Had a nice chat with Holly Stuart Hughes over at Photo District News for an article in their September Education Issue about what I’ve learned so far freelancing with a much wider net (wedding, magazine, newspaper, pr, sport, commercial, etc.) this go-round after falling flat on my face a few years back.  Go check it out in their digital edition (here).

I’m the opening act for Zack Arias.

Got asked to do a little guest blog post for Scott Kelby’s Photoshop Insider blog…check it out!  Here.

Wow.

No other words can describe the imagery and devastation coming out of Japan right now following the earthquake and subsequent tsunami Friday.  Whenever anyone asked where I always wanted to go in the world if I had my choice, the answer has always been Japan.  I never got the chance to see it  - I hope the Japanese people recover from this sooner than later, but I can’t even imaging the amount of lives lost and destruction in the matter of a few hours.  I think all of us in journalism are having the same feeling we got after Katrina, Haiti, and the Indian tsunami.  Helplessness with a mix of awe.

That being said – I’ve gathered some links from the photo blogs running the largest and best edited photos.  Feel free to send me links or add them in the comments.

Day of:

Boston Globe | The Big Picture

The Atlantic | In Focus

Denver Post | Plog

The St. Petersburg Times | All Eyes

The Aftermath:

Boston Globe | The Big Picture

The Atlantic | In Focus

The Los Angeles Times | Framework

The New York Times | Photo

The New York Times | Satellite Imagery Before/After

MSNBC | Photo Blog

TIME | Photos

National Geographic | Photos

The Wall Street Journal | Photos

To donate:

American Red Cross

Through Apple’s iTunes

So do you think this is photojournalism?

If the answer is yes, then what we knew as photojournalism at it’s purest form is over and POYi just killed it.  Well, they didn’t kill it so much as just dig another knife deeper into the back of its decaying corpse.  It’s time to really address the crossroads we’re at in photojournalism and figure out where it’s headed versus what it was.

I think it’s fair to say I’ve made my thoughts on the Hipstamatic app clear.  Here. The fact that Damon Winter’s “Grunt’s Life” was just awarded a third place at POYi is a game changer.  The fact it was shot on a phone isn’t relevant at all and fair game, but what is relevant is the fact it was processed through an app that changes what was there when he shot them.  It’s now no longer photojournalism, but photography. That transition happens when images become more about the photographer and less about the subject of said photos.

Contest judges respond to visuals first.  Then they read the caption.  Sometimes.  It’s not really fair to pick on judges because contests are subjective and they can pick what they like with a simple “in” or “out.”  However, there isn’t enough discussion over the process of making images and how much the photographer’s hand really made the photo after the fact.  Keyword being “after.”  Hand-of-God has always been a crutch to making mediocre imagery become contest worthy.  The last couple years of contests have really been laughable with certain award winners.  It’s to a point now where the more esoteric you can be with themes and the more proficient you at using Photoshop makes you rise above the rest.  Storytelling is about 4th or 5th down the list.

I have a Photoshop action on my desktop that is titled “POYi filter”  I made it as a joke.  It rotates an image 20 degrees, adds a heavy vignette, throws in a bit of grain, and converts to grayscale.  Pretty sweet.  I can send it your way for a small fee…

I hesitate even writing this because Damon Winter is a personal photo hero of mine and friend.  I worked with him at the Dallas Morning News when I was an intern and he’s personally shaped me as a photographer.  His work is absolutely stunning, and he truly is one of the strongest photojournalists working today.  I even love this particular series of photos, but it shouldn’t have been allowed – even with the Hisptawhatever borders cropped.  I didn’t even enter a single contest this year, so I don’t have a horse in this race.

The more that the World Press Photo, POYi, NPPA, etc. continue awarding these images, the more photojournalism  can be written about in the past tense.  Maybe it should be.

It’s history after all.