2008 April | MJR

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Why They Won

Published

on April 17, 2008

. 5 Comments

as a pre-curser to this entry and all following diatribes.. i have a horrible relationship with my shift key and capitalization is not listed on my cv as a strength. i do however promise proper grammar and spelling to the best of my abilities.

we are now at the end of yet another season of world renowned photo competitions that transform hopefuls into poster-children for tomorrow’s great image makers. i can never help but ask myself two questions. “who chose these photos to win, and what is this photographer really trying to communicate.” i would also love to shrink down to a 1:60 scale model of myself and perch quietly on the tip of the pens that ultimately chose the winners.. but in a perfect world i’d also be photo editor at large for The Times Magazine but Ms. Kathy Ryan is doing a fine job without me so i’ll digress.

i’ve reviewed the World Press Photo Awards (WPPA), National Press Photographer’s Best of Photojournalism (NPPA), and the College Photographer of the Year (CPOY) and found what some might call more of the same, “if it bleeds it leads” imagery. While photojournalists’ lenses will always focus on the horror presently unfolding throughout the world (if not us, who will?), the way we choose to communicate with our public will constantly shift. Because we rely on the still image to reach our viewers, many photojournalists found themselves up against a wall of ethics and morality when digital photography/digital editing started taking over photo desks around the globe. “How much is too much? When is it appropriate? How do I keep my images looking fresh, signature, and most importantly - real?”

I’m glad to see that we may have found a happy medium with post processing, and this year’s winners across the board look like they have embraced the dslrs as well as the digital technology that lets photographers inject life into files that look routinely synthetic. Because we no longer have the option (given the shortened timeframe of digital workflow/publishing) to work with hi-con and hi-saturation films.. we are left to utilize programs like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom (Beta 2 is excellent), and Apple’s Aperture to manipulate (yes i said manipulate) the pixels into a final product that suits our vision.

enough said. Here are some winners from the aforementioned contests.. why I think they won or deserved to win, and also what I believe the images are trying to communicate. i admit to being a photojournalism fiend, and any comments hereafter should be considered the product of my belief that the camera was invented for this pursuit above all others.

Francesco Zizola on contract with Fortune Magazine looked into the illegal commerce happening throughout Africa. While HIV/AIDS/Malaria remain the largest humanitarian issues in Africa on this continent, the problem of prevention takes root in the inability of African countries to legitimize industries that seem to bring on harm more than benefit. This shot is a prime example of the disparity in Uganda. The convicted, seen in a jail cell awaiting “trial,” are standing with the evidence that will be used to incriminate them. Imagine what would happen at the LA county jail if Inmate John Smith walked into the holding cell with a 12ft saw. This photo communicates the differences between my world, and theirs both in the justice system but also in the means for survival. Aesthetically the bold, yet stone-washed look of the blues and blacks give a sense of hard labor and that small blue tag at the tip of the saw brings the whole frame into an aesthetic balance. I’ve always struggled with shooting color photos, because i am always conscious of the final product being in color and therefore i shoot for color. I find that my color work lacks the attention to shape, form, and composition that i find in my black & white images, but Zizola had no issues there.

I have to admit my bias early on towards college photographers, being one myself, and I always judge cpoy with more scrutiny than say, WPPA, because as my peers I cant help but pit my own work against theirs. Dominic Nahr made a frame that encompassed the chaos of the moment. This image is about disorientation, a break in the social contract between the public and the police, and as Nahr titled the image, the “failed atempt on Freedom.” Ive shot alot of protests in the past and I know how difficult it is to think and see clearly in these moments.. so for a young photographer I commend Nahr on his vision with this image.

When i look at this picture i feel as if i’m sitting across the table from the most dangerous man in the room. Gerbahaye puts us in the hot seat, and the inquisitive gaze of our pseudo-cowboy figure makes me nervous. the photographers at Agence Vu have always represented top notch PJ work, and this story on the Congo shifts the focus away from simply crime and poverty and onto the facets of Congolese society that raise question… “what happens next?” I also love the symmetry of the man’s hands (center frame) and the crossed arms of his sunglasses laying on the table.

John Freidah dove into a subject that many in America find themselves grappling with: “What the hell happened to our economy?” While the text-hounds are punching away at keyboards trying to jot down the Fed’s latest analysis of a dwindling American economy, Freidah looked at those who are paying the price for the US’ poorly managed economy. I feel like Americans become fatigued with stories such as the foreclosures in the wake of the Sub-prime mortgage crisis when we read and re-read headlines about millions of americans losing their homes. The figures become intangible, and we are often unable to relate to those who are hit hardest. This story takes an honest look at the effects of the economic crisis. If only it had run A1 on the NYT, as Americans we might have a better understanding of the consequences of our mismanaged economy.

College Photographer of the Year Travis Dove blew me away. Plain and simple. This portrait is alive.. in the moment.. and anyone who has shot chest deep in water knows the anxiety that ensues. This took the gold prize for portraits in CPOY, and there is something fascinating about an older woman swimming in a lake with full makeup and her hair done… not to mention her toy-dog along for the ride. Thats one tough bitch!

Imagine tip-toeing through a wasteland of used hyperdermic needles, which might as well be landmines, considering they may be infected with incurable diseases that ripple throughout the developing world. I really loved this shot for its gorgeous bokeh.. something about it really gives me a sense of how polluted this area is. While i cant help but recall Nachtwey’s frame of a needle stitched between the toes of an innocent Indonesian child, this frame stands apart for me and highlights the good-will of people caught in the cycle of poverty and crime in developing countries. People DO want to help themselves and others, and that is what this frame is saying.

I dont have much to say about this image other than… as an environmental portrait Jake nailed it. Bravo. Framing, tonality, and an underlying message were all delivered clearly and without ambiguity. Our subject remembers those who came before her - and she is aptly framed in the reflection of her fellow soldiers who will follow her into battle when the time comes. I have a deep respect for the military, and this frame really identifies with the camaraderie i have found while working amongst members of the military.

This is the final image i’m including because i believe this past year was THE YEAR OF MIKE KAMBER. With all due respect to Damon Winter & Todd Heisler … i think Kamber is the hardest working man in PJ. His multimedia piece titled “Deadly Search for Missing Soldiers” highlights the experience of the American soldier, what they are going through on a daily basis, despite our opinion of the Iraq War.. lives are being lost on both sides, and i feel that the American soldier is often forgotten. Mike Kamber worked to tell their story.. and i encourage you all to view THIS MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION before passing judgement on the selection of work from WPPA.

As my interest in photojournalism grew over the years I always looked to the big contests listed above as a point of reference for the best work out there.. i truly believe the only way to become a great photographer is by studying the work of those who came before you.. but the more i look at the winners circles it becomes apparent that the first place photo isnt always the best. This year in particular i felt that the Pulitzer winners didnt stand close to the work of CPOY.. and i was also really unhappy with alot of the BOP first place winners. Remember that a small panel of individuals, 4-5 judges, are determining the “best of” and I feel like we are still in a transitional moment when the traditional and neo-classical photojournalists and photo editors are separated into two camps. I think the most important thing to consider when you view work in these contests is to really take a moment and ask yourself, “what is the photographer trying to communicate to me and the media at large” … the topics that already made front-page news usually resurface in these awards, but i think the true victory for many photographers in these contests is when work that routinely got bumped to B12 make it into the winners circle. for those of us who didn’t make it to that final table: keep doing the work. who knows.. maybe we’ll have an MJR POY one of these days.

Thanks for reading through.. leave your agreements and disagreements below.. i’ll make sure to respond to all comments.

Make this picture

Published

mustafah

on April 15, 2008

in Photos

. 12 Comments

A lot of times when photographers are asked how they made a certain picture, or how we did something really good, we tense up. We go into automatic defense-mode and try to redirect all conversations away from specifics. Sometimes we’ll go greatly into depth–if among gearheads–talking in f-stops and ISOs as though it’s common knowledge, but more often than not, we’ll overwhelm people in the general area who aren’t quite familiar with our brand of geek lingo, or just shy away from telling anything at all.

So let’s take a gamble and try something new: I’d like to break down one of my personal favorite photographs. We’ll go through the process from start to finish: from the moment I arrived in the environment to the shots leading up to the photograph itself. Along the way, I’ll explain the steps and techniques that helped bring about it’s capture as well as respond to questions you may have about the shot.

The photograph on trial is “Three children on playset“, photographed on 12/31/06 in Broadhedsville, Pennsylvania at a Eid celebration by the local Muslim community at a huge rec center.

I used a Nikon F100 film SLR slapped onto a Sigma 20-40 f/2.8 lens, loaded with Kodak Tri-x 400. The setting were (according to notes on a paper stained with pizza sauce: f/4 @ 1/80).

On to the first part…

1. The Hunt

I started out by heading towards the areas where a lot of conversation and movement were happening. The women had seated at a table and their children were racing around the playsets doing handstands and cartwheels on the mats.

The rec center had huge rows of fluorescent lights high above the ground. A quick meter reading of a middle tone (anything gray can do) showed a ideal exposure to be around 1/40 at f/2.8. Because I was dealing with a pretty flexible b&w film, I didn’t have to worry much about how my camera’s white balance would respond to the light. Generally, in digital, shooting in RAW can keep you pretty well covered in most situations with a little post help from Uncle Aperture or Lightroom.

I selected 1/100 in hopes of freezing any expressions on the women’s faces as they spoke. I generally enter into every situation with three meter readings in my head: one to freeze action, one to blur it, and one somewhere in between. If you have strong light entering from certain directions, it’s a good idea to add maybe two more exposures (or combine them) to take in for account highlights (in digital, highlights are the first to go) by underexposing a half-stop or full stop. For photojournalists, the general rule of thumb on assignments is wide, medium, tight, and each of those three exposure modes work well with this, since often times you may be working very quickly in fast-changing environments. By having three exposures in your head, you can switch rapidly as new events develop and still capture the feel and vision you have while also garnering a quality image.

My digital body was out of battery power, so I was schlepping around with soupy Tri-x. I didn’t have the ability to change my ISO and so had to rely on a core three exposure settings, which you’ll see in the below contact sheet.

2. Composing Out of Haste

A lot of my work contains what I call haphazard composition: i.e., composition that responds to the alignment of the forms and shapes of what is occurring around me. Since I don’t pose my subjects, I am at both an advantage and disadvantage in many ways. Why advantage? Because I only need be sensitive enough to the moments occurring and respond rather than creatively concoct the ideas of the photograph themselves. There are strengths in both ways of shooting, and by no means am I knocking anyone that does it the other way. Actually, as I tell the fellas at MJR, I’m quite envious of their ability to see things in their own way and capture it on camera.

Okay, enough patting them on the back.

With my exposures in my head, I decided to give the women a break from my shooting and heading to where the kids were chilling out. One of the key things I learned about photographing children, and one that has been spoken by photographers with more mileage than me, is that you must get level with them. Get close, get among them. You have to shoot fast and compose even quicker if you want to capture moments of children at play. And while certain stories may necessitate shooting from low or above, this particular situation had a lot of playsets no higher than 4 feet. So: get personal, people.

In the third frame in from the left, you’ll see a quick shot I made with a mirrors reflection. Heck, I believe you can see me in the bottom left corner, creating my future arthritic prescriptions. With so much movement and so many faces, you have to isolate and track only a few and let them lead you to others. Otherwise, you’ll be swimming in a sea of jumps and leaps and climbs that’ll leave you unsure of where to start.

By watching my subjects and their background, I was able to spot something I hadn’t noticed before: the symmetry of the gym’s walls with a particular playset. Keeping your subjects and their surroundings in your peripheral is crucial: in order to catch a decisive moment, you have to be there and you have to be willing to respond in a split-second and shoot. When I saw the kids in the mirror, I immediately turned around and switched to a second exposure setting that would allow me a bit more light without that much blur (f/4 at 1/100).

I made three frames, one two low and I scrambled to become centered with the playset. Changing position while photographing (foot zoom vs. camera zoom) is probably the best pieces of advice I’ve ever been given. Even when things are happening, there must be a sense of sentience in the photographer to change position even when it seems like the last thing you want to do. It’s risky thing and I’ll admit I’ve taken the chance and fumbled the ball, but when you yield the fruits of that risk, it’s well worth it. I also opened up to 1/80.

When the children moved through the playset, their bodies became points of interest. They themselves had become the symmetry I was looking for, and in the instant the first boy put his arms out and the girl peaked through and the boy in the middle steadied himself, it all came together: the decisive moment.

The last frame of the series, of two children playing soccer, was the last on that roll.

3. Quick & Light Editing

I processed this roll myself, using T-max developer at 1+7 dilution. This usually gets the film real grainy, but it’s cheap and quicker than Xtol and HC110. I scanned using Nikon CoolScan and saw the image was still underexposed:

I try to make my work as minimalist as possible, so a simple drag of the Levels and the same in Curves, and viola:

It’s my opinion that the less noticeable your editing, the more your pictures encourages realism and believability in the viewer. Even images that have been dodged and burned can be done in a skilled manner that allows the viewer to have the impact of the photograph without the impact of the photographers skill. But because of the rich and dark nature of the objects, and the need to distinguish the subjects from their playset, I dodged and burned (via Curves) the areas in a way that steered clear of the avenue of over-done Photoshopping. Like anything, PS is a tool and one that should be lightly used for best results (at least, for photojournalism).

In this case, less is more.

So there we have it. From the start to the finish, Three children on playset. I hope explaining how I’ve made this photograph will encourage you to do the same. Feel free to ask any questions.

Keep in mind: the reality is no one has your vision. How you perceive events, how you react to them, what draws your eye, and what areas of photography you’ve chosen to study all culminate in an instant, and effect how you’ll photograph a single scene. By no means am I a master of the decisive moment, but like all difficult tasks, the more you practice, the luckier you get.

The more you photograph and immerse yourself in these dynamic situations, the better you prepare yourself. Yours eyes do more work and your brain does less; your hands move to do what you need and not what you may question you need.

And then, wham, you have it: the disjointed elements coalesce into the decisive moment that raises the amazing above the ordinary. By sharing our successes, we can all climb the rungs in bettering ourselves as photographers.

The Commencement

Published

MJR

on April 15, 2008

in General

. 2 Comments

The fellows here at MJR welcome the over 15,000 visitors that have graced our space over the past two days.

There is something amazing about the prospect of new horizons. This space is just that. As image makers we are challenged daily by the need to create, and as communicators we thrive on opening a dialogue with our viewers. The net has become a manifestation of our insatiable need to consume information and the MJR blog is our way of feeding you with our new work, delivered in weekly packages of our absolute latest stuff, but also items of interest to us. MJR represents a new horizon where we will forge a new identity for the next generation of artists, musicians, writers, and general media fiends.

We want to know who you are, what you do, and why the hell you read this far. Don’t be afraid. Say hello@wearemjr.com.