Tag Archives: photography

Exhibition of unseen Cartier-Bresson out-takes and famous works

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Behind the Gare St. Lazare
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Henri Cartier-Bresson, Behind the Gare St. Lazare

When I first read about this in PopPhoto I thought the news was a book of unseen Henri Cartier-Bressons work was being published but alas it is an exhibition it seems.

Another chapter is being written this fall, however, with the unveiling of an ornate leather photo album that has been culled from the archive of Cartier-Bresson, who died in 2004 at age 95. The album, housed at the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation in Paris, contains 345 images printed by HCB himself to prepare for the MoMA show. Some of the images are among his most famous. Others are “outtakes” of well-known images. Most of the images in the album have never been seen before.

Still, interesting stuff for those who can see it. Not only was he a really cool photographer, he had a fascinating life.

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My good news is Strobists Dilemma

What a coincidence. On the same day I give away a photograph for free to be used by British Airways inflight magazine I read this from Strobist

Try to resist the cheap thrill of being paid (very little) for a photo. The true expense of that action is that you ultimately deprive someone who has devoted their life to shooting professionally much of a chance of financial survival. If you are good enough to work for pay, you are good enough to work harder and raise the standards of the profession, not devalue them.

On the one hand I can totally get your point David, I really do. And you know, I do feel a little guilt for giving my photograph away (thanks for ruining a great moment in my photography career! heh).

Having pondered on it for a little while though here are my thoughts

  • If I say “no” someone else will say “yes”.
  • The only person I would be depriving is me and sorry but depriving me hurts a lot more than depriving you from where I am standing.
  • How the heck am I supposed to build a portfolio if I have to charge what you consider fair rates to people who consider those rates anything but.
  • The people who want cheap or free will not pay more than that.
  • What makes the photography industry any different?

My last point needs some clarification. Consider web sites. A company comes to me and says “I want a web site to sell my widgets”. I say “That will be $£xx,xxx.99″. They say “Whoah, my neighbours nephews friends sister can do it for $£x”. I say “Go get them to do it then and come back to me when they make a hash of it”.

If an industry gets commoditised it is because that industry is doing a poor job of selling itself. What is the difference between me building a website and the 12 year old kid with a copy of Dreamweaver? Oh, probably more than a million pounds in profit on the clients bottom line, and I can prove it, but I am not going to do it at the kids rates. You have to decide what the difference is between your photograph and some kids $1 stock photo. If there is no difference who’s fault is that? Not the kid and not the customer, that’s for sure.

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HDR Photography In NY Times

You know the bandwagon is well and truly rolling when the traditional media pick up on it, check out the profile of Flickrite Kris Kros (Joe Dejesus) in the New York Times

H.D.R. is one of many digital darkroom techniques catching the fancy of amateur photographers. With the rising popularity of digital single-lens reflex cameras and more powerful personal computers has come a growing interest in visual experiments. At the same time, software makers like Adobe are increasingly automating many of those processes, including H.D.R. While they may not always be straightforward, tricky digital techniques no longer require months of experience or hours of study.

Fad or not, his pictures can be very very cool. It is well worth spending some time skimming through his photostream. Definitely deserves the attention.

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Getty Images World Cup Photography

I am not interested at all in the world cup but I am interested in photography. Photographers from Getty Images have been blogging about sports photography and apart from the sports aspect I have found it really interesting reading.

There are descriptions of what it is like photographing such a big event plus some great tips for anyone interested in this field (pardon the pun)

take one goal scorer (in this case Henrik Larsson of Sweden), one goalkeeper, (Paul Robinson of England) and then mix together with the two missing ingredients. One is obviously the ball. The other, which is often over-looked, but for me makes the picture complete, is the goal post. The goal post helps us place the other ingredients in the right context. You can see that it’s a goal and not just another missed chance.

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Cool Bird’s Eye Photographs

There is something oddly compelling about aerial and satellite photographs. The view from above I suppose is our rarest of experiences but also there is something vaguely voyeuristic about it. This new blog aims to collect the best sites from Microsofts new service.

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Photography and Police

As photographers will do, we like to snap everything interesting we see. This is not always approved of, especially when snapping private property. It seems like some photographers do not take kindly to being told where and how they can follow their hobby.

Brian Larter » Blog Archive » Snappers to defy police ban

“The police have got no place making such warnings,” president Brian Walters SC said. “Merely to threaten is exceeding police powers and is an abuse of power.

While I am all for photographer freedom I think advising photographers to go against an explicit police warning is irresponsible.

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