Here’s an inspiring video in which we hear war photographer Joao Silva discuss the biggest fight of his life: losing his legs to a land mine in Afghanistian and fighting to return to his career. We’ve reported on Silva’s story a number of times before.
(via ISO 1200)
The New York Times has sent an angry letter to the New York Police Department after video emerged showing photojournalist Robert Stolarik being pushed around and then blocked while trying to photograph officers arresting Occupy Wall Street protestors. The memo itself hasn’t be published, but NYT VP and assistant general counsel George Freeman is quoted as saying,
It seemed pretty clear from the video that the Times freelance photographer was being intentionally blocked by the police officer who was kind of bobbing and weaving to keep him from taking photographs
The department has acknowledged receiving the note from the NYT, but has not issued a formal response yet. This incident comes just weeks after Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly ordered officers to avoid unreasonably interfering with media access during news coverage.
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Here’s a fascinating video in which Italian photographer Ruben Salvadori demonstrates how dishonest many conflict photographs are. Salvadori spent a significant amount of time in East Jerusalem, studying the role photojournalists play in what the world sees. By turning his camera on the photographers themselves, he shows how photojournalists often influence the events they’re supposed to document objectively, and how photographers are often pushed to seek and create drama even in situations that lack it.
You might start looking at conflict photos in the news a lot differently after watching this.
(via ISO1200)
Regardless of how bad photographers’ rights seem to be in your country, here’s a story that will definitely make you appreciate them at least a little bit more: a photojournalist named Sithu Zeya may spend 18 years of his life in prison after being arrested for photography. Zeya, who’s only 21 years old, was arrested in Burma last year after getting caught photographing the aftermath of a grenade attack that killed 10 people in the country’s largest city, Yangon. After being sentenced to 8 years in prison last year, a Yangon court decided to tack an extra 10 years onto his prison sentence yesterday for posting online material that could “damage tranquillity and unity in the government.”
Suddenly those stories you hear of photographers getting harassed by police don’t seem nearly as bad, eh?
Last friday, Dayton Daily News photo editor Larry Price received instructions to lay off half of his photo staff. Rather than follow through with the order, Price — a 35-year veteran photojournalist and winner of two Pulitzer Prizes in photography — decided to sacrifice his own job instead, resigning from the post this past Monday. Ginger Christ of the Dayton BizBlog writes,
In his 35 years as a photojournalist [...], Price has seen the industry shrink, watched as newspapers cut their workforce and all but eliminated photography departments in efforts to consolidate and cut costs.
“I’ve watched this happen in newspapers year after year now. I’ve had many, many friends that have been affected, many stellar journalists,” Price said. “These people are my group. They’re my friends. They’re my colleagues. I’ve asked so much of them in the four years I’ve been here. Every time, they’ve stepped up to the plate and delivered. It wasn’t a decision I could make in good conscience.”
Price is also troubled by the fact that newspapers abandon photojournalistic quality when photos don’t help increase profits, saying, “the bottom line simply is not as important as what information can convey to people in helping them make decisions.”
(via DaytonBizBlog via The Click)
Here’s a short 5-minute news segment on Ruth Gruber and her work as a photojournalist during the Holocaust. Currently 100 years old, Gruber was an eyewitness to much of the history most of us have only read about in books.
We cannot forget what human beings can do to other human beings.
A documentary on her life called “Ahead of Time” begins airing tonight on Showtime.
(via The Online Photographer)
You know you’re a professional photojournalist when you try to take good care of your cameras but they still end up look like these.
These belong to photographer Timothy Allen, who photographs the world’s indigenous societies for the BBC documentary Human Planet. He uses two Canon 5D Mark II DSLR cameras with 16-35 f2.8, 50mm f1.2, 85mm f1.2, 200mm f2.8, and 400mm f4.5 lenses. You can see some of Allen’s jaw-dropping work here and here.
Image credits: Photograph by Timothy Allen and used with permission
Newspapers are fading. News media is in a limbo of redefinition. Now we can add photojournalism to that list of defunct media, said Neil Burgess, head of London-based photo agency NB Pictures. Burgess is also the former head of Network Photographers and Magnum Photos, and twice Chairman of World Press Photo, and has spent much of his life working on social documentary photography and 25 years as a photojournalist.
Zoriah Miller, commonly known as Zoriah, is an award-winning photojournalist and war photographer whose work has been featured in some of the world’s most prestigious galleries, museums, and publications. Check out his website, blog, one-on-one photojournalism workshops, and Wikipedia article.
PetaPixel: Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?
Zoriah Miller: I began photography when I was 15 years old and within the first year of shooting I won a national award and was pretty into the idea of becoming a photojournalist. Three years later I was shooting abroad and had all of my equipment stolen…well, actually I had everything stolen and ended up having to spend some time in a homeless shelter until I could get money and documents to get out of the country…but that is another story. The point was that my camera and lenses were gone and I pretty much gave up. I graduated college, moved to New York, was in the music industry for six years, gave that up to go abroad and study disaster management and humanitarian aid to developing countries, hated that and then picked up a used camera and a plane ticket and have been shooting ever since then.
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It happens all the time, but does that make it acceptable? According to a court decision this week, what Current TV’s vice president Michael Streefland calls “standard practice in digital media” is legal after all.
Current TV and photographer Ken Light have been entwined in a legal debate over an image which belongs to Light but was used without his permission on the media company’s website.
Light brought his case against Current TV to small claims court, charging the company with unfair competition. The photographer won initially, which included $500 for compensation and $88 for court fees. Soon after, Current TV appealed the decision, which was subsequently reversed by a San Francisco Superior Court judge.
According to Light, the court’s change of heart stemmed from the technical details. Current TV’s chief technologist testified that the site used in-line linking to the image on the New Yorker’s site, and did not technically copy the photo.
Furthermore, the court ruled that the image qualified as fair use, and the root issue was over the photo’s copyright, which is a federal court case. Light told PDNPulse that he is at the end of the line in state court and doesn’t know whether he will proceed with a copyright suit.
Although the case may not make it out of the state, the suit has garnered national attention, including a piece in the New York Times. Times writer Scott James wrote in favor of Light, calling the case a “David vs. Goliath” situation, and suggesting:
“Imagine if Mr. Light’s photograph had been in a frame — few would say it was O.K. to borrow it without permission, deny the artist credit and exhibit it and collect sponsor fees.”
In spite of the loss, Light said he is pleased with the widespread publicity and ensuing discussions the case has sparked. He says he hopes the case sets a precedent for other photographers and journalists to fight for due compensation.
“Yes, I lost, but I think waving the flag is important,” Light said. “We have to keep [pushing] this until we get some protection.”
