30 years later, street photographer meets subject

Like many other street photographers, I've always wondered what would happen if someone I'd photographed recognized himself (or herself) in one of my photos. Would they get mad? Would they sue?

Jill Freedman, an amazing street and documentary photographer, found out when a postal worker named Mario Pesa recognized himself in one of Jill's photos. The photo, of a couple standing in front of a store's metal grating and the guy wearing a T-shirt with the image of a gun pointing at the girl's head, is one of Jill Freedman's best. According to an account in yesterday's New York Times, Mr. Pesa, who was wearing the T-shirt, simply wanted to meet the photographer. "I wanted to thank her for immortalizing me," he said.

Read the entire story.

NYC to Wedding Shooters: Pay Up or Get Out

Is New York City about to put wedding photographers out of business? It seems that way: The City Council wants wedding photographers to submit a $5,000 bond, get a license, and fill out burdonsome paperwork, according to a law that the Council will discuss today at 10:00 AM. If you refuse to get a license, you will be fined $1,000-$5,000 every time you break the law, i.e, photograph a wedding.

Way to send wedding photographers packing for the suburbs, New York!

Read the whole pathetic proposal.

Israel at 60!

Here's a picture in celebration of Israel's 60th birthday, shot in 1977 at the Maccabiah ("Jewish Olympics") opening ceremonies at Ramat Gan stadium.

Visit IL77 for more photos I took of Israel.

Yom Holedet Sameach, Yisrael (Happy Birthday, Israel!)

Attack of the Terror Tripods!

Scott Kelby, editor/publisher of Photoshop User and Layers magazine, was waylaid by a hotel security guard in New York city because he and his friends were carrying tripods back to their hotel rooms after doing a shoot at Grand Central Station (where they had a permit to shoot using tripods).

I must tip my hat to the hotel guard for his vigilant alertness and swift action. Imagine the unspeakable horror that could have happened had these tripods actually been used for something like, oh, taking pictures. Wait a sec--they were coming back from a shoot. Never mind...

Read this head-shaker.

More communities should do this!

Ventura, California, is running free darkroom demonstrations geared towards kids. "Kids in the Darkroom - Photography the Old-Fashioned Way." They're going to take a photo with a large-format camera, develop the film, and make a big print. The hope is that kids will see the magic of a print appearing in the Dektol and be changed for life.

Sounds like a good idea. Any photographers want to open their darkrooms to groups of kids and give a demonstration? You never know what you might start!

Here's the article in the Ventura County Star.

Just like old times

Remember when you could rent a darkroom for a small hourly fee? Most of those facilities are gone, but don't tell Chris Fuller of Bellingham, Washington. Fuller just opened The Darkroom, a gallery space and darkroom rental facility, and plans to show the work of local photographers in the front while offering hourly black-and-white photoprocessing space for up to three people at once in the back. Fuller also plans to teach people how to use the darkroom.

Is this the start of a revival trend? Here's hoping!

Read the whole story in the Bellingham Herald.

A Street Photographer newbie's interesting thoughts

Mitch Alland, a recent convert to street photography, has written a thoughtful article on the subject on his blog, The Online Photographer. Good stuff, debatable thoughts such as his feeling that you need a project in order to be a better street photographer. Not how I learned it. My motivation is to see what things look like photographed, in black and white, and how the framed two-dimensional image freezes and transforms a moment.

Of course, it has to be interesting, and there has to be a tension between the form and content of the image. Visit his site to see some really good work.

In any case, this is a good read, as are the reader comments at the end.

Has war on street photographers jumped the pond?

Here's an alarmist lead to a Memphis, TN newspaper story:

"A man walking through Tom Lee Park pauses to snap a photo of the iconic Hernando DeSoto Bridge. Another man shoots pictures of numerous downtown buildings.

"Many would assume the men are tourists taking in the city's sights, but law enforcement officials say they could be terrorists staking out possible targets."

The story, Tourist or Terrorist? appeared recently in the Memphis Flyer, and goes on to describe how Operation Sudden Impact, an alliance of 54 law enforcement agencies, is targeting photographers as potential Al Queda operatives.

"One of the things discussed in the al-Qaeda manual is conducting surveillance of your target," one official is quoted as saying.

While there have been no reports from Memphis of photographers being hassled or detained by police, after reading this article it only seems like a matter of time.

US street photographers, beware...and keep a copy of The Photographer's Right with you just in case you need to prove that what you are doing is protected by the first amendment of the U.S. constitution.

If there's anthing reassuring about this news item, its the reader comments, such as "I'm an amateur photographer and plan my vacations around interesting areas to photograph. Thanks for helping me cross Memphis off my list." and "Whoever is suggesting this "plan" is the terrorist" and "None of this has anything to do with preventing terrorism...What this has to do with is getting citizens used to obeying arbitrary commands."

Enough paranoia!

Ansel's assistant speaks

Andrea G. Stillman was Ansel Adams's assistant in the 1970s. The New York Times has just posted a multimedia presentation where Ms. Stillman talks about working with Ansel, and discusses the stories behind some of his best-known photographs. She also explains why Ansel insisted in shooting in B&W when Kodak asked him to take some photgraphs on Kodachrome.

A must-see and hear!

Ansel Adams's Yosemite

"Is this a play?"

This just happened:

My 11 year old daughter's friend was standing in the hallway in my house, looking at some of my street photos. She pointed at the photo above and said, "is this a play?"

"Yes it is," I responded. "Only the people in the pictures are real people, and they don't realize they're acting."

New look for Blog and White World

I decided it's time for a new look for Blog and White World, so here it is. Blogging tools make it incredibly easy to do this. Just press a few buttons, and voila! A whole new look.

What do you think? Like it? Hate it? Leave a comment!