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February 2005 
David S. Holloway, The Man, The Myth, The Legend Early in my career I met this insane guy who likes to wear devil horns when i became a staffer at The Reston Times in Virginia. David S Holloway was the kind of guy that you would find sleeping in the darkroom when you came to work in the morning, or out on the street carrying an empty fish tank asking if anyone has seen his lost fish. Well it is about damn time that all of his lunacy paid off. David, who is now represented by Getty Images, is one of the first two recipients of Getty Images' Grants for Editorial Photography. Along with London-based Italian photographer Dario Mitidieri, A Photo A Day's town crazy person won a 20 thousand dollar grant which he will use to continue his work on the white power movement in the US.
I just hope he uses some of it to hire a maid to clean his room.
Saved from the Streets "John Thomas came to a crossroads. When faced with two very distinct life paths, he made a conscious decision to avoid the violence and turmoil that plagued his impoverished inner city neighborhood in Washington. By overcoming many obstacles and challenges during a tumultuous year at Ballou Senior High School, he became a star basketball player and graduated with honors."
Eyes of History 2005 Andrea Bruce Woodall was named the WHNPA Photographer of the Year for the second time in three years, but not without a tad bit of controversy this year, because of comments concerning the "overuse" of Photoshop.
Live the life you want... This was a recent post on the listserv, that the author gave me permission to repost here. It's an important reminder about what's important in life.
So it is written The winners of the best photo contest I know of. ENJOY!
Balog's Aceh Nature photographer James Balog decided it was important enough to him to go to Banda Aceh and photograph the destructive power of nature in the most recent natural disaster in the eastern Indian Ocean. Listen to and see Balog's motivation behind his decision and see the fruits of his work courtesy of PRI's The World.
Oh Say, Can You See? "Over the course of the last Presidential term, America has been beaten into a red, white and blue pulp‹not much unlike its impossibly dirty, tattered and abused flags which continue to dot both sides of the torn-down-the-middle political landscape."
A Conversation The following is a response originally intended only for the listserv. The writer's questions to the APAD group may at first appear sophomoric but they touch the foundation of the future of photojournalism and the attitudes we need to move to a new era. I was going to respond only to the list but decided to post it here. --- David Leeson Um...I'm neither student nor professional, as far as photography goes...am I allowed in here? If you are "in here" then you must belong here or you probably wouldn't be here. I live in SW Ontario (1 hr from Toronto) and wish (almost) more than anything to work professionally in documentary photography. If that means going to school, or making less money, or moving to another country, or selling my body, then so be it! That's why I asked my questions in an earlier post entitled "High Hopes" but haven't heard from anybody yet... Sorry you didn't receive any replies. Folks were probably just distracted or real busy that day. For the record ... I went to the Yahoo message list and found your post: What is the future of journalistic or documentary photography? It seems that more and more people are getting their information online and millions of people are seeing the same 10 photographs everyday, as collected from the world's news organizations instead of perusing the latest offerings from their local newspaper (I'm guilty of this). You answered the question yourself. The future for documentary photography is probably better than it has ever been. The Internet presents a publication medium unparalleled in the history of photojournalism. The future for newspapers - the print edition tossed on your doorstep or delivered to the news rack is not looking so good. Studies indicate that readers of newspapers are falling each year at an alarming rate. Some experts in the field have projected that if these trends continue unabated, publication could cease by 2010. Without readers a newspaper slowly dies. Newspapers were forced to deal with the advent of television news. The evening newscast eventually killed evening newspapers. Many of you do not remember ... but there was a time when many large metros produced two newspapers a day. New technology always brings a shift in older technology. It is neither good nor bad. It simply is what it is. The advent of the automobile destroyed the carriage industry. The airplane took a wad out of the train industry. Folks at Kodak have been laid off in record numbers as a result of digital technology replacing consumer drive for film. How many typesetters lost their job in the last couple of decades? Obviously there are numerous examples of technological advances replacing or diminishing current technology. It isn't difficult to see that information dissemination via the web has had an enormous impact on newspapers. EBay alone hurt the business with a reduction in classifieds from folks who found a better and less expensive way to get rid of their stuff. The day will come when people will wonder what a classified advertisement is. Some in the business lament the decline. I have personally met some of them and find it amazing that many have never uploaded an image to a personal website. Others see potential and seize it as though it were a last chance. Who will succeed in this future market is obvious. True. But the premise is wrong. If a man's premise is wrong so will his findings be wrong. The premise is that everyone has access to "free" digital photography. The problem with that argument is that photography is not defined by the camera but rather by the one who holds it. Twenty years ago photographers said similar things with the advent of automatic program cameras like the Canon AE1. There was a time when I personally believed damn near every dentist in the nation had an AE1. Then photographers whined about the advent of auto-focus. Skill was removed they cried. Not really. The moment always survives. Content is king and the best will always be the best amidst an army of soccer moms and football dads. Believe me ... I get requests from these folks to come shoot the game for them. In fact, years ago, I made a business out of it. This profession seeks the best. The competition for the best positions is fierce. But it isn't impossible. If you have a sense of mission, passion and some decent skill there is almost no way to "stop" you. I have always believed that passion driven by mission is an implacable force. It is a rare individual who develops passion and defines it with a sense of mission who fails. They may fail at their mission. They may lack in passion. But few can stop those who combine them both in a single effort. It is "the force" of good photography. When you add ethics and honesty - it is a foundation for a powerful career in photojournalism and the chance to literally change lives. This isn't Las Vegas. The bet is on your side if you believe. Place it and win. I'm just trying to get a feel for how possible my dreams are without relying on my wife's platitudes for support! Perhaps your wife is trying to get you to believe in yourself. One of the great destroyers of a photojournalist's career is a lack of confidence, a failure to believe in your potential. I have met too many young photographers who never achieved their potential simply because they could never develop the daring of confidence. Believe even when there is no reason to believe. Have confidence when everything says you shouldn't. If not ... expect mediocrity. Expect to fail. um...that's it for now, I'd love to hear more from anybody on anything! Well ... as much as 50 or more emails a day tells me the group is talking about something. I'm sure others would join me in hope that whatever something we say means something to you and your potential career. All the best,
Omar Vega 18 and in the thick of it San Fransico State University freshman Omar Vega has put himself in the thick of it all after making images in his dorm that the school found more voyeuristic than journalistic
Pulitzer becomes Lee Lee Enterprises becomes the nation's 4th largest newspaper publisher by bying Pulitzer Inc. for 1.46 billion to read the article you may need to login into the site using.....
Say au revoir to night shots of the tower Eiffel Tower + copyright = illegal to publish images taken at night
The Portfolio of...
Crisis Pictures I get all giddy when people, like Crisis Pictures , try to change the world through pictures. plus i like thier opening line.... "Each day Crisis Pictures shows pictures of Iraq you should see in your morning newspaper but for some reason don't." Go on. Check 'em out.
Iraq: A Hard Story to Tell With Iraq being Iraq -- constantly topping the headlines only to be trumped briefly by the tsunami and the Michael Jackson court case -- the recent resurgence of news about the first-ever (hopefully not corrupt) democratic elections had me surfing the web looking for photo-related Iraqiness. This is what I've found so far:
Cincinnati Photo Blogs Cincinnati Post photographers display their photos and explain the shots on a new photo blog started this month. Blogs @ Cincinnati.com: Photographers
2004 campaign coverage "It was at the Kremlin on a visit of the First Lady last year. I was the only American photographer, working for the Associated Press, of about a dozen or so. One of the security agents, a looming, bear of a fellow, singles me out, moves towards me, places his imposing frame square in front of me, inside the event, wags his finger in front of my nose (to get my attention I guess) and uttered, in the deepest of bear-like growls, the now famous warning...'Don't Photo!'"--Gerald Herbert
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