Category: Photojournalism

May 29, 2013

Light, Color and Gesture

The Big Picture put together a short documentary on photographer Jay Maisel that is about to become a must-watch for my intro students. I’m embedding it below, but click through to YouTube and watch it big, just to revel in his work some. I love this line about shooting: If you not scared that you’re going to lose it, it...

Categories Craft/Good Work/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

May 28, 2013

Shooting Color, When Color Wasn’t Cool

I have a circle of craftsmen around me. Not physically, but there, in my mind and, occasionally, at my side. These folks go beyond colleagues, beyond mentors – they are photographic friends, people who feel images as much as see them. People who passionately believe in the power of a single frame, a moment in time. An image that can...

Categories Good Work/Photojournalism/Tech Talk/Thoughts & Theory

May 24, 2013

Eisie on Papa

Over at Life, Ben Cosgrove tells the story of how Alfred Eisenstadt went to Cuba to photograph Ernest Hemmingway … and it’s a harrowing tale. “He was,” Eisenstaedt once said of Hemingway, “the most difficult person I ever photographed.” Coming from a man who was a professional photographer across seven decades — someone who photographed presidents, emperors, socially awkward scientists,...

Categories Good Work/Photojournalism

May 23, 2013

It’s Not the Tool …

Zach Arias has a segment of the web where he answers reader questions, and this one about upgrading lights rang pretty true. REMEMBER THIS!!! I’M GRABBING YOU BY THE SHOULDERS AND SHAKING YOU!!!! REMEMBER THIS…. You do not walk into a meeting with a potential client with your bag of gear. You walk in with your portfolio. Your portfolio and...

Categories Advice & Learning/Photojournalism/Tech Talk

May 23, 2013

Thinking Way Ahead … Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar

The Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar has announced the dates for their 2013 event, moving from their traditional early-December slot to November 14-16. Lots of benefits to this as it won’t conflict with the SEC Championship in Atlanta now. More importantly, it won’t fall in the middle of exams for my students … hopefully this means more of them will get themselves...

Categories Advice & Learning/Photojournalism

May 23, 2013

More on Morel Copyright Claim Against AFP and Getty

In 2010, photojournalist Daniel Morel was working in Haiti when the devastating earthquake struck. He started shooting immediately and posted several photos to Twitter. Agence France-Press, a wire service, picked up eight of this images, transmitting them to their clients and passing them off to Getty Images, a photo agency. However, neither AFP nor Getty had permission, so Morel has...

Categories Business & Industry/Ethics & Legal/Photojournalism

May 21, 2013

Covering the Tornadoes

Associated Press photographer Sue Ogrocki talk about covering Monday's Oklahoma twisters. Worth a read.  

Categories At Work/Photojournalism

May 16, 2013

The Old Fashioned Photo Shop Job

This is mostly fun, now … but sixty years ago, if I had the same ethical standards I do now, I’d be pretty frightened by this book on how to retouch photos that Michael Zhang has written about at PetaPixel. I will grant that most of the photos in the book are commercial or corporate images and not what we...

Categories Ethics & Legal/Photojournalism

May 15, 2013

White House to Push for Media Shield Law

Maybe, maybe, this time we’ll get this to happen – The New York Times is reporting the Obama administration has caked Sen. Charles Schumer to revive a federal shield law bill. A democracy must have a free and open press, one that does not work under fear of the government.

Categories Ethics & Legal/Journalism/Photojournalism

May 15, 2013

The Perfect Portfolio

Over at the National Press Photographers Association’s web site, Jim Colton has put together a series of posts on building the perfect portfolio. In the third part of the series, he quotes MaryAnne Golon of the Washington Post: You need to care deeply about every image in your portfolio. If you don’t care about your pictures, why would anyone else?...

Categories Advice & Learning/At Work/Business & Industry/Photojournalism