Archive for the 'Photojournalism' Category

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Oil Spill Photos Reveal Tragic Scene

Published May 26, 2010 Photojournalism 1 Comment
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The images keep coming, and they’re getting more and more depressing. While at first the BP oil spill was just an intangible leak out in the middle of the water, now there are sharks and sea turtles washing up dead and dragonflies and herons soaked in oil.

BP CEO Tony Hayward says he’s devastated, but it’s hard to imagine his life will really be all that affected by this. He still gets to go home at night and count his bags of cash, with no threat of losing his job, money or well-being. You know what’s really devastated? The Gulf Coast of the U.S.

· See the Boston Globe Big Picture blog’s photo essay here.
· See a Yahoo News photo collection here.
· See TreeHugger reporter Brian Merchant’s coverage, both still photos and video, here.

Photojournalists & the Common Denominators

Published May 13, 2010 Photojournalism Leave a Comment
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Photo by discarted

From Alex Garcia, writer of the Chicago Tribune’s photojournalist blog, comes a post on the “10 Key Traits of Winning Photojournalists.” Garcia has been in the field for 20 years and witnessed enough careers go boom or bust to compile a pretty interesting list.

There are a lot of talented photojournalists, and not all get recognized for their work. You may ask yourself: “So how can I become tops in my profession?”; “Do I have what it takes?”; “Is there something I could be doing?”; “Born or made?”

Do you have all, any…?

1. A lone wolf orientation
2. Single, or have a flexible family life
3. An immovable faith in the power of an image
4. Fearless
5. Fast and decisive
6. Ability to self-edit
7. Competitive, very
8. Clever
9. Relentless
10. Anointed

Article from Assignment Chicago

Man Hits Cameraman On Way Into Court

Published May 12, 2010 Assault , Photographers' Rights , Photojournalism Leave a Comment
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KFOX cameraman Rudy Reyes was outside the federal courthouse in El Paso to shoot video of a defendant’s family members when one of defendant’s brothers smacked him  in the head as he passed by. The brother in question, the very elegant Paul Barraza, then denied it despite a handful of witnesses. Paul Barraza was later pulled out of the courthouse and arrested for assault.

I bet now he wishes he’d thought twice before doing something that stupid. I mean, really….

See the video here and listen to a KFOX reporter explain the backstory here.

OSU Photographer Cuffed During Cow Incident

Published April 27, 2010 Photographers' Rights , Photojournalism , Police Harassment 1 Comment
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I guess if you’re going to be detained for something ridiculous like taking photos in a public place, there should be something extra ridiculous involved — like cows.

While on assignment for the school paper, The Lantern, Ohio State photographer Alex Kotran was shooting two cows that had gotten loose on some athletic fields, but the police and some agriculture department employees were insistent he didn’t have a right to be there. A campus police officer told him it was dangerous and asked him to leave. When he didn’t, he was handcuffed, detained and charged with a misdemeanor for trespassing.

“He told me I was under arrest,” Kotran said. “I advised him that I was on public property, and he started talking about Supreme Court cases and stuff.”

Kotran said he was detained “for about 10 minutes.” Linton went through his pockets to get his wallet. The officer needed identification to write a report.

Three are three things that are unbelievable about this: 1) he was on assignment as a photojournalist; 2) this took place on not only public property, but at a public institution — one that’s funded by taxpayers and students, including Alex Kotran!; and 3) he was taking photos of cows.

(On a side note, on The Lantern’s original article about the cows’ escape, there is a poll asking readers “Are you afraid of another cow attack?” At the time of this post, it was — amazingly — split down the middle.)

Read the whole account at The Lantern

Are You Photographing Only 10%?

Published March 22, 2010 Documentary , Photojournalism 3 Comments
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Photo by raffaespo*

Photographers these days are experiencing some major groupthink.

From the current issue of Nieman Reports, Harvard’s journalism review that is devoted entirely to photojournalism this quarter, there is an excerpt from VII Photo Agency’s Stephen Mayes‘ address at the World Press Photo awards.

Mayes talks about his takeaway from five years as a juror for the awards — that certain subjects in photography are overexposed. And, naturally, that means that most other subjects are largely ignored. This, he reasons, is because of the fact that traditional media outlets are shrinking, so more photographers have turned to competitions as an outlet for their work. Mayes says the jurors are “astonished” by the lack of variety and pinpoints the three common themes: the dispossessed, exotic and foreign.

This assessment really rings true and is something we’ve noticed ourselves. But, at the same time, it seems that the only photography that is noticed or appreciated is foreign, whether it be conflict, poverty or strife. (Chicken and egg problem?)

Of the 2009 College Photographer of the Year awards, only one project really stood out as original — Phoebe Sexton‘s series, “Joshua,” on a young bulimic gay man. And that’s why we really like Anthony Karen‘s work. His photos of the KKK are dramatic and powerful but, more importantly, not derivative, addressing a serious, elusive domestic subject matter. 

Mayes breaks it down succinctly here:

Overrepresented: commercial sex, suffering black folk, Muslim women in veils, same sex couples kissing, holding hands.

Underrepresented: middle class, affluent drug users, real sex, personal sex, black culture and expanded vision of black life outside Africa. 

One juror said 90 percent of the pictures are from 10 percent of the world. So how’s that for a challenge — as a photographer, can you seek out the underreported subjects that are inhabiting 90 percent of the world?

Article from Nieman Reports

*This is a good photograph that we are using as illustrative and is in no way meant to impugn the photographer.

Change Is Not in the Air

Published March 18, 2010 Photojournalism , Protests , Rally 5 Comments
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On January 20, 2009 President Barack Obama took over the Oval Office after riding a wave of voter support and momentum that was generated by his YES WE CAN campaign. And a defeated and lame duck George W. Bush crawled back to his Crawford ranch for some tree trimming. However, since President Obama’s inauguration it appears he has forgotten his campaign message, and simply took a well-known play out of the old political campaign playbook—and that is: do and say whatever is needed to win the election.

For instance, Xe Services, formerly the infamous Blackwater, continues to garner government contracts (along with other private security contractors), allowing them to continue working alongside US military forces in countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Guantanamo Bay detention facility is still in operation even though President Obama issued an executive order in January 2009 to close the prison within a year. The Patriot Act, which chipped away at Americans’ civil liberties during the Bush Administration, had three sections of it extended by President Obama in February 2010. And finally, Bagram Air Base, a known US torture facility operating in Afghanistan and dubbed Obama’s Guantanamo, functions as if the Bush Administration were still running the place. In April 2009, the Obama Administration appealed a US District Court ruling that some detainees at Bagram Air Force Base are entitled to challenge the reasons for their detentions.

So it appears that Obama’s YES WE CAN doctrine really hasn’t come to fruition, which is why there are more anti-war protests scheduled for this weekend, which marks the seventh anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq.

On Saturday, March 20, 2010, thousands of people will take to the streets in Washington D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles (among others) to protest against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sponsored by the Answer Coalition the Los Angeles march will begin at 12 noon at the intersection of Vine and Hollywood Boulevard. And if it’s like years prior, this Saturday’s march will certainly be an emotionally charged event, providing plenty of opportunities for photographers to capture some important moments in history. So if you’re in the Los Angeles area on Saturday, be sure stop by Hollywood and Vine for a good ol’ American protest.

Photography by discarted

Ordinary People

Published March 9, 2010 Documentary , Photojournalism , Street photography Leave a Comment
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Photo by discarted

If you’re a regular reader of this site, or even someone new to photography, you’re likely already well aware of flickr—Yahoo’s user generated photography site where thousands of people upload their photos on a daily basis and join various groups to share their work, as well as discuss everything related to photography, including our favorite topic—photographers’ rights.

One of these groups is called Humanistic, which was created “In the spirit of William Eugene Smith (1918-1978),” and is dedicated to sharing photography that “…is humanistically driven, with a strong, genuine human-interest theme.“

Humanistic was established in May of 2009 and the group administrator, tsienni, is celebrating the group’s steady growth by holding their first contest dedicated to Ordinary People.

The contest is limited to one submission per group member, and the rules are that the image must contain at least two people and not be altered in any way, or excessively processed—which, some would argue is rather arbitrary and nondescript. However, anyone familiar with William Eugene Smith’s work would instinctively know what the contest organizer meant by “excessively processed.” More important though, the first place winner will received $500 worth of Kodachrome.

Kidding. The contest is for fun.

And Kodachrome will be joining the dinosaurs very soon.

The submission deadline is March 10th, so if you  have a photo that you think is worth sharing with others and representative of Smith’s work, be sure to join the group and submit your image by this Wednesday.

Join Humanistic.

When the News Becomes the News

Published March 8, 2010 Harassment , Photographers' Rights , Photojournalism , Police , Police Harassment , Sheriffs Leave a Comment
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Texas Cop Bullies Reporter…

Published January 24, 2010 Harassment , Photographers' Rights , Photojournalism , Police , Police Harassment 1 Comment

and then acts like a spoiled child who didn’t get his way.

Customs Officer Threatens Photographer

Published December 7, 2009 Photographers' Rights , Photojournalism , Police Harassment 3 Comments
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Do the usual laws not apply to Customs and Border Protection officers? There’s one in Tampa who thinks so. When Jay Nolan, a Tampa Tribune photojournalist, arrived at the scene of a three-car crash today and took photos, he was detained for 15 minutes and his phone was confiscated. David Tipton, the Customs and Border officer involved in the crash, wanted Nolan to assure him the photos wouldn’t appear in the newspaper. When Nolan was unable to do that, he wasn’t pleased. As Nolan explains in the Tampa Tribune:

“He told me, ‘You don’t understand. We’re not local law enforcement here. We’re the federal government. We’ll take your gear right now,'” Nolan said. “He gave me two choices: either give my assurance or be placed under arrest.”

Nolan was detained for 15 minutes, and he smartly replaced his flash drive with a blank one and retained his photos. According to the article, Gary McClelland, the agency’s port director, later apologized to Nolan and explained the situation away by saying customs and border patrol “don’t permit photographs because of the nature of their jobs, but the agency doesn’t want to hinder the media.”

OK, I get there is a security issue with these agents working the border. But couldn’t you say the same thing then applies to all people who work with gangs and violent offenders (police officers, prison guards, judges, social workers…)? It seems like a very strange policy to “not permit” someone to take photos of you (when you’re in an accident in public, no less), because really, how do you enforce something like that without illegally throwing your weight around? Oh yeah, like Tipton did.

Article from the Tampa Tribune

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