Grace & Markel Selected for Prize

Two Photo MA graduates Markel Redondo and Grace Gelder have been short listed for the Europe and Asia - Dialogue of Cultures. exhibition and $3,000 award. The exhibition and prize will happen in June.

Getty a sinking ship?

The scene from the movie Titanic where the musicians continue to play (info here) as the ship is sinking, is, to me, evidence of the musicians' head-in-the-sand (pardon the soon-to-be-pun) mentality they exhibited.

Just as the water breached the hull, filling decks, trapping passengers unaware, so too, is the sinking hulk of Getty Images doomed to sink into the history books as the largest photo agency in the world, sunk by the iceberg microstock. ...more

How the Kindle Will Change the World

Like the early PCs, the Kindle 2 is a primitive tool. Like the Rocket e-book of 1999 (524 titles available!), it will surely draw chuckles a decade hence for its black-and-white display, its lack of built-in lighting, and the robotic intonation of the text-to-voice feature. But however the technology and marketplace evolve, Jeff Bezos has built a machine that marks a cultural revolution....more

War images at work

Photojournalisms representation of war is often standardized, familiar, even cliched. Regardless of the time or place it can seem like we have seen it before, regularly and repeatedly. But if we always approach the problem from the same vantage point, asking how the event is represented, we run the risk of missing vital dimensions and important effects of the image...more

Best of the Web Awards

Min Online Best of the Web awards listed ...more

Alamy Discover Newspapers have no budget for pictures

"We have seen some dramatic declines with some of our newspaper customers this quarter,
ranging from 30% to 70% down year on year. I would like to share some thoughts with you
on how we can reverse this trend.

I have spent the past week visiting photo editors and managing editors at several of the
major UK titles to get a better understanding of why this is happening and where they see
their businesses going.

All of the people I met with made the following observations:

- Advertising revenues have fallen dramatically this quarter in most cases
- Print sales have been falling and will continue to do so
- Online versions of newspapers have yet to deliver a revenue stream comparable with that of print
- Most titles have been making redundancies in recent months
- Editorial budgets have been cut
- Further editorial cuts are anticipated

Newspapers are going through a painful transition period that is being exacerbated by the recession. Most of the main titles think they will survive, but it is not yet clear what the right commercial structure for them will be. The only thing that is certain is that difficult choices and further cost reductions lie ahead of them.

Alamy is the only large supplier of imagery not offering a subscription scheme to newspapers and we are being squeezed out of this market by offerings from our largest competitors.
These deals are in addition to, and separate from, newswire subscriptions. In the past we have
managed to keep away from these deals because we represent a lot of material that isn't available
anywhere else. Unfortunately the recession is forcing a change in behaviour at the picture desks
that leaves little opportunity for image providers who don't offer unlimited downloads for a fixed fee. To put this in context, our largest UK newspaper customer has ordered their picture desk to only download images from agencies they have subscription deals with."
James West Alamy CEO

Newspaper Sites See Big Gains in Uniques

More than half of the top 30 newspaper Web sites gained double-digit percentages of visitors in February, according to new data from Nielsen Online.

The number of unique visitors grew 36% year-over-year to 8.4 million at the Los Angeles Times.

USAToday.com said in a release that its 25% increase of readers in February was due to the Tech section of the site and popular stories. Visitors to the Tech section rose 100% to 1.9 million, according to USA Today. It also cites its coverage of the economic stimulus package, the Octuplet mom and Rihanna for drawing in readers....more

The State of the Media: Not Good

The American financial and auto industries aren't the only ones falling apart before the nation's eyes. "Imagine someone about to begin physical therapy following a stroke [and] suddenly contracting a debilitating secondary illness," researchers at the Project for Excellence in Journalism write about the news media's long-overdue embrace of the Internet in 2008, just as a global recession began wreaking havoc on the industry's biggest advertisers. ...more

Another US Paper goes Online Only

SEATTLE — The Seattle Post-Intelligencer will produce its last printed edition on Tuesday and become an Internet-only news source, the Hearst Corporation said on Monday, making it by far the largest American newspaper to take that leap. ...more

Meanwhile ex-Rocky Mountain News staffers plan news Web site ...more

Journalism is Evolving not Dying

News organizations should stop wasting resources on information freely available online, he added. And, they should stop killing trees....more

Reporting on Somalia

Colin Freeman and others discuss reporting on Somalia,

Free Videos by Ustream.TV

The EOScars

5D MkII winning movies ...more

Online Magazine

Vewd is a documentary photography magazine continuing the tradition of storytelling through a visual medium. ...more

Photography and International Conflict

University College Dublin

25-27 June 2009


This conference will bring together scholars and practitioners in the fields of visual media and international relations to examine the roles of image producers and the functions of photographic imagery in the documentation and communication of wars, violent conflicts and human rights issues. The conference is the first major event of an international research project on this topic.

Speakers include:
Ariella Azoulay (Bar Ilan University), Thomas Keenan (Bard College),
Liam Kennedy (University College Dublin), Paul Lowe (University of the Arts London/Panos Pictures), Sean Smith (The Guardian)

Papers might address one or more of the following topics:

The histories and genres of photographic depictions of conflict
The ethical and legal function of images as evidentiary representations of human suffering
The role of new technologies and technological convergence in depicting conflict
The visual economies that translate and regulate the value of images of conflict and suffering
The role of humanitarian and cosmopolitan frameworks in ‘Western’ genres of documentary photography
The role of news organizations and NGOs in the global distribution of images
The effects of imagery on government policy and NGO activity


Please submit a 300 word abstract by 30 April 2009 to Dr Caitlin Patrick, at Caitlin.Patrick@ucd.ie

BJP picks a fight with the educationalists

BJP editor has started a heated debate with the teachers on the 270 higher education photography courses in the UK....more

M.I.L.K. Competition Turns out to be "Evil"

The M.I.L.K competition got a lot of blogspace across t’interweb, with photographers worldwide salivating over a $50,000 jackpot for one lucky snapper, and 150 other photographers getting $500 and a share in royalties of subsequent sales of images…. sales of images you say? why yes! and lets just say the organisers are “M.I.L.King” (hahaha!) a great big cash cow!

Suddenly the M.I.L.K ain’t tasting so good…more

Many Americans Wouldn't Care if Local Papers Folded

As many newspapers struggle to stay economically viable, fewer than half of Americans (43%) say that losing their local newspaper would hurt civic life in their community "a lot." Even fewer (33%) say they would personally miss reading the local newspaper a lot if it were no longer available. ...more

Wiston Churchill Trust Grants on Offer

Each year the Trust aims to award 100 Travelling Fellowships to British citizens. Each Fellow receives a grant to cover return and internal travel, daily living and travel insurance within the countries visited.

A Travelling Fellowship is a unique addition to your personal development and brings long-term benefits to you, your employer and your profession/community in the UK. For examples of Fellows` achievements see here.

For 2009 the average grant is £5,055 covering overseas visits of between 4-8 weeks.

To travel in 2010 click on one of the ten subject areas below and apply now with a relevant overseas project or go to the 2010 Categories page. No qualifications are required.

Columbia J-School’s Existential Crisis

Well, since digital journalism became the single ray of hope on an otherwise dark media horizon, and Columbia’s vaunted ability to train students as print reporters began to appear obsolete. And so the school is trying to change. Fast. ...more

Call for Proposals: Documentary Photography Distribution Grant

Deadline: Friday, June 19, 2009 at 5pm (EST)
The OSI Documentary Photography Project offers grants to photographers and partner organizations to design innovative distribution strategies that promote social change. more

Production Grant for Photographers from Central Asia, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Mongolia, and Pakistan

Production Grant for Photographers from Central Asia, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Mongolia, and Pakistan

Deadline: Friday, March 20, 2009, at 5pm (EST)

The OSI Documentary Photography Project and Arts and Culture Program announce a grant opportunity for documentary photographers from Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. more

Times Techie Envisions the Future of News

Nick Bilton, an editor in the New York Times research and development lab, doesn't think much of newspaper. In fact, he doesn't even get the Sunday paper delivered to his house.

Thankfully for Bilton and his employer, he's bullish on news. It's just the paper he hates. ...more

Photography and International Conflict

CALL FOR PAPERS

Photography and International Conflict

Clinton Institute for American Studies, University College Dublin

25-27 June 2009

This conference will bring together scholars and practitioners in the fields of visual media and international relations to examine the roles of image producers and the functions of photographic imagery in the documentation and communication of wars, violent conflicts and human rights issues. The conference is the first major event of an international research project on this topic. ...more

5D MKII users offer $10,000 for Hack

A website has come about after frustrated Canon 5D users found they could not use the video mode in manual, which they believe was Canon being too paternal. So they are collecting pledges to the first hacker who comes up with a way round it with an unofficial firmware update...more

Boris works for Stern

Photo MA graduate Boris Austin has an assignment completed for Stern magazine published this week.

The mans name is Mr Du and the story is about his life growing up in the countryside and his quest to find work in the city.

Survey shows photographers face increasing pressure over copyright

A survey of more than 1,000 photographers, press agencies and picture libraries for the British Photographic Council found that 93% of photographers have come under pressure to hand over greater rights to clients for no increase in the fee, with 76% saying that their income has fallen as a result....more

Facebook Eyes Up Mass Audience - News Maybe?

The world's leading online social-networking service on Wednesday unveiled a redesign that adds Twitter-like real-time chatter, better filtering of incoming information, and a platform for reaching mass audiences....more

Write a Book on Photography

Intellect is actively seeking new photography book proposals. As a leading academic publisher in the fields of creative practice and popular culture, Intellect already has a strong list of visual culture and contemporary art focussed publications. We are keen to develop this area of our portfolio, and welcome proposals from both new and experienced authors producing original, adventurous scholarly work.

Since 1986, Intellect has provided a vital space for widening critical debate in new and emerging subjects, and is now a leading publisher in scholarly areas of creative media and popular culture. We aim to offer a platform for creative artists to present and critically reflect on their work. Intellect champions a blend between representing artistic creativity and academic critique: this is reflected in the company's own identity - a balance between visual innovation, and academic heritage. We have a robust international book distribution arrangement, including partners such as the University of Chicago Press (North America, and Rest of World), Gardners (UK), Inbooks (Australia & New Zealand), and Book Editions (Asia).

To send us your book proposals, please download a questionnaire from our website (http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/PublishWithUs/publishwithus.php), or contact books@intellectbooks.com for further information.

Peter Carney's new website goes live

Photo MA graduate Peter Carney launches his new website built by modding wordpress ...more

The Kindle Revolution

Digital readers will save writers and publishing, even if they destroy the book business.

Amazon announced the second iteration of its Kindle electronic reading device last month. The next day, HarperCollins announced that it would close its Collins division to substantially reduce head count and limit the number of books it acquires to publish. It was almost as if Harper was acting out a ritual dismemberment upon hearing the news. ...more

Jiang Jian: Memory and History

Vicki Goldberg writes about one of China's best known photographers ...more

Grace Wins Residency

Photo MA graduate Grace Gelder has recieved funding from Kensington and Chelsea Arts Services to run a photo-book making workshop in a women's hostel in Earls Court. It will be a month long project where participants will photograph a subject of their choice and create a book of their best work. There will be a book launch in a jazz cafe in Earls Court at the end of the project.

Grace's portrait of the Mongolian prison director, Munkhbayar is also featured in this months issue of Ctrl.alt.shift

http://www.ctrlaltshift.co.uk/#/Magazine/

downloadable from here.

FELLOWSHIPS IN THE CREATIVE AND PERFORMING ARTS

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), UK

The scheme supports artists as research fellows within a UK higher education institution. Awards last two to three years in case of full-time, or up to five years in case of part-time fellowships. They provide a salary of between £27,000 and £45,000 pro-rata and other costs. Deadline: 4pm, 24 September 2009....more

Burma VJ: Truth as Casualty

Time magazine article on the film ...more

'New York Times' to Launch Local Citizen Journalism Sites

NEW YORK The New York Times is joining the growing world of local "citizen journalism" with two Web sites launching Monday focused on five specific communities in New Jersey and Brooklyn, N.Y.

"The Local" will appear on the Times' Web pages with sites dedicated to three communities in New Jersey -- Maplewood, South Orange and Millburn -- and two Brooklyn neighborhoods, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.

Most of the contributions will come from local residents, with a Times staffer overseeing each site. ...more

US Newspaper Industry Staggers

"If you don't have people out working as full-time reporters, there's this category of information that's not going to appear magically out of nowhere," said Nicholas Lemann, dean of Columbia University's School of Journalism, who argues that papers made a mistake by giving away their wares online. "In a world where all content is free, original newsgathering doesn't happen. We really need to face up to the fact that this is going to be lost."...more

Rocky Montain news says goodbye with MM

Simon Norfolk Talks about the future

So my predictions for the future? More "name" photographers will be cashing in their reputations to teach "masterclasses" to wealthy orthodontists.

So-called "principled" photographers will be cozying up to Russian oligarchs and third-world billionaires. None of us will be saying "no" to wedding photography or lucrative teaching posts which sell to young students the rarely-realized dream that they’ll one day have jobs as photographers.

My advice? Get re-skilled. Keep your photographic aspirations but try to get a trade like film editing, web-design or accounting.

Soon we’ll all be amateur photographers with real money-making jobs on the side that we don’t tell our colleagues about. We need to get over the snobbery attached to that.

And we have to be tougher in our demands. Magazines online will be built by re-skilled photography lovers around business plans that don’t include paying wages to the photographers they ask to write.

They pay salaries to each other, they pay the man who comes to fix the photocopier, but the "name" photographers they ask to contribute six hundred words get nothing. With business models like that, how can we survive?" ...more

Sean Smith in Iraq

Award-winning Guardian photographer Sean Smith has photographed in Iraq since the beginning of the conflict on 20 March 2003. His work there has won awards and been published internationally. Here we present an overview of his time there to date ...more