Thursday, December 20, 2012

A Photographer's War With PTSD



Marines run for cover after white phosphorus was accidentally fired at them by another company in Falluja, Iraq on November 9, 2004. [Ashley Gilbertson / VII]

Recomended read, via The Atlantic:

"As Ashley Gilbertson crept up the dark staircase of a minaret in Fallujah, he hovered closely behind advance troops of the United States Marines. Stepping around and over the rubble created by an earlier shelling of the mosque, Gilbertson could hardly see the two soldiers in lead.

Moments before starting their climb, Gilbertson argued to be the first person in the room. He wanted to take first shot at the insurgent who used this holy perch to prey on advancing U.S. forces. However, Lance Corporal William Miller and his partner, Lance Corporal Christian Dominguez, would not back down, and they took the lead that November afternoon. As Gilbertson took to the stairs, his partner Dexter Filkins mounted the steps behind him.

Guns at the ready, the convoy had just crested the first flight of crumbling stairs when gunfire erupted. Gilbertson was pushed backwards, tumbling down the steps. His face felt wet.

It was the blood of Lance Corporal Miller.

As the scene became chaotic, Gilbertson's immediate reaction was to shoot back.

He didn't.

He couldn't.

And it wouldn't matter.

The only weapon Gilbertson carries is a camera.

Full article here.


Sunday, December 16, 2012

Photographer Craig Varjabedian discusses “Landscape Dreams” at 1:30 today at the Albuquerque Museum


 
This photo titled “Welcome to New Mexico” was made near Chama. (CRAIG VARDJABEDIAN FROM ‘LANDSCAPE DREAMS, A NEW MEXICO PORTRAIT’)
 



Review: Captivating panorama
 Which one to choose for publication? A San Marcos cowboy holding a saddle with his canine friend Buddy next to him? A roadside descanso in Mora? Quaking aspen in Red River? Chile fields near Hatch?

I reviewed and re-reviewed the many wondrous black-and-white images of Santa Fe photographer Craig Varjabedian in his new book “Landscape Dreams” before deciding on the accompanying one you see.

I was taken by the tilt and the architecture of the “Welcome to New Mexico, Chama, New Mexico” sign. How 1950s New Mexico it was. I was also enraptured by the shimmering cool leaves, the curving vale, the stand of trees in the middle ground, the upward slope of the hill to the sky.

As the first full-page photograph in the book, it welcomes the reader to a journey – a journey into Varjabedian’s work – into a thoughtful essay on the Land of Enchantment, into an explanation of the photographer’s themes and artistic philosophy and into the how and why of his own coming to New Mexico.

I asked Varjabedian about the “Welcome to New Mexico” photograph.

“The sign is a kind of metaphor for New Mexico,” Varjabedian said. “As real and truthful as it looks, it is not really truthful. Ultimately what I am trying to say is that I’ve been calling this book my love letter to New Mexico. Whatever tools, tricks I can use as a photographer, I use. The sign was shot up. There were holes in it.”

The fact that the sign is a bit off-kilter, Varjabedian commented, says that there’s something “wonderfully different” about New Mexico.

He took the photograph in 2010. Since then, he said, the state Highway Department has replaced the sign with one that is more vertical.

“It’s a new sign and it doesn’t have the quality of its older relative,” he said.


Craig Varjabedian discusses “Landscape Dreams” at 1:30 today at the Albuquerque Museum, 2000 Mountain NW. In addition, Jeanetta Calhoun Mish and Jennifer Simpson read from essays in the book. Rebekkah Varjabedian, the photographer’s daughter, introduces her short film “Landscape Dreams.” UNM Press director John Byram talks about the press’ collaboration with Varjabedian and the importance of physical books.


To Varjabedian, the sign signifies something more.

“There’s something magical, enchanted and turned a little different about this place, which brings it its charm … and delights me to want to photograph it. I’m struck by those things that are turned a little bit differently, whether a sign or some historical fact,” he said.”

On the facing page of the “Welcome” sign is part of historian Hampton Sides’ foreword. In it, Sides touches on New Mexico’s road to statehood. The state “worked its way into the national consciousness,” he wrote, “and, as it nearly always does, won people over.” It was a reference to a welcoming act on Jan. 6, 1912 – membership into the Union as the 47th state.

Varjabedian’s public love letter was published in the same year as the New Mexico Centennial.

An exhibit of images from the book is up through Dec. 31 at William Talbot Fine Art, 129 W. San Francisco St., Santa Fe.

David Steinberg is the Journal’s Books editor and an Arts writer.


This is the cover of the book “Landscape Dreams: A New Mexico Portrait” (courtesy of unm press website)

Friday, December 14, 2012

Photojournalist Steve Schapiro's Contrasting Life




Steve Schapiro: Martin Luther King Marching for Voting Rights with John Lewis, Reverend Jesse Douglas, James Forman and Ralph Abernathy, Selma, 1965


Via CNN

December 12, 2012

Photographer Steve Schapiro's five decade career of classic photos displayed in new book, ‘Then and Now’

During his five-decade career, photographer Steve Schapiro likes to say he has photographed everything from presidents to poodles. Schapiro has captured the special moments of rock stars, film stars and politicians of the 60's and '70's as well as photos of migrant workers and the Selma March with Martin Luther King. In his new photobook "Then and Now" Schapiro compiles some of his best and most iconic images. The book contains more than 170 photos – some of which have never been published before. He joins “Stating Point” this morning to discuss some of his most iconic photos and his new book.
Schapiro says it has always interested him, “to capture all the different elements that make up our country.” He tells the story behind him capturing an iconic photo of Actor Marlon Brando when he was hired to photograph “The Godfather.” Schapiro says, “Brando let me photograph his makeup session… and in the middle of it he just gave me this wonderful look which luckily I caught.” Reminiscing on a picture he took of Actor Dustin Hoffman leaping in a narrow hallway he says, “[Dustin] is a delight. He is a delight on and off camera. He just has such spirit and you know such wonderful feeling and humor all the time…This was just a moment after they had been feeling and it just was a spontaneous event.”

Schapiro admits that he always wanted to be a “Life Magazine” photographer and “one of the things that interested [him] was the migrant worker situation in America.” He talks about his very first story where he spent four weeks documenting the lives of the migrant workers through his photos and an essay and reflects on one particular photo of a cabin wall where a child once wrote “I love anybody who loves me".

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Jackie Kennedy's Note to Mark Shaw: "Anyone who puts a finger-print on them will have his hand chopped off "



Mark Shaw: John Looking at his Reflection in Tabletop, Palm Beach 1963



Only two weeks before Kennedy was assassinated, Jacqueline Kennedy wrote a note to Mark Shaw, one of many, thanking him for color photographs of her with her three-year-old, John F. Kennedy Jr.: "They really should be in the National Gallery! I have them propped up in our Sitting Room now, and everyone who comes in says the one of me and John looks like a Caravaggio—and the one of John, reflected in the table, like some wonderful, strange, poetic Matisse. And, when I think of how you just clicked your camera on an ordinary day in that dreary, green Living Room.I just can't thank you enough, they will always be my greatest treasures. Anyone who puts a finger-print on them will have his hand chopped off. "
 
 
Mark Shaw: The Kennedys exhibition continues through January 27, 2013

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Stephen Wilkes' Sandy Photographs Among TIME's Best Photojournalism of 2012





Via TIME LightBox
Throughout 2012, TIME’s unparalleled photojournalists were there. At a time when so much hangs in the balance, bearing witness can be the most essential act — and that’s what we do."

Two of Stephen Wilkes photographs of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy are among the best of  Time's commissioned photojournalism from 2012:




UPDATE: Dec 13, 2013: The above photograph was chosen as one of TIME's "Top 10 Photos of 2012"


Stephen Wilkes for TIME
Nov. 4, 2012. Seaside Heights, N.J. The Jet Star roller coaster at Casino Pier amusement park, once a Jersey Shore Landmark, was submerged in the Atlantic as a result of Hurricane Sandy. From "Flooded, Uprooted, Burned: The Tracks of Sandy on the Shore."






Stephen Wilkes for TIME
Nov. 9, 2012. Staten Island, N.Y. Strong winds and waves ripped several homes from their foundation, like this one in the Oakwood neighborhood. From "Flooded, Uprooted, Burned: The Tracks of Sandy on the Shore."

Related: Mr. Wilkes’ photo eloquently framing: amber waves of grain meets the apocalypse.



Related: The "Best Photos" of 2012 International Compilation

Friday, December 7, 2012

NYC: The Loving Story Film Opens December 10


 Grey Villet: Mildred and Richard Loving, King and Queen County,
Virginia in April 1965


Welcome to villagevoice.com


The Loving Story
By Michelle Orange Wednesday, Dec 5 2012

Well-timed and well crafted in equal measures, The Loving Story is a thoughtful, terrifically intimate account of the case that dismantled this country's anti-miscegenation laws 100 years after the abolition of slavery. The story of Virginia couple Mildred and Richard Loving's efforts to live and love each other freely captures a critical moment in a civil rights movement whose most recent strides—for same-sex marriage—are just a few weeks old. First-time director Nancy Buirski's focus on the constitutional tangles that brought Loving v. Virginia before the Supreme Court in 1967 also complement Lincoln's warm, wonky embrace of the democratic procedural. A wealth of archival footage gives The Loving Story an oddly modern quality. We watch the supremely humble couple (Richard was white; Mildred part black and part Native American) interacting at home, tolerating journalists, conferring with attorneys, and recounting their path to the courtroom: Having been arrested in their home state, the Lovings moved to Washington, D.C. Mildred's distressed letter to Bobby Kennedy set things rolling. Equally compelling is footage of the dauntless young lawyers, Bernard Cohen and Philip Hirschkop, who saw much to be gained in one couple's belief in their rights and even more to be cut away.


Details
The Loving Story
Directed by Nancy Buirski
Icarus Films
Opens December 10, Maysles Cinema


Related: Director's Interview: The Loving Story

              Grey Villet:  A Storyteller Is Seen With New Eyes          

              On Exhibit: Grey Villet's Photographs of The Lovings 

Thursday, December 6, 2012

(Must) To Do Friday: Documentary Photography Today Symposium



Documentary Photography Today
Friday, December 7, 2012 - 10:00am to 1:00pm
Teleconference Lecture Hall, Alexander Library, Rutgers University, 169 College Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ
 
 
 
This symposium will reflect on how and why we use the term "documentary" to describe photography today. In what ways are artists, scholars, and curators thinking about documentary photography? How are photographers dealing with the evidentiary function of their pictures, as notions of authenticity and truth are being broadly challenged by political conflicts and new media? How do those pictures shape our understanding of contemporary human rights, and their violations, across the globe? Might we also speak of documentary photography as a style unlinked to the medium's perceived social functions? Participants include photographer Nina Berman, Mary Panzer (NYU), and Sharon Sliwinski (University of Western Ontario), with respondent Diane Neumaier (Rutgers).

WE INVITE YOU TO VIEW THE EVENT ON OUR LIVE WEBCAST BEGINNING AT 10:00 AM EST AT THE FOLLOWING LINK: vcenter.njvid.net

Just click on "live videos" toward the upper-right of the homepage


Sponsors

Center for Cultural Analysis, Rutgers University
Office of the Vice President for Research at Rutgers University

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

New report, to be released on December 11: Global jailing of journalists reaches record-high


Global jailing of journalists reaches record-high
Via Committee to Protect Journalists

New York, December 5, 2012-- The threat of imprisonment has become a reality for a record number of journalists in 2012, the Committee to Protect Journalist found in its annual prison census. The report, to be released on December 11, records and analyzes the imprisonment of journalists globally, underlining the ongoing crackdown against critical reporting.

A breakdown of the charges, regions, mediums and the number of freelance journalists imprisoned will be available. CPJ's census, first published in 1990, is a snapshot of those incarcerated at midnight on December 1, 2012. It does not include the many journalists imprisoned and released throughout the year.


WHAT: 2012 Imprisoned Journalists, a CPJ yearly census
WHEN: December 11, 2012 - 12:01 a.m. EST / 4: 01 a.m. GMT
WHERE: WWW.CPJ.ORG


Advance copies of the report are available upon request and interviews may be arranged prior to launch date. The report will be published in Arabic, English, French, Russian, Turkish and Spanish.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Steve Schapiro Interview: "The picture isn't truth. The picture is the photographer's point of view"

 

 
 
(Pardon the ad) 
 
 

Interview: Steve Schapiro

Steve Schapiro was born in 1934 in New York. In the beginning he photographed the daily life on the streets of New York. Steve Schapiro made his education at the American photographer W. Eugene Smith. For years, Steve Schapiro photographed socially critical series like drug addicts in East Harlem or the lives of American immigrants. These pictures he sent to the "Life" magazine - until 1961 he received his first commission.

A Life full of legendsSteve Schapiro photographed in the 60ies the Kennedys and followed Robert "Bobby" Kennedy in 1968 during his campaign. He also worked with artis like Barbara Streisand and Maroln Brando. Also Muhammed Ali was one of the persons Steve Schapiro photographed during his career. He evolved a passion for photographing on film sets. His first shots he did on the film set of Martin Scorsese. The pictures he did on the film sets of "Taxi Driver" and "Godfather" are well known and legendary.
 
 
 

Sunday, December 2, 2012

'BEST' PHOTOS OF 2012



The lists are in. Here is the final edit of everone's photography "Best of" lists for 2012. (Thanks to @Stellazine who made sure we didn't miss any!) Happy 2013 to all!


Photojournalismlinks: Top 10 Photos of 2012

NPPA: Top Five Photojournalism Stories of 2012

TIME: 366: The Year in Photographs 2012

The New York Times: 2012: The Year in Pictures

The New York Times: 2012: The Year in Culture

BBC: The year in pictures 2012

CNN: 2012: The year in pictures

The Washington Post: Best of The Post 2012

The Sacramento Bee: Moments Through Our Eyes, The Year In Pictures

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/photos/2012/12/moments-through-our-eyes-the-y.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#mi_rss=The%20Frame#storylink=cpy

TIME: A Year of Photographers in the Picture

BBC: UK Year in Pictures 2012

Al Jazeera - In Pictures: The year in review

The Santa Fe New Mexican photographers look back at their favorite images of 2012

Ad Age's Magazine Covers of the Year

Documenting 2012 Through Instagram

Weather.com: Best Weather Photos of 2012

The Brian Leher Show: The Best of Your 2012 Cell Phone Pictures

Dallas Morning News: Our favorite photos from Getty Images in 2012
 
PDN's 12 Most Popular News Stories of 2012

Chicago Tribune: 2012 best news photos

2012 best Chicago iPhone photos

Guardian: The best photographs of 2012

TIME: In Memoriam: Photographers Who Died in 2012

NYT Lens: The Images of 2012: Sports

Guardian: Best portraits of 2012 – in pictures

A Photo Editor: The Best Photos I Saw This Year That I Haven’t Already Written About Yet

Spiegel: Photo Gallery: The Best News Photos of 2012
 
New York Times Lens: The Images of 2012 - New York

Telegraph: Pictures of the year 2012: UK news

American Photo: 2012's Best Photojournalism

Bloomberg: Bloomberg's Best Photos 2012: A Changing World

Vanity Fair: 2012 in Vanity Fair

Guardian: After 52 weeks of diligent smartphoning, we come to the end of a project to test the limits of iPhoneography and document the year in pictures

LA Times: The year in wire pictures | 2012

NBC News: The Year in Pictures 2012

Twelve from 2012: Portrait Photography in The New Yorker

BagNewsNotes: Best Photos of 2012, and Why: From Syria to the New York Harbor

Reportage by Getty Images: Looking Back at 2012

The Telegraph: 2012: The Year in Pictures

Poynter: Photojournalism in 2012: A year of excellence, ethical challenges and errors

As 2012 draws to a close, BBC invites five photographers to talk about the story behind one of their pictures taken this year:

1. Photographer Robin Hammond on story behind Nigeria picture

2. Associated Press photographer Bernat Armangue speaks about how he obtained this moving picture during the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas

3. Reuters photographer Beawiharta explains the story behind a picture of school children crossing a collapsed bridge in Indonesia

4. Owen Humphreys of the Press Association talks about his dramatic photograph of Mo Farah on his way to victory in the 10,000m at the London Olympics

5. Picture power: Living dead of the drug war

Boston.com The Big  Picture: 2012 Year in Pictures: Part I

                                                 Part 2

                                                Part 3

Boston.com: Best nature pictures of 2012

Associated Press: Top 10 Photos of 2012

Guardian: The best photography of 2012: Sean O'Hagan's choice

From Facebook IPO to Tsunami, Bloomberg Best Photos 2012

TIME Picks 2012′s Best Photographer on the Wires

TIME Picks the Top 10 Photos of 2012

TIME’s Best Photojournalism of 2012

TIME’s Best Portraits of 2012

TIME Picks the Top Photographic Magazine Covers of 2012

TIME Picks the Most Surprising Photos of 2012

TIME: 2012: A Year of Deja Vu

TIME: 2012: The Year in Silhouettes

TIME:  2012: A Year of Strange Landscapes

BagNewsNotes: Best Photos of 2012, And Why — #1: In Sandy’s Tracks

                          Best Photos of 2012 and Why: From Holmes to Newtown

Media Ethics: Top 10 Photo Fails: 2012's Fake & Wrong Photos

Adelaide Now: The most striking photos of 2012

The Phoenix Business Journal's best photos of 2012

Mercy Corps is training women to mediate land conflict in Guatemala: Ten best photos 2012

Windsor Star: Photos: More best images of 2012

Stuff: Best world photos 2012

Business Insider: The Best Photos Of Barack Obama in 2012

The New Yorker: The View from Space: 20 Stellar Photos of Earth in 2012

USA Today: Best News photos 2012

Photos: 2012 Photos of the Year by the Associated Press

BagNewsNotes:  Obama, the GOP and a Bookend Pair of “Pics of the Year'

Star-Ledger:  2012: Best N.J. feature photos of the year
                      2012: Best N.J. news photos of the year
                      2012: Best weather photos of the year

TotallyCoolPix: Top Pictures Of 2012 Part 1
                           Part 2

Guardian: Travel Photographer of the Year 2012 – the best pictures

Guardian: A Northern Eye - Chris Thomond's look back on 2012 starts today

Wired’s Favorite Viral Photo Projects of 2012

Sports Illustrated: Pictures of the Year

2012’s Best Entertainment Photography

Vancouver Sun:  Top photos from the year shot by Getty Images photographers
around the world

Global News: Best photos from 2012

Business Insider: 42 Unforgettable Photos From The Past Year

Wall Street Journal: Year in Photos 2012

WSJ’s Photos of the Year: Behind the Images

CNN  2012:The Year in Pictures

The Atlantic: In Focus  2012: The Year in Photos, Part 1 of 3           
                                                                                 Part 2 of 3
                                                                                 Part 3 of 3

Huffington Post: 40 Most Powerful Photos Of 2012

HuffPost photo editors curated a slideshow of serious eye candy from Getty Images and the Associated Press


The Best Photography Blog Posts of 2012

BuzzFeed: The 45 Most Powerful Images Of  2012

Reuters: Best photos of the year 2012

The Most Popular Cameras and Settings for Reuters’ 2012 Photos of the Year

Best Pictures of the Year from Agence France Presse

VII photographers present their best images, shot or released in 2012

UK Telegraph: The 50 best images of the London 2012 Olympic Games

UK: Landscape Photographer of the Year 2012

British photographer wins Travel Photographer of the Year 2012 title

Best of 2012 - National Geographic Magazine Photos of the Year

National Geographic:  Best Space Pictures of 2012: Editor's Picks

National Geographic: Best Camera-Trap Pictures of 2012

Top 10 Kisses of 2012 [PICS]

fotostrada: Collection of the BEST images of 2012 by the 'fotostrada' collective .


BOOKS

Conscientious: My favourite photobooks in 2012
TIME’s Best of 2012: The Photobooks We Loved

Blake Andrews: Under The Radar: Best Photo Books 2012

Guardian: The best photography books of 2012: an alternative selection

Photobookstore UK My Best Books of 2012

Elizabeth Avedon: 2012 HOLIDAY BOOKS: A Few New Favorites

American Photo: Books of the Year: John MacLean's New Colour Guide

Photo District News:  Indie Photo Books of the Year:
                                    Part 2
 
                                    Notable Photo Books of 2012: Part 1

Feature Shoot:  Top 15 Photo Books of 2012

The Photo Book Club  B*@t of 2012

The Daily Beast: Best Coffee Table Books of 2012

phot(0)lia: Photobooks 2012

Shane Lavalette:   Ten (Or Twenty) of The Best Photobooks of 2012

John Edwin Mason: Photo Book of the Year, 2013: Gordon Parks' Collected Works

Announcing photo-eye's Best Books 2012

UK Guardian: The Best Photobooks of 2012

Top 10+ photobooks of 2012 by Alec Soth

Mrs. Deane’s years in books: a Listmas tale

Marc Urust: One more list of 2012 books


MISC

Bag News Notes: Best Bag Posts of the Year: Oversight in the Media-Military Marriage

A Curator: 2012: Some of the best from this year's features

Stellazine: The Favorite Photo Shows of 2012

British Journal of Photography: The 50 best photography products of 2012

Carole Evans Photography: Highlights of 2012

Photoshelter: 57 Reasons to Love Photography in 2012

The Future Of Photography: 7 Images From 2012 That Should Make You Excited For 2013 And Beyond

2012  Year on Twitter

Poynter: The best (and worst) media errors and corrections of 2012

Best art exhibitions of 2012, No 5 – Documenta 13 in Kassel, Germany

Best art exhibitions of 2012, No 9 – SFMoMA presents Cindy Sherman

Best art shows of 2012, No 7 – Everything Was Moving at the Barbican

Bloomberg: Hot Art: Top 10 Auctions of 2012

2012 list of 19 things they didn't want you to know about photography but are actually true


Related:

The most unforgettable images of the year / Best photographs of 2011