Mikhael Subotzky is one of Magnum’s youngest and newest members, and his first book Beaufort West was one of my favourite photography books last year. I got interested in talking to Mikhael after seeing the book and reading a comment he had left on Magnum’s blog, under a post about photojournalism.
“The cop wanted my ID, and I showed it to him,” Mr. Taylor said. “He told me I couldn’t take the pictures. I told him that’s not true, that the rules permitted it. He said I was wrong. I said, ‘I’m willing to bet your paycheck.’ ”
Mr. Taylor was right. The officer was enforcing a nonexistent rule. And if recent experience is any guide, one paycheck won’t come close to covering what a wrongful arrest in this kind of case could cost the taxpayers.
Canon today announced an update to their line-up of tilt-shift lenses, giving more control to the existing 24mm f/3.5 TS lens, and more impressively introducing a 17mm f/4L, by far the widest tilt-shift lens made for the 35mm system.
Under an idiotic new law, photographers in the UK can be stopped and their cameras, memory cards and film seized:
Isn’t it ironic that Facebook, which is so often used by groups of people to protest and demand changes for just about anything, has reverted to its former Terms Of Services under pressure of the community?
As the judging of the Picture of the Year International contest is now ongoing, winners are now being announced and posted at the POYi site. Judging from some of the winning images so far, I’ll tell you that there will be a lot of discussion (as there is every year) about the state of contest judging. (And I didn’t enter, so no sour grapes here.)
Check it out here.
The Americans showed a different America than the wholesome, nonconfrontational photo essays offered in some popular magazines. Robert Frank’s subjects weren’t necessarily living the American dream of the 1950s: They were factory workers in Detroit, transvestites in New York, black passengers on a segregated trolley in New Orleans. Frank didn’t even get much support from the art world, he recalls.
“The Museum of Modern Art wouldn’t even sell the book,” Frank says. “But the younger people caught on.”
Hey its mid-February so it must be time to check out the winners from World Press Photo.
I gotta say quite emphatically that this year’s choices are completely and utterly disappointing, especially in comparison to some really kick ass stuff from last year. And I’ve heard this feeling echoing thru discussions in many photo circles and message boards already.
Just a whole lot of redundancy and cliche
Just last week, President Obama was asked at a news conference if he would allow coverage of the flag-draped coffins arriving at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware “so the American people can see the full human cost of war.”
A week ago, our reporter posed as a juju priest who was in dire need of human body parts for urgent rituals. After about four hours of waiting and being passed from one “contact” to another, and played around like ping-pong, the reporter got a dealer who “booked” him. The rule here is, if you want a fresh human body part, you book and wait. If your order is for dry parts you get instant delivery.
Just a quick post here. The World Press Photo Awards were announced yesterday. One winner caught my eye. The work of Roger Cremers document the tourist behaviours at Auschwitz-Birkenau. It is a tricky topic to deal with, especially in a photography climate that frequently pours cynicism and scorn on global tourism (Martin Parr’s brilliantly garish work trail-blazed this climate).
PMA 2009 is nearly two weeks away, there aren’t any news from Leica front so far; but super wide shooters get your wallet ready, the French has posted a preview of an upcoming Leica M 3.8/18 Super-Elmar.
Last spring Anthony Suau pleaded with Time magazine – where he’s been a contract photographer for 20 years – to publish his photo essay on the economic crisis in Cleveland, Ohio.
“When I arrived there I was in shock,” Suau recalls. “There was almost not a single street in Cleveland that didn’t have a house that was boarded up because of a foreclosure.” He compared the scene to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The 52nd Annual World Press Photo of the Year has been awarded to Anthony Suau for a photograph shot for Time magazine related to the economic crisis in the U.S. taken in Cleveland, Ohio.
One of my favorite places on the internet, and really the only place that I hang out regularly on Flickr is in the group DeleteMe Uncensored. DeleteMe Uncensored is a group on Flickr where users submit their photographs into a pool and then other group members vote on them along with a short comment. If a photo gets 10 “saves” before 10 “deletes” it is then saved into a group portfolio of photographs called “The Lightbox.” If you want to see what I feel is some of the best photography on Flickr check out The Lightbox.
