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David Schonauer

Addendum: Filmmaking Advice ... From a Silent Film Director

FILMMAKER IQ   Thursday March 20, 2014

Things change, except when they don’t: Filmmaker IQ has unearthed a short interview from a 1925 issue of Photoplay magazine in which silent-film director Marshall Neilan (1916’s Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, starring Mary Pickford) offered advice to aspiring moviemakers. The essential qualification for becoming a director? “The ability to convince producers that you are a better director than your pictures show you to be,” declares Neilan. How should a director act in public? “Like a nut or like an owl. Both methods have proved successful.”   Read the full Story >>

Insight: Tips From Music-Video DP Matthias Koenigswieser

nofilmschool   Wednesday October 2, 2013

The blog of the Lights Film School, an online filmmaking course, is a valuable resource with top-notch advice, notes NoFilmSchool. Recently, the blog featured an interview with acclaimed music-video cinematographer Matthias Koenigswieser, who talks about a number of topics, from gaining representation to his ideas about light. “Atmosphere and lighting go hand in hand for me. I feel it makes everything more natural and relatable,” he says. As Fstoppers notes, Koenigswieser's brilliant use of natural light is on display in his new video Rolling Stone.   Read the full Story >>

In Focus: VII's Christopher Morris Documents a Divided America

TIME LightBox   Thursday December 6, 2012

VII photojournalist Christopher Morris’s new book, Americans, a follow-up to his 2006 book My America, examines the country’s deep political divisions. “Traveling across America in several road trips, I found that the mood among citizens wasn’t upbeat or lively; people are really polarized in their political positions, yet everyone is concerned about the economy and what that means for the welfare of their families,” notes Morris at Time’s LightBox photo blog, which features a video interview with the photographer.   Read the full Story >>

Annals of Editing: How Iconic "Afghan Girl" Photo Was Almost Nixed

TODAY News   Thursday October 24, 2013

It is now one of the most famous photographs ever taken. But in a recent interview on the Today Show, photographer Steve McCurry revealed that his portrait of Sharbat Gula, the Afghan girl with piercing green eyes, was nearly passed over for the cover of the June, 1985 edition National Geographic magazine. The photo editor at the time, says McCurry, chose an image with Gula’s hands covering her face. You can see the alternative image at DP Review. The magazine’s editor in chief changed the cover at the last minute.     Read the full Story >>

The Process: Making An Ode to New York's Grit and Diversity

Vimeo Blog   Monday March 13, 2017

Filmmaker A.V. Rockwell’s new short film The Gospel, a collaborative project with Alicia Keys,  is “a beautiful ode to the diversity of New York’s hard-working, hard-loving inhabitants — especially its strong women, who must constantly wear a protective shield to deal with catcalls and lingering looks, all while never feeling completely safe,” notes the Vimeo blog. In an interview, Rockwell says her goal is to “make people feel a little bit better about moving through this big, complicated world.”   Read the full Story >>

Insight: Bethany Rooney on Directing TV

FILMMAKER   Tuesday November 24, 2015

Over the course of her 30-year career, Bethany Rooney has worked on almost every genre of TV show, from dramas (Nashville, Scandal) and action (NCIS) to youth-oriented genre programs like Arrow and The Originals. “The starting point for everything is, ‘What is the story?’ I can easily adapt my work to the story I’m telling, both stylistically and in terms of intent – that’s my job, to embrace that 1,000 percent,” she tells Filmmaker in an enlightening interview. The hard part of television: “I have hour days to edit my director’s cut,” she says.   Read the full Story >>

The Howard Greenberg Collection

By Peggy Roalf   Thursday January 24, 2013

Howard Greenberg has been an art dealer for thirty years and is considered today one of the pillars of the New York photography scene. The Howard Greenberg Gallery, in the Fuller Building on East 57th Street, has continuously presented major exhibitions, including a recent two-part retrospective on Joel Meyerowitz, with a hotly anticipated show on William Klein opening on March 1. Until recently, though, his passion for …   Read the full Story >>

Insight: The New Grammar of Virtual Reality

Motionographer   Tuesday October 13, 2015

Motionographer says that Saschka Unseld, the creative director of Oculus Story Studio, is an “emerging master of virtual-reality storytelling.” In an interview, Unseld offers practical insights about the evolving art form, discussing its challenges and the new grammar of VR. (Note: Unself says “build” rather than “cut” or “edit.”) He also talks about two new short-form “experiences” released by the studio, including one called Henry, which, as he notes, started as a comedy but ended up being more sad than funny.   Read the full Story >>

Insight: Vincent Laforet on Directing and Craft

FILMMAKER   Thursday May 8, 2014

As we noted earlier this week, photographer-turned-filmmaker Vincent Laforet has begun a workshop series called Directing Motion, in which he shows other transitioning photogs and budding filmmakers how to move the camera in a dynamic way to help tell stories. “It’s a look back at everything that I’ve learned and applied, from both my work and working with other directors and cinematographers,” he tells Filmmaker in an interview. Laforet, whose short Reverie introduced the world to the video capabilities of the Canon D5 Mark II, talks about how he creates movement in his shots, how he communicates with his crew, and the importance of planning.   Read the full Story >>

Art News: Robert E. Jackson On the Snapshot's Glory ... And Demise

npr   Friday August 16, 2013

Seattle-based businessman Robert E. Jackson has amassed one of the world’s important collections of vintage, vernacular photography—he currently owns about 11,000 one-of-a-kind prints. The work was featured in a 2007 exhibition at the National Gallery of Art and in a current show at the Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York. "I look for things that have an immediate dramatic impact," Jackson tells NPR photo blogger Claire O’Neill in an enlightening interview. Jackson warns that the glory days of the snapshot may be coming to an end.   Read the full Story >>

What We're Reading: Meet Tailyr Irvine, Co-founder of Indigenous Photograph

Montana Public Radio   Tuesday January 25, 2022

Tailyr Irvine is a Salish and Kootenai photojournalist from the Flathead Indian Reservation whose work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, ESPN, CNN and Smithsonian magazine. She is also a National Geographic Explorer and the co-founder of Indigenous Photograph, a global database aimed at elevating the work of Indigenous visual journalists. “Historically, native communities have been represented by stereotypical photos in regalia,” she tells Montana Public Radio in an interview. “When I have a moment where someone's just human, that's what I look for the most.”   Read the full Story >>

My Best Picture: Bolivia's Female Wrestlers, by Todd Antony

The Guardian   Thursday August 19, 2021

“Bolivia’s cholitas luchadoras began wrestling in the early 2000s. The women, indigenous Aymara Indians who have traditionally been marginalized and oppressed, took to Mexican-style lucha libre wrestling for mental and physical health – and to stick two fingers up to a culture where wrestling was strictly a male preserve.” So notes photography Todd Antony, discussing his remarkable image of two wrestlers in mid-flight as part of The Guardian’s ongoing “My Best Shot” interview series.   Read the full Story >>

Trending: Vice Removes Altered photos of Khmer Rouge Victims

CNN   Wednesday April 14, 2021

US media group Vice has removed altered photographs of Khmer Rouge genocide victims from its website after a furious backlash in Cambodia and on social media, notes CNN Business. Vice recently published an interview with artist Matt Loughrey, who had colorized images of photos from the notorious Tuol Sleng S-21 torture prison in Phnom Penh, where at least 14,000 people lost their lives. The article came under heavy criticism from readers, who said the artist had added smiles to some of the shots. See the company's statement.   Read the full Story >>

Motion Graphics: Designing the Titles for Sinister "Night Manager"

Motionographer   Tuesday March 15, 2016

The Night Manager  is a hit Brit TV series (coming to AMC in the US) about the manager of a European hotel (Tom Hiddleston) recruited by intelligence agents to infiltrate an international arms dealer’s network. Matching the show’s ambiance are beautifully sinister titles from Elastic  director Patrick Clair. As Motionographer notes, the sequence smashes up the worlds of elegance and warfare in James Bondian fashion. The work started by searching through jewelry ads, says Clair in an interview.   Read the full Story >>

Exhibitions: Lost Pics of Andy Warhol To Pop Up in NYC

The Huffington Post   Friday April 26, 2013

One of the most iconic faces of the 20th century is about to be rediscovered: On May 3, lost images of pop art icon Andy Warhol will be unveiled in Manhattan in an exhibition sponsored by Interview magazine, which the artist founded in 1969 . “Lost, then Found” features circa-1981 shots of Warhol by British photographer Steve Wood, one of the chief photographers of the Brit national newspaper Daily Express. BTW: Christie’s is launching a virtual auction of Warhol’s Studio 54 images today.   Read the full Story >>

State of the Art: Will This Service Upend the Yearbook Photo Business?

PetaPixel   Thursday April 9, 2015

The art (and business) of high-school yearbook photography is getting an update with the introduction of a new service called Live Portrait: The platform uses augmented reality created to add a video element to every photograph in a yearbook, notes PetaPixel. How it works: During a school picture shoot, the student sits down for a portrait and then for an additional 10 to 15 second video interview. The photo is printed as usual in a yearbook; but if you load the Live Portrait app to your smartphone and point it at the photo, the embedded video appears on your screen.   Read the full Story >>

In Focus: Ian Ruhter's Ambitious, Arduous "Silver and Light" Project

The Los Angeles Times   Wednesday January 30, 2013

“When I initially started in photography, I thought this was going to be a cool hobby, and then very quickly I found out it was way more powerful than just the act of taking pictures,” says Ian Ruhter in an interview with the LA Times’s Framework photo blog, which spotlights his ambitious and arduous project “Silver and Light.” Ruhter, who learned photography by being photographed (as a snowboard competitor), has set out to tell the stories of people across America through various mediums, including wet plate photography.   Read the full Story >>

Insight: Jeff Bezos Is Advising Against Big Expenditures

CNN   Monday November 21, 2022

Maybe product delays are okay: Amazon founder and spaceship maker Jeff Bezos recently warned consumers and businesses they should consider postponing large purchases in the coming months as the global economy contends with a downturn. In an interview with CNN, Bezos urged people to put off expenditures for big-ticket items such as new cars, televisions and appliances (PPD assumes that big camera gear purchases might also qualify), noting that delaying big purchases is the surest way to keep some “dry powder” in the event of a prolonged economic downturn.   Read the full Story >>

Photojournalism, 2: Joao Silva Looks Back

The New York Times   Thursday September 5, 2013

An exhibition of the first 20 years of Joao Silva’s photography, from 1990 to 2010, is on display this week at the Visa Pour l’Image photojournalism festival. Silva, who lost his legs after stepping on a land mine in Afghanistan in 2010, is currently based in South Africa and recently photographed the riots in Zamdela in January and the anniversary of the Marikana miners’ strike massacre in August. “There’s been a readjustment, and I’ve come to terms with my new place in the universe, my new role in the universe, because of the physical changes,” he says in an interview with the New York Times’s James Estrin.     Read the full Story >>

See It Now: Joey L's "People of the Delta"

Vimeo   Monday August 29, 2016

Photographer and filmmaker Joey L’s 30-minute film The People of the Delta, which was Kickstarted in 2013, is now available at Vimeo after its festival run. The film is a documentary and narrative hybrid, shot not with actors but people from the Hamar and Daasanach tribes of Ethiopia’s Omo Valley. The unique project grew out of a 2010 documentary, called Faces of a Vanishing World, which you can find, along with behind-the-scenes shorts about the making of the new film, at the filmmaker’s blog. “I think it would have been impossible to do this film without the years of working as a still photographer in the region before,” Joey L said in this interview.   Read the full Story >>

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