Pro Photo Daily

04/26/2019

Photography marches onward. And looks to the past. This week we spotlighted a new report about falling sales in the camera market -- due in no small part to the rise of smartphone photography. Along with that news came a list of the 25 worst professions now, with "Photographer" ranked at number 25 because of diminishing employment prospects and falling wages --both of which can be traced in part to ... the rise of smartphone photography. But while smartphones and Instagram increasingly dominate photography, the popularity of older processes seems to be growing. This week, for instance, we also spotlighted the winners of the 2019 Wet Plate Competition. Plus...
https://www.ai-ap.com/publications/article/24952/what-we-learned-this-week-the-lure-of-the-wet-pla.html

04/24/2019

Being a photographer isn't the worst job in the world. That distinction belongs to taxi drivers, according to the 24/7 Wall St website, which used data from CareerCast's 2018 Jobs Rated Report and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to compile a list of the 25 least least desirable jobs now, based on factors such as work environment, stress level, future prospects, and income. But pro photography did make the list of bad jobs, coming in at number 25. Meanwhile, as we noted recently, a new report has found that sales of interchangeable lens cameras are sliding drastically: Shipments of camera systems were down 35 percent in the past year. What you need is some perspective -- and advice on surviving in a changing marketplace.
https://www.ai-ap.com/publications/article/24946/trending-is-photography-dead-not-yet.html

04/23/2019

Florence Henri isn't one of history's famous photographers. But in 1929, her Paris portrait studio became as well-known as that of Man Ray. Though she trained as a painter, Henri turned to photography after studying at the Bauhaus in Germany. Influenced by Italian Futurists and Cubism, she experimented with mirrors and other techniques, including photo montage, to create unconventional images. Today Henri "is almost unknown, her contributions to Modernism neglected, and her life written out of most history books," noted the AnOther blog, which recently spotlighted the exhibition "Florence Henri: Reflecting Bauhaus" at London's Atlas Gallery.
https://www.ai-ap.com/publications/article/24846/exhibitions-florence-henri-an-unsung-bauhaus-art.html

04/23/2019

2019 Portfolio Prize Winner: Mark McKnight

Photographer Mark McKnight has been selected as winner of the 2019 Aperture Portfolio Prize for his black-and-white images of bodies and landscapes, which, notes Aperture, “challenge Eurocentric ideas about male beauty—and aim to make “straight” photography a little less straight.” He receives $3,000 and an exhibition in New York. The finalists for this year’s prize, which was established to identify new trends and talents in photography, included Teresa Eng, Jack Latham, Zora J. Murff and Guanyu Xu. They will also be featured in an online gallery at aperture.org.

Mark McKnight’s black-and-white images of bodies and landscapes challenge Eurocentric ideas about male beauty—and aim to make “straight” photography a little less straight.

04/22/2019

WIRED

WIRED

While being conscious of human impact on the planet is valuable, it's also important to remember what environmentalists are seeking to save.

These are some of WIRED's favorite galleries showcasing the most wondrous, and endangered, places in the world.

04/22/2019

Today Ryan McGinley is a photography superstar. His rise to fame began with a breakout exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2003: McGinley became the youngest artist to have a solo show at the museum, and with a subsequent show at MoMA-PS1 his reputation as an important photographer was established. New York art dealer Peter Hay Halpert represented McGinley during the pivotal first five years of his career, and through April 27 he is presenting the exhibition "Ryan McGinley. The Kids. Early Work, 2019," featuring 10 images that chart McGinley's development as a major talent.
https://www.ai-ap.com/publications/article/24935/exhibitions-ryan-mcginley-the-kids-early-work.html

04/22/2019

Instagram needs stars, and it’s built a team to find them

For the launch of its IGTV standalone video app, Instagram isn’t depending on an algorithm to find talent, notes The Verge. Rather, it’s betting on a man named Justin Antony, who made his name by scouting talent at Nickelodeon. At Instagram, Antony finds the influencers most users don’t know about yet, but who he believes are destined to be stars. He finds talent through agents and referrals, but also pays attention to performance indicators. “Engagement is everything,” he says.

As the company ramps up, it’s finding talent the old-fashioned way: talent scouts.

04/22/2019

Trey Ratcliff Wrote a Book Exposing How People Cheat at Instagram

Brands spent an estimated $2 billion on marketing through Instagram “influencers” in 2017, and that number is expected to balloon to $10 billion by 2020. Consequently, many people have faked their online influence by buying engagement from bots and through other means. Popular photographer Trey Ratcliff wanted to see how it was done so he built a fake influencer on Instagram as an experiment. The result is his new book “Under the Influence: How to Fake Your Way Into Getting Rich on Instagram.”

Brands spent an estimated $2 billion on marketing through Instagram "influencers" in 2017, and that number is expected to balloon to $10 billion by 2020.

04/22/2019

Female in Focus: “Let us take the reins of our own narrative”

Photographers Daiana Valencia and Celeste Alonso came together in 2015 to create Rueda Photos, a collective focusing, as they put it, on “themes with social context, referring to the territory, the gender issues and the current affairs that are specific to it." The collective is part of a wider network of female Latin American and Caribbean photographers, called Foto Feminas, whose founder, Veronica Sanchis Bencomo, is one of the judges of Female in Focus, a new award seeking to celebrate female-identifying photographers.

There are many recurring Latin American stereotypes in the mainstream media: from fiery Latinas, sexy senoritas, and coercive lotharios, to violent depictions of the region itself. These two-dimensional portrayals often come from a homogenous Western perspective, and we see far fewer images taken by

04/22/2019

Foto Féminas presents: Joana Toro

At Witness, Foto Feminas founder Verónica Sanchis Bencomo spotlights Joana Toro, a Colombian self-taught photographer based between New York City and Bogota. Before migrating to the United States in 2011, Toro worked as a staff photographer for magazines and newspapers in Colombia. Today she continues to explore issues around migration, human rights and identity in the Latino communities. Her work has been featured in publications including The New York Times and Smithsonian.

A selection from Latin American and Caribbean online platform Foto Féminas, curated by Verónica Sanchis Bencomo

04/19/2019

A Honduran toddler crying at the border in Texas. A mother and her twin five-year-old daughters running from tear gas at the border wall between the U.S and Tijuana, Mexico. Both scenes were captured in images that went viral when they were taken, and both are now winners of major photojournalism awards. This week we learned that Getty Images's photographer John Moore's shot of the toddler, crying as she and her mother were taken into custody by US border officials last June, won the Photo of the Year prize in the 2019 World Press Photo contest. Meanwhile, photographer Kim Kyung Hoon's shot of the tear gas attack in Tijuana was part of Reuters's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of migrants journeying to the U.S. Plus...
https://www.ai-ap.com/publications/article/24921/what-we-learned-this-week-viral-images-of-migrant.html

04/19/2019

Who Says Old-Fashioned Street Photography Is Dead?

“Who says old-fashioned street photography is dead?” So asks The New York Times, which spotlights Jean Andre Antoine, a street photographer who for the past six years has been using a 1947 Crown Graphic press camera and peel-apart instant film to take portraits of people in his SoHo neighborhood. (He charges $20 per shot for those who are interested.) He never asks passers-by if they want their picture taken; instead he waits until someone is sufficiently curious to approach him.

Jean Andre Antoine uses a camera from 1947 and spends nearly every day working the same SoHo block.

04/19/2019

Seven Photographers Who Are Rewriting Street Photography's Rigid Rules

In the nearly two centuries since Louis Daguerre's first captured a Parisian street scene, attitudes towards street photography, photographing in public, and the possibility of the medium to achieve any sense of objective truth have changed continuously, notes Vice, which spotlights seven contemporary street photographers who are making their own rules, including Pelle Cass, Haley Morris-Cafiero and Girma Berta. Some use digital tools to reform how we understand public spaces, while still others let it all happen naturally.

These photographers are finding new ways of making pictures in public space: some staged, some digitally altered, all with uninhibited grit.

04/18/2019

Gonçalo Lobo Pinheiro

American Photography Open 2019: The Judging Begins
https://www.ai-ap.com/publications/article/24891/american-photography-open-2019-the-judging-begins.html

04/18/2019

The American Photography Open 2019 competition has begun! Entries have been coming in from around the world, and today we are sharing three that delighted our judges - a photo of a beluga whale in a Taiwan aquarium, an autumn scene in rural New York, and a depiction of love at age 101. Will they end up being among the finalists in this year's contest? We can't say yet - the competition's final deadline is August 31, and we will have looked at lots of images by then. But as you'll see, the three photographers featured today have put their talents on full display. Now it's your turn to enter. Our advice: Avoid the late rush and get your submissions in early.
https://www.ai-ap.com/publications/article/24891/american-photography-open-2019-the-judging-begins.html

04/18/2019

John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | Current

Catherine Opie, Ron Jude, Jennifer Garza-Cuen and Barbara Davidson are among the 12 photographers named 2019 Guggenheim Fellows.The foundation selected 168 fellows this year from a pool of more than 3,000 applicants. Other fellows in photography: Ben Altman, Carl Corey, Jessica Eaton, Peter Kayafas, Kathya Maria Landeros, Janet L. Pritchard, Jeffrey Stockbridge and Carmen Winant.

On April 9, 2019, the Board of Trustees of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation approved the awarding of Guggenheim Fellowships to a diverse group of 168 scholars, artists, and writers. Appointed on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise, the successful candidates were chose...

04/18/2019

This city bans cars every Sunday—and people love it

Every Sunday, and holidays too, the inhabitants of the car-choked, noise-filled, stressed-out city of Bogotá, Colombia — 8,660 feet up in the thin air of the Andes — get to feel that the city belongs to them. That’s because Bogotá has banned cars on those days, notes National Geographic, which recently featured images of the car-free city taken by Juan Cristóbal Cobo, a photojournalist based in Bogota and New York City. Cristobal is also a multi-time winner of the Latin American Fotografia competition.

Spurred by environmental concerns, an experiment in Bogotá, Colombia, is spreading worldwide.

04/17/2019

Want to take better head shots? Keep it simple. And watch out for the "squinch." Those are two of the tips that master head shot photographer Peter Hurley offers in today's roundup of photo tutorials. You'll also learn how to use catchlights to create compelling portraits, how to create shallow depth of field in Photoshop, how to perfect your compositions, how to avoid 5 common landscape photography mistakes, how to create realistic photo composites ... and how to become a better photographer through "happiness and flow."
https://www.ai-ap.com/publications/article/24830/how-to-take-better-head-shots-perfect-your-compo.html

04/17/2019

N.B.A. Photographers ‘Do It for the Gram,’ Too

Sports photographers survive by changing with the time: Nathaniel Butler, notes The New York Times, has been an N.B.A. senior photographer since 1984. Those were the days of shooting on film and developing photos in hotel rooms after games. Today, players text Butler as they arrive at the arena so he can be in position to capture a perfect arena entrance shot for them to post on Instagram. Photographers now play critical role in shaping narratives in a league defined by faces and moments, adds The Times.

New technology and the rise of social media have changed what it means to take pictures of the N.B.A. One new requirement: making the athletes look good on Instagram.

04/16/2019

What is it like to photograph someone committing a fraud? L.A.-based photographer Ethan Pines knows. In 2014, he photographed Elizabeth Holmes, the founder and CEO of the Silicon Valley company Theranos. At the time, Holmes was the darling of the tech industry: When Pines shot her for the cover of that year's Forbes 400 issue, she was the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world. Later, her company's breakthrough blood-testing technology was exposed as a lie. With a new documentary about Holmes airing on HBO, Pines recollects photographing Holmes. "I now see clearly how her starry-eyed investors were taken in," he notes.
https://www.ai-ap.com/publications/article/24823/trending-behind-the-scenes-with-theranos-fraudste.html

04/16/2019

MAKE A FILM WITH ZIGGY LE VIN | Red Hook Labs

Photographers who would like to transition to the moving image will be interested in a workshop from Red Hook Labs in Brooklyn led by producer and Art & Commerce film agent Ziggy Le Vin. Over the course of three consecutive Saturdays (April 27 through May 11) participants will create a coherent structure for their concept through treatment writing and development. They will then be guided through the production and post-production that will culminate in the making of a short film. Open to all genres of video, from documentary, fashion, music video to experimental. Fee: $750. Apply by April 20.

MAKE A FILM WITH ZIGGY LE VIN Over the course of three consecutive Saturdays, participants will create a coherent structure for their concept through treatment writing and development. They will then be guided through the production and post-production that will culminate in the making of a short fi...

04/16/2019

Announcement of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize Winners

Reuters’ photography staff has won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for what the prize committee calls “a vivid and startling visual narrative of the urgency, desperation and sadness of migrants as they journeyed to the U.S. from Central and South America.” The Pulitzer for Feature Photography goes to Lorenzo Tugnoli of The Washington Post for “brilliant photo storytelling of the tragic famine in Yemen, shown through images in which beauty and composure are intertwined with devastation.”

Pulitzer Administrator Dana Canedy announced the 2019 Pulitzer Prizes at Columbia University's School of Journalism on Monday, April 15. Watch video of the announcement and read the full list of winners.

04/15/2019

Drones as a tool for time-lapse motion art? Why not! In fact, drones may be the perfect tool to create a time-lapse tour of a city like Mexico City - home to 21 million and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the western hemisphere. Today we feature a four-minute hyperlapse exploration of Mexico City by aerial filmmaker Tarsicio Sanudo, shot with a DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone. We also spotlight a time lapse from photographer Flemming Bo Jensen made from every single frame he shot at two music concerts, as well as a mind-bending animation made from Google Earth Images.
https://www.ai-ap.com/publications/article/24594/spotlight-innovative-time-lapses-and-a-mind-bendi.html

04/15/2019

This Picture Of The Media Reflected In Donald Trump's Eye Is As Beautiful As It Is Terrifying

When Donald Trump eyes the world, he sees the enemy of the people — his term for the media. A photo recently taken by Associated Press's Pablo Martínez Monsiváis as the president answered questions on the South Lawn of the White House went viral after Monsiváis noticed something peculiar in the photo — a reflection in Trump’s eye that turned out to be the White House press corp. "I decided to post the picture before I left work for the day,” he tells BuzzFeed. The fake news media have gotten into the president’s head, adds CNN.

"As a photographer he keeps you on your toes. He keeps you sharp."

04/12/2019

Buttons. Cake. Slot machines. For the past year, artist Andres Serrano has been buying such souvenirs, all of which in one way or another have to do with Donald Trump. The cake, for instance, came from Trump's 2005 wedding to Melania Knauss. There was also a fake dollar bill showing Hillary Clinton behind bars, autographed by Trump. In total, Serrano spent more than $100,000 amassing the collection, which he has used to create an unconventional portrait of the 45th president of the United States. After much teasing, Serrano revealed his portrait this week. Plus more...
https://www.ai-ap.com/publications/article/24884/what-we-learned-this-week-a-trump-portrait-create.html