The kerfuffle over the supposedly staged prize winning picture of a wolf is yet another reminder that there is a problem, but the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that the problem arises from how we view photography, from what we expect photographs to show or do. Here are some thoughts, which, incomplete as they might be, might lead to something.
Link: What is the difference between a wild and a tame wolf? – Conscientious
The contest organizers say Rodriguez continues to claim the image was the result of months of work studying the wolf’s behavior, but nobody is buying it.
Link: PDNPulse: Prestigious Wildlife Photography Competition Sullied By Staged Image
About a month ago we reported that José Luis Rodriguez had come under fire after winning the prestigious Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the
After a month of investigation, Jose Luis Rodriguez has been stripped of the prestigious award and banned for life,
Left: the NY Times image; Right: the original image By yesterday
via Gothamist: http://gothamist.com/2010/01/19/post_131.php
The NY Times has now replaced the image, saying: “The photo was slightly distorted inadvertently due to an error during routine processing.” Take that for what it’s worth.
Many of us have grown increasingly frustrated with the tactics and presentation of the broadcast media and a situation like this brings out the worst in that institution, insofar as them featuring these acts (performances?) in their broadcasts. I’ve been glancing at CNN’s website a few times since the disaster began and I’m almost certain that there has always been at least one self-congratulatory article or link about the good work (“Anderson Cooper saves injured boy”, “CNN vehicle drafted in rescue”) the broadcast team is doing down there.
Link: More Perspectives on Haiti and Crisis Journalism | dvafoto
A short quiz to follow a recent pair of essays on war photography.
via Opinionator: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/thought-experiment-2/
Changes in captions can radically alter how we see a photograph and what it means
Her intimate portraits of family life make for intriguing viewing, but raise unsettling questions about the dark side of photography
via the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/jan/11/elinor-carucci-children-photography
Her intimate portraits of family life make for intriguing viewing, but raise unsettling questions about the dark side of photography
A closer look at a child’s toy among bombed-out ruins, and at what it’s like photographing a war.
via Opinionator: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/it-was-all-started-by-a-mouse-part-1/
The implications may depend on our politics. Here is a child’s toy and the ruins of an apartment building. We know enough — “Israeli bombs slammed into a complex of buildings” — to infer (correctly or incorrectly) that Israeli forces targeted civilians. The Mickey Mouse photograph is not unique. A blog post, “The Passion of the Toys,” collected a number of wire service photographs taken in southern Lebanon. The sheer number of toys photographed seems to suggest that some of the images could have been staged.
‘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.