A Climate for LIfe

For those of us who salivate over the prospect of working for National Geographic, the International League of Conservation Photographers just published "A Climate for Life," which focuses on the preservation of arctic, fores/rain forest ecosystems. The animal and environmental photography is amazing--there's a particularly adorable photo of a seal, which I'll note especially for Mark.

The piece is rather long, but for those environmentalists among us, it's really interesting. Regardless, conservation is a really important issue, an issue that's just beginning to get the full attention it deserves.

Check out the ILCP's website too. It's got great photos!

Vincent Laforet

My attention was brought to a blog of Vincent Laforet, an advertising and editorial photographer based in NY. It's an interesting blog on its own, but he also lists other photography blogs and websites he visits regularly. Also, on his website is a short film photographed with the Canon EOS 5D MKII.

I meant to add that this article by Laforet, which was also the inspiration for his blog, is very interesting about the future of the media industry.

Stop Pan and Blur: Advanced Style!

I know we thought we all left this behind in intro (minus the few of you who nailed it at the Petit le Mans!) but these are AMAZING. Check these out and get inspired.

Incredible gallery

When I was doing my Day in the Life, I asked the photographer about some of the people who inspire them or they admire, and among other names he brought out a handmade, handprinted leather book that he said was one of his prize possessions. After looking through it, I can see why.



I don't know whether to call it documentary, or environmental portraits, or whatever you like, but suffice to say the images are incredible. The pictures are taken by Gregory Colbert of Canada, and are part of a large-scale work titled "Ashes and Snow," contained in a moving, "nomadic" exhibition and comprising photos, writings, and three films -- the main film of which has been narrated by big names (Laurence Fishburne, Ken Watanabe, and others) and translated into several languages. He travelled all over Asia, Africa, and Antarctica to witness the native people interacting with the animals there -- these are must-see photos; this is just one of so many to choose from.

To see the whole series, go to www.ashesandsnow.com.

Inspiration: Conceptual Portraits

(By Brooke Hunyady, found at her website http://www.brookehunyady.com/)

In case you all don't have enough to think about, forget the big project due Tuesday and the rest of your classes, (and the craziness of graduating a month from Tuesday, if you're me!), let's all think about our portraits.

Here, my friends, is inspiration if you need it. Portfolio>Conceptual.

Enjoy!

Another Look at "Photojournalist for a Day"

Out of curiousity, I googled the name of our next project to see what popped up. Looking for inspiration, I guess.

I came across this, which isn't at all what we did for our projects, but is interesting none the less.

Bearing Witness

For a long time, I thought the reason that I wanted to be in newspapers was to tell the story of war, to work with the troops doing embedded journalism. I have friends who served and are still serving in Iraq, so their stories really touched me. Now, I don't know if I could do it.

Reuters put together a multimedia piece called Bearing Witness: Five Years of the Iraq War. The images are so powerful, so raw...and some of it isn't easy to watch. The piece gives an overview of what the journalists covering the war have seen and will continue to see. But what I really liked about it were the profile pieces, which fearful in-depth interviews with reporters and photographers who have been covering the war. Wow.

One of the most disturbing images for me was of a camera abandoned on the ground after an explosion. Why? Whoever had it uses our 70-200 lens.

The Big Picture.....

has become one of my favorite blogs recently and I enjoy so much looking at the amazing photos posted here.  I came across these photos and thought that they were appropriate since yesterday was Veteran's Day.  I especially found them intriguing since my older brother is currently serving in Afghanistan.  Check them out...the desert has never looked so beautiful (to me anyways). 

so this is depressing

Paper Cuts: layoffs and buyouts at U.S. newspapers

Executive Portraits

I've been thinking a lot lately about shooting executive portraits. I'm reshooting mine on Monday, and decided to use good ole Google for some ideas. I flipped through the images for awhile and didn't really find anything that held my attention. I guess that's my difficulty with this type of image: where's the artistry?

Anyway, I found (another) time lapse video of an executive portrait photographer, David Tejada. He shot 9 executive portraits with the same set up. It's a nice way to lose 4-5 minutes of your time, but it makes me wonder how much of the photographer actually goes in to it. Any thoughts?