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Mostly True Photographer Kenneth Jarecke offers an inside look at the world of photography and photojournalism.

29 October 2008 James Nachtwey & the Campaign Against XDRTB ~ Caught in the Conventions of Photojournalism Family members provide much of the personal care at hospitals in the developing world. Photograph & Caption © James Nachtwey/VII Let's start with the obvious, since I want to talk about what I think are more important things. James Nachtwey is an extraordinarily talented photographer. In his work he has captured the dangers and depravities of war and famine and other forms of systematic, man-made devastation. And he's done so in ways that have proven both profound and powerful. It is perhaps only a slight overstatement to say that he is unrivaled. Yet, despite his own admirable aims, Nachtwey is operating within conventions that are highly constraining.

Every year, National Geographic Photocamp travels around the US and the world touching young people's lives through the power of photography. In 2007, NY edition of the 'camp was realized in Queens, with NG photographer Ed Kashi and students from Newcomers High School, a NYC public HS dedicated to serving kids who have been in the US for less than one year.

http://www.ted.com Accepting his 2007 TED Prize, James Nachtwey talks about his decades as a photojournalist. A slideshow of his photos, beginning in 1981 in Northern Ireland, reveals two parallel themes in his work. First, as he says: "The frontlines of contemporary wars are right where people live." Street violence, famine, disease: he has photographed all these modern WMDs. Second, when a photo catches the world's attention, it can truly drive action and change. In his TED wish, he asks for help gaining access to a story that needs to be told, and developing a new, digital way to show these photos to the world. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 23:41)

Welcome to the Lee Miller Archive. Lee Miller produced some of the most powerful photographs seen this century, from portraits of her friends such as Pablo Picasso, to her work as a correspondent with the US army in World War II. Beginning her own studio in Paris with artist Man Ray, she went on to work with Vogue, and in France, Egypt, and New York, being best remembered for her witty Surrealist images.

Amazing Photojournalism: Where to find the best in news photography Tuesday, November 18, 2008 The internet is full of photojournalists that are capturing the world in new and innovative ways. The following sites are showcasing the best of the medium and are an inspiration to professional and aspiring news photographers everywhere:

Weighing the Moral Argument Against the Way Things Work 'We have covered Africa this year, so we won't be doing anything for a while.' A photo essay by Marcus Bleasdale A child's coffin awaits burial as an uncle negotiates payment with the undertaker. The child's father was unable to attend due to "military duties." Infant mortality in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is 128 deaths per 1000, according to the International Red Cross. Photo by © Marcus Bleasdale/IPG. More than three million people have died due to fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo over the past five years. At least another three million people have been forced to flee their homes. This messy conflict at the heart of the continent has often been referred to as Africa's first World War. Most of the deaths come from hunger and disease among a population of 55 million people struggling to scratch out a meager subsistence living in this vast nation covered by dense forests and jungle.

NEW YORK-The panoramic photograph of a bootless soldier, sprawled almost gracefully in death in Afghanistan, might have made readers pause for a moment if it had appeared in a newspaper or magazine. But when "Taliban Soldier" filled a New York City gallery wall-blown up to near life size-it made the art world take note. Taken with a large-format camera, the monumental 4- by 8-foot print was presented for $15,000 four years ago at the Ricco Maresca Gallery, a Chelsea stop usually favored by folk and fine art collectors. It catapulted the Paris-based photographer Luc Delahaye, who shot the image on assignment for Newsweek, into international prominence. And it signaled a turning point for a small club of international war and "conflict" photojournalists, who now see their images appearing regularly in gallery and museum shows. Suddenly, the reality of war, famine, poverty and pain has turned into fine art. "Great collectors are always looking to be delighted by something that they don't know about, and this excites some of them," says Bill Hunt, the former Ricco Maresca co-director of photography who introduced Delahaye to gallery crowds.

Photographic truth and Photoshop April 17th, 2009 Photography's anxiety about truth, manipulation and reality has been on show recently. In different ways and from different contexts, people have been asking: "how much Photoshop is too much"? From the realm of fashion, French Elle is being celebrated for running a cover story in which the models photographs have not been 'Photoshopped' (thereby confirming, as I've noted previously, that digital manipulation is the norm in this visual domain). From the world of photojournalism, blogs like 1854, PDNPulse and the Online Photographer (with a follow-up here) have been buzzing with the story of the Danish photographer Klavs Bo Christensen who was excluded from that country's Picture of the Year competition for excessive colour manipulation of his Haiti story. Along with two others, Christensen was asked to submit his RAW files to the competition judges who felt that the colour in his photographs had been excessively saturated (their debate can be heard here), and removed his images from the competition as a result. Christensen was subsequently happy to have his files put on the web for comparison and discussion, thereby performing an important service to the photographic community.

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!

It's no secret that social media's played an important - maybe even historic - role in the Iran election protests that have swept the nation into discord and disarray. Many social media companies have made a contribution towards opening the flow of communication within and out of Iran, YouTube (YouTube) included. As we reported earlier this week, thousands of Iran-related videos are being uploaded to YouTube every day, revealing first-hand accounts of the crisis to the world. Some are incredible, some are eye-opening, and other shock you to your very core. We've included ten of these incredible videos, in a chronological order that helps provide context to the crisis in Iran. Be prepared, for these videos can evoke some very strong emotions:

The photograph, framed without margins and behind Plexiglas, is just under four and a half feet high by nearly nine and a half feet wide. Its title is A Lunch at the Belvedere, and it depicts an actual event that took place at the Hotel Belvedere in Davos, Switzerland, during the World Economic Forum of 2004. The lunch was hosted by Pervez Musharraf, president of Pakistan, whose guest of honor was the famous American financier-philanthropist George Soros. The diners, eleven men, sit facing the viewer--though none looks toward the camera--on the far side of a long table that runs the full width of the picture. (To take this in the viewer must begin his or her engagement with the work by standing ten or twelve feet back from it.) One has the impression that the lunch has not properly begun. For the most part the men are talking quietly with one another, and to the left a chic young woman, possibly a waitress, bends over the table as if serving or taking an order. The image is by far most arresting toward its center, where the elegant, dark-haired and mustached Musharraf is shown talking earnestly to Soros, while a third man, to Soros's left, listens in. And what is arresting is precisely the extraordinary accuracy, as it seems to one, of the depiction of an entire range of small-scale, unemphatic, but nevertheless intensely photogenic gestures, expressions, postures, and pieces of behavior: for example, the small-scale gesture--scarcely more than a tensing of the wrist--of Musharraf's partly open left hand as he makes his point; the downward cast of Soros's head and his inscrutable, almost sullen-seeming facial expression as he plays with something on the tablecloth with his left hand; and the diffident demeanor of the third man who sits with both elbows on the table and his hands clasped.

Kim Phuc was the subject of a famous photo from the Vietnam war which shows her as a child running naked after being severely burned by a napalm attack. She is joined by UC Davis faculty to consider photographic images that have changed history. Series: "Mondavi Center Presents" [5/2007] [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 12409]