Susan Meiselas on Photography and Social Justice

Susan Meiselas on Photography and Social Justice (link)

Nonja the Orangutan

photo source link


Nonja the "Orangutan has learned how to take a photograph with a simple camera now has around 70,000 fans on the social networking website facebook." link BBC

Facebook page

Ape photographer pioneer, Coco the gorilla. I always mention the famous gorilla in my classes particularly discussing the simplicity and ease of modern cameras, and the idea that everybody is a photographer. Nonja may enter the fray when discussing the photographic term "chimping."

Photography TImeline

Photo by Eadweard Muybridge

Timeline of Photography Technology

Paul Nicklen

Nature Photographer Paul Nicklen on
photographing leopard seals.
See story and photos here.

Photograph by Paul Nicklen, National Geographic

Food for Thought

Vanishing Coast: A Photography Exhibition by Michael Barrientos

21 November – 2 December, 2009

Admission Free

Exhibition Hours: Daily: 9:00 – 12:00/14:00 – 17:00

Associação Moçambicano de Fotografia (AMF)
618 Avenida Julius Nyerere
(Across the Street from the Avenida Hotel)
Maputo, Mozambique

for more information see: vanishingcoast.info

Photo Essays & Picture Stories

We had our long-lost final class this week about picture stories and photo essays. A picture story is a group of photographs that has a beginning, middle, and end. A photo essay is a group of themed group of photographs that is stronger as a group that as individual pictures. We looked at several of my own projects including personal family examples: a picture story of my first child's birth, and a photo essay of portraits of my little boy at different places around the United States. In examples from my professional work, we looked at a picture story I did on homeless people in Florida who went from living on the street to getting their own home; we saw a photo essay of different Elvis impersonators.

For the quintessential photo essay, we examined several stories from photographer W. Eugene Smith who is the father of the genre. Some stories we looked at included: Spanish Village, Country Doctor, Nurse Midwife, Pittsburgh and MInamata. His work can be found at both the Magnum website and on Google who has a library of classic LIFE Magazine photographs online now. It's a wonderful place to spend time looking at great photography.

I recapped some of the things we talked about such as framing, layering, and light. But, most importantly, I spoke again about physically moving yourself. You can think of yourself as they predator and your subject as the prey and circle them or it, as the case may be. Stand up on a chair, get down low on the ground, try different perspectives: just move. You may find a great picture by simply moving or getting closer and paying attention.

Finally, I shared my project on the Maputo coastline with you. I will be exhibiting it at the Associação Moçambicana de Fotografia from November 21 – December 2. For details about the show, you can go to the website at: vanishingcoast.info.

Despite my assertion that W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh project has "never been published," it is more accurate to say that it was never published in its entirety as he envisioned it. Read about it here.

"The Pittsburgh story has never been published in any form approaching his book-length intentions. The most complete version, in his own layout, comprising 88 photographs covering 37 pages, was published in 1959 Photography Annual. Smith considered it a failure."

BBC has a wonderful documentary about Gene Smith's work in Wales on YouTube. See it here.

The Best Camera Is The One That's With You

Chase Jarvis, a guy who's a good enough photographer that Nikon asked him to advance test the Nikon D90, just put out a photo-book called "The Best Camera Is The One That's With You". He only used an iPhone.

"The Best Camera is the One That's WIth You."

click for book summary

Alfred Steiglitz: The Steerage

How to Hold a Camera

Pixels Schmixels

Photo by Michal DanielIn Your Face: Big Pix, Few Pixels

By Claire O'Neill

New iPhones have three. Most point-and-shoot digital cameras have about 10. The Canon 5D Mark II has a ridiculous 21.1. Megapixels, that is. So imagine what 0.3 megapixels look like. (Here's a hint: pretty terrible.) That's what inspired Michal Daniel to use a camera of that size. While everyone else was shopping around for the highest quality camera, he was hunting for the worst... continue here at NPR.

Spirit Photography: Digital Manipulation

Manipulation in photography is nothing new; Photoshop and digital photography just makes it much easier, faster and less detectable.

Awkward Family Photos: a Note on Portraits

Sorry to everybody that I've been out so long dealing with my health issues. Just to let everyone know that I'm thinking of you and still have our last meeting where we talked about portraits in mind, here's a website to take a look at mostly to get an idea of things to avoid in your approach to group shots or portraits you take unless, of course, it is your intention to make photos like this. The photography here is highly enjoyable but not in the same way that Sebastião Salgado's or Annie Leibowitz are: AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com.

More About Light

History of Photography