Ric Savid's portraits evoke the austere, contemplative feeling of his years as a Peace Corps volunteer, living in a grass hut in the Philippines



Ric Savid's portraits evoke the austere, contemplative feeling of his years as a Peace Corps volunteer, living in a grass hut in the Philippines

BIO.:

Savid grew up in New York and received a degree in Behavioral Science from Rollins College in 1976. He worked in an orphanage in Germany, a pub in Ireland and crewed on a charter sailboat in the Caribbean before serving in the U.S. Peace Corps in the Philippines for two years. He briefly attended Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, then received his Master's in Journalism from Columbia University in 1982 and moved to Florida, where he worked for the St. Petersburg Times until 1986. He has received grants for his ethnic portraiture work and his work in the Philippines, has won several photographic awards and has been published internationally in American Photo . He currently teaches darkroom and portraiture classes at The Arts Center in St. Petersburg, Florida.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT:

Anxious, bored and unemployed after graduate school, I set up a darkroom in the bathroom of a tiny NYC apartment. It was only a chemistry experiment to kill time. I wanted to see if a print would develop if I followed all the steps in an old Time-Life photography book I had found on a garbage heap while walking home from the subway one evening. From there, my photography became driven by the need for self-expression. For me, it is all about emotion: the print that emerges in the darkness must hit me in the stomach when the lights come on. Since childhood, photography has fascinated me. I find the camera a unique tool capable of transforming an ephemeral and often unseen moment of human life into a timeless image with a spirit beyond its two-dimensional silence.

When this story was posted in June 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:



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The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today.

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June 6: PC suspends Uzbekistan program Peace Corps has announced that it is suspending the Uzbekistan program after the visas of 52 Peace Corps volunteers who arrived in January were not renewed. The suspension comes after a State Department warning that terrorist groups may be planning attacks in Uzbekistan and after the killings in Andizhan earlier in May. Background: PCOL published a report on April 23 that Peace Corps volunteers who arrived in January were having visa difficulties and reported on safety and visa issues in Uzbekistan as they developed.

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June 5, 2005: Special Events Vote in the NPCA Election for new board before June 15 "American Taboo" author Phil Weiss in Maryland on June 18 "Rainforests and Refugees" showing in Portland, Maine until June 25 "Iowa in Ghana" on exhibit in Waterloo through June 30 RPCV's "Taking the Early Bus" at Cal State until Aug 15 RPCVs: Post your stories or press releases here for inclusion next week.

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May 28, 2005: This Week's Top Stories The Coyne Column: Love and War in Afghanistan 28 May Sam Farr supports Coffee Growers in Colombia 28 May Elaine Chao wins Woman of Valor award 27 May Nebraska has strong ties with Afghanistan 27 May Arthur Orr to seek Alabama State Senate seat 26 May Murder of John Auffrey remembered in Liberia 26 May Bill Moyers says journalists should be filters for readers 26 May Linda Seyler spent two years in Thailand digging latrines 25 May Chris Shays blasts Bush on stem cell research 25 May George Wolfe to head Loudoun Academy of Science 25 May David Rudenstine heads Cardozo School of Law 24 May Mark Schneider says declaration is "pretty thin gruel" 24 May Robert Blackwill supports seat for India on Security Council 24 May Chris Matthews weighs Thomas Jefferson nomination 24 May Jim Knopf is expert on xeriscape gardening 23 May Mae Jemison receives honorary degree at Wilson 23 May Kenneth Proudfoot says dreams come true 22 May

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Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong 170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.

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