The death of a young Syrian given a camera by Reuters…

“11 Intense Syria Photos From The 18-Year-Old Photojournalist Who Died In Action”

Eighteen-year-old photojournalist Molhem Barakat was killed in a battle for control of Aleppo’s al-Kindi Hospital on December 20th, 2013.

The Syrian teenager had been photographing the war with equipment provided by Reuters since May 2013 — and his death has generated uncomfortable questions for the news agency, as covered by David Kenner at Foreign Policy.

read more ->

http://www.businessinsider.com/molhem-barakats-syrian-war-photos-2014-1

Libya

Interesting > http://www.colorsmagazine.com/stories/magazine/86/story/this-picture-of-photographers-fleeing-a-shelling-was-taken-in-march-2011-in

This picture of photographers fleeing a shelling was taken in March 2011 in Ras Lanuf, Libya.

In the same second, the second picture was taken. It won first prize in the 2012 World Press Photo awards for “Spot News Singles.”

First photo: One month into Libya’s 2011 revolution against then-dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi, five foreign journalists were photographed running for cover as government planes bombarded a checkpoint near the coastal town of Ras Lanuf. Only the blue jeans of Russian photographer Yuri Kozyrev are visible here because he lingered to take a last shot of the chaos. Two of the fleeing photographers, Americans Lynsey Addario (fist photo: far left) and Tyler Hicks (first photo: right, wearing glasses) would be kidnapped by Qaddafi loyalists four days later and held for a week; Kozyrev’s photo, the second above, would win first prize in the 2012 World Press Awards for Spot News Singles.

World Press 2011 photo goes on Tshirt

Interesting debate or rant around the issue of the 2011 world press photo of the year (a Yemeni mother embracing her son as he suffers with the burning pain of tear gas) taken by Samuel Arunda’s being used for an album cover and tshirt…the photographer response to the article below:

First of all, I don´t understand that you publish an article about me, without contacting me in advance to ask for my answer. Is not really ethical in journalism, in case that you are a journalist. The language that you used is pure sensationalism. The answer to this “polemic” that you are trying to create is easy, I still in contact with the woman and her son, and they were agree on this. Also it was a personal interest from the music group to put the focus on this persons that during the last two years are fighting for their rights. So, I don´t see the problem anywhere, everybody was agree, and this photo published in the front of the album will arrive to many youth that will know about Yemen and the suffering of the civilians in this country.

http://duckrabbit.info/blog/2013/03/the-blindness-of-photojournalism-made-crystal-clear/comment-page-1/#comment-142254

Reminds me of one of my first interactions with ‘photojournalism’ – “Hands” by photographer Michael Wells which was the cover photo of the Dead Kennedy’s album Plastic Surgery Disasters.

Paolo Pellegrin’s Reply

https://nppa.org/node/36604

Paolo Pellegrin Responds To Claim Of Misrepresented Winning World Press, POYi Photos

…a second version of the reply http://pdnpulse.com/2013/02/paolo-pellegrin-and-his-subject-at-odds-over-photograph.html

A must read I feel…

http://www.bagnewsnotes.com/2013/02/when-reality-isn%E2%80%99t-dramatic-enough-misrepresention-in-a-world-press-and-picture-of-the-year-winning-photo/

When Reality Isn’t Dramatic Enough: Misrepresentation in a World Press and Picture of the Year Winning Photo

By Michael Shaw

‘This post was written by BagNews Publisher Michael Shaw with RIT Photojournalism professor Loret Steinberg and RIT photojournalism alumnus Shane Keller. (Full disclosure: Steinberg is a consultant to this site.)  Keller was the subject of a photo which was part of a series entitled “The Crescent” by Magnum photographer Paolo Pellegrin. The series was recently awarded second prize in the Stories category of the 2013 World Press Photo contest and a second place award in the Issue Reporting Picture Story category of the 2013 Picture of the Year International competition, with the individual photo earning Photographer of the Year — First Place in the Freelance/Agency category of the Picture of the Year awards – one of 50 images submitted for that category’

I got a little annoyed at Reporters Without Borders

And their Facebook page cover photo…the comments make interesting reading.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151054496158424&set=a.10150586580003424.386671.142270293423&type=1&theater

ironic revolution

In an article by the guardians Sean O’Hagan reviewing Magums new offering in book form – Magum Revolution: 65 Years of Fighting for Freedom, the most interesting line goes a little something like this…

“Ironically, we are now in the midst of a revolution in the way that revolutions are being reported. As Anderson points out “no Magnum photographer was present on the grubby outskirts of Sirte to witness and record Gaddafi’s final moments of life, but we all saw what happened anyway”. The profusion of cameras, alongside the rise of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, means images of struggle are disseminated globally in seconds by those on the ground. Magnum Revolution is a testament to the age of great photojournalism but it may also become a kind of requiem for that same age”.

iphone app photo foundation

‘…actually the photojournalist’s duty is to minimize the amount of fiction that enters her/his photography…’

Joerg Colberg of Conscientious

Interesting article in the BJP about the hipstamatic-foundation-for-photojournalism!!!!!!

The Foundation will help educate and support “the next generation of photographic storytellers using smartphones with Hipstamatic to tell and broadcast their tales”, as the Foundation’s Facebook page reads.

The Camera Around Your Neck

Interesting interview in foam with a photographer I really admire and have seen speak on one occasion:

Mishka Henner: After I finish one book I put it on-line and move on to the next project. The Web is like a wild fire. You light a match on the forest, you come back 4 hours later and the entire thing is a blaze. It’s fascinating!

10 years ago if you wanted to make a photo book you would have to find a publisher or spend 4 years of your life walking the streets with a book in your hands. It would take a long time for you to find an audience. Now, when I’m looking at my students, I’m thinking: anyone of you can produce something really exceptional and make a name for yourself, already. I know that this has it’s own dangers too.

But, you know, Gerry Badger tells us how you are supposed to sequence a photo book, what images are supposed to be after each image. He is using his knowledge of classical photo books. 3 years ago probably I followed it religiously, but now I just feel it’s one more example of people telling us how things should be. We can figure it out by ourselves.

Full interview – http://foam.org/foam-blog/2012/july/the-camera-around-your-neck

I ♥ Self…

Will Self questions the rituals of our digital life

The ever wordy Will Self has also taken part in three more rambles on the internet and us:

Will Self: My view of the internet has not changed

Will Self asks ‘Is the internet inherently psychotic?’

Will Self: The Internet is a false friend

Compassion fatigue myth?

Two interesting points of perspectives using different medias addressing the notion of ‘Compassion Fatigue’

Richard Parry & Vaughan Smith 15 year documentary [above] following conflict photographer Robert King.

And David Campbell’s on going research/blog post on The Myth of Compassion Fatigue

http://www.david-campbell.org/2012/02/29/the-myth-of-compassion-fatigue/

Photojournalism Behind the Scenes

following on from my last post about context –

Ruben Salvadori’s work has also been the subject of an interesting article by plantnext.com

http://www.planetnext.net/2011/09/media-photo-journalism-behind-the-scenes/

The British Media’s View [?]

Respectfully honest…  as long as we understand our mandatory perspectives and keep the debate open then we can develop together for the good of many, but news is news and we must recognise it for what it is.

Social Media, changing the mainstream narrative?

Will social media kill Western storytelling? Chris Riley, of studioriley asked the audience at PSFK CONFERENCE SAN FRANCISCO to listen to the globes’ creative voices. While traditional media has developed a single narrative around culture and the world, social media has allowed a generation of storytellers to counter the status quo and tell better stories about people, places and ideas.

Errol Morris: ‘We’ve forgotten that photographs are connected to the physical world’

Interesting video by Writer and Oscar-winning documentary maker Errol Morris as he talks about the nature of truth, art and propaganda in photography. Drawing examples from the photographs of Abu Ghraib and the Crimean war, cited in his book Believing is Seeing, he argues we’ve often underplayed the link between photgraphs and the physical world.

http://www.guardian.co.uk

I guess the day would come…

Following on from other post’s regarding the digital debate I read an interesting article by the BBC’s picture editor Phil Coomes about ‘spot the difference’ in terms of the use of war photography in video games.

I recommend you read it – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-16745015 ….and if you haven’t already, watch Christian Frei’s documentary ‘War Photographer’ [James Nachtwey].

Digital Debate

Images © Yuri Kozyrev / Noor for Time.

Following on from a brief post I did on Yuri Kozyrev’s ‘portrait of the year/of the revolution’s’ the BJP interviewed Claudio Palmisano of 10b lab who is involved with the post production of many photojournalist images before they get sent to publications, its an interesting read in these digital times – http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/feature/2133918/post-processing-digital-age-photojournalists-10b-photography

War as advertising?

Above is a promo for the new C1 app for the ipad which says ‘Condition ONE is a mobile media technology company developing the tools and platform to combine filmmaking, photojournalism and mobile devices to pioneer powerful immersive experiences.’

…will it work for photojournalism? I’m not so sure judging from this presentation of video game photojournalism – having said this the advertising worked and i went on their facebook page and clicked ‘like’ !!!!!!

Sustainable?

…out of the phone hacking scandal [in the UK] has come a blunt truth that has been neglecting for decades – BBC Newsnight debate

Newsnight –Do newspapers have a future, particularly the tabloids:

Tim Luckhurst …You raise an interesting point [phone hacking] is simply not the biggest problem facing journalism. The biggest problem facing journalism is that many regional and quality broadsheet newspapers are virtually bankrupt. The consequences of multimedia convergence has been to completely undermine the advertising market and we face a situation that the sanctimonious condemnation of popular tabloid journalism risks damaging the only newspaper in this country that are profitable in this country, the red top blue top tabloid newspapers, whilst ignoring the reality where those newspapers to die we would almost have no newspaper press left in this country – the Guardian which exposed this [story] is losing nearly a hundred thousand pounds a day, the Independent is supported by the generousness of its owner, the Times is subsided by the Sun we face a real crises in British journalism its about economics not about hacking.

Mark Lewis…It is and it isn’t …    http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b017pg1y/?t=23m09s

– Tim Luckhurst former editor of the Scotsman and Prof of journalism at university of Kent

– Mark Lewis who representing some of the phone hacking victims

The greatest street photographer ever: google?

…for many more intriguing images gathered from  google street view click – http://9-eyes.com