63% off photography published

Savannah writer, photographer Sabrina Simmons dies

25.08.10

A Savannah author, photographer and community activist who died in a car accident Saturday is being remembered for both her severe eye and deep empathy.

Sabrina Manganella Simmons, 39, died at the episode of the two-vehicle crash near Claxton. Simmons' mother, Stephanie Gamble, was seriously injured in the wreck and remains in critical condition at Memorial University Medical Center.

The Georgia Imperial Patrol was unable to provide details on the accident, which is still under investigation.

A freelance novelist and photographer, Simmons was once the assistant editor for Coastal Senior and Coastal Antiques and Art under collector Tim Rutherford. She then went on to edit Skirt! Magazine.

'Afghan village' in British countryside is training ground for elite troops

25.08.10

London, England ( VBS.TV ) -- In April this year I embedded with the elite soldiers of the 2nd Battalion British Parachute Regulate at their training facility in Thetford, United Kingdom. We went there to film the British army's much-talked-about, multimillion pelt "replica Afghanistan village." The focus of the piece was to be on the younger members of the battalion. Some of them are as uninitiated as 18 and only months away from their first visit to Helmand province in September 2010. The the better of British casualties are all recorded in that area.

I'd heard about the Afghan village training dexterity from an ex-Para turned photographer called Stuart Griffiths. A couple of years ago, Evil Magazine published a photo essay in which he visited the homes of badly injured soldiers returned from Iraq or Afghanistan. Perhaps more nauseous than the horrific injuries the soldiers had sustained was the lack of support of these men from the British command of the time -- particularly those who suffered psychological problems as a result of duel shock.