Once Magazine

Generation Gap: Grandparents Stretch to Fill In For Mom and Dad,...

Sun, 20 May 2012 10:04:00 -0700

Generation Gap: Grandparents Stretch to Fill In For Mom and Dad, Once Magazine: Issue 8

Story by Maddie McGarvey, and Taylor Wiles

Between 2001 and 2010, the number of children living in grandparent-headed households in the United States jumped 26 percent. The Castos, who are raising their three grandchildren in the absence of their parents, and families like theirs, are grappling with what it means to be a grandparent raising your grandkids as your own.

Although many such grandparents rely on kinship care aid from the state to help them make ends meet each month, the health of these programs has been touch-and-go, particularly since 2009. Foster care receives significantly more financial backing; but despite this gap in support, children who are put into homes with relatives have been found to have better school attendance and fewer behavioral problems.

Photographer, Maddie McGarvey, has spent over a year with the Casto family, photographing grandma Lorrie, grandpa Lee, and three of their grandkids, Paige, Seth and Sonya. Lorrie Casto says, “I would have money all month long if it wasn’t for the kids. But what else is a grandmother for?”

This story is a beautiful example of the kind of intimacy that turns a good photoessay into a great photoessay. It is clear that Maddie took the time to get to know Lorrie, Sonya, Paige, Seth and Lee. As a student at Ohio University, she visited the family on birthdays, Mother’s Day, and everything in between, and the result is a stunning investigation of what it means to be a family where Grandma and Grandpa double for Mom and Dad.

Once Magazine: An Update from the Team

Fri, 18 May 2012 16:30:00 -0700

Dear Readers and Subscribers,

Next week you’ll have a beautiful new issue of Once in your Newsstand: our ninth so far, including the pilot edition.

Together, we’ve come a long way. During these past months, we’ll have put out nine issues we’re extremely proud of. We hope you’ve loved them, too: it’s because of your support that we have been able to establish our place in the field of tablet publishing.

We want to keep bringing you new editions of Once. We expected the traditional challenges that come with independent publishing, and had (still have!) high hopes for the iPad, and what we can do on the platform. Many of those hopes have come true; and of course, some have not.

We want to put to use the knowledge and experience we’ve built with you over these past nine months. While we reorganize and prepare for our next iteration, we will bring you a series of singles—one story per issue, long-form, in-depth, and not to be missed. The first will launch on May 22nd, as our eighth official issue.

What might that mean for you?

If you’re a subscriber, the recurring monthly price will remain at $1.99. We communicated with Apple about lowering the cost of existing subscriptions, but found that the current infrastructure of Newsstand doesn’t allow for that yet.

We hope you’ll remain as subscribers: we think that the top-notch photographers in our upcoming singles are worth supporting, and they will continue to share in the revenue we generate from each issue you purchase, as always. However, we understand that you might be disappointed about the price of these singles: if you need instructions on how to cancel your subscription, you can check our page here.

That you subscribed in the first place we counted as proof that there were many people who believed that quality photojournalism was of real value, and worth funding. We hope you’ll remain in support of our belief in long-form photojournalism by continuing your subscription.

Since the launch of Once last year, you have rallied as a strong and supportive community who share our passion for documentary photography and our curiosity for new modes of storytelling. Thank you for helping us to bring the world’s top photographers to the iPad. We’re deeply grateful for your ongoing support. We would love to hear from you, here, on Twitter, or via email (hello@oncemagazine.com), and please enjoy this summer of singles!

- The Editorial Team

Retina iPad Update

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:52:33 -0700

Dear Readers,

Thank you for being so patient as we work to optimize our software for the retina iPad. We realize we’ve been slow (too slow) getting it out the door, but as is always the case with new software, it takes longer than expected to iron out the bugs. We’ve been coding and recoding for the past month, and we’re still at it. And we must say that as we test different builds, we’re always amazed at how good the photos look—it’s almost like a new magazine. A few more kinks to work out, and it should be ready. We’ll let you know as soon as it is.

Thanks for bearing with us.

Wouldn’t it be great to do a Once story from space? I...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:40:14 -0700

Wouldn’t it be great to do a Once story from space? I wonder how NASA feels about rev. share…

atlanticinfocus:

From Images of Earth From Above, one of 39 photos. A view of Earth, the stars, and red and green auroras above cities in western North America, as seen from the International Space Station, on February 19, 2012. (NASA)

Lens: Places Without Power (of Any Sort)

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:03:47 -0700

Lens: Places Without Power (of Any Sort):

In California, unincorporated communities lack basic infrastructure, since no local government can finance it. Max Whittaker has been documenting these areas, which often exist alongside well-off enclaves.

The New York Times’ Lens blog spotlights the work that Max Whittaker shot for Once Magazine’s current issue. Check it out, and download the April issue here.

Our preview of the story.

From Shepherds to Warriors: New Zealand Reclaims Its Rugby...

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:53:00 -0700

From Shepherds to Warriors: New Zealand Reclaims Its Rugby Title, Once Magazine: Issue 7

Story by Nacho Hernandez, and Christopher Benz

For New Zealand, rugby extends beyond sport; it’s a national passion. This fact would be unremarkable if the country of barely four million people was not so dominant. After hosting and winning the Rugby World Cup for the second time in 2011, New Zealand is the current World Champion.

But how is this South-Pacific island so good at winning games?

For months photographer Nacho Hernandez and writer Chris Benz (both former rugby players) each traveled the island in a quest for the secret behind New Zealand’s success in rugby. Their search took them through small-town dairy farms and sheep stations, high school rivalry matches, and eventually Eden Park—the palatial stadium where the All Blacks claimed their glory.

Back to the Garden: Tilling the Food Deserts of Chicago’s...

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:00:00 -0700

Back to the Garden: Tilling the Food Deserts of Chicago’s South Side, Once Magazine: Issue 7

Story by Emily Schiffer, and Tasha Flournoy

On Chicago’s West and South Sides, it can be easier to get a meal from a fast food restaurant than from a grocery store. Some residents travel twice as far, on average, to reach a grocery store than to reach a fast food restaurant. Corner stores are many families’ primary source of food and, until recently, few supplied affordable, healthy alternatives to processed food. For households without cars, travelling a mile or more to buy fresh food is a significant barrier.

In the past five years, access to food in Chicago has started to change. Research, activism, and city policy have improved commercial food access and increasingly enabled locally-operated urban farms and gardens to supply their own neighborhoods. On Chicago’s South Side—composed of predominantly African American neighborhoods with the city’s highest concentration of food deserts—two sustainable gardens grow on what was previously a vacant lot. The gardens belong to the Remake the World Veterans Center (RTW) in the Washington Park neighborhood—across the street from the park that was a proposed site for the failed 2016 Olympic bid. Broken concrete roads and vacant lots hug corner stores named “Fish & Chicken” and “Finest Food Basket.” U.S. Military flags may wrap around the RTW’s front gates but all civilians looking for a hot meal are welcome.

Unincorporated: California’s Forgotten Communities, Once...

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:52:00 -0700

Unincorporated: California’s Forgotten Communities, Once Magazine: Issue 7

Story by Max Whittaker, and Bernice Yeung

Nearly every day, Modesto Junior College student Arleen Hernandez battles an aging septic tank that backs up into her toilet and shower, bringing with it “bits of paper and chunks of mold.”

When Hernandez’s parents moved to Parklawn in 1986, they didn’t realize the extent to which their new neighborhood, an unincorporated area adjacent to the city of Modesto, lacks basic public services.

Parklawn is not connected to nearby city sewer lines, so Hernandez and her neighbors flush their sewage into overloaded septic tanks. There are almost no sidewalks and not enough storm drains. During heavy rains, children dodge traffic in flooded streets in the neighborhood locals call “No Man’s Land” on their way to school.

Across California there are hundreds of neighborhoods like Parklawn. These poor, dense, and unincorporated communities on county land—which uniformly lack some combination of sewer systems, clean drinking water, sidewalks, streetlights and gutters—have been the victim of years of governmental neglect.

This story was reported in collaboration with the Center for Investigative Reporting. To see more visit cironline.org or http://californiawatch.org/californialost.

Video produced by Carrie Ching. Courtesy of California Watch,...

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:48:00 -0700

Video produced by Carrie Ching. Courtesy of California Watch, the state’s largest investigative reporting team, and part of the independent, nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting. To see more visit cironline.org or http://californiawatch.org/californialost.

California runs on water. In The Golden State’s Central Valley, farmers compete with major cities for irrigation rights to grow the produce that the rest of the country eats, while cities struggle to quench the demands of 37 million people. In their new book, Valley of Shadows and Dreams (May 2012), Ken and Melanie Light reveal that there is simply not enough to go around.

The result has been long-time abuse of the interconnected water, land, and human labor that drive the state’s agriculture. With stirring images and text that is both honest and heartbreaking, Ken and Melanie portray the disparity of the Central Valley. Here, modern developments are replacing rural farmlands, aggravating the already over-worked land and forcing families into poverty.

Stark areal views of the California Aqueduct and man-made farm systems, as well as panoramas of open cropland reveal a destroyed landscape. The images are juxtaposed with what Melanie describes as the country’s “final crop: ticky-tacky cookie cutter houses and gated communities with waterfront homes on man-made lakes.” Ken’s images depict the people who are left with (or the product of) this “final crop” with a sensitive yet incisive lens: Exhausted farmers, immigrants, and families who have been reduced to mobile homes or homelessness. There are traces of an American dream here, but it is cracked and quickly drying up.

Melanie’s text follows the roots of the current predicament to early California settlement and its geographical evolution. She argues that social and environmental justice are intertwined, and perhaps the only means to restore what is left of the Central Valley. The book exposes and explains the often-overlooked weight of limited resources on a state too often regarded as the limitless fruit-basket of the world.

– Jenn Florin

Once update for the new iPad

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:49:25 -0700

Today is iPad day, and we’re really excited about the newest model. With a retina display that’s twice that of the iPad 1 and 2, the potential for beautiful photo stories is even more promising.

We’ve started testing on the newest iPad, but unfortunately don’t have an updated app for the device yet. This means that you’ll still be able to see Once issues on the new iPad, but they won’t look as good. In fact, we recommend that if you have a new iPad, to wait for our update before downloading.

When will that be? In the next couple weeks. We are working around the clock to get our software in line because we think Once stories are really going to look that much better with the new display. We plan to submit an update to Apple next week that will hopefully be available by the end of the month.

When the updated app is ready, we’ll post updates here, as well as on Twitter, Facebook, and in our Newsletter. You can either keep checking back or sign up for our mailing list.

We’re thrilled about this next step. It feels like Apple is creating a real canvas for photo stories. And that canvas just got way bigger.

Stay tuned.

The American Vote: Democracy Comes Home on Election Day, Once...

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:23:00 -0700

The American Vote: Democracy Comes Home on Election Day, Once Magazine: Issue 6

Story by Mike Mergen, and Julia Scott

Mike Mergen photographed polling stations on election days over the course of several years. In his series, Mergen shows us a sampling of the thousands of polling places that pop-up for one day each year around the United States; he chose to photograph those stations that occupy otherwise non-governmental spaces, from restaurants to corner stores to private homes.

In style, Mergen’s photos read as a cross between staged portraits and scientific records – his typological approach brings to mind photographic explorations by Bernd and Hilla Becher and, more recently, Candida Höfer. The photos are deadpan, yet subtly playful. The underlying humor of the series stems from the dissonance between the standardized apparatus of the voting booths and the wildly divergent spaces in which the voting booths are housed. Instead of a series of sleek streamlined polling places that one might expect, Mergen shows us the quirky spaces where democracy becomes participatory.

Six months ago, when we first approached Mergen about this series, we anticipated publishing the series during the madness of primary election season in the United States, when tempers are running hot, and all eyes and ears around the country are anticipating the outcome of the upcoming presidential election. These are the places we put democracy into action.

Where the Water Flows Uphill: Struggling for the Mighty...

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:13:00 -0700

Where the Water Flows Uphill: Struggling for the Mighty Colorado, Once Magazine: Issue 6

Story by Brian Frank, and Monica Campbell

“Spanning nearly fifteen hundred miles, the Colorado is a river of extremes. It sweeps through the Rocky Mountains into the Grand Canyon, through alpine valleys, down to sea level. Fields of alfalfa, grapes and wheat depend on it—and as of 2010 so do an estimated thirty-three million Americans. But for all this utility, it is heavily tamed. Perhaps one of America’s most tightly controlled water sources, the river is plugged by a series of dams. Increasing drought and demand from cities have exhausted it, with concern over allotment rights dating back to the 1922 signing of the Colorado River Compact.

In the Mexicali Valley, Juan Buenrostro depends on the Colorado’s scant water to tend his crops. ‘The trees have dried up,’ he says. ‘My children play around abandoned boats and buoys that used to float in the water.’ These are skeletal remains of a lush past.”

A Civil War In Retrospect: Finding the Enemy in Libya, Once...

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:58:00 -0700

A Civil War In Retrospect: Finding the Enemy in Libya, Once Magazine: Issue 6

Story by Guy Martin, and Rolla Scolari

“On February 15, 2011, Libyans revolted against Colonel Muammar Gadhafi, the nation’s ruler of over forty years. Within days, a civil war that would rage for seven months along the Mediterranean coast had begun. The day after NATO commenced air strikes on Gadhafi forces, photographer Guy Martin arrived in Benghazi on March 17, nearly a year ago today, with other journalists to cover the events.”

"I like the idea of having a site that is a place to think about what the potential of the iPad is —..."

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:20:25 -0800

“

I like the idea of having a site that is a place to think about what the potential of the iPad is — the narrative potential of the tablet and the potential of the tablet to create venues for new art and new kinds of fun that blur the boundaries of these things. It’s a really exciting time to me. When I first heard about the iPhone, even though I had the most bottom-of-the-barrel phone — that I was always losing — I said, “Ooh, I want that!” And the iPad is just vastly superior to the iPhone, as far as the user’s ability to experience art and to try new things that aren’t just games…

But it is a special kind of canvas. It is a device that enables you to focus on one thing at a time, and I know some people have a real issue with that, that you can’t open another window inside what you’re doing, but I actually find that really refreshing. Even as someone who loves the internet. When I turn to my iPad, I’m looking for a different kind of distraction-free experience, for whatever I’m working on at the time.

”

- Maud Newton, How We Will Read: Laura Miller and Maud Newton

Great interview by Findings about the iPad experience, with a mention of Once Magazine that we have tastefully refrained from excerpting. Check out the iPad-focused The Chimerest, too. Exciting times.

The Moors of Chicago: a Fiction, Once Magazine: Issue 5 Story by...

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 20:43:04 -0800

The Moors of Chicago: a Fiction, Once Magazine: Issue 5

Story by Paul Octavious, and Peter Orner.

This story is unlike anything we’ve published. It is fiction, though that is not to say it’s staged—these are photos of a real place and real people. But the narrative rests on the back of the written piece, while the photography pulls along the viewer by setting a tone and securing the place. Short interspersed videos extend the passing of time on The Hill.

We like to think that this kind of story has a magic that isn’t present in any other format—in print or on the web. Our belief is that in stories like these, photos, videos, and words can sit together differently, invoking a new kind of narrative that is not solely written or shot, but created in tandem. It’s one for the imagination.

And Satan Also Came Among Them, Once Magazine: Issue 5 Reporting...

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:14:00 -0800

And Satan Also Came Among Them, Once Magazine: Issue 5

Reporting by Noah Friedman-Rudovsky, and Jean Friedman-Rudovsky

Nearly 50 miles from the bustling city of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, the Mennonites of Manitoba Colony are physically and culturally isolated. The approximately 300 families that make up this “old colony” are deeply committed to a life of simplicity, devotion to God, and nonviolence.

From 2006-2009, however, their mores came under attack, as approximately 130 women and girls were drugged and raped by a group of men within the conservative community.

Noah Friedman-Rudovsky, and writer Jean Friedman-Rudovsky traveled to the reclusive community to report on the atrocities. Their reporting took them into the homes of altered lives and eventually inside the courtroom, where the accused were met by a room of their peers, searching for answers.

Africhina, Once Magazine: Issue 5 Reporting by Thomas Lekfeldt,...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:14:00 -0800

Africhina, Once Magazine: Issue 5

Reporting by Thomas Lekfeldt, and Lene Winther

“In the past decade, Chinese presence in Zambia has surged. It’s still unclear whether the investment is a boon to the African nation or if it will ultimately send Zambia further into debt. As of early 2007, Zambia owed China $217 million. Chinese restaurants, language schools, China-financed construction projects, and Chinese storefronts are, nowadays, always just around the corner.”

In 2011, Thomas Lekfeldt and Lene Winther travelled to Zambia, a volatile example of the larger phenomenon of Sino-African relations throughout the continent. “What is happening in Africa is very much a sign of a changing world order,” Lekfeldt said to us, “where China has an extremely important role to play.” Zambia’s relationship with China dates back to the 1960’s, but only recently—especially in the wake of global economic crisis—have the Chinese expressed such strong interest in investing in Zambia.

Jessica Dimmock’s Facts + Fictions Photographer and...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:36:00 -0800

Jessica Dimmock’s Facts + Fictions

Photographer and filmmaker Jessica Dimmock says she is a greedy photographer. That’s a cue the more timid among us should follow—to take more, when taking pictures. In conversation with MOMA (NY) film and media curator Josh Siegel on January 18, in the five-part VII Visual Journey Seminars, Dimmock explained her ability to show the closed quarters of individuals who isolate themselves in society. The results are some of my favorite documentary images and an intriguing body of reporting on the human condition—dispatches from an otherwise inaccessible elsewhere.

Jessica’s discussion was the second of five in VII Photo’s new Visual Journey Seminars, presenting unusual access to some of our favorite photographers. This week, the series presents one of VII’s founding photographers, Christopher Morris. They are candid but smart conversations with photographers about their own challenges, creativity, and their sense of themselves at work in the world.

In her most recent film project, the fictional “Without,” Dimmock borrowed from her photographic practice. When the lead character was in bed, she would crawl in beside her with the camera rolling. In her widely acclaimed photo reportage, “The 9th Floor,” Dimmock put her body into the same tight spaces her subjects squeezed into—bedrooms, bathrooms—and the result carries the viewer into unusually close proximity. She manages to bring us with her, but we see no evidence of her subjects noticing her, changing their course, or breaking with the their own thoughts. This photographer’s approach continuously brings her so physically close to her subjects, only to show their distance from others. I look forward to seeing her future work.

For more information on this Wednesday’s 12:00 p.m. EST talk with Christopher Morris, visit VII Photo. In the coming months, VII Visual Journey Seminars will introduce us to Ron Haviv and Venetia Dearden. See archived talks with Seamus Murphy and Jessica Dimmock in VII The Magazine.

—Jaimie

Props 4 props. It’s little things like this that blow my mind. I...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:02:00 -0800

Props 4 props.

It’s little things like this that blow my mind. I used to travel a lot. I also used to read Sky Mall, where I was constantly confronted with amazing but limited products like the bamboo portable charging station. Unlike most Sky Mall products, the GorillaMobile Ori for iPad is actually quite useful.

I won’t try to hide my bias, I really like Joby. I bought their GorrillaPod in 2007 to accompany my Pentax W20 shock/waterproof camera, days before leaving for a three-month expedition in Patagonia; and like the W20, the GorrillaPod was utterly bombproof, contorting and securing the camera to the bow of my kayak even in the worst conditions.

Recently, I got my hands on the GorrillaMobile Ori and once again my expectations were met—the Sky Mall stigma, destroyed.

Inspired by origami—the ability to create new function and form through folding— the GorillaMobile Ori goes from iPad folio case to multiposition stand faster than it takes to load the New Yorker.

With three set positions—a slightly angled typing position, a raised position, and a fully raised position great for viewing movies—the Ori offers real utility in a field of cluttered, often rushed concept-to-market products. The hinges along its bottom let me customize the angle of the screen to avoid that 4:00 p.m. glare I get in the office from the sun heading west. Most appealing, especially for viewing photography, the Ori can be rotated from landscape to portrait mode in every position.

Its aluminum composite case is on the heavier side but super sturdy—a tradeoff I’d take any day. Factor in its microfiber screen cover with an on/off sensor and you have a product that offers the peace of mind needed to actually use the iPad as it was originally intended: while mobile.

—Nick

On the Trail to Havasu: Mail by Mule In the Depths of the Grand...

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:57:00 -0800

On the Trail to Havasu: Mail by Mule In the Depths of the Grand Canyon, Once Magazine: Issue 4

Reporting by Chris Maluszynski and Carolyn Deuschle

The unofficial creed of the United States Postal System proclaims, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” Since the 2008 economic recession, though, severe financial hardship has challenged the truth of this creed.

Within the past year, many rural post offices around the United States have been evaluated for possible closure. There were even discussions in 2010 of eliminating one day of delivery per week. What remains steady, among myriad uncertainties, is the last mule-train mail route in the United States, as it delivers mail in rain or shine to the Havasupai tribe, deep in Arizona’s Grand Canyon.

While the relationship between the United States government and the Havasupai tribe has not always been a smooth one – in the 1880s, the government forced the tribe onto a 518-acre reservation, then in 1975 returned 185,000 acres – one thing that remains consistent is the mule train mail delivery. In his photo-essay, Chris Maluzynski delivers a portrait of the last mule-train mail delivery in the United States.