Synthon turns 20 years

The other day I visited Synthon's head offices in Nijmegen (www.synthon.com). The company turns 20 years old this year and celebrates by opening a new massive Bio tech laboratory. The evening was spent celebrating with everybody at a boat party!

The new Bio tech laboratory in Nijmegen, Holland

CEO Rudy Mareel

The new Bio tech laboratory in Nijmegen, Holland

Klaus Kuchen, CEO Synthon Mexico
 

Dr. JacquesLemmens at Synthon's 20 year party 

Synthon celebrating 20 years

Mexican News Agency Notimex at the UN in Geneva.

I have recently worked with Gabriela Sotomayor, journalist for the Mexican news agency Notimex (www.notimex.com.mx). It has been very interesting with first photographing at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. Amongst the speakers were where UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the Head of Government of the Federal District (Mexico), Marcelo Luis Ebrard Casaubón.

Director- General of the UN Ban Ki-moon.

Head of Government of the Federal District (Mexico), Marcelo Luis Ebrard Casaubón.

Then the other day, WHO had its sixty-fourth world health assembly and amongst the speakers were Bill Gates, the Health Minister of Mexico Dr. Jose Angel Cordova and the Director- General of the WHO Dr. Margaret Chan. Bill Gates was on behalf of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation calling for more political and financial support so that "by 2020, we can prevent 10 million deaths".

Health Minister of Mexico Dr. Jose Angel Cordova

Health Minister of Mexico Dr. Jose Angel Cordova.

Director- General of the WHO Dr. Margaret Chan

Bill Gates talking about the vaccination program of
the Bill and Melinda Gatres foundation.

Bill Gates talking about the vaccination program of the Bill and Melinda Gatres foundation.

#billgates #gatesfoundation #mexico #notimex #vaccine #un #who #photojournalism #margaretchan #joseangelcordova #marceloluisebrardcasaubón #bankimoon 

Bosnia February 2011

Clare Cook from WHA (www.webster-humanitarian-association.org) and myself visited Bosnia again this February. We visited Hajra Catic and Noura Beganovic from the association "Mothers of Srebrenica" who survived the genocide that took place in Srebrenica in 1995 (1), the Imam of Srebrenica (2),  as well as Medica Zenica "Big buddy project"(7), the Identification Centre in Tuzla (8, Photo shows self made tobacco box) and the Potocari Memorial Center outside Srebrenica (5, photo shows the first Croat/ Christian grave at the cemetery). We also stopped at (6) a warehouse, which was scene of a large execution on the 11th or 12th of July 2005. About 1500 peopled were murdered there.

Synthon

Barcelona

Synthon (www.synthon.com) is a pharmaceutical company that does research and produces generic medicines with research and production world wide. Synthon is turning 20 years in 2011 and my job has been to make a portrait of the company. To do this, I visited seven of their main locations; Nijmegen in Holland where the head office is, Barcelona in Spain, North Carolina in the USA, Guadalajara in Mexico, Blansko in the Czech Republic, Santiago in Chile and San Lorenzo and Buenos Aires in Argentina. I have met a lot of very interesting people and it has been an extraordinary experience getting to know this very special company.

Barcelona

USA

Barcelona

Holland

Czech Republic

Mexico

Holland

Chile

Chile

Chile

Argenitina

#pharma #storytelling #photojournalism #documentary #synthon #nikon #d4 #d810 #nikon #nikonpro #reportage #education #photography #santiago #sb910 #holland #chile #spain #mexico #usa #argentina #czechrepublic #20years 

Paris Photo 2010

I visited Paris Photo this weekend- and it was, as expected, as busy as ever, with plenty of excellent photography and a book signing session with Martin Parr! Here are some flavours of Paris.. 

Louvre at night

The Eiffel Tower

Jardin des Tuileries

Allminds workshop in London.

Magician Christopher Howell (http://www.christopherhowell.net)

Portrait shoot of Christopher Howell

I gave a workshop in London last week with the school Allminds (www.allminds.ch). We had a great day, visited Photofusion in Brixton and got the opportunity to photograph Magician Christopher Howell! (www.projectillusions.com)

Emma & James in Zermatt.

The other weekend, Emma and James got married in Zermatt. What a setting, the weather was fantastic and the location was perfect with a beautiful view of the Swiss Alps and Matterhorn as a backdrop. 

Eterna Watch Factory

The other day I worked with Keith Strandberg (www.keithstrandberg.com) who is a Senior Editor of Watch Journal. We visited Eterna Watch Factory (www.eterna.com) in Grenchen Switzerland. It was a really nice experience to see how some very exclusive watches are being made. It takes two months to put together some of these watches!

Bosnia, Srebrenica visit

WHA (www.webster-humanitarian-association.org) is an NGO created by students at Webster University in Geneva. I teach at Webster and was invited to come along on a trip to visit Srebrenica. The Srebrenica Genocide left more then 8500 people dead in July 1995. We went to visit several people who survived this dreadful period and experienced how people are dealing with living in this deeply divided community. 
Picture description:
1. A boy sitting in the shade (it was hot, around 40C) outside the "Trauma Center" in Sarajevo. 2.  Names of the dead at the Potocari Memorial Center outside Srebrenicia. 3. Hajra Catic has bought a small pasta factory that she hopes can generate an opportunity to some young people in Srebrenicia. Hopefully, they can get the funds necessary to start production. 4. Kiyoko, one of our students, in the gymnasium at the local primary school. 5. a local stray dog that I met several times...(!). The last three pictures shows residential houses with their various marks from the war and some of the surrounding burial sites. The last picture also shows the local orthodox church as well as the two mosque's.