The war against terrorism has evolved into a war of ideas and propaganda, a struggle for hearts and minds fought on television and the Internet. On those fronts, al-Qaeda’s voice has grown much more powerful in recent years. Taking advantage of new technology and mistakes by its adversaries, al-Qaeda’s core leadership has built an increasingly prolific propaganda operation, enabling it to communicate constantly, securely and in numerous languages with loyalists and potential recruits worldwide.
Every three or four days, on average, a new video or audio from one of al-Qaeda’s commanders is released online by as-Sahab, the terrorist network’s in-house propaganda studio. Even as its masters dodge a global manhunt, as-Sahab produces documentary-quality films, iPod files and cellphone videos. Last year it released 97 original videos, a sixfold increase from 2005. (As-Sahab means “the clouds” in Arabic, a reference to the skyscraping mountain peaks of Afghanistan.)
With its vibrant oversized photographs and minimalist design, the Boston Globe’s The Big Picture weblog launched on June 1 to instant global acclaim. It’s designed, programmed, and written by Alan Taylor, an old-school web programmer and blogger, in his spare time while working on community features at Boston.com.
IN these last few weeks, the full nature of Robert Mugabe’s repressive regime in Zimbabwe has been cruelly exposed. With his increasingly brazen resort to torture and hit squads to terrorize his own people, Mr. Mugabe has crossed a moral line. Some United Nations lawyers now say there is enough evidence to charge him with crimes against humanity.
Last Saturday I had a feature run about a man I met who raises deer in his back yard. 14 to be exact. He also is a Vietnam Veteran who suffers from PTSD and was exposed to Agent Orange. He’s kind of a quiet guy who doesn’t like crowds but finds his joy and sense of peace when he is spending his time with the deer.
Probably the question that I get asked more than any other is about my photography workflow. I actually feel like my photography workflow is pretty simple so I thought I’d write up a brief post documenting my process all the way from photo capture to photo publishing.
Something weird is going on. When Sigma first announced the new 50mm f/1.4, I expected it to be smaller and cheaper than their 30mm f/1.4. Why? In 35mm world, 50mm lenses are *always* smaller and cheaper than fast wide-angle lenses — even when the 50mm lenses cover a full 35mm frame. It’s owed partially to the relatively simple glass arrangement that most 50s have been using since they became standard.
I was wrong. At this moment, the 50mm is more expensive, but that could make sense because it’s a new lens, and may see discounts from retail price upon release. What makes very little sense at first glance is that it’s huge. At 505 grams, it’s almost twice as heavy as the Nikon 50mm, and it takes 77mm filters — the same size as, say, 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses.
Liz Ordonez-Dawes, the multi-million dollar verdict winner, “hope[s] photographers are empowered by [her] news and take action.” Liz was kind enough to share some important lessons she learned from her lawsuit:
This site is dedicated to provide children with
clothing that meets the FLDS standards for modesty
and neatness. Our commitment is to offer quality,
handmade, modest, affordable clothing.
Each piece is made with joy and care.
Viveza only does one thing, but it does it better than any tool I’ve ever used. If you spend a lot of time in Photoshop or Aperture editing your images, you’ll find Viveza will quickly become an integral part of your workflow, and it will repay the cost of purchase in no time at all.
Heavily armed police officers raided the headquarters of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change party on Monday, dragging away about 60 people — including children — on a day when world leaders condemned violence by the Zimbabwean government in increasingly strong terms.
Extremist propaganda has long been produced in the lawless haven for the Taliban and al-Qaeda known as the “tribal belt.” Lately, however, there has been a regional boom in DVDs celebrating al-Qaeda operations, beheadings of purported U.S. spies and scenes of Taliban fighters attacking U.S. forces.
“This is a media war on the part of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, aimed at exaggerating their victories as well as getting maximum sympathies of the masses through horrific footage and emotional sermons,” said Silab Mehsud, a tribal journalist working in South Waziristan, part of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
Survival International, the organisation that released the pictures along with Funai, conceded yesterday that Funai had known about this nomadic tribe for around two decades. It defended the disturbance of the tribe saying that, since the images had been released, it had forced neighbouring Peru to re-examine its logging policy in the border area where the tribe lives, as a result of the international media attention
Combat photojournalist Stacy Pearsall was named the Military Photographer of the Year recently for the second time. One of only two women to take home the honor, she is the first woman to take it twice. Having just finished serving as a mentor for the annual Department of Defense Worldwide Military Workshop, Pearsall talked with American Photo about how she proved she could hang with the boys and her fast rise through the ranks.
Documentary photographer John Ranard has died of liver cancer at the age of 56. Ranard covered topics including post-Soviet Russia, his own ailments and New York’s ethnic communities. He received first place in the 55th annual Pictures of the Year International contest for his work documenting the potential of an HIV/AIDS epidemic in post-Soviet Russia.
