the World Press Photos of the Year

Take a look for yourself...good stuff.

PJ is alive and well.

Zabriskie Point was an exceptional photoblog created by the unique vision of Nick Kilroy.  I was shocked to find out that Nick has recently died.  In addition to sharing his photography, Nick shared his love for music through another project, gabba/POD, and was responsible for delivering the music of Junior Boys to the world.

Looking back through Zabriskie Point, I'm taken with the imagination and creativity used to capture these images.  The loss is truly sad.

PhotoPermit: SF Muni Photo "Ban"  So let's see, it now appears, according to SFist and BoingBoing that folks are being hassled for taking photos in the Muni system in San Francisco.  Wow, after being hassled personally by the police in Grand Central Terminal in New York and reading about not being able to photograph "The Bean" in Chicago, I didn't think this one would hit so close to home. 

I
do have to say that I've taken hundreds of pictures of both BART and SF
Muni and have yet to be hassled but still, this one just hits a little
too close to home.

"After walking over to the group of Fare
Inspectors and BART Police Officers, Officer Ryan returned to speak to
me. He expressed his frustration at the situation and me by saying:
"Would it have been so difficult for you to just stop taking
photographs when these guys told you to stop? If you weren't on your
soapbox, I'd be out fighting real crime rather than standing around
here dealing with you." He expounded further, "Even if there is no law
forbidding photography in the MUNI System, the Fare Inspectors have the
right to refuse you service for any reason they choose, including
taking photographs. Once they refuse you service they can swear out a
citizens arrest for trespassing. I, or other officers, will book you
and you'll spend the rest of your weekend in jail. It won't be for
taking photographs, so your weekend would be ruined yet you'd never get
a chance to argue the matter of taking photographs before a judge."

Who is this Officer Ryan and is this type of intimidation really legal?

Personally
I've also been hassled and told I couldn't take photographs at
Starbuck's and PF Chang's China Bistro here locally in the Bay Area.

This is not good news.  Guess I'll have to add SF Muni to my Directory of Bay Area Photo Policies.  SFist is putting together a little rally on Saturday at noon to look into this story deeper.

Another opportunity to display the differences in approaches! Yay! The Gates were unfurled this weekend in Central Park, allowing another opportunity to compare different approaches to a singular event. It will only be up for a brief time (16 days), so it we can see both theme and variations... So far the weather has been mild, but the sun has been brilliant. There may be a blizzard yet (who knows?) But the bare trees allow a clear view of the saffron strip, and I'm just wild about saffron (she's just wild about me).

So this is the starting thread, and I don't pretend to be comprehensive, so tack your shots in the comments!

So far, two from rion.nu: 1, 2

And Mike Epstein from Satan's Laundromat chimes in: 1, 2

And my single pic so far (I'm a single shot a day kinda cat): 1 (Now my second: 2)

All this is chiefly to show the different ways people approach a spontaneous event. I'd really like it if people could take this to the next level and offer constructive criticism, but if not, well, I can always work on perfecting my speidini.)

AGAIN!! All others with The Gates shots are encouraged to post their links here!

You can see my latest here.

We'll be accepting submissions for our second issue, Lost, through February 15 (Tuesday). Submit, baby!

Also, Derek and I will be hosting a launch party:

Reverie Cafe: 838 Cole Street, San Francisco
February 25, 6-8pm

If you're in the Bay Area, we hope you drop by and say hello.

The 2005 Bloggies were recently announced, and some of us noted that there was only a single category for photoblogs.  All of the photoblogs that got nominated are great, but with only five nominees, the Bloggies don't begin to scratch the surface of what's going on in the photoblogging community.  Brandon and I (I'm the Jake from Bluejake.com) were talking about it, and we decided that now was the right time to resurrect the Photobloggies.  We approached Rannie, who ran the awards in 2003.  We talked about it as a group, and we got to thinking that the best way to do it was to leverage the power of Photoblogs.org and the active user base we have on the site.  To that end, we've created Photobloggies.org, and we'll soon launch a full awards site there. We'll conduct the awards sometime soon, and then hopefully make it an annual thing.

Before we get into all the details, including the exact schedule and rules, we thought it would be a good idea to generate some ideas about possible categories.  We'll probably have the usual geographic and subject ones (Best Latin American Photoblog, Best Portrait Photoblog, etc.), but we have a feeling there are some better categories out there.

What categories would you like to see in the 2005 Photobloggies?

Popular Photography & Imaging has initiated a rather interesting contest that anyone, amateur or pro, can enter...their Photographer of the Year contest.

The rules are fairly simple.  Anyone can enter, although the entries must be in the form of a print, NO digital files will be accepted, and the prints must be no larger than 11x17 inches.  Each entry must contain 4 individual prints in these four categories:
- One people shot
- One product shot
- One action shot
- One more shot of anything or any type you wish.

How you interpret these categories is up to you. These photos can be straight or worked on in image-editing software. All entries must be received by April 1, 2005.  For full details just go to this link.

I know what you are thinking, "there's no way I could actually win...".  But I will tell you, from my own experience that it is possible to win!   

So, get ready, get your four best shots together and send them off and I wish everyone who enters the best of luck!

Apparently many of us are lawbreakers. The City of Chicago has recently begun harassing  people taking pictures in the new Millennium Park. New (sub)Urbanism has an interesting article and conversation going on surrounding this. I'm not sure how I feel about it. In most cases I fully respect the rights and wishes of the artists when it comes to copyright, but once you place your work in the public space I think that it's implied that you've given up some of those rights.

I'm wondering when the Chicago Parks Dept is going to start wasting valuable taxpayer dollars to hire a lawyer and tell me to take down this shot or this one?

I've been having quite a bit of fun with a crappy low res camera that I affectionately call the "CrapCam." I now have an extra one and am raffling it off. More details here ».

Thirteen photographers have published a 113 pages book, entitled Images to Brighten Our World, and are selling it through Lulu for $34.95 where $25 goes directly to the victims of the tsunami.

A PDF preview is available for download and, if the first issue of JPG magazine is any indication, the print quality should be excellent.