July 2009 Archives

Joni Sternbach/a>

Also go to Tintypes.

Jim

Joni Sternbach - Surfland

Stephen Shore

Also go to Stephen Shore.

Stephen Shore by Steve Lafreniere

If Stephen Shore were known just for the iconic photos he shot as a teenager at Warhol's original Silver Factory, he'd probably still get a place in the history of photography.

But galvanized by a road trip from Manhattan to Amarillo, Texas, in 1972, Shore went on to pioneer the use of color in fine-art photography.

Steve Lafreniere

Helen Levitt

Via James Johnson's (Notes on) Politics, Theory & Photography

Also go to Helen Levitt.

Jim

Fleeting Exchanges - Helen Levitt Remembered by Jana Prikryl

In almost all of her work, she managed to fix in time unrepeatable encounters on the city's streets while outrunning the often moralizing limits of the documentary mode--a disinterested way of seeing that could lead to her classification, usually in the penultimate paragraph of chapters on street photography, as a kind of charming footnote complicating both the gravity of Walker Evans and the principled artlessness of Robert Frank and his influential disciples.

Jana Prikryl

André Kertész

Via James Johnson's (Notes on) Politics, Theory & Photography

Also go to André Kertész.

Jim

André Kertész - The power of reading by Blake Morrison

The essential image he works with is timeless: human interaction with the written word.

The physical forms in which we receive the word may be changing. But even when ebooks and Blackberries have taken over, that central image will remain: a text held in the hand and a head bowed over it.

Blake Morrison

Editors of Photopreneur

How to Get Paid for Your Flickr Photos by the Editors of Photopreneur

But while the site, which is now owned by Yahoo!, states specifically that it is not commercial, it's also used by buyers and photo editors looking for unique images for their books, magazines, websites and for advertising.

Some of the deals made between commercial users and amateur Flickr contributors include a billboard commission for Toyota, photos used on book covers, images used in Microsoft's Vista and plenty of commissions for magazines.

Editors of Photopreneur

Lillian Bassman

Also go to Lillian Bassman - Femininity, Salvaged.

Jim

A Woman's Camera in a Woman's World (Lillian Bassman in Popular Photography, April 1951)

Alec Soth

Interview: Alec Soth by Daniel Shea

Well, that photography is just not good for storytelling, yes.

I also just think photography was much more interesting 50 plus years ago, and now there is just this overabundance of photography.

It's like saying "What type of art do you do?"

"Oh, I do Twitter."

(laughter).

I just put these little fragments out in the world, but I would rather call myself a novelist than a Twitterist.

And I sometimes feel photography is that.

Alec Soth

Wilhelm Imaging Research

Free download.

Jim

The Permanence and Care of Color Photographs: Traditional and Digital Color Prints, Color Negatives, Slides, and Motion Pictures by Henry Wilheim with Carol Brower

John R. Ellis

Also go to his Photoshop Elements 6/7 (Windows) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

Jim

Photoshop Elements Database Tool by John R. Ellis

With psedbtool you can:

- Detect problems with the locations of files recorded in PSE's catalog.

- Extract the catalog contents into text files readable by Excel and other tools.

- Write the metadata of cataloged photos and files more reliably than with PSE.

John R. Ellis

Unidentified Photographer

There will always be a photography by Merry A. Foresta

For one thing, photography's progress gives us more things to see.

Merry A. Foresta

Thom Hogan

Discipline by Thom Hogan

I keep writing about "shot discipline," so perhaps it's time that I laid out what I mean by that phrase.

Another word I use to talk about the same thing is "optimization."

If you optimize your equipment, your procedures, your settings, and your data collection, you end up with pixels at the other end that are the best that they can be.

So just what do I mean when I use these terms?

Thom Hogan

David B. Brooks

Also go to Printing.

Jim

Are Your Prints Too Dark?; The Cause, and the Cure by David B. Brooks

To me that confirmed that the monitor display brightness must have an influence on how image files are adjusted for brightness, and that has an effect on how they are reproduced either as prints or when projected.

David B. Brooks

Lewis Collard

How to Photograph a Sunset

Everyone has seen them.

Stunning pictures of gleaming sunsets, rich with colour and warmth that seems to reach out beyond the boundaries of the photograph.

Whether you're taking an evening stroll across the beach, or just sitting in your local park, this guide will make these breath-taking images possible for everyone.

Various

ColorWiki

Also go to Color Management.

Jim

ColorWiki

Our desire is to promote color management use and education.

Please treat this site as if it were your own.

With proper care and feeding we can collectively dispell myths, reduce confusion and, hopefully, get colors to match along the way.

Steve Upton

Alex Dejong

Also go to Blind Photographers.

Jim

Blind Photographers Use Gadgets to Realize Artistic Vision by Brian X. Chen

And in the hardware arena, some gadgets, such as Dejong's Nokia N82, specialize in helping the blind.

The smartphone supports a vOICe app that analyzes the light detected by the handset's camera and plays different sounds depending on the brightness, thereby helping the blind make pictures out of sounds.

Brian X. Chen

Damon Winter

Also go to KMR Arts.

Jim

Lillian Bassman - Femininity, Salvaged by Ginia Bellafante

In most of the lingerie pictures, for example, the faces are averted or obscured, the result of the Ford agency's insistence that its models not be identifiable in such provocative advertising.

The effect of this constraint is not cold anonymity but an unusual intimacy that leaves the images feeling almost entirely divorced from commodity, as if they were the visual entries in the personal journals of the women photographed.

Ginia Bellafante

Joel Sartore

Also go to Garrison Keillor's Take in the State Fair.

Jim

Joel Sartore - State Fair Joys

Anthony Karen

Anthony Karen - The Invisible Empire: Ku Klux Klan

Photographer Anthony Karen has documented the modern-day Klan in their homes, at rallies, and at Klan gatherings, taking us deep inside a world we would otherwise never see -- a world most of us might not even want to know about.

Life

Carrie Sandoval

Also go to Baby Photography Tricks.

Jim

Carrie Sandoval - How to Take Better Baby Photos by Rik Fairlie

I will play peek-a-boo from behind the camera, sing, and shake rattles.

Once baby tires of that, I will put my "lens puppet" on.

It's basically a hair scrunchie that I sewed ears and a tail and glued wiggly eyes on.

Some will laugh and smile at it, others want to grab it.

Carrie Sandoval

American Scientest

The Best Bits by Brian Hayes

Why go to the trouble of capturing 30 megabytes of data if you're going to throw away 90 percent of it before anyone even sees the picture?

Why not design the sensor to select and retain just the 3 megabytes that are worth keeping?

Brian Hayes

George Awdek

THEORY: "Paul Graham - Photography is Easy, Photography is Difficult" by Paul Graham

But if it's everywhere and all the time, and so easy to make, then what's of value?

Which pictures matter?

Is it the hard won photograph, knowing, controlled, previsualised?

Yes.

Or are those contrived, dry and belabored?

Sometimes.

Is it the offhand snapshot made on a whim.

For sure.

Paul Graham

Lloyd Godman

Lloyd Godman: Enlightened Visions by QDean Brierly

Then, over a few decades, I kept chipping at the edges of photography in my own work until the boundaries broke down and light became the important factor.

I like the idea that light feeds us: It sustains us indirectly through the food we eat and the subjects we seek as photographers.

It's a spiritual inspiration.

So I began exploring the margins.

Lloyd Godman

Michael Zhang

Also go to Used Equipment.

Jim

Pro Camera Gear on a Student Budget by Michael Zhang

The moral of the story is, buy camera bodies used and from a couple generations back (since depreciation will be much slower).

Also, "upgrade" often (you'll want to anyway, right?).

This allows you to constantly move up in camera technology without paying extra money.

Michael Zhang

A Guide to Buying Used DSLR Gear by Michael Zhang

From personal experience, the best indicator for how much use a camera has seen is the strap attached to the camera.

If the owner claims that the camera has barely been used, but the strap is worn and faded, then a warning bell in your head should go off.

Michael Zhang

Rick Oldano

Also go to Conservation & Restoration.

Jim

How To: Make Photos that Last a Lifetime by Rick Oldano

You won't be terribly surprised to learn that the prints made from your $79 printer will probably last for less time than the color prints made back in the 1970s.

So, now you have a problem.

How do you protect not only your digital files, but also safeguard your family's digital history?

How do you, in fact, make long-lasting photographic history?

This article will show you.

Rick Oldano

Mark Gormus

How to take beautiful pictures of your garden by Julie Young

Try to avoid distractions, such as plant labels and spent blooms.

Layer the photo to create depth and interest.

Have a foreground and a background.

Try to get closer.

More detail equals more interest.

Look for a camera with a "macro" feature, which allows a digital camera to capture sharp close-up pictures of petite objects.

Eliminate dead zones, such as extra sky, grass or anything boring.

Try a different perspective.

Look at your subject from on the ground, atop a ladder or a bug's-eye view.

Julie Young

Greg Miller

Greg Miller - Panorama of the Hudson River

Greg Miller has recently created a complete photographic panorama of the Hudson River, including both banks and stretching from Manhattan to Albany.

The exhibition will include the Monroe, N.Y.-based artist's photographs of the riverbanks of the Hudson River, paired with those from the 1912 photographic panorama developed for the Hudson River Day Line Steamer company.

Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art

Annelise Kretschmer

See Part 1, 2, & 3.

Jim

Women

The opening credits to George Cukor's 1939 film 'The Women', which features no male actors whatsoever, announce that: "It's all about men".

The exhibition entitled 'Women' spans a wide arc from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day.

It is not only about faces and bodies, but shows different, predominantly male interpretations of femininity and gender roles, including surprising alternatives - while also giving a brief overview of photographic styles from Symbolism to New Vision, documentary style and conceptual photographic art.

Galerie Priska Pasquer

Alice Wheeler

Alice Wheeler - Women Are Beautiful

My generation was taught about the male gaze, how images of women were created for the enjoyment of men.

Garry Winogrand's images of women from the 1960s and 70s present them enjoying the freedom of their newfound public sexuality.

Some of the women he photographed seemed unaware of his presence, or appear to be hostile to him.

He seems like he's playing the role of a predator, one who is aware of the concept of the male gaze and is exploring it in his own way.

My work is about women's identity.

It's about public sexuality and the concept of women controlling their own lives.

Women today are more aware of how they appear in media images, and how they can control and shape their public identity.

Alice Wheeler

Mary Ellen Mark

Also go to Mary Ellen Mark.

Mary Ellen Mark - Seen Behind the Scene: Forty Years of Photographing On Set

Only Mary Ellen Mark can claim to have documented the turmoil on the most notorious film set of all time (Apocalypse Now), as well as the making of classics as diverse as Tootsie, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Fellini's Satyricon.

With photographs from more than 50 film sets, Mark's recently published book, Seen Behind the Scene: Forty Years of Photographing On Set (Phaidon), provides a revealing look at how the movies get made.

Vanity Fair

Jon Goodman

Also go to Photogravure.

Jim

Jon Goodman - Photogravure

Light-Test

Light-Test

Robert Buelteman

Also go to Signs of Life and Robert Buelteman.

Jim

Robert Buelteman - Force of Nature: Artist Puts Petal to the Metal for Electrifying Images by Jason Albert

Salt

10 Ways to Take a Bad Author Photo

Firstly, let us prepare our general attitude towards portraiture.

Remember that how you appear to your readers is fundamentally unimportant and has no impact on sales or your profile.

Serious writers don't do portraits.

Those great photos of Auden, Beckett, Carver, Donaghy, Eliot, Hughes, Isherwood, well, those great photos did nothing to help us remember these writers, nothing at all.

Salt

Robert Frank

Also go to Frank.

Jim

Eye on Image-Making: Robert Frank Redux by David Weintraub

He [Henri Cartier-Bresson] traveled all over the goddamned world, and you never felt that he was moved by something that was happening other than the beauty of it, or just the composition.

That's certainly why "Life" gave him big assignments.

They knew he wouldn't come up with something that wasn't acceptable.

Robert Frank

Stan Trzoniec

Field-Ready Accessories; What I Bring "On The Road" by Stan Trzoniec

There are many accessories that not only make life pleasurable in the field, but also add greatly to the picture-taking experience.

Here are some of my favorites, most of which go with me depending on what my course of action might be:

Stan Trzoniec

PhotoInduced

What's in my bag? by PhotoInduced

Well, whenever I travel, as in fly, I have to pack tight, light and right.

The gear that goes has to be rugged, have a purpose and many times, have some back-up.

On this last trip, since stills are always a part of the deal, and video gets packed in there too, a hybrid pack was developed.

PhotoInduced

Lewis Carroll

In Focus: Making a Scene

Photography, although commonly associated with truthfulness, has been used to produce fiction since its introduction in 1839.

The acceptance of staging, and the degree of its application, has varied greatly depending on the genre and the historical moment, but it has persisted as an artistic approach.

The photographs in this exhibition, drawn exclusively from the J. Paul Getty Museum's collection, make no pretense about presenting the world as it exists; instead, they are the productions of directors and actors who rely on stagecraft and occasional darkroom trickery to tell stories.

Getty

Sergey Chikuyonok

Clever JPEG Optimization Techniques by Sergey Chikuyonok

In this article, we'll show you a different approach to image optimization, based on how image data is stored in different formats.

Let's start with the JPEG format and a simple technique called the eight-pixel grid.

Sergey Chikuyonok

Ivars Gravlejs

Ivars Gravlejs - 78 Photography Rules for Complete Idiots

78 funny photography rules and useful advices created by Latvian photographer Ivars Gravlejs

Vahe

Ed Kashi

Triptychs, Technology And Ed Kashi's Archives by Claire O'Neill

There's a common belief that revelations occur when you least expect them.

The proverbial Newton-apple, Ben Franklin-kite thing. This was the case for photographer Ed Kashi who, lying in bed one morning, envisioned three photos from his archives flowing through his mind "like a cinematic strip."

Hence the birth of his newest project, Three.

Claire O'Neill

Derek Jensen

Choosing a camera for shooting sports by Kim Komando

My son plays on the basketball team.

I'd like to get some action shots.

All I want is a camera that is good enough to freeze the action.

I don't even care about the zoom.

Bob

Animoto

Also go to Slideshows.

Jim

Animoto

Chris Orwig

How to Take Inspired Photographs by Chris Orwig

A great photograph has the potential to transcend verbal and written language.

But how do you create these photographs?

It's not the how that's important, but the who and the what.

Who you are as a person has a direct impact on what you capture as a photographer.

Chris Orwig

Richard Lynch

Breaking Out Image Components in Photoshop by Richard Lynch

Image components are separations of an image into distinct color or tone parts.

There are many ways to separate images into other types of components, including color components of light (red, green, and blue) and ink (cyan, yellow, magenta, and black).

Separating images into components can offer advantages in making corrections, such as creating masks, setting up calculations, and converting images to black and white.

Richard Lynch

Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Also go to Home, Good Planet, 6 Billion Others, The Earth From Above, and Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

Jim

Yann Arthus-Bertrand captures fragile Earth in wide-angle

In this image-filled talk, Yann Arthus-Bertrand displays his three most recent projects on humanity and our habitat -- stunning aerial photographs in his series "The Earth From Above," personal interviews from around the globe featured in his web project "6 billion Others," and his soon-to-be-released movie, "Home," which documents human impact on the environment through breathtaking video.

TED

Guillaume Chauvin and Rémi Hubert

Also go to Paris Match Album and The British Journal of Photography.

Jim

Student hoax wins magazine's top prize by John Lichfield

The excellent black and white photographs of students prostituting themselves or looking for food in dustbins won the magazine's annual prize for student photojournalism.

Student poverty certainly exists in France but the photos were entirely faked.

John Lichfield