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ISSUE 1/2016
THE
QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PICTURE PROFESSIONALS
PROFESSIONAL
ASPP
50
th
anniversary
issue
TABLE OF CONTENTS ISSUE 1 / 2016
THE PICTURE PROFESSIONAL
© DAVID GARDNER
© TASHA VAN ZANDT
© YACOUBA TANOU
COVER: © Yacouba Tanou
5
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
& EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
7 EDITOR’S LETTER
8 WHAT’S HANGING
36PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE:
ASPP’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY
by April Wolfe
46NEXT BIG THING: IMAX TECH
FOR THE FUTURE
by Josh Steichmann
50 THE LAW: THE LAST 50 YEARS
IN COPYRIGHT
by Nancy E. Wolff, with contributions
from Mikaela Gross
54 CHAPTER CAPTURE
59 BOOKSHELF
63 CONTRIBUTORS
64 L
IFE IN FOCUS
by Jeremy Jackson
PORTFOLIOS
12 TASHA VAN ZANDT
The Faces of Prek Toal
by Sayzie Koldys
22 YACOUBA TANOU
Building Everything Myself
by John W. W. Zeiser
30DAVID GARDNER
The Wandering Few
by Josh Steichmann
American
Society of
Picture
Professionals
Since first forming as a small, dedicated group of picture professionals in 1966, ASPP has grown into a
large community of image experts committed to sharing our experience and knowledge throughout the
industry. We provide professional networking and educational opportunities for our members and the
visual arts industry. If you create, edit, research, license, distribute, manage or publish visual content,
ASPP is the place for you. Join us at www.aspp.com.
LIST OF ADVERTISERS
age fotostock
akg images
Art Resource
Association Health Programs
Bridgeman Images
MASTHEAD
Curt Teich Postcard Archives
Danita Delimont Stock Photography
Disability Images
Everett Collection
Robert Harding World Imagery
Sovfoto/Eastfoto
The Image Works
Travel Stock USA
Vireo/Academy of Natural
Sciences
The Picture Professional quarterly magazine of the American Society of Picture Professionals, Inc.
ASPP EXECUTIVE OFFICES
Darrell Perry, Executive Director
50 West 34th Street
Suite #15A14
New York, NY 10001
(646)880-3222
director@aspp.com
EDITORIAL STAFF
Publisher
ASPP National Board
Editor-in-Chief
April Wolfe
editor@aspp.com
Art Director
Mariana Ochs
Copy Editor
Debra P. Hershkowitz
2015-2016 NATIONAL
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
2015-2016 CHAPTER
PRESIDENTS
PRESIDENT
Cecilia de Querol
president@aspp.com
West
Christopher DiNenna
Tom Wear
SECRETARY
Steve Spelman
Midwest
Christopher K. Sandberg
TREASURER
Gary Elsner
New England
To Be Announced
MEMBERSHIP
Robin Sand
membership@aspp.com
New York
Lindsey Nicholson
Laurie Fink-Green
TECHNOLOGY
Luan Luu
DC/South
Cory Lawrence
MARKETING
& COMMUNICATIONS
Emily Shornick
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Paul H. Henning
John W. W. Zeiser
Nancy E. Wolff
Josh Steichmann
Sayzie Koldys
The American Society of Picture Professionals (ASPP) is a non-profit, non-partisan association of image experts committed to sharing their experience and knowledge throughout the
industry. The Picture Professional (ISSN 1084-3701) is published spring, summer, fall and
winter as a forum for distribution of information about use, purchase and sale of imagery.
ASPP is dedicated to promoting and maintaining high professional standards and ethics,
and cooperates with organizations that have similar or allied interests. We welcome the
submission of articles and news from all sources, on all aspects of the imagery profession.
Contact editor@aspp.com
Advertising is also desired and welcomed. We offer a specific readership of professionals in
positions of responsibility for image purchase decision making. For our media kit and rate
sheet, contact Darrell Perry, director@aspp.com, or (646)880-3222.. Space reservation
deadlines: February 10, May 10, August 10, November 10. Subscription rates: Free to mem-
2
Fundamental Photographs
KOBAL Collection
Minden Pictures
MPTV images
North Wind Picture Archive
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PICTURE PROFESSIONALS
ADVERTISING, WEBSITE
& eNEWS BLOG
Darrell Perry,
Executive Director
director@aspp.com
newsletter@aspp.com
NATIONAL BOARD
OF TRUSTEES
Cathy Sachs, Chair
Andrew Fingerman
Michael Masterson
Chris Reed
Amy Wrynn
Helena Zinkham
bers, $40.00 per year to non-members. Back issues: $20.00 when available. Non-members
are invited to consider membership in ASPP.
POSTMASTER: Send old and new address changes to ASPP, Inc. Attn: Darrell Perry, 50 West
34th Street, Suite 15A14, New York, NY 10001. Members can update contact information
and mailing addresses in the Member Area of our website at www.aspp.com.
© 2016 American Society of Picture Professionals, Inc. Single photocopies of materials
protected by this copyright may be made for noncommercial pursuit of scholarship or
research. For permission to republish any part of this publication, contact the Editor-inChief. ASPP assumes no responsibility for the statements and opinions advanced by the
contributors to the Society’s publications. Editorial views do not necessarily represent the
official position of ASPP. Acceptance of an advertisement does not imply endorsement by
ASPP of any product or service.
PRESIDENT’S
MESSAGE
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S
MESSAGE
CECILIA DE QUEROL
DARRELL B. PERRY
Happy Anniversary to us!
Thank you all for your support and for being part of our
community.
We welcome Darrell Perry,
who was hired in January
to be our new Executive
Director. He brings broad experience, energy, and love of
ASPP to the job.
We’re looking forward to
the future and the next fifty
years, but where will ASPP be fifty years from now?
There’s no doubt that the technologies for capturing,
displaying, and managing media will have evolved,
transformed, and replaced each other over and over at
exponentially increasing frequency. And I’m pretty sure
picture professionals will still be complaining about how
slow and clunky their own technology is.
Images are already flowing through our lives in torrents and spreading out around us in lakes and puddles
of shared visual culture. As the economics of business
models evolve, our job descriptions and the skills we
need to fulfill them will evolve too. We will all be relying on technology more and more to identify, curate,
organize, and distribute visual content. But many of us
will also be working on developing and implementing
it. The viability of photography as a profession is facing
huge challenges. But there will always be a need for skill,
talent, and experience.
As members of the ASPP community, we benefit
from the knowledge and culture we share with our peers.
We are part of the long thread, started fifty years ago,
that keeps us connected and gives us a foundation to
build on and grow into the future. I’m looking forward
to the coming year!
As many of you know by now,
I have assumed the position
of Executive Director here
at ASPP. While many of the
tasks that I will be performing will be the same as the
previous directors’, I have
gladly taken on the additional ones that include updating and upgrading platforms and applications we
use to stay in touch with our
members, colleagues, and sponsors.
In the fifty years of ASPP’s history, photography
and the modes of industry that have grown up around
it have changed drastically—from workflow to publishers’ needs. Picture professionals must adapt, or leave the
industry. All of us have to face tough decisions that can
mean a change in the course of our careers or a change
in careers. ASPP’s chief job is to discover with you, the
members, a way through. We must strive to find meaning in our work, respect in our workplaces, and a path
of continuous work that is both creative and lucrative.
ASPP’s challenges include identifying our membership base, finding out what they need, and delivering content, networks, and tools to stay relevant in our
changing industry. ASPP has been and continues to be
a source of information and support to thousands of its
members through five decades.
Adapting this important community resource to the
changing digital landscape will be at the forefront of my
mission. I will count on the energy and support of all of
ASPP’s members to accomplish this.
DARRELL B. PERRY
CECILIA DE QUEROL
ASPP.COM
5
© HIROSHI CLARK, HIROSHI-CLARK.COM
EDITOR’S
LETTER
APRIL WOLFE
DEAR PICTURE PROS,
For the past four years, I have proudly served as The
Picture Professional’s editor-in-chief, and welcomed the
challenges and creative collaborations. In that time, we’ve
published the work of world-renowned and emerging artists in our pages, have had stories reprinted in numerous
journals, and have hopefully broadened our community.
This issue marks my last with TPP and the last print issue
of the magazine.
It’s been a rewarding and fantastic run, but it’s time for
TPP to move onto the digital space so the magazine can
widely reach that community we were trying to build. I’m
excited to see the evolution and sad to leave the magazine
behind, but whoever steps into the editorial role will have
a solid base to work from because of the efforts of many
presidents and executive directors—including Jain Lemos,
Michael Masterson, Sam Merrell, and Cathy Sachs—as
well as art directors Ophelia Chong and Mariana Ochs,
and the small editorial team of Debra P. Hershkowitz and
myself. And now we’re going out with a bang.
This issue’s theme is “Endure,” because we want to
explore the human spirit and will that allow people to
forge ahead and build their own futures. If you didn’t
already know, ASPP turns fifty this year, and we are
surely enduring.
For our anniversary, we have some special offerings
for you. Our feature story takes on the organization’s past,
present, and future, in which we talk to three ASPP members who’ve made significant donations of time and energy
to secure a future for picture professionals everywhere—
Anita Duncan, Chris DiNenna, and Andrew Fingerman.
Our first portfolio comes to us from Tasha Van Zandt,
who documented a Cambodian floating school, where
children brave hazardous conditions to get an education. Next up is David Gardner, a photographer who lives
among the unorthodox men and women who call the
open road their home. And our final portfolio comes to
us from Yacouba Tanou, a DC-based ASPP photographer
whose beautiful images of African art seem almost to return each piece to its natural environment.
Nancy Wolff, our resident law columnist, discusses
copyright history, taking us on a journey through the
photographic image’s legal story up until now, with the
help of law student Mikaela Gross. And as we look to
the future, Josh Steichmann brings us a story from behind the scenes of an IMAX studio. Rounding out the
issue, our longtime book reviewer Paul Henning gives
us a look at an iPhoneography book to up your cameraphone techniques.
So, how do I end this letter? I’m not really sure.
There’s so much to say, so many stories to tell: like all
the crazy last-minute additions or deletions we’ve had to
make when the printers were waiting for us to upload,
and all of us, in three time zones and two continents, were
staring at our computer screens, furiously making edits
or adjusting images. Print media is a crazy world. But I’m
so happy to have been a part of this process and to have
met such generous, talented people, who truly care about
the business of photography. This was a rare experience,
and I’ll look back fondly at this time. I’ve decided to accept a position as chief film critic at the LA Weekly, so I’ll
still be around, pushing the needle back and forth on the
Rotten Tomatoes “tomatometer.” Feel free to drop a line
any time.
Thank You,
A WOLFE
ASPP.COM
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WHAT’S HANGING
Photo exhibitions near you
CALIFORNIA
J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM
1200 Getty Center Drive
Los Angeles
LACMA
5905 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles
ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE: THE
PERFECT MEDIUM
March 15–July 31, 2016 (Getty)
March 20–July 31, 2016 (LACMA)
Robert Mapplethorpe (American,
1946–1989) was born and raised in
Queens, NY, the third of six children
in a middle-class, Roman Catholic
family. He studied art at Pratt
Institute in Brooklyn, and his early
work consisted largely of collage and
sculpture. After taking up the camera
as his primary medium of expression
in the early 1970s, Mapplethorpe
used his own intuition and eye to become one of the most significant artists of his time. He is best known for
his elegant, flawlessly balanced figure
studies that explore gender, race, and
sexuality, but he also distinguished
himself with his portraits and floral
still lifes. Mapplethorpe called photography “the perfect medium”—its
speed, he thought, matched that of
modern life.
Robert Mapplethorpe: The
Perfect Medium explores the arc of
his photographic work from its beginnings in the early 1970s to the
culture wars of the 1990s, and includes both his most iconic images
and his lesser-known photographs.
It also explores the artist’s body
of work through early drawings,
collages, sculptures, and Polaroid
8
Robert Mapplethorpe, Ken Moody, 1983. © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation
photography; working materials
from his archive—portraits, still
lifes, and figure studies; rare color
photographs; and seldom-seen video works. The two complementary
presentations are designed to highlight different aspects of the artist’s
complex oeuvre.
The exhibition is drawn from the
landmark joint Getty/LACMA acquisition of the artist’s art and archives
in 2011, made possible in part by the
Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation’s
generous gift. Curators of the exhibition are Paul Martineau, associate curator of photographs in the J.
Paul Getty Museum’s Department
of Photographs, and Britt Salvesen,
curator of the Wallis Annenberg
Photography Department and the
Prints and Drawings Department
at LACMA.
Wake: Japanese Photographers Respond to 3/11 is the
centerpiece of Japan Society’s institution-wide observance of what was the first natural disaster in Japan
caught in its entirety by cameras.
In the Wake features more than 90 photographs, videos, and installations created by 17 artists who contemplate
what has been lost and what remains in the aftermath of a
national tragedy that took some 18,000 lives and displaced
another 400,000 individuals. Yukie Kamiya, Gallery
Director at Japan Society, says “In the Wake invites us to
accept a challenge: that is, to enter into the reality of devastation through the power of art. These are works of art
with universal resonance that speak to human resilience.”
One of the highlights of Japan Society’s presentation
is a room-sized installation entitled, Lost & Found, one
artist’s painstaking project to collect hundreds of thousands of lost family photos from the region and restore,
digitize and in some cases even return them to those
who lost them. The photographs were rescued by a loose
confederation of police, firefighters, and local residents
and gathered into an installation and book by photographer Munemasa Takahashi—Memory Salvage Project.
So far, over 750,000 photos have been found, and tens
of thousands have been identified and returned. The
Lost & Found project is accompanied by a published
book, and is available in expanded form online at www.
lostandfound311.jp.
Find all included artists at www.japansociety.org.
NEW YORK
JAPAN SOCIETY
333 East 47th Street
New York
IN THE WAKE: JAPANESE
PHOTOGRAPHERS RESPOND
TO 3/11
March 11–June 16, 2016
Five years have passed since an enormous earthquake and tsunami struck
northeast Japan, devastating coastal
regions and setting off a nuclear power plant failure. The exhibition In the
Seto Masato (b. 1953). Untitled from the series Cesium, 2012. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Sophie M. Friedman Fund © Masato
Seto / Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
A unique collection of images representing the history of
Russia, Soviet Union, and the entire Communist Bloc
including Eastern Europe and China.
research@sovfoto.com
(212) 727-8170
WHAT’S HANGING
Below: Poster, Holiday
in Havana, c. 1949. The
Wolfsonian–FIU, The Vicki
Gold Levi Collection
FLORIDA
THE WOLFSONIAN - FIU
1001 Washington Avenue, Seventh
Floor - Miami Beach
PROMISING PARADISE:
CUBAN ALLURE, AMERICAN
SEDUCTION
May 06–August 21, 2016
Ever since Columbus first stepped
foot on Cuban soil and called it the
“loveliest land that human eyes have
ever seen,” visitors have continued to
describe and picture Cuba as a paradise. In the first half of the twentieth
century, American marketers, mobsters, and developers, and Cuban artists, performers, and graphic designers jointly shaped the island’s reputation as a dreamy tropical escape.
Publicity campaigns and Hollywood
films touted Cuba’s promises of indulgence—rum and cigars, rumba
and mambo, and legalized drinking
and gambling—all before travel re10
Top: Film still photograph, “Week-end
in Havana”, c. 1941. Gelatin silver print.
The Wolfsonian–FIU, The Vicki Gold Levi
Collection. Bottom: Photograph, Celia Cruz,
Frankie Laine, Nora Osorio, Rolando,
Tropicana Club Stars, c. 1955 Gelatin silver
print The Wolfsonian–FIU, The Vicki Gold
Levi Collection
strictions curbed the two countries’
tourist trade.
As a child growing up in Atlantic
City in the 1950s, Vicki Gold Levi absorbed the Latin rhythms of Cubans
who came to perform there, like
Dámaso Pérez Prado, Pupi Campo
and Miguelito Valdés. “I mamboed
and cha-chaed my way through high
school,” Ms. Levi said. “I thought
Carmen Miranda was Cuban.”
About 10 years ago, she started
collecting Cuban ephemera and vintage photography—from cigar labels to magazine covers—more than
400 items of which she donated in
2002 to the Wolfsonian at Florida
International University, a museum,
library, and research center in Miami.
Through photographs, posters, and
promotional ephemera drawn primarily from the gift by ASPP member
Vicki Gold Levi, Promising Paradise:
Cuban Allure, American Seduction
revisits this past relationship that left
lasting traces in both nations. ●
© TASHA VAN ZANDT
A young student stands
upon the broken floorboards
of her sinking classroom
at the Prek Toal primary
school in Cambodia.
TASHA VAN ZANDT:
THE FACES
OF PREK TOAL
BY SAYZIE KOLDYS
on the Tonlé Sap of central Cambodia, Southeast Asia’s
largest freshwater lake, it is home to fishermen, snake and
crocodile farmers, and their families. Meat, produce, alcohol, and cigarettes are sold from open boats, and children as young as four years of age paddle alone on rafts or
in canoes to get to school, which may be twenty minutes
away. Each year, children die in accidents or flash floods,
but even when they arrive safely, resources are scarce. The
pontoons and floorboards of the building are rotting. The
school is sinking.
Tasha Van Zandt, a San Francisco–based photographer
who was named one of Photo Boite’s 30 Under 30 females
to watch in 2016 and was one of Minnesota Ad Fed’s 32
Under 32 creatives for 2015, photographed the floating
school of Prek Toal in early 2014.
“I wanted to give a glimpse of the modern educational
system in Cambodia through the lens of a sinking school,”
she says, alluding to the 1970’s Khmer Rouge genocide,
during which an estimated one-fourth of the population
was killed. Schools were closed and anyone with an education risked execution. Now, many over the age of forty
remain suspicious of education, afraid of another purge.
Some keep their children from going to school, and according to Van Zandt, even a few teachers lack formal
education.
“I think a lot of people outside of Cambodia think what
happened under the Khmer Rouge is horrible but in the
past. But it’s still so present. My goal is to show how much
people have to endure for a minimal shot at education.”
According to Van Zandt, both the teachers and the students want the opportunity to learn. Van Zandt taught
them the English alphabet. In one of her images, a boy
with chalk on his face smiles from the stern of his boat.
“He just loved the letter M, so he wrote it on his forehead,”
Van Zandt says. The student told her, through a translator, “Now I’ll take the language with me.” But with one
of the two buildings now partially submerged, the school
can accept fewer students; those accepted must attend in
sections, resulting in fewer classroom hours.
When Van Zandt arrived, the children were jumping
into the water through holes in the floor. They’d swim under the building, climb out, and jump in again. In addition to an educational platform, the school has become a
community space for teachers and children alike. “A lot of
14
teachers have become more supervisors of safety rather
than facilitators of education,” Van Zandt says.
But going to school in Cambodia is to reclaim the idea
of education as much as it is to obtain one. Having the
physical space to do that is as important as learning any
particular subject. Van Zandt set out to capture that with
her photographs. “I wanted the images to feel natural and
raw and be an authentic expression of the space,” she says.
“I wanted my portraits to show surroundings as well.”
Van Zandt feels a deep sense of responsibility toward
her subjects. “When your intent is to bring awareness to an
issue and to empower the people behind the lens, it’s this
constant practice of questioning the self and questioning
whether this is an image that’s going to tell a story that
they want to be told. Or is this going to be exploitative?”
“I’ve had extreme privilege from living in the US,” says
Van Zandt, who has attended the Perpich Center for Arts
Education, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design,
the University of Minnesota (where she created a major
in art and social change), and the Fundación José Ortega
y Gasset in Buenos Aires. It is this sense of gratitude and
her innate curiosity that drive her activism. Whether she’s
working on her own or shooting for Levi’s, Apple, or Urban
Outfitters, she’s “trying to do projects that create a human
connection and focus on empowerment.”
Recently, she founded Viewpoint, a self-funded organization, to put photography tools and techniques in the
hands of those struggling to share their stories, such as sufferers of chronic Lyme Disease. “With a chronic illness, it’s
so hard to describe what you go through—the struggle and
the strength—but to be able to visually capture that can be
so powerful.” Van Zandt’s goal is to create a short book to
send to policy makers, insurance companies, and doctors
to create connection and to facilitate change around the
treatment of this controversial disease.
“I know what my north star is,” Van Zandt says. “As much
as photography is important to me, I really want to move into
the space of helping other people share their own stories.”
Meanwhile, her Faces of Prek Toal series has already
had an impact on the lives of her subjects. Van Zandt used
her photos to start a foundation to raise funds to rebuild
the school. Plans have been drawn up for a new building,
and this year, Rustic Pathways, who took over the fund,
will return to Prek Toal with supplies and manpower to
make their combined vision a reality. ●
© TASHA VAN ZANDT
THE VILLAGE OF PREK TOAL is built on water. Located
© MAE RYAN
PORTFOLIO: TASHA VAN ZANDT
SCHOOLS WERE CLOSED AND ANYONE
WITH AN EDUCATION RISKED EXECUTION.
NOW, MANY OVER THE AGE OF FORTY REMAIN SUSPICIOUS
OF EDUCATION, AFRAID OF ANOTHER PURGE.
A group of students prepare to dock their boat as they commute to class upon the Tonlé Sap Lake in the Prek Toal village of Cambodia.
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© TASHA VAN ZANDT
PORTFOLIO:
MAE RYAN
Students stand outside of
their floating classroom as
they wait for class to begin.
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Teachers and students stand in the remains of their sinking classroom. Many floorboards have been pulled up due
to water damage and many boards have been pulled up in order to repair other rooms of the school.
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© TASHA VAN ZANDT
© TASHA VAN ZANDT
“I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE OUTSIDE OF CAMBODIA
THINK WHAT HAPPENED UNDER THE KHMER ROUGE
IS HORRIBLE BUT IN THE PAST. BUT IT’S STILL SO PRESENT.
MY GOAL IS TO SHOW HOW MUCH PEOPLE HAVE TO ENDURE
FOR A MINIMAL SHOT AT EDUCATION.”
Students of the Prek Toal primary school listen attentively to their teacher’s lesson of the day.
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© MAE RYAN
© TASHA VAN ZANDT
© MAE RYAN
View of the surrounding Prek Toal village area neighboring the school.
© TASHA VAN ZANDT
“WHEN YOUR INTENT IS TO BRING AWARENESS TO AN ISSUE
AND TO EMPOWER THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE LENS,
IT’S THIS CONSTANT PRACTICE OF QUESTIONING THE SELF
AND QUESTIONING WHETHER THIS IS AN IMAGE THAT’S GOING
TO TELL A STORY THAT THEY WANT TO BE TOLD.”
Teacher of the Prek Toal primary school sits in her office as she preps materials for the day.
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© YACOUBA TANOU
Building
everything
myself
Yacouba Tanou’s
Portraits of West African Art
BY JOHN W. W. ZEISER
The Superstition. From L to R: Royal furniture/dish piece
(used to hold food) Dogon region, Mali. Kanaga mask,
Dogon, Mali. Kanaga Bambara sculpture, Mali.
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© YACOUBA TANOU
© YACOUBA TANOU
Baoule mask. To celebrate Easter, Cote d'Ivoire.
Baoule elephant mask. Represents power and wisdom, and is used to celebrate a great harvest, Cote d'Ivoire.
ASPP.COM
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thing stronger than passion is hunger,” and this struck
Tanou deeply. Born in Burkina Faso, Tanou grew up in
neighboring Ivory Coast in Abidjan, the most populous
city in West Africa. His photography is informed by a
third-culture kid’s worldview, and is focused on his adoptive city, Washington, DC. His portraits and photojournalism often focus on themes of work, cultural celebration, and public political expression—all of which are
presented in extremely vibrant, almost vertiginous, color.
He recalls being such an introverted child that his
mother once dropped the not-so-subtle hint of gifting
him a French translation of Dale Carnegie’s How to Win
Friends and Influence People. He gradually came out of
his shell, but when Tanou arrived in the US in 2003 after
the first Ivorian Civil War broke out, the natural introvert
in him reappeared—this time in his early forays into
photography. His first camera was a cheap disposable that
he used for selfies around Washington, DC. Eventually,
one of his friends suggested turning the camera around.
It took several more years to convince himself to make
the plunge into full-time photography. “I would venture
out at night after my shift, documenting the beauty of
my adoptive city via long-exposure photographs. I was a
bachelor back then, so I could just come back home to
nap and then go out again to photograph cultural events
around the city.” Eventually, however, he couldn’t escape
the realization that photography was his calling.
“I was brought up with the habit of building everything
myself,” he says. “My own toys from empty cans. Building
cars. It’s not that we were lacking or miserable. We had
to be resourceful, and I think that is where my creativity
started without my knowing.”
His recent African Art project stands as an example
of his creativity and unique cultural perspective. Tanou
counts the Ivorian embassy as a client, and what began
as photographing a few promotional pieces for its African
Art on the Move exhibition turned into a deeper photographic investigation.
Against a black backdrop, Tanou staged wooden
masks, busts, ornate chairs, and even a set of four dogheaded statues dressed in colorful suits and ties. Tanou’s
technique emphasizes an uncluttered appearance and
sharp focus, and draws out the contours and textures
of the wood while allowing the eye to wander over the
smooth, stained colors.
At one point the pieces had to be moved to a terrace to
make room for an event, as if testing his ability to roll with
punches. But the terrace was full of Japanese maples.
Tanou recalls, “At this point my staging was disrupted,
and initially I thought the leaves were in the way.
However, as I was trying to find the most aesthetically
composed shot while shooting tethered, I noticed the
leaves connected with the wooden carvings creating a
feeling that the art returned to its natural habitat.” The
leaves end up framing many of the photographs; their
rich reds and splashes of bright green accentuate the
stained wood of the objects. “You have to be receptive to
the moment,” he chuckled.
If many of the pieces seem in conversation with one
another, that’s intentional staging that highlights Tanou’s
central concern. As a photographer, he sees himself in
dialogue with the pieces’ creators and his photos’ viewers.
These images “ignite the wants, the needs to know more
about the stories of these artists.” So look deeply and don’t
be afraid to ask questions. ●
Southern women. Sculpture from the school of Combe in Bingerville, Cote d'Ivoire.
© YACOUBA TANOU
A FRIEND ONCE TOLD Yacouba Tanou that “the only
© YACOUBA TANOU
PORTFOLIO: YAKOUBA TANOU
La Grande Famille (the big Dan family), Dan, Cote d'Ivoire.
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© YACOUBA TANOU
© YACOUBA TANOU
Dan mask "Beck,” Cote d'Ivoire.
Nkisi Nkonde (Genie sculpture) sculpture, Zaire/Congo.
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© DAVID GARDNER
Trailer Sunset.
Tygh Valley RV Park. OR, 2013
THE WANDERING FEW
DAVID GARDNER’S NEW AMERICAN NOMADS
BY JOSH STEICHMANN
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© DAVID GARDNER
PORTFOLIO: DAVID GARDNER
American Nomads is “David and Nola.” David sits casually, belly lopping over his belt, held by a tucked t-shirt.
A mirror catches Nola looking on from the hall. The
cramped space of the RV amplifies the prefab look—teak
veneer and faded teal loveseat with pink and beige abstract swooshes. Family pictures are taped to a shelf. Out
the window behind him, RVs are parked in the desert. It’s
just a little off-axis, empathetic, and revealing.
Life on Wheels: New American Nomads documents the
life of “full-timers,” RV peripatetics. Gardner fell into it—
primarily a landscape photographer, he started another
series (Marking Our Place in the World) about the signs
humans left behind, around the time he retired and started
living four months of the year in an RV. He started noticing that when vacationers buzzed in and out of camp to
a million different activities and destinations, full-timers
were laid back.
The small indoor spaces mean community is important, and Gardner’s quotidian portraits highlight that, like
“Roger Catches up on Facebook.”
“When I started, lots of RVs had CBs, that was the main
way people stayed in touch then,” Gardner said. “The internet and Facebook have taken over—when I started in
2006, Facebook was just getting going. At that time, they
were carrying satellite dishes because wi-fi wasn’t available. They really burst some of my myths—they were more
tech-savvy than I was.”
And the fluidity of the RV camps gives a space for people who don’t fit in anywhere else. “Jolly with His Fighting
Knife” shows a graybeard in camo shirt and headband,
holding a swooping fantasy knife down in front of his leg,
like a kid showing off a shoplifted candy bar.
“He had a million stories that ran in a stream that did
not stop. He was in Vietnam—Special Forces—before we
officially were at war, or so he said. He had a son, he had a
divorce, he had a couple of strokes. He was full of stories,
but I was never sure how much I believed them,” Gardner
said. “He wanted to tell me stories but he didn’t want to
hang out with me.”
The series is compelling because the people are compelling—“Beverly, Solo Traveler” stands reserved, surrounded by shell mosaics. “Ralph and Patsy, Campground
Hosts” echoes “American Gothic.”
Gardner’s retirement into the full-timer community
means the series is also about unmoored aging.
“How did I view my parents and grandparents? I always knew where they were. These kids don’t know where
their grandparents are. The kids visit out on the road,”
said Gardner. It reminded him of a conversation he had in
college—“How old would I be when I thought of myself as
old? What’s the rest of my life going to be like?”
Gardner may not know where he’ll be when he thinks
of himself as old, but he’s found a way to be that is full of
possibility. ●
David and Nola. Quartzsite, AZ 2014. When David and Nola went full-time, they said they would give it five years and decide whether
to continue from there. Five years later, Nola misses her kids and grandchildren, and wants to stop traveling. David does not.
© DAVID GARDNER
ONE OF THE BEST IMAGES in Life on Wheels: New
GARDNER’S RETIREMENT INTO THE FULL-TIMER COMMUNITY
MEANS THE SERIES IS ALSO ABOUT UNMOORED AGING.
“HOW DID I VIEW MY PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS? I ALWAYS
KNEW WHERE THEY WERE. THESE KIDS DON’T KNOW WHERE THEIR
GRANDPARENTS ARE. THE KIDS VISIT OUT ON THE ROAD.”
Debbie with Rupert & Elliot. Alabama Hills, CA. 2013. Says Debbie, “When I set out six years ago, it was with the intention of finding the
place where I wanted to live the rest of my life. I thought it would take a year. But now, I can’t see a time when I would want to stop.
32
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© DAVID GARDNER
© DAVID GARDNER
PORTFOLIO: DAVID GARDNER
Don & Dorothy, Fulltimers. Outskirts of Canyonlands, UT, 2012
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© DAVID GARDNER
Roger & Elaine, Campground Hosts. Death Valley National Park, CA 2015. Roger and Elaine do not own a computer.
When they need to communicate, they drive to the highest point in the valley and hope to catch a cell signal.
© DAVID GARDNER
Phil in His Man Cave. Quartzsite, AZ 2014. Phil and Ann travel between RV shows
and other gatherings, offering their repair services.
Ralph & Patsy. Boulder Mountain, UT, 2012. Ralph is attempting to market
a rotating sun-tracking frame for solar panels while traveling full time.
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PAST, PRESENT
& FUTURE
It’s time to celebrate. We made it. We endured. And we’ll continue on,
refining and retooling what it means to be picture professionals.
To commemorate our big anniversary, we spoke to three integral members
who’ve helped lead us through the past, present, and now into the future.
BY APRIL WOLFE
PAST
BY ANITA DUNCAN
Anita Duncan has been an active ASPP member, photo researcher, and artist for decades. If you want to know how
things have changed in the industry, just ask Anita. She
has stories to share, because she was there at the start. Anita
had to teach many a green photographer and designer
how to do their jobs and keep up with the times. Once, she
got an AP photo back from a designer—an image of the
Hindenburg crash: It had been airbrushed to make the entire scene look neat and pretty, removing any signs of the
actual explosion. Another time, she asked a photographer
to crop images as he went along, only to receive scraps of
cut photographs back.
She worked side by side with Jane Kinne, told Prentice
Hall they’d better get ready for color photographs in textbooks, and had a front-seat view for how women’s roles
were changing, including stepping up to simultaneously
36
do her pregnant colleague’s job along with her own fulltime one, so the colleague wouldn’t lose her position. Midcareer, she went to the agency side, blazing trails with Photo
Researchers (now Science Source). Jane Kinne—after whom
we’ve named our Picture Professional of the Year Award—
ushered Anita into the fold early on, but Anita carried the
torch and continues to be an exemplary and dynamic picture professional. In her own words, Anita describes how
she’s seen the industry change and the role ASPP has played
in her long, illustrious career.
I WAS A BOOK DESIGNER IN 1963, and it was not until 1965
that I started looking for photos for my books; the available
photos were terrible. There were so many books that it would
be a big deal if you were going to give them a picture at all.
It was something else. Using a picture was really splurging.
I was doing college textbooks, and the authors were supplying photos, taking them with those little Brownie cameras.
I looked at my art directors and said, “These are terrible.”
They told me they thought there was a picture agency we
could use, and I said, “What’s that?” We got out the Yellow
Pages, looked up “photo researchers,” called, and made some
ASPP THROUGH THE YEARS
The physical look of our magazine
and bylaws pamphlet have changed
considerably through the years, but
our mission remains the same. Various
archival material provided courtesy
of Anita Duncan. Luncheon committee
rules unearthed from ASPP’s archives by
previous National Executive Directors
Cathy Sachs, Jain Lemos, and Sam Merrell.
© THE ESTATE OF RAIMONDO BOREA
PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE
Official portrait of ASPP National Officers, 1978. Photographed by Raimondo Borea, ASPP National President from 1974-75.
appointments. And that’s how I got into it and found this
wonderful world of photos.
One day at Prentice Hall, somebody said there was going to be a brown bag lunch, and you brought your own
lunch, and they brought brownies or cookies, and I can
remember, maybe like 60 or 75 people at lunch hour, eating their sandwiches and listening to someone talk. I remember going near the UN. Photographers were becoming important at that time, and they were very easy to get
to and happy that photos were being licensed with very few
complications. We paid $25 to use them then.
I remember in the ’70s and maybe into the ’80s, Kodak
would furnish space for us to meet. I can remember Jane
Kinne sending notes out to all of us about how to pack our
photo returns. ASPP was growing all along, so the meetings would be appropriate to whatever kind of problems
we were encountering. People I met at the meetings, I
hired. From ’80 to ’85, I was in charge of the photo archives
and research at Prentice Hall, College Division. I had met
most of the people I hired through ASPP.
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In terms of publishing, way into the ’80s, it was black
and white photos. They were really beautiful. I think
someone from Houghton Mifflin was at a meeting, and
they had a CD, a book on a CD, and it sat in a little folder
at the back of the book. We talked about how that would
affect our futures, and what was going to happen to the
book, and I think we’re still not sure. People are reading
and studying online, but the photos got better. It was in
the early ’80s when I was at Prentice Hall and suggested
we acquire some color slides, and I was told color would
never catch on. I said, “I can’t believe that.” Needless to say,
the president of the college division said “no.”
In the late ’80s and early ’90s, rights and representation became issues so we had more speakers on legal
topics. We also had to teach people, for instance, that if
you’re going to show non-white subjects in the pictures,
they shouldn’t carry stereotypes. The content was there.
We were definitely making statements.
One of the first things ASPP helped with was releases,
informing researchers that you couldn’t just use a picture
IT WAS IN THE EARLY ’80S WHEN I WAS AT PRENTICE HALL
AND SUGGESTED WE ACQUIRE SOME COLOR SLIDES,
AND I WAS TOLD COLOR WOULD NEVER CATCH ON.
I SAID, “I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT.”
and sell anything you wanted with it, because you could be
sued. I had chosen a picture to go in a sociology book of a
group of men on motorcycles, and it was used in a chapter
on deviancy. It turned out the photo was of a father and
his two sons, who loved motorcycles as a hobby, and the
father was a doctor, and the two sons were in college. The
caption didn’t say anything, so the fact that we had chosen
this picture for the deviancy chapter didn’t look good. The
image was model released but not released appropriately.
We had to learn about copyright, and sometimes we got
sued. You had to be careful, with social issues, especially
in books with sensitive chapters. You couldn’t just say that
this sexy-looking girl on the steps is a prostitute, because
she more than likely wasn’t. Two guys walking down the
street doesn’t mean they’re gay. You had to have more
model releases if you were going to use a picture that was
controversial at the time. We would have meetings about
this, and a lot of this was learning, and ASPP played a great
part in that, in keeping us honest.
What’s happened now, the ad agencies have been calling the price shots more than the photographers and the
agencies, but we’re still working together. ASPP is a necessary group for going forward. When I think about all the
changes that came about, it wasn’t the content, but the
legal aspects of how photos are sold that’s changed the
most. People who keep us informed, who keep us honest,
they’re necessary to have around.
PRESENT
BY CHRIS DINENNA
Chris DiNenna is co-president of our West/LA chapter,
a hopeful and energetic picture professional who maps
out phenomenal archive tours for ASPP members all over
Southern California. As representative of our “present,”
Chris is like many of us, reinventing himself time and
again to become a jack of all trades, and he brings that
pioneering spirit to every ASPP event, making connections
and making things happen, ringleading the West coast
with a megaphone of potential opportunities. He also credits some innovative colleagues from ASPP’s past for guiding his hand in the present. Chris gives us some insights
on where we are now and how we’re adapting.
I HAVE TO GO BACK 20-ODD YEARS, when I was hired
at Westlight stock agency, run by Craig Arnett, a NatGeo
photographer. He developed this stock agency to contribute images into one pool. (Corbis purchased it in 1998.)
Through that job, I was able to meet a lot of people in all
the industries, in Seattle and New York, and became a
liaison between research and sales. I worked with photographer’s rights and editing and became the point person for research in the Los Angeles office. I was always
trying to find a new niche for myself in that industry, so I
worked with a bunch of different departments, learning
more about stock and the way it was going. Eventually, I
moved into sales. At the time, it was difficult because the
recession was hitting, and I became part of the big layoff
bubble. I had to reinvent myself and find where I fit into
the photo world, since it was changing so much. It wasn’t
like it was in the 1990s.
Michael Masterson found me, and reached out to me.
He asked me to join the board of ASPP back in 2007. He
convinced me I needed to expand my horizons, connect
with people outside of my network. I found myself mirroring what the ideals and thought processes were like in the
ASPP, and I wanted to get in with this group—see what I
could do, see what I could contribute, and see what I could
learn. Now I’m co-president of West/LA, and I’m planning
events to bring people together.
When I started as co-president, I remembered an event
I attended with Jain Lemos, Ellen Herbert, and past West
chapter president Debra Lemonds. We were at an APA
photographer panel event with other ASPP members in
Hollywood, and afterwards we were talking about the
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FROM OUR ARCHIVES
In 1974, Jane Kinne hand-typed and
signed all her communications. It was
even harder then to stay connected to
your peers without the internet, but
Kinne and her colleagues were dedicated
to keeping ASPP members up to date.
Top images courtesy Anita Duncan.
Left: ASPP NY Photo Show Event
Promo – Photo from Culver Pictures.
Right: 1985 Newsletter, Computer
and Money, photo illustration by Joel
Cordon. Bottom images unearthed
from ASPP’s archives by previous
National Executive Directors Cathy
Sachs, Jain Lemos, and Sam Merrell.
THE NEED FOR IMAGES IS AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH, SO IT’S IMPORTANT
THAT PHOTOGRAPHERS AND CREATIVES ARE AWARE
OF THE CHANGING BUSINESS MODELS. TWENTY YEARS AGO,
PRINTED MEDIA WAS THE MAIN CONDUIT FOR NEW CONTENT,
AND TODAY IT’S THE DIGITAL ONLINE COMMUNITY.
irection of the chapter and the type of events we wanted
d
to promote. Debra told me that the presidency of the West
chapter was going to be the toughest but most rewarding
job I ever had.
Debra was positive and appreciative of the commitment I put into planning. She explained to me that there
was value in simply gathering and talking about the issues
affecting the photo community, and having an open dialogue so that everyone had a voice—that it wasn’t about
my agenda, but about educating and inspiring others to
do great work. She said to keep a finger on the pulse of
photography to know what direction it’s going and to be
able to steer the group into understanding the new tools
that are part of our future.
Debra also said to always keep a collection of experts
available, to make sure I’m aware of trends that could lead
to new avenues, new consumers, and new brands. The
need for images is at an all-time high, so it’s important that
photographers and creatives are aware of the changing
business models. Twenty years ago, printed media was the
main conduit for new content, and today it’s the digital online community. Even as the profit margin has lessened for
photographers doing the traditional stock business, others
have gained a foothold using the new tools available.
The new generation is stepping up and making changes/waves within the community and creating new business
models that are working. We need to figure out how to
make peace with that—with photo sharing in our online
world—but also to keep our high-quality content protected
with watermarks and filters, and become better copyright
enforcers so we aren’t consumed by the “right-click” disrupters. We need to challenge the value of our professional
photography and know how to protect our assets.
I think where I was 10 years ago with stock—working
at a big agency and having all those people around me all
the time—there was some sort of excitement, but I think
a lot of the fun went away when all the consolidations
happened and people moved on. The whole photo world
changed as well. So I’ve had to persevere and push that
envelope and do things for the group that I find exciting.
I get excited looking at how similar organizations handle events, and I like to follow their examples. I went to an
event put on by the Association of Media Content Users
and Providers, a new group of footage people, a lot of archivists and lot of people who I used to work with back in
the day. They’re sharing their knowledge of on-demand
and viral rights—things like: Can you have a fair-use viral
video out there that isn’t going to be hacked? How do you
deal with talent and likeness issues? Copyright infringement? Like ASPP, they’ve built a board of true professionals, of people who have their fingers on the pulse of film
and rights. I just like to see how they’re doing it, because
they’re really growing and getting a lot of members.
I personally use Instagram for sharing. Of course I’m
not using my latest and greatest camera to do that work,
but if I see something, I want to document it, share what
I’m looking at and what I’m thinking about. And with
the people I’ve met on Instagram…it gives you food for
thought. It’s just good to see what other people are looking at, and what is being done, even if it’s so you can avoid
doing something that’s overdone.
Our contacts are our most important asset, and I like
making friends with this network because it’s powerful
and inspiring. We should constantly talk about our lives
and work, either in a group peer-to-peer setting or on
Twitter—wherever you find others with the same drive
and desires to do great photo work. We need to embrace
the online world and get our names out there to make the
real connection happen. Building followers on Instagram,
Facebook, Twitter will only help us learn about our own
social brand. We need to outsource education to help us
reaffirm our values, be aware of the resources available to
photographers, and know there is a community that cares
and is looking to connect and work together. And we need
to keep aware of our archives and remember that what is
old now could be gold later.
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ASPP members Mr. & Mrs. David Bradshaw, circa 1978.
FUTURE
BY ANDREW FINGERMAN
Andrew Fingerman was always a photography
enthusiast, snapping near-constant photos at New York
Giants games with his dad, and studying photography
at the University of Michigan. But when he veered into
business, he married two passions that benefit our entire
industry. As CEO of PhotoShelter, Andrew’s been a valued
ASPP member and is set to guide us through to a prosperous future. Andrew explains where we are now and where
we need to be in such clear terms, it’s difficult not to feel
positive after talking with him.
I STARTED IN POLITICAL CAMPAIGN CONSULTING—most-
ly speech writing, media relations, and marketing work.
From there, I went into corporate media relations for a few
years, working mostly with tech companies. Then I helped
start a company called Venture Architects. After getting my
MBA at Columbia University, I spent several years work42
ing for American Express in product management for the
small business division, working with just about every color
charge card—Green, Gold, Platinum and Black. Amex provided a phenomenal learning experience. I learned to be a
leader, and I learned how to market a world-class brand.
In late 2007, I was recruited to join PhotoShelter as
head of marketing. I was attracted to the company’s vision—to help pro photographers succeed in their careers
using technology—and excited to tap back into my passion
for photography while working in a more creative, entrepreneurial business. The company was only two years old
at the time, and I was tasked with growing the user base.
Remember, at that time, pro photographers were just embracing digital and very concerned with the idea of putting
content on the web; trust in cloud services still needed to be
built. As marketing lead, I focused on helping PhotoShelter
build credibility in the market, and pioneered their photographer-education efforts—free downloadable business
guides, our webinar series, and a blog. Today, our guides
alone have been downloaded more than one million times.
In 2009, ASPP-NY was hosting a local event, “What’s
New In Workflow.” I learned about it through a service I’d
ASPP event – Walter Plesner, Roberta Guerette, Al Forsythe, circa 1978.
recently been dabbling with for marketing purposes, called
Twitter (that’s a joke). Antonio Rosario, a local member,
invited me. As one of the speakers, Antonio discussed how
he incorporates PhotoShelter into his client delivery workflow, so I ended up sponsoring the event, which had roughly sixty attendees. I met several more people that night,
including former executive director, Sam Merrell. What I
found exciting and unique about ASPP (and still find to be
its most powerful point of distinction) is the inclusive nature of its membership and their diversity of professional
roles, from archivists, curators, and photo editors to the
creators. There’s a magic that happens when you gather
together a variety of picture professionals with different
perspectives to create dialogue. This was the beginning of
my involvement with the organization!
In 2012, I replaced founder Allen Murabayashi as CEO
of PhotoShelter. We now proudly serve over 80,000 photographers from our core, single-user business, and we
continue to innovate for the professional photographer.
Lately we have been intensely focused on the client delivery workflow and getting photographers mobile access
to their entire archive of imagery. We also serve more
than 220 larger brands with Libris—launched in January
2015—our digital asset management system for those who
are serious about their visual media.
In 2013, I joined the ASPP Board of Trustees, to be
a sounding board for leadership and help guide growth
initiatives. Over the last two years I’ve been able to help
challenge and push thinking about ways to engage and
grow membership. One of the results has been a variety
of webinars hosted by PhotoShelter.
It’s obvious that the world has shifted toward a more
visual culture, and this shift has been enabled by technology. Let’s focus in on a few different categories where
technology is changing the role of the picture professional,
thinking in terms of key jobs to be done—source, manage, and publish. It’s essential to have a flexible outlook,
to seek and adopt new methods. And in larger organizations, driving comfort with new tech-enabled approaches
will require a change agent (and that’s going to be you).
You must become comfortable shifting sourcing approaches based on what is most appropriate for your given project—meaning, in one scenario, you may consider
working directly with subject matter specialists, sourcing
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IMAGE COURTESY JAIN LEMOS
IN TERMS OF PUBLISHING CONTENT, THE “POPULAR” PLATFORMS ARE
SHIFTING RAPIDLY. KEEPING UP IS ALMOST DIZZYING. MY ADVICE IS TO
BECOME COMFORTABLE TESTING ANYTHING, BUT TO BE STRATEGIC
IN UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE EACH PLATFORM WILL PLAY IN YOUR
AUDIENCE’S RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR CONTENT.
from agencies or individual photographer archives, yet in
another, you may go directly to a brand’s crowd, via social
media. New technology becomes essential for creating a
more efficient way to manage all your multiple image assets, everything from organizing content to discovery and
accessibility of content. I’ve been fascinated with the advances in image recognition and automated keywording,
for example. Finding new ways to embrace tech like this
will streamline the everyday roles of picture professionals.
In terms of publishing content, the “popular” platforms
are shifting rapidly. Keeping up is almost dizzying. My advice is to become comfortable testing anything, but to be
strategic in understanding the role each platform will play
in your audience’s relationship with your content. What
platforms will you use for long-form content (e.g. medium.
com or exposure.co) vs. bite-size teasers that simply attract
and build audience (e.g. Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat)?
In each case, it’s exciting (and maybe sometimes overwhelming) to consider the new opportunities created by
technology. Yet, it’s also important to recognize that each
new “test” nonetheless requires a backbone of professionalism. For example, new sourcing methods require a respect
of creators’ rights. New management tools require a base
of knowledge in taxonomy standards as image collections
rapidly expand. And wherever content is published, the professional editor’s eye and intuition for what will compel an
audience to engage will still be the most essential skill.
I am most impressed by professional content creators who can morph beyond the traditional approach to
a changing industry and find new ways to thrive. I met
Jerm Cohen (jermcohen.com) recently. He presented his
work at PhotoShelter’s monthly Photos & Beer night. Jerm
considers his specialty to be “social media photographer.”
He works with large brands that want to have impact on
Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and other platforms, and
produces dedicated content for use in these platforms. He’s
booked solid—this is a full-time profession, which is amazing to see. Jerm works with an agency, which provides a
regular pipeline of client work. Clients (from electronic
44
accessories to auto manufacturers) will often give Jerm
unprecedented autonomy to shoot with their products, in
authentic environments. This authenticity is exactly what
resonates in social media, and clients appreciate Jerm’s eye
for what will or will not work for their brand.
On the more established side of the industry, I have
watched what Ron Haviv and the photographers at VII
Photo (viiphoto.com) are doing lately, and truly admire
their refreshing drive to test new platforms and approaches, engage and collaborate with the broader visual media
community, and remain highly relevant in a changing industry. From flash print sales, to Reddit-based Q&A sessions, to their visual storytelling workshops, they’re aggressively working new channels to grow their footprint
and exposure. They’re also using our Libris platform to
streamline their own agency workflow, with the ability to
submit content from anywhere in the world and share it
with clients instantly—this makes everyone’s lives easier. I see awesome signs of hope for picture professionals, literally everywhere. Yes, traditional roles and business models
are changing, but it’s undeniable that there’s an insatiable
demand for visual content. Marketers have keyed in on the
power of visual media and storytelling to engage and connect with their audience. Last year, we learned (through our
Survey with the CMO Council sponsored by PhotoShelter’s
Libris team), that 75 percent of senior marketers intend
to employ more video, while 50 percent intend to employ
more photo across their campaigns and marketing programs. So, the strengths of individuals skilled in working
with visual content remain in demand too. Who’s going
to do their photo editing, curating, and archiving? Who’s
going to help them maintain strong archives for historical
record and marketing use? Who’s going to clear the rights
to crowdsourced images of their brand? Who’s going to ensure consistent visuals across the dizzying variety of engagement platforms? Picture professionals will. Succeeding in a
changing environment often requires changing your frame
of reference as well as looking for new opportunities to apply the amazing skills you have, perhaps in new scenarios. ●
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ALL IMAGES COURTESY IMAX
W
NEXT
BIG THING
BY JOSH STEICHMANN
It’s only natural that more vibrant, bigger pictures will require higher-quality sound, so IMAX has taken great care
to develop loudspeaker technology to further immerse the audience in their pictures.
46
HEN CAMERA OPERATOR Dylan Reade
worked on his first IMAX 3D movie in
1986, The Last Buffalo, the camera rig
weighed almost 1,400 pounds, took six-toeight hours of calibration every night, and
could only shoot three minutes’ worth of film at a time. In
2011, the prototype digital camera used on Born to Be Wild
was 42 pounds, light enough to carry in a steadycam rig,
with a RAM cache that allowed always-on filmmaking.
“Nine feet off ground level, you had orangutans eating
durian, then they’d take off up the tree, right into the canopy,” said Reade. “This interplay would develop over minutes at a time. We never had to miss anything. Anything.”
Led by IMAX and a number of other camera and projection companies, large format and immersive cinema are
finding their way into entertainment, science, and commercial applications like never before.
At the USC School of Cinematic Arts Robert Zemeckis
Center, IMAX donated The Michelle and Kevin Douglas
IMAX Theatre and Immersive Media Lab, a state-of-theart facility for exploring the possibilities that giant screens
provide. The 35,000-square-foot facility has a 3D IMAX
laser projector system, retractable seats, and an extensible
grid for mounting extra equipment.
“What’s next for giant screen cinema?” says Matt Scott,
USC School of Cinematic Arts IMAX specialist. “We can
try hanging additional screens. We can try bringing in additional projectors and doing multiple angles. We can try
bringing in moving seats—and that’s just scratching the
surface of what can be done in here.”
Scott got started working in IMAX on Born to be Wild,
where he was an assistant editor, and continued with
Island of the Lemurs in Madagascar, where he was an AE
and digital image technician. Working with people like
Dylan Reade, he got to see the transition to the new digital
cameras firsthand, and when he got the chance to work at
the lab, he jumped at it.
Unlike the still picture professions, where digital has
almost entirely supplanted analog, IMAX’s high-performance specs meant it was one of the last film platforms to
transition to digital. Now, IMAX does both, as requested:
It still works with filmmakers who want to shoot on film—
Christopher Nolan shot the IMAX portions of his Dark
Knight trilogy on film—whereas Michael Bay used digital
capture for Transformers 4. And Avengers: Infinity Wars
is the first feature film shot entirely on IMAX digital.
As far as pure image quality, the analog IMAX is still
unrivaled. Essentially two side-by-side 70mm frames shot
horizontally, the resolution is somewhere between 12 and
18k vertical lines, or roughly nine times greater than a
standard 35mm frame, compared to the 8k available from
top-of-the-line digital sensors. Even as resolution above
4k starts to push the limits of human perception, for other
metrics like intraframe contrast and color depth, film is
still superior, especially when projected on a giant screen.
“Digital was a deal with the devil,” said Reade. “Almost
every image even on the 4k laser doesn’t compare favorably. With the 8k systems coming out, we’ll probably be
close enough.” But, he adds, the majority of shots that directors wanted prior to digital capture just weren’t possible. “For every good shot, we missed 20,” he said.
That quality difference shapes the types of shots—and
stories—that are best viewed on a giant screen. At the
opening of the Douglas Theatre, Spinoff Online quoted
director Steven Spielberg saying, “Everything [film students] do begins on a very small screen. They take their
work home with them, and the small screen becomes
what they can work on—their iPads, their iPhones…film
students shoot too many damn close-ups. The result [of
IMAX] is, they’re going to stop shooting close-ups, and
they’re going to start expanding the horizons that IMAX
affords them.”
IMAX has had its eye on making the technology to
create more beautiful pictures, in turn, enticing more
people to watch films communally again. David Keighley,
Chief Quality Officer, has been working for IMAX for 44
years and emphasizes the personal approach the community takes for their mission. Every IMAX projector has
an automated recalibration system that runs every day,
adjusting for local heat and humidity. The power of every
ASPP.COM
47
NEXT BIG THING
IMAX’s laser project system is so advanced that each
projector calls home for instructions on self-cooling
and self-heating to work at optimal conditions, no matter
if you’re in Arctic or tropical temperatures.
At the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Media Lab,
some of the world’s most innovative filmmakers and scientists
convene to utilize this concave screen.
lamp is monitored remotely from the IMAX headquarters
outside Toronto, Canada. And at the end of every movie, in
every one of the 68 countries IMAX has theaters, there’s an
email address for comments—to which Keighley himself
tries to respond within 24 hours.
One time, Keighley got an email from an audience
member in Inner Mongolia, who said there was a dead
pixel, even though IMAX’s software didn’t show anything
wrong. Keighley flew out and investigated anyway. “He was
right. We changed the engine and gave him two t ickets. It
was really gratifying,” said Keighley.
While Keighley and IMAX have expanded IMAX
offerings from nature documentaries to blockbusters, and
continue to treat each audience member like one of a big
family, giant-screen cinema is expanding beyond the theater entirely, bringing scientists into the community.
Dr. Richard Weinberg has used the Douglas Theatre for
experiments in telemicroscopy. A grant from the National
Science Foundation allows him to stream 4k images of microbes to a Chattanooga, Tennessee, high school biology
class, where students were able to control the microscope’s
focus and orientation.
Digital IMAX is also being used in telesurgery, where
surgeons operating robotic instruments can improve upon
the magnification already available through laparoscopic techniques. Nerve cells only four microns in diameter
could appear a meter wide on the Douglas Theatre screen.
The overlap with virtual reality and augmented reality
also has broader research implications. A team in Seoul,
Korea, led by Dr. Dohyun Ahn, used giant screens and
virtual reality glasses to test theories on psychological immersion, the feeling of “being there,” and co-presence, the
feeling that virtual objects or people are real. Surprisingly,
they found that immersion was less influenced by display
size than was copresence, meaning that a VR headset and
a giant screen can equally transport a viewer, but that a
giant screen helps make virtual people seem more real.
The United Nations has experimented with VR narratives to help people empathize with refugee experiences—
Clouds Over Sidra took the viewer on a virtual tour of a
Syrian refugee camp. But Ahn’s research suggests that to
really feel that empathy, a giant 3D image is more effective
than strapping on a headset.
“Over the years, the technology used in giant screen
and, more importantly, the techniques, processes and
know-how, get applied to a range of entertainment applications, from casinos, to high-end cinema and theme
parks,” said Martin Howe, co-chair of the Giant Screen
Cinema Association’s technology committee. “The most
recent theme park attractions are giant immersive rides,
where much of the set-work is projected. Those groups
often turn to experts and technology from the giant screen
to get the best results.”
Which isn’t always as easy as it may seem.
“Digital capture is a lot cheaper,” says Keighley. “But
post-production is a lot more expensive than film. Digital
takes a lot more to get it to the look you want. It’s not just
about resolution—it’s about bit depth, it’s about dynamic
range. I think you can do anything with digital if you can
take your time.” ●
48
ASPP.COM
49
THE LAW
The Last 50 Years
in Copyright: 1966 – 2016
BY NANCY E. WOLFF
WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM MIKAELA GROSS
T
HE LAST TIME Congress
r e w r o t e t h e U. S .
Copyright Act, the new
law was heralded as a
technology-neutral and
forward-thinking solution to the
outdated terms of the previous
1909 version. That was in 1976.
A Centennial Landmark
in Copyright
The 1976 Act’s technology-neutral approach left open-ended
provisions to anticipate new
means and modes of expression with legal protection, without having to wait for Congress
to vote. For example, the list of
types of works granted protection
is nonexclusive and open to creative interpretation—computer code is considered copyrightable as a “literary work.”
The Copyright Act of 1976, which became effective on
January 1, 1978 following more than a decade of drafting,
hearings, and multiple revisions, completely overhauled
the preexisting copyright regime. Copyright law had only
protected works that were published with copyright notice; if works were published without a notice, they became
a part of the public domain. This protection lasted only
for a period of twenty-eight years from the time of publication, and could be renewed for an additional term of
twenty-eight years if the copyright owner, or his/her heirs,
remembered to do so.
The new Act granted copyright protection to authors
from the date a work was created or “fixed,” rather than
50
pegging copyright protection
from the date of publication. The
Act also extended the duration
of copyright protection to a single term of the life of the author
plus fifty years. (This was revised
again in 1998 to the current formulation—the life of the author
plus seventy years).
T h e Ho u s e Ju d i c i a r y
Committee explained that their
technology- and medium-neutral
priorities rested on the fact that
“[a]uthors are continually finding new ways of expressing themselves, [and] it is impossible to
foresee the forms that these new
expressive methods will take.”
H.R. REP. 94-1476. The Act codified five exclusive rights, which
are granted to authors upon fixation—reproduction, preparation of derivative works, distribution, performance, and
display—as well as several exceptions to these exclusive
rights. But perhaps the most notable exception is the fair
use doctrine.
The Age of Fair Use
Although the doctrine of fair use predates the Copyright
Act of 1976, Section 107 codified the four-factor analysis. Fair uses include uses “for purposes such as criticism,
comment, news reporting, teaching . . . scholarship, or research,” but much like other sections of the Act, this list
is nonexclusive and therefore capable of accommodating
new means and modes of expression.
The fair use doctrine has taken on a life of its own via
the federal court system. In 1994, in a case involving the parody of Roy Orbison’s romantic hit “Oh,
Pretty Woman” by hip hop artist 2 Live Crew, the
Supreme Court (Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.)
announced a new consideration under the first fair
use factor that has become known as the transformative use test. The Court noted, “the enquiry focuses
on whether the new work merely supersedes the objects of the original creation, or whether and to what
extent it is ‘transformative,’ altering the original with
new expression, meaning, or message.” This analysis
has been central to a number of recent fair use findings, including the 2013 Cariou v. Prince case, where
the Second Circuit found appropriation artist Richard
Prince’s use of twenty-five Patrick Cariou photographs
to be a transformative fair use.
Other exceptions, however, tend to reveal the law’s
age and inflexibility.
Section 108, an exception for libraries and archives, permits, under certain circumstances, library
photocopying without permission for purposes of
scholarship, preservation, and interlibrary loan. In
addition, Section 110, known as the “Teach Act” prior to its revision in 2002, provided only limited exceptions for uses in the context of face-to-face and
distance-teaching activities by accredited, nonprofit
institutions, which failed to take into consideration
the rights required for most digital transmissions
of educational materials. These provisions, in their
1976 forms, suggest that although Congress may have
hoped the law would accommodate new technologies
and modes of expression, it provided little guidance
for how such policies were to apply in the era of the
World Wide Web.
What Are “Works of Art”?
On March 1, 1989, more than 100 years after the international treaty was initially adopted, the US became a
signatory to the Berne Convention for the Protection
of Literary and Artistic Works. Significantly, this required Congress to abolish the onerous copyright
notice requirement that had previously forced many
copyrighted works—in particular photographs published in magazines and newspapers—to prematurely
enter the public domain. This was an important first
step in Congress’ move away from the strict formalities required under prior copyright statutes.
In 1990, Congress tried passing a series of amendments to the Copyright Act of 1976, in keeping with
THE LAW
THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE EXPLAINED THAT THEIR
TECHNOLOGY- AND MEDIUM-NEUTRAL PRIORITIES RESTED
ON THE FACT THAT “[A]UTHORS ARE CONTINUALLY FINDING NEW WAYS
OF EXPRESSING THEMSELVES, [AND] IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FORESEE
THE FORMS THAT THESE NEW EXPRESSIVE METHODS WILL TAKE.”
the Berne Convention. The Visual Artists Rights Act
(VARA) recognizes that “works of visual art” are entitled to
the so-called moral rights of attribution, integrity, and the
prevention of destruction of copies, but what constitutes
“works of visual art” excludes most photographic images
produced for publication and commercial uses today. In
general, the Copyright Act is about protecting authorized
reproduction and distribution of works under copyright,
and not about the author receiving credit or attribution.
The Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act
added architectural works to the list of types of copyrightable subject matter, but those making photographs
and paintings would be allowed some exceptions, so they
wouldn’t get sued every time they tried to photograph a
landmark or building.
Renewal Release
In 1992, Congress abolished another burdensome formality by discarding the renewal requirement applied to
works created between 1964 and 1977. As a result, works
created in 1977, which under the 1909 act would have had
to be “renewed” in 2005 in order to receive an additional
28-year term of protection, are automatically protected for
an additional term of 48 years.
Perhaps most significant of all the amendments to
the 1976 Act, Congress passed the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA) in 1998. Seeking to address copyright infringement in the context of the rapidly developing digital frontier, Title II of the DMCA—the Online
Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act—created safe harbors for qualifying online services providers
(OSPs) against liability for copyright infringement. In order to qualify for these safe harbor protections, OSPs must
comply with the law’s notice-and-takedown procedure
provisions and remove infringing content about which
they’ve received proper notice.
52
The DMCA also contemplated that copyright owners
might use technological measures to prevent unauthorized copying. Section 1202 was added to the Copyright
Act, so owners could seek damages based on the removal or alteration of copyright management information,
broadly defined as information conveyed in connection
with copies of the work, including the name of the author
or copyright owner.
Recognizing that copyright in today’s world affects
users as well as creators, Register of Copyright Maria
Pallante delivered “The Next Great Copyright Act” speech
in March 2013, at Columbia Law School. She laid out her
vision of the copyright act of the future. Congress took up
her call, and the House Judiciary Committee held more
than 200 hearings over a two-year period. While no legislation has yet been enacted, the Copyright Office and
Congress have looked at several issues ripe for review, like
more autonomy from the Library of Congress, along with
its own budget and IT system.
Other issues include: orphan works legislation, the
creation of a specialized copyright small claims court, extended collective licensing schemes, and a look to see if
the notice-and-takedown regimen under the DMCA is in
need of an update. The Copyright Office has recently issued several Notices of Inquiries seeking input.
The Future
It’s unlikely the Copyright Act will be revised as extensively as it was in 1978, but there will be revisions to keep
the Copyright Office relevant for both creators and users
in the digital age. In the near future, picture professionals can even look forward to easily registering images
online using an app. We’re not too far away from being
able to find the owner of a copyright with a click of a
button, making for a streamlined, cost-effective system
to litigation. ●
CHAPTER CAPTURE
© MICHAEL MASTERSON
ASPP New York Chapter
2015 Holiday Party
and presentation
of the Picture Professional
of the Year Award to Michael
Masterson. L to R - Cecilia
de Querol, Mary Fran
Loftus, Sam Merrell,
Jessica Moon
© LINDSEY NICHOLSON
NEW YORK WEST/LA
© LYNN ESKENAZI
Lovely food presentation at the ASPP New York Chapter 2015 Holiday
Party and presentation of the Picture Professional of the Year Award.
CALLING ALL PICTURE PROS!
NEW YORK
PEER2PEER AND PICTURE PROFESSIONAL
OF THE YEAR
by Darrell Perry
that included
PhotoPlus Expo at the Javits Center and Visual
Connections, ASPP’s New York chapter held a spirited
discussion and information-sharing session at its regular
Peer2Peer at Jack Demsey’s Tavern on November 3rd. On November 12th, ASPP NY hosted a presentation
from member Michael Shulman. Shulman is Magnum
Photos’ director of publishing, broadcast and film, and
co-editor of the book Cuba 1959, by Magnum photographer Burt Glinn. Shulman showed images and told stories
about the book’s development. Glinn’s widow, Elena, was
also in attendance; she shared memories of her husband’s
archive, the family’s return to Cuba to meet with Castro,
and recalled the times Glinn and Castro spent together. As the year drew to a close, the New York Chapter
celebrated with a bang! On December 3rd, with great
AFTER A BUSY PHOTO INDUSTRY SEASON
54
thanks to our host and sponsor, ASPP NY held its annual
holiday party at Shutterstock’s comfy, modern offices in
the historic Empire State Building. Close to 75 attendees enjoyed wine and beer, generous portions of South
Asian–style finger food, and delicious cakes and cookies.
The main event of the evening was the awarding of
the PPOTY (Picture Professional of the Year), ASPP’s recognition of and appreciation to the one person who most
helped move the photo industry forward this year. ASPP
trustee Michael Masterson was honored in recognition
of his strong support, increasing ASPP’s stability. He has
also been its moral compass and institutional memory, so
we thank Michael for his continued service to the organization and the photography community.
The New York chapter is undergoing a changing of the
guard. Darrell Perry, president, is stepping down. Lindsey
Nicholson, active with YPA (Young Photographers
Alliance), and an active producer, editor, and photo researcher is stepping into that post. Congratulations,
Lindsey! Laurie Fink-Green, digital asset management
professional, remains New York’s vice president. COMMUNITY ADVOCACY
EDUCATION
If you create, edit, research, license,
distribute, manage or publish visual content,
ASPP is the place for you!
ASPP New York Chapter 2015 Holiday Party and presentation of the
Picture Professional of the Year Award to Michael Masterson. Nancy
Wolff and Michael Masterson
JOIN OR RENEW
TODAY!
www.aspp.com
American
Society of
Picture
Professionals
CHAPTER CAPTURE
© JOHN CAHOON
© CHRIS DINENNA
NEW YORK WEST/LA
Above, NHM Group: Chris DiNenna, Joe Goldstein, Fredericka
Goldstein, Helen Ashford, Lauranne Ray, April Wolfe, and Jeremy
Bird. Right, from L to R: Guest Fredericka Goldstein and NHM
Collection Managers Betty Uyeda and John Cahoon.
WEST/LA
LA NOW AND THEN:
THE SEAVER CENTER ARCHIVES
Chris DiNenna, Co-President Los Angeles
ON JANUARY 9TH THE WEST CHAPTER MEMBERS and friends
were treated to an in-depth review of the photo collections
at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County,
located in Exposition Park near USC. Within the museum
of historical artifacts and dinosaur bones is the Seaver
Center for Western History Research. Its main focus is
preserving the history of the trans-Mississippi American
West, with more than one million historic records, ranging from manuscripts, books, trade catalogs, pamphlets,
maps, posters, prints, and—our favorite—photographs.
Collection managers John Cahoon and Betty Uyeda
showed us their 270 photographic collections consisting
of more than 300,000 images documenting the historic
beginnings of photography, dating from the 1850s—including daguerreotypes, tintypes, stereoscopic views,
glass plate negatives, and good old prints. Early Southern
California scenes of a growing metropolis juxtaposed
with early Native American images documenting tribes
and life in the early 20th century gave a rich perspective on the multitudes of co-existing history. Other photographic images ranged from prints of the early avia56
Historical image
of Sunset Beach in
Malibu from 1905.
Courtesy of The
Natural History
Museum, Seaver
Center for Western
History Research
tors—the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia
Earhart—to those of the fledgling film industry. (Our
favorites were from the 1933 classic King Kong.) Another
amazing sneak peak into the film studio archives included
costume drawings of actors’ and actresses’ wardrobes,
including Carmen Miranda’s extravagant dress designs.
Rows of bookcases held images from every particular
town and village within Southern California, showcasing neighborhoods and locations void of freeways, urban
sprawl, and congestion. Other highlights within the
Seaver Center were the collection of photographs from
the 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles,
real estate promotions, tourism, and transportation.
At this time, only a small percentage of images have
been digitized and are available on their website (a quick
Google search for “Seaver Center archives” will bring you
there). You can also stop by; they’re open by appointment (213/763-3359) on Mondays and Thursdays, from
10am to 4pm. The material is available for research by
historians, filmmakers, students, photo buffs, and the
general public. ●
BOOKSHELF
Best new books on photography
Images courtesy
of Amherst Media.
IPHONEOGRAPHY PRO:
TECHNIQUES FOR
TAKING YOUR IPHONE
PHOTOGRAPHY
TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Robert Morrissey
Amherst Media
Paperback, 122 pages
$32.94
We are living in a brave new world
of photography in which Robert
Morrissey’s book iPhoneography Pro
is merely the tip of the iceberg. In a
thoroughly fascinating piece on 60
Minutes in December 2015, Charlie
Rose visited the Apple research labs
and discovered that the company
has a team of—are you ready?—no
less than 800 people dedicated just
to developing the next generations
of cameras to be included in your
phone. Make no mistake about it:
their goal is nothing less than to
make the DSLR as quaintly antiquated as a Nikon F.
iPhoneography Pro, while serving as a guide to the rank amateur
(including cursory advice on composition, posing, and lighting), also
opens up to the serious layman and
professional what may have previously been an unappreciated or simply unknown realm of gear, apps, and
techniques. (Morrissey himself is an
experienced commercial shooter of
stills and video for both corporate
and stock who now shoots some assignments on his smartphone.)
Did you know, for example, that
for just a couple of hundred bucks
you can get a cool little set of auxiliary lenses that will give your iPhone
macro, wide angle, telephoto, and
even fisheye capability? These aren’t
back-end-of-a-Coke-bottle lenses,
either; they’re made by renowned
G erman-optics manufac turer
Schneider. And this is just one tidbit
from Morrissey’s section on gear that
reveals the wide spectrum of gizmos
ASPP.COM
59
BOOKSHELF
that will convert your iPhone into
a serious, highly portable, picturetaking machine capable of handling
just about any situation.
Then there are the apps, of which
there are about a bazillion: many are
free, some cost just a few bucks, and
a few really powerful ones cost $1520 for the “pro” versions (note to the
author: please include pricing information with the app descriptions
when you put out a revised edition
in a couple of years). If you’re one
to ask, “Who needs Photoshop anyway?,” Morrissey will turn you on to
apps that do everything from dialing in exposure and white balance to
mimicking a pouch full of expensive
glass filters. Sure, some apps are really just about adding cheesy effects to
your images (hey, wow…rainbows!),
but by being selective, you can find
plug-ins that help you shoot long exposures, capture large image files,
and even add zoom and fisheye looks
without buying those supplemental
lenses I mentioned earlier.
There will always be a contingent
that refuse to take anything shot on
an iPhone “seriously,” but resistance
to change is nothing new. Perhaps
we’re best off keeping WWCBD in
mind: what would Cartier-Bresson
do? The man who famously sought
out “the decisive moment” said, “The
camera for us is a tool, not a pretty,
mechanical toy.” He was the furthest
thing from a gearhead and he loved
his little Leica only because it was, at
that time, the best means to the end
of expressing what he saw. With that
in mind, I wouldn’t be surprised to
see a revived Cartier-Bresson in 2016
coffeeing up at a Paris café while absorbed in Robert Morrissey’s iPhoneography Pro. — PAUL H. HENNING
60
Woman accused of
collaborating with the
Germans, Rennes, France,
1944 by Lee Miller © Lee Miller Archives,
England 2015.
All rights reserved.
www.leemiller.co.uk
LEE MILLER:
A WOMAN’S WAR
Hilary Roberts
Thames & Hudson
Hardcover, 224 pages
$55.00
From a young age, Lee Miller had infiltrated the sacred spaces of men—
either by accident of birth or by intention—especially photo studios
and war zones. This was positive and
negative.
Her father, Thomas Miller, began
photographing her as a baby, and continued using her as a model through
her young adult years when she was
often posed nude, drawing silent criticism from those who knew. Her son,
Antony Penrose, says that to this day
those early images of Miller, breasts
exposed to her father’s lens, draw a mix
of confusion and pity for the young
girl. And then, at the age of seven,
she was assaulted by a family friend—
punished for simply being female.
After she’d processed the incident as
an adult, it was as if there was nothing
left to lose. And so she began reimagining who she could be and what she
could do—traveling the world, taking
lovers if she felt like it, always looking
for what she called “the utopian combination of security and freedom.”
Miller hung with the surrealists,
posing for Man Ray before becoming both his lover and collaborator.
It was she who initially invented the
solarizing technique, finding a misdeveloped print and then experimenting with the process to perfect
it. Unfortunately, it is Man Ray who
gets the credit in the history books,
which also relegate Miller to the role
of “his assistant.” Later, when fashion
magazines bore the weight of informing women about the wartime world,
Miller stepped behind the camera permanently, photographing some of the
strangest editorial layouts by turning
rubble and debris from a Great Britain
bombing into an eerie fashion runway.
Her images were just as bold as she
was, seeming always to say, “Carry on.”
While her fashion and art images
may be more widely known, it is her
documentary war photography that is
in a class of its own, rivaling any Capa
in the canon. She focused almost solely
on the women’s effort in the war—from
the heroes of the Allied nations to the
losers of the Axis powers. In fact, the
images in this book so thoroughly document the women’s wartime life that it
seems an integral history text for anyone who wondered what 52 percent
of the population was doing while the
others planned their Great Escapes.
For instance, an image of a giddy
woman in an exaggerated pompadour and full skirt seems like nothing at first, until you discover that
this is the French woman’s particular
protest—through fashion and happiness—against the German occupation. Then we find that this protestthrough-lavishness was criticized by
women from other Allied nations,
particularly Great Britain, and built
resentment because the English had
been advised to be diminutive and
obedient in wartime.
Then there is the intimate portrait
of the Nazi woman, her head shaved,
her body marched soullessly through
the street, as others spat on her. The
image and story are revolting on two
levels—that this woman stood for our
definition of evil, and that our punishment of women is humiliatingly gendered. There’s never an easy answer in
Miller’s images, and perhaps this most
famous one is also the most conflicted.
Miller, scouring Germany just
after the war ended, had come upon
Hitler’s Munich apartment. It was unlocked. In a true Miller moment, she
invaded a man’s sacred space again,
wiping her dirty boots on his bath
mat, stripping to nothing for a bath,
and intricately placing Hitler’s portrait on the edge of the tub so that his
line of sight would have grazed her
naked body before resting on a nude
bust—one that Hitler surely would
have called obscene and promptly destroyed. In the photo, Miller is both
beautiful, like any model, but also with
a hardened edge to her face. Defiant.
Reading through Hilary Roberts’
and Antony Penrose’s introductions
and accompanying text, it’s difficult
not to be simultaneously angered,
impressed, and saddened by Miller’s
story. She was ahead of her time, yet
it’s painful to admit she may not have
been any better off had she been born
just twenty years ago. I found myself
so moved by her photographs and
story that my eyes watered. I wasn’t
sure why at first, until I realized how
much was missing from history without the story of women. I devoured
this book—both its thoroughly researched text and its aching, provocative images—and then called my
friends to tell them what I had read.
There is no complete history of the
war without the images and stories
of photographer Lee Miller.
Fire Masks, Downshire Hill, London,
England, 1941 by Lee Miller © Lee Miller
Archives, England 2015. All rights reserved.
www.leemiller.co.uk
— APRIL WOLFE
Lee Miller in Hitler’s bathtub, Hitler’s apartment, Munich, Germany, 1945
by Lee Miller with David E. Scherman. © Lee Miller Archives, England 2015.
All rights reserved. www.leemiller.co.uk
ASPP.COM
61
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CONTRIBUTORS / WRITING FOR THIS ISSUE
ISSUE 1/2016
Paul H. Henning was a professional location photographer for fifteen years. He co-founded and directed Third
Coast Stock Source, and was manager of European operations for Comstock Picture Agency in London. He’s served
as acting managing director at the Robert Harding Picture
Library and is the founder of Stock Answers, a consultancy
that works with stock picture agencies and photographers
worldwide. Paul also serves as the director of business development for Tetra Images, a New Jersey–based royaltyfree image production company.
John W. W. Zeiser is a critic, poet, and occasional coffee
roaster’s apprentice in Los Angeles. His earliest memory
of writing was a poor imitation of Blake’s “The Tyger” that
accompanied a finger painting assignment in elementary
school. You can follow him @jwwz.
Nancy E. Wolff is a partner at Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams
& Sheppard LLP in New York. She practices copyright,
trademark, and digital media law and offers full legal support to a wide range of clients. Ms. Wolff is the treasurer
of the Copyright Society of the United States of America,
a member of the Media Law Resource Center, chair of
the ABA Intellectual Property Law Section on Copyright
Legislation, and member of the Task Force on Piracy and
Copyright Reform.
The first time Josh Steichmann got paid for photography was when he turned a snack shack at a summer camp
into a 12’x12’ pinhole camera. Since then, he’s had a love
for alternative processes, creative risk taking, and mural
prints. Working as a writer, he’s covered everything from
Elvis festivals to US Code 2257, and plenty in between.
As a photographer, he’s shown across Michigan, and can
usually be found jumping Los Angeles fences with a homehacked Holga.
Sayzie Koldys profiled her first subject (Snoopy) at age
seven, for which she interviewed Charles Shultz, although
it’s unclear from his letters whether he knew he was being
interviewed. Sayzie is a writer, editor, and tall-ship sailor
whose work has appeared in the North American Review,
the Mid-American Review, the New England Review, the
Manifest-Station, and [wherever] magazine, among others. Her interests in food and all things ocean currently
intersect in the South Pacific. There’s more at opercula.net.
She tweets and posts to Instagram @SayzieJane.
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LIFE IN FOCUS
© JEREMY JACKSON
JEREMY JACKSON
I’D BEEN INTERESTED IN SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY for
a while. Having gone to an art high school and art college, I didn’t have many connections in the sports world,
so I joined a friend in a group training session led by an
assistant coach of the Cathedral High School football
team—the Phantoms. I planned to photograph the team
for a couple of days, but after seeing how great the photos
turned out, I kept going back to document them practicing, weight lifting, viewing tape, strategizing, and playing
throughout the season.
Theirs is a story of perseverance and heart. They
had setbacks, lost a few key players, but the team rallied to reach the semi-finals. It’s a relatively small
school and they don’t have the biggest players, but they
have tremendous discipline and an incomparable work
ethic. They’re a very tight-knit group, which I think is a
big part of their success on the field. I was amazed and
inspired by how much effort the team put into their
game preparation every single day.
This is the first sports story I have ever done and with
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it, I was fortunate to win Grand Prize in the recent PDN
Sports Photography competition. I’d photographed a
couple of basketball games before, but realized during
this project that I didn’t enjoy photographing games as
much as I did the players’ stories.
For this image, I’d set up a makeshift background
against a wall and called players over individually without trying to piss the coaches off too much (even though
I did get yelled at a couple times). I strove to make each
portrait a little different in some way. After photographing this player without his helmet, I remembered seeing
him wearing his helmet with a cool looking visor, so I
asked him to wear it while I took a close-up shot of his
face. I got lucky with the positioning and angle, because
his visor reflected the stadium and lights behind me without capturing my reflection. It ended up being one of my
favorite photos from the project.
You can see the rest of Jackson’s award-winning
series, as well as his spectacular dance images at

www.jeremyjacksonphoto.com. ●
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