Dinosaurs among us?

Here is a great article on the state of photography and those of us over the age of 50. New photographers coming into the press world are more concerned with the final image and what it has to say, and could care less about the camera equipment it took to get it.

And that's the way it should be!

Case in point. I teach photography for a company out of Calgary, www.learnphotographycanada.ca/. Mostly I teach a Digital 1 course in Vancouver to students just starting out and who want a better understanding of their cameras and the basics of photography itself. What I'm finding is students are thinking about photography in terms of their iphone, Samsung or mirror-less camera. As a teacher I have to find new ways of teaching photography and not be stuck in the old tried and true (or not) ways!

Past articles on my blog have touched on this before. The press world is changing.  I don't want the image in my mirror looking back at me to resemble the proverbial dinosaur.


 http://visualsciencelab.blogspot.ca/2013/10/the-graying-of-traditional-photography.html

Instagram and just good photography

Over the past year Instagram has become one of the most powerful players in the way for a company or just your average person to get their life on the web.
Along with Flickr, Instagram brings the viewer an insight into the daily interests and goings on. If your interest is photography ( like me ) it's an enjoyable process, it's fun. Here is one of my Intagram sites started last month. My company Instagram site is coming soon.

                                http://instagram.com/gripandgrin2013

But this is not just reserved for your average person to enjoy, it's also now a very important way for leaders of countries to give an insight into the political process.
Pete Souza, one of the best political photographers in the world is the photographer for the President of the United States. His Instagram site is fun as well as very revealing. His photography is top notch.

                                http://instagram.com/petesouza

On the other hand the photography ( in my opinion ) for Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada is ordinary and lacking in creativity. It's just plain boring. Some Media types might say, tongue in cheek, that the images match the Prime Ministers personality but that is very subjective. I'm not sure if it's the official PM's photographer shooting the images or just a handler for the PM with a their camera-phone but in my opinion Mr. Harper's office should have a look at Pete Souza. The PM's Instagram site has just over 500 followers as apposed to over 77000 followers for Pete Souza. Numbers aren't everything but when your site is lacking, it's usually the quality of the images. The PM's site will never have Justin Bieber numbers but I think they can do better than 500 followers in a country of thirty-five Million people.

                              http://instagram.com/pmstephenharper


Also on a related topic see the story below:

http://petapixel.com/2012/10/11/ncaa-bans-college-coaches-from-using-instagram-to-recruit-athletes/

National Geographic and the art of photograhy

Great words and images from some of the best 
photographers today.

https://plus.google.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.theplatform.com%2Fp%2Fngs%2FAGI4dyViyrmO%2Fselect%2FIY1wheEWPW_z


"If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front 
 of better stuff." Brilliant!

41 Mega Pixels and press photography

All photographers carry phones along with all their camera equipment but how long before the phone is the only thing we will carry?

As well as Nokia, companies like Samsung are embracing the convergence of cameras and phones.

With Nokia's new 41 Mega Pixel camera / phone it's only a matter of time before a phone is the only thing we will use to shoot, sort, caption and upload our images to the web or agency.
The quality of the images coming from a phone like the Nokia is of course the determining factor.

Here is a link to the Nokia website and the possible future of 
media / press photography.

 http://www.nokia.com/global/experience/photography/

Shooting at the TIFF

                   Short story about the Toronto Film Festival photographer
                   Jeff Vespa.  

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2013/09/09/official_photographer_jeff_vespa_shoots_scores_at_tiff.html

The Imaging World is Changing

When Reuters, one of North America's largest picture agency, starts to let photographers go, you know the world of professional photography is changing.

Is it a creative change? Not quite, according to Toronto-based freelancer and Reuters photographer, Jon Blacker. It's a business decision made by Reuters. Strictly business.

While I can't argue with a business decision made by, and for Reuters, I can't help but feel for the photographers who have contributed their best work to Reuters, and who are now affected by this wonderful "business decision".

Even though professional photographers are resourceful, I can't see all of these sports-only photographers moving to strictly news. And that means Canadian jobs are lost.

http://petapixel.com/2013/08/24/reuters-ditches-north-american-sports-photogs-strikes-deal-with-usa-today/#more-121414

The price of Twitter.

When a tornado drops down in Ontario, that's a news story to be sure. But when every single image posted in a slide show of that story is from a Twitter feed, today that's not much of a story. Or does anyone really care that all of the images come from Twitter?

I can remember as a young photographer coming across a fire at an apartment building. As the fire department had just started to get the fire under control, I felt it would be okay for me to take photos of the blaze. As soon as I had images that I thought the local paper might use, I headed out. My local paper did use two of the images and I got paid for both. That's right! I got paid to take pictures of a news event!

Now my point is, how many of those images of the tornado used from Twitter were paid for by the news source? Some of them? All of them? Or is it what I think the total money spent for these news images. Zero!

As long as people are happy just to see their images on the web and not get paid for them, and editors do not have to pay for images, your local photo-journalist is out of work.

Free is the best price I have ever come across to be sure...but it won't pay the rent.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/photos/tornadoes-spotted-in-ontario-slideshow/another-pic-of-the-arthur-tornado-onstorm-tornado-pic-twitter-com-wac5l1k8dz-photo-1375970615471.html