debate

Is Black and White Photography a Gimmick?

In an age where digital photography is ubiquitous, and post processing allows everyman to bump saturation levels and create hyper-real images, black and white photography seems like a curious anachronism.

Color film went mainstream in the 1930s with the introduction of Kodachrome, but black and white has stubbornly persisted not only in newspapers, but also as an expressive outlet for many photographers who choose to shoot photojournalism, weddings, portraits and more by converting color digital files to black and white.

“Why I Want to Switch to Nikon, But Can’t”: Tony Northrup Throws Gas on the Canikon Debate

Photographer and educator Tony Northrop is stirring the pot again, offering a bit of education on a hotly debated topic. Don't worry though, this isn't about crop factor... it's arguably worse.

This time, he's taking a well-informed, in-depth look at the Canikon debate, meticulously going through the comparisons between each companies lineup of camera bodies, lenses, and flashes, and explaining why he will continue shooting Canon, despite wanting to make the switch to Nikon.

Should Artists Be Different From Inventors When It Comes to Intellectual Property?

Back in 2012, the Republican Study Committee caused widespread debate over intellectual property law after publishing and then pulling a paper on copyright reform. Derek Khanna, the conservative staffer behind the paper, was fired by the committee shortly afterward.

He may have lost the platform afforded by the RSC, but Khanna is still pushing to have his views on copyright reform heard. His latest writings continue to cause quite a discussion on how copyright should be handled in the United States.

Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Photog, OKs Reprinting of “Limited Edition” Pics

If you sell a number of prints of a photograph as a "limited edition," should you be allowed to later reprint that photo in a different size, format, or medium and then sell the new pieces as a new edition? Apparently the US legal system believes the answer is "yes."

A judge has dismissed the lawsuit filed against photographer William Eggleston by art collector Jonathan Sobel, who claimed that Eggleston's decision to sell new prints of old photos hurt the value of the original "limited edition" prints.

New Service Turns Facebook Photos Into Products Without Your Friend’s Consent

Want to turn your friend's Facebook photograph into a mug to sip your morning coffee from? A new service called Photos At My Door can help you do that. It's an app that can access any of your Facebook friends' public photographs and turn them into products ranging from photo prints and canvases to mugs and mouse pads.

If the thought of having your photos sold as commercial products without your permission makes you uncomfortable, you're not alone: the app is attracting criticism for it's apparently flippant views on photo copyrights.

Who Owns Illegal Public Street Art Found on Private Buildings?

Who owns public art illegally placed onto private buildings? That's a question that came up recently after a famous Banksy work in London was ripped out of the side of a building, shipped across the Atlantic, and put up for auction with an estimated final price of over half a million dollars.

Sunday Times Telling Freelance Photogs Not to Submit War Images From Syria

"Deadly sniper shot through the lens." That's the title of a photoblog entry published over on Reuters last week by staff photographer Goran Tomasevic, who's covering the deadly conflict in Syria. The photo above was accompanied by the text, "A tank fired a couple of shells onto the top of the building and rubble fell down around us."

Photo of Woman Praying Causes Debate About Photojournalism and Privacy

NPR sparked a debate regarding photojournalism, ethics, and privacy this past Monday after publishing a story titled, "What It Feels Like To Be Photographed In A Moment Of Grief" on its photography blog.

The discussion revolved around the photograph above, which AFP photographer Emmanuel Dunand captured in the evening after the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

The New York Times on Why It Published New Impending Death Photo

The New York Post sparked a firestorm of controversy last week after publishing a photo of a man about to be struck by a subway train. People around the world were outraged that a photographer decided to photograph what had occurred, that he had sold (or, in the photographer's words, licensed) the photo to a newspaper, and that the paper decided to publish it with a sensationalist front page story.

Photoshop in Photography: What Defines a Photograph?

Last month photographer Chris Crisman entered the photograph above, titled Butterfly Girl, into the World Photography Organization’s 2012 World Photography Awards. It was selected from the thousands of entries as part of a promotional campaign for the contest and in that process was spread out all over the Internet. From the Daily Mail to the Huffington Post, the story about the World Photo Awards and Chris’s photo made the rounds across the web.

In particular, on the UK news site The Daily Mail, the photo generated a ton of comments and sparked some controversy as to whether or not it was appropriate for a photography competition. This caused me to ask myself the question: "What defines a photograph?"

Photograph of Doomed Man on Subway Tracks Sparks Outrage, Debate

If you happen to catch a glance of the New York Post's cover today, the above photo is what you'll see. It's an attention grabbing image, showing a man who is moments away from being struck and killed by an oncoming subway train in New York City. It's also a controversial image, not just because of the morbid moment it captures, but because of the fact that it even exists.

The Emperor’s New Photographs: Are Appropriated Street View Shots Art?

The debate rages on: should appropriated Google Street View photographs be considered art? There are quite a few artists and photographers out there who think it should be. Photographer Michael Wolf was awarded Honorable Mention for his curated screenshots at the World Press Photo 2011. Photographer Aaron Hobson takes screenshots and turns them into gorgeous panoramic photos. Jon Rafman's screenshots were picked for an exhibition at London's Saatchi Gallery.

Now here's another case that might cause a lot more head-scratching: photographer Doug Rickard's Street View screenshots have been selected for the permanent collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Is the World Ready for Wearable Cameras (Or Cyborgs)?

Professor and self-proclaimed cyborg Steve Mann created an eye and memory-aid device he calls the EyeTap Digital Glass. The EyeTap, worn by Mann above on the left, is a wearable device that is similar to Google Eye, pictured right, but he's been making them at home since the 1980s. The goal of his project is to use images to aid memory, or even to augment the memories of people with Alzheimer's Disease or who simply want to preserve their memories more permanently. However, a recent misunderstanding over Mann's technology allegedly caused a confrontation between Mann and several employees at a Paris McDonald's restaurant.

Photography After Photography: A Back and Forth About the Future of the Photo

Over the past month there has been a back and forth going on in the background of the photographic community between writers/photographers Joerg Colberg and Edward Rozzo. The discussion -- which has turned into a fascinating debate on the static present and uncertain future of contemporary photography -- was sparked by an article by Colberg entitled "Photography After Photography (A Provocation)," and provocative it was.

Photography has finally arrived at its own existential crisis. It is far from being over - no medium is ever over as long as there is just an ounce of creativity left on this planet. But photography has long been running in a circle. Over the past ten years, it has increasingly become dominated by nostalgia and conservatism. Even the idea that we now need editors or curators to create meaning out of the flood of photographs ultimately is conservative, looking backwards when we could, no we should be looking forward.

Shocking: North Korea Doctored Photo of Kim Jong-il’s Funeral

News photo agencies EPA, AFP, and Reuters have all issued kill orders for a photo of Kim Jong-il's funeral procession released by the Korean Central News Agency, the state news agency of North Korea. The photo (above at bottom) raised red flags after a comparison with a Kyodo News photo taken just seconds earlier revealed that a number of people had vanished from the scene. The New York Times writes,

A side-by-side comparison of the full images does point to a possibly banal explanation: totalitarian aesthetics. With the men straggling around the sidelines, a certain martial perfection is lost. Without the men, the tight black bands of the crowd on either side look railroad straight.

Perhaps it was a simple matter of one person gilding the lily.

Reuters Photograph of Rebel Firing RPG Accused of Being Fake

Update: Erin from Reuters contacted us informing us that this is in fact a genuine, non-manipulated photograph. Here's a good explanation of why it's real.

Reuters published the above image as an Editor's Choice photo yesterday, and almost immediately readers began leaving comments questioning whether the photograph was Photoshopped. The debate soon spread to other websites, including Reddit, and it appears that the photographs has since been taken down (though it can still be seen in its original slideshow from last week).