Katie Orlinsky: FPW Scholarship

Photograph © Katie Orlinsky-All Rights Reserved
One of the winners of the scholarships awarded by the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop for its Mexico City June 2008 workshop is Katie Orlinsky.

I was interested to see that a couple of Katie's photography essays are about the "Muxes" in Juchitan, south of Oaxaca. She describes the "muxes" as follows: "In Zapoteco, the word "muxe" translates to "gay", however they are considered a "third gender": a local, indigenous gender that is widely accepted and respected in this particular area of Mexico. The closest English translation to muxe is transgender or transvestite."

Katie Orlinsky

NY Times: Somalia On The Brink

Photograph © Jehad Nga-All Rights Reserved
An infrequently-covered country is in the New York Times today, along with photographs by Jehad Nga, whose work is characterized by deep shadows and sparsely illuminated subjects.

To bring you up to speed on the political background: Late last year, Ethiopian troops, with the help of US intelligence, removed the Islamist administration that briefly controlled Mogadishu, bringing the transitional government to the city for the first time. Naturally, this anointed total illegitimacy to the government and it has been going downhill ever since.

The NY Times' Somalia On The Brink

Yen/$ Impact on New Canon 5D??

Here's an interesting analysis from The Online Photographer as to what the price on the eventual Canon 5D "Mark II" will be, taking into consideration that the current model is around $2200 at major retailers.

Price determination of any product is a function of many variables, which are all well covered in TOP's post, which is worth a read from anyone interested. Another variable is the current weakness of the US dollar versus the Japanese Yen (and every other world currency), which means that the Japanese companies will have to increase their prices to make up for the difference.

TOP's Future Cost of the New 5D?

Craig Schneider: FPW Scholarship

Photograph © Craig Schneider-All Rights Reserved
One of the winners of the scholarships awarded by the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop for its Mexico City June 2008 workshop is Craig Schneider.

Craig is a journalist and documentary photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. I chose his above photograph of the "Boxer Boys of Havana" as an example of his documentary work.

Craig Schneider

New Sponsors: Foundry Photo Workshop

Eric Beecroft of Foundry Photojournalism Workshop has just announced two additional sponsors of its inaugural workshop in Mexico this coming June.

The new sponsors are VII Agency, which is generously providing two scholarships to students, and Dispatches magazine (Gary Knight's new photojournalism/essayist journal) which is also providing two scholarships for the workshop.

Beat Presser: Oasis of Silence

Photograph © Beat Presser-All Rights Reserved
When Beat Presser was in late teens, he traveled through Southeast Asia, and met with a car accident in Thailand. Healed from a serious spine injury by monks in a Buddhist monastery, he vowed to do something in return, should he become the photographer he intended to be.

Between 2000 and 2004, he returned to live in Theravada Buddhism monasteries in Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, and photographed the essence of Buddhism. Oasis of Silence is the resulting photographic exhibition and book.

Presser also produced an accompanying website My Oasis of Silence allows participants to post their profile and photographs, and to interact among each other and with Beat Presser, thus creating a growing community and allowing a permanent exchange.

Beat Presser's Buddhism Oasis of Silence is well produced and its background music is haunting, but the B&W photographs are too small to fully appreciate Presser's artistry.

Adobe Photoshop Express

Adobe Systems opened up Photoshop Express today, its new Web-based image editor aimed at consumers who seek a simple way to touch up, share, and store photos. Photoshop Express is available for free with 2 gigabytes of storage, and requires Flash Player 9 to run (a quick download).

The bottom line from CNET is as follows:

Slick, attractive interface; useful retouching tools and well-done interface for using them; most operations relatively fast. Doesn't support photos from 12-megapixel or higher cameras; some unnattractive Terms of Service; no filtering or keywording; no printing options.

Though there's a lot to like about Adobe's first stab at online photo editing and sharing, you probably want to wait until the company fixes a few problems with the beta--and de-fangs its terms of service--before uploading scads of photos to Adobe Photoshop Express.

Caution: CNET mentions the de-fanging of Adobe's Terms of Service...here's the main "fang":

"with respect to Your Content that you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Services, you grant Adobe a worldwide, royalty-free, nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable license to use, distribute, derive revenue or other remuneration from, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such Content into other Materials or works in any format or medium now known or later developed."

so Caveat Emptor!!! (although it's free).

Adobe's Photoshop Express

CNET's Photoshop Express Review

Charlie Mahoney: FPW Scholarship

Photograph © Charlie Mahoney-All Rights Reserved
One of the winners of the scholarships awarded by the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop for its Mexico City June 2008 workshop is Charlie Mahoney.

Charlie Mahoney is a freelance photographer based in Barcelona, and is represented by WpN. He prefers stories of human interest and collaborates with non-profit organizations, and traveled extensively to include the Balkans, West Africa and Latin America. Apart from winning a FPW scholarship, Charlie is also the 2007 winner of the New Talent category of Travel Photographer of the Year competition.

Prior to his career in photography, he worked in finance and investments in San Francisco, Madrid and Barcelona.

Charlie Mahoney

Globe & Mail: Talking to the Taliban

Here's a multimedia feature from the Canadian Globe & Mail, and it's a must-see to anyone who's interested in the current situation in Afghanistan, and how it evolved to where it is, and where it's probably going.

After watching this remarkable feature, I can only help but think that this administration got us involved militarily against implacable foes in two of the most intractable regions in the world: Afghanistan and Iraq. While the former was a necessary involvement, the latter was a enormous blunder and just diverted our resources from completing the stated mission in Afghanistan.

To watch the unwavering ideology and zealotry of the Taliban interviewees and describe it as frightening would be a massive understatement. The common thread in most of the interviews is that they want us out of there...that's all they want. They wanted the Soviets out...and they got them out. Now they want NATO and the US out. It's not too difficult to understand.

Naturally, it's not our own media who'd come up with such a brave and courageous reportage.

The Globe & Mail's Talking To The Taliban

Sandra C Roa: FPW Scholarship

Photograph © Sandra C Roa-All Rights Reserved
One of the winners of the scholarships awarded by the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop for its Mexico City June 2008 workshop is Sandra C. Roa.

Sandra C Roa was raised in Queens, and her parents are originally from the Colombia city of Cali. She studied art and dance, and is interested in folkloric traditions and its music. She's currently working with video and stills to produce multi-media stories and works at the ICP as a digital media associate and instructor.

I particularly liked her lively imagery in the section titled "Music" on her website. Also explore her Places....she certainly has an interesting viewpoint.

Sandra C Roa

5 Langkah Mengganti Logo Google Dengan Nama Anda.

Jakarta - Siapa yang tak kenal dengan Google, mesin cari populer dengan latar halaman bernuansa putih sederhana plus logo "Google" di atas kotak mesin carinya.

Jika Anda bosan dengan tampilan logo tersebut, Anda bisa membuat halaman seperti Google dengan nama Anda. Caranya sangat mudah. Cukup klik-klik saja logo dan style yang diinginkan, dalam sekejap Anda akan bisa memiliki halaman mesin cari seperti Google dengan nama Anda. Simak langkahnya:

1. Buka situs http://www.funnylogo.info/create.asp
2. Masukan nama yang Anda inginkan pada situs tersebut.
3. Tentukan style tulisan yang diinginkan, misal: Google Style.
4. Klik "Create My Search Engine".
5. Setelah itu akan muncul tampilan "Situs Google" dengan logo yang kita inginkan.

Untuk membuat tampilan tersebut menjadi halaman default ketika Anda membuka browser, copy alamat yang tertera pada Address.

Untuk Browser Internet Explorer (IE):
1. Klik menu Tools - Internet Options
2. Pilih tab General, lalu ubah field Home Page dengan alamat tersebut.

Untuk Browser Mozila:
1. Klik menu Tools - Options
2. Pilih tab Main, lalu ubah field Home Page dengan alamat tersebut.
3. Pada field When Firefox starts, pilih settingan Show my home page, lalu klik OK.

Setelah semua langkah dilakukan, Anda bisa mencoba membuka browser dan melihat hasilnya.


Artikel ini merupakan kiriman dari Irmawan, anggota detikINET Forum.

Sumber>>www.detiknet.com

Nevada Wier's Blog: A Thought

I've been directed to the two-months old blog authored by the celebrity travel photographer Nevada Wier. Having skimmed through its sparse posts just this morning, I stopped at her opening post in which she writes that she'll be posting personal comments, new photographs, equipment reviews, and notes from her travels.

I hope she lives up to the spirit of this first post, and is able to share with us the wealth of information and knowledge gained though her illustrious career. I don't mean well-worn tips such as "focus on the eyes for pin-sharp portrait", or silly pulse-quickening statements such as "the Papua New Guinea tribesmen had never seen a white person before", or equipment reviews that reek of sponsorship payback...no, I mean useful information that she gained from her destinations...how to photograph Ladakhi monasteries , which hidden Burmese pagodas to visit, some of the off the beaten path places in Rajasthan, etc.

We all know that blogs authored by photographers are valuable tools aimed at increasing public exposure to their work and, if they're involved in photo workshops/tours, help in publicizing these (as I do) among a wider audience. I'm certain that Nevada will use hers for this very purpose as well...but because of her experience, talent and celebrity status, it's a given that her guidance would help other travel photographers, as well as her fans and admirers....so will she duplicate the unstinting generosity of David Alan Harvey, as an example? We'll have to wait and see.

Nevada Wier Blog

Lianne Milton: FPW Scholarship

Photograph © Lianne Milton-All Rights Reserved
One of the winners of the scholarships awarded by the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop for its Mexico City June 2008 workshop is Lianne Milton.

Lianne is a photojournalist working at the Napa Valley Register in California. Much of her work on her website is of Mexico and Guatemala, along with documentary photography of local Napa stories.

I was drawn to her work of Guatemala, especially to her gallery she titles "Indigenous Landscapes", a collection of images of Quetzaltenango, the second largest city in the country, deep in the Sierra Madres.

Lianne Milton Photography

Adobe Elements for Mac

Adobe announced the immediate availability of Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 software for Macintosh. This version runs on Leopard, (Mac OS X v 10.5.2), as well as previous versions of Mac OS X starting with 10.4.8.

The product is immediately available in the United States for an estimated street price of US$89.99. Owners of previous versions of Photoshop Elements can upgrade to Photoshop Elements 6 for US$69.99 with an in-box, mail-in rebate or through Adobe's website.

Adobe has previously announced Elements 6 on a pre-order basis...a PR gimmick to avoid announcing a delay in its original release plans....but now it seems it's available from retailers (although Adobe's website still has it listed as on a 'pre-order' basis).

(Via Imaging Insider)

Foundry Photojournalism Workshop

The Foundry Photojournalism Workshop has just announced the winners (full and half tuition) of its scholarship for its Mexico City June 2008 workshop.

The winners are:

Charlie Mahoney, Sandra Roa, Craig Schneider and Katie Orlinsky.

TTP will feature the work of each photographer starting tomorrow. Having seen their work, I guarantee that you will be astounded by the high quality photographs produced by these talented individuals.

Philip Blenkinsop

Currently with the NOOR photo-collective, Philip Blenkinsop started his professional career at the age of 21 working for The Australian, a national broadsheet in Sydney. Realizing that being a newspaper photographer was not for him, and finding that the work shallow and repetitive, he bought a Leica with a few lenses and a one-way airline ticket to Bangkok.

His name is now synonymous with forgotten conflicts, and his photographs are the product of weeks in the mountains of East Timor with Falintil guerrillas, of tribal war and cannibalism in Borneo, to the tragic plight of Hmong Veterans and their families lost deep in the heart of Laos’ forbidden zone.

He says: "I am just a photographer. Photojournalism can be stylistic and puerile. It's not the photographer's fault, but they know what editors like, so they mold the product for the magazine. It's like being an advertising photographer, shooting a style because they know how it will appear on paper."

TTP Recap of the Week

For your convenience, here's the past week's (March 17-23, 2008) most read posts on TTP:

Ami Vitale: Kolkata Rickshaws.
Pilgrims' Progress
Philip Jones Griffiths

Art Wolfe: PBS: India

I watched an episode from Art Wolfe's Travels To the Edge on PBS early evening yesterday, and I was struck by his using a heavy-duty tripod during all of his photo-shoots. Art Wolfe, who's a superb photographer, was in Allahabad during a Mela, and was televised thigh-deep in the Ganges river with his Canon perched on a tripod (Bogen?) and what appeared to be a 400mm lens. This is not unusual for such a situation, but further on, he photographs sadhus in their tents also using the tripod as well. In fact, Art used his tripod for all of his photographs in this particular episode.

I rarely, if ever, travel with a tripod as I much prefer to retain the freedom to move horizontally and vertically to photograph my subjects. There's no question that it's a trade-off....and involves a different style of photography. I guess that Art Wolfe's style is less photo-journalistic, and more focused on specific subjects and scenes. He is also (probably) accompanied by a few minders who help him out in 'crowd-control', who allow him to photograph perfectly-posed environmental portraits. This is invaluable in India, especially during festivals such as the Kumbh Mela.

Perhaps it's just that most travel photographers don't have the luxury of having minders and a production crew, and have to rely on quick reactions to capture their images....but even then, I would still have a hard time using a tripod during my work.