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Lens Culture is an online magazine celebrating international contemporary photography, art, media, and world cultures. Discover photography from all continents and various points of view: documentary, fine art, photojournalism, poetic, personal, abstract, human, and street photography. Read essays, analysis and criticism about photography and culture. Listen to audio interviews with photographers. Enjoy reviews of exhibitions and photo books. Buy very cool 21st century photography at our new online store. Lens Culture attracts visitors from more than 100 countries every day.

Lens Culture is an online magazine celebrating international contemporary photography, art, media, and world cultures. Discover photography from all continents and various points of view: documentary, fine art, photojournalism, poetic, personal, abstract, human, and street photography. Read essays, analysis and criticism about photography and culture. Listen to audio interviews with photographers. Enjoy reviews of exhibitions and photo books. Buy very cool 21st century photography at our new online store. Lens Culture attracts visitors from more than 100 countries every day.

For two hectic weeks between the US presidential election and the inauguration, one photographer was invited to make portraits of every member of Obama's new incoming administration. The result is a series of 52 unlikely semi-formal portraits that reveal a refreshingly diverse, young, energetic group of the people who will be key to helping forward Obama's agenda. This series of portraits originally appeared in The New York Times Magazine, in print and online. Now, for the first time anywhere, an exhibition of life-size prints of these images will go on display (not in America) but in Birmingham, UK. UK-based photographer Nadav Kander talks with Jim Casper of Lens Culture about how this daunting project came into being, and provides some very interesting personal observations about his brief encounters with the new power-brokers of America. See some of the images, and listen to the interview, here in Lens Culture.

JJOHNSON PRACTICE PhD/ LDoc http://ldoc-cdt.ac.uk/beyond-participation-use-of-photographic-methodologies-in-peer-led-therapeutic-environments-by-those-accessing-mental-health-services/ My website www.lensculture.com/julia-johnson LTAL Info http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-18524178 Heroes and the aftermath trailer: https://vimeo.com/93989196 ETHICS ''Beyond the Lens'' book (AOP) 2014 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beyond-Lens-Gwen-Thomas-ebook/dp/B00U1IK2TA

Through the Lens of Time: Images of African Americans from the Cook Collection is a digital collection of over 250 images of African Americans dating from the nineteenth and early twentieth century, selected from the George and Huestis Cook Photograph Collection at the Valentine Richmond History Center. The digitally scanned images on this site are of prints from glass plate negatives or film negatives taken by George S. Cook (1819-1902) and Huestes P. Cook (1868-1951), primarily in the Richmond and Central Virginia area. The Cook Collection consists of over 10,000 negatives taken from the 1860s to the 1930s in Virginia and the Carolinas. The lens of a camera can both reflect and refract reality, and it is important to understand that a photograph, like any work of art, can tell us as much about the photographer as the photographed. These photographs of African Americans provide an interesting combination of examples of African American life and the white photographers' perceptions of that life, often at least tinged by stereotypes. While some photographs more obviously represent one or the other, it is an interesting exercise to attempt to determine which photographs were taken in a completely spontaneous manner and which ones were posed or staged by the Cooks. These photographs of African American life in turn-of-the-century Central Virginia are valuable both as conveyers of unique historical information and as examples of the nascent art of photography. Their preservation by the Valentine Richmond History Center and their digitization by VCU allows everyone from historical researchers to school children to access and learn from this fine and rare resource.

"Stanley Greene, 61, is a founding member of Noor Images, a photography collective, agency and foundation in Amsterdam. His books include the autobiographical "Black Passport" and "Open Wound: Chechnya 1994-2003." He won the W. Eugene Smith Grant in 2003. Michael Kamber spoke with him in Paris in May. Their remarks have been condensed."

lens culture: contemporary photography links

Two Way Lens is a project designed to inform and inspire emerging photographers wanting to focus their creative output in a way that enhances their chances of finding an audience, being included in exhibitions and ultimately achieving gallery representation. The journey from inspired artist to successful artist is one that is often difficult to negotiate and hard to control. On these pages, I will feature the experiences and opinions of other photographers who I have found inspiring, and hopefully the knowledge they have built in their own experiences will be valuable to all of us finding our own way to sharing our creativity with the wider world.

This clips covers the basics of camera shutter speeds and lens apertures and the relationship between them when taking a photo

"Khalid Mohtaseb was on the ground shooting in Port-au-Prince less than a week after the earthquake hit Haiti on 12 January, 2010. His job was not an easy one. Today, those behind the lens covering the news are rapidly becoming the news themselves. The dramatic footage that Wikileaks released of the Reuters' photographer and driver shot in Iraq has focused attention on the dangers of covering news on the ground; it has also sparked a discussion about how news videos should be packaged. Did the effects Wikileaks staff added to the footage bias the story of what happened to these Reuters' newsmen?"

Africa through a lens is a set of thousands of images taken from a broader photographic collection of Foreign and Commonwealth Office images, held at The National Archives. Starting with some incredible early photographs from the 1860s, the images span over 100 years of African history. These images are now available, for the first time, to view online.

Collective Lens promotes social change with your photos. Upload a photo and help bring awareness to important issues around the world. You can inspire others to become involved.

Update | Thursday, 3:03 p.m. Edgar Martins, the photographer at the heart of the current controversy, has told Lens and at least one other blog, Jain, that he will be telling his side of the story soon. The text of his e-mail response to requests for interviews, identical to both blogs, is shown below in italics. Original post | There's probably no more troubling issue facing photojournalism than the digital manipulation of images that are supposed to faithfully represent what's in front of the camera. Digital technology permits so many interventions - some acutely obvious, others so subtle that only computers can detect them - that the line has blurred between manipulation and the kind of enhancement and editing that viewers customarily expect; like cropping, color correction, burning and dodging.

Since 2004, Lens Culture has recorded audio interviews and conversations with some of the most interesting and thought-provoking photographers around the world. It's great to hear these articulate artists speaking directly about their own work - and sharing their ideas about photography in general. Enjoy!

"The documentary "Restrepo," directed by Mr. Hetherington and Sebastian Junger, will open Friday. Last week, Mr. Hetherington sat down with Mr. Kamber in Midtown Manhattan to talk about the film - and much else besides. Their remarks have been edited for brevity and clarity."

This a guest post by Ken Jarecke, a world-renowned photojournalist and founding member of Contact Press Images, an illustrious photo agency based in New York. Please also visit and read his blog, Mostly True. The past few years it's been hard for me to pick up a camera. We all know that the industry, at least the editorial side of it, has been at an all time low. Sure, I've worked to put a good face on it, like in this piece on the New York Times Lens blog, but more often than not, my desire to make wonderful images has been absent. My heart has just not been there.

THEORY - "Boris Mikhailov: A Terrible Beauty" A Terrible Beauty by Sue Hubbard Boris Mikhailov: Case History The Saatchi Gallery 13th September- 25th November Boris Mikhailov is sixty-three, has dyed black hair, a white moustache and a young wife. Born in Kharkov in the Ukraine, he has recently exhibited at The Photographers' Gallery, just been awarded the Citibank Photography Prize and is now showing his work, Case History, which consists of over 400 photographs taken in the Ukraine, at The Saatchi Gallery. For anyone with a taste in postmodern irony, there is plenty to be found here. For Mikhailov takes pictures of the bomzhes, the homeless down and outs, victims of the economic and social collapse in the former USSR. But Boris Mikhailov is no Bill Brandt or Don McCullen capturing life's gritty realities with a clear humanist agenda, nor is he an objective eye simply documenting what he sees from behind his lens. Rather he is a director, a creator of mise en scènes, who seeks out the alcoholic, the drug addict, the ill and the dispossessed and then pays them not only to pose for him, but to expose themselves - genitals, scars, menstrual blood and hernias - to his scrutinizing gaze. This is the ultimate market exchange, the sale, for a few kopeks, of these peoples' only resource, their bodies. Like all capitalists and entrepreneurs they sell what they have for the best offer, in this case to a photographer who takes their pictures, which will then be consumed by the international art world. The irony is brought full circle, in a game of signifiers and signs, by the fact that it is Saatchi, the advertising guru who gave us 18 years of Thatcherism, who is playing host to these photos of some of the world's most abject. What, I kept wondering, would these subjects make of the private view, where the likes of Tracy Emin quaff champagne in her latest Agnès B, surrounded by their exposed and blistered penises, black eyes and filthy bodies; and what does it

Street Level was founded in 1989. From its inception it has provided artists and the public with the opportunity to produce and participate in photography and lens-based media. It aims to make artistic production accessible, both physically and intellectually, to a wide audience. Recognised for its integrated practice, the organisation promotes the work of artists through exhibitions, commissions, residencies, and publications; an education programme; community collaborations; open access facilities and training courses for the public. The exhibitions programme supports both emerging and established artists from local, national and international sources. Earlier exhibitions have included such diverse artists as Ian Breakwell, Chila Kumari Burman, Peter Kennard, Daniel Reeves, Maud Sulter, Andrew Stones, David Levinthal, and Elizabeth and Iftikhar Dadi. Critical ideas are also fostered through talks, symposia, and publications. Exhibitions and projects from the past five years are being listed on the archive section of the website. The education programme involves a range of collaborations in the community, with schools and with agencies working across areas of inclusion, social justice, and equalities. It aims to enable the creativity of non-artists, increase involvement by under-represented groups, and assist the artistic programme by engaging participants. A chronological list of projects will be listed on our education archive.

Pavilion is a visual arts commissioning agency that collaborates with artists and audiences to make exceptional new works of art, using photography and digital lens based media. Pavilion invests in the talent of emerging photographers. It does this through; commissions, exhibitions and portfolio review sessions. Pavilion also supports emerging artists into the art market through its print sales initiative. Pavilion's curated education programme is an ongoing investement in the creative development of young people. The programme produces artist-led, relational visual arts experiences, with audiences and in particular with young disadvantaged people. Through Pavilion's new gallery, national exhibitions, publications, critical dialogue, a website including an online gallery, events and participation, Pavilion responds to and cultivates audience engagement. We are a Leeds-based company with over 25 years experience in engaging with people and making photography accessible and relevant to a wide audience.

Ffotogallery is the national development agency for photography in Wales and the premier arts organisation dedicated to the promotion and presentation of photographic art in the country. The gallery looks at photographic practice in the broadest sense, and initiates exhibitions that focus on documentary as well as more expansive uses of photography that may involve the use of projection, digital and other lens-based forms. Through its exhibition & publishing programme and educational outreach work, Ffotogallery consciously attempts to respond to issues that are pertinent to the culture of Wales. In parallel with this, Ffotogallery endeavours to bring photographic work to Wales that is at the forefront of contemporary critical debate, from Britain and around the world.