The New York Post got the whole world talking about it yesterday after publishing a morbid front page photo showing a man about to be struck by a subway train. The photographer behind the image, freelance photojournalist R. Umar Abbasi, has received criticism from people who believe he should have done more to help the victim, or, at the very least, do anything but snap photographs of what was about to happen.

Abbasi appeared on the Today Show this morning to give an exclusive nationally-broadcast interview to explain his actions and to tell the story of what happened from his perspective.
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Even if you’ve never heard of Peter and David Turnley, you’ve likely seen at least one of their photographs at some point in your life. The identical twins are two of the most renowned photojournalists to have covered world events over the past few decades. The video above is a fascinating 13-minute-long feature titled “Double Exposure,” which aired on 60 Minutes back in 1996 (warning: there are some strong images of violence).
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Tim Kemple is an action-sport and lifestyle photographer based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. Visit his website here.

PetaPixel: Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?

Tim Kemple: Sure. I’m a photographer and film maker based in Utah. I grew up on the East Coast and spent my weekends as a kid climbing, skiing and wandering. I started carrying a camera to document my adventures.
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Sean O’Hagan over at The Observer has published an interesting profile of famed NYC street photographer Joel Meyerowitz, who had some pretty harsh things to say about his fellow NYC street shooter, Bruce Gilden:

I ask Meyerowitz about the combative, confrontational style of street photography espoused by the likes of fellow New Yorker Bruce Gilden, and he grows visibly angry for the only time in our conversation. “He’s a f**king bully. I despise the work, I despise the attitude, he’s an aggressive bully and all the pictures look alike because he only has one idea – ‘I’m gonna embarrass you, I’m going to humiliate you.’ I’m sorry, but no.”

Meyerowitz says that his street photography style is based on his boxer father’s advice to “pay attention” and anticipate the actions of the people he photographed. So here’s the difference between these two famous street photographers: one anticipates, and the other instigates.

Joel Meyerowitz: ‘brilliant mistakes … amazing accidents’ [The Observer]

P.S. Last month we wrote on how Gilden’s street photography attitude carries over into his teaching persona as well.

Thanks for sending in the tip, Phil!

Image credit: Joel Meyerowitz portrait 11/03/2012 reception by Jill Gewirtz

Oliver Monroe is a Los Angeles-based photographer who has photographed some of the world’s most famous bands and music artists in concert. Visit his website here.

PetaPixel: Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?

Oliver Monroe: I grew up in the Washington, D.C. area, where my dad worked for the Department of Defense. In 1979, I moved to Los Angeles to further my career as a photographer. After nearly 10 years in the music/entertainment business, I hung up my camera bag and became a commercial film editor for the next 5 years. Wanting to see daylight again, I left editing and started a multimedia development company. I currently own a video encoding company, which caters to the entertainment industry.
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When Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast, an iPhone photo by photographer Nick Cope was one of the first to go viral and attract the attention of news organizations. American Photo has an interesting interview with Cope in which he shares what it was like to have the world pounce on his photo:

I suppose the way the news cycle moves so quickly today, I think there’s a race to get content out as quickly as possible. Anyone can be a content creator—I took an iPhone photo literally in my bathrobe, and within a couple of hours, it had been viewed thousands, hundreds of thousands of times [...]

Maybe the most bizarre and amusing part of the whole thing was that I did get contacted from various news agencies that wanted [eyewitness accounts]. I was interviewed multiple times throughout the day—people would call who were working on stories and would ask, “What do you see? What is it like now?” It was just so interesting to me—I’m just a person who has an iPhone who took one photo, and then all of a sudden I’m this credible person who’s being called by the BBC and CNN to ask for on-the-ground information on national cable television.

Aside from a handful of big news agencies and TV stations, no one else asked to publish the photo that soon spread across the web.

The Story Behind Hurricane Sandy’s First Viral Photo [American Photo]

Elijah Solomon Hurwitz is an NYC-based photographer keen on documentary and street photography, and social and cultural issues. He has photographed in over 40 countries. Visit his website here. He also publishes a running log of photos (on Instagram as @elijahsol) and thoughts.

PetaPixel: Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?

Elijah Hurwitz: Until this last year I wouldn’t characterize my story as particularly unique. I grew up in a ‘planned community’ suburb of DC/Baltimore finding ways to get into/avoid trouble and playing video games. Studied business at a midwestern state college, and then spent the next ten years in marketing roles for technology and entertainment brands in Seattle and NYC. I’ve always been really into music, traveling and the outdoors. I better put the brakes on, this sounds like an online dating profile.
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Thomas Hawk is a San Francisco-based photographer and popular photography blogger. Visit his website here.

PetaPixel: Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?

Thomas Hawk: I grew up down in Southern California. Went to college in Santa Barbara and then moved up to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1990 after college. I took a photography class in high school at Glendale Community College in Los Angeles, but other than that course am entirely self taught. I’m married and a father to four beautiful children.

I’ve been around photography pretty much my entire life. I was the editor-in-chief of my high school yearbook and editor-in-chief of my college yearbook and later college newspaper, so back in the film days I pretty much had constant access to the darkroom that came with these jobs. I’ve spent a lot of hours in the darkroom.
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You don’t get to 200,000 followers without earning a few perks. A couple of months ago, we reported that a number of Instagram power users had been flown out to the US Open in New York as part of various companies’ marketing campaigns. Free trips and freebies like that one are becoming more and more common for Instagrammers with large followings.
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Angelo Sgambati is a fashion photographer based in Sydney. He has been a photographer for three seasons of the TV show America’s Next Top Model. Visit his website here.

PP: Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?

AS: I’m about to turn 28. I was born in Italy before my family moved to Australia when I was 5. I currently live in Sydney, Australia, but I have spent the last 2 years working around the world in England, Greece, Jamaica, Macau, Canada and Papua Guinea.
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