‘Shooting the Past’ by Stephen Poliakoff

James Pomerantz recently posted on Movies About Photography. Not surprisingly I added Standard Operating Procedure to the fray in the comments section.

Not a movie, but every…

Towering follies: the Dubai architecture you couldn’t make up
“Why reach for the sky when you can plumb the depths? This German-designed scheme would offer 220 bubble-shaped transparent suites, 66 metres below the surface, so guests can enjoy a privileged view of Dubai’s spectacular coastal dredging operations.”

Towering follies: the Dubai architecture you couldn’t make up

“Why reach for the sky when you can plumb the depths? This German-designed scheme would offer 220 bubble-shaped transparent suites, 66 metres below the surface, so guests can enjoy a privileged view of Dubai’s spectacular coastal dredging operations.”

Tim Hetherington’s “Restrepo” heading to Sundance Film Festival
“When Vanity Fair contributing editor Sebastian Junger and contributing photographer Tim Hetherington traveled to Afghanistan’s beautiful, rugged Korengal Valley in 2007 to be embedded with the Second Platoon of Battle Company—part of the Second Battalion of the U.S. army’s 503rd Infantry Regiment (airborne)—in one of the most violent areas of conflict of the war there, they each took video cameras so that they could capture the harrowing experience of live combat in the most unfiltered medium possible.”

Tim Hetherington’s “Restrepo” heading to Sundance Film Festival

“When Vanity Fair contributing editor Sebastian Junger and contributing photographer Tim Hetherington traveled to Afghanistan’s beautiful, rugged Korengal Valley in 2007 to be embedded with the Second Platoon of Battle Company—part of the Second Battalion of the U.S. army’s 503rd Infantry Regiment (airborne)—in one of the most violent areas of conflict of the war there, they each took video cameras so that they could capture the harrowing experience of live combat in the most unfiltered medium possible.”

Give a Monkey a Camera
“It said that if you give a typewriter to a monkey and a lot of time, eventually he will write a Shakespearean play. So what happens when you give a camera. Will you ever get a Cartier-Bresson book ? A 33 year old Orangutan named Nonja who lives in a zoo in Austria has been given a camera this Tuesday and has since been snapping happily.”
via Thoughts of a Bohemian  Monkey Business (For Real)

Give a Monkey a Camera

“It said that if you give a typewriter to a monkey and a lot of time, eventually he will write a Shakespearean play. So what happens when you give a camera. Will you ever get a Cartier-Bresson book ? A 33 year old Orangutan named Nonja who lives in a zoo in Austria has been given a camera this Tuesday and has since been snapping happily.”

via Thoughts of a Bohemian  Monkey Business (For Real)

Manabu Yamanaka, The Destitute as Dieties and Dubious Ethics
“One morning, I Met a person clad in rags who walking slowly emitting an offensive odor. He was staring at the distant place with vacant eyes out of focus. I started early in the morning by bicycle for searching them in busy streets and parks. When I found them, I asked them by saying “Please let me take your snap shots” However, they would’t let me take the pictures so easily. They hated it and walked away.I followed them and asked again and again. I continued to follow them in spite of their spitting and hitting on me until they tired out with their patience. They finally allowed me to take some pictures of them.”

Manabu Yamanaka, The Destitute as Dieties and Dubious Ethics

“One morning, I Met a person clad in rags who walking slowly emitting an offensive odor.
He was staring at the distant place with vacant eyes out of focus.

I started early in the morning by bicycle for searching them in busy streets and parks.
When I found them, I asked them by saying “Please let me take your snap shots”
However, they would’t let me take the pictures so easily.

They hated it and walked away.I followed them and asked again and again.
I continued to follow them in spite of their spitting and hitting on me until they tired out with their patience.
They finally allowed me to take some pictures of them.”

Miloushka Bokma Grandparents

Miloushka Bokma Grandparents

One of those stories about stumbling across a Henri Cartier Bresson book worth $3,000

Some of you might know that I volunteer for Books to Prisoners. Our book donations fall into a few categories: the majority go on the stacks for future dispatch to prisoners; other…

In a recent interview with the Plain Dealer, Haeberle now admits that he did indeed take pictures of some of those doing the killing but later destroyed them. He said: “There are some photographs that after I arrived home [in the US] I realised that there is no way I can release photographs showing who the actual persons are doing what. I figured I’m not going to point my finger at any one soldier. I’m there. I’m part of it. I’m as guilty as anybody else, not for shooting a person, but for not reporting it… it’s like one big cover up. There are photographs I could have pinpointed who did what.

The Lesson

“What I think happens with some photographers is that they view their subjects as objects. But objects don’t have any emotion; they don’t feel.” Photographer & Teacher, Dave LaBelle on Vimeo

Love this picture by Eric Lunsford, via uncommons - the marching band in bubbles

Love this picture by Eric Lunsford, via uncommons - the marching band in bubbles

Dear Mr. Cartier Bresson, 
“In response to your request for a critique (which I assume you wanted because I have found your photo uploaded on the internet) I have been thinking about your picture for a long time and have concluded that your problem is you don’t really know which your subject is. Are you trying to take a picture of the kids? In that case you have failed miserably because the kids are around the edge, almost an afterthought. Are you trying to take a picture of the walking man? Then perhaps you should of considered formal portraiture, at least gotten him to stop, if you ask for permission to take his picture you will be surprised how many people will stop and help you out. And here is what I would of done, I would of made an abstract study of the windows, which is the strongest element of what you encountered here. It is the most unusual aspect of your scene and yet you have not drawn sufficient attention to it, a more abstract treatment can be achieved by cropping out and cloning out some of the distractions. Oh well that is my 2 cents I could be wrong, hope it helps you, I have done my best for you, Sincerely Dennis G.”
via The Online Photographer: Great Photographers on the Internet, Part II

Dear Mr. Cartier Bresson,

“In response to your request for a critique (which I assume you wanted because I have found your photo uploaded on the internet) I have been thinking about your picture for a long time and have concluded that your problem is you don’t really know which your subject is. Are you trying to take a picture of the kids? In that case you have failed miserably because the kids are around the edge, almost an afterthought. Are you trying to take a picture of the walking man? Then perhaps you should of considered formal portraiture, at least gotten him to stop, if you ask for permission to take his picture you will be surprised how many people will stop and help you out.

And here is what I would of done, I would of made an abstract study of the windows, which is the strongest element of what you encountered here. It is the most unusual aspect of your scene and yet you have not drawn sufficient attention to it, a more abstract treatment can be achieved by cropping out and cloning out some of the distractions. Oh well that is my 2 cents I could be wrong, hope it helps you, I have done my best for you, Sincerely Dennis G.”

via The Online Photographer: Great Photographers on the Internet, Part II

Claire Martin at Lenscratch

Claire Martin at Lenscratch