I've always wondered about that!

The 1st annual GO INDIE Awards, sponsored by Leica, Photo District News, IPNStock, and Crumpler are going on now! They are looking for the “creative, quirky, and unique images that you’ve cooked up”. There are five submission categories and great prizes –the Grand Prize being a Leica V-LUX 1!

The entry fee is $10 per image submitted by December 15th. Submissions received later will incur a late fee of $5, but can be submitted through the extended deadline period ending January 15th.

For more information go to www.goindiecontest.com

Attention Lomographers!

Brooklyn’s Stay Gold Gallery is now accepting photography submissions for an upcoming exhibition, “blowup”, which the gallery says, will showcase the photographic versatility of the point and shoot camera. Submissions must be received at the gallery by February 1st. The show will run from February 23rd through March 25th. For the full details, please visit their website, www.staygoldgallery.com.

This has the potential to be a great show! Being the toy camera enthusiast I am, I definitely plan to submit!

Shots Magazine, which is in its 20th year of publication, is now accepting submissions for Shots 94, which will be their annual portfolio issue.

Photographers of all levels are welcome to submit and the theme is open. Work must be received by November 3, 2006. The entry fee is $15 or free for current and new subscribers. You can get the full details by going to www.shotsmag.com and downloading the complete prospectus. The magazine is published quarterly and the portfolio issue will be out in December 2006.

You can also visit the site to check out sample images from past issues, as well their current autumn 2006 issue, Shots 93: The Animal Issue.

Flak Photo, a photography webzine, has recently relaunched and is now soliciting submissions.

To submit your work for consideration, email your photo (JPG format, minimum 700px on the longest dimension) with title and place of capture (city, state, country) to photo@flakmag.com.

Although they are unable to offer monetary compensation, your work will be seen by many of their 200,000+ unique monthly readers. Naturally, photographers retain all copyright on submitted images. Contributors are encouraged to submit their URL, so they can link to their site from within the post.

For inspiration, check out the blog.

Check out the latest submissions as well as the Recommended Reading. The Chernobyl Legacy by Magnum photographer Paul Fusco is a stunning collection of photographs documenting a horrific tragedy.

The NYCLU is actively collecting stories of photographers who have been stopped by the police or MTA while photographing bridges or tunnels, in the subway, or any other public places. If you have been stopped, asked for ID, questioned, etc. by the police or by MTA employees, please drop
an email to Elizabeth Owen at eowen@nyclu.org.

In the email, give her the short version. She'll follow up for the details.

A photographer from White Plains, NY was held in police custody for several hours simply for the crime of taking the photograph above , of the flags surrounding the public courthouse.

Photographer and curator Don Burmeister will lead a Positive Focus critique of new work at his Safe T Gallery in DUMBO on Tuesday, March 14 at 7 p.m.

Burmeister is an accomplished photographer whose large-format documentary explorations have focused on such subjects as the often-overlooked periphery of New York City and ancient Indian mounds in the American South and Midwest. His gallery is a well-known venue for fine-art photography.

The public is invited. Positive Focus regular members' work is a priority at meetings, but there may be time for non-member reviews afterwards. Safe-T-Gallery is at 111 Front St. in DUMBO, Brooklyn. Directions are here.

Today, Canon announced the latest edition to the Canon dSLR family. After reviewing the latest updates, one has to wonder if it was worth the wait. It appears to be a 20D after a half-cycle on roids; certainly not the full or multiple cycles we all expected.

DPReview has a good review of the new features, which include:

Hopefully this will bring down the prices of the 20D and 350D. If you happen to get your hands on the 30D, tell us what you think about it!

Image courtesy of Irene Meltzer Richard, Film Society of Lincoln Center.


William Eggleston’s movie, “Stranded in Canton,” which premiered February 15 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, breaks through boundaries as disdainfully as the legendary photographer‘s then-shocking color photos blurred art and documentary and led the way onto museum walls in the 1980s. Around 1974 Eggleston videotaped more than 30 hours of footage that would become “Stranded” with an early Sony Porta Pack , fitted with a “prime” Zeiss lens and, occasionally, with an infrared tube that allowed shooting in near darkness. Thirty two years later the film he made from that footage with co-director Robert Gordon carries a gut-punching intensity.


In the film Eggleston’s dry voiceover explains that he “…shot everything, wherever I happened to be…” but his subjects -- mostly friends at bars and private parties in Memphis, New Orleans and Mississippi—are no ordinary bunch. It was the early 70s (popularly known as the 60s) and excess was in fashion. Drugs still had a prophetic sheen and people wanted to believe, with Jim Morrison, they could “break on through to the other side.” Loaded on booze and pharmaceuticals, Eggleston’s friends in the movie vie with each other – roaring and chanting stories, songs, rants and tirades into the Southern night. Often they succeed in invoking a truly extreme quaalude voodoo delta strangeness.

If you're fantasizing about turning your street shooting into published work or stock photography sales, then model releases are an ugly fact of life. For the most part, any images with recognizable faces need a model release to be sold or published for profit. If you'd like to pitch a book down the line, then all those great portraits of strangers will most likely need signed releases before they can make the final cut. I personally HATE doing this, but I'm starting to come around and see the light. I came across this article by Ethan Salwen which breaks the process down and explains the approaches of a few different photographers. It's definitely inspired me to get my act together.

Oh, and if you need release forms, then just google the phrase "Model Release" or pick up a whole pre-printed pad of them at a local photo joint like Adorama or B&H.

Konica Minolta withdraw from camera business: Digital Photography Review

This has to be the biggest and most shocking news before the upcoming PMA show, Konica Minolta has today announced that it is withdrawing from the camera and photo business. They will be transferring assets related to their camera business to Sony who will continue to develop digital SLR's based around the Konica Minolta lens mount. Konica Minolta it appears will continue to work with Sony (a relationship announced last year) in the development of digital SLR's and lenses but they will not be branded as or be sold by Konica Minolta. Full announcement and details of the Sony asset transfer inside.

The press releases relating to the above information are available at the Konica Minolta website.

AIPAD - Photoshow

The Photography Show 2006
February 10th - February 12th,
7th Regiment Armory, Park Avenue & 67th Street, New York City
Celebrating 26 Years as The World's Premiere Exposition Devoted to Fine Art Photography

THE PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW 2006, sponsored by AIPAD [Association of International Photography Art Dealers], features 83 international exhibitors. Now in its 26th year, THE PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW is the world's premiere exposition of vintage and contemporary fine art photography.

Open to the public:
February 10th & 11th: 12 Noon to 7pm
February 12th: 12 Noon to 6pm
Ticket Price: $30 Three days; $20 One day

Image courtesy of Gary Clark

Well-known photoblogger mashuga (a.k.a. Gary Clark) will show and talk about his street portraits on Saturday, January 21st at Positive Focus Gallery in DUMBO, Brooklyn. Clark, an award-winning artist and teacher, began taking digital photos and recording the stories of homeless men and women in Manhattan and Wilkes Barre, PA five years ago.

Looking for a quick and inexpensive way to share his pictures, Clark took the handle “mashuga” (Yiddish for “crazy” – he had once asked a homeless man for permission to take his picture, and the man had replied, “Whattayou, mashuga?”) and began posting at fotolog.com. His page (http://www.fotolog.com/mashuga/) took off, receiving thousands of visitors a week and engendering a passionate, often furious, international debate about homelessness, right to privacy, mental health, alcohol and drug abuse, the role of government and other topics. So far a total of over 1.5 million people from all over the world have visited “Mashuga’s fotolog” on the web.

For more background and a critique of Clark’s work, go here. A fascinating piece on his working methods, including audio, can also be found at National Public Radio’s All Things Considered.

Mashuga’s slide show and discussion starts at 4 pm at Positive Focus, 111 Front Street in DUMBO. Admission is $5. See the Positive Focus website for directions.

The industry switchover from film to digital with everyone dropping analog products continues - remember Kodak shedding its' B&W paper production? Today Nikon announced Plans to Stop Making Most Cameras That Use Film:

Nikon said it would halt production of all but two of its seven film cameras and would also stop making most lenses for those cameras. The company will halt production of the film camera models "one by one," though it refused to specify when.

A company spokesman said Nikon made the decision because sales of film cameras have plunged. In the most recent fiscal year ended March 2005, Nikon said that film camera bodies accounted for 3 percent of the 180 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in sales at the company's camera and imaging division. That is down from 16 percent the previous year.

As a Canon user, this doesn't affect me, but I've used Nikon gear before and I was always happy using it. But as someone who still shoots predominately film this reinforces the constricting market of products and services film users have available at their disposal.

Do you still shoot film? or are using Nikon products? Will this push you faster into the digital world?

Adobe has just launched a new program for Beta testing (Mac version only, although they promise a Windows version coming soon) for their new program LightRoom. According to the site, "Adobe® Lightroom™ Beta is the efficient new way for professional photographers to import, select, develop, and showcase large volumes of digital images. So you can spend less time sorting and refining photographs, and more time actually shooting them."

As a Windows user, I've been unable to give it a whirl myself, but already I'm dying to see it. You can convert your RAW files immediately instead of using a seperate program, as long as you have a supported camera, as well as make general adjustments. A twenty-minute tutorial highlights the rest of the features, though as it is a Beta version, so some of the features reportedly don't match the tutorial, and the user interface is a bit buggy.

Ever click on one of the New York Times' photoessays and think "Oh shut up!" when the photographer's voice suddenly bursts forth from your speakers? Conversely, ever wish you could do that with your photoblog? Today, Kodak and Skype internet communications corporation announced today that they're releasing a joint effort called Kodak Photo Voice, which will allow users to put voice messages with each photo. According to the company's site, now you can "talk to your family and friends while you share photos online. It's like a telephone and slideshow combined."

Of course, it's not as simple as recording a message with Media Centre and uploading it with your photos to a Flickr-like page. First, assuming your computer has a microphone, you head over to the Kodak PhotoVoice website and download Skype and Kodak PhotoVoice. Then, assuming the person you want to share your photos with is online and a Skype user, you can use PhotoVoice to send them your photos with a little greeting before you chat.

Lightleaks Magazine is now accepting submissions for Issue 2.

Deadline: January 28th, 2006.

Theme: "Nobody: Where has everyone gone?" Photographs of places normally full of people or photographs that establish a sense of apocalyptical loneliness.

Note that submission guidelines have changed a bit.

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU FOLLOW ALL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES AS POSTED AT:
http://www.toycamera.com/lightleaks/submissions.html

Submissions and all the necessary information should be emailed to
Lightleaksmagazine@gmail.com.

JPG Magazine has introduced a theme that will likely intrigue the NYC Photoblogger. "Photography is Not a Crime" is the 5th issue of the famed online photo mag and submissions are currently being accepted (submission deadline is January 15th).

"In a post 9/11 age of paranoia and suspicion, public photography is increasingly seen as threatening, or mistaken as criminal. And we here at JPG are sick of it.

So we're devoting issue 5 to this important topic. The theme, "Photography is Not a Crime," is a rallying cry. It's meant to remind everyone that amateur photographers are the documentarians of real life. People with cameras bear witness to the everyday dramas of ordinary people. We capture our world to help us understand it.

We are not terrorists. We are not dangerous. And we are certainly not a threat.

For issue 5, we're asking you to go out in public and take photos. Insist on your rights as a photographer. Shoot where people tell you not to. Talk to people about why you're there and what you're doing. Make a statement."

For submission details, please visit the JPG Magazine Web Site.

I am excited to let you know about a new project Magnum In Motion did. It's not one of the multimedia essays where you see a slideshow of photographs together with the photographers voice and street sounds but something else... It's a look backstage with Larry Towell, one of the great Magnum photographers.
This multimedia story is divided into 4 main chapters: El Salvador, Palestine, Mexico and Canada as well as into 6 extras such as "The Way Into Magnum", "Making Books" or "Inside The Photobag".

This new story which is very much build like a movie gives a great insight into the person Larry Towell as well as into his work and motivations. Magnum did a great job on that and you can expect more of this sort to come along soon. Please let us know what you think!

All other Magnum Photos multimedia essays can be seen on the Magnum In Motion website at http://www.magnuminmotion.com/

And yet again there is another multimedia essay published by Magnum. This time it's Paul Fusco's "Bitter Fruit" which shows photographs we weren't supposed to see. Fusco began his essay on the funerals of the American soldiers killed in Iraq in November 2003. Since then he traveled to some 27 different cities and towns.
This essay is going to accompany an exhibition by Paul Fusco which will be shown at this years VISA POUR L'IMAGE, the Perpignan International Photojournalism Festival.

To see more multimedia essays and hear the photographers comments visit the Magnum In Motion website for a listing of these essays.

Here I am again reporting from Vienna today (will be back in New York mid August!).

Magnum has launched a new multimedia essay of jonas bendiksen today. A combination of his images from the former region of the USSR and his voice talking about his work and the photographs.

This posting has nothing to do with our photoblogging community but I still think that these essays are interesting for a lot of us photo enthusiasts. You can see all of the produced multimedia essays on their site here.

There is a new multimedia feature by Magnum again. This time it's Bruce Gilden with a selection of 20 images of Coney Island commented by the photographer.

The new feature is not as extensive as the last one simply because of its topic (the last one was divided into different chapters after country) but for sure well worth checking it out. I find Bruce Gildens photographs great and his comments are very interesting and amusing.

You can read more about that in my original post over here. I hope you like it and feel free to leave any suggestions or wishes as a comment on this site.

• Polaroid-o-nize
  Turn digital images into Polaroid-like photos
• Nightlife - Photos of New York in the 70s (NSFW)
• Lots and lots of Photos of Airplanes
• Abandoned.ru
  Photos of abandoned building in the Russian Federation (beware: the background image hurts your eyes)
• CSS Image Maps
  Flickr-like notes technique

The following is an eye-opening story reported by Joel Rose, a reporter who works for an NPR member station.

From the NPR web site:

Photographers across the country have complained of getting harassed by law enforcement officials citing security concerns since the September 11 terrorist attacks.

To listen to the audio feed, please visit http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4705698.

Thank you, Tom Karlo, for locating this very informative report.

Image courtesy of www.ulfhaase.se

Think inside the box

Okay, I know that's a cheesy title, but we're talking about a square-format camera here and it had to be done. Lately, this solid-metal German box has absolutely changed my life. Like many of you out there, I'm pretty attached to my Canon digital SLR. It travels with me every day and I'm usually thrilled with the results. But then, a close friend showed me one of these and I was hooked. One week and one internet purchase later, and I'm a proud owner myself.

Self publishing has never been easier with print on demand sites such as LuLu - which the excellent JPG Magazine uses as a publisher. Now, New York-based Flickr members are publishing Flickrati NYC, a survey of contemporary New York City photobloggers. You've alway's wanted to get published right? Well, Flickrati NYC is looking for your submissions!

Submissions are open until June 19, there is no cost to submit your photos, and you are welcome to submit two (2) photos to the book. See the complete rules for more details.

More information after the fold.

Since I am interning at Magnum Photos at the moment I wanted to spread the news that a new multimedia essay with photographs and audio comments by Larry Towell went online yesterday.

The story is divided into four chapters with pictures from the civil war in El Salvador, photographs from the Mennonites in Mexico and Canada, photographs from the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and in contrast to that pictures from Larry Towells family and farm in rural Canada.
The story is completed with Larry Towells voice, speaking about these photos as well as with original sounds of the scenes.

I think that this multimedia slideshow might be interesting for everyone involved into photography - especially because of the photographers audio comments.

Wal-Mart, among other photo printers, are increasingly refusing to print photographs which look too professional:

Photofinishing labs increasingly are refusing to print professional-looking photographs taken by amateurs.

The reason: Photofinishers are afraid of infringing on professional photographers' copyrights.
...
It happened to David Watson earlier this year as he tried to get old photos of his mother printed for her funeral. The photos were of his mother, taken years ago by family members, some since deceased.

Like Helmick, he had uploaded them to Walmart.com, then went to pick them up at his local Wal-Mart in Charlotte, Mich. Watson said the manager of the photo department "felt" that three of the photos were possibly taken professionally. One of the photos in question was of his mother 50 years ago.

According to Photoshop guru Jan Kabili, the number one question from digital photographers is "What do I do when in Photoshop?" Jan gives a brief but fairly vague answer (with the expected caveat that "there is no one workflow that fits all situations"). At slower.net, Eliot Shepard gives some more specifics while answering "What do you do to your photos in Photoshop?"

What's your Photoshop workflow like?

A recent traumatic experience had me reassess my commute to work; more specifically, how I transport my dSLR. Instead of carrying my dSLR in a bag designed for cameras, and manufactured for the purpose of protecting that which I so cherish, I kept my camera at the bottom of my company knapsack.

I am hoping to avoid the same setback with the purchase of a camera bag designed especially for laptops/camera; which leads me to my dilemma: With so many brands of camera bags on the market, which is right for me?

"Professional Cameras, Made for the Amateur" (NY Times) compares the latest additions to the Canon vs. Nikon SLR war and includes a slideshow of images.

This month, both cameras gained new features - and new letters tacked on to their names. Canon's new Digital Rebel XT (the EOS 350D) is aimed at eliminating the performance gap between the original Rebel and the Nikon D70. And only yesterday, Nikon struck back with the D70S, an updated version of its own consumer S.L.R. It's an Olympic game of leap-cam.

"Both take pictures so good, you'll feel guilty when friends and neighbors begin asking how you became such a great photographer overnight," according to author David Pogue.

If you're like me, every morning you cycle through your favorite photo posts: Joe, Magneto, Rion, Shadow, Jake and, and, and, and...before moving on to my favorite local resource pages: MUG and Gothamist. Before I check in on my favorite New Yorkers though, I like to take a step back, hit APOD and begin my day with perspective. The buildings around us are larger than life, the pace and pulse of our city is infectious and all encompassing. In this city, it becomes very easy to lose sight of a greater existence.

We've all watched strangers agonize over the inconsequentials. Subway seats, become the center for pitched battles of will as two diametrically opposed manifest destinies compete for that all important orange or gray gluteal real estate, inevitably warranting sucked teeth and expletive muttering by one or both parties.

Before you duke it out with somebody's grandmother over that cab, think about where you fit in. Not only are you one person in a vast metropolis of millions, that metropolis is one of thousands, which exists in one nation out of hundreds, on one planet out of 9 in our solar system, circling one star out of thousands in our galaxy, which is one galaxy out of trillions of billions in the universe. Suddenly that guy clipping his fingernails on the subway becomes a little less irksome. I hope that APOD will be more for you than yet another daily photo page.

Every year, Nikon hosts the annual Small World Competition, in which thousands of scientists from around the world submit their most beautiful microscopic photography. Prizes range from an 8 x 10 of your own print (ha ha) up to $3000 in Nikon equipment (hmmmm). Word. I've submitted a couple of times, but sadly, I have not even received an 8 x 10. The cool part is...

Noted photoblogger Derek Powazek has added an archive style to his Ephemera that is worth checking out -- an all-site "archive by base color" that shows a small square for each image, filled with the "average" color of that photo. He's kind enough to detail how it's generated, for those of you using Movable Type and interested in adding something similar to your site.

The International Center of Photography's spring courses start in a couple of weeks and there's still time to register. The school offers classes that meet weekly as well as weekend workshops.

If you're into street photography and can give up Wednesday mornings, "Photographing on the Street" might float your boat.

This class will teach students everything from how to choose the right equipment and film for a day's shoot, to technical and practical issues, to gaining the trust and access needed to photograph people and places in and around New York City.

I was delighted to stumble out of the rain on Saturday and into the GQ sponsored exhibit, A SOLDIERS' PORTFOLIO. The exhibit is comprised of 50+ images captured by soldiers. Rather than rely upon embedded journalists for the content, this exhibit draws directly from the experiences and photography of the soldiers. Many wartime photography exhibits I've seen are focused on the horrors of war and the tragedy that inevitably results. The joy of the GQ exhibit is that it is more of an apolitical soldiers' blog, documenting daily activities and interesting visuals that are absolutely mesmerizing. Because of its source, it is able to accurately depict daily existence in the camps of Iraq.

You can view the exhibit online or you can go to the old Rosa & Sons Bakery on Elizabeth St. where it is currently on exhibit: 209 Elizabeth Street, between Prince and Spring.

The exhibition hours are Wednesday-Sunday, from 1PM – 7PM.
For more information, please call 212-286-6765.

The New York Public Library System, in addition to books, (OH THE BOOKS!!!) is now offering access to the library's extensive digital gallery. The gallery, which "provides access to over 275,000 images digitized from primary sources and printed rarities in the collections of The New York Public Library, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, illustrated books, printed ephemera, and more" also offers many New York-centric galleries, such as Bernice Abbot and Dylan Stone. I look forward to seeing some of you as part of their collection, and NOT A-LA-BANKSY.