Saturday, March 24, 2012

Fans of Helmut Newton...

photo by Helmut Newton ©, taken from www.lalettredelaphotographie.com

I don't shoot on the same plane of existence that Helmut Newton shot, and I never will. It takes a certain something that only comes along once in a million years to capture women, fashion, sexuality, privilege and angst the way Helmut captured it. In other words, we'll probably never see another photographer record life the way he did. His work is so identifiable and so unique in its expression.
Countless art and fashion photographers try to copy him, but he can't be copied. Check out some of Helmut Newton's work, along with an interview, here:


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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Another Convention Photographed...

One of the main things you'll shoot during a convention is what's taking place on the floor. There are dozens of things to focus on, but one key subject is tight interaction between the different booths and the convention attendees. Look for people discussing products, testing samples, giving talks and listening to details.

These won't be wide shots. You want to come in tight enough that the people interacting become a clear focal point. You still need a little background information to help "set" the shot, but it shouldn't compete for attention with the people.

At some point, you'll still need to get those wide shots that show an entire aisle or several booths in a row. You'll still need some product shots, signs, banners and sponsor shots. You'll still need to shoot VIP's, grip and grins, etc... all those photos will be discussed another day. For this post, let's just look at samples of the "interaction" shot.







Tuesday, March 20, 2012

I've Been Robbed!!!

*** UPDATE ***
I received payment for the use of this image, which goes to show that Perry's staff is willing to correct their mistake. Good on them! I'm glad to see them wanting to fix things without much fuss. Who said all politicians were corrupt? And, now the original post...

I posted a nice little image of Rick Perry last year. You can see it here:


The image is available through Splash News, a photo wire service or syndicator. If you want to use it, that's the only place you can get copyright permission, except for directly through me. Today, I saw this on Rick Perry's official facebook page:



I'm waiting to hear back from my editors at Splash, just to make sure a sale of this image didn't go through... maybe it slipped through the cracks or hasn't been added to the sales log yet? However, the sales tracking system doesn't currently show anything, so I am currently under the impression that Perry's people did not legally obtain this image.

If Splash doesn't show it's been sold, and I know that I have never been contacted directly about it, this could be a problem. A simple cease and desist letter won't cut it, as the image has already been picked up by other websites and is being used all over the web with no clue that it was my work. Here is one lampooning the governor:



Hopefully, this issue can be resolved. I'd hate to find out the head of our state would let someone's copyright be trampled upon. Hopefully, he recognizes the importance of protecting our rights to work and benefit from that work, without it being stolen from us. Hopefully, a phone call or letter and an invoice will be all that's needed to clear this up.

Of course, copyright infringement happens all the time, and this should be relatively easy to clear up. I don't hold anything against the governor personally. I'm guessing it was one of his PR people that used the image without permission.

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News Photographer Arrested...

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Texas Groundwater Video and Photos...



I recently travelled to Lubbock, TX and its surrounding cities to shoot some video and stills for an interesting story on water conversation in the Texas Panhandle. The story ran in the Texas edition of the New York Times today, along with more photos and video on the Texas Tribune Website and on Youtube.


If you don't receive the NY Times, but you enjoyed this story and want to learn more about Texas, be sure to check out the Texas Tribune online by clicking here. And, if you liked my photos and video, be sure to visit my website at www.janikphoto.com by clicking here.

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