Jain Lemos » Photography and Publishing

Toward Los Angeles, Calif., March 1937. By Dorothea Lange.

Yesterday, Jamie Williams and I arranged for a private print study session at The University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography. We selected a box of gelatin silver prints by Dorothea Lange, and a Magnum group portfolio. This image was one of my favorites of the whole lot we viewed, about 50 in all, with the patient help of Art Historian Shana Lopes.  I say patient, because Jamie and I wanted to see many of the prints in the best light and position, and Shana was more than accommodating.

The Center has 80,000 works by 2,000 photographers. We know we’ll be back for another session soon. The Center is also exhibiting a large Robert Mapplethorpe show in the main gallery and we toured the walls with plenty of opinions!

I’m passing on this call to action from the APA and the Copyright Alliance and I hope you will pass it on, too. I also suggest watching the video “Copyright in the Classroom” on the homepage. If you teach or have children in school, their study courses and teaching aids are excellent.

©©©©©©©©©©

September 29, 2009
Dear Friend of APA,

Advertising Photographers of America is partnering with the Copyright Alliance in asking you to sign a letter that is being sent to President Obama and Vice President Biden. APA’s advocacy efforts to support strong copyright protections for photographers and all owners of intellectual property are a vital component of our mission. With the threat of further erosion of copyright protections on the horizon, sending a message now to the President is an opportunity that should not be missed.

The Copyright Alliance is a non-partisan coalition of associations, creators and copyright industry leaders that give a voice to individual authors of creative content including photographers. This letter allows your voice to be heard in cooperation and inclusion with creatives from all areas of intellectual property.

Let the White House know that their support is critical to the protection of the rights of artists and the continued value of creative efforts in today’s society.

Go to www.copyrightalliance.org/letter/ to sign the letter. It is an easy process of entering your name, city, state, type of artist and email address. Click the sign button and you’re all done.

Once you have signed the letter please forward it on to your colleagues and friends in all areas of creative output.

Thank you.
Theresa Raffetto, President APA National
Stephen Best, CEO APA National

Mask Warning. Photo by Jain Lemos

Apparently some folks still are. Beate Chelette, who continually amazes me with her capacity for having her eyes on all things photography, gives us this Noteworthy Update on her Photosecrets blog. It’s the tale of an LA Times reporter, an attorney from Getty, a Long Beach travel agency owner, a website design firm and a “generic shot of a woman sitting in front of a computer.”

I took this photo at an antique mall last weekend, considering a new mask for my collection. I was wondering how I might use it in a little post.

Once again, wildfires are raging in the Golden State. My readers know I was born and raised in the coastal town of Mendocino, Calif. I call myself a beach baby, especially now that I’m currently based in Tucson, Ariz. I’ve lived near the Pacific Ocean for the vast majority of my life in many coastal areas throughout the state including Tiburon, San Francisco’s Marina District, Santa Cruz, Pismo Beach, Montecito, Malibu, Venice Beach and Laguna.

Over the years, I’ve heard many complaints about the California Coastal Commission’s restrictions on individual property owners who want to make improvements or changes to their land and buildings, even for homes located far away from the coastline. What was once a plan to temporarily protect the Coast’s fragile environment has turned into a bizarrely-run group of bureaucrats bent on making sure you don’t fix a road, build a fence or cut down a tree without their arduous permission and permitting process.

What’s more, the prohibition of property owners and firefighter authority’s ability to clear Commission-protected California Chaparral (essentially dry brush) to prevent fires from spreading and jumping has caused home–and even life–loss throughout the state.

I want our beaches to be as clean and accessible to all as possible. It is also important to protect any truly endangered species in our coastal areas. I like hugging trees, too. Yet even former Coastal Commission members and executives agree that that the checks-and-balances such a Board should be bound by are so completely out of whack that something has to be done.

To that end, I applaud the efforts of Richard Oshen, a documentary filmmaker whose compelling exposé, “Sins of Commission: The Politics of Fire,” opened my eyes and my mind. If you only see one more film this year, make it “Sins of Commission.”

Laurel poses for shooters on the Scott Kelby Photowalk in Tucson.

Laurel poses for shooters on the Scott Kelby Photowalk in Tucson.

Baton twirlers practice in downtown Tucson.

A baton twirler practices in downtown Tucson.

The Tweet that produced the above photos!

@suprspi via @jeremycowart re Photowalk 7/18: You’re not alone, never heard either! Thanks #togs http://bit.ly/11iR0M #SKPhoto
1:39 PM Jul 15th from web in reply to suprspi

Thanks to Twitter, I learned about Scott Kelby and his Worldwide Photowalk. This was the Second Annual, held on Saturday, July 18. I joined the morning group in Tucson led by Barney Streit, who did a fantastic job of organizing everything.

Laurel was one of the several models who came along and withstood the heat. I like these calm, “chalky” images of her.

I also want to give a shout out to the 2009 National Championship Synergy Twirling Team. I came across their practice during the walk and had a great time shooting these terrific twirlers. My shot with the baton in the air is my favorite. I like how the twirler with her hand on her hip has the light hitting her skin giving the cast of a baton.

Those of us participating on the official list were invited to upload our two best photos. Barney has made his final selection, which is this shot from Francis M. Tan. Congratulations, Fran! The Photowalk is Social Networking at its best: We get to play outside, search for photo ops scavenger hunt style, meet new folks and share visions—all with a little friendly competition added in to keep us on our toes.

Isaac Keyet posts this wonderful gem that fits right into the theme of my last post! Please take six-and-a-half minutes and enjoy the incredible artwork in Bendito Machine 3. This is a perfect example of what I mean when I say, be bold!

I am now Photo Editor for NewsPlink, a news website designed especially (but not only) for reading on smartphones. We think of it as Life magazine in your hand.

Anyone can submit stories and photos, but everything that goes onto the site is vetted and edited. That means what’s up is solid journalism, and there’s a fun and varied mix of everything from first-timers to Pulitzer Prize-winning professionals. Submitting material is easy: there’s a big red button on the top right of every page. You won’t have to subscribe or scroll through some droll agreement either.

The intention is to pay contributors, but of course, the funds aren’t there—yet. Still, it’s fun and a good way to add to your resume, list of clips, or tear sheets. A published, short “plink” is also useful for pitching a potentially much larger story or project, and even sharpen your journalistic skills. Will I see you there?

Remember my day in Tombstone? See how my story was plinked for prime time.

Here is an interesting read posted on Thoughts of a Bohemian. “Make me listen with my eyes.” Good one, Melcher! Measuring appearance against perception is a very critical part of evaluating images.

If you have been creating short videos and using YouTube for distribution, you might not have heard about Vimeo. Quality sets them apart and if this is the type of showcasing you are using to present your work, you might do well to take advantage of their platform. Watch this photo promo from stock veteran Jack Hollingsworth titled, “See the World” and get a load of the snappy music, too. Go ahead, smile and enjoy yourself for a few minutes!

Jack uses fast transitions and smart sequencing in this 3:18-minute video. Note how the colors of each image connect to the next as he throws in grayscale shots as palette cleansers. Those of us with years of photo editing experience can, and do, look at images this fast. There are at least 300 photos in this piece so in about 200 seconds, we can gather practically all the information we need about the photographer’s style and the photography’s overarching message and usage potential.

Visions of Paradise, ©2009 National Geographic

The 20 winning images in National Geographic’s “Visions of Paradise” photography contest have been selected. Photographers were asked to submit images that best represented their unique vision of Heaven on Earth. The winners will each receive a customized edition of the National Geographic book “Visions of Paradise,” with their winning photograph as the cover image.

The competition ran in conjunction with the publication of the book “Visions of Paradise,” in which National Geographic photographers were asked to provide images that reflected what they considered as perfect, spellbinding or most divine in the world.

The winning “Vision of Paradise” contest images can be viewed at the competition Web site.

New York portrait and wedding photographer Linda Smith is walking the talk when it comes to social cause photography. She is setting up photo labs and workshops for former child soldiers and refugees of the Hutus-vs-Tutsi genocide in Rwanda. Her program recycles disposable and discarded cameras and provides them to children in Rwanda and Uganda, allowing them to process what has happened to their lives and villages by taking pictures. It is bringing a glimmer of peace to these forgotten children who have witnessed unthinkable horrors.

Please take a few minutes to watch this video about Linda’s “Through the Eyes of Hope” project. We can help by donating old cameras, sending the children disposable cameras, or by purchasing the project’s first 2009 calendar. All of the calendar’s photographs were taken by the children in Kigali, Rwanda. 100% of all proceeds from the sale of these calendars will go directly into funding further programs and school fees for the children.

Thanks to my friend Ellen Kasemeier-Herbert of Jupiterimages and to Linda’s brother, Mike Smith, for telling me about Linda’s terrific efforts.

I am continually impressed with the offerings and features from liveBooks. Michael Costuros is doing a great job running the shop. I was looking at their platform for a client about six months ago and going back over to their website now I see they have really expanded their community channel. I think you will enjoy their interview section, especially the one with Harry Benson.

Listening to Harry and seeing him holding that large, classy print of Jacqueline Kennedy, I felt a longing for the days when great photography was the smile of a mind-boggling subject.

Photographer Marcela Taboada is a finalist in this year’s Photolucida Critical Mass competition. Her work is among those pre-screened out of over six hundred entries. This image from her photo essay, “Women of Clay,” was included in her entry (see Portfolio 1 on her website).

As reviewers, our job is to look at all the finalists and rate each on this scale:

NO = “Someone may be interested in this work but it’s not me.”
YES = “I’m glad that I’ve seen this.”
WOW = “I can’t wait to show this to someone.”

For me, Marcela’s images for this story are so rare and authentic I want to give the photographer a prize. Moreover, once I read her essay and artist’s statement I became a bigger fan because she shot these in her own backyard in her state of Oaxaca. Many photographers feel they must travel great distances to find extraordinary subjects when they would have done better to look right around the corner.

Please take a look at Masterfile’s promotional magazine, Green World. Each spread in this 32-page booklet has depth and surprise. Note their seamless marketing focus on their own products while encouraging mainstream green support. This work is powerful and inspiring on many levels. They have blended the talents of editors, writers, photographers, designers, programmers and marketers into an enjoyable experience for any audience.