newyorktimes

Michael Zhang

This is How a War Photographer Transmitted Photos from Afghanistan in 2008

Want to see how a New York Times war photographer transmitted photos from Afghanistan back in 2008? Here's an interesting 14-minute documentary that shows the workflow photojournalist Tyler Hicks used while covering the war in Afghanistan, where he had to prepare and transmit digital photos from one of the most unforgiving places on Earth to a Times photo desk in New York.

Hicks is a senior photographer for the Times who went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news photography in 2014.

Michael Zhang

NYT Says It Didn’t Crop Out Bush From Selma Photo

This photo of President Obama leading a commemorative march in Selma, Alabama, was featured on the front page of the New York Times this past weekend. The event was attended by notable politicians from both sides of the aisle, including former president George W. Bush, who was also on the front line of the march. Times readers who noticed that Bush was notably absent from the photo began to criticize the paper, and soon news organizations began to report on this omission as well.

Michael Zhang

Photographer Peter Lik Has Sold Nearly Half a Billion Dollars in Prints

Last December, the art world balked when photographer Peter Lik announced the world's priciest sale of a photograph: a single black-and-white print titled "Phantom" for $6.5 million. Here's another fact that will drop your jaws: Lik has sold nearly half a billion dollars worth of photographic prints, which means he's possibly the best-selling fine-art photographer in history.

Michael Zhang

Crowdsourced Instagram Photos of Snowstorm Land on the Front Page of the New York Times

Yesterday's front page of the New York Times featured a story about the snow that has been falling on the Northeastern United States. Accompanying the article and dominating a large portion of the page were 9 Instagram photos of the snow as snapped by Times readers.

Poytner points out that this appears to have been the first time the New York Times published audience-submitted photographs on the front page of its printed newspaper.

Gannon Burgett

Award-Winning Photographer James Estrin On Capturing the Spiritual Experiences that Underlie Everyday Life

Throughout his career as a New York Times photographer, James Estrin has capture some in credibly powerful photography.

With assignments ranging from capturing the Ground Zero memorial being opened on the one-year anniversary of 9/11, to something as seemingly mundane as capturing photos of the elderly residents who use Meals On Wheels, Estrin takes a unique approach to his photos, attempting to capture a spiritual experience in every moment of life.

Allen Murabayashi

On Design: Searching for a More Visual News Site

When the Chicago Sun-Times laid off its entire photo staff last year, I commented that one of the problems was the utter failure of website design to appropriately showcase photography. Above is an example of the current design and the way photography is displayed.

DL Cade

NYPD Officer Faces Up To 7 Years in Jail for Lying About Photographer’s Arrest

One year ago, in August of 2012, New York Times photographer Robert Stolarik was arrested for allegedly using his camera flash to interfere with police during an arrest. However, after taking a look at the evidence, it's the police officer who is in hot water and may face up to 7 years in prison after being indicted on three felony counts and five misdemeanors.

DL Cade

New York Times Puts Instagram Image on the Front Page

In November of 2010, The New York Times made headlines of their own when they chose four Hipstamatic photos to grace their front page. And now, Instagram is getting in on the action as well. For Sunday's paper, the NYT decided to use a photo of Alex Rodriguez taken by photographer Nick Laham in a locker room bathroom using an iPhone and edited in Instagram.

DL Cade

Instagram May Soon Turn Paparazzi Into an Endangered Species

In recent years, photographers -- and particularly photojournalists -- have had to compete more and more aggressively with the everyday Joe and his smartphone who happens to be at the right place at the right time. And with technologies like CrowdOptic in the works that will help sift through the plethora of photographs taken every second, news agencies may soon be able to find that Joe in record time.

But according to an article by Jenna Wortham of The New York Times, one branch of photography is already taking a significant hit: the paparazzi are being replaced by Instagrammers. Using a recent photo of Beyoncé and her daughter as an example, Wortham shows how the paparazzi are already losing their battler with those same amateurs.

DL Cade

The Times is Offering Photographers a Chance at a Serious Portfolio Review

It's safe to say that most amateur photographers have wondered at one time or another if they have what it takes to make it in the big leagues. Well, here's their chance to find out, because The New York Times is hosting a professional portfolio review for 150 of the best amateurs courageous enough to send their work in.

Michael Zhang

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.

Michael Zhang

Photographing a Photographer: Shooting a Portrait of Joel Meyerowitz for the NYT

New York Times staff photographer Fred R. Conrad was recently tasked with shooting a portrait of acclaimed color photography pioneer Joel Meyerowitz. Freelance videographer Elaisha Stokes went along to shadow Conrad, and captured this interesting behind-the-scenes video in which Conrad shares some thoughts on the experience of pointing a lens at a master of pointing lenses.

Michael Zhang

Are Parents Taking Too Many Pictures of Their Kids These Days?

Digital and mobile phone photography have made it easy for parents to document every waking (and non-waking) moment of a child's life, but what effect is this constant picture-taking having on kids? David Zweig has written up an article over at the New York Times arguing that our culture of photography is intruding on the preciousness of youth, and that parents should take fewer photographs of their children.

Michael Zhang

New York Times Denies US Gov’t Request to Remove Photo of Dying Ambassador

On Tuesday, the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya was attacked by militants, resulting in the deaths of ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three members of his staff. In an article reporting on the attack, The New York Times included a photograph that reportedly showed a bloody and unconscious Stevens, moments away from death. The image caused outrage with some readers, and soon attracted the attention of the United States government, which asked the Times to pull the photo. The Times said no.

Michael Zhang

“The War on Terrorism Has Somehow Morphed into an Assault on Photography”

The New York Times has published a great interview with Michael H. Osterreicher, the general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association and the editor of the organization's advocacy blog. In it, NYT Lens Blog co-editor James Estrin asks Osterreicher about photographers' rights and the trend of people being stopped while shooting public locations.

Michael Zhang

Man Leaves $13K Worth of Camera Gear in a NYC Taxi, Gets It Back

A photographer's worst nightmare happened to YouTube filmmaker Casey Neistat recently. After taking a taxi after a long 18-hour work day and flight, Neistat accidentally forgot all of his luggage -- and $13,238.86 worth of camera gear -- in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Among the equipment lost was a Canon 5D Mark III kit ($4300), a 24-70mm lens ($1600), and about $550 worth of memory cards -- equipment necessary for Neistat to make a living.

Michael Zhang

New York Times Launches Tumblr for Historic Photo Archive

The New York Times has launched a new Tumblr site called "The Lively Morgue" to breathe new life into items in the newspaper's photo archive (nicknamed "The Morgue"). Each week they'll be sharing several historical photographs found in massive collection.

Michael Zhang

NYT Sends Angry Letter to NYPD Over Treatment of Photographer

The New York Times has sent an angry letter to the New York Police Department after video emerged showing photojournalist Robert Stolarik being pushed around and then blocked while trying to photograph officers arresting Occupy Wall Street protestors. The memo itself hasn't be published, but NYT VP and assistant general counsel George Freeman is quoted as saying,

It seemed pretty clear from the video that the Times freelance photographer was being intentionally blocked by the police officer who was kind of bobbing and weaving to keep him from taking photographs

The department has acknowledged receiving the note from the NYT, but has not issued a formal response yet. This incident comes just weeks after Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly ordered officers to avoid unreasonably interfering with media access during news coverage.

Michael Zhang

Giant Words Added to Photos Without Photoshop

The giant "GRIT" seen in this photograph wasn't added in post-processing. The secret? Blue painters tape.

Artist Stephen Doyle created the installation for a series of photographs that appeared in a recent New York Times Magazine article titled What if the Secret to Success is Failure?

Michael Zhang

Photographer Identified Just Hours After NYT Shares Mysterious Nazi Album

Earlier this week the New York Times was lent a mysterious photo album that contained 214 photos of Nazi Germany, including images taken just feet away from Hitler. There was no indication of who the photographer was, so the Lens blog decided to publish some of the photos and crowdsource the task of solving the mystery.