Category: Photojournalism

Emilio Morenatti, Honored and Recovered – Lens

Emilio Morenatti, Honored and Recovered

Emilio Morenatti will resume his career at The Associated Press, with a top prize from the National Press Photographers Association.

via Lens Blog: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/behind-41/

This has been the week for Emilio Morenatti.

And, surely, he has earned a good week. On assignment with The Associated Press in southern Afghanistan last August, Mr. Morenatti was badly injured when a vehicle in which he was riding was struck by a roadside bomb. Andi Jatmiko, an A.P. videographer, and two soldiers from the Army’s Fifth Stryker Brigade were also injured in the blast. One of those soldiers crawled out of the vehicle and applied a tourniquet to Mr. Morenatti. All four were then evacuated by helicopter.

March 27, 2010
MARK RICE: "Through the Lens of the City: NEA Photography Surveys of the 1970s" (2005)

The Los Angeles Documentary Project was one of the most ambitious of all the photography surveys supported by the NEA. In addition to including more photographers (eight) than any of the other Greater L.A. surveys, Los Angeles presented a larger subject than any of the other NEA-supported surveys of cities. The application noted that the project would be “a visual examination of the sociological and topographical diversity of one of the most dynamic and unusual cities in the world.” In their application for an NEA Photography Survey Grant, the directors of the survey were aware that Los Angeles signified more than just itself, and called Los Angeles “the ultimate city of our age.” The description goes on to address the importance of understanding what Los Angeles had become by the 1970s:

Link: MARK RICE: “Through the Lens of the City: NEA Photography Surveys of the 1970s” (2005)

March 26, 2010
PDNPulse: Stylized Photojournalism: Where to Draw the Line?

Shot with his iPhone using a Polaroid film filter app, the images simulate the classic look and feel of Polaroids. The washed out colors and soft focus lend the series a dreamy, remembrance-of-things-past feel that makes the images compelling, and in some cases, beautiful. Which raised the question: is this a case of style and form obscuring content?

Link: PDNPulse: Stylized Photojournalism: Where to Draw the Line?

March 24, 2010
Nieman Reports | Taking Time to Rethink, Adjust and Move Forward

‘Today, how we divide our time and do our work and get paid for it has virtually no connection to how things worked for those who started out a decade or two before us.’

Link: Nieman Reports | Taking Time to Rethink, Adjust and Move Forward

March 21, 2010
What the Still Photo Still Does Best – NYTimes.com

What the Still Photo Still Does Best

Thoughts on the enduring power of photojournalism — and on the death of Charles Moore, one of its great practitioners.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/weekinreview/21klibanoff.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

The unsettling images from civil rights battlegrounds, followed closely by the disturbing images from Vietnam battlefields by Horst Faas, Eddie Adams, Nick Ut and others, created a golden era for photojournalism.

Today, everyone with a cellphone is a photographer/videographer and streaming video has become a national obsession. But has the proliferation of images devalued photojournalism and dulled its influence?

March 21, 2010
Too Graphic? | American Journalism Review

American newspapers, often squeamish when it comes to running disturbing images, overcame their inhibitions after the Haitian earthquake. Journalists say powerful, graphic photographs made clear the depth of the tragedy and fostered support for rebuilding the devastated island nation. But to some, the deluge of images of naked corpses and severed body parts was insensitive and dehumanizing.

Link: Too Graphic?
| American Journalism Review

via: duckrabbit

March 20, 2010
Photographing Fabienne: Part Nine – Interview with Nathan Weber « Prison Photography

Photographing Fabienne: Part Nine – Interview with Nathan Weber

PART NINE IN A SERIES OF POSTS DISCUSSING PHOTOGRAPHERS’ ACTIONS AND RESPONSES TO THE KILLING OF FABIENNE CHERISMA IN PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI ON THE 19TH JANUARY 2010. Nathan Weber was in Haiti…

via Prison Photography: http://prisonphotography.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/photographing-fabienne-part-nine-interview-with-nathan-weber/

The atmosphere was pretty intense. This is the most high emotion environment I have ever been in. At one point I felt that we all needed to back off and stop shooting. I thought that the pictures have been made and stepping away from the scene was in order. I also gave thought to heading back to the hotel and transmitting my images. Until this point there hadn’t been a youth death involved in looting and I knew that I would be an important news story. I am so glad I didn’t leave and I waited to see what would happen.

March 19, 2010
War Memorials With Neatly Made Beds – Lens

War Memorials With Neatly Made Beds

Ashley Gilbertson is covering the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from the homes of those who died in combat, Miki Meek reports.

via Lens Blog: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/showcase-140/

Since 2007, Ashley Gilbertson has been recording the bedrooms to which young American service members will never return. “You walk into these rooms,” he said, “and you feel like these are the kids you used to hang out with.”

“I’ve been covering conflict and war for more than 10 years, but this is the first time that I’ve really felt like a war photographer,” said Mr. Gilbertson, who is based in New York.

March 19, 2010
Tales of Olympic 'Lone Gunmen.'

“What an awesome adventure for a lone shooter, always second guessing yourself on what to shoot.”
By John Leyba, The Denver Post

Link: Tales of Olympic ‘Lone Gunmen.’

March 16, 2010
Gone City: Larry Towell needs an ass-kicking

His just-published series of photos of topless Haitian women receiving care in makeshift “emergency tents” after the earthquake is gratuitous, racist and disgusting.

Link: Gone City: Larry Towell needs an ass-kicking

via: Photography Prison

March 11, 2010
Why we must see – Conscientious

First of all, what everybody needs to realize is that many, if not all, of the photographers who record horrendous events experience them more or less the same way we would experience them, if we happened to be there. What was going through the mind of the photographer who was watching a man get stoned to death and actually photographed it happening? Well, the photographer was probably mortified and shocked and sickened just like most people would be.

Link: Why we must see – Conscientious

March 11, 2010
Viewer or voyeur? The morality of reportage photography

Viewer or voyeur? The morality of reportage photography

Do you look away from images of real-life horror, or look closer? A series of shocking photographs from Somalia asks disturbing questions about the ethics of bearing witness

via the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/mar/08/world-press-photo-sean-ohagan

Do you look away from images of real-life horror, or look closer? A series of shocking photographs from Somalia asks disturbing questions about the ethics of bearing witness

March 10, 2010
::: The Travel Photographer :::: Peter Turnley: The Williams Club (NYC)

Peter Turnley: The Williams Club (NYC)

travel photographer

Link: http://thetravelphotographer.blogspot.com/2010/03/peter-turnley-williams-club-nyc.html

On March 11th at The Williams Club in New York City, Peter Turnley will step out from behind the camera for a “show and tell” on the images that have made him one of the preeminent photojournalists of our times.

March 9, 2010
Campaign for the Eradication of Repetitive Photojournalism (CREEP) « Prison Photography

Campaign for the Eradication of Repetitive Photojournalism (CREEP)

A Miserable Old Git has launched CREEP with the following words Among suggested subjects generally embargoed might be: • Women in black weeping over their dead menfolk. • Terrified civilians runnin…

via Prison Photography: http://prisonphotography.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/campaign-for-the-eradication-of-repetitive-photojournalism-creep/

A Miserable Old Git has launched CREEP with the following words

Among suggested subjects generally embargoed might be:

• Women in black weeping over their dead menfolk.
• Terrified civilians running away from trouble in a crouching position.

March 5, 2010
A Photo Editor – The Value Of A News Photograph

The Value Of A News Photograph – A Photo Editor

I received this question from a reader: Hey Rob, I hope this finds you well. Look I have a question that might be interesting for the other photographers following your blog. The other day I was on on 6th ave when I saw smoke coming out of a building. I p

via A Photo Editor: http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2010/03/04/the-value-of-a-news-photograph/

In the following minutes, many newspapers and TV stations who had seen my picture on the NYTimes website starting going through every media they could (even my husband’s facebook) to reach me to buy it. Of course I had signed with the NYTimes so I went along the lines of the exclusivity agreement.

March 4, 2010
Revolutionizing Photojournalism, Again – ARTINFO.com

Lubell, who joined Magnum in 2004 and assumed his post in 2006, came from a background in private equity. He describes his idea to sell the prints as “the 101 of business.” Magnum, he says, was a strong brand but had limited funds, and the changing media landscape — which involved dwindling photo assignments and a diminished licensing business, once Magnum’s traditional revenue streams — spelled “a perfect storm” for the organization. So Lubell looked around the co-op, he says, and asked himself, “What are the opportunities here?”

Link: Revolutionizing Photojournalism, Again – ARTINFO.com

via: A Photo Editor – Magnum’s Turnaround Business Plan

March 3, 2010
working…. | burn magazine

working….

it is getting cold here in Rio…fall has arrived…everyone complaining of the rain…temperature has dropped to a chilling 68F….i am wearing a long sleeved shirt, pants and shoe…

via burn magazine: http://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/03/working/

i have been sick , scared, injured, and upset…long days turned into long nights often with no result…many moving parts and often with the gears grinding….it is very hard for me to look at the work…but, i must soon….i am not one of those photographers who come home at night and rush to the computer to see what i have done…quite the contrary…i hate to look….deep deep down inside i am assuming some good work….but any long term results seem now far far away….on top of it all, i must justify all of this to the editors who commissioned me to be here….i need an Advil…

March 3, 2010
Magnum Launches Fund to Support Haiti Coverage | Raw File

Magnum Launches Fund to Support Haiti Coverage

Magnum Photo Agency has established an internal fund to support long-form coverage of Haiti by its photographers for at least the next 12 months, says director Mark Lubell. “We had three photographers in Haiti shortly after the earthquake,” says Lubell, “

via WIRED: http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2010/02/magnum-launches-fund-to-support-haiti-coverage/

Mark Lubell believes Magnum’s presence is particularly important to Haiti coverage, because its photographers own the rights to their photos. “When you own the story,” he says, “you hang out and you take a much more in-depth look. You don’t just jump off a plane take pictures and go home. Not only is [Magnum’s approach] in-depth, but also the quality of the work is so high.”

February 26, 2010
IMPACT: An Online Exhibition « Independent Work « The 37th Frame

The IMPACT team wants to remind viewers of the important role photographers play around the world, so we asked participants to share images from a project where they had an impact or were impacted themselves.

Link: IMPACT: An Online Exhibition « Independent Work « The 37th Frame – Celebrating the Best of Photojournalism

February 24, 2010
Roger Tooth on the Saturation Point for Photojournalists « Prison Photography

Roger Tooth on the Saturation Point for Photojournalists

DISASTER PHOTOGRAPHY I ran across the University College Dublin’s Photography & International Conflict project this week. It operates out of UCD’s Institute for American Studies &#8…

via Prison Photography: http://prisonphotography.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/roger-tooth-on-the-saturation-point-for-photojournalists/

I would have thought we are at saturation point for photojournalists, but then you have the colleges churning out thousands of graduates each year, so its all a bit worrying really.

February 23, 2010