Category — Photography In Today's World

Let’s face it - October’s been a tough month. The world melted down financially. There’s coast-to-coast vitriol over the election. A thief decided that he needed one of my cameras and a favorite lens more than I do. Job prospects are evaporating for everyone I know.

In the midst of all this, the following came to me quite innocently. Amy received the link in an email. Call me tired. Call me emotional. The first time I watched it, goose bumps covered my arms. I’ve watched it a  dozen two dozen times since. Smiles break out whenever I show it to friends.

I’ve been lifted up and reinvigorated. Our world truly is an amazing place filled with people of all shapes, colors and sizes. I believe (again) that our current tribulations will pass. Thanks to a guy named Matt and his friends in 43 countries.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

If you have fast broadband, click here to watch a High-Def version.

Like many great movements, it started as a simple idea and spread like wildfire. Read the story here. If you want to download a legit personal copy for free, click here.

What’s this have to do with being a photographer? Nothing and everything at the same time.

Vincent Laforet, the energetic New York photographer who recently published an insightful treatise on the state of editorial photography (’The Cloud Is Falling’ covered here), has launched a blog. Vincent is just about to head to China to cover the Olympics for Newsweek and promises daily posts. Be sure the peruse the left column of Vincent’s blog. It’s a virtual treasure-trove of other great blogs and photographer’s sites. I’m certain that Vincent will prove himself to be as good a blogger as he is a shooter… which means that we are all in for great insights and commentary on a regular basis.

This post last updated: August 3, 2008.

Back in the middle of photography’s dark ages, during the formative years of my youth (circa 1968), listening to shortwave radio was a keen fascination. When I visited my cousin’s house, at night, we would tune in to stations from around the world on his shortwave set. We laughed as the path opened for us to discover exotic languages and music. Other than scrounging up an old receiver and some wire for an antenna, there was no cost to riding the airwaves.

Today, I think the blogosphere is at a similar state of evolution. For only the cost of access to the Internet, I can tune in to the thoughts of photographers (and other colorful thinkers) far and wide. Likewise, the cost of starting and running a blog can be minimal. Consider that WordPress, the most widely-used blog software, is a free download and that thousands of blogs, including some of the most highly-visited sites (like Strobist), are hosted for free on Blogger. [Read more →]

New York-based, Pulitzer-winning, editorial shooter Vincent Laforet has written an epic piece on the state of editorial photography. Find it here on SportsShooter.com. I say “epic” both in terms of content and length. Anyone who earns a living with a camera (or wants to) should spend time reading Laforet’s observations and predictions. [Read more →]

For a photographer, the “stock market” does not refer to Wall Street. Rather, it’s the place that photo editors, graphic designers and kids working on term papers go for images - either because they have no budget to hire a photographer or because they have no time. In the golden era, which began to crumble six or so years ago, many pro photographers made very nice incomes through stock photography. Today, the rise of the internet and microstock has eroded the foundations upon which the stock titans, like Getty and Corbis, were built. As their margins get thinner, the amount paid through to the photographer continues to evaporate. Still, for the agile and the astute, there are many opportunities in today’s stock market. So where to start learning about stock photography?

PhotoShelter’s School of Stock is a great place. Originally conceived as an online archive for photographers, PhotoShelter continues to evolve with the stock market. Last year PhotoShelter launched the Collection as an online market for photo buyers. With School of Stock, PhotoShelter continues to gain momentum as an equitable meeting point between photographers and buyers. Check out their free tutorials - especially the Buyer Survey 2008. School of Stock is a blog - so use your favorite reader to subscribe to the frequently produced updates. [Read more →]

Dove’s Evolution of Beauty video was released just over 18 months ago. By my tally of the various posts on YouTube, it has been downloaded by more than 10 million viewers. I’ve watched it at least 30 times. If you’ve not seen it, think of it as an hour-long documentary rolled up into 60 seconds. Click on the screen below to watch it now.

As a digital photographer, I’m captivated by the process that transforms the girl-next-door into a billboard princess. Make-up, hair, lights, camera, Photoshop. The video shows it all.

As a husband, brother of four sisters and father to three sons, I’m haunted by the same process. Does driving pixels in this manner, bring us closer together or dull our perception of what’s really meaningful? [Read more →]