Earlier this week The Eddie Adams Workshop began accepting applications for its tuition-free, four-day photojournalism workshop in link upstate New York. The Eddie Adams Workshop brings together top photography professionals and 100 students each year, and its alumni include many of the top photojournalists working today. Applications for the 2014 Workshop will be accepted through May 31. Students are selected based on the merit of their portfolios.
The W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund is accepting applications through May 31 for the 2014 W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography, which carries an award of $30,000. In addition, the jury will also give out an additional $5,000 in fellowships. There is a $50 fee to apply.
The nonprofit arts advocacy organization Crusade for Art is accepting proposals for its first-ever Engagement Grant, a $10,000 award given to a photographer or group of photographers who submit “the most innovative plan for increasing their audience and collector base.” There is a $20 fee to apply.
The Photographic Museum of Humanity , a digital photography museum, is awarding a grant of $4,000 for photographers. Applications are due March 12, and judges include Alec Soth and Diana Markosian. There is no fee to apply.
Getty’s Free Image Program: New Revenue Model, Or A Surrender To Copyright Infringement?
Getty Images lit up the Twittersphere today with an announcement that it was making its archive available free of charge for bloggers and other non-commercial users. Some of the big questions are: What is Getty gaining by making images free to the public? How does Getty’s decision affect not only its own contributors, but all photographers? And are there any hidden costs to non-commercial users who take advantage of Getty’s free images?
Getty said in its announcement that it was releasing a new embed tool to make it more.. easy for non-commercial users to share its images on websites, blogs and social media channels.
Getty CEO Jonathan Klein says in the announcement that the “easy, legal sharing…benefits our content contributors and partners.”
One benefit to the company and its partners is that by automatically crediting the images and linking them back to Getty’s website, the embed tool makes it easy to find and license the images for commercial use.
At the same time, the embed tool will also makes it easier for Getty to track non-commercial uses of its images, and the users who take advantage of the company’s offer of free images.
To read what Getty’s terms of service allow it to do with users’ information, and more on the implications of this new business for the perceived value of all images, see our news story, now on PDNOnline.
Related Articles
Brent Mcdonald Named 2014 Poyi Multimedia Photographer Of The Year
Video journalist Brent McDonald of The New York Times has won 2014 Multimedia Photographer of the Year at the Pictures of the Year International competition, organizers have announced. He won for a portfolio that included a video called “A Deadly Dance” about a surge of heroin use in Portland, Maine; and a story about Christine Quinn’s campaign for mayor of New York.
A Deadly Dance from The New York Times – Video on Vimeo .
Documentary Project of the Year honors went to NPR’s Planet Money team for a project called “ Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt .” The project also won first prize for Documentary Journalism (multimedia).
National Geographic won Best eBook website (app) honors for “The Photography Issue, October 2013.” The Best Website award went to Narratively .
Adam Panczuk won the Best Photography Book award for “ Karczeby ,” about the people of a region of east Poland with a strong cultural attachment to the land.
Contest organizers also announced on Monday that The New York Times won Best Newspaper honors, while National Geographic won for Best Magazine.
Judging for the competition, which began February 5, ended today. Various teams of jurors judged entries in five separate divisions: News , Sports , Reportage , Editing, and Multimedia . (Click links to see our stories on category winners in each division.)
Related:
Sponsored Post: A Look At The Qualities Of Light
The understanding of light is the most fundamental skill in cinematography. Watch and learn about the two basic types of light used in filmmaking and photography; hard and soft. Let’s break down these concepts and show you how to harness their power to improve your lighting.
Film Lighting Tutorial: Qualities of Light from Zacuto on Vimeo .
Hard light is a direct, often single, light source that hits its subject at a specific angle. The sun is a hard light, as is the flash on your camera. This hard light creates bright spots of light on the subject with little to no gradation and a distinct, sharp shadow. In the late 1800s and very early 1900s, filmmakers relied almost entirely on the hard light of the sun for lighting, along with real life practicals like street lamps or open flame. (Photographers were already exploring other options at this time, but for some reason no one asked them!) Movies were mainly shot outside or in studios made with glass roofs so sunlight could stream down upon the actors. Thomas Edison designed a special stage for the Black Maria studio that rotated, so it was at the right angle under the glass roof to catch the sun’s rays, no matter the time of day.
Thomas Edison’s rotating Black Maria studio.
Hard light is often described as harsh and severe (and maybe that’s the look you’re going for) but it can also be dramatic and seductive. Both classic and modern day filmmakers use the clean distinction between light and shadow offered by hard light to tell their story in the most ingenious of ways. Martin Scorsese’s earlier films, like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, use hard light to great effect, using the sharp contrast between light and shadow to mirror the dark and light within the hearts of his lead characters. The classic deep shadows and rich texture of Film Noir also come from a clever manipulation of hard light. The final scenes of George Clooney’s 2011 Ides of March are a textbook example of how hard light can be used as a dramatic tool.
Example of hard light. Publicity still for Ides of March, 2011.
Soft light wasn’t really used until the 1910’s when a sneaky filmmaker finally got the gumption to raid a photographer’s workshop and grabbed a diffuser. A diffuser is simply something that spreads or scatters and softens light. The first diffusers were most likely sheets of thin fabric hung over or in front of hard lights that broke up the direct beam creating a warmer, softer light that wraps around its subject. While the very fancy, official hanging sheets can be and are still used today, diffusers come in all shapes and sizes. Diffusers designed to attach to small camera mounted lights (as opposed to hung studio lights) are often made from curved, graduated or stippled glass or plastic. These curves diffuse the light creating a warm almost glowing look with a soft, graduated shadow. Some lights and bulbs are visit created specifically to give out a soft light or wash, like Fresnels, and as such are made with curves, graduation and stippling. Woody Allen is often noted for using mainly soft light. This gives his films a soft, romantic look, maybe a little hazy a times which fits the voice of his characters and films.
Most filmmakers use a mixture of hard and soft light to create a natural look that draws the viewer’s eye wherever the director wants it to be. There are, of course, notable exceptions and instances of hard light being used for dramatic effect, and then there’s the “classic” slightly terrifying sitcom where multiple cameras shoot simultaneously requiring an allover soft light with practically no shadows. What, no shadows? Yes, it’s true. Peter Pan be damned!
We hope this overview has inspired you to look at hard and soft light as tools in your filmmaking tool kit. To learn more about light and shadow see Zacuto’s Emmy award winning film of the same name Light & Shadow and visit http://www.zacuto.com to see more original programming.
**********
ZACUTO, located in Chicago, IL, is known for their “Made in the USA” brand of high quality, originally designed camera accessories. Zacuto Films produces original programming with EMMY’s won in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 (Midwest region) Follow @Zacuto on Twitter.
Brent Mcdonald Named 2014 Poyi Multimedia Photographer Of The Year
Video journalist Brent McDonald of The New York Times has won 2014 Multimedia Photographer of the Year at the Pictures of the Year International competition, organizers have announced. He won for a portfolio that included a video called “A Deadly Dance” about a surge of heroin use in Portland, Maine; and a story about Christine Quinn’s campaign for mayor of New York.
A Deadly Dance from The New York Times – Video on Vimeo .
Documentary Project of the Year honors went to NPR’s Planet Money team for a project called “ Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt .” The project also won first prize for Documentary Journalism (multimedia).
National more? info… Geographic won Best eBook (app) honors for “The Photography Issue, October 2013.” The Best Website award went to Narratively .
Adam Panczuk won the Best Photography Book award for “ Karczeby ,” about the people of a region of east Poland with a strong cultural attachment to the land.
Contest organizers also announced on Monday that The New York Times won Best Newspaper honors, while National Geographic won for Best Magazine.
Judging for the competition, which began February 5, ended today. Various teams of jurors judged entries in five separate divisions: News , Sports , Reportage , Editing, and Multimedia . (Click links to see our stories on category winners in each division.)
Related:
Brent Mcdonald Named 2014 Poyi Multimedia Photographer Of The Year
Video journalist Brent McDonald of The New York Times has won 2014 Multimedia Photographer of the Year at the Pictures of the Year International visit homepage competition, organizers have announced. He won for a portfolio that included a video called “A Deadly Dance” about a surge of heroin use in Portland, Maine; and a story about Christine Quinn’s campaign for mayor of New York.
A Deadly Dance from The New York Times – Video on Vimeo .
Documentary Project of the Year honors went to NPR’s Planet Money team for a project called “ Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt .” The project also won first prize for Documentary Journalism (multimedia).
National Geographic won Best eBook (app) honors for “The Photography Issue, October 2013.” The Best Website award went to Narratively .
Adam Panczuk won the Best Photography Book award for “ Karczeby ,” about the people of a region of east Poland with a strong cultural attachment to the land.
Contest organizers also announced on Monday that The New York Times won Best Newspaper honors, while National Geographic won for Best Magazine.
Judging for the competition, which began February 5, ended today. Various teams of jurors judged entries in five separate divisions: News , Sports , Reportage , Editing, and Multimedia . (Click links to see our stories on category winners in each division.)
Related:
Who’s Winning At Poyi? Pdn Links To First Place Entries In Editing And Multimedia Categories
©The Denver Post/Craig F. Walker. From “Cecil & Carl,” first place winner of POYi’s Newspaper Feature Story Editing category.
After naming Newspaper and Freelance Photographers of the Year and winners of various other categories during the past three weeks, my company the Pictures of the Year International competition continues to release results in other categories.
Jurors have weighed entries for the Editing and Multimedia Division categories this past week. Here’s a round-up of winners in those categories so far, with links to online versions of the stories and videos:
Editing Division:
News & Issue Story Editing (newspaper): The Washington Post, “ Never the Same: Refuge Stories from the Syrian Exodus .” The entry features photography by Linda Davidson.
Feature Story Editing (newspaper): The Denver Post, “ Cecil & Carl ,” featuring photography by Craig F. Walker.
News & Issue Story Editing (magazine): National Geographic, “ The New Oil Landscape ,” featuring photography by Eugene Richards.
Feature Story Editing (magazine): TIME magazine, “ A Portrait of Domestic Violence ,” featuring photography by Sara Naomi Lewkowicz.
Series or Special Section: The New York Times, “ The Lady Jaguars–Year 2 ,” featuring photography by Ruth Fremson.
Editing Portfolio (newspaper): Becky Hanger and Jeffrey Furticella, The New York Times.
Editing Portfolio (magazine): Kira Pollack, Time Magazine.
McDougall Overall in Excellence in Editing Award: The New York Times.
Best Newspaper and Best Magazine winners have yet to be named.
Multimedia Division:
Feature: “ Sensei ” by freelancer Ora DeKornfeld.
News: “ Spanish Bank Scandal Wipes Out Savings ,” by freelancers Almudena Toral, Suzanne Daley and Rachel Chaundler.
Issue Reporting: “ The Last Clinic ,” by Maisie Crow (See Maisie Crow’s web site for the trailer and photographs ).
Jurors will select winners of the Documentary Journalism category today. Tomorrow, jurors will select Documentary Project of the Year, Best eBook, Best Website and Multimedia Photographer of the Year.
Related:
Hartford Police Sued For Stopping Camera Drone, Chasing Photog Away
A news photographer has sued the Hartford, Connecticut police department and two of its officers for forcing him to stop flying a camera-equipped drone over the scene of a police investigation.
Photographer Pedro Rivera, who works for television station WFSB, was briefly detained for questioning and ordered to stop flying the remote-controlled drone over the scene of a fatal traffic accident on February 1.
Rivera was not on duty for WFSB webpage television and was not gathering video for the station at the time, he told police at the scene. But he acknowledged to police that he sometimes provides video footage from his drone to the TV station.
After he was detained, police ordered him to leave the scene. Rivera alleges that police then called his employer, and told a supervisor that Rivera had interfered with a police investigation. Police urged the station to discipline Rivera, he alleges in the lawsuit.
He was suspended from his job “for at least one week,” the lawsuit says.
Rivera says police violated his First Amendment rights to “monitor” the police response to a motor vehicle accident, and his Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable seizure.
Rivera asserts in his lawsuit that “private citizens do not need local, state or federal approval to operate a remote-controlled aircraft” and that police had no cause to believe he was “in violation of any law or regulatory requirement.”
The Federal Aviation Administration has taken the position that commercial use of drones is illegal, and that journalism amounts to commercial use of the vehicles, according to an NPPA report . That report also notes that some critics say there is no legal basis for the FAA’s position.
Rivera is seeking compensatory damages for lost wages and emotional distress, as well as punitive damages. In addition, he is asking the court for a declaratory judgment that he wasn’t violating any laws by flying the drone, and for an injunction to prevent Hartford police from “interfering with the lawful operation of drones within city limits.”
Hartford police have yet to file a response to Rivera’s claims, and they did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Related:
Patrick Smith Named Poyi’s 2014 Sports Photographer Of The Year
©Patrick Smith
Freelance photographer Patrick Smith has won Sports Photographer of site web the Year honors at the 2014 Pictures of the Year International competition (POYi). Smith won for a diverse portfolio that emphasized his NASCAR coverage, but included sports action, portraits and feature photos of athletes and fans of various sports.
National Geographic magazine has won the top prize in the Sports Story Editing category for a story titled “On the Trail with the First Skiers,” a story about skiers in a remote area of China and the clues they offer about the evolution of the sport. The story was photographed by Jonas Bendiksen.
Other categories in the 2014 POYi Sports Division contest and their first-place winners include:
Sports Action: Mark J. Terrill of Associated Press for his photograph of welterweight boxer Pablo Cesar Cano landing a punch on the face of opponent Ashley Theophane.
Sports Feature: Jabin Botsford, a student at Western Kentucky University, for an image he shot at a Kentucky high school cheerleading competition.
Recreational Sports: Alex Goodlett of the Daily Herald (Provo, Utah), for an image he shot at a high school volleyball match.
Sports Picture Story: Daniel Ochoa De Olza for a story about bullfighting in Spain.
Judges for the Sports Division entries were James Colton, Elsa Garrison, and John McDonnell
Judging for the Reportage Division (formerly Magazine Division) entries begins tomorrow and continues through this weekend. Editing and Multimedia Division entries will be judged next week.
Related
Cramped But Cool Studio: Down To The Basics In Honolulu
© Andrea Brizzi
This month, in connection with The Studio Issue of PDN we’re posting the “ Cramped But Cool Studio Showcase. ” We’re inviting PDN readers to share images of small-but-convenient workspaces.
We kick off with photographer Andrea Brizzi ’s one-room, studio-living-workspace in Honololu. It does not have much in it, but what it has is charming.
“I keep two modest studios, one in Brooklyn, the other in Hawaii. Both are outfitted with the essentials: a sofa bed, an espresso machine, a bicycle and a Mac,” Brizzi says. He can see the slope of the Diamond Head volcano out his window. He explains, “Space is scarce, so a surf board doubles as my desk and, when needed, dining table. I got rid of the horrific wall-to-wall carpet I found when I bough the place. The new floor is bamboo, floating, no nails, no united states glue. Bought at Home Depot, I installed it. I also threw away the window air conditioner. Not necessary here. No heating either.” Nice.
Does your workspace do double duty as living room, playroom, garage or closet? Send us an image or two, plus a description of the space and what you like about it to editor@pdnonline.com (be sure to put “Cramped but Cool” in the subject line) and we’ll be delighted to share it. The photographer whose Cramped But Cool studio gets the most positive comments and votes on our Facebook page will win a gift certificate to photo retailer B&H Photo & Video.
Coming up on the Cramped But Cool Studio Showcase: a nicely renovated basement studio.
Related Article:
Tammy Bruce 