On the fence about heading to the Northern Short Course? Or maybe the Advanced Storytelling Workshop or Multimedia Immersion? Is it because of the registration cost?
In Britain, Copyright Law Implodes
Jan 27, ’12
9:14 AM
In a court case that’s being talked about all over the interwebs, a bizarre British ruling has stipulated that if you photograph anything that someone else has already photographed in any similar way, you’re violating the original shooter’s copyright.
Shock. Fear. Paranoia has swept through the industry.
But another article, this one on the British Amateur Photographer web site, has a little more detail in it. The devil is in the details here – is it possible that part of the judge’s reasoning is that the infringer (Temple Island Teas) had tried to license the original image (controlled, apparently, by Temple Island Collection) and, having failed to acquire a license essentially recreated the image they wanted?
It’s a mess, for sure.
The Spot News Photo Master at ICP
Jan 25, ’12
8:57 AM
There is one undisputed master when it comes to spot news and crime photography, and that’s Weegee. Prowling the streets of New York City in the 1930s and 1940s, he was there first more often than the cops were.
The International Center of Photography in NYC has a show of his work up now, apparently including a replica of the gunsmith sign that was just outside of his office.
Spend some time with the images in the New York Times’ Lens blog gallery – that’s where spot news photojournalism really took shape.
Campaign Photos
Jan 24, ’12
2:00 PM
Nice collection of campaign photos from ZUMAs Mark Makela. Clean, controlled, good variety.
Same Hill, Different Day
Jan 24, ’12
11:45 AM
Over at the New York Times’ Lens blog, Kristen Joy Watts has the story of Paul Octavious who has been photographing the same hill in Chicago for four years. It’s a neat project, wonder if there’s something near my office I could do the same with …
One of Our Own
Jan 24, ’12
10:59 AM
Sara Guevara, a 26-year-old staff photographer at the Gainesville Times, has cancer.
I’m sure there are other photojournalists out there who are struggling with this, too. But Sara … Sara is one of mine.
In the last two weeks I have lost two dear friends and mentors to the big-C. So, Sara? Listen up – you’re kicking this thing in the ass.
Pardon my language.
Want to help? Set up a portrait session by emailing her at PortraitsForSara at gmail dot com. You can follow her on Facebook, too.
On Kodak and Life
Jan 24, ’12
10:00 AM
Over at the New York Times‘ Lens blog, David Gonzalez has posted his eulogy (perhaps premature) for Kodak. I loved this segment:
And so I became an acolyte in the Temple of Kodak. Like a convert, I embraced the rituals, spending hours under the soft amber lights, holding beakers like chalices, head bowed over trays in worshipful anticipation. There was a Zen-like comfort to these processing and printing sessions, which calmed me. I would go in after dinner and not emerge sometimes until sunrise — often with a few rolls of bulk-loaded Tri-X jangling in my makeshift camera bag, ready for new adventures.
I will admit to never being as enamored of the photographic process as many of my peers, and while I never found as much peace in the darkroom as my peers, I did find camaraderie and inspiration.
I almost always printed with others around in my early days and, for a short time I worked at a chain of weekly papers in Virginia. Our darkroom had two enlargers and there were three shooters, all with the same deadline. Standing in that red glow, waiting for your turn, peaking into the trays of gently rocking Dektol, I learned more about photography than I suspect I realize even now.
We talked tech, of course, but what we were really doing was honing our craft. You loved to see what each other got, because that was the bar you wanted to breech. You wanted to have the best basketball photo, the best portrait, the best spot news. And when I got beat, I tried a little harder. Worked my angles a little more. Asked a better question and got some better access.
Now, with photojournalists working out of their cars, I think we have lost some of that. Sure, we have online gathering places full of forums and easy ways to share our images, but to me, this old ink stained wretch, it’s just not quite the same.
How do we get that back? Or, maybe, the young’uns have it already and it’s just the geezers like me who don’t see it. That is, I admit, entirely possible.
The grass was not greener back then, I know that. Because there was no saturation slider on my Leitz enlarger …
Illinois to Allow Cameras in the Courts
Jan 24, ’12
8:59 AM
Twitter Chat with the AP on Photo Style
Jan 23, ’12
3:28 PM
Wish I’d caught this earlier … The @APStylebook folks did an online Twitter chat that focused on photo style stuff.
For the Intro students … captions matter. You should read that and see that @APStylebook agrees.
PhotoShelter Guide to Social Media
Jan 23, ’12
11:45 AM
PhotoShelter has created a two-part Photographer’s Social Media Handbook that you can get emailed to you from their site. It covers Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter and a few other platforms.