Surviving rather than living
By Cathal McNaughton
“My wife thinks I don’t do enough but I’m doing everything I can. I work day and night. I’m trying to work my way out of this,” olive farmer Dimitris Stamatakos told me as he took a break from stacking wood at his small-holding in the village of Krokeae in the Peloponnese area of Greece.
During the boom years Dimitris, 36, made a comfortable living from the 1,700 olive trees on his seven acres of land – today, due to rising costs and higher taxes, his olive crop yields just 50 per cent of what it once did and to make ends meet he toils endlessly at odd jobs.
Selling firewood, hiring out his tractor and even hiring himself out as a laborer to his neighbors are just a few of the ways he makes the extra euros he needs to support his wife Voula and their two young boys, three-year-old Christopher and one-year-old Elias.
Dimitris’ work ethic is matched only by his hospitality. He insisted I join him for a glass of Tsipouro – the potent local brandy – which he served up with his home grown olives as he told me how he is trying to keep his head above water.
Gas & Water
By Tim Wimborne
Coal Seam Gas drilling is controversial. It’s also worth billions.
Some Australians love it, some hate it. The issues are big and they are complex. The industry is expanding like wildfire and the story develops daily. To more effectively tell this very thin slice of the story I combined pictures with audio, text and time-lapse video.
I believe this sector of Australia’s massive resources boom has the potential to make major political shifts. While reporting on it a farmer, a traditionally conservative lot, said to me “thank god for the Greens”.
Gas & Water from Tim Wimborne on Vimeo.
great job on Tim .. Gas I believe that photojournalism is showing a new face, in which photographers to enhance the production of video journalism. With a different content of the major media outlets because they are copyrighted, show the author’s vision. Congratulations for the work, a hug.
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Resident Photographers Blog Expert
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The Wall
Congratulations to the farmers in the story for their courage, persistence and hard work in caring for their families and businesses. They are heroes.