The world of photojournalism has changed but photojournalists do not seem to have noticed. Either schooled by tired teachers repeating the same outdated mantra to wide-eyed students or self-taught by blindly following obsolete rules, they are hitting a wall of incomprehension and misunderstanding. The result is an unhealthy combination of painful frustration and veryContinue Reading
It used to be that when trouble hit the streets, autocratic governments would shut access to the media, in particular to photographers. Those were targeted for a few reasons: One, they were easily identifiable with their gear, two, they could quickly communicate a situation via photos, and three, they workedContinue Reading
More than often these days, we see published, mostly in photojournalism, stories about the story rather than the story itself. Maybe due to sites like Emphas.is or Kickstarter who are repositories of photojournalist exposing their storytelling process, or the advent of more and more websites about photography rather than onContinue Reading
We really need to stop with this “Portrait photojournalism”. Making protagonists of a major event, whether it is a war, devastation, famine, drought, Tsunami, Hurricane and so on pose statically in front of a camera is not only boring as hell but completely useless for those of us who reallyContinue Reading
It is going to be interesting to see how the market reacts to Shutterstock IPO. For once, the stock photo market will be taken out of its own little world and confronted to the business world. Also of importance, obviously, is KKR investments in Fotolia for 50 % of theContinue Reading
Taking a cue from the succesful microstock model, here is where photojournalism is heading. It is happening under our eyes, right now and in four steps. The decline of traditional photojournalism: Nothing really new here. Rising cost of living (travel, lodging, food) has made it almost impossible for current printContinue Reading
No slightly blurry, underexposed images. No, “look at me, I took these pictures with a broken down Holga standing on one foot” pictures. No, “I am so much more important than the story I am photographing” reportage. No, “look at my Lego skills dude”. Nope. 100 % pure photojournalism. ThisContinue Reading
One of the interesting aspects of the launch of The Daily this week, for those of us who are in the business of licensing images, is how to price those images. Traditionally, an image license takes in consideration the circulation of the publication. And with print, it is no problem.Continue Reading
You know what’s funny ? I’ll tell you what’s funny. By continuing to put so much financial pressure on photographers and photography, the media will loose it’s source of imagery . With declining space rates and assignment rates, increasingly obscene rights grabbing bordering on copyright infringement, unacceptable usage agreements andContinue Reading
From a Photo Editor job posting at Time, inc, the world’s biggest publisher of magazine in the world: -Excellent editorial judgment and eye, must generate story ideas and identify topics to cover, must react to news. -Edit and build various online photo galleries, notably never-seen LIFE archival content and LIFE.comsContinue Reading