All photos © Peter DiCampo.

The residents of communities in Ghana live half of their lives in the dark, without electricity, from the time the sun sets at 6pm and rises at 6 am. “Life Without Lights” began as a brief story idea for DiCAmpo while he was living & volunteering in rural Ghana. During that time DiCampo says, “I realized how deeply the lack of electricity affected the lives of my neighbors. It impeded their progress in the sectors of health, education, development, agriculture, gender equality and the list goes on.”  Eventually Dicampo’s work evolved into a larger multimedia piece in Ghana, and then a global, long-term project based on the idea of energy poverty. On May 3rd at the Broadway Gallery in Soho, there will be a discussion on energy poverty and a print auction to benefit an NGO that provides solar electricity to rural African villages.

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© Will Steacy

On view at the Michael Mazzeo Gallery is a collection of new and recent work all shot in 48 hours on 8×10 film by Will Steacy, one of the 2011 PDN’s 30. The exhibit, Will Steacy, 48 Hours examines the struggling middle class through a portrait of the economic challenges confronting two cities. Steacy says, “I spent 24 hours in Madison, Wisconsin, photographing the events unfolding in and around the capitol building before Governor Scott Walker signed his anti-union, anti-collective bargaining bill. I spent the following 24 hours in Gary, Indiana, home of the first US Steel plant, whose rise and fall has become the face of the deindustrialization of America. I photographed city institutions and local businesses that line Broadway, Gary’s main artery, looking at the grim realities that face this once vibrant city, and at what results when we abandon our workers and let the middle class fall.” There will be an opening reception tonight, April 28 at Michael Mazzeo Gallery and a talk by Will Steacy on Saturday, April 30 at 3pm.

All photos © John Cyr. Above: Andrea Modica’s developer tray. 10×12

John Cyr has spent the past year visiting darkrooms of notable black and white photographers in order to photograph their developer trays. Amassing over fifty trays thus far, Cyr believes that each tray contains a history as unique as the photographers that have used them. Not only do these trays reference the photographer’s body of work, but they also record fingernail scratches, tong marks and developer stains that have accumulated through as much as forty years of constant use. During this time of digital proliferation, Cyr finds importance in photographing developer trays so that the photographic community will remember the specific tools that were seminal in photography’s traditional darkrooms. To see more of Cyr’s work click here.

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All photos © Bruce Haley.

From 1994 to 2002, Robert Capa Gold Medal recipient Bruce Haley traversed the former Soviet Bloc, photographing war-torn settlements, disfigured industrial sites, and rural landscapes and isolated villages seemingly frozen in time. He combined this disparate subject matter, shot in both 35mm and panoramic formats, in his new monograph, Sunder, just published jointly by Daylight Books and Charta Art Books.  The 144-page book includes a foreword by Dina and Clint Eastwood, and an essay by Romanian poet and NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu. Click here for the multimedia teaser featuring audio commentary by Codrescu and Haley.

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© Mark Zibert

Terry Gilliam displays the understated British humour that he was renown for as part of Monty Python. More portraits of Gilliam by Mark Zibert can be seen in the winners gallery of the 2010 Faces portrait photography contest. The 2011 Contest is currently open for entries until May 10, but enter today to avoid late fees. A People’s Choice winner will also be selected.