This is a strong lede to a first-hand account of being a photographer in Gaza:
I love being a photographer. I doubt that I could possibly love it more. When I’m trying to compose an artful image out of the tattered remains of someone’s son, however, I start to wonder if maybe my job is a little strange.
It’s a big day for photojournalism ethics. First Schneider, then this.
Two photographs were stitched together to make it look as though police were just standing around as several prostitutes in Cuba were flaunting their goods on an inside page of Miami’s El Nuevo Herald newspaper, the spanish-speaking child of the Miami Herald. Photographer Roberto Koltun objected to his two photos being used in this way, but apparently his concerns were disregarded.
UPDATE: El Nuevo admits wrongdoing (Google translated page)
Patrick Schneider, the talented Charlotte Observer photographer who was reprimanded in 2003 for altering color and contrast of photos, was recently fired for the same offense.
In a clarification from C-O editor Rick Thames printed on July 28, Thames states:
The photo, taken by Observer photographer Patrick Schneider, appeared on the front of the Local & State section. It depicted a Charlotte firefighter on a ladder, silhouetted by the light of the early morning sun.
In the original photo, the sky in the photo was brownish-gray. Enhanced with photo-editing software, the sky became a deep red and the sun took on a more distinct halo.
And later he continues:
Because of the most recent violation of our photo policy, Schneider no longer works at the Observer.
We apologize for this misstep. Your trust is important to us. We will do all we can to ensure the integrity of all of our photos going forward.
Poynter link for past Schneider incident
C-O editorial (subscription may be required)
A new Xbox360 video game called ‘Dead Rising’ features a freelance photojournalist as the main character. This is funny:
Dead Rising follows the harrowing tale of Frank West, an overly zealous freelance photojournalist on a hunt for the scoop of a lifetime. In pursuit of a juicy lead, he makes his way to a small suburban town only to find that it has become overrun by zombies.
I wonder if he shoots Nikon or Canon…
Lebanese photographer Layal Nagib was killed during the Israeli bombing of Cana in southern Lebanon while covering the violence for the magazine Al Jarass on July 22.
So this might be the single greatest photo-related podcast of all time… Craig Tanner from The Radiant Vista talks about fearing the public critique and photographer’s motivations for either following the "rules" or breaking them. Required reading for this to make sense is this blog post by Mike Johnston, which I laughed at last week.
Be patient - the podcast is an hour long, but Craig makes some great points and brings up issues that every photographer is faced with.
As read about here, the group project to create the world’s largest photograph has succeeded. They had originally thought the exposure would taken 10-14 days, but the exposure time ended up only being an hour.
A judge in Alaska illegally issued a search warrant for police to seize photos taken by an Anchorage Daily News photographer taken at a shooting scene. The newspaper was forced to turn over more than 100 photos from the scene, but after the police were contacted by the newspaper’s attorney and informed of the warrant violating federal law, the photos were returned.
In an apparent attempt to maintain total control of its content, Fox announced that it will not allow photographers to shoot its news conferences at the Television Critics Association press tour. Instead, they will offer handout photos.
The AP didn’t like this too much, so they said they will not be sending any print journalists (writers too) to cover the tour unless Fox allows photogs.
Known as a daring war photographer, French-born photojournalist Catherine Leroy died of cancer at the age of 60 in California. Leroy worked for LIFE magazine, the Gamma and Sipa agencies, and the AP and UPI. Her famous photo "Corpsman In Anguish" was taken in 1967 while documenting the Vietnam War.
