PDNPulse

Associated Press Reassigns Four Photo Editors

Daryl Lang — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:07:40 -0500

After the photo staff layoffs this week that included national photo editor Victor Vaughan, the Associated Press has reassigned four editors to oversee U.S. photography.

These "interim regional photo editors" will report to assistant national photo editor Tom Stathis in Los Angeles. They are:

Stephanie Mullen, based in San Francisco, overseeing the West. Mullen joined the AP in 1995 in Los Angeles from Allsport Photography.
Kii Sato, based in Chicago, overseeing the Central region. Sato joined the AP in Columbus, Ohio, in 2005, after working as a staff photographer and director of photography at the Mobile Register in Alabama.
Jackie Larma, based in Philadelphia, overseeing the East. Larma joined the AP in Jerusalem in 1991, and has also worked in London.
Mike Stewart, based in Washington, D.C., overseeing the South. Stewart joined the AP in 2005 and previously worked in the Washington State Photo Center. He has also worked as a photographer and photo editor for the Arkansas Democrat, Columbia Daily Tribune, Albuquerque Journal and Polaris Images.

As part of the reorganization announced today, the AP also has assigned six news editors to oversee news reports from various regions of the country. Read more in this AP story.

Study: Photographs Help Ease Pain

Daryl Lang — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:52:59 -0500

We feel better when we look at a photographs of people we love. Need some science to prove it? Here you go: Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles recently published a study showing that looking at photos helps people experience less physical pain.

The experimenters applied painful heat to the arms of female volunteers under several different conditions. The subjects were asked to rate the discomfort they felt while...

(a) holding the hand of their long-term romantic partner (as he sat behind the curtain),
(b) holding the hand of a male stranger (also behind the curtain),
(c) holding a squeeze ball,
(d) viewing the partner’s photographs (taken upon his arrival) on a computer screen,
(e) viewing photographs of a male stranger (ethnicity-matched to the participant’s partner),
(f) viewing photographs of a chair, and
(g) viewing a crosshair.

The subjects reported the lowest levels of discomfort under condition (d), viewing a photograph of their partner. Surprisingly, looking at a picture made them feel better than when they were holding their partner's hand.

The researchers conclude:

"The ﬁndings suggest that bringing loved ones’ photographs to painful procedures may be beneﬁcial, particularly if those individuals cannot be there. In fact, because loved ones vary in their ability to provide support, photographs may, in some cases, be more effective than in-person support. In sum, these ﬁndings challenge the notion that the beneﬁcial effects of social support come solely from supportive social interactions and suggest that simple reminders of loved ones may be sufﬁcient to engender feelings of support."

The study was published in the November 2009 issue of the journal Psychological Science. View a PDF of the report or read more in a UCLA press release. Spotted via The New York Times Well Blog.

Runner's World: Don't Blame Us For Newsweek's Palin Cover!

Daryl Lang — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:25:22 -0500

The current cover of Newsweek features a photo of Sarah Palin dressed in athletic wear and resting her arm on an American flag, looking, frankly, kind of stupid. The image was originally shot for a Runner's World story that ran in print and online this summer. It was shot by Anchorage-based photographer Brian Adams and distributed by his stock agent, Kelly Price at Rapport.

Reaction was predictable. Palin slammed the cover on her Facebook page ("The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now"), and Newsweek editor Jon Mecham responded with a statement Tuesday ("We chose the most interesting image available to us to illustrate the theme of the cover"). Blogs discussing the cover became polluted with hostile comments; at BAGnewsNotes the comments got so bad that editor Michael Shaw shut them down.

So far, it's just another Palin vs. the media story: Something for pundits to chew on, nobody gets seriously hurt, everybody wins. We've seen this movie before.

Behind the scenes, however, the magazine that commissioned the shoot has reason to be annoyed.

Newsweek printed type on the cover saying, "A photo taken for Runner's World, June 2009." While it's good that Newsweek provided that information, doesn't it feel like Newsweek is passing responsibility for its photo choice onto somebody else?

In a terse statement posted yesterday on its Web site, Runner's World says: "Runner’s World did not provide Newsweek with the image. Instead, it was provided to Newsweek by the photographer’s stock agency, without Runner’s World’s knowledge or permission." A statement like that is hardly a friendly gesture to Newsweek or Rapport.

The photographer, Adams, has stayed out of the politics of this. If you want to learn more about the photos, he has posts on his blog about the shoot itself and his reaction to seeing the Newsweek cover.

From our archive: Palin supporters criticized earlier Newsweek covers that featured a stock photo of Palin holding a shotgun and an un-retouched, tightly cropped portrait of Palin.

UPDATE: The plot thickens. A spokesperson for Runner's World tells Jeff Bercovici of AOL DailyFinance that Adams's photos of Palin were under embargo for a period of one year, until August 2010. This does not necessarily mean that Adams and his agent, Price, are guilty of breaking a contract; they might have negotiated a way out of it. We sent an e-mail to Adams to try to learn more. Adams declined to comment.

T-Shirts for Photographers

Dan Havlik — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:19:43 -0500

Ha! This is great if you're already shopping for a holiday stocking stuffer for your favorite photographer. Peta Pixel has rounded up "21 Awesome T-Shirts for Photographers" and there are some fun, funny, and quite stylish tees here. (We wonder if they come in svelte American Apparel versions or just bulky Beefy Ts. That could be a deal breaker.)

Our personal favorite is #12 but maybe that's probably because we like to expose ourselves. Har, har har...

Check out all 21 selections here or see a few below.

Christian Oth Responds to Lawsuit

Jacqueline Tobin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:31:43 -0500

Christian Oth has released a statement in response to the lawsuit filed by Sarah Bostwick against his studio and one of his photographers, Carolyn Monastra (see "Blushing Bride Files Lawsuit Against Her Wedding Photographer"). Here is an excerpt from the press release posted on his Web site:

"We are surprised and disappointed to learn that Mrs. Bostwick has filed a lawsuit against us in which she claims that we intentionally violated her privacy. We have never posted any images of Mrs. Bostwick on our public website or any other public venue. Client images, such as Mrs. Bostwick's, are posted on our proofing website and are always password protected. Our clients' privacy is a foremost priority. Therefore, the log-in and password to our proofing website are provided only to the client. Sharing of the log-in and password for this site is done at the sole discretion of the client. We believe that the substance of the allegations contained in Mrs. Bostwick's complaint are completely without merit, we emphatically deny those allegations, and we look forward to having this case dismissed."
You can read the press release in its entirety on Oth's Web site.

Blushing Bride Files Lawsuit Against Her Wedding Photographer

Jacqueline Tobin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:29:45 -0500

Now I've heard it all. A bride claims she was driven to post-traumatic stress disorder by her wedding photographer who, according a recently filed lawsuit, took "racy" photographs of her as she got dressed and then posted the offending images on the photography studio's Web site.

According to a news report in today's New York Post the bride, Sara Bostwick, filed a suit in Manhattan Supreme Court against wedding photographer Carolyn Monastra and the Manhattan-based high-profile studio she works for, Christian Oth Photography. The suit alleges that Bostwick, who got married last year, ordered Monastra to refrain from taking photos of her in a state of undress but that the photographer kept snapping away anyway. The Post article says a rep for the studio declined to comment as did Bostwick and her lawyer.

As the author of a recently published wedding photography book that goes into length about photographing the very popular Getting Ready portion of the wedding day (where I actually feature the highly-regarded Christian Oth and his work) I find it hard to believe that this whole thing is for real. Something sounds a bit off-kilter, though without seeing any actual photos (news reports say the studio took them down), it's hard to determine if the photos are truly damaging. Anyone want to weigh in?

Update: Christian Oth responds.

Architectural Photographer Peter Urban Has Died

Holly Hughes — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:36:44 -0500

Peter Urban, a Boston-based commercial and editorial photographer known for his images of architecture, died September 13, his partner, Steve McCarthy, told PDN. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer. He was 61.

Urban's clients included The Boston Globe, American Express and CVS pharmacy, and his work was exhibited at Gallery Kayafas in Boston.

An obituary published in The Boston Globe on September 18 noted the artistic quality of his black-and-white photos of Boston buildings: "Brightness and energy invade photographs that, in other hands, might be static."

In addition to architecture, Urban shot portraits. Some of best known his subjects included actress Fay Wray (of "King Kong" fame), Boston mayor Thomas Menino, author Susan Orlean and wine expert Robert Parker.

In March 2009, PDN reported on a collaboration between Urban, CVS, and Boston Redevelopment Agency in what Urban described as an effort to "to broaden and refine the brand identity of Boston's Downtown Crossing shopping district." Urban set up a sidewalk photo studio and photographed downtown shoppers. His composite portraits were displayed as hanging banners in storefronts and from lampposts in the neighborhood around historic Fenway Park as a way to engage shoppers and reflect the city's diversity.

Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, Urban studied biology and psychology at Boston University. After graduation he moved to Hawaii where, according to McCarthy, he began taking photographs. He decided to return to Boston to launch his freelance photography career.

Gallery owner Arlette Kayafas told the Globe that when he was photographing portrait subjects, Urban “had an immediate intimate connection when he was photographing them.’’ Kayafas added, “He saw people on the inside and saw them so fully."

MSNBC Apologizes for Airing Fake Photo of Sarah Palin

Daryl Lang — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:49:13 -0500

MSNBC recently found its voice as a left-leaning counterpart to the Fox News Channel. Now, just like Fox, MSNBC has been caught using Photoshopped pictures to ridicule their political opponents.

A little over a year ago, a picture of Sarah Palin in a bikini holding a gun (seen above) began circulating online. It was quickly debunked as a fake by the likes of Snopes.com and others.

Last Friday, MSNBC's "Morning Meeting" used the picture, and some other fakes, to illustrate a top-ten list poking fun at Palin.

This morning anchor Dylan Ratigan apologized to Palin and viewers:

"In a very misguided attempt to have some fun in advance of Sarah Palin's upcoming book Going Rogue, our staff mistakenly used some clearly Photoshopped images of Ms. Palin without any acknowledge. On behalf of the show, I would like to say that this is completely unacceptable."

Video (via Talking Points Memo) below.

Canon Pulls Sponsorship of "The Digital Journalist" Site

Daryl Lang — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:38:00 -0500

The Digital Journalist may suspend publication after a decision by Canon to withdrawn sponsorship of the 12-year-old monthly online magazine.

In a letter published on The Digital Journalist site, editor Dirck Halstead reveals that the site is losing its major source of funding from Canon, and asks readers for donations. "I am afraid that the December issue of The Digital Journalist may be our final issue, at least for a while," Halstead writes.

He also says The Digital Journalist hopes to reorganize in an effort to keep publishing and "to provide funding in order to send photographers out into the world to do their work, documenting the important stories that shape our lives and history."

NPPA News Photographer has more.

Revealed: Favorite Camera Settings of College Sports Photogs

Daryl Lang — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:47:39 -0500

Judging is wrapping up today in the College Photographer of the Year competition at the University of Missouri.

Earlier this week, the contest's official blog published a clever series of charts produced from the metadata in the digital files entered in the sports category of the contest.

The charts (including the one seen here) graphically present the apertures, shutter speeds, focal lengths and camera models used to shoot the sports entries.

The most favored settings: Aperture f/2.8, shutter speed 1/1000 sec., lens 300mm, using a Nikon D3.