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May 2005 
Leica and Kodachrome, cult icons Two good articles from the IHT this weekend: How is Leica, the most perfect analog camera maker, coping in a digital world? When Kodak announced plans to discontinue Kodachrome it "might as well have declared the death of color."
Bearing Witness on A&E "Bearing Witness examines the personal and professional lives of five female journalists as they attempt to put a human face on the otherwise impersonal tragedies of war," reads the beginning of a synopsis from iFilms.com. The two-hour film started broadcasting at 9 p.m., 8 p.m. CDT, tonight on the A&E network and will rebroadcast at 1 a.m., midnight CDT. (Thanks to James Pomerantz for the heads up.)
Not A Pretty Picture "I understand the criticisms about blood and gore," said Dallas Morning News photographer David Leeson. "I don't seek that. When I approach a body on the ground after a battle, I'm determined to give dignity to that person's life and photograph him with respect. But sometimes, as with my pictures of child victims, the greatest dignity and respect you can give them is to show the horror they have suffered, the absolutely gruesome horror." The Village Voice explores an interesting issue (sort-of related to the LA Times story we blogged the other day) about how the media seems to be going along with the government's wishes and straying away from depicting the horrors of the Iraq war. "Why does the government that ordered the war and hails it as an instrument of good then ask us to respect those who died in the cause by not describing and depicting how they died?" I think the writer makes a great point that pretty much sums things up, when stating that the photographs that accompany this piece are not gratuitously violent -- they are merely real.
Helping Hands and Healing Hearts Carol Guzy documented the lives of eight people, some young children, whose limbs were hacked off during the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone, and were brought to the United States four years ago to start anew. Thanks to prosthetics, physical and emotional therapy, and new homes and friends, they are living new lives in the United States. It was a huge project, and although it's in need of an edit because it feels a little redundant at times (especially in the early chapters), there are some incredibly sweet moments that highlight the committment and dedication that Guzy showed to both the people and their stories -- perhaps this is best illustrated by the update on where she in now in the Epilogue.
Unseen Pictures, Untold Stories "There can be horrible images, but war is horrible and we need to understand that," said Chris Hondros, a veteran war photographer whose pictures are distributed by the Getty Images agency. "I think if we are going to start a war, we ought to be willing to show the consequences of that war." The LA Times reviewed six prominent U.S. newspapers and the nation's two most popular news magazines during a six-month period found that only ONE publication used exactly ONE photo of an American killed in action. During that time, 559 Americans and Western allies died. The same publications ran 44 photos from Iraq to represent the thousands of Westerners wounded during that same time.
NYT Transit Photo Ban Dropped About a year after it was introduced, New York City police and transit officials have decided to forgo a proposed plan to ban photography, videotaping and filming in bus and subway cars and stations across the city. Originally designed to trump terrorist surveillance of the well-known transit system, the plan came under attack from photographers shortly after its proposal last May.
NYT Class Project Class Matters is The New York Times' most recent report on class in America. "A Marriage of Unequals: When Richer Weds Poorer Money Isn't the Only Difference" and "Della's Story" talk about movement through the class system in the United States. More to the point, it's also about movement through the class system in the subjects' own minds and how they cope with it. This is the work of New York Times photographer Suzanne DeChillo and reporters Tamar Lewin, Janny Scott and David Leonhardt.
Back to the Fronts While we're mentioning new things around here... I'd like to point out the nifty little self-updating archive system (which means it's always going to be current now!) for all the photos that have appeared on the front of aphotoaday.org over the years. A big thanks goes out to Mark Adams who sent me an email a few weeks ago, basically saying "Check this out. I had some extra time on my hands -- hope you don't mind." No.... don't mind at all (now we just have to work on getting galleries the members can update themselves!"). So, please go browse the archives, you may have missed a day and that'd be a shame because there's some amazing stuff in there.
Long Time, No Update I am proud to announce, that after a long delay, three new essays are up on aphotoaday -- it cost $30 to get to the border for Matt Slaby who traveled through Mexico for two months on a bus, Hiroshi Yamauchi traveled the streets of his native Osaka, Japan documenting "Urban Species" and Gerry McCarthy traveled up and down and up and down a huge tower being built in Missouri to document the lives of the men involved.
Ashes and Snow Seshu over at Tiffinbox turned me onto Canadian photographer Gregory Colbert's work titled Ashes and Snow -- which is absolutely, positively blowing my mind. Colbert's images of elephants and whales are so incredible and awe-inspiring and surreal that the mind immediately dismisses them. Maybe it's because "This rare freedom allows for an unhampered purity of artistry, a sky’s the limit vision that is unlike anything else out there. “We would hang around for months. With whales we could work for six weeks, without even shooting a frame of film... around full moons is a good time. I think it’s the Zulus who say, patience is an egg that hatches great birds. I guess I’m a Zulu at heart. You wait heartfully, and there are days of miracles, and there are days when you’re just thinking about them. But you don’t push it. The elephants will decide, or the whales will decide. I’ll work on elephant time.”
EI8HT - V4N1 The June 2005 issue of EI8HT magazine is out, and as usual, thumbnail page proofs can be seen on the publication's website, foto8.com. You'll still have to pick up a copy of the quarterly photojournalism magazine to read the articles, but for the time being, feel free to admire all the eye candy.
A Good Photo Is A Good Photo “A good photo is a good photo. Some answer questions, some question answers. Some break all the rules but still work. There is an audience for every photo ever made, even if it's an audience of one. The photojournalism community has it's own preset conventions and rules for what is a good photograph. A combination of moment. light, composition, color with a dash of newsworthiness. Over time, the standard changes. Go back and look at the majority of work produced in the 1980s and compare it to today. I think today's work is much more sophisticated but educators and editors tend to discourage photographers from being different. The newspaper business has lost a ton of great image-makers because of it's narrow interpretation of what is good. I think the strongest asset an image can have is universality. A resonance that connects with a wide range of tastes. But as you travel along your path of photographic discovery, don't let anyone discourage you. If you keep making images that mean something to you, they'll mean something to others as well.“ -- Scott Strazzante
Jan Grarup Jan Grarup's work is the perfect example of what photojournalists should be doing. Long-term projects, heavy issues, intimate pictures...
Hot App Here! (UPDATE!!) Joe Weiss has updated the APAD slides desktop application so that it
The Best Newspapers to Shoot For PDN's Jay Defoore and David Walker have chafed me with their preposterous statement that, "Photography is unremarkable (or worse) at most U.S. newspapers, but there are some notable exceptions." These are two guys from a magazine in New York City, that usually only talk about the goings on at other magazines or agencies in New York City. They're not witnessing the solid shows of photojournalism from some unexpected places, they're not tuned into the photojournalists out there working on photo columns and pushing the envelope on a daily basis, or aware of newspaper photojournalists who make a difference in their own communities. So to back that up they've created a very selective list of "The Best Newspapers To Shoot For." There are a few newspapers that they included, but shouldn't have, and many more that they didn't mention, but should have. [NOTE: I was asked to take down the free log in and password,
Geekfest 2005 Just what the hell is a Geekfest, anyway? Well, for July 4, 2001, about 15 people decided it was well worth putting up with my snoring and sleep on David Holloway's floor in Arlington, Va., to photograph Independence Day on the National Mall. (Yes, the snoring is pretty bad. So bad, in fact, that Eric Larson has audio of it, somewhere. I woke up with a microphone in my face and his giant self kneeling over me.) It was done again in 2003 in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area when another litter of APAD members slept on Melissa Lyttle's hardwood floor just off of Las Olas Boulevard in Ft. Lauderdale. This year it's going to be in Austin, Texas. And it's organized. Geekfest2005, so far, will have more than 40 attendees and speakers, not to mention a catered dinner one of the nights. Big thank you to Web designer Jen Friedberg and coordinators Nicole Fruge, Lisa Krantz and Julia Robinson who have been working amazingly hard to get everything together for you guys, and Chip Litherland who has coordinated everything long distance from Sarasota, Fla.
The Eppridge Commencement “It seems only yesterday that I was in the same situation as these kids who are on their way out to try to save the world,” Eppridge told News Photographer magazine just a week before the commencement. “I really hope there is another (Bob) Woodward or (Carl) Bernstein or (John) Filo or (Eddie) Adams among them. We need them again ... now." Photo legend Bill Eppridge talks about talking to future generations of photojournalists at Missouri's graduation.
Eddie Adams *answered* Every year around this time, I start getting emails from folks asking what they need to do to get into the Eddie Adams Workshop. My answer is usually short and sweet: edit tightly. But the reality is there's a friend of mine much more in the know. Someone that puts her heart into making that workshop run as smoothly and fabulously as it does every year. Here's her advice: The deadline for Barnstorm applications is quickly approaching! For those who haven't seen the website, the Deadline has been extended- all applications must now be postmarked by Monday, May 23, 2005. (*** quick note: If you sent your application in towards the beginning of April, and it came back to you as "undeliverable", please resend it, to the same address. Long story short, the woman at the post office who receives PO Box mail thought it was strange that so much mail was coming in, and rather than checking on it, sent it all back. If this affected you, I apologize, but the problem is fixed now.) For those with questions- we'll try to clear things up a little bit. If the following doesn't cover your questions, please feel free to send me an email at producer@eddieadamsworkshop.com, and I'll answer as quickly as possible. The way it works: Portfolios are sent in, and go out to one of about 30 photo editors for initial critiques. They are ranked and sent back, and the top 75-85% go on to the final review. The Final Review is an all-day event, where between 20 and 40 editors, Barnstorm Faculty, and Board of Directors members come and sit through a slide show of each student's work. Each of these people votes In or Out for each student, and at the end of the day, the votes are tallied, and the top 50 students and 50 professionals are invited to attend Barnstorm. The initial review is essentially to weed out applicants who are just not at all ready for Barnstorm. We get many applications each year from various kinds of shooters whose work just isn't of the quality or potential to benefit from the Workshop. Applicants are also taken out at this point if their work is heavily manipulated, they don't fit the eligibility requirements, or if they send in non-photo submissions, like pictures of their paintings (yes, it happens). The vast majority of the portfolios are continued on to the Final Review, so that everyone has a chance to see and decide on the students. Unless all of your pictures are of your puppy or your nude clay sculptures, you don't need to be afraid of this round. At the Final Review, the editors and photographers judging the work come from all spectrums- sports, journalism, entertainment, magazines, newspapers, stock agencies, weddings, fashion, portraits, fine art, etc. While Barnstorm is primarily a photojournalism based workshop, we know that part of the beauty of "photojournalism" is that it can encompass so much. There is no one right or wrong way to document your world. They are not looking for any particular style of shooting, any specific mix of images. They are looking for a vision, for potential, for passion. These are people who see hundreds and thousands of images a day- show them your strongest work. Don't send in sports images if you're not an exceptional sports shooter- the guys from SI will know the difference. Don't send in lit portraits if you don't know how to use your lights- we will help you learn the skills you need, but the portfolio is not the right time to showcase your flaws. Don't send in mediocre pictures of bloody accidents just to have some "spot news" value- these editors see way too much of that every day, gore doesn't shock them anymore. It is often heard during the judging- "that portfolio would have been great if they'd just left that last image out!". You may submit UP TO 20 single images, but you don't have to submit that many. Students who only send 10 images, all of them portfolio-worthy, have a much better chance than someone who sends 15 amazing images and 5 Things to remember:
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again! Just because you're not accepted, doesn't mean you aren't going to be a successful shooter (ask Ben Lowy, or David Holloway, or Ruth Fremson, or tons of other people who applied and did not get in for various reasons). And just because you get in, doesn't mean you're going to win a Pulitzer in the next few years. Every year, we have several wonderful photographers, who come to Barnstorm, and leave saying "I really realized this weekend that I don't have the passion and dedication to continue this career path." Every workshop you go to will affect you differently- go to as many as you can! Good luck! Hope to see you in October! Jessica Stuart
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