Photojournalism

People often ask me "what is the most difficult part of shooting weddings?" One challenge I face at every wedding is having to pose the bride and groom in less than flattering sunlight or in a less than perfect location. Wedding photographer Roberto Valenzuela is tackling this very issue during his creativeLIVE workshop. Robert's free-to-watch workshop will air September 6-8th and you can ask him anything live through webchat.

We've been featuring a lot of space-based photo news lately, and for good reason. Since the Curiosity's landing on Mars, there has been a renewed interest in life beyond Earth. That, and NASA has been rockin' it with some seriously cool stuff. Like this, a photo captured by the Hubble Space Telescope of a supernova exploding 80 million lightyears away.

Talented Magnum Photographer, Christopher Anderson, experienced something that completely changed his life. In June 2000, while traveling in Haiti, he met writer Michael Finkel and together they documented a group of 44 Haitians on their journey to the United States. A few days after they set sail, they realized the handmade boat was sinking. Anderson’s first reaction was to continue taking pictures – even though he knew there was a chance they may never be seen.

Who knew that street fashion photography was so trendy? Like many others, I really enjoy the work of The Sartorialist and have followed his blog for years now. But I never considered that his popularity would lead to this - streets filled with photographers trying to emulate his style. Of course, this video does take place in the midst of New York fashion week. So I'm not convinced that what these crowds are shooting can even be considered street photography. Aren't they more like paparazzi?

Earlier in the year, Fstoppers showed you how Sports Illustrated photographers photograph a superbowl. Just as the 2012 Olympics in London have come to a close, Reuters has released a behind the scenes video on how their photographers take images during the world's most celebrated sporting event. It's pretty interesting to hear from some of the industry's best photographers and editors as they race against the clock to send images to the wire.

Bruce Davidson was born in 1933 and he started shooting pictures when he was just 10 years old. Since then Bruce has become most famous for his photojournalist work that included street gangs, circus performers, and the civil rights movement . In this video Bruce talks about some of his most famous images and his love for Leica cameras.

Last year, Fstoppers interviewed wedding photographer Joe Buissink who has shot weddings for Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson & Nick Lachey, Christina Aguliera, and many other A List celebrities. Starting Thursday, August 9th, Joe is sharing all his wedding secrets in a FREE online workshop on creativeLIVE. Check out the FULL POST on how you can watch the event for free August 9 - 11th!

What started as an 18 month long tour of Africa, ended up lasting 23 year long but wonderful years. With his modest demeanor, we're finally hearing about his amazing journey across the World. He drove in a Mercedes Benz G Wagon and now has over 500,000 miles tacked on. The vehicle has traveled the equivalent of 20 times around the planet and the best part is that he took his cameras along with him! Gunther travels with 2 film cameras, including a Leica M6. 

I've written a number of articles about how the police and other law enforcement agencies, both in the US and abroad, have been interfering with and hassling photographers and videographers who are only trying to document a scene that's in front of them. There have been multiple instances of people in power (such as Obama himself) saying that this is unconstitutional. And finally, it would seem, one police department has begun to realize that.

Since he posted this image on his facebook profile, Shawn Heinrich's image has drawn a lot of attention. Many have stated the the shot is just a little too perfect to have happened all at once. Upon first glance, what do you think?

Guns N Roses was one of my favorite bands growing up. I recently read Slash's biography and realized that his friend Robert John had not only shot all of those iconic album images, but he also documented the band's entire road to stardom. Of course I had order Robert's book Guns N Roses, The Photographic History. If you enjoy band photography check out this interesting documentary on how he made the book, and what it's like photographing the most dangerous band in the world.

This is the first episode of Mark Seliger's new show called Capture. He is filming the show in his studio in Manhattan. In this episode, Seliger sits down with Platon, staff photographer for The New Yorker known for his portraits of US Presidents and other important world figures. Actor Dylan McDermott also sits in on the conversation, discussing his photography work and inspiration.

Have you been wondering how to make money with the thousands of photos sitting on your iPhone? Well, if you don't want to print them out, you can always sell the license and try and make a few bucks. That's the goal behind the iPhone app Foap, an online marketplace in iStock/Getty style.

The progression of technology has allowed for us to capture shots in angles that we would not usually be able to capture. Robotic cameras have the ability to fit into spaces and locations that a photographer would usually not be able to get to. These are fully controlled by remote as well. It may very well begin to change the landscape of photojournalism. Check out what you can expect and how it's done within.

Today's edition of "The Law vs. The Photographer" brings us to Reno, Nevada, where 60 year-old Reno Gazette-Journal journalist Tim Dunn was tackled and then cited by police for documenting wildfires on public land near Reno, NV. The offense? Wearing protective clothing, which was apparently seen as an attempt to impersonate firefighters.

Many photographers start off their careers focusing on wedding photography. I started my career as a wedding photographer in Charleston, and I still enjoy shooting a handful each year. Over the next few months, I hope to share some of my thoughts on wedding photography and how event photographers can improve their photos. Today I was reminded how important "In Camera Cropping" is for emotionally charged photographs. Read the full post to see two examples of how cropping can make or break an image.

Most of us have seen some masterful camerawork when it comes to breathtaking time-lapses. Sean White sets a new precedent with this creation by gathering images from a total of 24 countries on all seven continents over the course of six years. The project was funded by Art Wolfe.

Ken Burns is somewhat of a a legend when it comes to stories and film making. His documentaries cover some fantastic issues within the U.S. and have a fine tension throughout the film which keeps his audience captivated. In this short interview by Redglass Pictures, Ken shares what he feels the key elements of a captivating story are.

Check out this high-resolution zoomable panoramic photo taken right after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. Shot from a kite 2000 feet over San Francisco Bay, the detail is jaw-dropping and the scene after the disaster is otherworldly.

Below is a selection from a New York Post article that I read earlier this week. At first I laughed at the reality of a photographer being so careless around an ancient piece of art. The laughing stopped pretty quickly though once i thought "What if I had done this and had a lawsuit hanging over my head".

Today, Bon Appetit featured a very comprehensive blog post from food photographer William Hereford. Rather than just talking about just a particular technique or style, Hereford also writes to the burgeoning food photographer/enthusiast and tries to answer the question: What is the camera you should go with if you want to get into commercial food photography? The answer may surprise you.

Here's a behind the scenes video featuring editorial and advertising photographer Stefan Ruiz. He traveled to Monterrey, Mexico to document the "Cholombiano" youth street culture. Skip to about the ten minute mark to see the set up and capture. He shoots exclusively on 4x5 film, and is highly influenced by renaissance paintings.

This video features humanitarian photographer, Karl Grobl as he travels to Cambodia to shoot the Angkor Hospital for Children. In this episode of his new series titled, "Come Along For The Ride", he goes behind the scenes to describe his technique and thought process as he's working. Karl has shot for more than 85 different NGOs in over 50 countries.

Massoud Hossaini, who is also the first Afghani to win a Pulitzer Prize. Hossaini's work captures the horrors of violence that occur in Afghanistan on a regular basis. The photo was captured just as a suicide bomber took his own life and that of many others in the vicinity. A girl dressed in green screams as blood runs down her face, and she is surrounded by bodies of the wounded and dead.

National Geographic recently released this video of the creation of one of their cover shots. While there is no exact date on it, I'd bet that it was shot sometime in the early 2000s or late 1990s guessing from technology being used. Some real ingenuity was at work here, as evidenced by the custom-built pneumatic jaw, the hand-cast Tyrannosaurus skull, and not to mention what appears to be at least ten cameras all triggered at the same time via laser in an effort to capture the decisive moment.

Let's Colour is a worldwide initiative to transform grey spaces with colourful paint, and the results are quite incredible! This film was shot by Adam Berg over four weeks in Brazil, France, London and India. Every one of these locations has been transformed by a palette consisting of 120 different colours.

Hi there F(stop)'ers! Today I am posting from the AFP Photo Expo in Caldas, Portugal. I must say this is the most fun and unique expo I've yet to experience. Last night during the Gala event, I sat across from wedding videographer, Antonio Domingo. During conversation he mentioned that upon his client's requests he sometimes shoot, edits and delivers the newly weds their wedding video the night of their wedding! more in the full post

Remember the World Press Photo contest winners from earlier this year? Well, World Press Photo recently introduced (just last year, actually) a similar contest for multimedia and video entries. The winner is a stark, harrowing, and sobering documentary view into the Kommandokorps in South Africa, an apartheid-era relic that still lingers in the country.

Brothers Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas make quite the team. They're wildlife photographers based in Britain who have devised some clever means to get closer to some of the world's most dangerous animals. In 2009, they created a remote-controlled camera nicknamed BeetleCam and set out to photograph animals in their natural habitat. Armed with the knowledge they gained from the first trip, they went back a second time, and their results are nothing short of stunning.

This is a series of videos that make up a fascinating 90-minute documentary about the great Richard Avedon. It's called "Richard Avedon: Darkness and Light," and first aired back in 1995 as part of the American Masters Series. If you're like me, you could spend hours watching things like this.

As a photojournalist for the NY Post, I got to see and encounter some CRAZY stuff, and it sure sharpened my skills as a photographer and as a New Yorker in general. In D. Perez De La Garda's film, "Chimping" you get take a behind the scenes look at the life of the photojournalist. This short film features Pulitzer Prize winners Preston Gannaway and Rick Loomis, Emmy Award winner Paula Lerner, along with Todd Maisel, Chris Usher, Angela Rowlings, Edward Greenberg, Stan Wolfson, and Rita Reed. Worth a watch for sure if you are interested in what goes into shooting for a paper or publication. Enjoy!

Just about everyone I know is hooked on critically-acclaimed series Breaking Bad. (A high school chemistry teacher with cancer turned meth dealer? How could that not be interesting?) But as TV still photographer Ursula Coyote will tell you, shooting

Photography: Is It Still A Man’s World?

Surfing photographer Chris Burkard spends his days traveling to some of the planet’s most magnificent beaches, where he navigates all sorts of technical complications in search of the perfect surfing shot.

I recently had a chance to sit down with Pulitzer Prize winning celebrity photographer Brian Smith, who’s work has appeared in LIFE, Sports Illustrated, Communication Arts, Time, GQ, Forbes and ESPN The Magazine, just to name a few.

Few photographers can nonchalantly say, “Yeah, I’ve had blood splashed on my camera.” But for sports photographer Joshua Hedges, 12 year veteran of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, it’s just another day in the office.

If you thought Jasper James's City Silhouettes were crazy wait until you see Ira Fox's Puddle Portraits. Using the natural reflections caused by rain puddles, Ira has captured the world in an interesting yet pyschodelic way. The results are one of a kind, and it just goes to show how thinking outside the box can pay off in a big way!

A few days ago we showed you what it's like to be a Sport Illustrated Editor. The NFL Conference Championship games are about kick off in a few hours so it seems fitting to bring you San Francisco 49ers team photographer Michael Zagaris as he talks about capturing the two key plays of the '9ers Division Championship game. Enjoy!

How would you react if security officers told you that you were breaking the law by photographing a building from public property? One British photographer was faced with just that question, and here is how he reacted.

Last Friday, January 13, 2012, The Washington Post published an HDR photograph on the front page depicting their top story.

Some of the most iconic black and white images of our time, shown colorized by Sanna Dullaway, gives us a glimpse into how these images would have looked had they been taken in full color.

A unique behind the scenes look with Joe McNally shooting a cover story, The Sense of Sight (A National Geographic Production - circa 1992). Talk about a blast from the past. It's great seeing his thought process and work ethic through the entire process. It shows that no matter how old this video is, there's still a lot to be learned from watching the master at work.

With just under three weeks left until the deadline of our 2011 Behind The Scenes Contest, our readers are really hitting it into high gear by turning in some awesome videos! Some of the ideas you guys come up with are really clever and a refreshing alternative to the boring "glamorized music videos" we receive daily.

We have all read how biased different news organizations can be when it comes to the cold hard facts. We've also pretty much come to expect that a photograph tells a story better than anything else. Documentary film maker Ruben Salvadori recently exposed how some of the most epic images from war torn areas of the world are actually staged...and it's pretty surprising. Ruben recognized how photographers can drastically change the mood of a scene just by being present, so he decided to turn the cameras on the photographers themselves and show just how "dangerous" many of events we see on tv and in print really are. Next time you see an image that appears to be in the thick of the action, step back and ask the question "but how many photographers are standing right off camera?" You can read more here about this video project and let us know what you think in the comments below.

A few weeks ago I posted a video that created a lot of unintentional buzz about poorly compositing athletes together on a football field. Well this video from Monte Isom doesn't include much photoshop but still produces a lot of great images. Monte always has a great time on his sets and hopefully you NYC readers will be able to share a drink with him tomorrow at our FS Meetup.

Since the start of Fstoppers, I have had a dream list of photographers that I think would make for a great FS Original. At the top of that list has been ESPN and fight photographer Ed Mulholland. Unfortunately getting clearance from HBO and UFC have been tougher than going backstage with Bon Jovi (who would have thought).

Photojournalists have always struggled with balancing subject sensitivity with truthful documentation after horrible moments in history. Almost six years ago to the day, the United States was hit by Hurricane Katrina resulting in the most costly natural disaster the country had ever witnessed.

Recently Petapixel featured a rather amusing video of photographer Fabio Pires out of London. Fabio is a street photographer who shoots spontaneous photos off the cuff. Unlike the video we featured of Clay Enos's street setup, Fabio's approach is more in your face, candid, and potentially more risky.

A few weeks ago Reese Moore interviewed Jimmy Chin for her column the Fstoppers Spotlight. Her Fstoppers interview revealed a lot about what makes Mr. Chin put himself in harms way as he climbs, rappels, and base jumps from assignment to assignment. In this behind the scenes video, Jimmy talks about the changing culture taking place within the sport of extreme rock climbing.

This time last year Lee and I were profiling concert photographer David Bergman as he was shooting a series of Bon Jovi concerts in their New Jersey hometown. A lot has happened since then with David, and he is now currently traveling the world and seeing some pretty amazing venues.