Category Archives: Blog News

Is Content Still King?

“some problems don’t have answers. That is the flaw in the ‘they will find a business model’ logic. As if business models grow on trees. Don’t assume there is always an answer.”
via Daily Intel.

They’re always better or worse

“The thing that’s important to know is that you never know. You’re always sort of feeling your way.”
“I never have taken a picture I’ve intended. They’re always better or worse.”
“It’s important to take bad pictures. It’s the bad ones that have to do with what you’ve never done before. They can make you recognize something [...]

Oh, They’ll Pay, Alright

Murdoch admits that “The old business model based mainly on advertising is dead.” Digital ads cannot support newspaper journalism. “This is not going to change, even in a boom,” he warns.
via MinOnline.

What’s the biggest stereotype about photography?

That it can illustrate an objective truth, and bear witness to an event. You can’t look at a photograph and know what’s going on. It’s just one person’s point of view.
-Photographer and activist Dona Ann McAdams
via C-MONSTER.net.

Spray & Pray

Funny gift for someone who does a little too much sprayin’ (here).

Online Media Legal Network

The Online Media Legal Network (OMLN) is a network of law firms, law school clinics, in-house counsel, and individual lawyers throughout the United States willing to provide pro bono legal assistance to qualifying online journalism ventures and other digital media creators.
Brilliant! Find it (here). Via, Nieman.

Do you feel like having your photographs staged makes them less personal or real?

I learned that it doesn’t matter if images are staged or not. It doesn’t make them more or less truthful. We make unconscious decisions about how we want to be photographed. Sometimes I’ll look at my self-portraits and see that I presented something that is very true. And usually the ones [...]

The Most Important Thing I learned in Art College

… is that the fuel on which it runs is a kind of delusional arrogance. It’s the belief that both the world and people’s perceptions need to be changed, and the best way to do it is through nonsense art, nonsense words, and nonsense clothes.
via A Photo Student, story in the Telegraph.

For Media, a Sunset Is Followed Quickly by a Sunrise

For every kid that I bump into who is wandering the media industry looking for an entrance that closed some time ago, I come across another who is a bundle of ideas, energy and technological mastery. The next wave is not just knocking on doors, but seeking to knock them down.
via David Carr - NYTimes.com.

Dorothea Lange – A Life Beyond Limits

“A camera is a tool for learning how to see without a camera.”
– Dorothea Lange
via Book Review – NYTimes.com.

Trust Jim Marshal

“Whenever anyone asks me how I got the photographs I did, why I was often the only photographer present or got such unique access I reply simply, ‘Trust’.” – Jim Marshall
via Brian Smith Blog.

Dear Young Photo Assistant, here’s your health care

The Health Care Reform Bill that just passed the House of Representatives would ALLOW YOU TO STAY ON YOUR PARENTS HEALTH INSURANCE UNTIL YOU ARE 27! Am I yelling this, yes I am. This is great news for photographers and assistants.
via Greg Ceo Blog.

nothing has fundamentally changed

People have two eyes, ears and one mouth, ten fingers and two feet. What different? The methods they use to express themselves and the calls on their attention. I urge you to run the other way if someone tries to tell you ‘people like free stuff’ is news. Did we not [...]

And here’s the dirty secret: it was easy

“Muhammad Ali made a hero out of every single journalist,” Leifer said. “Whether you were a writer, a photographer, a television commentator, you got to cover Ali and your boss thought you were a genius. The genius was really Ali.” Jordan was an equally photogenic subject for Iooss. “It was like traveling with a Biblical [...]

the internet isn’t killing anything

If someone offers to give you half of a record company, take it. They may be shrinking, but they’re still big.
russell davies via kottke.org.

Newspapers aren’t doing as badly as you think

By the way, you can still make money publishing newspapers—even in a period when advertising has plummeted. Check out Gannett’s third-quarter earnings report. Its newspapers pulled in more than $100 million of operating income on revenues of $1.04 billion. In the first three quarters of 2009, advertising revenues were off 31.6 percent, but circulation revenues [...]

Todd Ruthven, AD, JWT Detroit, on automobile advertising

CGI has definitely found its place in advertising but has not and WILL NOT replace actual photography. I believe that nothing can replace the spontaneity and “happy accidents” that can occur while actually shooting something.
[...] When you make something too perfect you run the risk of making it look fake. Using CGI requires the [...]

An Interview with Gerhard Steidl

In the past, I had to take my own humble photography to printers, and I was always shocked to see that the printers ruined the images. Originally, I wanted to simply see my own photos printed well, instead of being angry about bad reproductions all the time – for which I then also had to [...]