Glittering Prizes: Best Night-Sky Pictures of 2013 Named
French photographer Stephane Vetter is the grand-prize winner of the 2013 Earth & Sky Photo Contest, notes National Geographic, which features his image of a silhouetted sky watcher set against the grandeur of a double cosmic arch encapsulating the Milky Way and the northern lights. The picture, a panorama made from four separate photos taken in Iceland in March, also manages to include the picturesque Godafoss waterfall and surrounding frozen landscape. This is the fourth edition of the contest, which was founded by The World at Night organization and the Dark Skies Awareness project. Go to the contest’s website for more of the winning entries. And prepare to be astounded. Read the full Story >>
Legal File: Suit Claims Baltimore Cops Beat Woman Who Filmed Them
The Baltimore Police Department is being sued for attacking a woman and smashing her camera phone after she recorded them beating a man, reports Reason.com. The woman, Makia Smith, claims that cops beat her, saying “You want to film something bitch? Film this!" notes Courthouse News Service. This is the second time in two years the BPD has been sued for destroying footage. The first suit earned them a federal reprimand. Last year the department issued guidelines instructing officers to not seize the cameras or video recording devices of bystanders, notes Poynter. Read the full Story >>
In Focus: A Military Photojournalist Recovers From War
Yesterday the New York Times reported on a troubling rise in the number of suicides in the U.S. military. Stacy Pearsall, a former Air Force combat photographer, sheds light on the problem in the newspaper’s Lens photo column. Pearsall, twice named the National Press Photographers Association’s military photographer of the year, tells of her medical discharge from the military after suffering a number of injuries. Plagued by depression, she once thought of taking her own life. “The one thing about PTSD is it’s the war that never ends,” she says. Read the full Story >>
Follow-Up: Beyonce Photo Ban Sparks Press Backlash
Guidelines issued by the publicists for Beyonce banning professional photographers from her concerts have sparked a backlash from press organizations, reports Poynter. Beyonce’s publicity firm issued the ban after unflattering images of the singer’s Super Bowl halftime performance in February became an Internet meme. Mickey H. Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, wrote a letter to Beyonce’s publicity firm on behalf of 19 news organizations opposing the ban. Read the full Story >>
Tech News: Automated Photo Editing for Google+, Hangouts
Google began rolling out a new design and major updates to its Google+ social network this week, among them some sophisticated photo-editing tools that can automatically adjust exposure, color, grain, and white balance and apply red-eye removal. The tools, which can be turned on or off globally or for each image, draw on substantial innovations in computer vision. SocialTimes explains. AppNewser is also impressed by the new photo-centric Google+. Read the full Story >>
Annals of Art: Richter Photo-Based Painting Sets Record for Living Artist
We close the week with a look at the high end of the art market—the very high end: AP reports that a monumental photo-based painting by Gerhard Richter sold for $37 million at a sale in New York this week—setting a record for any living artist at auction. The German artist’s 9-foot-by-9-foot oil “Domplatz, Mailand” was sold to an unnamed American collector. The 1968 work is considered an outstanding example of Richter's photo-painting technique. Read the full Story >>
Let's Continue the Conversation ...
Please contact me (button at top) to let me know about any books, shows, or projects you’ve got going. If you "Like" the Pro Photo Daily Facebook page, you'll get updates of stories that don't make the Daily and shared stories from others. And of course we hope you will give us your opinions on some of the issues we address. You can find an archive of Pro Photo Daily posts at http://www.ai-ap.com/prophotodaily/. Follow me on Twitter @davidschonauer. Read the full Story >>
Tomas Munita to Receive Chris Hondros Fund Award
Chilean photographer Tomás Munita is the recipient of the 2013 Getty Images and Chris Hondros Fund Award, reports Time’s LightBox blog. The Chris Hondros Fund is a non-profit organization founded by Christina Piaia to honor her late fiancé, who was killed in a mortar attack while covering the conflict in Libya in 2011. Munita, who has worked throughout Latin America and the Middle East, was cited for “exceptional photographic ability coupled with a spirited commitment to the craft of photojournalism.” He will receive $20,000. Bryan Denton, a photojournalist based in Beirut, was named a finalist for the award and will receive a grant of $5,000. The NY Times also features work by Munita and Denton. Read the full Story >>
Agenda: The Project Amelia Fundraiser, Tonight in NYC
If you are in New York City tonight and want to do something great, you should go to the Project Amelia fundraiser, from 6 pm to 11 pm at Hudson Terrace (621 W, 46th Street). Money raised at the event goes to help pay the medical bills of Amelia Coffaro, a talented 28-year-old Brooklyn-based freelance photographer who was diagnosed with stage III inflammatory breast cancer two weeks ago. A $25 donation is suggested. If you can’t make it to the event, you can donate via the GiveForward crowdfunding site. Read the full Story >>
Tech News: Nikon Unveils Super-Fast 32mm f/1.2 Lens
Nikon has unveiled a new addition to the Nikon 1 system, a 32mm f/1.2 lens that is not only the fastest lens in the 1 Nikkor lineup, but also the fastest lens available for any mirrorless system, notes PDN Pulse. It is also the first Nikon 1 system lens to come equipped with a manual focus ring, as well as a Nano Crystal Coat and a Silent Wave Motor for videographers who want to keep focus noise to a minimum, notes PetaPixel, which thinks the lens will be perfect for low-light shooting when you don’t want to use a flash. Read the full Story >>
In Focus: Photog Bob Croslin's Artful Effort for Injured Birds
The always-interesting This Is The What blog spotlights Florida-based photographer Bob Croslin’s “Grounded” project on injured birds, which was awarded first place in the 2013 Pictures of the Year International’s Science and Nature picture story category. “I knew I wanted to do dramatic portraits of the birds and that it would involve a backdrop, lights and multiple handlers to execute it,” Croslin says. He started with a white pelican that lost a wing to fishing line. Though the bird was used to humans, Croslin spent three hours chasing it around light stands. Read the full Story >>
Art News: New York Dealer Yossi Milo Makes History Down Under
Photo dealer Yossi Milo will make history this week when he becomes the first New York gallerist to present a stand-alone exhibition in Australia, notes Artinfo. The exhibition, featuring work by photographers Doug Rickard and Tim Hetherington, coincides with Australia’s largest photo festival, the Head On Photo Festival, which opens tomorrow in Sydney. Read the full Story >>
Annals of Photoshop: Re-Interpreting Time's "Millennial" Cover
Time magazine’s recent cover story on “Millennials” has struck a nerve with 20-somethings, notes Mashable. The cover depicts a teenage girl snapping a selfie, and brands those individuals born between 1980 and 2000 as "entitled narcissists." Some brilliant people—we assume they are millennials—responded with a Tumblr-full of outstanding Photoshop humor featuring cats, cicadas, Muppets, pastries and other generational markers. PPD thinks the blog describes millennials better than Time did. Read the full Story >>
Let's Continue the Conversation ...
Please contact me (button at top) to let me know about any books, shows, or projects you’ve got going. If you "Like" the Pro Photo Daily Facebook page, you'll get updates of stories that don't make the Daily and shared stories from others. And of course we hope you will give us your opinions on some of the issues we address. You can find an archive of Pro Photo Daily posts at http://www.ai-ap.com/prophotodaily/. Follow me on Twitter @davidschonauer. Read the full Story >>
In Focus: Photog Says World Press Photo Was Not Faked
Was the picture that won the 2013 World Press Photo competition faked with Photoshop? On Monday, the Extremetech website published claims by a forensic image analyst suggesting the image, by Swedish photographer Paul Hansen, is a composite of three different photos, with various limbs spliced together from each of the pictures and further manipulation of the mourner’s faces. The image, titled “Gaza Burial,” was shot last November 20 and shows a group of men marching the bodies of two children killed by an Israeli missile attack through a narrow street in Gaza City. Hansen has vehemently denied the claims. The World Press organization also affirmed the image's authenticity and had experts examine it, reports the Atlantic. Their conclusion: It was not faked. Read the full Story >>
Social Photography: App Aims to Let Photogs Sell Their Work
Yesterday we noted how Hipstagram is taking aim at its mammoth rival Instagram by launching a new social network for creative photographers, rather than the masses. Now the British Journal of Photographer focuses on another photo app, EyeEm, which also hopes to carve out a social niche. “When we talk with…photographers, they tell us that they’re using EyeEm or Instagram to promote themselves as brands,” says Severin Matusek, EyeEm’s head of content and community. “What we want to offer them is a platform they can use to make money.” Read the full Story >>
Insight: Platon On World Leaders and the Power of Portraits
The noted photographer Platon has traveled the globe to create portraits of some of the world's most famous and powerful people, from Bill Clinton to Colonel Muamar Gadaffi to Bill Gates. He recounted his experiences and explained how he works at the recent Wired Business Conference, and now you can watch a video of his TED-like talk. As PetaPixel points out, you won’t come away knowing the secrets of Platon’s lighting or the gear he uses. But you will be inspired once more by the power portraits to reveal people’s characters. Read the full Story >>
Resources: Tool Trains Journalists How to Cover Tragic News
When a child dies how should it be reported? Whether it's by abuse or neglect, preventable accidents, gun violence, or drugs and alcohol, insensitive coverage—including photographic coverage—starts a drumbeat that can lead to sensationalism, notes the NPPA, which reports on a free, in-depth interactive training module called "When a Child Dies" to help journalists tell the hardest kinds of stories ethically and compassionately. Go here to find it. Read the full Story >>
Discussion: The Art and Ethics of Peeping
A new exhibition at the Julie Saul Gallery in New York has ArtNews’s Robin Cembalest worried. It features work by Arne Swenson, who uses a telephoto lens to photograph people living in a glass-walled apartment building across the street from him. “Obscured yet often recognizable, the figures in his photos lounge around as one does at home when no one is looking, half awake or half dressed," she notes. “They resolve themselves into ordered compositions, their mysterious narratives coalescing where Vermeer meets Rear Window.” But is it art? And is it right? Read the full Story >>
Tech News: Ilford Now Taking Custom Orders for Specialty Film
Finding film in these digital times can be difficult. And it’s even tougher to find ultra large or specialty-format films, notes PetaPixel. Through June 28, Ilford is taking orders for sheet film in formats up to 20 x 24 inches, 70mm film, 122- and 127-format film, and even 120-format backing paper in 100-foot lengths, for those analog diehards who make their own film rolls at home. Go here for more info. Read the full Story >>