Professional Photographers of America Press Release 26/10/04

325 per day. 9750 per month. 117,000 per year.* That’s how many times people are conducting searches for photographers on the “Find A Photographer” search engine at www.ppa.com. These numbers are staggering! On average 19,107 names are included in response to these searches every single day.

“Find A Photographer” is an awesome indicator of the massive impact the Internet has had on how consumers and businesses look for professional photography. Several years ago when PPA took most referral requests over the phone, the number of monthly requests peaked at just over 1,000. “Find A Photographer” does that in less than four days!

NikonNet Press Release 01/10/04

NikonNet and ‘Legends Behind the Lens’ Honor the Work of Veteran Photographer Jim Richardson

MELVILLE, N.Y., Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/—Call him a photographer for the common man. To award-winning photojournalist Jim Richardson, there is something exciting about small-town America. While many photographers revel in the adrenaline of capturing wars or shooting sports scenes, Richardson’s drive comes from discovering what everyday people do to fill their everyday lives.

This October, NikonNet’s inspiring monthly, “Legends Behind the Lens,” honors the work of esteemed photographer Jim Richardson.  For three decades, Richardson, whose work appears regularly in National Geographic, has combined an uncanny ability to capture beautiful images out of what are often-ignored subjects.  As a freelance photographer and contributing editor for National Geographic Traveler, Richardson has also published several critically acclaimed books.

“NikonNet is pleased to honor the images and extraordinary career of Jim Richardson in this October’s ‘Legends Behind the Lens,’” said Tracy Mack-Jackson, senior manager of Internet Development and Programs at Nikon Inc. “His career is a great example of a photographer who is well-prepared, curious and creative, which allow him to produce captivating images that capture the full range of human emotion.”

I bought the Guardian newspaper on Saturday and immediately noticed two things a) the price had gone up again (grumble, grumble), and b) there was a feature on the very famous photographer, Sebastiao Salgado. It turns out that Salgado has started a new project, simply called Genesis, in which he is seeking out places that are still as pristine as they were in primeval times, places that provide hope. The results of this project will be published in the Guardian’s Weekend magazine over the next eight years. There’s an interview with Salgado and 13 photos from the project on the Guardian Unlimited website.

“Yes, we may already have destroyed 50% of the planet, but Salgado wants to show us what we have left, and what we stand to lose if we don’t take care. “In the end, the only heritage we have is our planet, and I have decided to go to the most pristine places on the planet and photograph them in the most honest way I know, with my point of view, and of course it is in black and white, because it is the only thing I know how to do. I want to see if I can put a kind of virginity in these pictures, if you can say that, and to show 100% respect to nature and the animals.”

Website: Guardian Unlimited - Salgado

James W. Bailey Press Release 07/09/04

DOES DIGITAL MEDIA SPELL THE DEATH OF 35mm FILM AND ITS AFFORDABLE ACCESSIBILITY TO POOR AND MARGINAL ARTISTS AROUND THE WORLD? AN EXPERIMENTAL ARTIST FROM MISSISSIPPI OFFERS HARSH WORDS OF CRITICISM FOR DIGITAL ARTISTS, THE GLOBAL MANUFACTURERS OF DIGITAL MEDIA AND THE CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUMS, CURATORS AND ART CRITICS THAT CHAMPION THE INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL ART DIVIDE

(Reston, Va.) Last year in the United States, for the first time in the history of photography, camera retailers sold more digital cameras than traditional 35mm film-based cameras. Within a few short years many film photographers think it is very likely that film will vanish from your local camera supply store. The current sweeping revolution of DVD replacing VHS as the preferred consumer standard has clearly established the supremacy of digital media in the market place. As digital technology rapidly replaces conventional film techniques and equipment, an experimental artist from Mississippi, doggedly resists the temptation to “go digital,” and in a style worthy of a New Orleans jazz funeral actually celebrates the death of 35mm film.

Artist James W. Bailey calls his violent style of photographic art “Rough Edge Photography.” He buys damaged cameras in thrift stores and mutilates his film and prints. Lenses are scratched, holes may be punched in the film canisters with a needle, and prints may be burned and torn, along with the original negatives. “I push found and discarded equipment to the extreme. I like the radical imperfections, the accidental quality that can be found in mistreating the equipment, negatives and prints,” Bailey says. “For me, classic photography had become too weighted down by its own rules, conventions and practices. This, combined with the impulse among so many photographers to abandon film and rush toward digital, made me want to explore 35mm film in a radically brutal fashion. ?Rough Edge Photography? is the result of my wanting to hang on to film until the bitter end.”

NikonNet Press Release 01/09/04

NikonNet and ‘Legends Behind The Lens’ Honor The Work Of Award-Winning Photographer Reed Hoffmann

MELVILLE, N.Y., Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/—Whether he’s shooting extreme athletes in Borneo or teaching the many facets of digital photography, Reed Hoffmann is a photographer of impact.  Known for his dynamic abilities in journalistic and commercial photography, Hoffmann is also widely considered a pioneer in bringing the digital revolution to newspapers by becoming the
leading American digital consultant in analog-to-digital transition.

This September, NikonNet’s inspiring monthly, “Legends Behind the Lens,” honors the work of esteemed photographer Reed Hoffmann.  For almost 30 years, Hoffmann, whose work has appeared in a variety of publications such as The New York Times, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, and Outside Magazine, has combined vast newspaper experience with a thirst for world travel and adventure.  For more than 20 years, Hoffmann worked for newspapers in Indiana, Alabama and New York, twice winning NPPA Photographer of the Year honors for Region 2 (Northeast).

The Observer recently published a great interview with the photographer William Eggleston:

“And yet, at 65, William Eggleston is perhaps the most innovative American photographer of the past 50 years whose unique style has transformed the way we look at the world. His influence on our visually led contemporary popular culture is now so pervasive that it goes unnoticed. In fashion shoots and films, advertising and art photography, Eggleston’s everyday view of things, initially dismissed by critics in the mid-Seventies, is now the prevalent aesthetic. Put simply, it would be difficult to imagine the world according to David Lynch or Gus Van Sant or Juergen Teller or Sofia Coppola without the world according to William Eggleston.”

Website: The Observer - William Eggleston Interview

Nikon Press Release 01/07/04

NikonNet and ‘Legends Behind the Lens’ Honor the Work of Veteran Photographer Doug Menuez

MELVILLE, N.Y., July 1 /PRNewswire/—For award-winning photojournalist Doug Menuez, there is a real connection between tequila and a camera, and it goes far beyond ‘great shots.’  In fact, with everything from tequila to technology, Doug Menuez has proven that, if you look closely, there is a story to tell.

This July, NikonNet’s inspiring monthly, “Legends Behind the Lens,” honors the work of esteemed photojournalist and commercial photographer Doug Menuez. Since 1981, Menuez has photographed major news stories from the famine in Ethiopia to South American drug wars for Time, Newsweek, Life, People and Fortune.  His eye for fine art has also made him one of the most sought-after commercial photographers in the country.

“NikonNet is pleased to honor the images and extraordinary career of Doug Menuez in this July’s ‘Legends Behind the Lens,’” said Tracy Mack-Jackson, senior manager of Internet Development and Programs at Nikon Inc. “For over 20 years, Doug has captured some of the most memorable images in news and advertising.  He has truly served his industry through his creativity, inventiveness and search for finding new stories to tell.”

I had the privilege of going to the Sebastiao Salgado “Exodus” exhibition at the Barbican Gallery in central London today. Focusing on Salgado’s Migration series of photographs, taken between 1993 and 1998, the exhibition is breath-taking, extremely saddening and, for me, ultimately overwhelming. Until I walked into that gallery I had no idea just how many different conflicts there are in the World, and how many victims. For Salgado to see so many in such a short space of time is an amazing achievement; the fact that hundreds of his photographs are so revelatory is even more amazing.

Website: Barbican Gallery

Tom Morris from BBCity.co.uk has emailed me about an exciting new Photography exhibition in Brighton, organized by IPSE (Independent Photography in the South East of England).

IPSE’s 7th exhibition: “The Independent Eye”. 21st March to 19th April 2003 at the Phoenix Art Centre, 10-14 Waterloo Place, Brighton.  Tel: 01273 603704

“I went to the Private view on Saturday, and the work was stunning. A wide mixture was on show - covering landscape, portraiture, nudes, still life, in traditional, black and white, digital, lith, infra-red and video. There is also textile based photographic work, and a giant
pinhole camera - room sized.

It definitely is a great exhibition to see if your in Brighton, and a fantastic bunch of people to work with (see the website for a list of forthcoming events).

Highly recommended.”

Website: IPSE