StockPhotoTalk | Special Interest Blog

New Blogs On The Block: New Digital Image

John Schott, creator of the blog Camera|Iraq and Director for Media Studies Concentration and Media Studies (MEDA) at the Carleton College, Minnesota, recently created a new blog called "New Digital Image".
The blog -- Schott is the producer of "American Photography: A Century of Images" -- is dedicated to moblogging in general (actually to teach his class) and brings up some interesting links.

Iraqian Frontline and the Images from Moblogging Soldiers: Final Epilogue

After some weeks of investigating and reporting "Iraqian Frontline: Images from Moblogging Soldiers, Part I - Part VIII" (read all these stories in the Category "Iraq|War: Photos + Reports" and additionally "Iraq|War|Photography: The Meta Level") John Schott of Camera/Iraq ("Camera/Iraq: New Website Launched") recently wrote in "Soldier Photos":

Camera/Iraq has a continuing interest in soldier photograhy from the Middle East, and we would like to collaborate in the creation of an online exhibition of such work. We were first inspired by excellent early efforts at Phototalk... .
Unfortunately, while scouring soldier photo-blogs or cam-phone collections for that one-in-a-hundred outstanding image, Phototalk encountered pictures lifted from other sources, frequently work by professional photographers. This shouldn't be surprising, really, since the pragmatic goal of a photo-blog is to visualize one's military experience in Iraq rather than to sell photo rights or garner professional notoriety. Content and context trump artistic provenance in soldier photo-blogs.
For a photo editor, however, borrowed pictures creates the possibility of mis-attribution. Contacting soldiers by email has proven difficult because they are otherwise engaged in fighting a war, often gather and present work as a unit rather than exclusively from their own "personal vision," and frequently don't encourage communication by including email addresses or are so flooded with messages that they can not respond. Plus, of course, soldiers are under new scrutiny about what images they are placing online.
Still, the notion of editing an online exhibition is compelling. Please email us if you would like to undertake or contribute to such a project.

This is not entirely the complete story: there is a difference between telling your own war history in your words using (sometimes) other peoples images as an illustration for your text and the (how to say: very euphemistic) categorical statement: "Hey, I took these pix, I created them", which is just a stupid lie. On the other hand, time has shown that at a least one army press officer (with a certain background in photography) had taken private photos with a quality and meaning far beyond the day. It is the old question "who is doing what and how". An undisputed claim: 95 percent of all people reading this blog would present/moblog their own images and never ever other people´s images, except under very special circumstances.

John Schott writes: "The pragmatic goal of a photo-blog is to visualize one's military experience in Iraq". This is absolutely right, but who can visualize your own military experience, your daily life, better than you yourself, in your special situation? No one needs to steal pictures for that.

John Schott writes: "Content and context trump artistic provenance in soldier photo-blogs." With stolen photos? Blogged together with complete book chapters "borrowed" from famous writers? All that without a clarifying explanation?

Where (as a soldier) is your very own experience, your "content and context", if you only cite and quote and/or grab and steal for "visualizing" your "military experience"? Is is still your experience you present (as a moblogging soldier)? Borrowed presentations and visualizations of personal experiences? Do they coexist? What is the next step? Borrowed personal experiences? Where is the real life?

Camera Phone Obsession: First Book on the Culture of Camera Phones

Peter Aitken has published a new (the only in this field) book called "Camera Phone Obsession":

These wildly successful devices can only be described as a cultural phenomenon, and the way people think about their camera phones can only be described as an obsession ... Users are obsessed with the technology features of their phone and love to share their experiences and thoughts with other users - creating another cultural phenomenon, the moblog...The book features numerous hands-on projects as well as tips and techniques to create art. (Link)

Art... . Xeni will be happy.

Questo blog è chiuso per ferie, fino all' 8 Agosto 2004

[© Grace and Katie]

Chiudo, per un circa settimana, questo weblog. Infatti, a mio modesto parere, per scrivere bisogna prima pensare e, i blogs spesso ti tolgono lo spazio per pensare.


(Hint for the person/CEO/BizDeveloper etc. who is constantly looking for "DigitalVision 2003 revenues", ""Image source" 2003 revenues" or "Index stock imagery 2003 revenues" and other good stuff-- Google hits are a tricky thing, especially with your really nice -- and static -- IP! So, no one has to work for Pixlogic, the company ("Visual Search") with Venture Capital from the CIA, just to know who you are...).
=:-)

A Small World: Photobloggers Are Stealing Images...From other Photobloggers

Photoblogs.org has a story of photobloggers/moblogers who are stealing the images of others photobloggers/moblogers AND claim that these images are their own work:

copyright violations
Does anyone have any idea what to do about other sites ripping off your work? I got an email a few minutes ago telling me that sithlords.hu (recently registered at photoblogs.org under the member name of everyesno) has used one of my images for their July 7th entry. My image can be seen here.
I've emailed them and told them they're in violation of my copyright but any other suggestions as to how to deal with the pilfering scumbag(s) would be gratefully received. (Link)

Iraqian Frontline: Images from Moblogging Soldiers VIII

[© Still Unknown; does anyone know?]

The TiredAnDirty Soldier@Yafro is back -- the previous entries were explaining that he had been wounded -- and shows again a very intense image we consider to be a stolen one (resolution, size, composition etc.). He has shown this image earlier here together with a different text. The previous photo has been removed (this had been the initial link here, now pointing to nowhere), together with the text, but a backup copy is available.
So now we got the same picture with two different background stories being very dramatic: the first text said

they dont seem to learn that even when they have the element of surprise it still wont turn out in their favor

and the text to the previous (the one that disappeared) image said

we had 5 soldiers killed on wensday this is not a picture of it i am not going to post a picture of it untill i have edited it they were rideing in a m-113 that is the track vechial in the picture that is right in front of the camera the insurgents used 400 pounds of c-4 and when it went off it blew that armored m 113 into nothing 5 were killed instantly and one was criticley wounded the blast crater was 10 feet deep and 20 ft wide the good thing is that the guys who were killed never knew that they had been hit it was so quick i hope it is like that for me" (Link, 10th image)

So he stated to have been an eye witness to the scenery the images are showing, someone driving in the tanks. Now it reads:

today was a bad/good day 4 hrs ago we were engaged today in a manner we havent seen in a long time it was well organized and exicutied we were returning from a trip to a out poast when we were attacked it was one of those ones you could see coming but it was too late a child tip us off by covering his ears when we drove by but by then it was too late the it was the biggest explosion i have seen my entire time here from an i.e.d. but usualy after the detonate it they run but this time they had pre positioned men to surround us and surround us they did we were engaged from all sides by small arms and r.p.g's i dont know how to describe what gose on in the mists of it we had rounds hitting the ground all around they make a popping sound when they hit i am not going to go into details becouse i dont know what is cleared to divulge but the last i hear we had killed 21 and wounded 41 and i dont know how this happened but we had no wounded and no killed but by all rights we should have had we been any other army ambushed and surrounded i think they would have gotten alot of us so for all of you that have been praying for us thank you these are your prayer min. at work if anyone sees anything on the news about it let me know what they said later ill share more (Link)

Someone is taking the same image (pardon, but very likely to be stolen from the web) which obviously has a special meaning for him and tells two different stories. There are three months between the usages of this photo. The previous entries on his site shows that he indeed had been injured (he said that another soldier took those pix: "another soldier that was on the convoy took these"). Can we trust his words, his stories now ("this photo wasn taken today i dont think anyone got the chance to take pictures" he explains later in a comment to the second usage of the photo)?
Reviewing his site again and again (especially the previous images which have been removed but had been stored here) it seems that he doesn´t have taken a picture himself -- all images are coming from various sources. Someone starts a photoblog/moblog and not one single image is not, how to say, borrowed? All this because only strong images from excellent photojournalists are outstanding enough to express your own feelings in such a situation?

Photoblogging US Soldiers at Buzznet?

Hello Marc from Buzznet [a photoblog community, Marc is a co-founder], thx for recommending. If you casually got a list with some photoblogging US soldier from Iraq (something comparable to the Yafro list (1; 2), let us know. Best!

INTO THE BLOGOSPHERE examines Visual Blogs

Into the Blogosphere [Rhetoric, Community, and Culture of Weblogs] is a new

online, edited collection [that] explores discursive, visual, social, and other communicative features of weblogs. Essays analyze and critique situated cases and examples drawn from weblogs and weblog communities.

by the UofMN. The blog has a very interesting section called"Visual Blogs" (Meredith Badger, University of Sydney):

This paper focuses on the use of figurative photography and illustration within the blogging medium. It examines the ways images shape and alter how we view blogs and how blogs shape and alter the way we view the images placed within them. It suggests that ultimately both images and the weblogs that contain them stand to benefit from the relationship.

Heather Champ is mentioned, also Kevin Sites. Meredith Badger concludes:

Visual weblogs present a new aspect of visual literacy grammar, where images must be read in direct relation to the passage of time and as indivisible from the personality of the blogger themselves. Visual blogs show the process; how I got there rather than what I saw once I arrived. It is this aspect of visual blogs that make them a useful tool for pedagogy; they become a tool for examining how images operate online and how they interact with text. Visual weblogs are a starting point for debate and discussion. They emphasise the present tense – this is what I saw today, this is how things look to me from where I stand right now.

DailySnap: New Series of Interviews with Photo-/Mobloggers

The "DailySnap", a photoblog from the 20-year-old Jessyel Ty Gonzalez at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has announced that it will interview at least one photoblogger every week in a feature they call "The Snap Presents..." :

These interviews will dwell deeper into the minds behind the most popular, beautiful and inspirational photoblogs on the web. Along with the interview, the selected photoblogger also displays his three favorite photographs he/she has taken. It's updated EVERY MONDAY.
This week, our first interviewees are Sam Javanrouh from Daily Dose of Imagery (WVS), Justin Ouellette from Chromogenic, and David Nightingale from Chromasia.

The interview procedure is standardized (18 determined questions via email). Link to the Interview Site at DailySnap.com.

[Thx to Photoblogs.org]

Photoblogging becomes international

...writes Metafilter and points to Photoblogs.org.
But:

How about photoblogs that aren't necessarily listed on photoblogs.org? Due to its former, highly unfair and arbitrary voting system, I can't get my own blog listed at the site.

What others talk about

Remarkable Coincidences. As always a great story about recent photojournalism: "More Photojournalism: Asian Transitions, Gangs of Different Eras, and L.A. Night Life."

Mike Mosall asks: "Is Blogging an art form? Are we photographers or are we artists portraying our daily vision of society through computer software, pixkles, memory cards, and Photoshop? Are we modern day Garry Winogrand’s?"
Andrew Hall responds: "Neither a blog nor a photoblog is inherently a work of art any more than an urinal is a work of art. But that did not stop Marcel Duchamp making of an urinal one of the most influential works of art in the twentieth century."

"Dan Rather nowhere in sight…". Clay Shirky: "Moblogging from the front and the new Reformation": "Jaques Barzun, author of the marvelous history of modernity From Dawn to Decadence (1500 - present), makes the point that the Catholic Church as a pan-European political force was done in by the Protestant Reformation, itself fueled by the printing press. Once the Church lost the ability to control the direct perception of scripture, thanks to the printing of (relatively) cheap bibles in languages other than Latin, their loss of political hegemony followed."

He continues: "New tools for spreading of the word are powerful, of course — witness the weblog explosion in all its complexity. But the spread of images is a different kind of thing, not least because images pass across linguistic borders like a lava flow. Now that production and distribution of images are in the hands of the laity, it’s a safe bet that we are entering a world of “That will kill this.” We just don’t know what parts of society “this” refers to yet."

Reader Marc Hedlund responded: "Isn’t it interesting that the first court-martial from the case, against Jeremy C. Sivits, charges him not with abusing prisoners but instead with photographing the abuse?"[Link]

BoingBoing concludes: "Cameraphones are today's Gutenberg press".

Worldchanging adds: "The Participatory Panopticon vs. The Pentagon": "Anyone, anywhere, with a digital camera and a network connection has enormous power, perhaps enough to alter the course of a war or the policies of the most powerful nation on Earth."

"The linear nature of news is disrupted":"Does a story exist without pictures?"

This is a short Follow Up to the last four posts:

"WHO DELIVERS THE ICONIC WAR IMAGES - PROS OR AMATEURS?"
"Iraqian Frontline: Images from Moblogging Soldiers II"
"Iraqian Frontline: Images from Moblogging Soldiers"
“Digital cameras change history in Iraq” (The Modern Trinity of Enlightenment)"

with some new inputs from various sources. It´s again about the Tami Silicio/Lynndie England story (1; 2), not about the story about the TiredAndDirtySoldier (1; 2; 3; 4), the moblogging US soldier from Iraq.
The hosting site of TiredAndDirtySoldier, YAFRO, has been down for some hours and/or certain photos were ("The requested URL /photo/110839 was not found on this server") obviously removed (?). At least five of the fifteen links provided in this post are not working anymore; we got copies so we add the photos to the links over the next days.

Blog.photoblogs.org: Photoblogs.org adds Textblog

Finally Photoblogs.org, the popular site for finding all kind of photoblogs, has opened up a textblog about the portal Photoblogs.org: it´s called blog.photoblogs.org and “was created because Photoblogs.org didn't really have a voice. It had voting and rankings, but it didn't focus enough on the individual people and events that make photoblogging so interesting.” (Brandon Stone, CEO).

Who runs this blog? "The hope is that this blog will be run by the community of people who care about it."

Who edits the content of this blog? "Everyone edits their own content. In theory everyone should have the ability to avoid being a dumbass, so we'll see how that works out."

Who is delivering in-depth coverage from time to time? "Currently Photoblogs.org only does one feature each month. This is where Ashleigh Stone actually calls someone up and talks to them for a decent amount of time to learn about the person... I do know that with her schedule it would be nearly impossible for her to conduct an interview and write an article every week. (Especially since she does all this free of charge.) This means we'd have to get other writers to do that job... As I continue to think about the situation, it makes sense to me that this blog may fill that void. If a contributor wants to conduct an interview and write a semi-lengthy article, complete with photos, I say go for it. "

Good Luck. Sounds like "We eagerly accept unsolicited work". In the past we had blogs, photoblogs, moblogs, audioblogs, videoblogs, teamblogs and now a colloborative community blog with end-user-created photo-and-text content.

However we wonder when professional picture editors and picture researchers (editorial and stock) will discover the site and benefit from the easy access it provides to the sometimes phantastic photographers and exquisite photography in the background. Especially stock agencies - and at this time there are some looking for new people and new pix - would love to get in contact with some of these photographers who are a real threat to the average stock photographer. Maybe it´s like it has always been - picture editors just don´t have they time and they´re way to busy. -Have you ever met a picture editor being an early adopter?

Lomography, New Topographers and Moblogs: The Ultimate Reality Program

Jogn Jerney of The Daily Yomiuri On-Line writes excellent about "Moblogs drive the adoption of camera phones" and Lomography:

"Lomography is naturally a film-based endeavor. But a digital version of the practice of shooting from the hip is fast becoming a worldwide phenomenon, enabled by a new generation of digital camera-equipped mobile phones...as with Lomo photographs, quality is not the prime consideration. Instead, the style and personality of the photographer and subject is what really generates interest. When looking through moblogs, you find yourself constantly looking for the unexpected but often enjoying the ordinary."

Phil J. Kaplan:Founder of FuckedCompany.com creates anonymous moblog

Phil does it again! Lance Ulanoff of PC Magazine met Phil J. Kaplan, the founder of FuckedCompany.com, the famous unofficial DOTCOM-newssite: "A Better Use for Camera Phones".

Wait - does this title sound portentously to you or entertaining? The Next Bad Thing?

Kaplan of course describes himself as an entrepreneur.

"His newest enterprise, Mobog, which is more or less a traveling Web cam site. Once again Kaplan seems poised to tap into the seemingly ephemeral zeitgeist of the Web and new technology.
...
The genius of Mobog is that it allows anyone with a camera phone to take pictures wherever they are or whatever they're doing, mail them to pics@mobog.com using their phone, and have them appear on the Mobog home page minutes later. Visitors to the site can comment on these pictures and if the user registers with the site, the comments are delivered immediately to the cell phone where the picture originated. The registered cell phone owner can then reply to those messages.
....
Kaplan believes that Mobog is an answer to the question about what folks can do with their camera phones.
...
What [it] doesn't do, though, is filter out profanity or even pornography. During our interview, one user mailed a photo of his girlfriend's naked behind where he had written a message.
....
During our meeting, Kaplan demonstrated Mobog for me. He had me take a photo of him with his camera phone. He held up his middle finger (purposely making the image provocative so other users would respond). Within a couple of minutes the photo appeared on the site, and a minute or so after that Kaplan began receiving responses on his phone. He responded to those messages—again using his phone—and those responses appeared under the other notes a minute or two later. It was a real-time conversation about his photo with a half dozen people scattered around the world."

[Get the full article "A Better Use for Camera Phones"]

Can´t believe it. The moment I went to look at Moblog there´s another photo of another lady, um, from behind. Is this going to be a second PudTV which belongs to Kaplan showing girlies in various stages of undress ? Instead of taking revenge upon your boss by writing in FuckedCompany.com now by picture phoning him/his wife in somehow private situations and transfering the results to Moblog? "Revenge is mine"? Silicon Alley Reporter and founder of Venture Reporter and Weblogs Inc. Jason Calacanis comments: "Be prepared for some adult snapshots if you visit the site… anonymity has it’s downside (or upside depending on what you’re into I guess)." Jeff Jarvis calls it "anonymous instant photophone moblogging".

However, this time Kaplan is facing competition of: Joi Ito, said to be the first moblogger of the world, Webshots and Moblog.nl.

Moblogs and The Deceleration of Time

"The phone manufacturer Ericsson, for example, has launched its own moblog. Nokia has taken a different approach, offering to archive user's photographs and contact information. Neither company, though, is entirely certain about where this phenomenon is headed...In the end, moblogging seems to be driven by a desire to assign importance to everyday experiences...Moblogs offer a similar prospect, capturing everyday events as a series of instances that encourage us to apply greater scrutiny when examining ourselves [The Yomiuri Shimbun]. Funny enough that in Japan 80 percent or more of all cell phones are digital camera-equipped mobile phones; in the US perhaps about 20 percent.
And this is the acceleration of time. Either he´s mad or it´s art: "DO YOU TAKE A SHOWER? PROVE IT".

Photojunkie.org Relaunch

"Photojunkie.org has finally relaunched as a monthly photoblogging magazine. Instead of weekly updates, we will be publishing monthly issues with various features, reviews and collaborative galleries. This month we have contributions from Derek Powazek, Fredrik Olsson, Jason Schneider, Lorissa Shepstone and Jonathan Day-Reiner (My new co-editor on the site)."

For the Uninitiated: Introductions and Guides to Photo-/Moblogging

Derrick Story of O'Reilly Network/Mac DevCenter and John P. Mello Jr. of the The Boston Globe have written two introductions for new users.
Not to forget the PhotoBlogging Tips from Amanda who is the creator of the Shutterfly photoblog, and the Introduction to Photoblogs and MoBlogs by Darren Rowse of the Digital Photography Blog.
An interview by Adam Gasserman with Anil Dash, the Six Apart-Vice President of Business Development, for those using Typepad as their favorite solution, can be found at the photojunkie zine.
Things will really get funny in one or two years with the integration of 4 or 5 megapix cameras in cell phones and PDAs.
But Rannie Turingan reminds us: Photoblogging is Dead, Long Live Photoblogging, sciencemeetsart.com talks about: Is photoblogging good for photography? and Nick Currie wrote an Essay on Photoblogging: "You have no choice but to start a photoblog. It's a course requirement in the art school of life."
One site with the "best photography of weblog" recently received the 2004 Bloggie Award (do check the other nominees!), the 2003 Photoblog Awards are here.
If you want to join the 2004 Internation Moblogging Conference, check this site for updates.

Moblogging

There had been that hype with this social software phaenomenon in the last two years, first in the private sector and now in the business-related area. The next vogue currently in the waiting room looking to become a real hip hype is definitely Moblogging. Mario Sixtus, who is a contributor for two weblogs (1; 2) published a short overview in August 2003: Moblogging - The next Big Thing (Unfortunately in german, so you´ll have to use a page translation service)? At least for the private sector the importance (in other words: it will become a hip hype) is quite clear.

What are the benefits of Moblogging for the professional sector, especially for the professional photographer?

Sixtus quoted Takashi Totsuka, President of Sonys Contents and Applications Lab: "There is a business model in Moblogging. Moblogging-based journalism has some attributes of a breakthrough-technology." Cave: he is talking about journalism.
Sixtus quoted Howard Rheingold being a bit more sceptical: " We don´t know who is going to be the winner and the loser in this era of mobile medias...it´s a new developing media culture... ."

The benefits in terms of self-advertising and promotion for the single professional photographer are obvious. I've got a reputation for unrealistic predictions and wild, unfounded speculation. In a few years this feature will be integrated in every available database technology/solution for pros: the moblogging feature connected to a background database for showing, searching and selling pictures. I know at least one case where a picture buyer (occasionally of course) discovered the appropriate picture in a weblog of a pro. And this picture had been rejected by his agency and was nowhere else available in the WWW. Rumors has it that a new service in the US will come up with this. I don´t know if they are starting from scratch... it´s easier for an agency or portal with clients on both sides, producing and buying pictures, to add this feature to the inhouse technology rather than starting with a new technology, but no real customers and clients initially.

Start

Each time you start from scratch.