Photo News Blog

So this might be the single greatest photo-related podcast of all time… Craig Tanner from The Radiant Vista talks about fearing the public critique and photographer’s motivations for either following the "rules" or breaking them. Required reading for this to make sense is this blog post by Mike Johnston, which I laughed at last week.

Be patient - the podcast is an hour long, but Craig makes some great points and brings up issues that every photographer is faced with.

The Radiant Vista podcast - Episode 12

As read about here, the group project to create the world’s largest photograph has succeeded. They had originally thought the exposure would taken 10-14 days, but the exposure time ended up only being an hour.

OC Register story

So apparently this Jill Greenburg crying baby thing that I blogged about in early April has caused quite a stir.

Jim Lewis at Slate.com posted his review of Greenberg’s End Times exhibit and gave this wonderful description on the meaning of photography: 

I don’t mean this as a condemnation of photography. On the contrary, I love the medium, and it fascinates me endlessly, precisely because it’s so freighted with the problem of power and responsibility. It is born in a bed of plunder and abuse; but in the right hands it can end in beauty, and how we get from one to the other is as profound a grace as any art can manifest.

Slate.com article 

I don’t like it, but apparently it’s finally here, and Mindy McAdams sure is convinced. The new generation of HD video cameras can produce screen grabs worthy of being printed in a newspaper. Looks like we’re going to need a lot more editors now that we’re shooting at 60 fps for minutes at a time.  

PDN story

Just helping out a fellow APADer here with a good cause. Christine Mladic is planning a trip to Chile to help some kids learn photography, but she needs a few supplies, namely unused working digital cameras, memory cards and a photo printer. Please visit her site to see how you can help.

Digital camera drive 

Benefit announced

Too funny not to post: 

Great Photographers on the Internet

Here’s a great resource for all those legal questions milling about inside photographers’ heads. It appears to be updated weekly and contains some great information about copyright and image protection.  

PhotoAttorney

This is a fun, behing-the-scenes take on what it’s like to photograph the World Cup. There is plenty of insight about shooting the actual matches balanced by some funny off-the-pitch moments. Stuart Franklin jokes about being "embedded" with the Brazilian team, and Ross Kinnaird experiments with a blurring effect to keep himself awake at one of many press conferences.

Getty Images - Sports Blog

Also World Cup related, but not having anything to do with photography…

Check out the World Development Movement’s team chooser that lets you pick who you think should win based on the economical and political situations of the various teams in the tournament. Maybe all the extra support from this website is what led Ghana to defeat Czech Republic yesterday.

Surf photographer David Pu’u discusses what it takes to be able to create unique surfing photos in a first person article in Surfer magazine. It appears as though surfing photography equipment costs are a bit higher than for your daily newspaper photographer. [via SS]

Surfer magazine

David Pu’u’s website 

"Why choose between still and video; why not both? While you’re at it, throw in 3-D data, wireless networking and Internet access."

IHT article 

Not really sure what to think of this new online magazine from Trent Nelson and Grayson West called NoTxt. After going through the site, it isn’t hard to figure out how they got their name.

Photos and art can have the ability to speak for themselves, but sometimes I’d like a little background info to go with the story. Even a little statement about the inspiration for each month’s work would suffice.

It almost seems a bit elitist for a photographer to think that his/her photos can stand up alone without any words to explain the situation. Am I missing something here?

On a positive note, I do really love many of the photos in the magazine. Those by Matt Eich and Ashley Francell really stand out.  

We’ll wait to see if things stay the same for issue #2. The deadline to submit images is June 24. 

NoTxt issue #1

Former Pittsburgh Pirates team photographer Les Banos became great friends with the team’s star Roberto Clemente. Had it not been for the Immaculate Reception that kept the Steelers in the playoffs, and thus kept Banos in Pittsburgh to work the game, Banos would have been on Clemente’s plane that crashed off the coast of Puerto Rico.

Banos and Clemente had a very close relationship, something that I think is rare for photographers and their subjects these days. That relationship gave Banos the access to make some great photographs. Beginning this weekend, many of those photos are being displayed at the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum in Pittsburgh.

Beaver County Times article

History Center website 

This falls under the "don’t read the article if you’re not at all concerned about the future of professional photography" category. iStockphoto is charging a dollar for the same pictures that you would charge $100.

Wired story 

While the first issue isn’t set to hit newsstands until May 30, PDN got ahold of a copy Shock magazine and dishes the goods on this new "gross-out" tabloid. It appears to have roots in photojournalism but chooses to use sex, blood and absurdities to sell the mag.  

PDN article

Shock website 

Here is Sia’s new "Breathe Me" video. It’s a pretty cool concept worth checking out. It has the flipbook style similar to this short movie made with a Canon 20D.

YouTube link 

QT version 

When most people think of a road trip to the Grand Canyon, they conjure up an image of packing the family station wagon and hitting the road on a laborious multi-day journey. Photographer Scott Edwards had a different vision on his 50th birthday. He decided to walk from his home in Eureka, Wisconsin to the most glorious of American natural landmarks. He isn’t packing light either. Edwards doesn’t shoot digital or with travel-friendly Leicas. Instead, he is hauling a large-format view camera to capture his back-roads American journey. I’m expecting an awesome book to come from this - sometime after August when he finally gets there.

Scott’s blog

News article 

Photographers in California plan on making a 25′ by 100′ photograph using a pinhole airplane hangar. The exposure will be 10-14 days, likely depending on the weather.  

World’s Largest Camera

New Jersey aims to ban photography of "a power generation, waste treatment, public sewage, water treatment, public water, nuclear or flammable liquid storage facility, as well as any airport in the state." Getting caught doing so would be punishable by up to 18 months in jail. At the very least, the state wants to be able to detain photographers caught taking pictures of these places.

Geez, New Jersey. Paranoid? 

Gloucester County Times story

UPDATE:
NPPA sends letter opposing bill 
Bill shelved in committee

Steve Yates did an interesting study on photographic themes over time. The written work, along with an assortment of historic images, is hosted by the Museum of New Mexico website.  

IDEA Photographic | After Modernism [via Lens Culture]

This story from MSNBC.com purports that when the 1906 San Fran earthquake hit, droves of citizens took to the streets with their Brownie cameras documenting the destruction. I will not dispute that claim. I’ve seen lots of photos from lots of different angles. It was a well-documented event.

What I dispute is the moniker of "photojournalist" being applied to these folks. The article repeatedly calls them citizen photojournalists. Did they all have formal journalism training? Doubtful. Did they all work for a news publication? Probably not. So, MSNBC, what makes these curious citizens photojournalists? 

It seems to me they’re just people taking pictures. Plain and simple.

This whole buzz of citizen journalism frequently fails to recognize the fact that there is more to journalism than being at a news event. Calling these citizens "photojournalists" or even "journalists" dilutes the journalism profession.

I’m not arguing the importance of citizens in the media. I am very interested in publications like Backfence or YourHub, but I think there needs to be a distinction between working journalists and observant citizens.  

NBC: Quake spurred citizen photojournalism

This is a very moving site that gives proof to the power of photography. This group of photographers donates their time to take pictures of families about to lose a child. The families say these photos provide comfort in their time of bereavement.   

nowilaymedowntosleep.org/

While not overtly photojournalistic, this entry touches on the basis for all pictures - light. I just stumbled upon Canon Science Lab. It’s an amazing resource for explaining what light is, how it is produced and how cameras record it. I was especially intrigued about the section titled, "Light and Its Future." I thought to myself, "The future of light?" It’s been around forever, but apparently we as humans haven’t even begun to harness its power. Pretty crazy stuff being studied and experimented. The site is techy but in an easy-to-read way. Bookmark it and save it for a rainy day.

Some third-year photo students at U. of Washington have made some decorative improvements to the once bare walls inside a Seattle hospital. The class project was to photograph "hope." One student even asked a few patients and doctors to add their own photos. 

"It makes people feel comfortable and familiar and they feel at home in a situation that can be very anxiety producing here," says Peggy Weiss, Harborview’s Art Program Manager.

Students Take On Challenge To Photograph Hope

When Gerard Van der Leun came across Ansel Adams’ name on some photos in the Los Angeles Public Library, he wasn’t doing a search for landscape photography.

I don’t normally associate Ansel Adams with parking lots or small format images at all. Like you, Adams means the classic evocation of the great American wilderness in photography to me. It never crossed my mind that he had photographed any of the cities of men, much less Los Angeles. But there it was.

Ansel Adams’ Lost Los Angeles Found

Los Angeles Public Library 

British filmmaker and producer Jerome Olivier has a seven minute clip of his movie "Missing Pages" on his site speaking-pictures.com.

Speaking-pictures.com hosts the first seven minutes of “Missing Pages (amended version),” a 24-minute short shot entirely with a digital still camera and manipulated using a method dubbed “fotomation.” Jerome’s technique brings new perspective and depth to the mediums of photography and film, compelling viewers to perceive a narrative in a new way while enthralling with flashes of astonishing three-dimensional visuals, artful camera movement and incredible images. All of this takes the fascinating time-travel thriller at its center to the next level.

It’s a pretty cool movie. I’d like to see the full 24-minute version. Some of you may have seen another movie made entirely with a Canon 20D. This is similar, but more effects are used with each still photo to give it the impression of movement.

View "Missing Pages" here

This isn ‘t exactly photojournalism, but it’s really freakin’ cool. Scott Haefner has a website full of photos and instructions on constructing a rig to take pictures from a kite. He actually suspends a digital camera (Nikon D70!) between two kites and takes fisheye, panoramic, or standard pictures using his personally-constructed remote control.

Scott’s Web site 

Story from Make:blog