Issue Archives

I was miserably cold and scared. I thought for sure that I would be killed.

The soldiers I'm with are ebullient. Many shouting "Get some" or "Four more years"

The gunmen dragged me backwards through the dirt. I could see our car with my fearful driver, gun pointed at his head.

I knew it would be difficult to get through the mob of people and I might miss a good a long lens shot or two from above. But at this rate, there was no way I was going to be able to photograph the actual burial.

2 from Iraq

The first time I ever heard the word "portal" was in the early Star Trek episode.

...specializing in a single medium may limit your future.

Street photography has always been the province of small and less attention-grabbing cameras.

When Brian Storm arrived at Corbis in the summer of 2002, the privately-held picture agency owned by Bill Gates was floundering.

Kevin Sites had no intention of igniting an international firestorm when he videotaped a U. S. Marine shooting a wounded Iraqi in a Fallujah mosque last month. But that is precisely what his release of these incendiary images has done.

Caught in the act - usually a fearsome happening for most people - is, for a journalist, something we live for, if the result reveals the unexpected, and makes news.

Since the shooting in the Fallujah mosque, I've been haunted that I have not been able to tell you directly what I saw or explain the process by which the world came to see it as well.

2004 was not a great year from my point of view.

It seems the presidential election had three phases this year.

Fort Scott - Gordon Parks, the author, photographer, poet, musical composer and filmmaker, all rolled into one famous Kansan, came home last week to Fort Scott. He was born there on Nov. 30, 1912, 91 years ago."

"My Grandfather's House: The Journey Home" is a film about my partner and co-producer Eileen Douglas' lifelong search for the house her grandfather grew up in Kovno, Lithuania, before coming to America in 1911."

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for one day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime..."

My first use of Photoshop was not to adjust photos that were being transmitted to news publications. It was to retouch portraits of my wife."

Take the world's most famous media brand - Life magazine - and turn it into a weekend insert to be carried by newspapers across the nation."

In the mid-70s, a developer in Milwaukee made plans for a downtown hotel and shopping center that would forever alter the skyline and the energy of the city."

Once every two years, Photokina brings photography manufacturers, consumers, photography-artists and anyone connected to the business of imaging together."

The election is over and some of you E-Bit-meisters have hit a brick wall at the end of your massively creative attempts to sway voters this way or that."

I hate to tell you this, but we're screwed."

It was a certified nightmare."

A dispatches photo gallery"

A dispatches photo gallery"

The first line on the first page of our 26-page schedule has our pool call time listed as 5:00 am in the president's Cincinnati hotel."

They pretend to make news, and we pretend to cover it."

Richard Avedon was shooting in one of the other studios. The effect was similar to what I imagine a visit by the Pope to a small country church would be like...

With only a few more days until the elections, most of us are sitting on the edge of our seats trying to determine which way our collective fate will be cast for the next fours years."

Media veterans of the Vietnam War are planning a reunion in Ho Chi Minh City to mark next year's 30th anniversary of the end of the war.

Seduction is a power game.

I've come to the conclusion that there are eight keys to being successful.

This month it's potpourri ...

Jeez ... If you're an old, famous, iconic, white, male photographer, then 2004 may not have been your year...

In my September column, "Anchors Away: The Debate Debacle," I made two statements about the presidential debates which I want to retract...

Celebrities, cityscapes, soldiers: memory becomes history

Welcome to the September 2004 issue of the Digital Journalist, the monthly online magazine for visual journalism.

Tom Stoddart is a member of the very select club of great photographers... (Includes photo gallery and video presentation)"

It was very hot, sporting events stretched the workday under the blazing sun to 16 hours without the usual rest day inserted halfway through the Games program, transportation was adequate, the housing spartan and the food lousy. But the pictures were great and the volunteers, the Athenians and even the police were a friendly lot who helped photojournalists when they needed help."

What made his work so special was that Carl was first and always a journalist..."

In the early 1700s, Jonathan Swift wished one: "May you LIVE all the days of your life." For 97 years, Carl Mydans did exactly that."

When I first came to New York in 1979 as an aspiring photojournalist and assistant to then-Time photographer Neil Liefer, I met Carl Mydans while hanging around the 28th-floor photo stockroom, which was right next to the famed offices of the Time/Life photographers."

On Monday, August 16th, Carl Mydans spent the day with his best friend, Bill Foley... That evening, with his son and daughter, of whom he was so proud, at his bedside, Carl died. He was 97."

If you're always thinking bugs, a porch screen has but one function. So it is with TV people, I've come to believe."

The other day the esteemed and soon-to-go-into-semi-retirement NBC News anchor, Tom Brokaw, in what became an open letter, parts of which were in The New York Daily News, informed anyone who would listen that he is unhappy that the Commission on Presidential Debates had the audacity - and strength - not to choose him or any other big-name anchor to moderate the upcoming political debates."

Congratulations on your recent election as a nominee to Magnum. Q. Why did you decide to join this agency?"

Digital, digital, digital. Sometimes it seems like the revolution is over and film has been relegated to the realm of hobbyists and oldsters who are still using their 1970 Argus C3s."

I teach young people to be professional, to be proactive and not reactive, to get off their behinds and go out and embrace the world."

I was most of the way through what I had intended to write when I started watching the Republican National Convention. I was so disturbed by what I saw and heard that I deleted what I had written and decided to start again."

During the last two and a half decades, the photographic world experienced tremendous and perpetual technological upheaval that has greatly impacted photographers and visual artists, myself included."

Just as I was getting prepared to go off to the Democratic Convention in Boston, I got last-minute e-mail from David Lyman, the director of the Maine Photo Workshop. He had a last-minute cancellation from an instructor who was going to teach a two-week Digital Video course, and he wanted to know if I could fill in."

I didn't know what to say to people when I walked up to them. I soon found out there isn't much to say."

I raised my camera and took some photos as the deputies told the women about the dead bodies."

I see our part as getting information to them and showing them that they are not alone."

I think of going to the humvee for my helmet but before I can move another mortar hits."

"Most of them just want to be heard," said a New York City cop on 8th Avenue."

In early July, Canon video unveiled the long-awaited XL2 to the press in New York. This camera is the successor to the XL1 and the XL1S."

Welcome to the August 2004 issue of the Digital Journalist, the monthly online magazine for visual journalism."

Imagine taking a 1400-pound beast, wiring a Vivitar flash to his neck and galloping him into a herd of geese while shooting pictures from a camera mounted on a monopod positioned over his head. (Includes photo gallery and video interview clips.)"

The exhibition of Greg Miller's work that is on display at the Redux Gallery in New York is titled "Primo Amore," or "First Love" for those of you whose Italian is as poor as mine. (Includes photo gallery and video interview clips.)"

I'm in the B block. Jack tosses two questions to me."

It was the ultimate perp walk."

While many members of the ICDF had previously served in the Iraqi Navy it had been, in some cases more than a decade since anyone had worked on a ship."

3 weeks. 3,500 miles. No credentials."

Manila's Mayer Atienza... said he thought he was being introduced to Miss Dallas."

The reality is that the Internet is much more than a broadcast delivery system, and that's where most people in the television world continue to miss it."

Called "Magnum's New Yorkers," the exhibit, currently at the Museum of the City of New York, explores New York through more than 30 Magnum photographers over the last half of the 20th century."

One of Henri Cartier-Bresson's favorite quotations was from the French painter Degas, who declared that it was "wonderful to be famous as long as you remain unknown.""

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (July 11, 2004) - At the 2004 annual NPPA board of directors' meeting, July 8-10 at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Fla., new national officers were elected, the board voted to reduce its size by nearly half (eliminating regional associate directors as voting members of the board), a new Code of Ethics that takes into consideration modern digital imaging was unanimously adopted, and honorary awards and contest winners' awards were bestowed."

Luc Delahaye's work spans the world of journalism and art."

Do you sometimes feel like you're lost in the crowd? One of the biggest problems in our profession is that photography has become "commoditized.""

Can a camera that small be any good?"

Digital Railroad is that company and we have developed a system that gives photographers the tools to easily manage, market and sell their images online."

In these frantic times, much of what circulates via email from desktop to desktop is pure frivolity, serving as light entertainment, sarcasm, or just plain comic relief."

When male photographers of a certain pale tone get together these days it seems like the conversation usually gets around to "diversity" and it's awful effects on said pale gentlemen."

My first event was the Pug Halloween Party and that's when I realized that "Pug People" were a unique group.

...the "lid" was really on and we would not see the president-elect."

Washington too often lets you see what it wants you to see, and Reagan's funeral was going to be no exception to this unyielding rule."

Whatever one may have thought of his politics ... no one who met him could resist his charm and humor he brought to the table."

When one of them addressed the casket as, "Mr. President," I couldn't hold back the tears. "

As I drove across Sunset Blvd, and spotted the first satellite truck, I knew I was in the right place."

Her real dream was to work as a journalist in Iraq."

I always try to find good places and distances to shoot without the notice of the occupation forces and with the help of Iraqi people. I try always to hide between the Iraqi people when clashes take place."

The tributes to President Ronald Reagan in recent weeks flowed throughout the media as if a sentimental flood of emotions swept over their holding banks and inundated the nation."

ZUMA Press, Inc. is proud to announce representation of the visual history of Ronald Wilson Reagan, as captured by his personal photographer, Michael Evans."

My editor called, a little frantic. He said, "We've just scheduled Reagan for a cover. Can you stay with him?""

When I think back on the eight years of covering the Reagan presidency as Time magazine's Chief White House Photographer, the first thing that comes to my mind is china."

When over the years I have been asked to describe what it was like to photograph various presidents, I have explained that I see them as simply human beings - albeit exceptional ones - but not as either Republicans or Democrats."

Who's to blame that the news is often obsessed with pop culture at the expense of important (often foreign) matters?"

We should be ashamed of ourselves for being journalists. If it weren't for us the world would be in much better shape."

Each of us should have our own basic contracts ready to present to clients."

Last month I said we would talk about some of the changes a good black-and-white silver printer has to make in his technique when he moves to the dry darkroom of the computer."

This month we feature a Q&A with Wade Goddard, curator of War Photo Limited, a new museum of war photography located in Dubrovnik, Croatia."

Throughout the history of amateur radio communications, licensed groups of two-way radio operators have regularly proven to be a reliable backup for existing governmental communications agencies."

Truth is, the world runs on doughnuts."

Technology has turned the photography industry upside down."

The Digital Journalist has to wonder where hidden talents may lurk but remain largely unnoticed."

"Control Room" is not a great film when we look at it as filmmaking."

Photojournalist Peter Turnley and Harper's Magazine will debut in the August issue the first of four major eight-page photo essays by the New York- and Paris-based journalist, stories that Harper's Magazine will showcase over the next year."

Mohammed's Garden is the anti-Iraq, or at least an oasis of good feeling in a desert of rage and fear."

... after I agreed to pool my photos it was decided that I could go along."

"Why would anyone come here if they didn't have too?""

LIFE photographer Robert Capa was not the only cameraman on the bloody beaches of Normandy on June 6th 1944."

June 6, 1944: In Remembrance"

I've never used a DV cam in my life."

I started photographing blues musicians years ago while on assignment for the National Geographic Traveler magazine."

The Nikon D70 is a pretty amazing little camera. For a relatively small price you get a whole lot of picture-taking ability."

After 19 years inside the Beltway, the last 7 of those as TIME magazine's Washington, DC, bureau picture editor, Colburn is in the process of heading west."

For the photojournalist, unlike the artist or commercial photographer who can control the color in the picture, color can be the great leveler."

'Blog' is now the latest gobbledygook noun in the English language. Lewis Carroll would be proud."

Just as we're beginning to get comfortable with the idea of Websites and what to do with them, along comes this thing called RSS, and it threatens to be the granddaddy of all disruptive technologies."

Over the weekend, I heard a young marine who had returned from Iraq interviewed on NPR about the Abu Ghraib photographs. "Sure they're obscene," he said, "Everything else about war's obscene; why wouldn't they be?""

I've been running around Washington telling everybody that I'm leaving Time Magazine."

I'm paid to do nothing. Sometimes I do plenty of nothing."

In our increasingly visually oriented society, photography has, ironically, become devalued in the American consciousness."

It's about time for The Digital Journalist to acknowledge an unofficial but notable side of digital life, comprised of photographs and short videos that come across our desktops on a daily basis via e-mail."

The film tells a personal story of what it was like to be an "embed" and presents a war you didn't see on TV."

They led me into the minivan, alongside my colleague."

Within a couple of minutes, at least two cars stopped alongside ours."

They are focused and they are mad. Someone yells an order and they run towards the enemy. I follow them running, knees still unsteady."

I ...see sandbags, probably sniper positions. I ask Abu Ibrahim if he thinks they are American or rebel positions. "It does not matter they both shoot.""

I left my passport and everything that might identify me as an American at the hotel and set off."

In the rush I forget to cover my head. People stare. Kids throw insults."

It's also the time to honor the fallen. That's where I come in."

TV News - and other forms of journalism of the future - will steadily drift away from the "professional" standard of objectivity and back to one that regularly incorporates argument into its soul."

Last month's exhibition of the National Association of Broadcasters was all about High-Definition television and the move to tapeless cameras."

Since Dirck Halstead followed his photograph collection from Washington D.C. to Austin two years ago, his influence has steadily permeated the University of Texas."

One type of book that has been conspicuously absent from digital publishing is the photo book."

The "shock and awe" of recent photographs from Iraq showing U.S. military torturing and humiliating prisoners is a strong indication of the power images continue to hold in the court of public opinion."

"Our long search for someone who can lead our photojournalism to its rightful place is over.""

I don't know if you fully realize how lucky you are when it comes to the photographers that you employ."

The "Gray Lady" is getting meaner than ever in her old age."

Why do we have this fear of calling Iraq a quagmire when it is, even if different from Vietnam?"

I don't know how many time we have to ask newspapers "what part of not manipulating photographs don't you understand?""

Everyone is running in the hallways, looking for their flack jacket, searching for a helmet, cursing at the elevator that is just never there when you need it. I've got to file."

...the glass from his store windows blew out into the streets and the sidewalk where we were standing rumbled. I saw the black smoke of the explosion a few blocks away and ran towards it."

Much to the dismay of friends and advisors, I was always much more the grasshopper than the ant when I was young."

Dirck's favorite new camera introduced at the recent PMA trade show in Las Vegas was the Leitz Digilux 2"

All I ever asked of a digital printer was to print what was on my screen. It seemed like a fairly simple request."

A photographer said he felt "limited" because the publisher, managing editor and copy editors don't understand photography and photojournalism."

Early last month, The New York Times sent a letter and a new work-for-hire contract to photographers listed in its database of freelancers."

Last month, I got suckered."

Education may boil down to who knows what first."

In case you were busy with getting on with your life this past month, here are a number of items that might have passed you by."

A good friend of mine was at the American Film Institute a few years ago taking part in their director's program and invited me out to Los Angeles to do the stills on the film that was to be his final project..."

I'm back..."

It seems that powerful images often have a way of repeating themselves over time."

Nikon's latest entry into the digital race, the D2H, is very fast. It's an instant turn on, in feel and handling as well as shooting readiness."

I am still confident that camera phones will revolutionize the photography industry."

Digital Photography is no longer special. It now is photography."

The people closest to the product — and therefore the conflicts that accompany its creation — generally have the collective business answers you seek."

It never occurred to me that being a journalist carried with it individual and collective guilt."

Last month I picked up a copy of the Washington Times to see a picture of Jane Fonda on the front page."

There's no point in taking a luxury cruise if you know that the ship is going to sink during the trip."

Like most photojournalists, I spend a lot of time on airplanes."

It's been just over a year since KSTP-TV5 photojournalist John Gross eMailed me with the news that Hubbard Broadcasting was dropping KSTC's hour-long 9 p.m. newscast, eliminating 27 full and part-time jobs in its wake."

A routine develops. In the afternoon we shoot the demonstrations, in the morning, the funerals."

A heavy mist had rolled in when we reached the roadblock at the tiny mountain-top village of Puilboreau."

It was my picture, one I had taken 33 years ago."

Somebody had pulled my Kerry picture off my agency's Web site, stuck Fonda at his side, and then used the massive, unedited reach of the Internet to distribute it all over the world."

I picked up a pair of the new Canon Mark II EOS Digital cameras on the day before The Super Bowl at the Canon trailer outside Reliant stadium in Houston...

I do believe that the photographers who achieve recognition with photo Editors and Directors are the one that follow these suggestions...

The important messages of the campaign must be delivered in a circus atmosphere...

The newest thing to aid in being well-informed is a dandy little item known as a news aggregator...

New Hampshire is a place where some folks' idea of a good time is sitting in a little shack out on frozen lake fishing through holes they cut in the ice. Despite that I go there every four years like clockwork. The Granite State is where the action is politically...

With a digital camera on one shoulder, and a Rolleiflex on the other, I put an old Speed Graphic (is that redundant? aren't they ALL old?) on a tripod, and grabbed a few holders of tri-x...

After Iowa, organizations begin to double-up their photographic coverage. It becomes more and more difficult to work. The events become increasingly controlled. Everyone is operating on less and less sleep...

It's time to work on your look...

Anybody who reads this column knows I love photo books. Books last longer than tear sheets and reach more people than exhibits...

Carrying a weapon will not stop the killing of journalists nor their dying by accident, by ambush, or from long-range rockets...

Photojournalism has lately developed its own version of the caste system and, amazingly, it seems to be based on film....

At long last! I finally got my hands on a Panasonic SDX900 DVCPro camcorder. And it's a honey..."

Two pairs of shoes still in their boxes: A pair of clean new Hongmahwang loafers and a pair of gilded, tacky Italian slippers. The footwear of a madman caught last month hiding in a rat-filled hole..."

It looked a lot bigger on TV. That is, before the journalists started popping out of it like little jack-in-the-boxes..."

I have been desensitized to a lot of things in my reporting career..."

Some ask where is it? Others joke, Iowa, what's there to do in Iowa?"

When I entered the ancient city of BAM it was about midnight, 26 of December, the very end of the day the earthquake had hit in the early morning..."

It's January, a time for endings and for beginnings. In a world where intellectual property has become the "oil" of our times, it's time for the National Press Photographers Association to re-examine its mission..."

Is photojournalism a “personal service industry” or a “symbolic analytic” profession? Actually, it’s either. The choice is up to you..."

We are now just done with that time of year when editors decided the best books, film, theater, and journalism for 2003..."

"When was the last time you watched a commercial?" I asked. "Never," he responded with a grin so big it that it pushed his ears back..."

The plane started down its two rail track.... And proceeded to crash into a large puddle of water at the end of the "runway." This is an instance where it might have been better (less embarrassing anyway) if no cameras had been present..."