PPD Spotlight: Mike Mellia's "Selfie-A-Day" Instagram Series
New York-based photographer (and PPD reader) Mike Mellia says his new Instagram self-portrait series, “A Selfie a Day Keeps the Doctor Away,” explores society’s “technology-driven vanity” using references from advertising, culture, and art. “In this work I photograph myself and include captions that highlight the surreal, the banal, the duplicitous, or the exhibitionist aspects of photography that technology is encouraging,” writes. The captions, such as “That one time I beat up Clint Eastwood" and "That one time I asked the workers of the world to unite," are meant as a social experiment to gauge the reaction of photo-world colleagues bombarded daily by pictures with outrageous claims, he says. Read the full Story >>
Agenda: Die Glanzlichter (Highlights) of Photokina 2014's Exhibitions
From September 16 to 21, the photography world’s attention turns to the Photokina show in Cologne, Germany, where manufacturers will be unveiling the latest imaging technology. But there will be more to look at than cameras: The show will also feature winners of the International Nature Photography Award, while National Geographic Germany will be presenting a selection of the best photographs from the magazine’s 125-year history. Meanwhile, Geo magazine presents work from the UNICEF Photo of the Year competitions from 2012 and 2013. Photokina’s website has more. Read the full Story >>
Exhibitions: Rediscovering a Master of Color
When Life magazine featured photographer Keld Helmer-Petersen in a spread in 1949, ten years after he began shooting, the photographer still insisted he was an amateur. In many respects, he is still thought of that way, if he is remembered at all. But, as the New Republic notes, Helmer-Petersen was an early master of color photographer with “a knack making art out of ordinary objects.” Through August 29, his work can be seen in the exhibition “122 Color Photographs” at NYC's Yossi Milo Gallery. Read the full Story >>
Resources: MIT Offers Free Online Photojournalism Course
Colleges with large open-source programs often make courses available online for free, notes PetaPixel, which spotlights a new one from MIT: Published through MIT’s Open Courseware project, Prof. B. D. Colen’s 2009 course “Documentary Photography and Photojournalism: Still Images of a World in Motion” comes with syllabus, readings, assignments, an image gallery and course material downloads. Study up! Read the full Story >>