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March 13, 2002
100 of World's Leading Photojournalists Participate in Project to Capture
A Single African Day for Benefit of AIDS Education Programs in Africa
Olympus Premier Sponsor of "A Day in the Life of Africa(R)"
CAMEDIA E-20 SLR Digital Camera Earns Acclaim
for Image Quality From Leading World Pros
Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (President Tsuyoshi Kikukawa) participated as a Premier Sponsor in one of the world's largest photography events, A Day in the Life of Africa. Olympus donated to the project 100 units each of its CAMEDIA E-20 SLR digital camera and CAMEDIA P-200 portable dye-sublimation processing printer.
On February 28, 2002, one hundred of the world's foremost photojournalists, representing 21 countries, took part in one of the most ambitious photographic projects ever attempted: they fanned out across 53 nations to capture the entire African continent on a single day. The best images are to be included in the A Day in the Life of Africa book, website and traveling exhibition that will represent the most wide-ranging look at Africa ever attempted. The book is scheduled for publication in this fall. All publishing profits from the book will be used to fund AIDS education programs in Africa.
About "Day in the Life"
For two decades, the best-selling "Day in the Life" photography books have chronicled cultures around the world. Thirteen titles-including Days in the Life of the United States, China, Russia, and Japan-have collectively sold 2.5 million copies. A Day in the Life of Africa is directed by David Cohen and produced by Lee Liberman, who also chairs the Day in the Life of Africa AIDS Education Fund.
More than 25 million African men, women and children are HIV positive, and every minute, two more are infected. This project's primary goal is to raise global awareness of a continent at risk.
A Day in the Life of Africa will be published in the United States and Canada on November 1, 2002 through Publishers Group West, North America's largest independent book distributor and in Francophone countries through the Editions Filipacchi division of Hachette Filipacchi. The book will also be published in South Africa, the United Kingdom and Australia. A Day in the Life of Africa will include a foreword by Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
All publishing profits will be used to fund AIDS education programs in Africa. Programs will be selected in concert with The Harvard Aids Institute, South Africa's renowned Soul City Foundation and Johns Hopkins' Center for Communication Programs. Funds will be administered by the Tides Foundation.
A Day in the Life of Africa
* Please visit "A Day in the Life of Africa" website (http://www.ditlafrica.com) for all the details.
Participating Photographers
The diverse photo team included more than a dozen Pulitzer Prize and World Press Photo winners as well as 20 members of the famed Magnum and Group VII photo agencies. The entire 100-person photography team was outfitted with state-of-the-art Olympus CAMEDIA E-20 and CAMEDIA C4040ZOOM digital cameras, marking the first time that a major photography book will include predominantly digital images.
From Cairo to the Cape of Good Hope, the African continent includes a billion people and more than 800 distinct ethnic groups. The breathtaking variety and startling contrasts will make A Day in the Life of Africa the most compelling visual document of 2002.
Olympus' Contribution
Olympus was one of the Premier Sponsor's for the project. The company donated to the participating photographers 100 sets of equipment. Each of the E-20 sets consisted of one CAMEDIA E-20 SLR digital camera, one B-32LPS lithium polymer battery set, one WCON-08B wide extension lens, and one TCON-14B tele extension lens. To help photographers develop images on location, Olympus also donated 100 CAMEDIA P-200 portable dye-sublimation printers. In addition, the company made available a number of items on loan to those participants who wanted them; these items included CAMEDIA C-4040ZOOM compact digital cameras, which produce high-resolution 4-mega-pixel image quality, FL-40 external flash units, TCON-300S tele extension lenses, as well as CAMEDIA P-400 A4-output digital color dye-sublimation printers to support post-shoot digital picture editing.
Olympus also organized training sessions for the participating professionals in New York and Paris to help familiarize them with the equipment. The company assembled an Olympus technical support team, based in Paris, to offer round-the-clock support to participants from February 22 to March 5, inclusive. In addition, the company sent two staff to Africa to provide local support. The help offered to this project by Olympus as premier sponsor therefore provided a total solution, covering the entire process from shooting to the printing of images.
After arriving back from the Africa shoot in Paris, the headquarters for the project, many of the photographers praised the vivid, high quality of the images created with their new Olympus digital cameras. Evidently, many of the professionals plan to use the donated equipment again in future.
*Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. was changed to OLYMPUS CORPORATION as of October 1, 2003.
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