Mark E. Johnson – Page 14 – Visual Journalism

July 26, 2016

The Moments in Between

Anderson Cooper did a segment for 60 Minutes on music photographer Danny Clinch. View More: 60 Minutes News|Live News|More News Videos His phrasing about looking for the moments in between, I concur that’s where the magic happens. Miss growing out of mouths are just not that interesting, but when someone gets lost in her music … that’s the moment. Also,...

Advice & Learning/At Work/Good Work/Photojournalism

July 25, 2016

Photographing What You’re Interested In

This is an interesting video where Lee Friedlander talks about how his projects come together. And that wording is precise – he and the other panelists talk about the process of making images and then looking to see what you’re making images of and from that deciding if there’s a project. Friedlander says, “I don’t know what I’m interested in...

Good Work/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

July 17, 2016

On Photographing Everything

Here comes the cynical me … Jonathan Freeland wrote a pice for The Guardian about our penchant to record everything. They will not need to look at sunsets and palm trees, for they will have flawless copies on their devices (click!). The great scale of the Notre Dame cathedral, in Paris, or the Colosseum, in Rome, will bring no risk...

Advice & Learning/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

July 16, 2016

How Photographing Objects Leads to People

One of the great challenges in photojournalism is being told to photograph a thing. It may be a building or a bridge or a birdcage, but, chances are, unless you have the ability to light the daylights out of it, it’s going to be static. And static isn’t great for news photographs. My mantra has always been we tell stories...

Advice & Learning/Good Work/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

July 3, 2016

Contracts Matter, Post-Death Avedon Edition

A fascinating piece in The New York Times about a set of prints made by Reudi Hoffman for Ricahrd Avedon’s “In the American West” series. He has 126 large prints he claims were his payment for printing the exhibition, but without documentation he cannot sell them. One more reason why getting agreements in writing matters.

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

June 26, 2016

We’ve lost Bill Cunningham

The New York Times has reported that Bill Cunningham, its beloved fashion photographer, has passed. He was 87. I am not a person overly concerned with fashion (just ask my wife or students), but I would dip into his work from time to time not so much to see what was trendy but because his approach to documenting fashion focused...

At Work/Business & Industry/Good Work/Photojournalism

June 5, 2016

Not Trusting Our Viewers

There has been a lot written about the images of Steve McCurry being altered – whether is was his staff, his staff under his direction or the man himself doesn’t really matter. The images were altered and a photographer who has been held highly for decades for his journalism work is not rebranding himself as a “visual storyteller.” Which is...

Business & Industry/Ethics & Legal/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

May 25, 2016

Expired, but Still Working

An interesting project by Chip Litherland – taking expired film to major events, just to see what happens. Yeah, it’s art … but it’s sort of cool. And I’ve probably got 20 rolls of various film in the freezer or drawers around here …

Good Work/Photojournalism/Tech Talk

May 25, 2016

Doing Some Good

James Estrin has a nice piece up at The New York Times’ Lens blog about the work of Mel Rosenthal who documented the South Bronx in New York from 1976 to 1982. The limited number of images here is frustrating – I really want to see more. It’s the reasoning behind these images that has me interested: For Mel Rosenthal,...

At Work/Good Work/Photojournalism

May 1, 2016

Where the Press Isn’t Free

The New York Times has an interesting piece up about photojournalist Maya Vidon-White who photographed a dying victim of the November terrorist attacks in Paris and is now being sued for doing so. The story talks about the ethical challenges of covering conflicts, but it’s really about the legal challenges – in France, you can’t photograph the victims of terrorism...

Business & Industry/Ethics & Legal/Photojournalism

Author: Mark E. Johnson