I had better not ever hear a student say there’s nothing worth photographing … The Denver Post’s Plog looks at a year’s worth of images by Mark Hirsch of the same tree.
Yep, 365 photos of one tree, all shot on his phone.
John Tlumacki Talks About the Marathon Bombing
May 4, ’13
9:00 AM
From a few days ago, but worth a few minutes of your time …
Mexico’s Portrait
Apr 26, ’13
9:15 AM
Over at The New York Times’ Lens blog, Damien Cave has a review of a new book out that looks at the history of portraiture in Mexico. There are modern and vintage photos, individuals and families.
It’s days like this that I think I need to increase my book budget … Mexican Portraits is available from Aperture for $72.25.
Simple vs. Small
Apr 24, ’13
3:09 PM
Over at The New York Times’ Lens blog, Whitney Richardson has a story up about Paul Kwilecki and his photographs of Decatur County, Georgia. Well worth a read and a walk through the gallery.
But it raises a couple of question that, probably, only I can answer … why did Mr. Kwilecki reach out to Duke University to help with his archive? I guess I know that answer – because the University of Georgia doesn’t have a photographic reputation. I want to change that so badly it hurts.
His work is exactly the sort of thing I want housed here, that I want to work with, that I want to help people see and discover.
“I am frequently asked by people who have not seen my work why I spend my life documenting one simple place like Decatur County, Georgia,” he wrote. “People confuse simple with small; they’re not the same thing.”
We may be a small program, but I certainly hope we are not simple.
The Kiss, and Camera, That Counted
Apr 21, ’13
7:12 PM
This is one of those weeks where I wish I had $60,000 just sort of hanging around. An autographed print of Alfred Eisenstadt’s V-J Day celebration kiss is going up for auction in Austria along with the camera he used to make the photo in 1945.
I am not one to collect things for the sake of collecting them, but to have Eisie’s camera? The one that made one of the most iconic images of all time?
Well, let’s just be glad I co-signed on this house with my wife …
(Thanks to Greg Mironchuk for the link.)
Searching for the Seventies
Apr 15, ’13
12:00 PM
The Denver Post’s Captured blog has a great collection of images from the Documerica project of the 1970s. Prepare for a flashback to my youth … only my early images were nowhere near as nice as these.
Pay attention to both the subject matter and the way the images are composed – there’s more here than a primary subject, this is a great example of documentary photography that transcends the individual moments and gives you a feel for the era.
The Business of Visual Journalism
Mar 6, ’13
12:41 PM
Pencil this in your calendar … on Thursday, March 21, we will be hosting our second Business of Visual Journalism symposium here at the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
We will have three talks in the afternoon, starting at 2, and all are open to the public.
First up will be Billy Howard, who just had a collection of his portraits of people with AIDS posted on CNN’s Photo Blog. He will be talking about the importance of personal projects and how to maintain a passion for photography while building your career. If you haven’t seen his Step Inside My Head package, you really need to.
At 3, Laurie Shock will talk about documentary photography and designing books. She recently completed two projects, one of which is already a favorite of mine – Arthur Grace’s America 101.
At 4, we will have a panel of UGA Visual Journalism alumni talking about how they got where they are now. On the panel will be Lindy Cordell (ABJ ’09), wedding and portrait photographer, Caroline Kilgore (ABJ ’07), photo director at Atlanta magazine, Jackie Reedy (ABJ ’10), communications consultant for Chik-fil-A, Ashley Strickland (ABJ ’10), assistant producer at CNN, Jon-Michael Sullivan (ABJ ’10), The Augusta Chronicle, and Autumn Vetter (ABJ ’09), recently at the Forsyth County News.
Come on out and spend an afternoon here in Athens, we’d love to see you.
Interview with John Morris
Feb 12, ’13
9:27 PM
John Morris is a legend, there’s just no other way to frame a discussion about him. A picture editor for Life and The New York Times, he was everywhere, it seemed, when the great images were being made.
Think about this: he edited Robert Capa’s D-Day film, producing the iconic image of a soldier crawling up out of the surf, and made the decision at the Times to run Nick Ut’s iconic image of a girl burned by napalm.
There’s a documentary on him now and Richard Fitzpatrick of the Irish Examiner has an interview up with him.
If you read nothing else, read this:
Morris says there are three things a photographer needs: an eye; a brain, to know the significance of what you’re shooting; and a heart, a feeling for people.
Pretty simple … and profound.
Covering the Big Game
Feb 5, ’13
1:24 PM
There’s a big difference between taking a great picture, and taking a great picture of the game. In sports, the outcome is all that matters, and no matter how pretty a shot you took, it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t affect the game.
Color Controlled Project
Feb 5, ’13
10:07 AM
We don’t talk about Pantone colors much here, but I love this idea of this project by Alison Anselot of matching food colors to the industry-standard color scheme.