Author: Mark E. Johnson

November 2, 2015

The Aesthetics of Death

Over at Salon.com, Scott Timberg talks with David Shields about his new book, War is Beautiful. Shields has gone through nearly 20 years of front pages from The New York Times and pulled images of conflict that he feels are, well, beautiful and raises the question of whether modern conflict photographers are still reporting on the horrors of war.

Categories Business & Industry/Ethics & Legal/Journalism/Photojournalism

November 2, 2015

There is a Time …

… and it was yesterday that you needed to check the time settings on your cameras. Dig into those menus and set your clock back an hour. This is also a good time to check the minutes setting, too, as many modern cameras have a tendency to drift. At least until the Swiss start making cameras, checking the time stamp...

Categories Business & Industry/Photojournalism/Tech Talk

October 30, 2015

Stop the Stock

Here we go again … this time, it’s the International Business Times using a stock photo of, ahem, three Russian bombers (referred to as “jets” in an earlier headline) on a story about TWO planes flying close to the USS Ronald Reagan in international waters. Yes, it’s the right type of plane. But we can count … worrisome that a...

Categories Ethics & Legal/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

October 27, 2015

Forcing Visual Variety

If this ever goes into production, I may require it of my kids so I never have to see another photo of Tate Plaza or the Arch. Camera Restricta from Philipp Schmitt on Vimeo. On my additional feature request list would be facial recognition so we can limit the number of selfies you take.

Categories Photojournalism/Tech Talk/Thoughts & Theory

October 26, 2015

Are We Ready for DRM on Photos?

That’s a good question to start pondering, because according to Rob Price at Business Insider, the Joint Photographics Expert Group (look at their acronym to determine if they’re important) is looking at incorporating digital rights management technology into web-accessible images. Will this change everything for the better, allowing us to protect our work and receive the compensation we need to...

Categories Business & Industry/Ethics & Legal/Photojournalism/Tech Talk/Thoughts & Theory

October 26, 2015

ViewFind Grants

I’ve posted this before, but a reminder that ViewFind is offering a $5,000 grant to support stories about race AND the’ve added a separate $5,000 grant just for students. Application deadline is November 30 now – get to work.

Categories Competitions/Multimedia/Photojournalism

October 26, 2015

If I Asked, Would You Work for Me Free?

I’m curious how many of my friends would do a job gratis. Apparently, Levi Wiggins at PetaPixel thought the same thing. He says the results were mixed, but I’m a little more optimistic.

Categories Business & Industry/Ethics & Legal/Photojournalism

October 23, 2015

Opening Up

One of the great challenges in photojournalism is establishing a comfort level with those we report on. Sometimes it comes easily, sometimes it’s not really needed. But for some stories, we need to feel connected for those deeper, truer stories to come out, so people will open up their lives and, more importantly, hearts to us. One of the best...

Categories Advice & Learning/Journalism/Photojournalism

October 20, 2015

NPR Internships

Deadlines for NPR’s winter and spring internships are approaching, here’s what you need to know to apply.

Categories At Work/Business & Industry/Journalism/Multimedia/Photojournalism

October 16, 2015

The Paparazzi Business Crashes

Nice piece by Claudia Rosenbaum on BuzzFeed (yeah, I went there) on the decline of the paparazzi business. Maybe now we can start to focus on real stories about real people doing real things? (Thanks to John Harrington for the link.)

Categories Business & Industry/Ethics & Legal/Photojournalism