POYi Emerging Vision Recipient Brings Poverty To Life in Cemetery

Rick Shaw, POYi Director

Eighty funerals a day take place at Manila’s North Cemetery, the burial grounds for Filipino presidents and other celebrities. Today the cemetery is also home to roughly 2,000 of the city’s poorest families. In order to bring the story of the breathing citizens of North Cemetery to life, James Chance, the 2010 recipient of the Pictures of the Year International (POYi) Emerging Vision Incentive, will spend the next year photographing the unique community. POYi is a program of the Donald W. Reynolds Institute (RJI).

"We believe documentary photography has the power to bring about important changes in our society," said Rick Shaw, director of Pictures of the Year International at RJI. "Through the Emerging Vision Incentive, POYi is proud to have the opportunity to not only support a rising photojournalist like James, but also help him capture the challenges of people often overlooked."

POYi’s Emerging Vision Incentive funds and showcases documentary work on social issues or political trends by aspiring documentary photographers. POYi selects one recipient each year to receive up to $10,000 to assist in developing a photo story that reflects daily life, social issues, cultural trends or news events.

"This cemetery is a fascinating example of how issues of poverty and overpopulation—and the increasing division between the most wealthy and the most poor—affects individuals and their families," said James Chance. "I am thankful to POYi for this opportunity and hope that my body of work will provide insight into the issues of poverty and overpopulation faced by the poorer residents of Manila."

In addition to financial assistance, the recipient will have the opportunity to have his work displayed at RJI and The Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles during their exhibit of winning images from the 67th Annual POYi Competition, which opens June 26. The Emerging Vision Incentive recipient will also receive a full day of career development during the annual POYi Education Seminar and Awards Program.

This year's finalists were Phillip Andrews, "Last Days: Final Flights of the Space Shuttle" and Khaled Hasan, "Tears of Memories, Death of Dream."

The POYi Emerging Vision Incentive program is made possible through financial support from the Reynolds Journalism Institute and the Annenberg Foundation.