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December 2008 
The Portfolio of ...
Another Year in Pictures 2008 - The Year in Pictures - from the New York Times is a nicely organized, 8 section presentation covering many of the interesting aspects from a twisted 2008.
The Portfolio of...
The Portfolio of...
Stop Motion Neil Gill did a stop motion video in one day that was kinda cool.
The Portfolio of...
Flying Camera Vincent LaForet is is doing cool things with the 5D Mark II again.
Finding what you love An oldie but a goodie, Steve Jobs talks about finding what you love. "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Path to success, path to longevity Miguel Garcia-Guzman over at Exposure Compensation has a really cool little bit about surviving as a professional photographer.
Smelting Factory I have always been a quiet fan of Ikuru Kuwajima's work. Here's why.
LA Times Revenue follow up dvafoto did a quick roundup of LA Times online revenue story posted here a bit back. They just wanted to point out that things may not be so rosy after all. I’m worried, though, like one commenter on Recovering Journalist, that the good news has come after at least 523 layoffs at the paper this year (Papercuts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Getting the website to cover payroll is likely much easier with 500+ fewer employees. While I have never been accused of being an optimist, I just want to hope that this good news will continue to grow and maybe the journalistic collectives known as newspapers will find a niche in this brave new world.
A Reviewer's Eye View Ever wonder what the benefit of a portfolio review is? Well, Stella Kraner can tell you.
Project Roundup Drew Angerer does a roundup of the recent projects that inspire him.
Good News for the Newspapers LAT website revenue now exceeds paper's editorial payroll costs. Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel after all.
Photography Overload? An interesting discussion on the Blog-O-Sphere between Jorg Colberg and Alec Soth about seeing too much contemporary photographic work being problematic for one's vision. Alec's take: I once had an assistant, Phillip Carpenter, who said something I'll never forget. Phil started off as a musician in Nashville. He was surrounded by a ton of talent and learned about everything going on. But this knowledge, he said, was eventually damaging. Phil explained that the best musicians often come from nowhere. They are in their parent's basement in Idaho, don't really know how to hold the guitar, and consequently develop their own peculiar sound. Jorg's take: What I want to argue is that the inherent flexibility and openness of the internet needs to extend beyond what you can find on the internet: Just like how "a blog" really is just some sort of format that can be filled in many different way, how anyone digests (if you think "consumes" is the right word, you might want to think again) blogs needs to depend on each person's personal preferences. If reading lots of blogs drives you nuts, simply don't do that. If you can't get enough dig right in. Personally, I tend to go both ways. Sometimes, with all the amazing work that I come across, it charges my creatives juices and gets me thinking in ways outside my norm, forcing me to try new things and go as a photographer. Other times, I go out and I to make photographs and all I can see is people's styles and it can be frustrating. The difference I feel between the blogs that they discuss and the mailing list we have here, is the strong vibrant community that shares, critiques and generally supports one another which is worth it's weight in gold.
From Big Rig to Santa Gig Corey Perrine has finished documenting a trucker who turns into Santa every year just in time for Christmas. There is also an online slideshow of the images. Watching the images come across the APAD mailing list, I was waiting to see the full project be complete. It was no disappointment. In Corey's own words: Ron Belhumeur of Nashua has been donning the crimson robes of Santa Claus for 12 years. What started as a gig here and there blossomed into something much more. A trucker by trade, and biker by choice, if you look past his gruff exterior, Belhumeur shows he is a true softy. His motivation: His love of children.
Happy Holidays From all of us here at APAD, may the holidays bring you happiness and the new year bring you prosperity where ever you may find your self in the future to come.
Interview with Tim Hussin There is an interview with Tim Hussin over at Mark Hancock's Photojournalism Blog.
Burn David Alan Harvey has just launched Burn -- his new online magazine.
Avedon Exhibits Julie Kavanagh, the former London editor of the New Yorker writes a bit about Richard Avedon and his current posthumous shows at AVEDON CLOSE UP | More Intelligent Life
The Face of Defeat Lensculture has a review up of Sandy Nicholson new book, 2nd: The Faces of Defeat. The cover really grabbed me, but then some of the images they provided didn't really do anything for me. You be the judge.
File Magazine File Magazine is a photo project that acts like a curator for the internet specializing in uniqueness. In their own words: The purpose of FILE is to collect and display photographs that treat subjects in unexpected ways. Alternate takes, odd angles, unconventional observations - these are some of the ways photographs collected in FILE reinterpret traditional genres. We leave the Kodak Moments to the family album, the glossy fashion spreads to Vogue, and the photo finishes to ESPN. Rather than taking the well-trod paths, we veer off to get a different perspective... FILE magazine is not a photoblog, photo challenge/contest, or group photo album. FILE does not publish tips on taking photographs or provide evaluations of photo hardware or software. There are are many other sites that handle these topics better than FILE ever could I was browsing it a bit, and it looks pretty cool. At least worth a click.
Boy Scouts of Harlem Tom Leininger points out the trailer to an upcoming documentary on The Boy Scouts of Harlem. It is this kind of work that really gives me hope for the future of journalism, and the future of the multimedia journalist.
Cover of the NPPA BOPJ Photojournalism Issue APADer Rich-Joseph Facun has scored the cover for the Best of Photojournalism issue of NPPA's magazine.
Getty on YouTube Getty has a YouTube channel that is worth checking out.
UNICEF POY UNICEF recently announced their Photo of the Year 2008, and there is some amazing work shown. Alice Smeets of Belgium took the prize as the youngest winner ever, and APAD's own Melissa Lyttle was among the honorable mentions. (Hope you don't mind me pointing this out :) ) Congrats to all on featured on the winner's list.
More than a feeling Missouri student Phoebe Sexton discovers that that sometimes, photography is more than information, it shows us feeling. It's a good reminder for us all.
Newspaper News Roundup The good folks over at dvafoto got together a list of all the news on the newspapers that has been coming out recently. In this case, no news would have been good news. Also of note, the Roger Ebert quote at the end: “The news is still big. It’s the newspapers that got small.”
The Power of Photography I know, everyone's seen it, but NatGeo Photo Director David Griffin talks to TED and has an uplifting message for all us still shooters out there. So go watch it, and revisit that warm and fuzzy feeling again.
Photography as Design Presentation Zen just posted just posted 10 rules for design that I thought would work for photography as well and they just maybe would produce some interesting results. 10 design rules to keep in mind (1) Communicate — don't decorate. (2) Speak with a visual voice. (3) Use two typeface families maximum. OK, maybe three. (4) Pick colors on purpose. (5) If you can do it with less, then do it. (6) Negative space is magical — create it, don't just fill it up! (7) Treat the type as image, as though it's just as important. (8) Be universal; remember that it's not about you. (9) Be decisive. Do it on purpose — or don't do it at all. (10) Symmetry is the ultimate evil.
Eye Spy
Rob Spence looks you straight in the eye when he talks. So it's a little unnerving to imagine that soon one of his hazel-green eyes will have a tiny wireless video camera in it that records your every move. The eye he's considering replacing is not a working one -- it's a prosthetic eye he's worn for several years. Spence, a 36-year-old Canadian filmmaker, is not content with having one blind eye. He wants a wireless video camera inside his prosthetic, giving him the ability to make movies wherever he is, all the time, just by looking around. "If you lose your eye and have a hole in your head, then why not stick a camera in there?" he asks. [link via photokaboom]
Obama: The College Years
In 1980, when Obama was a freshman at Occidental College in Los Angeles, he was approached by an aspiring photographer named Lisa Jack (who is now a psychologist), who asked him if he would be willing to pose for some black and white photographs that she could use in her portfolio. On a dare from a skeptical friend, Jack decided to track down her negatives from the shoot. After finding the negatives in her basement, she put them in a safety-deposit box, so that they could not be used until after the election, when there would be no chance they could be used for a political purpose.
Words of Wisdom I find it aggravating that so many young photographers busy themselves with self-promotion when they should just be taking pictures. -- Alec Soth
Young Photographers Joerg Colberg points to some good advice to emerging photographers from around the web.
Ali Nowotny 17 year old Ali Nowotny is going through brain surgery this week and photojournalist Kristina Barker will follow her journey. It is worth following on the merit of the starting photos alone.
The Portfolio of ...
Interview: JOSH RITCHIE Josh Ritchie is a freelance photographer based in South Florida. After graduating from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, several successful internships and being a staff photographer in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Illinois, Josh decided to take the leap into the freelance world. One fateful day after several long conversations with a close friend Josh decided he wanted a change and moved to Fort Lauderdale where he began a new phase of his career. Since that day, Josh has been seeking out moments in the Florida light with an ear-to-ear grin on his face. He has also found his photographic passion while working on his "Fluidity" project beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, and while working for his corporate and editorial clients. His blog My 30 Percent is home to work shot not only for his clients, but also for himself.
You went from small paper to small paper to propelling yourself into the freelance world -- what prompted the change? What does freelance offer you that newspapers didn't? i had spent many years at smaller papers working for boss's that had little vision, and motivation to push their staff to do great things. i was working in communities that, looking back on it now, had some great stories to tell, but the papers i had been working at for one reason or another refused to tell them. photography for them them was more of a way to fill a hole on their pages, an after thought. this lead to a lot of complacency for me early on in my career. i was making solid daily images, and a better than average image every once in a while, but was missing the boat on great story telling and great lighting. everything changed in 2001 when i went to the eddie adams workshop as a student. i got a portfolio review from joe mcnally. he said my work was good, but lacked that certain something that would take it to the next level. so naturally i asked him what would help me to get to that next level, and he said that i would need to go somewhere where i was scared. all of the papers i had been working for had me in their comfort zone. i was making images that would suffice for the paper because i knew what was expected. if i became scared, or got out of my comfort zone, i would be forced to see differently.
What advice would you give for other people ready to make that leap? As far as actually making pictures what do you do to keep yourself motivated now that you're on your own? my advice to budding freelancers is to make sure you have the money to support yourself for a while. unless you are extremely lucky you won't land the high paying jobs over night, and there are a lot of expenses when you go out on your own. marketing, travel, equipment, and daily living can take a huge toll on the bank account. probably the most important thing is to make as many contacts as possible BEFORE you become freelance. you have to get the editors you want to work for to have you in the forefront of their mind. there are a ton of photographers out there who are more than capable of shooting any given assignment. your job is to get the editors to use you and not the other guy. that comes down to solid images, and more importantly great marketing. make sure you go to their offices and meet face-to-face with the people you want to work for. become friends with them. always keep in contact with your contacts. let them know what you are up to. making sure that i am building my client list has kept me motivated thus far. i always have this voice in my head that pushes me by saying "if you want to work for them you have to show them something special." so i am always trying to work on something. whether it's new work, a website update or a newsletter, i am always trying to push myself to show something new. For a boy who's been largely landlocked your entire life you really seemed to take to the water and excel with your Fluidity project? How did that come about? Is that for a client or is it more personal? i have always been drawn to the water, which is kinda funny since i can get sea sick. growing up my mom always used to tell me that i should join the navy or become a marine biologist. when i was about 8 i really got into sharks. i read tons of books about them and went to see them at the aquarium. my friend and i even started a club called the killer sharks (dorky i know). so when i started taking a photography/video course in high school my plan was to become the next jacque cousteau and study sharks though video. i was better at stills, so i went with that instead. later in college i found that i had a passion for people and thus my photojournalism career was born. when i moved to florida i rekindled my love for the sea. the clear aqua waters of the south florida shores called to me every day and i knew i wanted to try my hand at underwater photography. i am not scuba certified, and i had a lot of inner ear infections as a kid which gives me problems when i dive deeper that 10 feet so i knew i would be trying to shoot stuff in the surf close to shore. i had looked through "the seventh wave" a book by photographers trent parke and narelle autio and it blew my mind. the images were very surreal very dream like. with that in mind i sold the idea of doing a tourism story from the water's point of view to the south florida sun-sentinel. they liked it so they paid me to go to the beach, destroy at least 7 nikonos v cameras, and explore my vision which became more about how people are changed when they entire the water. kinda like i have been ever since i was a kid.
Speaking of personal projects, let's talk about your travel. For someone whose first trip out of the country was to Mexico to shoot some personal projects, what did that open your eyes to? travel to mexico did a lot of things for me. first of all it taught me to pick your travel companions wisely. good friends always give you great stories to tell from the road. i also learned that going to a foreign country isn't as scary as i thought. things are generally the same there as they are in the u.s. and people are generally good. so there wasn't much for me to be anxious about in the first place. i also found that the mexican people are passionate about a lot of things. it seemed to me that no matter what they did they did it with a love for the fact that they were able to do it. they were happy just because they were able to accomplish the task at hand and share it with others. it seems to me that in the u.s. were are very self absorbed. we get so wrapped up in how we look to our peers that we forget the joy of just being able to do what we do. that to me was probably the most important lesson i learned while i was in mexico. a change of scenery can do a world of wonder for photographers. it seemed liked i was looking through the eyes of a child again. everything was new and worth exploring. travel is exactly what i need to keep the creative juices flowing. Why'd you wait so long to get out of the U.S.? Where's your next trip to? And why? i grew up a poor pennsylvania boy. my family never traveled outside of the eastern seaboard, and even that was rare. when i was in middle school we declared bankruptcy and moved into section 8 housing for a year. then when i was in college i was scrapping every last red cent i had just to buy some ramen noodles. i was never lucky enough to be in the situation that allowed for travel to another country. currently i have not picked my next destination, but i do know that i want to go back to guanajuato, mexico to experience the easter celebration there. from what i have heard and seen in images it is amazing. they ride hundreds if not thousands of horses through the mountains and the entire town comes out to celebrate. they were all sorts of costumes and some carry life sized crosses. other than that i will go where they wind blows me when time and money permit.
You seem to have found your niche as a portrait photographer. Tell me about that. Was that out of necessity? when i became freelance it became more and more obvious that i was gonna have to up my game in the portrait department. i was finding that a lot of clients, both corporate and editorial, where looking for lit portraits. so i started out slow, gained my confidence with smaller lighting kits, and eventually invested in some profoto gear. i have to say that investment alone has made a huge difference in my business. the lights work well, and it shows in the images. when i was using the smaller kits with smaller light sources i wasn't making near the amount of money i have made since i got my current setup. people will always be willing to pay money for great portraiture. you have to be prepared deliver if you want to cash in. Your portrait essay on the cars and their owners seems different from your other work. Are you exploring a new direction to take your work? i was lucky enough to land an assignment from city & shore magazine shooting owners of high end cars. the story was about the passion that these guys felt for their vehicles which aloud me to have some room to play with the images. i decided to try my hand at the diptych scene in an effort to shoot the owners and their cars in a similar way. my original goal was to shoot the images so that the cars and the owners looked alike in some way, kinda like the way dogs and their owners sometimes look alike. after realizing that was a tall order while shooting on location, i simplified to shooting them in similar light. lighting the cars was probably the hardest thing i have done in the long time. i knew what i wanted to accomplish in my head, but translating that into a final images while shooting in someone's driveway was a bitch to say the least. after a lot of trial and error and several calls to friends for some advice i was able to get the light the way i wanted. i learned that light cars is not about placing a light, and using highlights and shadows to create shape, but more about creating a reflection that works for the image. all of the images had little photo retouching done to them, and i did not have a studio where i could control every little thing so there were no reflections. i had a car four heads and black back drop all set up outside in most cases. so i had to make the reflections become the high lights. so i learn a lot about how to make light do what i want in a less than ideal situation. i guess to that end my work has gone in a new direction.
I've watched your work go from standard newspaper work to more high-end work with a magazine feel. Most of that seems to be because of the lighting you've been using and the professional nature that lends itself to. Do you have any tips for people who want to get better at lighting? the biggest thing i can say about lighting is to practice a hell of a lot. try to come up with ideas that are way over your head and then force yourself to accomplish them. you will fall flat on your face more often then not when you first start out, but you will learn a ton of stuff as you are falling. you also need to assist people who know what they are doing as much as possible. watching people like bob croslin, eric larson and jen sens, light things has been a huge help. i got to see what they were doing and why they were doing it and apply that to my own work. i think that has been the fast track for me to get to where i am now, but i still have a ton to learn and look forward to the opportunity to learn it. As far as promotional material goes -- what are you doing to get your name out there? some say that promotion is 80 to 90% of freelance, and i would have to agree. promotional material, and networking is what is gonna get your name out there and help to keep it out there. don't get me wrong you still have to have some amazing work, but promotion is huge. currently i have my online portfolio that i try to update with new images and tear sheets from clients i have recently shot for as often as possible. i have a blog that i use to show people who i am both as a person and a photographer, and a monthly newsletter that i send out to both current clients, and those i want to work with to show what i have been up to. i also try to send out promo cards to the same list of contacts so i have at least two points of contacts with them each month. meeting with people, as i mentioned before, is by far one of the most important promotional steps i can take. so i have been planning trips to new york and other places to meet face-to-face with the people who will pay to do this "job" (is it really a job if we are having this much fun?).
What's next for Josh Ritchie? right now i am working for whatever clients call me. recently that has been golf magazine, newsweek, the new york times, and a few corporate clients. while i am having fun shooting assignments and paying the bills i am hoping that i will find the time to continue shooting my underwater photography, as well as working on some new personal projects. maybe something on fishing culture, or a continuation of my car portrait project, or a shoot with alligator hunters. who knows maybe all of them. plus there is some travel to be done in the near future mexico is calling me back, while south america is beckoning as well. no matter what happens i am sure the future will be fun as it brings a few more grey hairs to the top of my head.
Snapshots from the American Road No one has had a greater influence on photography in the last half-century than the Swiss-born Mr. Frank, though his reputation rests almost entirely on a single book published five decades ago. While he has produced other volumes over the years and made 31 films and videos, all roads in his career lead back to this masterpiece, "The Americans," an intimate visual chronicle of common people in ordinary situations drawn from several trips he made through his adopted country in the mid-1950s.Philip Gefter assessed Robert Frank's "The Americans" in this past weekend's NY Times arts section and the accompanying multimedia feature includes recordings of Frank talking about the photographs. For the 50th anniversary, Frank has retrospective exhibits at the National Gallery, SFMoMA, and MoMA. Steidl also released a new edition of his epic book "The Americans
Year in Pictures MSNB has alrady posted their Year in Pictures -- and there are some really nice images in there from a lot of familiar names.
"At War with the Obvious" A personal favorite of mine William Eggleston speaking about his work via a film from Reiner Holzemer. Via Lensculture
Momenta Momenta Workshops brings you a new photographic workshop experience. They are committed to teaching quality documentary photography within a practical real world learning environment. And with instructors like Chris Usher and Ami Vitale, it looks like it could be good.
God Rest Ye Weary Journalists
Georgia Take a look at Ron Haviv's look at the conflict in Georgia. I'm all for multimedia when it's necessary, but if you take a look at the weak video in this piece it helps make the case for the power of a still image.
Where Is His New 5D? It would seem as though everyone except for Thomas Hawk is getting their new Canon 5D, so the San Francisco based photographer went online to investigate his order with Wolf Camera. Check out the humorous transcript of his online chat with one of their customer service reps. Here's an excerpt: Carol XXXXXX: Okay Thomas, I cannot assure you the exact time as this item is not in stock.
New Camera for the Stars Over at the University of Hawaii, they have come up with an ultra sensitive camera. I wonder if we will see this feature in the Canon 1D Mark 20.
Jackanory Films Presents What the Jackanory? has a conversation with Benjamin Lowy on his epic foray in to the fashion world for New York Magazine's Look, their bi-annual fashion spectacular.
Testing Grounds
My friend and coworker Kathleen Flynn spent three weeks working on a story about the booming drug testing industry in India. Probing deep into the issue of what the cost of medicine really is, in human terms.
Chris Buck Interview at APE One of the things I say to young photographers now is that what you react against is far more powerful than what you are influenced by. I loved Irving Penn and Anton Corbijn at the time and it's one thing for me to be influenced by them and say I want to make cool pictures like them but it's something completely different to see the mid 80's sunset lighting with blue sky behind (that was the prominent look at the time) and think "how lame." For me there's no mystery to it and it's very heroic which is also something I didn't like, so I find my reaction against that stuff to be far more exciting APhotoEditor has a two-part interview with my favorite portrait photographer Chris Buck. Go read Part 1 and Part 2 here.
The Newspaper Industry and The Future of Journalism on NPR On the heels of the Tribune Bankruptcy, NPR tackles the oft talked about future of the newspaper industry and what this new turn events is going to do. This week's bankruptcy filing by the Tribune Company is the latest sign of trouble for the news business. A panel joins guest host Katty Kay to discuss how the on-going recession is affecting the already struggling industry and what it could mean for how Americans get their news. Via Nina Greipel
Apply for the Poynter Summer Fellowship Countless talented journalists have passed through the doors of the Poynter Institute over the years. Through workshops and the summer fellowship, the Poynter Institute has helped educate young journalists with intense ethics, writing and multimedia training. The time has come to apply for next summer's two-week college fellowship program. Students will learn valuable skills that will dramatically advance their careers in the journalism world. Oh yeah, and it's free. Only 40 spots are available.
Darfur, by Lynsey Addario Miguel Garcia-Guzman goes over the work of Lynsey Addario and her amazing Darfur images. She was the winner of the Getty Images Grants for Editorial Photography.
Why Blog? Max Bittle has recently gone through his blog and put a list of all the things he has learned about himself. The list he made really reminds me what a blog is for, connecting and reflecting.
Photos of Jesus Laurie Hill produced a short movie using photos, stop motion and animation for the Getty Images Short & Sweet Film Challenge about all the odd requests that Getty receives. Viadvafoto
The Healing Fields The Washington Post has put up a cool multimedia peice called "The Healing Fields" about an emergency medical relief camp in rural Virginia. Via the new sun photo:..::blog
Trapped Trapped is a short by Jenn Ackerman on the Correctional Psychiatric Treatment Unit of the Kentucky State Reformatory The continuous withdrawal of mental health funding has turned jails and prisons across the nation into the default mental health facilities. Via Bob Croslin
A fresh look at Fashion Photographer Benjamin Lowy took a break from covering war-torn countries to cast his lens on the fashion world.
Cookies for a Vietnam Mental Illness Hospital Keivn German is out to donate 400 cookies to the subjects of his mental illness hospital photo essay in Vietnam. He aims to bring light to the especially harsh conditions over there for the mentally ill. I was invited back to the mental illness hospital today and it was suggested that I bring 400 cookies with me to donate to the patients. The last time I was there I went with a group of people who where donating and cooking lunch for them. But since I went without a translator the details of my visit was a bit unclear. So far, he has over $1000 and counting towards the cause. If you can spare some change, I'd like to suggest sending it that way.
TTL War Photography An interesting documentary called More than 1000 words is worth taking a look at. It follows photographer Ziv Koren in the Middle East. The documentary makes use of an on-camera camera to record Ziv and what is going through Ziv's viewfinder at the same time. The "How'd they do that" video is on Wired.
Tribune Co. Files for Bankruptcy Tribune's Bankruptcy Filing Petition
Who needs a 5D mkII or a D90? Given all the buzz and hype surrounding the new still/video hybrids, I thought this music "video" was particularly interesting for its use of over 45,000 still images.
The Portfolio of...
Another new Online Photo Mag David Alan Harvey of NatGeo fame is looking into starting a new online photo magazine. Worth keeping an eye on and seeing what develops.
Making it, a follow up Chase Jarvis also has a post on how to make it in the photo industry. The burning question in my mind is will we see an outflux of people in the photography field trying to make a secure living in another field due to this poor economy and loss of jobs, an influx of people into photography staking what little they have left on a last ditch effort on making their dreams successful in the absence of a comfortable career, no change at all, or D none of the above?
Young and Hungry? What to do?!? Joshua Wolfe has some notes for aspiring photographers. It's too bad. If this were a decade ago I would have said, 'give the kid an assignment' and sent you down the hall with something. Then I would have sent you upstairs to Life magazine; they would have made you an apprentice and you'd be on your way to a career. Now, I've got nothing to give you." A little over two years ago Don Delliquanti, an assistant photo editor at Sports Illustrated, gave me that less than uplifting news. I, like most every young photographer trying to make their mark in New York, made the rounds of the magazine photo departments. Sports Illustrated is one of the more generous to the collection of kids that walk through their door, but in some ways, with the current budget cuts, the rounds appear to be more an act of futility than a step in building a career. To make it worse the financial crisis has lead to a situation where budgets are being cut further, magazines are folded at a greater speed, and newspapers are shedding staff and closing bureaus by the day.
APJ Contest Winners Congratulations to Atlanta Photojournalism contest portfolio winners David Guttenfelder, Oded Balilty and Kevin German. They took home 1st, 2nd and 3rd, respectively. There are also a lot of familiar names amongst the rest of the winners.
Rich-Joseph Facun Interview Qufoto features the extremely talented, emotionally-provoking APADer Rich-Joseph Facun in a nice, little interview. Sometimes subjects find me, sometimes we find each other, sometimes I'm satisfying a curiosity and sometimes I'm looking for a challenge, something to push myself visually. I think the bottom line is that there is usually some connection between myself and my subjects. On some intrinsic level we relate and that allows for a beautiful and unique relationship. It's very much like finding love.
PDN APAD I didn't realize that the editors of PDN were picking their Photo of the Day.
Hitler Rants about D3x HItler is raving mad at Nikon, and lets his cohorts know about it!
How to Make a Contest Submission "The work was strong but there's an aspect to entering a contest or review that seems to be overlooked and this is the actual submission process so I thought I'd share with you a few tips on how to make a submission." - Heidi Volpe
The Lazarus Project The Lazarus Project - by Aleksandar Hemon with Photographs by Velibor Bozovic Came across this interesting website for the above mentioned book, which is an interesting, puzzling and whimsical use of multimedia at its core. The website has a feel of a photographic "choose your own adventure" story with mysterious and beautiful photographs to take you from place to place exploring a historically significant tale. "On March 2, 1908, nineteen-year-old Lazarus Averbuch, a recent Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe to Chicago, knocked on the front door of the house of George Shippy, the chief of Chicago police. When Shippy came to the door, Averbuch offered him what he said was an important letter. Instead of taking the letter, Shippy shot Averbuch twice, killing him. When Shippy released a statement casting Averbuch as a would-be anarchist assassin and agent of foreign political operatives, he all but set off a city and a country already simmering with ethnic and political tensions.
The Rocky Mountain News Rumors are swirling that The Rocky Mountain News, which is currently for sale, will close "as soon as is practical". The Rocky Mountain News has produced some very highly regarded photography in recent years, including Pulitzer Prizes in 2000, for their coverage of The Columbine Massacre; 2003, for their wildfire coverage; and in 2006, for the Final Salute Project. The Final Salute Project also earned a Pulitzer in the feature writing category.
Work ... for free? Strobist: Four Reasons to Consider Working for Free David Hobby at the Strobist takes a break from lighting tips to give a convincing argument on working for free. The caveat - you shoot what you want, when you want. "Why? Because I think it is one of the fastest ways to make yourself a better photographer, whether you are a pro or an amateur." To me this sounds like an argument for taking the student mentality out into the real world, which I will happily try (until I go broke...or not). UPDATE: Hobby's post seems to be causing a bit of a stir this morning, not only in the comments of the post, but from other members of the industry as well. Read what others have to say:
NPPA's Clip Contest Live on AOL The award-winning Monthly News Clip Contest photographs from the National Press Photographers Association's long-standing and popular monthly contest will be published on AOL's Pixcetera Web site starting today, NPPA executive director Jim Straight announced.
APAD Blog Turns 7 I just imported all of the archives from blogger to moveable type and realized that the APAD blog is 7 years old today. 7!! The very first post was congratulating all of the winners at the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar.
The Candid Frame Photographer Ibarionex Perello is the host of The Candid Frame, a photography podcast where he interviews 'some of the world's best established and emerging photographers in the world of photojournalism, fashion, landscape, documentary, sports, wildlife, travel and commercial photography. You can listen to the shows on his website or download them through iTunes.
Cover Charge Keeping on the same theme of nightlife work, Thomas Boyd has recently updated his nightlife work, now titled Cover Charge. Check it out, it's good stuff.
Un Jour La Nuit Un Jour La Nuit is a photo essay by Patrick Zachmann of Magnum about the night life and artificial light. When haunting a giant metropolis, I stay awake all night, although I’m not a sleepwalker, nor an insomniac, nor a night-clubber. I’m attracted to artificial lights, a reflection on a face, a silhouette projected on a wall that turns it into a screen. via The Click
A Holiday Present for Former Staffers John Harrington is offering a free copy of his book Best Business Practices for Photographers to those news paper staffers that have been recently laid off. The details are on his blog.
The Portfolio of...
The Dear Leader Christopher Morris' film The Dear Leader is a conceptual look at Dubya.
Q&A: Damon Winter on Covering Obama Daryl Lang over at pdnonline.com has a nice Q&A with Damon Winter about his photos of Barack Obama's campaign for president. This was my first time covering a campaign and to be honest, when I first started in New Hampshire, I didn't really think I knew what I was doing. But we have really good editors at The Times. Our political editor, David Scull, was really good about pushing me to not shoot the straightforward shot, and to look around for different angles. And also to pay attention to the entire scene, pay attention to the crowds. Especially for Obama, the story was, for a large part, about all the excitement around him wherever he went.
The Women of Evangel In this multimedia piece, The Women of Evangel, Healing and Hope, Western Kentucky's photojournalism coordinator James H. Kenney Jr. sheds light on Nigerian women cast away from their communities because of a gruesome complication during child labor called vesicovaginal fistula or VVF. Through stills, audio and video, Kenney documents Evangel Hospital, a clinic that not only treats the condition and reasserts self-worth to the women, but also teaches them skills that they can take back home. [via The Travel Photographer]
Newspaper Profit Margins Healthy? Here's an interesting blog entry citing some healthy profits for Gannett newspapers, and giving a little weight to the argument that many layoffs are not so much out of necessity to survive but to maintain profit margins unseen in many other industries. The numbers posted here are before the recent, and intense economic shift that the country has experienced in the past few months.
World's Last Kodachrome Lab Mike Hutmacher of the Wichita Eagle gives a behind-the-scenes look at Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas. Dwayne's is the last lab in the world that still processes Kodachrome film. How long will they continue the service? Read the story to find out, and check out the audio slideshow.
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