Link: Leica S2 First Impressions – Luminous Landscape:
No definitive evaluation can be made of something as complex as a new camera system in a single day. It can take weeks, even months to get the full measure of a sophisticated system such as this.
But, understanding that people want to know as quickly as possible how something as exciting as the S2 handles and performs, this report has attempted to provide a feel for what the camera is like and to allow for a first glimpse of image quality.
Link: World Press Photo:
World Press Photo and Anthony Suau have jointly produced a multimedia presentation for the World Press Photo website. In Hard Rain, the title Suau gave to the project, he places his 20 years of working as a war correspondent in broad perspective. “I feel it is imperative when covering any war”, he says, “that you are clear on your intentions and know where and how your work will be seen.”
Link: Ian Fisher – American Soldier | The Denver Post | From Basic Training to Iraq and Back:
Photographer Craig F. Walker chronicled the two-year journey of Ian Fisher from high school to Army boot camp to Fort Carson to deployment in Iraq.
Link: Getting Screwed by Flaunt Magazine | Fashion Photography Blog:
Today is the day I’ve decided to let out some truths about the uglier side of this business. In the past when I’ve wanted to speak frankly about an unpleasant truth about something or someone, I’ve been told, “You can’t say that, Melissa.” Today, no one gets that opportunity. Here’s one truth that no one likes to talk about: Sometimes shitty things happen to good photographers. Promises are broken, politics are played, back-stabbing takes place, and all kinds of ruthless shenanigans go on in this industry. It has always been this way, and I suppose it always will be.
via PDN
Link: David Farkas Photography Blog: Leica M9 Review: Shooting in Wetzlar, Germany:
The two most significant advances from the M8 are pretty obvious: it offers a full-frame 24x36mm capture and doesn’t suffer from IR sensitivity. So, no crop factor and no IR filters, precisely what the Leica community has been hoping for. Leica has been telling us for quite some time that both of these items were near impossible obstacles to overcome. So, what happened? The first step was to go further with offset micro lenses. In the Kodak KAF-18500 CCD, the pixel spacing is increased towards the corners to accommodate even greater offsets. The second step was to increase the thickness of the IR cover glass from 0.5mm to 0.8mm, which, combined with a new type of IR-absorbing glass, eliminates IR bleed and still preserves red channel information into the corners. With a new red color filter in the Bayer matrix, the red channel performance is improved further, increasing accuracy and tonal range.
via Leica Rumors
Link: Rafal Milach Wins $25K in Blurb Book Competition – PDN:
The results of the second annual Blurb-sponsored contest were announced Thursday. Rafal Milach’s project Black Sea of Concrete includes a series of images of the coastline of the Black Sea he created in December 2008 on commission for Belgium-based NGO Demos. Milach’s book emerged from the “editorial” category of the competition. Photographers also submitted books in “fine art” and “commercial” categories.
Link: 12 Division – Anne-Marie Jackson | News Photographers Association of Canada:
Two gangs, six months, nine homicides. Portrait of a neighbourhood under fire.
Link: We’re Just Sayin: Photo Guy In a Middle Seat:
The reason for my trip in the first place was to attend the Visa Pour l’Image in Perpignan, the 21st version of the festival of photojournalism which takes place in this Pyrenees/Mediterranen town every September. It’s really the perfect place for such an event. Aside from one trip to the beach for a seaside buffet lunch on Saturday, I didn’t’set foot in a vehicle for 5 days.
Link: Snap Art:
Rizzoli is publishing a new book Shoot: Photography of the Moment, a survey of informal, snapshot-style photography by Stephen Shore, Nan Goldin, Juergen Teller, Wolfgang Tillmans and other pioneers of the style, presented alongside the best new practitioners. Shore wrote the foreword to the book, which includes essays by London College of Fashion professor Penny Martin and Ken Miller, the book’s author, who considers the snapshot medium’s history and explains its current vibrancy and popularity.
Link: whats the jackanory ? – mad dogs and englishmen:
Big up to Simon Roberts for giving WTJ? an exclusive preview of his ‘We English‘ show opening tonight at KlompChing in Dumbo. If you can’t make it don’t forget Simon is giving an artists talk at the gallery tomorrow Friday from 6.00pm. I can promise it will be well worth the effort.
Joe McNally: Blogging & Shooting – RESOLVE Blog from liveBooks on Vimeo.
Master photographer and lighting guru Joe McNally talks with RESOLVE editor Miki Johnson about starting his wildly successful blog – joemcnally.com/blog – and how it has become a community, a source of creativity, and an important part of his business.
Link: Leica M9 First Look – Luminous Landscape:
With the M9 it is my opinion that Leica has finally fulfilled its mission to produce a true digital version of the classic M camera. The original M8 was exciting but was flawed in many ways. While the M8.2 addressed many concerns it still needed IR filters, and didn’t give full expression to Leica’s wonderful lenses.
Now, with the M9, not only have the M8 series’ teething pains been overcome but numerous worthwhile suggestions made by users and reviewers have been implemented.
Link: Photographer Sally Mann’s best shot | The Guardian:
Larry was excited about the work from the beginning. We’ve been married almost 40 years, and he has muscular dystrophy. It’s fairly pronounced now, but the pictures don’t show it much; it’s not something I wanted to emphasise. He is a big, strong man, but his bicep is now the size of his forearm, or smaller. It’s got so I don’t want to show it, out of consideration for him. It’s weird: I never said, “It’s going to be obvious you’re losing muscle mass.” But he knows me; he knows I don’t flinch, and he knew what the deal was when he committed to the pictures.
Link: The Reporter’s Account: 4 Days With the Taliban – At War Blog – NYTimes.com:
Stephen Farrell, a reporter for The New York Times, and Sultan M. Munadi, an Afghan journalist working with him, were kidnapped by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan on Saturday. In a British raid to free them early Wednesday, Mr. Munadi was killed. This is Mr. Farrell’s account of their four-day ordeal.
Link: In pictures: Ciwem environmental photographer of the year 2009 | guardian.co.uk:
The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (Ciwem) international environmental photographer of the year competition recognises photographers who use their talent to raise awareness of environmental and social issues – from places and people to vulnerable ecosystems and communities that are struggling with a changing climate.
There are five categories and an overall winner. All winning and highly commended entries will go on display in London from 7 October then tour around the UK
Link: John Burns Discusses Sultan Munadi – At War Blog – NYTimes.com:
Sultan Munadi is dead, and a British paratrooper whose name we may never know. There may also have been Afghan casualties, perhaps Taliban, perhaps not; that we also don’t know yet, for sure. But from where I am writing this, on a sunny autumn afternoon in rural England, the deaths of Sultan and the British commando seem like a grim black cloud darkening the landscape – a harbinger, perhaps, for the increasingly grim news that seems to await us all from a war that seems to be worsening by the day, and heading for worse yet unless our political and military leaders can find a way to turn the situation around.
Photography’s debt to Annie Leibovitz | Art and design | guardian.co.uk:
As celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz’s financial woes threaten to eclipse her career, it’s important to remember how much we owe to her pioneering work
Seized Times Reporter Is Freed in Afghan Raid That Kills Aide – NYTimes.com:
Armed gunmen seized Stephen Farrell and his interpreter, Sultan Munadi, four days ago while they were working in a village south of Kunduz.