PPD Spotlight: The Graphic Design of Heroin
“The images in this series are of heroin baggies collected years ago during a period of addiction,” writes photographer (and PPD reader) Graham MacIndoe of his project “All In—Buying Into the Drug Trade.” The work, on view at the Kopeikin Gallery at the Miami Project, focuses on the typography and design of the glassine envelopes used to package the drug. “Dealers branded and marketed their product like entrepreneurs in any business, pairing names like ‘Dead Medicine’ with a skull and crossbones to appeal to risk-takers, or an airplane labeled ‘First Class’ to give the illusion of grandeur,” notes MacIndoe. Read the full Story >>
In Focus: RISD Prez Departs to Consult on eBay's Latest Art Venture
Having watched Amazon.com and other companies launch ventures to sell fine art online, eBay is planning to join in … again. The Art Newspaper points out that this will be eBay’s third attempt to enter the art market; the company first dipped its toes into the art trade during the dot.com boom, when it acquired Butterfields auction house in 1999; a joint venture with Sotheby’s also failed. New York-based art adviser Josh Baer is consulting on the new project, as is John Maeda, who recently resigned as president of the Rhode Island School of Design. Read the full Story >>
Portfolio: Photog Explores How Murder Affects One Family
Los Angeles-based photographer Noelle Swan Gilbert’s project “Life After Death: How Murder Affects A Family” began in 2007, when Gilbert’s sister Laura was murdered by her ex-husband in the home they shared with their two young sons, then age two and four. With their mother dead and their father in jail, the boys’ lives were instantly changed—they spent time in foster care before being released to Gilbert’s parents in Seattle. She has since been documenting their new lives. “It started out as a way to deal with my grief,” she says of the work. Read the full Story >>
Resources: Pull Photos Into Lightroom Wirelessly ... As You Shoot
The ability to pull photos out of your camera and onto your computer wirelessly is an incredibly useful tool that many photographers use, but what if you could pull those photos instantly into Lightroom while on location? You can, and, notes PetaPixel, it’s not even that hard to do. Photographer and blogger Benjamin Von Wong explains how Nikon and Canon users can do this using the popular CamRanger gadget and just a few quick settings adjustments on their computers. Read the full Story >>
Trending, 1: Retouching Legend Pascal Dangin Reinvents Himself
In the late 1990s, when Pascal Dangin was one of the few people who knew how to retouch digital images, he was like a genie in a bottle, notes the New York Times. Dangin’s Box Studios, in NYC’s meatpacking district, became the go-to retouching base for photography’s biggest names, and Dangin’s success brought him fame—including a profile in the New Yorker. Now he is expanding Box Studios into video post-production work and moving it to Brooklyn, even as he starts a new agency, KiDS, focused on fashion branding. Read the full Story >>
Trending, 2: In 2014, Think Purple
Pantone has declared Radiant Orchid (18-3224 on your fandeck) to be the “expressive, exotic” color of the year for 2014, reports UnBeige. In the wake of 2013′s color of the year, Emerald, Radiant Orchid marks a return to the tropical shades favored by the color authority in recent years, such as Tangerine Tango, Honeysuckle, Turquoise, and Mimosa. “An enchanting harmony of fuchsia, purple, and pink undertones, Radiant Orchid inspires confidence and emanates great joy, love, and health,” declares Pantone. 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: David Turnley's Tribute to Nelson Mandela
Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer David Turnley spent 28 years photographing South Africa’s struggles with apartheid, and at Time LightBox he tells the story of one day in particular—February 11, 1990, when Nelson Mandela was freed from prison after 27 years. Tipped of in advance, Turnley and his brother, the photojournalist Peter Turnley, arrived in front of Victor Verster prison at 5:30 am. “After approximately 11 hours of holding our ground,” he writes, “we [saw] an entourage making its way towards the prison gate. Adrenaline surged—suddenly the prison gate opened, and marching towards us [was] Nelson Mandela, fist in the air.” More of Turnley's Mandela reflections, as well as those of photogs João Silva and Louise Gubb, can be found at the New York Times. Read the full Story >>
Tech News: The Mogopod, a Versatile Tripod
The Mogopod is your basic a monopod—only with “more features and bells than you could imagine,” notes DIY Photography, which praises the monopod's design: It has three sections but only one twist lock. That means that you can open the entire Mogopod to full length—about 63 inches—in one swift motion. There’s GIF of that happening that you will probably want to watch all day. Videographers—you can also use it as a mic boom. Price: around $120. Read the full Story >>
Portfolio: Nude Portraits Challenge Concepts of Attractiveness
Artist Gracie Hagen explores the difference between media-propagated versions of beauty and the reality of human flesh in her NSFW series "Illusions of the Body," notes the Huffington Post. Recruiting women and men of various sizes and shapes, Hagen photographed her models in two separate poses, one in which they stand in what they think are conventionally sexy positions, hiding what they deem unattractive. In the second frame, the same models were asked to consciously strike unflattering poses. Read the full Story >>
Art News: Photography In Focus At Art Basil Miami Beach
In past years, Art Basel Miami Beach has been known primarily as a commercial platform for major modern and contemporary art galleries from across the world; but this year, notes the Art Newspaper, a handful of photography dealers have put their chosen medium at center stage. New York City’s Pace/MacGill, for instance, is taking part in the Florida art fair for the first time, lured by what a spokesman calls “an increasing number of new collectors from around the world [who have joined] the ranks of museum directors, museum curators and familiar clients who enthusiastically attend the fair.” Read the full Story >>
Trending: A Look at Teen Years, by Rising Star Petra Collins
Last week we noted that photographer Ryan McGinley had become a pied piper for a group of rising photographic stars, including Petra Collins. It’s Nice That spotlights Collins’s series “The Teenage Gaze,” which explores the tantalizingly boring period of adolescence. Collins, who curates a women’s art collective called the Ardorous and photographs for the online magazine Rookie, captures the drawn-out nature of teen years, filled with anticipation but also a lot of waiting around for the good stuff to start happening, notes INT. Read the full Story >>
Legal File: Exploring the New Copyright Study and Recommendations
The average cost to litigate a small copyright infringement lawsuit can easily climb to hundreds of thousands of dollars, making it impractical for most independent creators and small businesses to protect their work, which is why the U.S. Copyright Office conducted a new study to develop alternatives ways for creators to pursue infringement claims. Among the recommendations: a centralized Copyright Office tribunal that would administer proceedings through online and teleconferencing facilities. The Photo Attorney blog explores the report in an interview with Jacqueline Charlesworth, General Counsel of the U.S. Copyright Office. 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: Photographing Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela, the legendary African National Congress leader and former South African president, was a symbol of hope and justice to people around the world, and, notes PDN Pulse, the South African photographers who saw him up close over the years—both before his international fame and afterwards—recall a man who was every bit as charismatic, gracious, and good humored as his public image suggested. Despite all the access Mandela gave them—or perhaps because of it—photographers found it challenging to get a unique portrait of him. Louise Gubb, Jillian Edelstein, and others describe what it was like to know and photograph Mandela. Read the full Story >>
Tech News: Nikon Hacker Unlocks Manual Control in D5100 LiveView
The big news for Nikon users is a hack allowing D5100 users to shoot manually while in LiveView, reports DIY Photography. Nikon Hacker released the firmware revision a few days ago, correcting yet another one of the puzzling restrictions that Nikon and other camera makers apparently bake into their cheaper cameras to distinguish them from more expensive models, notes PetaPixel. Previous Nikon Hacker alterations for the D5100 have removed restrictions on the length of video clips and removed limitations on using third-party batteries. Read the full Story >>
Agenda: Start Planning for Photo LA, Jan. 16-19
The original Los Angeles photo art fair, Photo LA, will return for its 23rd edition from January 16 through 19. Formerly held in the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Photo LA has moved downtown to the L.A. Mart, a larger venue allowing for more galleries. The art fair will also run in conjunction with the LA Art Show nearby. A shuttle bus between the two art fairs will be available to help transport attendees, setting the scene for an unsurpassed weekend of celebrating the arts in Downtown Los Angeles, note organizers. Read the full Story >>
Insight: The Real Cost to AFP and Getty For Copyright Infringement
Photographer Jeremy Nicholl has another acute post about the Daniel Morel copyright-infringement lawsuit against Agence France Press and Getty Images. “It’s hard to overstate the calamity that has befallen AFP and Getty,” he writes of the case’s outcome, which saw Morel winning $1.22 million in damages—the maximum possible. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, notes Nicholl. 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 >>
Dept of Lists: Time Picks the Top 10 Photos of 2013
As the year draws to a close, the Internet fattens up with “Best Of” and “Worst Of” lists, which PPD will assiduously follow. Time magazine’s collection of the 10 top news photographs of 2013 is a time-machine trip back to the memorable events of the past 12 months—many of them memorable, unfortunately, because of the tragedy and death that accompanied them. Among them: the deadly collapse of a garment-factory building in Bangladesh in April, captured in human terms by Taslima Akhter, and the bloody attack of a Nairobi mall by Somali militants in September, photographed by Tyler Hicks. But Peter van Agtmael’s photo of wounded veteran-turned-comic Bobby Henline is serenely uplifting. Read the full Story >>