>by J Carrier
After an election widely condemned as fraudulent, Kenya – a country long known as a beacon of peace and prosperity in a region of war and lawlessness – witnessed a previously unseen level of tribal bloodshed in which over 1,000 people were killed. After several intense days of widespread clashes, revenge killings and mayhem, nearly 1 million Kenyans were forced to flee to their ancestral homelands or to camps for the displaced.
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Brad Mangin:
The email arrived on December 21, 2007. Subject: “Invitation to judge POYi.” The words that followed stunned me: “Greetings from Pictures of the Year International. My name is Rick Shaw and I am the director for the international photojournalism program. It is my privilege to invite you to participate on the judging panel for the 65th annual Pictures of the Year International competition (Newspaper and General Divisions).”
Holy cow. Was he serious? I immediately called Rick and told him I would be honored to judge POYi. I would not be going to spring training to cover the Cactus League till the end of February, so this fit perfectly into my schedule. I knew this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity would help me learn a lot and grow as a photographer. Having the chance to look at thousands of photographs over a six-day period with a panel of three other judges was a chance I wanted to take advantage of.
Check it out here.
Getty Images announced today that Ian Martin and Lorena Ros will each receive $20,000 in funding, enabling them to pursue new documentary photography projects. In addition, each grant recipient receives collaborative support from Getty Images photo editors as they implement their winning projects.
Ian Martin’s project, “Hidden Minority: South Africa’s White Poor,” looks at the little-known problem of white poverty in post-apartheid South Africa.
Lorena Ros’ project “Silent Witness” documents the impact and prevalence of childhood sexual abuse in America while providing survivors with a safe, respectful way to address and share their experiences.
Three or four years ago I had an editor to tell me to get a photo of a guy coming out of court but he was really mean and was probably a murder suspect and I should hide in the bushes to get his picture. Really, that is what I was told to do. Frankly, I am not a hide in the bushes/ambush kind of guy.
Check it out here.
For one weekend, the entire city of Bowling Green was up for grabs.
Ten UK students participated in a photojournalism and multimedia workshop two weekends ago and set out to document life in the Western Kentucky community. Diverse stories were not hard to find.
Check it out here.
Here’s a tip to other journalists covering the Clinton campaign from here on out: Do not identify yourself as a journalist. Simple as that. Hide your credentials; do not whip out your notepad; put your camera in your pocket; do not sign the media sign-in sheet. Because that way, the Clintonistas will not be able to ID you as working press and do their damnedest to guarantee you can’t actually work, unless you’re willing to do it on a barricaded riser away from the actual people attending the event. Sorry, lady, ain’t in the transcribing business — especially when your guy didn’t say much besides the usual blah-blah-blah.
“Excuse me, you have to get behind the barricade,” said a Clinton campaign worker who softly grabbed my arm about 30 minutes before Clinton finally showed. She pointed to the riser upon which the local TV outlets had perched their cameras. When I asked why I had to move, she said it was to keep cameramen from lugging their tools through the crowd. “But all I have is this notebook and this pen,” I said, standing next to a Clinton supporter and Unfair Park reader with whom I’d just been speaking.
Photojournalist Stephanie Sinclair is the winner of the 2008 Alexia Foundation Grant for professionals, and Matt Eich, a senior photojournalism major at Ohio University, is the student winner, the Alexia Foundation announced today.
The Alexia Foundation for World Peace was established by the family of Alexia Tsairis, an honors photojournalism student at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University who was a victim of the terrorist bombing of Pan Am flight #103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988. She was returning home for the Christmas holidays after spending a semester at the Syracuse University London Centre.
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In anticipation of his visit to UCSB on March 3rd, where he’ll show his latest work and discuss the role of journalists in the modern world, Marcus Bleasdale spent some time chatting over the phone from his home in Norway. He’d just returned from Kenya, where he said the politicians and international community should be “ashamed” for standing by “toothless” while another round of ethnic cleansing occurred.
Check it out here.
London-based photojournalist Marc Vallée originally brought a private civil action for up to £15,000 against both the police force and its commissioner Sir Ian Blair alleging assault and breaches of the Human Rights Act. Under the terms of the settlement the Metropolitan Police have not accepted any liability.
Vallée, 39, was hospitalised and left unable to work for a month with back injuries which he alleges resulted from being manhandled by a police officer while covering the Sack Parliament protest in London’s Parliament Square on 9 October 2006.
Check it out here.
Alexia Tsairis was a photojournalism major at Syracuse University who used her camera as a means to draw cultures together. But in the winter of 1988, life took a turn for the worse when 35 Syracuse students were killed in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103-Tsairis included.
After she passed away, her parents were determined to support students with the same passion.
“After the crash, they came to the university looking for a way to memorialize Alexia,” said David Sutherland, an associate professor of journalism. “We came up with this concept that is getting better every year.”
The Alexia Foundation for World Peace supports budding student and professional photographers as they capture and share stories of the world.
Check it out here.
John Moore is a finalist for Nicest Guy On the Planet competition. O.K., there is no such thing but seriously, what a super guy. Mike worked with John at the Albuquerque Tribune (The Trib’s last day of publication was Saturday, February 23, 2008) close to 20 years ago and saw then that he was one talented, sincere, considerate person who made pictures that reflected these and other endearing aspects of his personality. And so it has been as John has trotted the globe since then.
We catch up with him in Pakistan, days after World Press recognized his photographs of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. And he just won First Place: News Picture Story and an Award of Excellence in the Pictures of the Year International competition
Check it out here.
The Tribune’s philosophy on visuals demanded reporting and encouraged storytelling. It wasn’t enough to merely break up the type. Today, members of our photo staff, past and present, bid farewell to Tribune readers in their own way.
Check it out here. Via Rob Finch’s Pictures
UPDATE: Rich-Joseph Facun won first place in general news reporting for this image of 5-year-old Evan Burgoon watching for his father at Oceana Naval Air Station.
Stephen M. Katz of The Virginian-Pilot was named the newspaper photographer of the year Friday night, taking the top honor in the 65th Annual Pictures of the Year International Competition.
“We’re extremely proud of the collection of images that Stephen put together,” said Randall Greenwell, director of photography for The Pilot, which is published by Landmark Communications Inc. “We knew that he had an excellent year and this honor certainly confirms it.”
Check it out here.
After hours of deliberation, four judges selected Stephen M. Katz of The Virginian-Pilot as the Newspaper Photographer of the Year Friday night.
“His pictures had diversity,” said Jeanie Adams-Smith, an associate professor of photojournalism at Western Kentucky University and one of the judges for the 65th annual Pictures of the Year International contest. “He could look at a big place at a microcosmic level.” She said that his strong stories, diversity, technical excellence and single frames stood out in his portfolio and separated him from the other photographers.
Scott Strazzante and Kuni Takahashi, both of the Chicago Tribune, placed second and third respectively.
Check it out here.
We have heard these reader concerns when we have published images of tattooed adults, or of a father letting his young son drive a lawn mower from his lap, or even a portrait of a homeless man (see links below). And now the Daily News is being criticized for publishing an image of teens dancing “inappropriately” at a Valentine’s Dance and fashion show. Readers think that by publishing these photos we are promoting whatever the image shows. They also say that we should focus on publishing images showing the “good” things in our community.
But focusing on only what these readers see as “good” would diminish the newspapers’ role in the community and conflict with one of the tenants of journalism — to present the truth.
Check it out here.
Leading buyers, top designers and fashion media types converge here to see hundreds of garments from dozens of designers which then go on to help set the trends for the following season.
Among them are hundreds of photographers; some commissioned by high-end life-style magazines, who make their living out of traveling from country to country, and cat-walk to cat-walk for Vogue or Marie Claire; others from picture agencies and the London papers.
I’ve shot the last two London Fashion Weeks with journo Jacqueline Maley for the Sydney Morning Herald’s Essential section, and as someone who wears the same shirts until I put holes in them or the buttons fall off, working with this lot didn’t come naturally.
The most sought-after picture in cat-walk photography is a long-lens shot, straight down the middle of the runway, sharp on the model, with the depth-of-field dropping the background slightly out of focus, with the clothes horse looking straight at or over you. It’s a vertical, tight picture that shows off the dress, as that’s what it’s all about – the dress.
Check it out here.
No telling how many photos will be ruined by this new breed of cell phone photo takers.
Check it out here.
Photographs from Iraq and Afghanistan by
Alvaro Ybarra Zavala, Andrew Cutraro, Ashley Gilbertson,
Balazs Gardi, Ben Lowy, Christoph Bangert, Eros Hoagland,
Ghaith Abdul Ahad, Guy Calaf, Jason Howe, Jehad Nga, Lucian Read,
Luke Wolagiewicz, Mike Kamber, Moises Saman, Peter van Agtmael,
Rita Leistner, Stefan Zaklin, Stephanie Sinclair,
Teru Kuwayama, Yuri Kozyrev, ZalmaiFeb 28—April 30
Opening reception Feb 28, 6-8pm
Gallery FCB
16.W 23rd Street NYC
Check it out here.
And while looking at their site for the first time in a while, I realized that they finally got around to putting up some amazing audio from the past 20 years of the workshop. It’s kind of like having your own personal workshop experience right in your home. Legends like Gordon Parks, Bill Eppridge, David Hume Kennerly, Peter Turnley and the man himself, Eddie Adams. Their words of wisdom are invaluable.
Check it out here.
This essay has focussed primarily on a dark future: While the technology has gotten better, the average photography quality on exhibit in the press is deteriorating. The essay has shown why giving journalists cameras is not a substitution for specialised photographers, but the question remains: What can be done?
Check it out here.