Newslines
News items from many sources that will keep you up to date and informed.
February 2007
Charleston Center for Photography to host B&W workshop
Begun in 2002, the Charleston Center for Photography is now starting its fifth year of classes, workshops and lectures. The classes cover all aspects of traditional film and digital photography, photo journalism, lighting techniques and a variety of other technical and creative topics. The Center has proudly supported such projects as Viewpoint, (Kids With Cameras), the Who Among Us Exhibit, the Philip Simmons Foundation and other community based efforts.
Starting this year, CCP will become a membership-based organization. It is the only such organization in the Lowcountry dedicated solely to the art of fine photography.
The CCP is located within Alterman Studios (owned by ASMP member Jack Alterman), a 6,000 square-foot facility located in downtown Charleston. In addition, the facility houses the Alterman Gallery, where art quality photographs may be viewed and purchased.
The Center will host a major event in April: the Black and White Master Print workshop, a week-long investigation of specific relationships of light on form creating presence in the print. The workshop starts with an detailed explanation of presence and shows how it operates in both old master paintings and photographs. Students then spend three days learning and practicing the perceptual and photographic skills necessary to achieve presence. Included in this three days are intense still life photography in the classroom with several objects and setups, one day on location, and learning perceptual correction skills and tools on the computer using Lightroom and Photoshop. For simplicity, we will use no more than five specifically chosen tools. The emphasis here is on the living process of perception and presence, not the complication of imaging tools and techniques. The last two days will be spent on printing inkjet photographs for presence achieved in the images.
Led by George DeWolfe, the workshp runs from Monday, April 9 through Friday, April 13, 9:00 am till 5:00 pm. Cost is $1,095. Additional details and registration info are at www.center4photography.com.
NANPA Road Show to present workshops in four cities
Want to learn more about nature photography from the top names in the field? Attend one of the weekend workshops hosted by the North American Nature Photography Association.
- March 2-4 in Washington, DC
- May 4-6 in St. Louis, MO
- August 10-12 in Vancouver, BC
- September 14-16 in Denver, CO
Presenters at the Washington event include Jim Clark, Richard Day and Tim Grey. The conference will take place at the Hilton Washington DC North/Gaithersburg, located in the I-270 hi-tech business corridor just outside the I-495 Beltway. Cost for the full weekend is $235 for NANPA members, $335 for non-members. Single-day registration is also offered. For full details, see www.nanpa.org/conferences.html.
Copyright Office staffers address Imagery Alliance
On Monday, January 29, David Carson and Maria Pallante of the US Copyright Office met with the Imagery Alliance, a coalition of artists’ and photographers’ groups, in Washington, DC. (ASMP is a member of the Alliance.) The Graphic Artists Guild’s Lisa Shaftel send us this report:
“The C.O. hopes to have online registration up and running this summer, hopefully July. You will be able to go to the C.O. website, fill in an online form, upload digital files, and pay either by credit card or charge the registration to your deposit account with the C.O. There will be a designated space in the online form for you to describe the work using ‘keywords’ to be used in a word-searchable database. A thumbnail of a visual work will NOT be available in that database. The great news is that the registration fee for online registrations will be lowered to $35, if Congress approves.
“The C.O. is considering conducting a study about the need for, and possible workings of, a new system of ‘copyright small claims’ court. Either Congress or creators’ groups may request the study. It may or may not happen as part of any Orphan Works legislation, and could happen as an independent issue. The C.O. would welcome input from creators’ groups.
“All registrations mailed to the C.O. continue to be screened for Anthrax, explosives, etc., before being delivered to the C.O. This continues to add processing time to registration. Unfortunately, some submissions are still being damaged in the screening process, whether they are videotapes, CDs, paper, or photos. This is out of the C.O. hands, and there’s nothing they can do about it.
“On the whole, we did not discuss much surrounding the Orphan Works Bill with the C.O. since the Bill is out of the C.O.’s hands; it moved up the ladder in our legislative process in 2006 to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.
“However, we asked the C.O. about the possibility of making their database of registered works available to the public for online search. They seemed lukewarm to the idea of making the names and contact info of registered copyright owners available for online search. They were adamantly against making a visual database of registered images searchable by the public online because they are afraid of copyright infringement by the general public. They said that they have also received specific requests from creators to NOT make their names, contact info, and images available to public search. A user still has to go into the C.O. in Washington, DC to search their registered works in their office.”
Copyright Office lets you search preregistration records online
Claims to copyright that have been preregistered in the Copyright Office from October 2005 to the present are available for searching on the Copyright Office website at www.copyright.gov. Click on “Search Records,” then on “Search Preregistration Records” to begin a search. A tutorial provides basic information on preregistration and search methods.
Preregistration is allowed for photos, but it’s primarily intended for certain types of unpublished works, such as movies and music albums, that have had a history of prerelease infringement. Its purpose is to preserve the remedies of statutory damages and attorney's fees for copyright owners of these works when they have been infringed before publication and registration. A preregistered work must be registered within 3 months after publication. Preregistration takes place only online, is not a substitute for registration, and is not a guarantee that the Copyright Office will ultimately register the work.
PhotoAssistant.Net to run C1 Pro Digital workshop, March 2007
This is a Hands On workshop. The goal is have you walk out feeling ready to be on your first digital shoot. Nothing replaces on the job experience, but this is meant to provide the knowledge you need to get you up and running the first time. Attendees will be working with Canon and Phase One digital cameras coupled with Capture One Pro RAW Workflow software. Our digital tech workshop is a Hands on, two day event. Images from past workshops can be viewed on the registration page.
DATE: March 17-18, 2007
Space is limited to 16 people so reserve your spot soon.
Lunch for both days will be provided.
LOCATION: NYC, Studio location to be announced.
Details and registration info are on the PhotoAssistant.net site.
Tamron adds gallery to site
Tamron asked us to mention the new interactive feature on its website that lets you share your images (at least, those taken with a Tamron lens) with photo enthusiasts all over the world. You can read the star ratings and comments of other photographers, get technical data on each image, see which images are viewed most often, and of course post ratings and comments of your own. It’s a great learning experience and a discreet way to get objective feedback on your work. To access the Gallery, just go to www.tamron.com, click on Photographic Lenses, then click on “Share Your Photos” and you can scroll through and check out literally thousands of fascinating pictures, all shot with Tamron lenses.
As with any online image-sharing system, there is some risk that your images could be pirated by visitors. For this reason, many of the images we examined had an artist’s signature in the image area, and the system appears to preserve some metadata within the file. We were not impressed by the caliber of the comments, but that might be just the luck of the draw in our sampling.
Arthur Meyerson receives award
On Saturday, February 17th, at the Houston Advertising Federation’s 45th Annual Addy Awards, Houston native (and ASMP member) Arthur Meyerson was presented with the first-ever “Only in Houston” Award. This award will be given annually to a member of the Houston creative community who exemplifies the organization’s goal to bring recognition to their art, their industry and the City of Houston through superior creativity and passion.
Adobe ships Lightroom 1.0
On February 20, Adobe officially started shipping Adobe® Photoshop Lightroom 1.0. It contains several features that were not in the beta releases.
- Clone and Healing functionality for more powerful photo tweaking
- Hue, Saturation, and Luminance targeted adjustment tools for precise, intuitive adjustments
- Improved import dialog with more flexible file handling
- Virtual copies and snapshots for maintaining multiple versions of the same image
- Metadata browser for quick access to key information tags
Adobe is offering an introductory price of $199 ($100 off list) until the end of April. Details are at Adobe’s online store.
Mikkel Aaland talks about his Lightroom experiences at PMA
At the PMA show in Las Vegas, Mikkel Aaland will be speaking to visitors at the O’Reilly Booth (#J244) on March 8 and 9 at 11 AM. He’ll be touting his soon-to-be published book, Photoshop Lightroom Adventure: Mastering Adobe’s next-generation tool for digital photographers, slated to be published by O’Reilly this May.
Last year Aaland, an award-winning photographer and bestselling author of Photoshop CS2 RAW decided to take the beta version of Lightroom on a genuine road test. He organized a group of 12 top-notch photographers for a trek to “Nature’s Light Room,” the pristine Icelandic landscape where each summer day is bathed in 22 hours of horizontal light. Using detailed case studies from the trip, Aaland has written a beautifully illustrated and eminently practical introduction to Lightroom.
If you are not going to PMA, you can still get the preview of Aaland’s latest book on the O’Reilly website. And check out O’Reilly Digital Media’s Inside Lightroom, an online resource for Lightroom users.
Clio Awards deadline is March 1
Since 1959, the Clio Awards have sought to attract the best work from agencies, production houses and design firms all over the world. This work is judged by leading creatives, people who have distinguished themselves in their respective fields and who represent the very best of craft.
All entries, other than student work, must have been created for a paying client, except pro bono work for charities and non-profit organizations. To be eligible, the entry must have first appeared after January 1, 2006. Details about judging, categories, rules and fees are posted on the Clio Awards site.
Monroe CC seeks full-time photo faculty
Monroe Community College, located in Rochester, New York, invites applications for a full time tenure-track Photography faculty position.
Required Qualifications:
• Master’s degree in Photography or Art or related field is required with evidence of 18 hours of graduate Photography coursework.
• Evidence of ability to teach Media Photo I & II, Color Photo and Digital Photo.
• Evidence of experience teaching at the college level (which may include dual-credit or similar evaluated instruction).
• Familiarity with photo facility management and ability to perform equipment and chemical maintenance.
Monroe Community College provides a high quality learning environment to a diverse community and is an academic community made up of individuals who have a strong commitment to Community College Education. We seek individuals who are versatile in their teaching and/or their professions, proficient with technology, open to change, passionate about learning and self-improvement and committed to serving in various capabilities to realize the College’s mission of student success.
For job descriptions, qualifications, and application instructions, please visit our website at jobs.monroecc.edu.
AIA Octagon features panoramas by Thomas Schiff
The Octagon, the museum of the American Architectural Foundation and the American Institute of Architects in Washington DC, is now running a display of Thomas Schiff’s panoramic photographs. The 32 images celebrate architecture from around the country. The pictures will remain on display through March 23.
ASMP member Schiff has been a photographer for more than 40 years, but he started working in panoramic formats only in 1944. He now uses a Hulcherama 360 panoramic camera that exposes film in a continuous strip as the body rotates through 360 degrees. He has also published three books of panoramic photos: Panoramic Cincinnati (1999), Panoramic Ohio (2002) and Panoramic Parks of Cincinnati (2005).
On Wednesday, March 7, Schiff will present a slide show, lecture and guided tour about his architectural panoramas. The event begins at 7:00 pm at the Corcoran Gallery of Art; after the slide show, the audience will stroll across the street to the AIA Headquarters for the tour. Admission is $20 to the public, or $15 for members of the Corcoran or Foundation museums. For details, call (202) 639-1770 or visit the Corcoran’s web site.
NAPP to offer magazine for Lightroom users
The National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) announced the launch of Darkroom, a new how-to magazine for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom users. Darkroom magazine will target professional photographers who want to get the most out of Adobe’s Lightroom workflow application. It will feature in-depth tutorial articles, innovative digital photography techniques, and timesaving shortcuts written by the creative experts behind Photoshop User and Layers magazines.
Darkroom will be distributed with Photoshop User magazine (published eight times a year) and will be available to NAPP members as part of their membership at no additional cost. (Photoshop User is the official publication of NAPP.) In addition, a downloadable electronic version of Darkroom will be available to non-NAPP members through an annual paid subscription. Electronic subscription details and pricing will be announced at www.darkroommagazine.com.
PhotoAssistant.Net starts ninth year
Begun in 1998, the organization for assistants has steadily grown over the years. Now, in addition to an email newsletter, it runs several educational workshops. This year, the C1 Pro - Digital Tech workshops will go out on the road to Dallas and Los Angeles, and perhaps other cities. It is also developing a C1 Pro certification program that will list C1 Pro certified techs on its web site. And there will be more Photo Assistant Boot camp workshops this year. Details are at www.photoassistant.net.
Join Karen Schulman for a Focus Adventures workshop
ASMP member Karen Schulman invites you to join her in a Focus Adventures workshop, international tour or private session. She’ll be returning to Ecuador and the fabulous Gal‡pagos Islands in May; continuing her popular Steamboat in the Summertime workshop in July; expanding the Fall in Focus program at Focus Ranch to one week in mid-September; and last, but certainly not least, enjoying a two-week photo and cultural adventure across Morocco in late October.
Detailed program information is on the web at www.focusadventures.com. The site features the Scrapbook pages, which have recently been updated. There are also new photos posted in the ‘Steamboat Summer’ and ‘Fall in Focus’ Participants’ Galleries.
Impressed by Light: Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840-1860
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art will have an exhibition of British calotypes — images made via paper negatives — from September 25 until December 31, 2007. Many accounts of early photography suggest that calotypes were displaced by glass negatives, which became available in 1851. But this exhibition reveals that, instead of fading away, the calotype flourished for many more years, not least because of artists who used it by choice rather than necessity. Some of them liked its aesthetic quality; others appreciated its advantages for travel in hot climates. Still others, seeing that trade photographers had switched to glass, felt that the calotype emphasized their status as amateurs and gentlemen.
For information about this and other Met exhibits, visit www.metmuseum.org.
ASMP member featured in B&W magazine
Alvis Upitis, a longtime ASMP member, originally from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area but lately a resident of Hawaii, tells us that some of his personal work is spotlighted in the March 2007 issue of Black and White Magazine for collectors of fine photography. Here’s a sample:
