Check Out Doug Landreth's Web Site!

I read a story about Doug Landreth in PhotoMedia magazine, (a photographer that seems equally successful in fine art and commercial photography), and wanted to share his fine art web site with you. It's filled with unique and beautiful images that just make you smile.

Imogen Cunningham - My Heroes (cont.)

"In 1901, at the age of 18, Cunningham bought her first camera, a 4x5 inch view camera, from the American School of Art in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She soon lost interest and sold the camera to a friend. It wasn’t until 1906, while studying at the University of Washington in Seattle, that she was inspired by an encounter with the work of Gertrude Kasebier to take up photography again. With the help of her chemistry professor, Dr. Horace Byers, she began to study the chemistry behind photography; she subsidized her tuition by photographing plants for the botany department."

Imogen Cunningham went on to become one of the true pioneers of American photography with a career that mixed commercial and fine art success in a wide variety of subjects. To learn more about the life of this amazing woman click here. To see more images click here.

Ruth Bernhard - My Heroes (cont.)

"Ruth Bernhard, who photographed nude models in graceful compositions evoking sand dunes and sculpted shapes, died Monday. She was 101. She died of natural causes at her home in San Francisco, according to her gallery representative, Peter Fetterman. Bernhard got her start shooting commercial jobs for catalogues and publications, but her fine art work emerged in the 1930s as part of a movement of West Coast photographers who studied the intriguing shapes and textures of recognizable objects. Her contemporaries included Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham and Edward Weston." To read more of Darryl Lang's story for PDN click here. To see more images click here.

Fuji Kicks It Up A Notch!

Those crazy kids at Fuji are at it again! The new S5 won't be out in time for Christmas but maybe Valentines Day and at a street price of less than $2000.00 what says "True Love" more than a 12.3 Mega Pixel Digital SLR!

If you don't' mind, just give us the facts Ma'am. The facts? Sure, click here.

Alfred Stieglitz -My Hereos (cont.)

"Few individuals have exerted as strong an influence on twentieth-century American art and culture as the photographer and art dealer Alfred Stieglitz. Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1864 during the Civil War, Stieglitz lived until 1946. He witnessed some of the most profound changes this country has ever experienced: two world wars, the Great Depression, and the growth of America from a rural, agricultural nation to an industrialized and cultural superpower. But, more significantly, he also helped to affect some of these transformations. Through his New York galleries--the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession at 291 Fifth Avenue, which he directed from 1905-1917; The Intimate Gallery, 1925-1929; and An American Place, 1929-1946--he introduced modern European art to this country, organizing the first exhibitions in America of work by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, and Paul Cézanne, among others. In addition, he was one of the first to champion and support American modernist artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Arthur Dove, John Marin, Marsden Hartley, and Charles Demuth." To learn more about Alfred Stieglitz click here. To see more of his images click here.

Bruce Fraser - My Heroes (cont.)

"Bruce Fraser, noted author, lecturer and “color geek”, was diagnosed several months ago with terminal lung cancer.

At that time Bruce was about to start a course of chemotherapy that offered an optimistic prognosis. Unfortunately, the treatment has not been successful and the cancer has since progressed. Bruce is now severely ill and it is the opinion of Bruce, his wife Angela and the doctors, that he now probably has but a very short time left. He is being cared for at home by Angela and support nursing staff.

For those who don’t know him, Bruce Fraser is an internationally well known author, consultant and speaker on the topics of digital imaging and color reproduction. In addition to authoring the highly successful Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS2, he has been a contributing editor for Macworld magazine and co-author of the best-selling books Real World Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Real World Color Management, Second Edition, and the recently released Real World Image Sharpening. Bruce has also penned numerous articles, most recently for CreativePro.com. Bruce is a partner in PixelGenius, LLC. where he designed PhotoKit Sharpener.

Bruce is a humble and gentle man of rare genius and dry humor who over the years has added immensely to the collective knowledge of the digital imaging industry." To read more of this PhotoshopNews story click here.

I met Bruce several years ago when I participated in his Color Management Masters Class in Las Vegas. I have never learned more in any class.

Thank you for your encouragement and kind words and the incredibly useful information you shared. You will be in my prayers; Godspeed Bruce.

FotoQuote Kicks It Up A Notch!

This is a great software that I have been using for years. Each new version just gets better and better. Whether you are selling your own stock or bidding on assignments FotoQuote is an invaluable tool. You'll probably pocket enough extra profit, the very first time you use it, to pay for the software!

"When someone wants to use one of your photos, you don't just need a number pulled out of a hat, you need help. You need FotoQuote, the industry standard price guide for stock and assignment photography!

FotoQuote is the only source of pricing information for photographers that gives you powerful Coaching help in every one of its 218 pricing categories. FotoQuote not only helps you come up with a fair price for your image license, but also gives you the inside information you will need to help you close the sale."

For more info click here.

Too Cool For School - The WhiBal Card!

"Very simply, WhiBal™ combines all the best features of all available Gray cards and meets or exceeds their technical performance in a unique package that can be used conveniently in all your shooting situations. In addition, WhiBal™ provides convenient neutral White and Black reference areas for setting dynamic range in your digital capture using the Black and White Eyedroppers available within RAWShooter and other RAW conversion software, Photoshop™ and most other editing software." To learn more click here.

BTW, I do not work for, get paid by or own stock in WhiBal, wish I did.

Carl Mydans - My Heroes (cont.)

"December 7th, 1941 a day that will live in infamy!" Those words, spoken by President Roosevelt following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, heralded the start of the most devasting war the world has ever known. Of the dozen or so images that have become icons of World War II I have two favorites. The raising of the flag on Iwo Jima, by Joe Rosenthal (see the blog archive, Thursday August 25) and the surrender of the Japanese on the USS Missouri by Carl Mydans.

The surrender image is simple but elegant. General Yashijiro Umezu signs the surrender document as General Douglas MacArthur and General Jonathan Wainwright, a former POW and recipient of the Medal of Honor, look on. I had the opportunity to see this print in person and ask Mr. Mydans about the circumstances of it's making. If you would like to read the facinating story of his WWII experienes and this image in particular click here.

Mydans recorded photographic images of life and death throughout Europe and Asia during World WarII. In 1941, the photographer and his wife were captured by the invading Japanese forces in the Philippines, held for nearly a year in Manila, then for another year in Shanghai, China, before they were released as part of a prisoner-of-war exchange. To listen to interviews with this pioneering photojournalist click here.

The following is from the The Digital Journalist: MacArthur, knowing that Carl had been held prisoner by the Japanese, placed him with the first American armored regiment as it sped towards Manila. Late at night, the tanks drew up in front of the Santo Tomas prison. Carl dismounted and walked to the front gate and called out. One of his friends from the camp slowly approached, squinting in the glare of the tank lights. Carl called out..."It's Carl! Carl Mydans!" In disbelief the emaciated survivors ran their hands over his face. "My God! It is Carl Mydans!" They wept.

Leonard Freed - My Heroes (cont.)

"Photojournalist Leonard Freed, whose precisely composed pictures caught life's everyday details whether he was covering political strife and personal struggle, or parties and snowball fights, died Wednesday. He was 77 and died in upstate New York after a battle with cancer, according to his agency, Magnum Photos.

Freed's career blossomed during the American civil rights movement, when he traveled the country and produced his 1968 book Black In White America. He went on to produce over a dozen books, including a 1992 retrospective, Leonard Freed, Photographs 1954-1990." Click here to read the rest of Daryl Lang's' story for PDN. To see more images click here.

Jahangir Razmi - My Heroes (cont.)

"On Aug. 27, 1979, two parallel lines of 11 men formed on a field of dry dirt in Sanandaj, Iran. One group wore blindfolds. The other held rifles. The command came in Farsi to fire: "Atesh!" Behind the soldier farthest to the right, a 12th man also shot, his Nikon camera and Kodak film preserving in black and white a mass execution."

"Within hours, the photo ran across six columns in Ettela'at, the oldest newspaper in Iran. Within days, it appeared on front pages around the world. Within weeks, the new Iranian government annexed the offending paper. Within months, the 'anonymous photo' won the Pulitzer Prize."

To learn more about this amazing image and the photographer who captured it click here.

David Bailey - My Heroes (cont.)

Blowup, a 1960's movie whose hero is loosely based upon British photographer David Bailey, swelled the student ranks at many schools of photography within a few weeks of it's release.

The irony of Blowup is that the movie, as hedonistic as it is, pales when compared to Bailey's real life. He has been married to some of the world's most beautiful women, including the lady pictured above, Catherine Deneuve, and his private life for better or worse has been detailed in the British press for decades. He was the original jet set photographer and almost as well known as the rock stars and movie legends he photographed.

His, larger than life, career has somewhat overshadowed his contributions to photography. His, "let's peek behind the curtain," style of photographing celebrities became incredibly popular with the public and sparked a demand that has grown exponentially over the years. For me the secret to a great David Bailey image is the feeling that you are seeing something that the subject just wouldn't show to another photographer.

To learn more the life and times of this photographic icon click here.

Edward Steichen - My Heroes (cont.)

One of the giants of American photography Steichen was also a painter and a museum curator. Perhaps best known as the creator of "The Family of Man", his influence can be seen in every area of modern photography.

In February of 2006, Steichen's early pictorialist photograph, The Pond-Moonlight (1904), reached the highest price ever paid for a photograph at auction in the U.S., $2.9 million. To learn more click here.