Category: Thoughts & Theory

October 4, 2016

Kandahar Journals Showing in Athens

As part of our McGill Symposium on Wednesday, October 5, we will be showing Louie Palu’s documentary on his time in Afghanistan here at the University of Georgia’s Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Kandahar Journals looks at his time covering the war and its effects on his psychological transformation. Doors will open at 7:30 and we...

Categories At Work/Business & Industry/Journalism/Multimedia/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory/Video

August 23, 2016

Photo Editors Please, or At Least Visual Awareness (Updated)

It seems that I am on a multi-year rant about my local news organization. I pay my subscription, I read it every day online, spend time with the delivered Sunday edition and I truly appreciate that they are severely understaffed. That the depth of their coverage has suffered is sad and I do not find fault with the individual journalists...

Categories Ethics & Legal/Journalism/Photojournalism/Tech Talk/Thoughts & Theory

August 16, 2016

Support the HPR

Something a little light for a Tuesday afternoon. “Here at Hipster Photographer Rescue we give these kids options, and make them see that lurking self-consciously on street corners, wearing a messenger bag filled with old cameras, cigarettes, a James Joyce novel, organic cashews and a Macbook Pro, does not make you a professional photographer. “Still, we can only detox, de-program...

Categories Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

August 3, 2016

Grace and Power

I suspect there will be a lot of discussions in my classes about Jonathan Bachman’s image of two Baton Rouge police officers approaching a woman to arrest her. Allen Murabayashi has a nice compilation of commentary over at PhotoShelter, a good starting point.

Categories Ethics & Legal/Good Work/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

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...

Categories 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...

Categories 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...

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

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...

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

April 15, 2016

A Visual Discussion on the Human Condition

One of my long-time favorites is Peter Turnley. Early on in my studies, I saw something in his work that resonated deeply with me, but I’m not sure I was able to articulate it then. There was a warmth, a connection. The people in his images were never just subjects, there was something more in the relationship separated only by...

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

April 13, 2016

Would HCB Use a Cellphone?

It’s an interesting question, whether Henri Cariter-Bresson would convert from his Leica to a smartphone were he alive and working today. William Dalrymple believe he would have and, as much as I adore the craft of photography … I guess I agree HCB would be wielding an iPhone 6s. But definitely not a 6s Plus, that would be too big....

Categories Craft/Photojournalism/Tech Talk/Thoughts & Theory