Continuing the success of last year a Photo MA graduate, Dave Wyatt, has been chosen for the Photographer's Gallery Fresh Faced and Wild Eyed exhibition that showcases the best graduate work from the previous year. Wyatt's Thames Town Project also features in Issue 2 of Deep Sleep magazine ....more
As of Monday 18th May I will be moving the industry news section of the blog (Awards/grantsEquipmentEventsGallery/slideshowGeneralIssuesPhoto MA NewsPhotojournalismwork) to my twitter feed. Most of the stories I have been posting are simply links to existing stories on the web, and I can provide these links much more efficiently using twitter. The MA News will continue to be blogged at this site, as well as through the twitter feed.
To follow me on Twitter - go to www.twitter.com, click on find people and type "djclark". If you have a twitter account (its free and I recommend you do this) you can "follow" me. There are numerous pieces of free software to help you integrate the twitter feed with your web browser and phone.
"It's hard to believe that for a subject as trendy as climate change, there are so few photographers who specialize in it. As Wolfe explained, it's a topic that defies journalism's typical demands of daily deadlines and breaking news. "It's a very hard story to cover," he said, "because it's so huge and so slow, and it's one that doesn't really fit the way we gather news. ... That, and none of us make any money."" ...more
Getty Images and Time Inc. are throwing the switch on LIFE.com, a new site that aims to dazzle visitors with the vast digital photo archives of both companies.
The site, targeted at consumers, is launching March 31 with 7 million professional images presented in eye-catching galleries. In development for about six months, the site is launching at a risky time for media ventures; growth in online advertising has slowed to a crawl. ...more
"We have seen some dramatic declines with some of our newspaper customers this quarter, ranging from 30% to 70% down year on year. I would like to share some thoughts with you on how we can reverse this trend.
I have spent the past week visiting photo editors and managing editors at several of the major UK titles to get a better understanding of why this is happening and where they see their businesses going.
All of the people I met with made the following observations:
- Advertising revenues have fallen dramatically this quarter in most cases - Print sales have been falling and will continue to do so - Online versions of newspapers have yet to deliver a revenue stream comparable with that of print - Most titles have been making redundancies in recent months - Editorial budgets have been cut - Further editorial cuts are anticipated
Newspapers are going through a painful transition period that is being exacerbated by the recession. Most of the main titles think they will survive, but it is not yet clear what the right commercial structure for them will be. The only thing that is certain is that difficult choices and further cost reductions lie ahead of them.
Alamy is the only large supplier of imagery not offering a subscription scheme to newspapers and we are being squeezed out of this market by offerings from our largest competitors. These deals are in addition to, and separate from, newswire subscriptions. In the past we have managed to keep away from these deals because we represent a lot of material that isn't available anywhere else. Unfortunately the recession is forcing a change in behaviour at the picture desks that leaves little opportunity for image providers who don't offer unlimited downloads for a fixed fee. To put this in context, our largest UK newspaper customer has ordered their picture desk to only download images from agencies they have subscription deals with." James West Alamy CEO
"If you don't have people out working as full-time reporters, there's this category of information that's not going to appear magically out of nowhere," said Nicholas Lemann, dean of Columbia University's School of Journalism, who argues that papers made a mistake by giving away their wares online. "In a world where all content is free, original newsgathering doesn't happen. We really need to face up to the fact that this is going to be lost."...more
So my predictions for the future? More "name" photographers will be cashing in their reputations to teach "masterclasses" to wealthy orthodontists.
So-called "principled" photographers will be cozying up to Russian oligarchs and third-world billionaires. None of us will be saying "no" to wedding photography or lucrative teaching posts which sell to young students the rarely-realized dream that they’ll one day have jobs as photographers.
My advice? Get re-skilled. Keep your photographic aspirations but try to get a trade like film editing, web-design or accounting.
Soon we’ll all be amateur photographers with real money-making jobs on the side that we don’t tell our colleagues about. We need to get over the snobbery attached to that.
And we have to be tougher in our demands. Magazines online will be built by re-skilled photography lovers around business plans that don’t include paying wages to the photographers they ask to write.
They pay salaries to each other, they pay the man who comes to fix the photocopier, but the "name" photographers they ask to contribute six hundred words get nothing. With business models like that, how can we survive?" ...more
Last spring Anthony Suau pleaded with Time magazine – where he's been a contract photographer for 20 years – to publish his photo essay on the economic crisis in Cleveland, Ohio.
"When I arrived there I was in shock," Suau recalls. "There was almost not a single street in Cleveland that didn't have a house that was boarded up because of a foreclosure." He compared the scene to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Time decided not to print the story, and Suau's pictures ran only on Time.com, where it drew little attention in the U.S. – until today, when one of Suau's Cleveland pictures won the World Press Photo of the Year award....more
Out of all the imperfect scenarios available, the least imperfect version looks to me like this: A bunch of news organizations get together, create a site walled off from the prying Web-crawlers of Google (and the momentary affections of the casual Web surfer), charge subscription fees, and split these fees and any ad revenue....more
When Arthur Sulzberger Jr. refused to talk to his own reporter about the financial condition of the New York Times Co., it was the latest sign of an industry in deep trouble.
After all, the Times is not only the nation's top-selling metropolitan daily but also boasts the top newspaper Web site, averaging 19.5 million unique visitors each month. Its struggles have sparked a passionate debate about how to wring more cash from the online world where the Times, like most newspapers, gives away its wares for free....more
"Could newspapers and local broadcasters begin seeking philanthropic support from the civic foundations and private donors that are starting to bankroll news non-profits? It appears entirely likely. With for-profit media watching their news-gathering resources dwindle, some editors say they're open to the idea of seeking help from donors." ...more
Photo Ma graduate Pete Carney has recommended Burn Magazine as a good source of information. They also have a large fund for emerging photographers. The site is curated by David Alan Harvey. .
"Images of kids playing video games were created by Robbie Cooper, a British photographer who employed a Red camera — a very-high-resolution video camera — and then took stills from the footage. Cooper, who says he was inspired by the camera technique that Errol Morris used to interview people in his documentaries, arranged his equipment so that the players were actually looking at a reflection of the game on a small pane of glass. He placed the camera behind the reflection so that it could look directly into their faces as they played. Cooper and his collaborators, Andrew Wiggins and Charly Smith, videotaped children in England and in New York."...more
Runner's World editor-in-chief and current American Society of Magazine Editors president David Willey offered a positive view of the future in his address to the American Magazine Conference Tuesday morning. "I don't think print is dead or even dying," the editor said ...more
What Matters—an audacious undertaking by best-selling editor and author David Elliot Cohen—challenges us to consider how socially conscious photography can spark public discourse, spur reform, and shift the way we think. For 150 years, photographs have not only documented human events, but also changed their course—from Jacob Riis’s exposé of brutal New York tenements to Lewis Hine’s child labor investigations to snapshots of torture at Abu Ghraib prison. In this vein, What Matters presents eighteen powerful stories by this generation’s foremost photojournalists. These stories cover essential issues confronting us and our planet: from climate change and environmental degradation to global jihad, AIDS, and genocide in Darfur to the consequences of the Iraq war, oil addiction, and the inequitable distribution of global wealth. The pictures in What Matters are personal and specific, but still convey universal concepts. These images are rendered even more compelling by trenchant commentary. Cohen asked the foremost writers, thinkers, and experts in their fields to elucidate issues raised by the photographs.
"My business card will say filmmaker, but photojournalism is what I do," says Leeson, who joined The Dallas Morning News in 1984. One of the pioneers of video in the newspaper business Leeson believes that long term serious documentary projects sliced up into short videos for the newspaper sites is the way forward if serious photojournalism is going to survive. ...more
Current Photo MA student Charly Cox usefully pointed out this article. Although it is from 2004 it still seems useful for many photographers seeking contacts with NGO's ...more
"After months of anticipation, Esquire unveiled its 75th anniversary issue — complete with E Ink technology on the cover — this morning at Borders in Columbus Circle. In a cutout on the front, the words "The 21st Century Begins Now" blink in various configuration." ...more
"Philip Blenkinsop has won the Visa d'Or News awards at Perpignan's photojournalism festival for his reportage of the China earthquake.
The emotional announcement was made on a Perpignan street after the official award ceremony was rained off. Jean-François Leroy, Visa Pour l'Image's director, went directly to Blenkinsop at the Le Divine restaurant where the Noor photographer was dining." ...more
"Four media workers have been held hostage by an unknown group roughly 12 miles (20 kilometers) west of Mogadishu. Freelance journalists Amanda Lindhout, Nigel Brennan, and Abdifatah Mohamed Elmi, along with driver Mahad Clise, were returning from interviews with Somali refugees at Celasha Biyaha when they were kidnapped along the Afgoye-Mogadishu road. The Australian Federal Police and Australia and Canadian diplomats are working with the Somali government to help with hostage release efforts". ...more
Brian Storm (Media Storm), Dan Chung (The Guardian), Dirck Halstead (Digital Journalist) and David Campbell (Durham Advanced Centre for Photography) all met in Dalian, China for a four day workshop/seminar with Photo MA students to discuss multimedia visual journalism as a future model for photojournalists. The workshop finished with a seminar debate (pictured right) which was recorded and will be available from this site soon.
"There should be little doubt now that the changing media landscape has deeply affected traditional news photography. Increasingly, photographers at many newspapers are being let go or given reduced work hours. For those lucky enough to have a job, the workload has become more demanding. The bottom line is a focus on productivity, with a slight nod toward creativity as long as it doesn't interfere with getting the work out." ...more
This month the Digital Journalist, edited by MA Photo visiting lecturer Dirck Halstead, is running a speacial feature on the work of John Moore. The galleries and videos demonstrate a successful contemporary mobile journalist at work...more
"Bert Hardy was the star troubleshooting photojournalist on Picture Post, Britain’s most influential picture magazine. But a story he shot in 1950 during the Korean war seemingly precipitated its decline and fall. On the seventieth anniversary of the launch of the mass-market weekly Graham Harrison turns back the pages of photographic history and looks forward to a reassessment of Hardy’s career." ...more
"Shooting the Messenger, Al Jazeera's documentary on the deliberate killing and intimidation of journalists in conflict zones, investigates how international reporters became targets." Watch it HERE
"Without mentioning any names, some of the top ten photographers in the world today, including war photographers, “live in a garret”, surviving on less than 1000 euros a month, struggling to make ends meet.""...more (students in China will need a proxy)
"Kevin Launius [pictured], a staff photographer at the Grants Pass (Ore.) Daily Courier, is one of thousands of small and mid-sized circulation news photographers who are facing the challenge of adapting to producing content for both online and print editions of their newspapers. Launius has mixed feelings about having to work with both still pictures and video." ...more
"Through five years of war, a team of 100 Reuters correspondents, photographers, cameramen and support staff has strived to deliver news to the world from Iraq – the most dangerous country for the press. These are their personal stories, bearing witness through half a decade of conflict which has taken the lives of 127 journalists, including seven Reuters colleagues."....more
Foto8 one of the few quality journals supporting photojournalsim has moved to a much bigger publication but will only publish twice a year. It has also launched a new website at http://foto8.com
OnRequest Images has teamed up with Magnum sending shockwaves through the photojournalist community. Many see this as a sign of increased competition to win editorial commissions. ...more
UK wire Agency PA is to start to supply video to regional dailies including The Bolton Evening News. This happens as part of an international trend towards using multimedia on newspaper websites....more
Past MA student Adam Dean was one of only a few photographers to have been covering the Bhutto rally at the time she was assassinated. His pictures can be found by visiting his agency site http://www.worldpicturenews.com/web/ and doing an image search on Dean and Bhutto.
Getty Images have started to sell stock music online as well as their picture archive. "Every Image has a soundtrack and we've got yours" they say! ...more
Entries can now be submitted online for the 2007 First ScotRail Press Photography Awards.
Categories include Photographer of the Year, Picture Essay of the Year, Features Photographer of the Year, Sports Photographer of the Year, Local Photographer of the Year, Young Photographer of the Year with a total prize fund of almost £5,000....more
Photo Histories a new website is launched to "will become a home for entertaining and thought provoking stories about photography and a vehicle that, by looking into the past with a spirit of enquiry, might begin to help us map some sort of path into the uncertain future of the medium." ...more
The NUJ have released a report looking at the pros and cons of multimedia journalism. It claims that bosses are letting current staff down by failing to invest in training ...more
Vivian Schiller from the New York Times tells Beet TV in an interview than 7% of all hits on their website is now for the photography slide shows. ...more
Photo agency VII have signed Marcus Bleasdale and Franco Pagetti as it slowly starts to grow its numbers beyond the original seven. There is more on theis story on the PDN website ...here meanwhile one of the original members Alexandra Boulat (1962-2007) is remembered in a requiem podcast on the Daylight magazine website ...more
Respected Contact and Time Magazine photographer David Burnett talks at foam in Amsterdam to the masterclass group of this year. The video is only available until the 25th November. ...more
Director of photography at one of the world's most famous news-led magazines, MaryAnne Golon talks to John McDermott about working at Time magazine and dealing with such a responsibility in these extraordinary times ...link
G.M.B.Akash a student from Bangladesh photography school Pathshala's first batch wins first prize for his photo titled "Passengers without Ticket" in the prestigious Gordon Parks Photography Competition 2007. More work by Akash can be seen at www.majorityworld.com and www.gmb-akash.com.
AP, Reuters and AFP have boycotted the Rugby World Cup in response to the IRB's request that, amongst other things, no more than 40 images be posted online from matches in progress, and a limit of three minutes on news conference or locker-room video posted online.
NOOR Images, a new collective photo agency was announced at Perpignan this week.
Their nine highly regarded photographers are:
Samantha Appleton (U.S.) Jodi Bieber (South Africa) Philip Blenkinsop (Australia) Pep Bonet (Spain) Jan Grarup (Denmark) Stanley Greene (U.S.) Yuri Kozyrev (Russia) Kadir van Lohuizen (The Netherlands) Francesco Zizola (Italy)
The World Press Photo Exhibition 2007 will be on display in Pingyao next week!
The exhibition will be part of the Pingyao International Photo Festival and will be on display from 19 to 25 September.
The Pingyao International Photo Festival is China's largest photo festival and watch this space for details of the MA Photography's presence there next week...
Magnum are running a print sales exhibition entitled 'New Blood': "This exhibition brings together the work of Magnum's new blood; five Associate Members: Antoine D'Agata, Jonas Bendiksen, Trent Parke, Mark Power and Alec Soth. As a group, they embody the evolution of documentary photography, from traditional photojournalism to a more art-based practise, and reflect the diversity that continues to distinguish the agency."
Stills Gallery, NSW Australia 22 August - 22 September 2007
Media Talk: Has western coverage of the China story become stale and cliched?
In interesting talk on the state and effect of Western media's coverage of China at The Frontline Club in London on August 23rd at 7:30pm.
Guest speakers include:
Rob Gifford – former China correspondent for NPR, author of China Road: a Journey into the Future of a Rising Power.
Duncan Hewitt - BBC correspondent in China from 1997 to 2002. He now writes for Newsweek and other publications from Shanghai, and is the author of Getting Rich First: Life in a changing China.
Catherine Sampson – former China correspondent for The Times , author of The Pool of Unease.
Lifen Zhang - Editor, FTChinese.com, Financial Times. Previously worked for the BBC as a journalist, producer, news editor and journalism trainer.
There is an interesting interview with Tom Carter a travel photographer who has been travelling in China for 4 years working on a new book China: Portrait of a People. He talks about his experiences avoiding state censorship, overzealous officials and gives some tips on travelling in the most populous country on earth!
The Editor and Publisher’s 8th annual Newspaper Photos of the Year contest closes it’s registration on September 14. They are accepting photos published in a newspaper or web site since Oct. 1, 2006. For details about the contest and registration please check here.
Have a look at a recent Media Matters video report with footage, interviews and pictures of Jeff Mermelstein and Kathy Ryan shooting on the streets of New York. Video 1
Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Rick Loomis has covered the Iraq war for the Los Angeles Times and you can see the multimedia slide-show with narration of his time in Iraq since the beginning of the war through to the effect it is having on returning soldiers.
Magnum photos have complained to the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) that their proposed contracts for access and photography of the development for the 2012 Olympic Park in London is unworkable. Read more here.
The Ian Parry Scholarship 2007 exhibition runs from the 3rd August to the 11th August at the Getty Images Gallery, London.
You can see Ivor Prickett's winning portfolio as well as the other finalist's work and a selection of single images from other entrants including Photography MA graduate Adam Dean's image from Mongolia below.
"Almost all of the work entered was very political but when I was a young photographer I was told to shut my mouth about the political side. Now, people are more aware, they are communicating more and these photographers are sending us work of real concern" Don McCullin, Patron
WINNER OF THE IAN PARRY SCHOLARSHIP 2007: Ivor Prickett Highly Commended: Liz Rubincam Commended: Gareth Phillips Commended: Liz Hingley Honorable Mention: Dominic Nahr
UPDATE: You can read the article about the Awards and winning images in The Sunday Times Magazine and view a selection of images in a multimedia slideshow.
While waiting at Heathrow airport for a flight back to China to attend his graduation ceremony, MA student Adam Dean was evacuated to the car park, along with thousands of other passengers after a bomb scare following the terror attacks in London in July. Not wanting to miss the opportunity he shot pictures of the event, found an internet connection and started to call publications around the world. His images featured the next day in numerous publications including the front page of the International Herald Tribune, the New York Times and The Guardian.
Thanks to David at Lightstalkers for highlighting the new series of photo podcasts launched by the excellent HOST gallery in London. They start off with a presentation by Simon Norfolk followed by a Q&A session led by Jon Levy of foto8. You can choose between audio only or video. Click here to check it out.
These days it is almost impossible for Western journalists and photographers to work outside the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad unless they go down the embed route which has its own consequences.
As a result many of the news organisations have to rely on Iraqi stringers to report on events and many of them have been killed and those still working face the possibility of death on a daily basis.
"My wife has begged me to quit my job and even to leave Iraq," Abdul says. "But I told her that every day tens of Iraqis are being killed for no reason, and they will be forgotten otherwise. To die as a journalist, I would know that I was killed while I was reporting the truth. I would die proud."
Reuters were coming to terms with the events that seemed to suggest their coverage of the Tour de France was cursed.
Following replacement vehicles, parking tickets, theft of a brand new Canon EOS 1D MkIII they probably thought things couldn't get any worse until their people carrier support vehicle that doubles as an editing and transmission suite and travels a few miles ahead of the racing pack, caught fire destroying thousands of pounds worth of equipment and personal belongings of the photographers, editors and motorbike riders covering the month long event!
