It’s at this point that actor Aaron Eckhart usually comes clean. He lowers his Leica M6 camera, introduces himself, and explains what he’s up to. No, he’s not researching the role of paparazzo. He’s just engaging in his favorite pastime — street photography, something he’s done all over the world for the past seven years. Usually, when he’s recognized, he ends up posing for a picture, in exchange for his subjects’ allowing him to keep shooting. He even offers to make prints for them. “I’ve gotten some pretty good pictures this way,” Eckhart says.
The SportsShooter.com clip contest is open to all members. And the members are the judges too. Enter each month, vote each month and you just may be crowned “SportsShooter.com Photographer of the Year” at the end of the year.
Andreas Gursky is one of the most important living photographers, despite the fact that his work is often being judged on nothing but else but its size or its price. While his photos are indeed monumental, size is merely a means to an end – as is obvious to a viewer who is confronted by one of Gursky’s photographs. The prints are not big simply because he can print them big, but because they have to be big, because of what they show and how they show it.
David Griffin is the director of photography for National Geographic magazine. To talk about the power of images, he shows us some of the best photojournalistic images published in National Geographic. Of twelve images, including Steve McCurry’s famous photo of an Afghan refugee, and an amazing shot by Nick Nichols of Jane Goodal touching an ape, one was an amateur, submitted through Geographic’s new amateur site, Your Shot
Not sure which camera to buy? Let your eyes be the ultimate judge! Visit our Comparometer(tm) to compare images from the Sigma DP1 with those from other cameras you may be considering. The proof is in the pictures, so let your own eyes decide which you like best!
The Sigma DPI, the compact camera with a full frame sensor we faceitiously and, perhaps, unfairly, compared to the mythical Sasquatch in a previous post seems to be real after all. Our friends over at Imaging Resource have gotten their hands on a full production sample of the camera and have posted some “first shots.”
Like the Angel, this one was a gift from the Gods. My wife and I were heading down the escalator at Bank Station to go to dinner. She saw the couple first and elbowed me. I had just enough time to focus and shoot one frame as the escalators quickly drew us together. Only later on the contact sheet did I really see the countdown posters on the wall that make the photograph rise above being just another photo of people kissing.
Documentary photojournalist Eugene Richards has a long career of producing powerful projects on social issues such as drug abuse, mental illness and aging. He is now working on a project on the impact of the Iraq war titled “War is Personal.” Helped by a grant from National Geographic Magazine, he is traveling around the U.S. to work on a series of stories mainly about veterans and their families. PDN recently sat down with Richards at his home in Brooklyn, N.Y., to talk about the project.
Seattle-based artist Chris Jordan has a provocative and thoughtful approach to using photo-based art to underline the excesses of human consumption and other atrocities. His series, Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait, uses cleverly designed huge images to convey the vastness of waste and other ridiculous human behavior.
Barbie Dolls, 2008, 60″x80″, depicts 32,000 Barbies, equal to the number of elective breast augmentation surgeries performed monthly in the US in 2006
‘Already, in the working hours since the departure of Steven Lee, the Leica product development team has begun to review the M system strategy. It is too early to say what changes will be made. However, it is likely that the path may differ from the one set by Steven Lee. In any case, the M8 will continue to be our flagship camera into 2009. We can confirm that comments made during PMA regarding the possibility of an M8 upgrade to full frame were premature and we apologise if one of them gave a too optimistic outlook.
It is true that it is the desire of Leica to consider full frame within the M system. However, the final decision regarding the appropriate camera body configuration has yet to be made.’
I made these pictures a few months ago. I took vacation for 3 days and drove about an hour south of portland to shoot a mini – story about a homeless family moving into a home. its not a unique story – i have even shot it before. but, that doesn’t matter. we often choose to not do a story because its been done before. what does that mean? homelessness has been “done” to death. so we shouldn’t cover it?
the photos will never be published anywhere but here. so i suppose i shot them for the blog (which seems weird to me). but, i shot them for Geana and the kids too.
Although I use four rotating routes to drive to and from work, I am still vulnerable during the walk to and from my car. This is the time that I load up on the trauma plates because I DO NOT WANT TO BE SHOT DEAD!Also, someone said that my Tac Team doesn’t get training. Not true. We meet at the range every night and shoot 400 rounds each through weapons that closely resemble our duty setup. We also practice unarmed combat. I am a Master of three martial arts including ninjitsu, which means I can wear the special boots to climb walls. I don’t think any of you are working as hard as I am to be prepared. I asked a serious question about tactical armor and I wanted a serious response. If you want to laugh at somebody, try laughing at the sheep out there who go to the mall unarmed trusting in me to stand guiard over their lives like a God.
The D3 is Nikon’s flagship FX digital camera, if only because it’s Nikon’s sole FX digital camera. But the D3 justifies its standing in the Nikon ranks on much more than mere exclusivity. Unparalleled ISO performance, a 9 fps full resolution shooting rate, exceptional color and image quality, a superb monitor, robust construction, outstanding build quality and a full frame sensor offering wide angle and depth of field lens performance like a 35mm film camera are some of the attributes that makes Nikon’s latest pro model a must-have for serious Nikon shooters.
Designed for sports and photojournalism, I’d suspect the D3 might find an additional following among wedding photographers who prefer to shoot in natural light. The camera’s big sensor results in the lack of a crop factor for lenses, so users who can’t get close to their subjects may well do better with a DX Nikon that maximizes lens length. Otherwise, the D3 is simply a state of the art, high-performance pro camera, and few of us who’ve been fortunate enough to get our hands on one would argue that it isn’t worth every penny of that lofty price tag.
Outlets including The Associated Press and Sports Illustrated, and groups including the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) and the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE), are asking MLB to change the credentialing terms for the upcoming baseball season.
This is the latest in a series of disputes between the press and sports leagues, which are increasingly trying to take control of photographs and other elements of media coverage.
In the new set of conditions for issuing 2008 press credentials, MLB states that “still pictures or photographs of any game cannot be used as part of a photo gallery.”
This month we focus on Martin Schoeller, a world-renowned portrait photographer based in New York City. Schoeller is best known for his “Close-Up” portrait series, for which he has photographed a slew of politicians, celebrities and everyday people over the last 10 years. As an editorial portrait photographer, Schoeller’s clients include the New Yorker, GQ, and Rolling Stone, among others. He also has several commercial clients including Goldman Sachs, Nike and Citibank. Schoeller, who began his photographic career as an assistant for Annie Leibovitz, provides an intimate look into his work.
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.
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.
February 2008 began with the Super Bowl, then slide into the heart of Awards Season: The Grammys and the Academy Awards and then tossed on top of that, a trip to Louisiana for the annual NBA All Star Weekend.
