyond simply documenting the ingrained violence there. By supporting his project, you can support his plan to photograph bereaved families and turn their images into placards for a non-violence rally and community-backed workshops. Justin work from Chester was featured on the New Yorker‘s Photo Booth blog last week.

Since launching, Emphas.is has helped fund five photographic projects, including Aaron Huey’s Pine Ridge project, which blazed past its $17,250 goal to raise a total of more than $25,700 for printing posters and billboards that raise awareness about the unfair treatment of indigenous populations in the United States. Aaron, along with artists Shepard Fairey and Ernesto Yerena, recently spent a day signing posters in L.A., so supporters can expect their rewards to be delivered soon.

And it’s not too late to be get involved in fully funded Emphas.is projects, which include a 10-month exploration of migration from the southern-most to northern-most points of the Americas and an in-depth look at the rich Uyghur culture of northwest China. Supporters can now buy access to these projects for a minimum of $10 and receive exclusive updates from these exciting projects.

We’re also pleased to announce that, while the Besieged project documenting the effects of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo did not achieve full funding through Emphas.is, it has received full funding from the Open Society Institute’s South Africa branch.

We received the sad news yesterday that renowned photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros had been killed while covering the conflict in Libya, following an attack in which Guy Martin and Michael Christopher Brown were also wounded.

We feel our community has suffered a tremendous loss. We want to share our deepest condolences with Chris’ and Tim’s families. They were friends, colleagues, and a constant source of inspiration.

So many beautiful pieces have already been written in their memory; we simply want to encourage everyone to remember and share the important work they dedicated their lives to.

• Remembering Tim Hetherington, by Amy Yenkin, director of the Documentary Photography Project for Open Society Foundations.
• The News We Don’t Want To Report, by Jon Levy, the founder and director of Foto8.
• A longer list of posts about Tim and Chris has also been compiled on dvafoto.

Tim Hetherington ©Matt Stuart              Chris Hondros ©Alan Chin

Hi everyone. We’ve had a couple questions about the process of signing up for an account on Emphas.is, which allows to start supporting photographers’ projects. We’ve tried to make it as easy as possible — please click on the link below to see a short tutorial.

How to Create an Emphasis Account

To recap the video: Please visit the “Login” page and scroll down to the section marked “PLEASE SIGN UP to become part of the community.” Enter information in all the spaces and click “sign up.” When you do this, a notification should appear at the top of the page telling you that a confirmation email has been sent to your email address. Please find the email in your inbox and follow its instructions.

We hope that helps, and, again, thank you for your support. If you have any further questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below and we’ll respond as soon as possible!

Service announcement:

The Emphas.is website will be temporarily unavailable due to scheduled maintenance on April 9, 2011 beginning at 8:00 a.m.  CET.

We count to have the site back up by 10:00 a.m. at the latest.  We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for you patience!

The System Administrator.