Dennis Dunleavy

Chinese citizen journalist beaten to death by city inspectors for taking pictures

When Wie Wenhau, a 41-year-old construction company executive, took out his camera phone to record a "scuffle" between residents trying to stop city trucks from dumping trash in their neighbor, he must not have realized it would cost him his life.  Reports say that a crowd of between 25 and 100 city workers turned on Wie, beating him to death.

Can free speech go to far?

When Dutch filmmaker and political conservative, Geert Wilders, launched his anti-islamist film, Fitna on the Internet last week,  a storm of controversy ensued, and not just in the Muslim world. More than 2 million people watched the film in just the first three hours. Soon after a flood of criticism, Network Solutions and LiveLeak, the domain server and the site hosting the film removed it fearing backlash. Now the film is up again on Google and You Tube.
Wilder's film, like the Danish cartoons that sparked international concerns in 2005, challenges not only the value of free speech, but also the use of the Internet to exploit fear and spread hate. Without the Internet, the response to Fitna would be limited by its distribution to smaller audiences in the Netherland. Not only would it take viewers energy to attend a screening, but they would also risk being identified in public as individuals interested in the content of the film. The Internet makes it easy for people to become exposed to views on all sides of the political spectrum.

Should Google and YouTube be held responsible for removing potentially offensive content? Peter Hoekstra in the Wall Street Journal observes:

Reasonable men in free societies regard Geert Wilders's anti-Muslim rhetoric, and films like "Fitna," as disrespectful of the religious sensitivities of members of the Islamic faith. But free societies also hold freedom of speech to be a fundamental human right. We don't silence, jail or kill people with whom we disagree just because their ideas are offensive or disturbing. We believe that when such ideas are openly debated, they sink of their own weight and attract few followers.

Despite all of the things I detest about the film, and there are many, I do not believe that censorship will spare the world from such divisiveness and  hatred.  Those of us that believe in the freedom of expression must defend even the hate-mongers such as Wilders. We must defend his right to express himself, because if we retreat from our values out of fear, we risk living in a society of absolutists -- where there is only one truth -- the truth of those holding the purse strings or the gun.

As Hoekstra notes, "I defend the right of Mr. Wilders and the media to air this film because free speech is a fundamental right that is the foundation of modern society." But free speech has always come at price. 

Library of Congress uses Web 2.0 to build awareness of historical images

Matt Raymond, Director of Communications at the Library of Congress, had a brilliant idea. Instead of making the public come to the LOC Web site to look at historical images, why not make the pictures go to where people who love photography live -- on Flickr.

Recently, the LOC posted more than 3,000 of its images on to a Flickr site called The Commons. Raymond hopes that traffic to the site will generate interest and information for the LOC collection, which now holds 14 million images.

LOC caption reads: Color guard of Negro engineers, Ft. Belvoir(?), [Va.]

Although anyone can view the pictures, Flickr members have access to post comments and add tags that will help make identifying the images better. 

According to Flickr:

There are two main aims to The Commons project, starting with the pilot: firstly, to increase exposure to the amazing content currently held in the public collections of civic institutions around the world, and secondly, to facilitate the collection of general knowledge about these collections, with the hope that this information can feed back into the catalogues, making them richer and easier to search.

The idea of taking this collection to the Web 2.0 is not only good for the LOC is a terrific public relations strategy.  As Raymond notes:

The real magic comes when the power of the Flickr community takes over. We want people to tag, comment and make notes on the images, just like any other Flickr photo, which will benefit not only the community but also the collections themselves. For instance, many photos are missing key caption information such as where the photo was taken and who is pictured. If such information is collected via Flickr members, it can potentially enhance the quality of the bibliographic records for the images.

Caption Reads: Delano, Jack (1914-1997)
Children gathering potatoes on a large farm, vicinity of Caribou, Aroostook County, Me. Schools do not open until the potatoes are harvested. Oct. 1940.

There are more than 40 comments for the image above, which suggests that niche communities as Flickr become unified around images that share commonalities or historical significance. Many of the comments share life experiences related to rural American life and having to work as children.

Just by looking at several of the images and the comments they generate suggests that the LOC objectives in posting the images is very effective.

 

The Mexican Suitcase: Exploring Capa's legacy

Zone Zero has published a terrific essay and presentation by Trisha Ziff about a suitcase of lost negatives belonging to Robert Capa, Gerda Taro and Chim Seymour. This is well worth the time reading. Ziff's essay sheds light on not only the value of the images, but also the relationships between friends in a time of war.

Editing as important in the digital age as in the past

With all the additions that digital photography brings, people still need to understand the importance of editing pictures. Dave Johnson of PC World Canada, has a good article about editing as an integral part of digital photography. Johnson discusses what he calls editing tricks including,  color balance,  exposure correction, perspective cropping,  and eliminating noise.

Nuance remains critical to emotional imagery

As a culture we have come to expect more out of the pictures we see. We are
far more visually sophisticated than previous generations.  In fact, we demand
that the images we consume each day -- many of them from advertising -- stand
out. The pictures we see, some 5,000 to 6,000 daily, actively compete for
out attention.

To make something out of nothing can lead to confusion

Photo Credit: AFP/Farooq Naeem

There are times when visual reportage gets lost when a photojournalist takes more
artistic license than convention permits. There is nothing wrong with art, but
conceptualizations that illustrate rather than report should be labeled as such.
In this image, the relationship between what is pictured and what is explained in
the caption is troublesome.

The caption reads:

Pakistani soldiers in Swat valley in February 2008. A pro-Taliban leader in Pakistan's tribal area said that Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and fugitive Taliban militant leader Mullah Omar were "not enemies of Pakistan.                                       

Not only is the caption misleading, so to is the picture. What do these soldiers have to
do with an unnamed pro-taliban leader showing support for Osama bin Laden?

In analyzing this image the photographer appears not to follow any of the normal
conventions prescribed to visually reporting the news, that is unless pinhole cameras
are making a comeback.

It is also interesting to consider how much of today's media, including wire services, feel as compelled to entertain us as they are to inform us. The logic at work here seems to suggest
that if a picture visually dynamic and able to capture a viewer's attention than it somehow fails. This does not mean that images shouldn't be carefully and artfully composed and technically
well executed, but images such as this one indicate a trend away from straight heads-up
news photography.

One interpretation of this image leads to a more aesthetic reading, something along postmodernist lines of thinking. However, that is not, in my opinion, what visual reportage has traditionally been about. The rhetorical power of such an image leans toward opinion rather than
presenting fact. What we view here is a scene that has been altered by technique to produce something more interesting than what it really is -- a group of seven soldiers near a bunker somewhere.

All images traffic in ambiguity. That is, unless you are actually witness to an event, a representation will always hold a slightly different meaning for individual viewers. In this case, the tolerance for ambiguity is constrained by the straight forwarding wording of the caption -- words that seem to have very little connection to what is represented in the image. Moreover, this image possesses strong symbolism in that the soldiers are trapped by a circular field of black.

In some ways, the image is a reminder of earlier circular images like this one from the late 1880s.

Photo Credit: Photomuse

Top 100 freelance blogs announced at Bootstraper

Interested in how people are struggling to survive in a downsized and consolidated media world? One word. Freelancing. Today, a photographer, writer, designer, or editor must be as accomplished in business as they are in photography or any other skill set. Bootstrapper provides a comprehensive listing of some of the more interesting and popular blogs that will appeal to freelancers. One of my favorite sites, Freelance Switch, is also mentioned.

Change is bittersweet

This Janis & Arlo cartoon reminds me that many people are beginning
to accept the inevitable decline of the daily newspaper. This week, a
colleague wrote to say that his newspaper was once again facing another
wave of layoffs and after nearly two decades he could soon find himself
out of a job. The cartoon is a painful reminder of the lost of tradition in our
culture.
two decades, we have seen a robust industry

Driving on water

Commercialism was on center stage, or in a pond, at the Honda Classic
PGA tournament  recently in Florida. 

Some pictures are still worth a thousand words

photo credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

It's comical to see the poetic justice of journalists convening in an men's
room to report on one stop in the democratic presidential campaign.  The
media handlers for Hillary Clinton's campaign must have had some fun
when deciding to set up a press room in a john.

Photography 2.0

Technological advances in digital photography are constantly challenging the notion of what photography is. Some of the latest innovations include refocus, high-dynamic range and 3D images. There may also be cameras that take pictures only when someone is smiling or isn't blinking.

Stephen Shankland of C/Net notes, "Researchers and companies are starting to stretch their wings by taking advantage of what a computer can do with sensor data either within the camera or on a full-fledged PC."

This shift signifies the advance of photography from an era of convention to one of computation. In a Photo 2.0 world the experience of making pictures will be governed not by chance but through calculation. Ultimately, this revolution in photographic technologies will not only change the way we make pictures but also the way we see.

Redefining culture through the pictures we share

Regardless of any perceived dangers of the impending “digital disorder” brought about by the relentless stream of information clogging our e-mail boxes and computer hard drives, digital photography, blogging and the Internet are empowering us to become cultural agents of change in society.

Although the ocean of images and information now lapping at our consciousness may appear to be miles wide and only an inch deep, something much more significant is taking place. At some point, after we have moved beyond the self-infatuation stage that comes with communication in a digital age, we will come to understand that the images and words we create and share with one another are actually reshaping and redefining the very fabric of our culture.

For instance, blogging, which for some people has taken on a prerogative meaning, can actually be effective in creating group cohesion and identity. 

Recently, I created a blog about the university I teach at which has become not only a creative outlet for my photography, but also as a way of  exploring our campus culture. What I am discovering through the blog is just how rich and diverse our campus is.As a daily practice, I make images of teachers, students, athletes, activists, workers, administrators, and visitors doing the things that define who they are. In a little over a month, what has emerged from the blog has contributed to a much greater and richer understanding of our campus culture.  Pictures become like the second hand on a clock, each image is the tick of seconds representing specific moments in time that accumulate as collective experiences.

As time moves forward, the images placed before us become reminders of where we have been and what we have done. In a sense, the images on a blog can point toward the present and the future by chronicling the near past.

As a teacher, writer, researcher, and photographer, I have always found the immediacy of blogging to be an effective forum in which to build community, model practices, and reach out to students. The process of connecting one to the many begins in earnest with humanizing and celebrating life.

Pictures can bring humanity, with all its hubris and humility, into sharper focus.  How we think about humanity is essential to blogging.  Deeply moved by the work of Paulo Freire, I find blogging to embody the idea of praxis through action and reflection.  In discovering the campus in new ways through the blog, I am transformed through the act of meeting people, taking pictures, and then reflecting on what all of this may mean.

I have come to learn to measure time in pictures and blog posts. Each day represents a campus occurrence or a chance meeting with a student or teacher.  As days go by, I begin to understand how life on campus is connected through shared the hopes, dreams, aspirations, and expectations we all share. The pictures I make tell different stories. Sometimes the story shows the enthusiasm of an instructor sharing their knowledge with students on the steps of a building, while at other times the story may be about exploring a sense of place on campus, an individual’s athletic success, or the sorrow of the community after the death of a student. All of these experiences shape who we are. The images express traditions and values, but they are also helping to define our common culture.