Author: Sean Sheridan

Sean Sheridan is a photojournalist and author who for the last 16 years has been shooting and writing stories that elevate people and brands. Sheridan has a bachelor of science degree in journalism from the William Allen White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas. His first major work project was to help craft the marketing plan surrounding the launch of Bill Gates’ best-selling book, The Road Ahead and produce the CD-ROM version bound into the book. He also contributed to Gates’ second book, Business @ the Speed of Thought, before joining a private production company to shoot film projects around the world. In July 2002, Sheridan started 4:Minute.Media to tell compelling stories through feature writing, photography, film, and publishing. His work has taken him to nearly 60 countries and has been found in SMITHSONIAN magazine and on the cover of The Washington Times, countless development agencies and gallery exhibitions, Testimony Africa—his book about the terrible beauty of AIDS, genocide, and hunger in Africa—and most recently Wahl STORY, his book about renowned graffiti artist Erik Wahl. Sheridan and his family live in Colorado.
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Is Mugabe Serious?!?

On my most recent trip to Zimbabwe I had the privilege of interviewing a dozen or so survivors of violence in the run-up to the contested 2008 elections. These people were eager to tell their stories (all marked by shameless ZANU-PF-inflicted fear, beatings, rapings, or killings) and show their wounds. Let’s not forget that there is another election in Zimbabwe coming up. Watch and see if this stuff starts happening again (two people told me it already is). Is Robert Mugabe for real?

A woman dries her laundry in the middle of Mt. Darwin province in Zimbabwe. This area was hit hard by pro-Mugabe thugs, who beat and raped many of the people living here.
A woman show her legs that were severaly beaten and broken from a raid by pro-Mugabe thugs during the runup to the country’s 2008 elections.
A ripped Zimbabwe bank note litters the ground near a building project. Due to massive inflation and three redenominations, the currency was suspended indefinitely in April 2009. Today, the U.S. dollar is the currency exclusively used for transactions in Zimbabwe.
A woman shows the scars from beatings she took by pro-Mugabe thugs during the runup to the country’s 2008 elections.
A man displays x-rays of his broken arm. He was beaten by pro-Mugabe thugs during the runup to the country’s 2008 elections.
Anti-Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) graffiti marks many walls in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital city. Many, like this one, accuse ZANU-PF of being a “prostitute” or a “thief.” In the 2008 parliamentary election the ZANU-PF lost sole control of parliament for the first time in party history.
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The Burn Boy

Yesterday I wrapped shooting a project in Zimbabwe and literally as I was putting my cameras away was introduced to this 16-year-old boy, Tawanda. As an orphan, Tawanda was taken in by his uncle, who eventually became unable to afford to care for the boy. Rather than finding an acceptable solution, his uncle doused Tawanda with kerosene and lit him on fire in hopes of killing him and doing away with his dilemma. But Tawanda, 12 at the time, rolled in the sand and survived, only find that he was horrifically burned on his chest and torso. He is in great distress.

Tawanda
Tawanda

His caregivers asked me if there was any way I could help Tawanda. I’m hoping this photograph will do so. After hearing from Dr. John Bergman all the way in Minneapolis, it seems like these growths are Hypertrophic Scars, or also Keloidal Scars that are not treatable other than by surgical removal. Often when removed more growths return. A plastic surgeon is required to treat. If you know of someone who is seriously willing to help (either by financing the trip to a medical facility or know of a doctor in that part of the world that would see him at low or no cost), please comment here or contact me directly and we’ll put them in touch with the caregivers.

I will post more photographs from Zimbabwe (including some extremely compelling ones of victims of Mugaba-inflicted violence) in about a week after I get the film back. For another perspective on the trip, check out Greg Urquhart’s blog (Greg and I traveled together on this project).

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Karli and Zack set the Kiana Lodge on Fire

I don’t shoot many weddings, and if I do it’s more often than not that I’m asked to do video. That’s what I did with dear friend Karli Johnson and her fiance, Zack Zarcone this past weekend in Seattle. But along the way I snapped a few stills using a D3 and 16mm f2.8 lens that Nikon send me to try out. Way to go Karli and Zack–you two pulled of the most glamorous rehearsal dinner and wedding that I think I have ever been involved in (with the exception of my own). Love to you both!

The view from the Canlis upper room, site of Zach and Karli’s rehearsal dinner on July 29, 2009.
Karli Johnson at Canlis, the night before she gets married to Zack Zarcone.
Leaving Seattle on the Bainbridge ferry, on the way to Poulsbo.
The bride and her girls at Kiana Lodge, Poulsbo, Washington.
The wedding party makes its way to the ceremony.
Karli and Zack get married!
It’s official–signed, sealed and delivered. These two are married!
Father Guido Sarducci makes a guest appearance at the wedding reception.
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Mozambique 2009

July 7-21 I shot video for World Vision in Mozambique, Africa. This assignment was with WV’s 30 Hour Famine for their annual Study Tour, a trip I’ve now done five years in a row. This was a great trip, great kids, and great stories. Below are six images from the collection of stills I took, which you can see in full online. All film, some color, some black and white.

Morrumbala, Mozambique. Civil war hit this area hard, leaving total destruction and shells of buildings in its wake.
A woman in Camacho Village in Morrumbala, Mozambique, sweeps up after she has sifted millet.
Women wash clothes in the river near Camacho Village outside of Morrumbala, Mozambique.
A woman and her sleeping child walk down a hill on a trip to get water near Camacho Village, Mozambique.
The Zambezia landscape in Mozambique, July 2009.
Death walks down the road near Morrumbala, Mozambique.
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The Magic Bus

The evening of July 2, 2009 Greg Urquhart and I were driving downtown in Colorado Springs and came across a broken down bus. It caught my attention and we went back the next day with a bag of bagels and hung out with these guys for an hour. They graciously allowed me inside to photograph a slice of their lives. Six of them were on the bus waiting to get it fixed, while the rest of their group of 16 were making their way down to New Mexico for a music festival. I shot only two frames of color and wished I had shot more of it, but I love the black and white as well. Good luck on your journey guys!

The Magic Bus