#alan gignoux

[tinyuglyworld]

Photos from the Saharawi refugee camps of southwestern Algeria. Photographed by Alan Gignoux, 2015

[ofthelandandus]

Oil Sands • Alan Gignoux

On of the land & us today, we are featuring the work of photographer Alan Gignoux — Oil Sands, an on-going long term photojournalistic and documentary project on the gigantic oil sands industrial project in Canada.

Read the interview.

[dozydawn]

“Sahrawi women at a refugee camp in Tindouf, Western Algeria.”

Photographed by Alan Gignoux.

[dozydawn]

“Sahrawi women at a refugee camp in Tindouf, Western Algeria.”

Photographed by Alan Gignoux.

[dozydawn]

“A Palestinian woman working at an olive grove in Palestine.”

Photographed by Alan Gignoux.

[gignouxphotos]

yeeeehaaaaaaa!   gignouxphotos has a new website do take a look at new projects and updates www.gignouxphotos.com

[gignouxphotos]

We are back! in the UK editing and researching funders and supporters for Oil Sands: Curse or Blessing. It would be great to hear from anyone interested in supporting this project. The final outcome will be a interactive web documentary and book

[gignouxphotos]

Fort McMurray: Land Of Opportunity

This week we came to Fort McMurray. The city’s negative reputation precedes it, and it’s hard not to be sucked into that way of thinking when you first arrive. Not far away from the city itself, are some of the Oil Sands development with their giant Tailings Ponds, and it’s hard not to see the environmental impact here, despite the reclamation that’s in progress. We took a helicopter tour over the sites, Syncrude and Suncor and the scale of the industrial project was quite striking and although I prefer the ground, the view from the sky was unforgettable.

  However, once getting into the actual city, we learned that there was more beneath the surface that could make the city beautiful. We met and interviewed a handful of amazing people, that were keen to change our perspective of the city. First, we went and interviewed the Inman of the local mosque to get a Koranic perspective to the development north of the city, and he told us of the benefits that he’s seen within his community alone.

We then followed up with former restaurant owner, Louay Magherby (who he greeted us with some home-made delicious sweets!) As we talked to Louay, he told us of the changes he’s seen in the city and his life during the past four years, and his new career as an engineer within the oil industry. His love of Fort McMurray and the economic opportunity one could have there if they so desired, is obvious!

We also met with local real estate broker, Tom Albrecht, an Englishman that fell in love with the city and has lived there ever since. He was keen to try and change the outside world’s perspective of the city and even invited us to some of the community activities that he organises, where we met others who only had positive things to say.

  To us, this positive outlook on the Oil Sands was refreshing, finding those who saw them as an asset and a blessing, and it is interesting to note that it seems to only be the people that don’t actually live in Fort McMurray, that find the city so repugnant.