Visual Journalism – Notes from aside the camera

April 13, 2021

When a Lens Is Too Sharp

Nice piece by Michael Johnston at The Online Photographer about portrait lenses. I will admit I obsess over sharpness (and nervouseness in bokeh, but that’s different issue), but this line really resonated with me: What’s a portrait but a sympathetic presentation of a person’s appearance? In 1989, I bought a used Nikkor 105 mm f/2.5 AI-s lens and it still...

Craft/Photojournalism/Tech Talk

April 4, 2021

On Getting the Shot

Two quotes in this interview with Getty Images’ Elsa Garrison by Hannah Foslien that stood out to me: For me, the way I look at it is, if I didn’t get it, then I wasn’t meant to get it. You can’t let that frustration of a missed picture carry over into your next assignment, because then you’re self-sabotaging. And this:...

Advice & Learning/At Work/Business & Industry/Good Work/Journalism/Photojournalism

March 30, 2021

Documenting Friendship

I love it when radio leads me to a great documentary project … NPR’s Melody Rowell has a look at Karen Marshall’s 30 year project on a group of friends and how their relationships shifted over time. Someplace in a notebook, I recorded the idea that one image shows what something looks like, two images can demonstrate change but it...

Good Work/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

March 30, 2021

Charging You to Invoice

This is a new one to me – McGraw Hill is now charging independent contractor to submit invoices. They are deducting 2.2% for an administrative fee when submitting invoices via their platform, which is the only way to bill them. Out of curiosity, what would happen if the contractors added a 10% administrative fee to their invoices? I understand that...

At Work/Business & Industry

March 10, 2021

The Family Business

Touching story by Alix Strauss in The New York Times about the 80 year history of Fred Marcus Studios. Now run by a third generation, they’ve done more than 30,000 weddings since opening in 1941.

At Work/Business & Industry/Good Work/Thoughts & Theory

March 9, 2021

To Be There for Them

Donna Ferraro did an interview with DPReview’s Jeanette D Moses about her new book, Holy. The interview does a deep dive into why and how she works, a lot to learn here. I’m really trying to understand how to make life better for women, and that’s really what I’ve been doing for most of my life. How do we make...

At Work/Craft/Photojournalism

March 3, 2021

Seeing Back in Time

There is something about this story that I just adore. Irish photographer David Killeen buys a photo album of a 1935 trip to Switzerland and then, 75 years later, rephotographs the locations. The video at the bottom of that Macfilos post is just utterly charming.

Craft/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

February 18, 2021

The Royal Photographic Society Journal Now Online

This is very, very cool – the Royal Photographic Society has made nearly 160 years worth of their Journal available online, every issue from 1853 through to 2018. As a way to look back at great work and how great work was discussed, this is a tremendous resource.

Advice & Learning/Craft/Tech Talk/Thoughts & Theory

February 17, 2021

Why I Love Photography

Nice piece where Terry Fouche explains why he loves photography. This line resonated with me: A day will come when maybe I can’t pick up a camera anymore and when that day comes and people look at what I left behind, I want them to say this person loved people, this person honored people and we can see it in...

Advice & Learning/Craft/Photojournalism

February 17, 2021

On Gordon Parks

We can never learn enough about Gordon Parks. R.C> Baker at The Village Voice wrote up a brief on an exhibit of his work and included this, in talking about one of Parks’ iconic images: “That’s the photograph I made of her, in the government building, in front of the American flag, with a broom in her hand and a...

Advice & Learning/Good Work/Photojournalism