Link: It’s Nice That

This is Real Art have carved out a reputation for quality creativity across advertising, design and branding, but late last week they moved into new territory with the publication of their first book. Adam Hinton’s Shibuya is a collection of the photographs he took of Tokyo commuters, shot at the world’s busiest subway station over four days capturing intensely personal moments among the mass daily migration.

after over twenty years in the field, mechanics come as an afterthought to fine art nature photographer Leland Howard. He’s been published by the The National Geographic Society, Hallmark, Outside, and more. But what sets him apart now is his dedication to making his landscape and nature photography into fine art. But what does it take to take your beautiful nature and landscape photography to the next level?

Considered among New York’s most respected photography agents, Howard Bernstein, has been keeping an eye on talented photographers for over 25 years now, and his artists management firm, Bernstein and Andriulli, now boasts a hot-list of clients ranging from Adidas to The New Yorker. We caught up with him for a bit of insight as to how the relationship between photographers and agents actually works.

Link: Feature Shoot

“There is no normal in cancer-land,” writes New York-based Angelo Merendino on the website for his photo documentary, “The Battle We Didn’t Choose.” Just five months into married life with “the girl of [his] dreams,” she was diagnosed with cancer. This began a challenging four-year journey of remission and relapse, an emotional roller coaster which completely changed their lives. In an effort to cope with the reality of the disease and show others what it’s like to struggle day to day, Merendino chronicled his wife’s battle with cancer and the effect she had on others.

RH: What about Photoshop?

BO: Photoshop is not in my vocabulary. I don’t need it because I have content. You need Photoshop when you’ve screwed it up.

I’m not sure what first got me to look at Laura El-Tantawy’s I’ll Die For You, but I’m glad I did. It’s an ambitious attempt to photograph and tell the story of farmer suicides in India. The situation is staggering

In this live video interview, Forbes‘ Senior Photo Editor Michele Hadlow speaks on how the magazine has managed to continue commissioning high-profile shoots despite cutbacks common across most publications. Michele tells us about the top characteristics all killer portraits must have to get featured, and what photographers need to succeed with both their subjects and clients.

Michele also discusses how Forbes hires photographers, and what up-and-coming photographers can do to get noticed. Having been at the magazine for over 14 years, Michele speaks to over a decade of work in the industry

Link: photo-eye

On my most recent trip trip, I brought along an 8×8 copy of my first Blurb edit. I kept it wrapped in a plastic Ziploc bag inside my camera bag. People were extremely enthusiastic about it. A crowd of migrants would invariably gather as soon as I took it out. They saw it as a visual diary of their experiences. They passed it around with a great deal of reverence, as if they were handling a sacred or fragile text.

One of our favorite illustrators, Drew Friedman, is reviewed in this exceptionally fine magazine about comics called Ink, which is produced by students at New York’s School of Visual Arts

Link: The Visual Student

Take pictures. You aren’t going to create any cool pictures by just thinking about ideas. Go outside, talk to people and be a part of the community you live in. The best pictures you will produce are ones where you are just wandering around, explore something new, or assigning yourself to go shoot

in college I toed the line for a long time. I was in accounting class one day in business school, and I looked like a dog listening to music, tilting my head from side to side. I’m listening to the teacher but saying to myself I haven’t understood one thing this guy has said in what’s probably seven weeks now.  I’ve copied other people’s homework religiously… and I have no idea what’s going on here. I hate this. And I left. And I enrolled in the theater department

Easily by the time I get to an assignment I’m completely exhausted because of the money I had to raise, all the gear I had to put together, all the…this last one’s 50 boxes going to Tanzania, two years of fundraising, you know, literally almost 10 years of talking about lions, and then you, of course, your pictures have to start to live up to all the hype that you’ve…not hype…whatever you’ve done

Link: Conscientious Extended

Christian Patterson’s Redheaded Peckerwood (also see the publisher’s website and my review) made it onto so many “best of 2011” lists that it was by far the most popular book last year. A body of amazing depth and sophistication, it is a shining example of what the contemporary photobook can do. There now is a second edition, and I used the occasion to talk with Christian about the book

Link: The Leica Camera

Tony and I looked at each other and said, “That must be Henri Cartier-Bresson. Tony pushes me to go and see this guy and I walk over and ask him, “Are you Henri Cartier-Bresson?” He says, “No, no I am not. Are you the police?” I said, “No, no we are just two photographers and we saw you working and thought you must be mad.” He said, “Yes I am Cartier-Bresson. You meet me here later and I take you for coffee.”

The one thing I think I would advise young photographers, in particular, is that in most cases no one can be as hard on you as you will be on yourself. Do not settle for easy. Do not settle for that first image. Craft it, work it, and make something more out of it. And finally, don’t forget that the biggest joy in photography is making pictures of those things in your own life

Pete Brook, based in Portland, OR, is a freelance writer who focuses on the politics and social justice in photography. He writes about imagery produced within and about prisons on his own website Prison Photography. In 2011, Prison Photography was awarded a LIFE.com Photoblog Award and the British Journal of Photography recommended it among the Top Ten Best Photoblogs.

You can still make a living, but in so many aspects of editorial and commercial photography, the world has seen a quantum shift. A few people are doing extremely well, in most cases people who have not only talent with a camera but the ability to create an aura about themselves using social media and blogs. I am constantly amazed at the number of “comments” I see on some of the popular photo blogs. Dozens, sometimes hundreds of comments from what must truly be a large population of people with true photographic interest. Proof, I suppose that the photograph isn’t the only way to connect with your audience.

In 1975, while working as a young journalist at PHOTO magazine, I had the privilege of interviewing Helmut. He was recovering from a heart attack in New York that had turned his life upside down. The conversation lasted hours. June was there, and we can never overestimate the importance of the role she played in their Parisian apartment on Rue Abriot. Thirty years later, not a single word needs to be changed.

Also, galleries:

http://lalettredelaphotographie.com/entries/6023/newton-100-masterpieces-part-1

http://lalettredelaphotographie.com/entries/6024/newton-100-masterpieces-part-2

http://lalettredelaphotographie.com/entries/6025/newton-100-masterpieces-part-3

http://lalettredelaphotographie.com/entries/6026/newton-100-masterpieces-part-4

http://lalettredelaphotographie.com/entries/6027/newton-100-masterpieces-part-5

http://lalettredelaphotographie.com/entries/6028/newton-100-masterpieces-part-6

http://lalettredelaphotographie.com/entries/6041/newton-100-masterpieces-part-7

http://lalettredelaphotographie.com/entries/6042/newton-100-masterpieces-part-8

http://lalettredelaphotographie.com/entries/6043/newton-100-masterpieces-part-9