controversy

My Response to David Burnett’s Open Letter to the NPPA

Dear Mr. Burnett,

I have some concerns I’d like to address in your recent open letter regarding the Photo Bill of Rights (BoR). I am a 36-year-old white female editorial and commercial photographer. I am a member of APA and a Houston chapter board member for ASMP.

Nikon Dropped the Term ‘Slave’ 20 Years Ago Due to ‘Negative Context’

Last week, Canon confirmed that they had stopped using the contentious terms 'master' and 'slave' in their flashes and triggers three years ago, but it looks like Nikon beat them to the bunch... by a lot. In a new statement, Nikon claims they stopped using the term "slave" in the early 2000s because of "the term's negative context."

David Burnett: An Open Letter to the NPPA on Ethics

World-renowned photojournalist David Burnett recently published an open letter to the National Press Photographers Association in response to the recent debates surrounding photojournalistic ethics and the controversial new Photo Bill of Rights that calls for, among other things, consent from subjects in public spaces.

Photographer Under Fire for Posting ‘Clearly Fake’ Tornado Photo

South Dakota photographer Aaron Groen is under fire from the storm chasing community this morning after a photograph of his went viral on Facebook. Groen says the photo shows "the best tornado I've seen," describing how the raw files from the shoot still scare him. However, seasoned photographers and storm chasers alike are claiming that it's "clearly fake."

Reddit is Asking to Use Photos in Ads for Free Without Credit

It's no secret that Reddit makes huge amounts of ad revenue off content that's often posted without the copyright owners' permission. But did you know the company is also asking photographers to use their photos for commercial purposes without any payment... or even credit?

B&H Removes Employee Over Anti-BLM Posts

Yesterday, an employee in retailer B&H Photo's Human Resources department posted some controversial anti-Black Lives Matter content to his public social media accounts. Today, that employee has been "removed from his position."

Georgia Court Revives Lawsuit by Real Estate Photographer Who Was Shot by Homeowner

In 2018, we shared the story of real estate photographer Whitney Morris, who was shot by a surprised homeowner while taking pictures of her house. Morris sued the homeowner and her real-estate agency and lost by summary judgement. Now, the Georgia appeals court has ruled that the original trial court erred, giving Morris another chance to plead his case.

No, Photojournalists Aren’t Advocating the Blurring of Faces at Protests

In the midst of global protests in support of #BlackLivesMatter, the Poynter Institute caused a ruckus within the photojournalism industry last week with the provocatively titled “Photographers are being called on to stop showing protestors’ faces. Should they?”

These Photos Show How Easy it is to Create ‘Fake News’ with Photography

A Danish photo news agency recently tasked two of its photogs with creating a series that shows how easy it is to lie through photography. By shooting before and after photos of the same scene, they showed how angle and perspective can, consciously or not, manipulate viewers and lead to accusations of fake news.

Photographer Accused of ‘Artificially Creating’ Her Plagiarism Claim

After World Press Photo announced its finalists this year, Iranian photographer Solmaz Daryani came forward and accused German photographer Maximilian Mann of plagiarizing photos from her personal project for his environmental photos of Lake Urmia in Iran. Now Mann's collective is firing back, accusing Daryani of fabricating the controversy with previously unpublished photos.

Twitter Beefs: The Photo Industry Fights Over Photo Contests

Late Winter and early Spring bring another cycle of photo contest season – that time of year when many major prizes are announced (especially in the photojournalism realm). And with each year brings another round of punditry regarding the value of photo contests and an almost inevitable controversy regarding the winners.

What is This Halo Around a World Press Photo Nominee?

Late Winter brings about a new crop of contest winners and nary a season goes by without a whiff of controversy in some form or fashion. Yesterday World Press Photo announced its 2020 Photo Contest and Digital Storytelling Contest nominees.

Are Your Social Media Photos Ending Up In a Law Enforcement Database?

Facial recognition is an incredibly useful consumer tool for organizing our burgeoning photo albums. Companies like Google and Apple have slowly integrated machine learning algorithms into their consumer photo products, which allow you to search by keywords without the need for manual tagging, or to simply click on a face to see more photos of that person.