‘I look forward very much to a time when magazines and newspapers will stop publishing a certain kind of photograph….
“The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete”
In this single sentence, Chimamanda Adichie sums up the danger of a “single story” such as all Africans being poor and corrupt and all Middle Eastern men being terrorists.
The Nieman Journalism Lab has recently been publishing an intriguing series of articles exploring the relationship between the media, NGOs, and journalists, especially as more and more international and investigative journalism is produced, funded, and distributed initially or in cooperation with NGOs and charities.
Jasper Schuringa, who helped thwart an attempted terrorist attack on a Christmas Day flight to Detroit, has drawn questions and criticism after selling photographs.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/29/business/media/29cnn.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
But Mr. Schuringa’s work with the news media outlets raised questions: Was he inappropriately profiting from a national-security incident? And should broadcast networks and newspapers be paying for photo rights from sources they interviewed? Given the changing tone in the coverage, Mr. Schuringa appeared to rethink his approach.
The celebrity news site published an image that it said showed John F. Kennedy on a boat with naked women.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/29/business/media/29hoax.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
It was, as TMZ said dramatically in a headline on Monday morning, “The J.F.K. Photo That Could Have Changed History.” Could have — if it had been a real photo.
(Click for large. Two versions of W Magazine cover featuring Demi Moore, one for the US edition, one for Korea. Note the apparent difference in the area around the hip. Comparison here.) Lawyers re…
Lawyers representing Demi Moore sent a threatening letter to Boing Boing over the holidays which demanded that we remove a post I published in November, or face legal consequences. In the referenced Boing Boing post, I published photographer Anthony Citrano’s speculation that a recent W Magazine cover image of the actress may have been crudely manipulated by magazine staff to alter her hip, and appear thinner.
The images at Victoria’s Secret are fairly low quality — JPEGs at 85%. However, just because they are low quality does not mean we cannot see what was modified. For example, the Error Level Analysis (ELA) should have all objects at roughtly the same coloring. If anything stands out as bright white, then it was the last thing modified since it is at a higher potential error level than the rest of the image.
Link: Body By Victoria – Secure Computing: Sec-C
via: Odd Victoria’s Secret image analyzed with Photoshop forensics Boing Boing
Outraged by the social effects—perceived or real—of skinny female models in advertising, politicians in France, Britain and Israel are calling for varying degrees of regulation.
Link: PDNPulse: Should We Ban Photoshop for Certain Fashion Ads?
José Luis Rodriguez accused of using tame, ‘model’ animal for close-up that won him prestigious £10,000 award
via the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/dec/21/wolf-picture-rodriguez-wildlife-photographer
José Luis Rodriguez accused of using tame, ‘model’ animal for close-up that won him prestigious £10,000 award
travel photographer
Link: http://thetravelphotographer.blogspot.com/2009/12/pov-on-unpaid-photo-internships.html
A famous award-winning conflict photographer seeks an intern, for 3 days a week for three months, with demonstrable experience in photo and processing related tasks, but the position is unpaid.
And the blogosphere and photography forums erupt! Perhaps for good reason.
Siobhain Butterworth: The readers’ editor on… death and sorrow in pictures
via the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/14/open-door-photography-grief-afghanistan
A picture can raise as many ethical questions as a thousand words, as two recent images show. The first, a photograph of a murdered young woman lying on a street in El Salvador – eyes open, mouth slack, legs and arms outstretched; the second, an image of a child crying at her father’s funeral.
“It was a photo illustration, based on a shoot with body doubles done in Los Angeles by photographer Martin Ellis. The fact that is looks like it might have been a photo is testament to the work of our [staff].”
Link: PDNPulse: Tiger Woods, Obama, and the Fake Golf Digest Cover Photo
As we were closing this issue, two stories have come across the wire that underline how profoundly deep the crisis is today for journalism and photojournalists.
Dallas Observer blogger Robert Wilonsky reveals “a memo Dallas Morning News editor Bob Mong and senior vice president of sales Cyndy Carr sent to everyone at A.H. Belo Corp. … outlining what they call a ‘business/news integration.’ Which means … some section editors at all of the company’s papers, including The News, will now report directly to Carr’s team of sales managers, now referred to as general managers. In short, those who sell ads for A.H. Belo’s products will now dictate content within A.H. Belo’s products, which is a radical departure from the way newspapers have been run since, oh, forever.”
A French politician is creating a small furor with a proposal to require all digitally altered photographs of people used in advertising be labeled as retouched.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/fashion/03Boyer.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
VALÉRIE BOYER is 47, a member of the French parliament and a divorced mother of three. She is tall, fashionable and, dare we say it, slim.
But she has also created a small furor here and abroad with her latest proposal: a draft law that would require all digitally altered photographs of people used in advertising be labeled as retouched.
Well, so what. Whoopdedoo. How exciting for all those involved. I read a few days ago about how Time mag…
Time, the photographer Finlay McKay and the parents should all be ashamed, they certainly should not be boasting about their so called achievement, which, btw, esquire mag beat them to a few months ago. I do believe Esquire achieved their cover image without engineering fear and upset in babies.
A Web site redesign brings up the race card; the changing nature of a poker game.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/magazine/29FOB-ethicist-t.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
I am a consultant on the redesign of the Web site of a company with local franchises across the United States. A franchisee in San Diego mentioned that posting a generic picture of an African-American customer could deter potential business. He has never had an African-American client nor does he anticipate one. His clientele is 70 percent white, 29 percent Hispanic and 1 percent Asian. Each local office will have a Web page and could have its own generic customer photo. May race be a factor in choosing it?
Capturing the soul of his beloved New York, in all its grit and glory, was what the photographer Arthur Fellig – aka Weegee – lived for. But he wasn’t exactly a stickler for realism, writes Lucy Davies
via Telegraph.co.uk: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/6616026/Something-of-the-Night-Weegee.html
Capturing the soul of his beloved New York, in all its grit and glory, was what the photographer Arthur Fellig – aka Weegee – lived for. But he wasn’t exactly a stickler for realism, writes Lucy Davies
Update: story updated here on December 28, 2009, to include a response from legal representatives for Ms. Moore, and W Magazine. Click here for higher-rez image. Anthony Citrano says, Being an obse…
In the interview she says she’d rather be a “puma” than a “cougar” – but apparently, the clumsy Photoshop artist decided she was looking too strong in the cover shots – and awkwardly chopped off part of her left thigh. Note how the upper part of her left thigh/hip is basically missing (our right). Did she have some sort of weird car accident that left a wedge of meat missing from it? The fabric even magically floats above the missing thigh. Ha!