Burma in Transition by Geoffrey Hiller (Archive)

Geoffrey Hiller is raising funds for his photobook documenting life inside Burma from 1987 through the recent historic transition. To receive contributions, the project must be funded in full by 10/10/13 www.kickstarter.com/projects/8...
The photographer: I grew up in New York, and it's on crowded city streets where I feel at home, watching lives play out, in places like Brazil, Bangladesh, and Burma. Photography is the best way to find the pulse of a place, to explore, to reflect, to understand who we are. My work has been published in magazines including Geo, the New York Times, Newsweek, and others all over the world.
Five years ago I created Verve Photo, a blog which showcases powerful work by international documentary photographers. Besides shooting and editing, in recent years I have been teaching photography and digital media as a Fulbright scholar in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Pakistan.
The Burma Project: The country that has drawn me back most often is Burma, one of the world's poorest and most isolated places. I first went in 1987 on the one-week visa. After a frenetic trip, it wasn't so much the monks and pagodas that haunted me, but the faces of the Burmese, painted in white, often smiling. I wanted to find out more about who they really were, plagued by a corrupt government and international sanctions. Despite a travel boycott, I decided to return in 2000. The military now called the country 'Myanmar' and was no less repressive but allowed me to stay longer and travel more freely. The result was the multimedia web site Burma: Grace Under Pressure, which won awards and was seen by millions.
Fast forward to 2011, when the US Embassy hired me to teach photojournalists in Yangon. I got on the plane that May with a tourist visa, worried that my name might be on a blacklist at customs. I did not know that the dictatorship was beginning to relax censorship and free political prisoners. There was still not one picture of 'The Lady', anywhere, and no one talked about her. By early 2012, all that had changed. It was amazing to witness one of the first rallies where Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party were allowed to appear in public. The Irrawaddy News and Foreign Policy Magazine published my stories of events in Burma. Some of the photographs were chosen for exhibit by Fotofest Cincinnati in their Reporting Back 2012 event.
I returned yet again in 2013. My camera focused on capturing daily life, from the cramped streets of the colonial capital of Yangon, to dusty markets in Mandalay, to Muslims in Meikhtila, and river life in Pathein.
The book: Everybody asks, where can I buy the book? Now the time is right to share these images, as Burma is poised for big changes, and politicians, businesses and NGO's from around the world begin to stream into the country. The face of Yangon has already changed, with new building construction and imported cars. What is unique about this country is how the repressive military dictatorship after 50 years has itself initiated this historic opening, allowing unheard of political and cultural freedom. The real question is how this will play out in the lives of the Burmese people.
I am asking for your help to self-publish a book. As some of you know, with changes in digital technology the publishing industry is going through a transformation, and publishers are reluctant to print books by even the most accomplished photographers.
A professional team is in place. Editors/designers Natasha Chandani and Lana Cavar have begun working with me to produce a high-quality 192-page book of color photographs in a 7 x 9 1/2 inch format.
Essays by prominent Burmese writer Dr. Ma Thida, a human rights activist and herself a former political prisoner, and also journalist Francis Wade will accompany the images to explain the context in Burma today. The book will be in print by April 2014.
Among the rewards are limited edition prints and a signed copy of the book.
Bio: The photography of Geoffrey Hiller has been published in magazines in the USA, Europe, and Japan including Geo, Newsweek, Mother Jones and the New York Times Magazine. He has completed dozens of photo essays in Asia, Latin America, Europe and West Africa and was on the staff of the Brazilian edition of National Geographic for two years. His award-winning multimedia projects about Vietnam, Eastern Europe, Ghana, Burma, and Brazil have earned recognition from Apple Computer, The Christian Science Monitor and USA Today. He has received grants from the Paul Allen Foundation, the California Arts Council, Regional Arts and Culture Council in Portland, Oregon, among others. Hiller was a Fulbright Scholar in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2008-2009. Most recently he has been teaching photojournalism in India, Burma, Cambodia and Pakistan. Hiller is the creator and editor of Verve Photo: The New Breed of Documentary Photographers. His home is in Portland, Oregon.