DOWN THE UP STAIRCASE; JORDAN VANSISE ON SELF PORTRAITS

Selfies' have become one of the dominant features of the decade - but the more formal self-portrait has been a staple within the fine art world throughout its history. The 2014 Student Focus finalists were tasked with the brief of developing a self-portrait series of up to ten images. The work presented is a stunning approach to these students’ lives, how they think, how the see the world and the future, their dreams and their fears. Going back to the roots of the artistic medium, they present how they see themselves within the wider world.

To get a better sense of the 2014 Student Focus Finalist series, we've asked the photographers to reflect on their shooting experiences. Today, Jordan VanSise of Marylhurst University shares his thoughts on his self-portraits' development.

What was your initial reaction to this year's theme of "Self-portraits"?=
I was excited because I was able to stick to the theme of my original image. It gave me a reason to start making these pictures which have previously only been ideas written in my notebook.



Tell us what first comes to mind when you think of self-portraits today? As a photography student, how do you react to word "selfie" becoming 2013's Word of the Year?
A self portrait can be whatever a person wants it to be. It can simply depict how we want to physically look, or it can include references to what's going on in our mind or how we feel about the world, it is open to however we wish to approach it. 'Selfie' being the word of 2013 was interesting to me, but I'm not really sure what it says about our time. I think it may be reflective of our access to technology as well as the way we use it.

How did you decide to approach your photographic series to fit the brief? What were some of the things you considered in developing your project?
I wanted to develop the concept of my original picture, which also happened to be a self portrait. I decided to try and tell a story in each picture about things I am going through personally and hopefully in a way that other people will be able to relate in some way.



What was the biggest challenge you encountered putting together your series?
Time was a big struggle while making my series because I still had everything else going on in my life but I had to give myself a lot of time and energy towards these pictures. Just the act of making them was time consuming, and compositing the images was just as challenging.

What was the biggest thing you learned undergoing this project?
I learned a different approach to picture making. I would say that my style is more on the side of straight photography - which tries to stay true to the moment. In this series of images I had to conceptualise what I was going to do before making the pictures. It was much more expressive about what's going on inside of me compared to what I'm out observing in the world.

What do you hope viewers will take away from your self-portrait series?
I hope that others will be able to find their own meaning in my series. But I want to express the self awareness I have developed, partially, through processing my experiences; and hopefully I can promote the importance of being aware of what you feel and why you are feeling it.

Any final thoughts on the experience you wish to share?
This has been a great experience for me, I have found a way to express the things I haven't been able to before verbally. And it is a project I wish to continue beyond the competition.



To see Jordan's full series, click here.
To see more of the Student Focus Finalist series, click here.

The photographs of all the student finalists will be exhibited at Somerset House in London, as part of the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition from 1-18 May and published in the 2014 edition of the annual Sony World Photography Awards book. The overall winner will be announced at the Sony World Photography Awards gala ceremony in London on 30th April.

2014 Women's Initiative Grant for photographers, photojournalists

April 14, 2014 /Photography News/ The Alexia Foundation is pleased to announce the call for entries for the 2014 Women's Initiative Grant which will provide a $25,000 grant for a project to be produced on a significant issue involving and affecting women anywhere in the world.

The Alexia Foundation's main purpose is to encourage and help photojournalists create stories that drive change. While the traditional grant guidelines put no limits on the subject matter for grant proposals, a number of proposals about women's rights in the last few years have been so powerful that we have been compelled to create a grant specifically on issues relating to women.

Unlike the first Women's Initiative grant, which specifically focused on abuse of women in the United States, this call for entries is open to photographers any where in the world and is intended to permit the photographer to produce a serious documentary photographic project encompassing any issue involving women anywhere in the world.

While considering the idea of women's issues, several themes that have been suggested, including: femininity and the culture of abuse; women making a difference, leading, changing things for the better; gender inequality; the direct connection to women and education, and the impact on birth rates, health of children and the productivity of the women; gender discrimination, women in leadership, women in the military, mental health issues. They are by no means intended to influence your proposal, but they may help you start thinking about this topic. They are, in fact, just general themes.

Eligibility:

Photographers and visual journalists from any country may apply for this Grant. Proposals for projects that have already received grants or awards of more than $1,000 in the previous calendar year are not eligible. The Grant is made to an individual photographer; project proposals that involve multiple content producers will not be accepted.

Judging Criteria:

The Grant was established to help promote greater awareness of issues surrounding and impacting women. The strength of your proposal will be judged equally to your photographic skills. The Grant goes to those who clearly and concisely propose significant projects that share in the Foundation’s mission and who demonstrate the ability to accomplish their proposals by showing photographs of the highest caliber. Photographs you submit with your proposal may be about your proposal’s subject or of past work that is of a similar type.

A well-written statement of purpose proposal is required. This is not a portfolio competition. The grant will be awarded to a photojournalist who can write a concise, focused, and meaningful story proposal concerning women’s abuse and who can demonstrate the ability to visually execute that story with compelling images. 

Applications will be judged in two rounds. First, members of the Alexia photojournalism advisory board, the Alexia Board and its executive advisors will review portfolios and move those demonstrating strongest visual storytelling skills to a second round. 

In the second round, judges first read and rank the story proposals for all those portfolios brought forward. If no judge thinks the proposal is worth considering, the portfolio will not be reviewed in the second round. A winner is chosen based on the judges' determination of the combination of the strongest proposal and photography.

All applications are expected to adhere to photojournalism ethical standards. 

Deadline: June 30, 2014 at 2p.m. EST

The winner will have six months or until March 1, 2015 to complete the project.

from Stormz Desk

We do wish to inform you that Stormz O2 Photography is headed for new releases. We need our teaming audience,

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to be informed of our more inspiring outpours......

New themes are being arrived at and ready for upload in a week's time.......do hope to satisfy your curiosity.

Tobi 

For Stormz

AP Cuts Ties with Photographer Narciso Contreras Over Photoshopped Image

JANUARY 23, 2014

by David Walker

©ASSOCIATED PRESS/NARCISO CONTRERAS Contreras's image, showing the original version (top) and the altered version (bottom) with a circle highlighting the alteration.

Associated Press (AP) has severed ties with freelance photographer Narciso Contreras for altering a news photograph he shot in Syria, the wire service has announced. Contreras was part of a team of AP photographers that shared the Pulitzer Prize last year for coverage of the Syrian civil war.

AP reports that Contreras “recently told its editors that he manipulated a digital picture of a Syrian rebel fighter taken last September.” The image shows the rebel fighter taking cover in a rugged landscape. Contreras altered the image by removing from the scene a video camera sitting on the ground near the soldier.

Santiago Lyon, AP’s director of photography, said the alteration “involved a corner of the image with little news importance,” but it was nevertheless a breach of AP’s standards. “Deliberately removing elements from our photographs is completely unacceptable,” Lyon said.

AP says the altered image was not part of AP’s Pulitzer Prize-winning portfolio.

Contreras said he removed the video camera from the image in question because he thought it would distract viewers, according to the AP report.

“I took the wrong decision when I removed the camera … I feel ashamed about that,” he said. “You can go through my archives and you can find that this is a single case that happened probably at one very stressed moment, at one very difficult situation, but yeah, it happened to me, so I have to assume the consequences.”

Contreras, who is 38, began his career freelancing for newspapers in Mexico, but made his reputation with his coverage of the war in Syria. Time Lightbox showcased his work in December, 2012.

“[Contreras] has managed to illuminate and distill the horrors of the…war — more consistently than any of his often more-experienced peers,” Time senior photo editor Phil Bicker wrote in a story that accompanies the 44-image gallery. “What makes Contreras’s work in Syria even more astonishing is the fact that he has, in a sense, come out of nowhere to emerge as the one photographer whose work will likely be seen as the photographic record of the conflict.”

AP says it has removed all of Contreras’s images from its archives. There were about 500 in all. AP says it has compared as many as it could to Contreras’s original image files, and found no other instances of alteration.

- See more at: http://www.pdnonline.com/news/AP-Cuts-Ties-with-Ph-10137.shtml#sthash.1LksqGqm.dpuf

John Stanmeyer Wins 2013 World Press Photo of the Year

FEBRUARY 14, 2014

By Conor Risch

© JOHN STANMEYER

American photographer John Stanmeyer won the 2013 World Press Photo of the Year for an image depicting African migrants standing on the beach in Djibouti, holding mobile phones aloft in an effort to get an inexpensive wireless signal from neighboring Somalia so they could reach family abroad. The World Press Organization announced the winners of the 57th annual contest at a press conference February 14 in Amsterdam.

Stanmeyer, a member of the photo agency VII, shot the winning photograph forNational Geographic. This year’s chair of the jury was photojournalist Gary Knight, who co-founded the photo agency VII. In an announcement released by World Press Photo, jury member Jillian Edelstein, a photographer from South Africa, said, “It’s a photo that is connected to so many other stories—it opens up discussions about technology, globalization, migration, poverty, desperation, alienation, humanity. It’s a very sophisticated, powerfully nuanced image. It is so subtly done, so poetic, yet instilled with meaning, conveying issues of great gravity and concern in the world today.”

Stanmeyer will receive a 10,000 Euro award and other prizes at a ceremony to be held in Amsterdam in April.

The World Press Photo Contest honors outstanding photojournalism, both single pictures and photo stories, in several categories, including Spot News, General News, People in the News, Sports, Contemporary Issues, Daily Life, Arts and Entertainment, Portraits, and Nature.

Stanmeyer's winning image also won first prize in the Contemporary Issues category. Category winners each receive a 1,500 Euro prize. Photos by all of the World Press Photo winners will be featured in an exhibition that opens in Amsterdam on April 18, and which will then travel to 100 cities in 45 countries.

Several American photographers were among the category winners and runners up. Photographer Sara Naomi Lewkowicz won first prize in Contemporary Issues Stories for her series on domestic violence which was published byTIME; Steve Winter won first prize in the Nature Stories category for a series on cougars for National Geographic. Andrea Bruce took second place in Daily Life Singles for an image of a soldier's funeral in Syria. Peter van Agtmael received second prize in the People - Observed Portraits Stories category for his story about a wounded Iraq veteran. Tyler Hicks received second prize in Spot News Stories for his coverage of the Westgate Mall shooting for The New York Times.John Tlumacki received second prize in Spot News Singles for his photograph of the Boston Marathon bombing, which was published in the Boston Globe. Al Bello took third prize in Sports Action Singles for an image of tennis star Novak Djokovic. Donald Miralle, Jr. took third prize in Sports Feature Singles for an image of free divers in Hawaii. Alyssa Schukar took third prize in Sports Feature Stories for her images of women competing in a lingerie football league. AndEzra Shaw received second prize in Sports Action Stories for his coverage of the America's Cup sailing race.

The judges gave a special mention to a series of six images shot by amateur photographer Tim Holmes in Dunalley, Tasmania, Australia. The images, which went viral and were distributed by AP, depict Holmes' family seeking refuge near a jetty from wildfires that destroyed 90 homes.

A full list of winners is available on the World Press Photo site, here. A gallery of all the winning images is available here.

- See more at: http://www.pdnonline.com/news/John-Stanmeyer-Wins--10327.shtml#sthash.LKCiumql.dpuf

5 Tech Trends That Are Changing the Photo Industry Today

By Dan Havlik

To peek into the future, sometimes you’ve just got to see what’s in front of your face. Four years ago, I did a story for PDN magazine on “five emerging technologies” that were changing the photo industry. Now with the start of 2014 upon us, I decided to survey what’s been happening in the photo industry during the past 12 months, and weigh in on photo tech trends I feel are shaping the future of the industry today. Here’s what’s looking especially interesting in my crystal ball right now.


1. To 4K or Not to 4K?

A few years ago, not many people had heard of 4K, aside from a couple of niche video products from small but important companies like Red. At the time, 3-D video was all the rage, and following the success of James Cameron’s 3-D sci-fi masterpiece Avatar, everyone wanted to get involved in this “cutting-edge” technology, which, truthfully, has been around, in some form, for nearly 100 years. But after a major push by manufacturers to sell 3-D cameras and TVs to the public, that wave appears to have crashed (again). Nowadays, 4K, which has nothing to do with 3-D, has replaced it as an industry buzzword.

So what is 4K video anyway? Well, it’s a digital cinematography standard offering approximately four times the resolution of HD video, with 4,000 pixels of horizontal resolution. Television manufacturers have started branding the confusingly named 4K with the still more-confusing moniker Ultra HD, but the proof, as usual, is in the pudding. While 4K video may not look as drastically different as 1080p HD looked compared to standard definition, it is certainly gorgeous and gives image makers much more detail and resolution to exploit. Following on the heels of the pioneering 4K Red One camera from way back in 2007, Canon, Sony and even GoPro have launched several cameras that shoot 4K video. And what’s Red up to now? They’ve already moved on to cameras and imaging chips that can shoot at up to 6K!

Products to watch: Canon Cinema EOS C500 and EOS-1D C; GoPro Hero3+ Black; Red Dragon sensor (6K) 
and Scarlet-X (right); Sony FDR-AX1 4K Handycam


2. Real-World Wireless Cameras

Let’s face it: Camera manufacturers have so far done a terrible job of bringing the glories of wireless technology to digital cameras. From confusing interfaces to weak Wi-Fi camera connections, it’s been damn near impossible to get an image from your digital SLR to your online photo-sharing or Web portfolio service without having to plug in a cable or a card reader. Meanwhile, one of the main reasons smartphones have nearly made the point-and-shoot camera market obsolete is not their image quality—it’s still mediocre, at best—it’s how easy it is to wirelessly share those images from a phone either via Wi-Fi or a cellular connection.

The good news, for photographers, is things are getting better. Canon’s EOS 6D full-frame DSLR is one of several recent cameras to offer built-in Wi-Fi features that work in the real world. During testing of the 6D, I was easily able to share images with my iPhone (at a reduced size), get a live view from the camera on the phone and control several functions on the camera via an app, including firing the shutter. In the consumer photography space, Samsung’s gone so far as to add cellular connectivity and the Android operating system to some of its cameras, while Sony has introduced new “lens-style cameras,” which are small imaging devices that attach to your smartphone to create a wireless hybrid, combining the quality of a real camera with the easy sharing of your phone. Are any of these solutions perfect? Not by a long shot, but they’re another step toward wireless camera liberation.

Products to watch: Canon EOS 6D; Samsung Galaxy Camera and Galaxy NX(right); Sony QX10 and QX100


3. Bigger Pixels, Better Pictures

An interesting thing happened during the introduction of the new Apple iPhone 5s in 2013. When it came time for Apple’s marketing executives to unveil the phone’s new camera features, they didn’t tout the number of megapixels (it had the same 8 megapixels of resolution as previously), they touted the fact that the sensor was 15 percent bigger than the one in the old phone, which allowed for bigger pixels that absorbed more light to produce better photos. Hallelujah! The movement towards larger rather than more pixels has been churning through the photography industry for a few years now, and it’s one I wholeheartedly endorse.

Whether it’s the giant, medium-format sensors you get in Phase One’s latest IQ2 series digital camera backs, or the 35mm-sized, full-frame sensor packed into Sony’s Cyber-shot RX1 compact camera, bigger pixels are a big trend. Take, for instance, a new high-sensitivity, full-frame CMOS image sensor that Canon is introducing for HD video: The chip has pixels that are 19 microns apiece, giving them 7.5 times more surface area than those in the Canon EOS-1D X. The result is an imaging sensor that was able to capture the tiny details of fireflies in near total darkness in test footage. Now that’s a bright idea.

Products to watch: Apple iPhone 5s; Canon high-sensitivity, full-frame CMOS sensor for full HD (prototype); Nikon D610; Phase One IQ2 series medium-format digital backs (right); Sony Cyber-shot RX1 
and RX100 II


4. Camera Stabilizers (on the Ground and in the Air)

One of the most buzzed-about imaging products of the year has been, without a doubt, the virtually unshakeable, gyro-based MoVI camera stabilizer from FreeFly. But the MoVI, which allows you to record rock-steady video with a camera even when on the run, is more and less than it seems. The device is actually a modified stabilizer adapted from those used to shoot steady aerial footage from multi-rotor, remote-controlled, mini-helicopters. So yes, whether you’re shooting video footage from your flying eggbeater or racing through traffic while recording HD with your DSLR, gyro-based stabilizers will help steady the shot. For many years, the pioneering Steadicam was what filmmakers turned to for creating incredible guerilla tracking shots with film cameras—such as the famous Copacabana kitchen scene in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas—but now, MoVI and its imitators are doing the same thing for DSLRs and 4K cameras, both on the ground and in the air.

Products to watch: DJI Phantom; FreeFly MoVI MR and MoVI M10 (right);Quadrocopter CineStar 6 and CineStar 8; Steadicam Merlin


5. Portable Lighting Power

I never fully understood the power of portable strobist-style lighting until I had a chance to test out the broncolor Move Outdoor lighting kit, which is small enough to fit into a backpack but powerful enough to light up a city street. We did just that with this small, battery-powered kit, taking it to 11th Avenue in Manhattan, where my photographer friend Jordan Matter used it to photograph a dancer doing a back flip in the middle of the street at night. Matter was not only able to capture a sharp image of the dancer doing the flip, he was able to make it look like the dancer was only lit by a streetlight with the rest of the scene keeping its ambient city light and the evening sky maintaining a deep azure-blue. Or, in other words, it looked natural. We then brought the kit indoors to a dark bar and were able to use it to photograph dancers arching dramatically with drinks in their hands. Again, the scene in the photo looked naturally lit and was sharp as a tack.

The broncolor Move Outdoor Kit is just one of many recent portable products out there that make capturing a strobe-lit shot that doesn’t look artificial or blown out, simple, fast and fun. At the end of 2013, Profoto unveiled its impressive, battery-powered, portable B1 off-camera flash, which has TTL functionality and no cords. By combining the attributes of Speedlight and monolight technology, Profoto has created a lighting solution to meet the needs of an entirely new type of photographer.

Products to watch: broncolor Move Outdoor Kit 2 (right); ExpoImaging Rogue 3-in-1 Honeycomb Grid and Rogue Gels; ICE Light; Lowel GL-1; PocketWizard Plus III; Profoto B1

- See more at: http://www.pdnonline.com/features/5-Tech-Trends-That-A-9748.shtml#sthash.kNEDx4Kv.dpuf

Nikon Reveals Details for 16.2MP D4S Full-Frame DSLR Including Extreme ISO 409,600 Shooting

FEBRUARY 25, 2014

By Dan Havlik

Nikon unveiled its newest flagship digital SLR tonight, the D4S, which seems, on paper, to be a minor upgrade to the previous model. (PDN was pre-briefed on the Nikon D4S, under NDA, prior to tonight's launch but we were not given any hands-on time with the camera.) Like the D4, which was introduced in 2012, the new D4S uses a 16.2-megapixel, FX-format (full-frame) sensor, which Nikon describes as "newly designed."

The revamped imaging chip in the D4S has an expanded ISO range, going all the way up to ISO 409,600 (Hi-4), which should be able to let it capture visible subject matter in near total darkness for forensic photography and other scientific applications. That extremely high ISO range could also, potentially, have photojournalistic applications such as war photography when flash is not permitted or advisable.

The Nikon D4S also has a new EXPEED 4 image processing engine designed to cut down on image noise when shooting at high ISOs in low light, and for better HD video quality and improved overall performance speed. The Nikon D4S can shoot at 11 frames per second with full autofocus (AF) and auto exposure (AE). (The previous camera could shoot at 11fps but AF and AE were locked on the first frame.) Nikon says the D4S has an "overall 30% increase in processing power."

The Nikon D4S first premiered, under glass, at the CES show in Las Vegas in January, but details about the camera were not officially announced until tonight.

New Autofocus Features
Like its predecessor, the D4S features a 51-point AF system but includes a new Group AF function. The Group AF mode uses five AF points for better stability when tracking subjects and improved accuracy by cutting down on background focus, Nikon said.

As it was explained to us during an NDA call with Nikon on the new D4S, Group AF will help isolate and lock in on a subject, even when the background is bright with heavy contrasting colors, which can cause some cameras to back focus.

Steve Heiner, Nikon's Senior Technology Manager, said he's seen the Group AF system tested on a ski slope, and the D4S was able to easily lock in its AF on a speeding skier despite the contrasty background of the mountain. "I was quite impressed," he said. "It works really well for sports photography, since it keeps a larger cluster of AF points on your subject, which maintain focus."

We asked Heiner to share photos of the test shoot with the skier for this article but images were not provided to us at press time. (UPDATE: Nikon has posted sample photos shot with the D4S, including one image of a skier, on its Flickr stream and the Nikon Japan website.)

Nikon's AF Lock-on technology in the D4S has also been upgraded. The revamped technology has reportedly shortened the time the camera reverts from focus interruptions, such as when a referees runs into the frame when shooting a game.

Time Lapse and Video Tweaks
Other changes to the Nikon D4S include enhanced Standard Picture Control, for better skin tones in portrait photography; finer white balance adjustments; better visibility through the viewfinder with less blackout time; and a tweak that maintains your focus points when you switch from horizontal to vertical shooting.

Time lapse shooters will like that the new Nikon D4S has exposure smoothing in time lapse movie mode, and the ability to shoot 9,999 pictures total in interval time lapse sequences. There's now a new smaller RAW Size S image file option, which captures 12-bit uncompressed RAW/NEF files at half the resolution of a normal NEF.

New video features on Nikon D4S include the ability to shoot at 1080p HD at 60p, along with 30p, 24p, and 25p; auto ISO exposure control in manual mode; and simultaneous uncompressed recording from the D4S' HDMI port out for broadcast, and compressed recording to memory cards. (And yes, like the D4, the D4S sports dual memory cards slots: one for CompactFlash cards and one for those less common -- and less popular -- XQD cards.)

There's also a wider frequency range for sound recording on the D4S, that lets you narrow it for voice recording, such as when you're shooting interviews.

Subtle Design Changes
In terms of physical design, the Nikon D4S' grip has been changed slightly to make it easier to hold. Meanwhile, the thumb bump on back of the camera has been tweaked, to make it easier to shoot with vertically. The knobs on the camera are also, reportedly, easier to adjust and are more durable.

New Price
Those are main changes to the Nikon D4S and while they may seem minor, it's hard to tell how much of an improvement they will offer until we get a chance to actually test the camera. One other thing that has changed with the new Nikon D4S is the price: it will retail for $6,499 (body only) when it goes on sale on March 6, 2014. That's approximately $500 more than the Nikon D4 debuted at in 2012.

- See more at: http://www.pdnonline.com/gear/Nikon-Reveals-Detail-10378.shtml#sthash.ayRPYe2e.dpuf