Category Archives: Photographers in the News

Annie Leibovitz + NPR = Yes.

How did I miss Annie Leibovitz on NPR on tuesday? I must be seriously slacking in my news gathering. Check it out over here. Among other things, she talks about her great new collection, “Annie Leibovitz at Work”.

Here’s a couple of short quotes to wet your appetite…

“It’s a romantic story,” she says. “Can you imagine? Being young, being on the road with the Rolling Stones, doing everything, and holding on tight to my camera.”

“I sometimes find the surface interesting. To say that the mark of a good portrait is whether you get them or get the soul — I don’t think this is possible all of the time,” she says. “Could you imagine trying to get the soul every day?”

I highly suggest you give a listen, or at least check out the NPR article for some highlights.

Real Life of a Pro Photographer

Gary Bagshawe has written up the events of the day he snapped a big news story practically right on his doorstep. It’s a cool story, regardless of what you think about this type of work, and netted him a good little earner.

The prince Naseem Case

Some of you who are reading this may recall the Prince Naseem Car Crash pictures and the ensuing court case that followed; below I have written my involvement of the case as a freelance photographer. May bank holiday 2005, World snooker final is on at the Crucible (didn’t manage to get a press pass….again) so the Mrs had me working in the garden re building the dry stone wall, oh joy!!! Half way through this enviable task I heard a lot of sirens, and I mean loads. Having chased many a blue flashing light I could tell that there were fire engines, police cars and Ambulances, I looked towards the Mrs and said “that sounds nasty and continued my joyous task of re building the wall, about 5 minutes later I heard more sirens! Then I saw the air ambulance fly overhead. I looked pleadingly towards my better half…

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What is in Dan Chung’s Camera Bag?

Dan Chung from the Guardian is giving us a look inside his camera bag and gives us an insight into gear being used for shooting the world cup. Geeky stuff but I for one love looking at what equipment people use, especially the top guys like Dan

Anyone not interested in gadgets can stop reading now, but for those of you who asked, this is the kit I use to cover a World Cup match. Like the vast majority of photographers at the tournament I’m using Canon digital cameras. You only have to look at the number of big white lenses at the pitch side to realise how dominant the brand is in professional sports photography. I use up to five Canon Eos digital camera bodies at the average match, my main cameras are two Eos1D mk2 cameras on my 500mm f4L and 200mm f1.8L long lenses. I also have my Eos1Ds mk2 attached to a fixed 35mm f1.4L wide angle and a 580ex flashgun which I keep by me in case the players celebrate right in front of me. I then place an Eos20D with a 14mm f2.8 and a borrowed Eos1D mk2n with a 16-35mm on remote controls placed at either side behind the goal on Manfrotto mini tripods. I also have a 135mm f2L and 70-200 f2.8L lenses with me in case I can’t get to sit where I want to use my preferred lenses.

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Photographers’ Money Woes

Chris wrote in a post of his how Carl Purcell had one of his photos appear on an American stamp and how he must feel since it was a stock photo and he basically got nothing out of it. Well spare a thought for Kelly Fajack. Here he finds people violating his copyright and making money from one of his photos, literally!

The central African nation of Burundi have used one of his photos without his permission for their 10,000 Burundi franc note. The photo was not in the public domain; it was just used on Mr Purcell’s personal website.

Quite rightly he is suing the Burundi government, but to sue a government is quite tricky. Good look with that Carl, I hope you get a fair and just outcome.

Read more about it here.

Pro DSLR vs Pro-Sumer: The Difference

It works out the main difference between a prosumer and a pro DSLR is the pro version survives being used as a weapon …

David Honl’s Weblog: Why do you need a pro DSLR?

On Monday my new 30D backup was crushed beneath me, and became destined for the scrap heap. I was covering a heated political demonstration here in Turkey and things took a painful turn for the worse. After being attacked by a group of volatile PKK supporters, thrown to the ground, kicked, beaten, and introduced to the experience of having a 1D body slammed over my head, I was face-down on the pavement with my 30D. My pro-grade 1Ds survived, even after being used to hit me over the head (ouch). On a CF card note, I was able to rescue my nearly-filled 2gb card from the ground before running for the hills (it popped out of the camera on impact).

On top of it all, I became news in all the Turkish media this week as “American journalist attacked” and spent the rest of the week fielding phone calls and doing interviews. Ughhhh.

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Insight into a professional photographers life

I love reading about the travails of professional photographers, Michael Fox in particular seems to have carved out an interesting career.

I’ve been shooting everything from an evening with George Lucas at his beautiful Digital Arts Center in San Francisco’s Presidio, to the Fetish Ball in downtown San Francisco. Michael Chertoff has passed through, and so has John Travolta. I can never complain that there is no variation… But last weekend I was hired by The Learning Annex to photograph their “Real Estate Wealth Expo”, an event that drew approximately 61,500 people

Read the full thing, it makes for interesting reading. I think that sort of creative pressure wouldn’t sit well with my nervous nature but it’s fun to read about!

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