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Academics and artists at London Metropolitan University worked with photographer Paul Trevor to make a selection of his images of East London digitally available to artists, students and researchers. The Collection includes 500 images (chosen from a total of 120,000) of the Spitalfields area from the 1970s to the 1990s, a period of rapid social and physical change. The Paul Trevor Collection is part of a larger archive project at London Metropolitan University, which will eventually include oral as well as visual narratives, that aims to represent aspects of the lives of local East End communities in their distinctive social, economic and political contexts. The process of producing this photographic dimension of the archive was lengthy and gave rise to challenging questions. What are the aesthetic, historical, and social dimensions of creating a photographic archive and how might these be related? Which factors contribute to the construction of a photographic archive as a relevant resource for public history and/or academic inquiry? How can aesthetic and social/political discourses work together to achieve this end?

Founded in 1974 San Francisco Camerawork encourages emerging and mid-career artists to explore new directions in photography and related media by fostering creative forms of expression that push existing boundaries. SF Camerawork Through exhibitions, publications, and educational programs, Camerawork stimulates public dialogue and inquiry about contemporary image-making in the context of current social and aesthetic issues. Camerawork has presented nearly 400 exhibitions in its thirty years of support and services to local, national, and international artists. Additionally, Camerawork has produced many exhibition catalogs and a publication, Camerawork: A Journal of Photographic Arts. Other educational programs and informational services offered are lectures, workshops, conferences, critique sessions, a reference library, and an active internship program.

Stills opened in 1977 as Scotland's first gallery specialising in contemporary photography. Since then, we have extended our facilities and now provide the best photographic darkrooms and digital production facilities in Scotland Stills is a vibrant platform for creativity. Our integrated programmes illuminate the fascinating medium of photography, exploring everything from its technical and aesthetic developments through to the central role it plays in contemporary culture. Production and exchange form the heart of our activities as we work with artists and audiences to catalyse the creation of new ideas, artworks and dialogues. Supporting artists is a core part of what we do - from research and production through to display and critical consideration.

The Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP) is the only museum in the Midwest with an exclusive commitment to the medium of photography. By presenting projects and exhibitions that embrace a wide range of contemporary aesthetics and technologies, the Museum strives to communicate the value and significance of photographic images as expressions of human thought, imagination, and creativity.

THEORY - "An Interview with Garry Winogrand" From Visions and Images: American Photographers on Photography, Interviews with photographers by Barbara Diamonstein, 1981-1982, Rizoli: New York Garry Winogrand is one of the most important photographers at work in America today. His sophisticated snapshot-aesthetic pictures celebrate ordinary events, and transform them with precise timing and framing into astute visual commentaries on modern life.

Aims & Scope Third Text is an international scholarly journal dedicated to providing critical perspectives on art and visual culture. The journal examines the theoretical and historical ground by which the West legitimises its position as the ultimate arbiter of what is significant within this field. Established in 1987, the journal provides a forum for the discussion and (re)appraisal of theory and practice of art, art history and criticism, and the work of artists hitherto marginalised through racial, gender, religious and cultural differences. Dealing with diversity of art practices - visual arts, sculpture, installation, performance, photography, video and film - Third Text addresses the complex cultural realities that emerge when different worldviews meet, and the challenge this poses to Eurocentrism and ethnocentric aesthetic criteria. The journal aims to develop new discourses and radical interdisciplinary scholarships that go beyond the confines of eurocentricity.

he Light Factory is a museum dedicated to photography, film, and related light-generated mediums. Our exhibitions present aesthetic excellence in contemporary and historic photography and film. The thematic content of our exhibits stimulates dialogue, challenges audiences and encourages artists to test new ideas. The Light Factory offers education and outreach programs designed to teach people of all ages to communicate using the photo and film mediums and to be able to interpret the messages inherent in the images they see both in the museum and in mass media. Following are the values that serve as the foundation for our vision, our mission, and our programs. We believe in… -the transformative power of photography and film -engaging the community through exhibitions and education -creating media literacy among all -evoking reactions and responses from our audience -stimulating creative commentary Each year thousands of people visit The Light Factory at our home in Uptown Charlotte's Spirit Square to experience our exhibitions, take classes, hear talks, and see films. We hope that you will join us as a visitor and participating member.

The Research Center Collections are central to the VSW mission to support the "creation, presentation, collection, preservation and education" of media based arts. VSW's focus on the aesthetics, cultural history of media, and social use of images has developed a collections policy which includes both creative work and vernacular images, as well as items that represent the history of media use. The Independent Press Archive has 5000 artist's books -- the largest collection of artists' books in upstate New York. This Archive is complemented by the Illustrated Book Collection, which contains illustrated books published from 1694 to the present day that display all aspects of engraving and photo-engraving practices and all forms of imaging technologies from wood engraving to xerography. These collections are supported by a Research Library of 20,000 books concentrating on the areas of photography, filmmaking, video, bookmaking, media studies, and the cultural practices of image making. The Photograph Collections contain 27,000 original photographic or photo-mechanical prints made by 2,200 known photographers and more than 600,000 examples of vernacular or anonymous images in the form of lantern slides, stereo cards, snapshots, postcards and news agency photographs. These collections hold examples of every type of photographic practice from the family snapshot to the fine art print and include work of every era from the daguerreotypes of the 1840s to digital prints from the present day.

An Interview with Garry Winogrand from Visions and Images: American Photographers on Photography, Interviews with photographers by Barbara Diamonstein, 1981-1982, Rizoli: New York Garry Winogrand is one of the most important photographers at work in America today. His sophisticated snapshot-aesthetic pictures celebrate ordinary events, and transform them with precise timing and framing into astute visual commentaries on modern life.

please watch these in advance of the session -Take Care by MediaStorm because of it's great use of stills and video to combine for a moving and aesthetically powerful visual narrative, it's great character development and that fact that within a short time frame you get transitions and a transformation within the story. I'm impressed that this project came out of a one week workshop, which is testament to the collaborative effort that so often is part of a successful multimedia work, but also to Gillian Laube's visual sophistication. http://mediastorm.com/training/take-care -Blanco- by Stefano de Luigi is a great example of multimedia that is more conceptual, evocative without being journalistic and visually stunning. While the reliance on special effects might turn off some, I find it quite effective in this case. As multimedia developments and evolves as a new medium in the context of photojournalism and the profession of photography, we must remain open to using the new tools and techniques available to us. http://magazine.viiphoto.com/feature/show/267 -50 Milligrams Is Not Enough- by Bob Sacha and Scott Anger, produced by Pam Chen for Open Society Foundation. This marvelous piece highlights a worldwide issue in healthcare, told in an intimate, moving, visually lush way. This piece is a great example of visual storytelling and advocacy journalism, done with the highest aesthetic qualities. Great character development, in a wonderfully told plot, with sensitivity and high journalistic standards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWeUDNyqo1I -Leaves Keep Falling- by Ed Kashi, produced by Talking Eyes Media, is a short film and strong example of advocacy journalism. About the lingering impact of Agent Orange on the children of Vietnam, it mixes stills and video in a linear narrative to keep a story that seems old alive and relevant for new generations to remain aware of. It was produced for a foundation in cooperation with an NGO working to support families

forwardthinkingelevatorThe Forward Thinking Museum is an entertaining little online museum with good photography (here). No, it doesn't replace real museums with real prints, but some of us drive desks all day and a little side entertainment is needed once in awhile. It was created by Joy of Giving Something, Inc. a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to encouraging aesthetic reflection about present realities and future possibilities and contains material

New York Times Magazine Withdraws Altered Photo Essay UPDATE, 5:57 p.m. ET: The New York Times has published a new editors' note about the altered photo essay that was published in Sunday's Times Magazine. The newspaper says "most of the images did not wholly reflect the reality they purported to show." The note does not address which photos were altered, or whether the photographer misrepresented them to the editors. PDN has tried to reach Edgar Martins, the photographer, but has not heard from him. Here's the Times' note: "A picture essay in The Times Magazine on Sunday and an expanded slide show on NYTimes.com entitled 'Ruins of the Second Gilded Age' showed large housing construction projects across the United States that came to a halt, often half-finished, when the housing market collapsed. The introduction said that the photographer, a freelancer based in Bedford, England, 'creates his images with long exposures but without digital manipulation.' "A reader, however, discovered on close examination that one of the pictures was digitally altered, apparently for aesthetic reasons. Editors later confronted the photographer and determined that most of the images did not wholly reflect the reality they purported to show. Had the editors known that the photographs had been digitally manipulated, they would not have published the picture essay, which has been removed from NYTimes.com."

"Manufactured Landscapes": An Interview with Ed Burtynsky John K. Grande : What made you decide to start your photo lab, Toronto Image Works? Ed Burtynsky : When I graduated from Ryerson Polytechnic, there was no access to professional darkrooms in Toronto. After four years of working at home in the basement, I realized how inefficient my production was, and how impossible it became to realize the quality and scale of prints I envisioned. That was the original inspiration for Toronto Image Works. I decided not only to create something that would support my own creative printmaking, but also to open a facility for other artists in the city to use. J.K.G. : One often hears of an artist dealing with the sacred earth as a subject, and though that is fine, this brand of art can be diminished by its avoidance of world problems caused by production, pollution, toxic earth, global warming. Artists cannot whitewash what is something very real with purist aesthetics, no matter how beautiful, or ritual, or superficially sacred they may be. Your photos touch on that strange duality, for they attract us with beauty.

Short excerpt from Gregory Colbert's film ashes and snow. Not to everyone's taste, but i think visually it's stunning and it certainly raises a lot of interesting questions re the purpose and aesthetics of multimedia.

"Corentin Wauters: Gamma is one of the most famous photojournalism agencies. Some even call it legendary. How important has it been for photojournalism? Michiel Munneke: I think Gamma - but also others like Magnum, for instance - played an extremely important role from early years on, especially in documenting crucial news events around the world. It's important to realise that in those days you had magazines like Life and the Picture Post who very generously allocated tens of pages to events like the war in Vietnam, for example. Those publications and photographs made a huge impact on their readerships. I think it's fair to say that the founders of Gamma, like Raymond Depardon - although he moved to Magnum at the end of the '70s - and Gilles Corron, who died in 1970 in Cambodia, can be classified as legendary. They played a very important role in news documenting in those years. Raymond Depardon said that in 1966 you only had to travel far away and take three shots to get published in magazines Paris Match or Le Nouvel Observateur. How has the profession of photojournalism changed since Gamma was founded? If Depardon was saying that competition for space in publications like Paris Match or Le Nouvel Observateur is stronger, then he's absolutely right. Competition is far more severe. Circulations are going down, advertising revenues are shrinking, and consequently budgets for journalism and for photography are being cut. image Nowadays its very rare that publications send photographers for assignments overseas. Take a renowned magazine like Time. They still have photographers on staff but they very rarely get assignments to go overseas. It's a sign of the times. Gamma, but also other big photojournalism agencies like Sipa, were founded in Paris. The city had a big name as a centre for photojournalism. To what extent is that true today? I think for those years it was really true. But now, in the era of globalisation and digitisation, it doesnâ

Ed Kashi http://www.edkashi.com/ and Ben Chesterton http://duckrabbit.info/blog/ talk about the state of the photo world today!! Discussion covers multimedia, ethics, aesthetics, ngo's, making a living - just about everything in fact!

Four Media Ethics students take on the ethics case of Photojournalist Kevin Carter and his infamous and award winning photograph "Sudanese Girl". We take a look at Carter's life as well as taking his case through Garry Bryant's Photojournalism Ethical Model. Finally, we come up with a decision on whether or not Carter was ethical in taking that heart wrenching photograph.

Playing "god" in a digital age: The thin line between art and the subjectivity of photojournalism Jarle recently commented on the post "Crazy light", in which I wrote: "We are constantly challenged to make scenes that are less than interesting, more interesting." The question that this raises, however, is when and how are the conventions of honest visual reportage bent for the sake of making images more compelling? Jarle continues: Correct. We all strive to make our photos more interesting. But, ethically and philosophically speaking, isn't this in direct conflict with the "our pictures must always tell the truth" mantra? There's often a thin line between photojournalism, "art" and subjective, commentary photography. And, playing the devil's advocate, what's the difference between adding motion blur in Photoshop and using a slow shutter speed? I'll start out by agreeing with much what Jarle has said here. From a purist perspective, "Straight" photography should be a style of photography that records what the eye witnesses without elaboration or embellishment. For the most part, this form of photography, what is photojournalism today, has remained pretty much true to form. At the same time, it is possible to find quite a few examples of photojournalism from the 1980s to the present day, that deviate from the normal conventions.

We live in a world where we can watch disasters and suffering unfold around the world. New technologies mean that every war, every famine, every hurricane can be covered live and direct. But do we actually notice what is happening to those involved? Polis Summer School student Andrea Abril has been thinking through the moral dilemmas. This is her report: Hannah Arendt, the German political theorist, wrote about the "Politics of Pity". Firstly , she made the distinction between those who suffer and those who do not. She also wrote that 'seeing' and 'looking' are considered as different concepts because sufferer and observer are physically distant - despite the closeness that modern media brings. This creates the "spectacle of suffering", unfortunate people are observed by those who do not share their suffering, who do not experience it directly and who, as such, may be regarded as fortunate people. This theory can be applied to sufferings representation in media. Audiences are observers of the misery of the unfortunate but within a distance, which is not just geographical, but also emotional.

Photojournalists Are Getting Artsier -- But Is That What Audiences Want? PDF Print E-mail Written by Dennis Dunleavy Monday, 04 February 2008 ImageWalter Benjamin once suggested that there is no single, absolute, or correct interpretation of a picture, since every viewer brings something unique to the process. At the same time, photojournalistic conventions often constrain how a viewer responds emotionally and intellectually to pictures.