Instagram (!) photo by Roger Kisby

This appears to be a big week for Yahoo! with their $1 billion Tumblr acquisition announcement followed by a number of changes to their Flickr service. Exciting stuff in the tech world. However, amid the Yahoo! hoopla, CEO Marissa Mayer managed to insult the entire professional photography community with her comments, being widely interpreted as “there’s no such thing as professional photographers” anymore.

Oops. Now, we’ve all been in a position where an off-the-cuff comment doesn’t come out as intended, fair enough. But this one continues to sit poorly with me. Here’s the actual quote, in context:

“…there’s no such thing as Flickr Pro, because today, with cameras as pervasive as they are, there is no such thing really as professional photographers, when there’s everything is professional photographers [sic]. Certainly there is varying levels of skills, but we didn’t want to have a Flickr Pro anymore, we wanted everyone to have professional quality photos, space, and sharing.”

OK, so we are all now “photographers” thanks to the fact that a camera is always with us. Sure, I buy that. I’ve taken more than a handful of good photos with help from my inexpensive DSLR and a few good lenses. And, I’m as guilty as everyone else when it comes to Instagramming my kids and my dinner (only the stuff I cook, mind you). We can all apply lovely filters and share our images via websites, social networks, contests, and even on any number of corporate “communities” where brands may showcase user generated photos. But let’s be very clear…NONE of these tools makes us anything close to “professional” and the role of the real professional photographer is very much alive and in demand.

I’ve had the good fortune of surrounding myself with professional photographers for several years. And from them, I’ve learned that there are more than a handful of traits that define a professional photographer. So, for Marissa Mayer and anyone else who may feel that there’s “no such thing” as a professional photographer anymore, I submit the following list.

13 Traits That Make a Photographer “Professional”

 A professional photographer…

1. Approaches a project in a manner that shows respect for both the subject and the client’s goal.
2. Works with a client to achieve that goal under specific budget constraints.
3. Delivers the end result, as agreed upon, on time and in a manner that shows the client’s most critical needs are understood.
4. Finds ways to make a client’s life easier from the beginning of a project to the end, including saving them time and making them look like a hero.
5. Is prepared to face any problem with a creative solution, from the most dire to the off-the-wall.
6. Takes criticism and adjusts (quickly) in order to get the job done.
7. Can completely pivot among all kinds of changing circumstances.
8. Presents, negotiates, agrees, executes, invoices, and follows up with consistency and personal pride.
9. Knows how to pitch and market oneself with accuracy so the promised service is what’s delivered.
10. Researches the subject of a story and contributes insights and vision that make the end result better.
11. Builds rapport with a subject in a way that gains unique access, makes them more comfortable, or exposes their personality.
12. Keeps one’s composure while dodging bombs, borders, and mobs, linebackers and foul balls, sharks, elephants, horses, and bees, roadies, divas, tornadoes, and brides and any other incoming threats or obstacles, and still gets the job done.

And to the final one (#13) I’ll add – there’s nobody I’ve met on this planet who can tell stories like a professional photographer can. Period.

Filters, “likes”, and terabytes of storage don’t make any of us any more “professional”. Being a professional is about how photographers conduct themselves while carrying out their projects and serving their clients. These are skills that are learned and honed, and those who excel at it deserve our respect.

Please don’t hesitate to add to this list, I’m sure I’ve missed more than a few.

UPDATE: As of this afternoon, Marissa Mayer has issued a clarification via Twitter. And, I continue to stand by items 1-13, above.

Eduardo is one of those distinguished visual storytellers who’s regularly asked to speak at events and workshops worldwide. That’s because he’s an inspiring educator who’s mastered his editing process – plus he’s very dedicated to helping fellow photographers enhance their own creativity.

Eduardo recently traveled to the Middle East, where he took 2,000+ images, and needed to bring that number down for an online gallery on his PhotoShelter website.

Some of his golden rules for both the online portfolio and physical books to show to clients are to get a second opinion, make friends with the “delete” key, and the 1% rule: only include 1% of all photos you took in your final story.

Check out the video recording of this hour-long webinar for more great tips on Lightroom rating and sequencing workflow, as well as quick tips on how to improve your image quality with the ColorChecker Passport, white balance, and custom camera profiles.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Follow Eduardo Angel on Twitter @EA_Photo and his blog.

You know who…Instagram by Sarah Jacobs

You might think that bearded, Carhartt-wearing, ironic dudes riding fixed geared bicycles in Brooklyn are obnoxious – but a different brand of 21st century hipster is helping make photography, er, awesomer. Let’s celebrate the nerdtastic dedication that possesses these photo hipsters.

1. The Impossible Project

This list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the group of individuals who thought it was unacceptable for Polaroid to stop making instant film. Instead, they bought the production equipment from Polaroid, and within two years, concocted their own formulation, thus making the impossible, possible. In the words of the founders, they “decided to take action against the death of Instant Photography.” Shooting Polaroid is like owning vinyl. In a world increasingly filled with the digital, there’s just no analog to analog.

Website: the-impossible-project.com

2. New 55 Project

Although The Impossible Project has succeeded in making film for the traditional SX70, Polaroid 600, and 8×10 view cameras, there’s a huge gaping hole for all the 4×5 owners. Not to fear, the New 55 Project was designed specifically to fill this niche (and help revitalize the Sinar F1 that is sitting in my living room). If there’s one thing hipsters like, it’s DIY projects, and New 55 founder Bob Crowley took this to heart in explaining why he created the project: “One day on Twitter I noticed that The Impossible Project said they were not going to focus on 4×5 materials, so I said that I would do it.” No biggie.

Website: new55project.blogspot.com

3. Instacube

Originally started as a Kickstarter project (hipster alert!), Instacube is an appliance that can display your Instagram feeds, which is so much better than those lame digital picture frames of year’s past. Do you really need one? Nope. That’s why we bought the two-pack.

Website: goinstacube.com

4. Instagram Halloween Costume

Hipsters don’t buy Halloween costumes, they make them. But not all handmade costumes are alike. My costume, for example, consisted of strips of construction paper glued to posterboard. Eric Micotto was inspired by a spat of iPad-related costumes, and decided that he would rig up his Nikon and iPad, print out an Instagram shell, and glue it to some cardboard he had lying around.

Website: petapixel.com/2012/10/26/a-instagram-camera-halloween-costume-that-actually-takes-pictures

5. Digital Tintypes

“I’ma take your grandpa’s style, I’ma take your grandpa’s style,
No for real – ask your grandpa – can I have his hand-me-downs?”

– Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Thriftshop

Yeah, you want an old school tintype because you’re a retro hipster who wears his grandpa’s style. But ack, those chemicals! Who needs the hassle or the fumes? Fortunately for you, Digital Tintypes allows you to upload any digital picture and order several sizes of tintypes. I would suggest a portrait of yourself with a thick beard and an Abe Lincoln top hat.

A black tintype made from a digital file

Website: digitaltintypes.com

6. Tiny Atlas Quarterly

Most photographers maintain a crappy old blog where they post some “personal” pictures and talk about their creative slump. And then there’s Emily Nathan, who travels around the world to exotic locales, often with a team of producers, make-up artists, and models. She has a lot of talented friends who do the same. So why not make a really cool blog that makes you wish you were her, and use it as a subtle marketing piece of your enormous talent, which will continue to make you wish you were her?

Website: tinyatlasquarterly.com

7. Lens Stool

Sculptor and Etsy proprietor Sandra Díaz decided that someone should have a stool that looks like a lens. It’s a one of a kind (duh) made in Andalusia, Spain, and undoubtedly the hipster who made it would love for another hipster to sit on it every day.

Website: www.etsy.com/listing/127895091/reflex-lens-stool-dsrl-paparazzi-stool

8. Photoville

Maybe you’ve been thinking about producing a civic art installation, and wondering exactly how you might accomplish that feat. In the olden days, you might request a grant, or petition the city council. But this is Brooklyn, so fuggedaboutit. Last summer, the folks at Photoville raised over $30,000 via Kickstarter to create a “photo destination” in Brooklyn Bridge Park composed of empty shipping containers and lots and lots of photography. Did ya miss it? Don’t worry, it’s coming back in September 2013.

Website: www.kickstarter.com/projects/upi/photoville-in-brooklyn-bridge-park-this-summer

9. Ona Bags

Black ballistic nylon is so passé. Hipsters prefer leather. Rich corinthian leather, or something like that. Ok, you might prefer your rolling suitcase, but you have to admit that these bags look pretty scrumptious. In the words of the founder, Tracy Foster, “In summer 2010, I launched ONA with a simple vision: to offer style-conscious photographers and photography enthusiasts camera bags and accessories that complement their life and style.” So you see, it’s less of a bag, and more of a lifestyle.

Website: onabags.com

10. Phoot Camp

No, that’s not a typo. That’s called cool. Phoot Camp is so cool, in fact, that you need to be invited to participate. No amount of money will get you into this exclusive retreat, well, unless you want to personally sponsor the thing.

Website: phootcamp.com

11. Self Publish, Be Happy

Even just the name “Self Publish, Be Happy” embodies the new-age hipster photographers’ attitude. The organization’s goal is simple: promote the work of self-published photographers. SPBH was founded by Bruno Ceschel in 2010, who prior to launch worked in traditional publishing. Bruno became frustrated by the long process of publishing a body a work, and seeing the work he loved get rejected simply because it was not “commercially viable”. He decided to take matters into his own hands, creating an online store front and advocate for the little guys publishing their work in zines, and books. SPBH now hosts events all over the world, including many at the Aperture Foundation.

Self Publish, Be Happy

12. Fourteen-Nineteen

Publishing house Fourteen-Nineteen was started by two young British photographers, Alex F. Webb and Lewis Chaplin. Alex and Lewis felt there was a place needed online for young image-makers who were still developing their talents, and carving their space within the fine-art and documentary world. Mainly, images of skateboarders, rowdy boys, and of course some blood. Inspired by friends and each other’s work, Fourteen-Nineteen became a popular online platform for  photography students to see what their fellow peers were creating. The project took off and soon the two were expanding the business, publishing books and stocking them at swanky shops such as Fourth and Main. Did we mention their recently published I Don’t Warna Grow Up by Sean Vegezzi made Time’s Best of 2012: The Photo Books We Loved? Check it out here.

Image by Theo Lloyd-Hughes

Website: home.fourteen-nineteen.com

13. Mossless Magazine

The success of Fourteen-Nineteen allowed the boys to sponsor other online platforms and zine producers such as Mossless – which was started by Romke Hoogwaerts while he was studying in New York City. Like those before him, Romke’s ultimate goal was print, but he knew like any young hip photographer should: he had to start online. He began producing his humble blog Mossless a little over 3 years ago which interviewed emerging photographers such as Bobby Doherty and David Brandon Geeting before the two had starting shooting for clients such as New York Magazine and Bloomberg Business Week.

Issue 2 of Mossless

Website: mosslessmagazine.com

14. Little Brown Mushroom

If you are unfamiliar with the work of Alec Soth, let’s just say it’s hipster-tastic. Alec is an enormously talented photographer who took a series of roads trips along the Mississippi River and produced a book of stunning portraits. But you know, hipsters or Alec’s ilk aren’t content to just take photos. So Alec founded his own publishing house called “Little Brown Mushroom” which takes an experimental approach in working with artists to produce new modes of story telling. How do we know that this is truly a hipster endeavor? Because Little Brown Mushroom books are featured in the new Warby Parker retail store in Soho.

Upstate by Alec Soth and Brad Zellar

Website: littlebrownmushroom.com

15. Indie Photo Book Library

As we’ve seen, self-publishing is a massive movement in the photography space that is helping to produce tremendous works of art. But did you ever contemplate the longevity of those pieces, and what will happen to this incredible canon of work? Worry no more because Larissa Leclair is collecting, exhibiting and archiving as many self-published photo books as she can out of her home in Washington, D.C.

Website: indiephotobooklibrary.org

16. JR

The ultimate hipster is a French street artist who started out tagging graffiti on the sides of buildings, and somehow wound up winning the 2011 TED prize while putting up massive photo installations in the favelas of Rio, the train tracks of Kenya, and most recently in Times Square. And lest you think JR is just some flash in the pan, take some time to listen to him speak, and find out why “authenticity” is the calling card of a true hipster, and why he has inspired so many people throughout the world with his brand of photography.

Inside Out New York City by JR

Website: jr-art.net

Do you have any hipster-esque projects to add?

Restoration by Bambi Nicklen

Operation Photo Rescue is an organization that provides aid for what insurance doesn’t cover: damaged photographs. Hundreds of volunteers from 76 countries worldwide and all 50 states in the U.S. work to restore prized pictures that have been damaged by severe weather and natural disasters.

How it works

Mostly operating in the virtual world through PhotoShelter’s Multi-User account, photo restorers worldwide are able to upload and share their restored images, and get the finished product back to their rightful owners in a timely and efficient way.

On their 2-3 copy runs per year in various locations across the U.S. (usually related to where terrible storms have occurred), Operation Photo Rescue (OPR) looks for a public space – library, university, local company, etc. – to assemble their volunteers. OPR sends out press releases calling for people to submit their damaged photos, as well as to attract local volunteers.

At the copy run, volunteers take photos of of the damaged photos – no scanning, to reduce dust particles – and upload these images to PhotoShelter. Then OPR retouching volunteers can begin selecting photos they’d like to work on.

“We let the volunteers make requests rather than assigning photos out,” says Victoria Walters, Volunteer Coordinator. ”That way each volunteer can choose which photos fall within his or her skill set.”

Restoration by Victoria Walters

Restoration by Shujen Chen

The volunteers continue to upload their work in progress so they can receive feedback along the way. Once the photo is fully restored, a distributor reviews it for quality and determines if it needs additional improvements or if it’s ready for printing. Once the photos are complete they’re uploaded to DigMyPics, which donates their printing services, and then they are mailed to the original owners.

Who’s involved

Margie Hayes, now the President of OPR, started out just wanting to help one woman she saw on the front page of her local Kansas newspaper the day after a flood. “This woman was in a wheelchair holding her completely ruined wedding pictures – her husband was deceased and she just looked so devastated,” says Margie. “Since I’d been taking graphic arts and Photoshop courses, I contacted the newspaper saying I wanted to offer her my services, but they couldn’t find her.”

In the meantime, Margie decided to brush up on her retouching skills. She was visiting Katrin Eismann’s website to purchase her book, “Photoshop Restoration and Retouching,” where she stumbled upon an ad for OPR and quickly found that there was a whole volunteer-based organization that shared her same desire to help others who had photos in need of saving.

Restoration by Jonas Wendorf

Restoration by Kathleen White

Restoration by Gregg Podnar

Among these like-minded individuals were Mike and Pat Sluder, a couple from Michigan (who also found out about OPR through  Katrin Eismann’s book). Like Margie, the two started out as hobbyists who just wanted to help. They had no idea how involved they would become down the line – Mike is now the Community Relations Director and Pat is the Volunteer Coordinator.

“Although it was my anticipation and hope that my involvement with OPR would have a positive impact in the lives others, I had no idea how profound that impact could be until I participated in my first of several copy runs,” says Pat. “I personally copied the photos brought in by a mother who told me they were the only photos she had of her son who died at the age of 14. We met families clutching photos that they felt sure were a lost cause, only to be moved to tears after hearing us tell them, ‘No problem, we can fix that.’”

Mike agrees: “Pat and I delivered the Canton, Ohio restored flood pictures and the look on face of that one person was priceless.”

Restoration by Shujen Chen

Restoration by Hannie Scheltema

OPR’s webmaster, Tess Cameron, operates all the way from Australia. Although she can contribute from afar and fulfill her responsibilities as webmaster effectively, there are still some things that the connections of the virtual world can’t provide.

“I think the biggest challenge for me is being in another country and unable to help on the ground. I admire OPR and the people that started it so much. Those that now manage it are such a wonderful example of what the World Wide Web can do,” says Tess. “I would love to one day be able to participate in a copy run.”

How you can volunteer

So no matter where you are, you can be a part of Operation Photo Rescue – the team of volunteers is growing every day and able to seamlessly work together in the virtual world. And while the Internet is immensely helpful in carrying out the organization’s operations, the general consensus is that nothing is more fulfilling than a good old-fashioned, in-person copy run.

Learn more about OPR and how you can get involved here.

Freelance photographer Melissa Golden raised an interesting observation about a particularly gruesome photo that was featured on The Atlantic’s InFocus column.

Photo by Charles Krupa/AP (Editor’s note: The above image is a crop of The Atlantic’s image. Warning: extremely graphic. Click to see the full, unblurred image.)

From her Facebook page, Melissa commented, “Number 8 in this gallery is horrifying, but I’m very concerned with the In Focus’ decision to blur the face. Since when do legitimate print journalism outfits modify photos like this? Run it or don’t, but don’t enact a double standard for Americans when we’re totally cool running unadulterated photos of bombing victims from foreign lands.”

Interestingly, the image was originally run without the pixelation, but The Atlantic decided to make adjust the image with the following statement: “Note: An earlier version of this gallery featured this photo with the graphic warning but without the image blurred. We have since decided to blur the subject’s face out of his respect for privacy.”

My initial reaction was in opposition to Melissa. I supported the blurring, but not necessarily because of the typical argument the family members hadn’t been notified yet. I reasoned that the flow of real-time information today is different from an editorial decision to publish an image of a dead soldier a week or even a day later. Just like the Super Bowl, I argued to myself that we needed the 10 second tape delay to be able to censor out objectionable content until we had time to consider its impact.

But upon further reflection, I realized that this is bunk.

Consider for a moment that just two weeks ago, Louisville basketball player Kevin Ware suffered a devastating leg injury which broke his bone and pierced his skin, sending blood onto the basketball floor. This scene was broadcast live, and then in slow-mo, and then over and over again on TV and the Internet. Consider the Pulitzer Prize Winning photography from Syria that featured maimed and murdered people. Consider the World Press Photo grand prize photo that featured two dead children. The cat is already out of the bag. We live in Internet time. We individually apply editorial decisions to every tweet, Facebook post, and Instagram that we create. There is no more waiting a week to gut check whether a photo is appropriate or not for publication. The bombing occurred in broad daylight at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Dozens, if not, hundreds of people saw this victim roll by them in the wheelchair. This isn’t a case of violence behind closed doors where release of the image would violate reasonable privacy or would jeopardize the prosecution of the case.

A free society can determine the standards by which they live by. I certainly believe that children should be shielded from horrific images and pornography. But a well-informed society shouldn’t have a double standard for “us” vs “them” or “sports” vs “news.” When it comes to newsworthy items, we should not allow ourselves to censor the flow of information. As Schneier opined in the aforementioned piece, “But we need to be vigilant not to weaken the very freedoms and liberties that make this country great, meanwhile, just because we’re scared.”

Let the news flow freely, gruesomely if necessary. And let’s refuse to have our eyes covered in the face of adversity.

We connected with some Hearts Apart photographers to learn more about why they got involved, what a typical shoot is like, and why even though it’s not always easy, at the end of the day it’s a service they’re proud to donate their time to.

Photo by Doug Howell/Hearts Apart

“As a country, we are calling for an ever increasing sacrifice from the men, women, and families that serve in our military,” says Doug Howell, who has been a Hearts Apart photographer since 2011. “I simply donate a few days a year to create portraits that help these family members stay better connected.”

But the task isn’t always that simple – shoots are often very emotional for the family, and the photographer. “Of course the worse case scenario is always in the back of your mind,” Doug says, “These might well be the last professionally created photos these families ever have.”

Photo by Doug Howell/Hearts Apart

As for the process, it’s not just a matter of getting the right angle or lighting. “These sessions take a good bit more time than the average family photo session, because the service member is required to have their BDUs as well as a dress uniform for photos,” says Doug. “I have come to learn that those uniforms take a quite a bit of time to make picture-perfect.”

But Doug enjoys hearing the stories behind the uniforms. “We play show and tell first, and I get to learn about different aspects of this particular uniform or ribbons and medals.”

Photos by Eric Adeleye/Hearts Apart

Eric Adeleye, another Hearts Apart photographer and veteran himself, heard about the organization through a co-worker and knew immediately how important these photos would be to service members.

“When I was on active duty, nothing like Hearts Apart existed. I’ve met many military families who say they have never been to a professional photographer before,” he says. “It means a lot to a service member to have a reminder of home when they are out in the field on deployments.”

But it’s not just about making those who are deployed feel good – the feeling is reciprocal. “Working as a photographer with Hearts Apart allows me to say thank you to the men and women who defend our country,” says Eric.

Photo by Eric Adeleye/Hearts Apart

After the photos are taken, Hearts Apart shares private galleries with the families through their PhotoShelter website. Families select their favorites to be printed on nearly indestructible vinyl that the service member can keep with them in combat, with the reassurance that the images will survive in extreme situations. The families back home get a CD of the images, and the photographers who shot them get a sense of pride and fulfillment from bringing these hearts apart together.

If you’re interested in finding out more about Hearts Apart and how to get involved, visit www.heartsapart.org.

Photo by John Hall

The biggest thing

“I had a flash website. It was just a portfolio, it didn’t have a blog, and it wasn’t giving me any SEO love. I knew I needed to completely redo my website architecture from the ground up,” Niall tells us. After performing a massive amount of research on the subject, Niall was sold on WordPress for its blogging capabilities, and Graph Paper Press, who builds designed themes for WordPress blogs, for the look and feel. But he knew he needed something more robust on the back-end — a platform that would allow him to archive all his work as he uploaded it, allow him access to these files whenever he might need them, provide him with a simpler image delivery system, and more. When Niall learned about PhotoShelter, and the fact that a PhotoShelter account/website could be seamlessly integrated with WordPress and Graph Paper Press, he knew he needed to look no further. “Just the fact that my PhotoShelter site mirrors and echos my Graph Paper Press design — I think that was the #1 selling point for me,” says Niall. “The ability to just have this really cool, custom, totally seamless website…that was the biggest thing.”

An individual image from Niall’s PhotoShelter archive on display on his integrated website.

The “Listed on Website” section of Niall’s Image Browser, which houses all of the collections he displays in the “Image Archive” area of his website (below).

Another major piece of the puzzle for Niall has been the SEO education PhotoShelter has provided him. A more learned and experienced SEOer these days, Niall attributes much of his success getting found online to PhotoShelter’s myriad of tools and guides on the subject. “PhotoShelter was with me from the ground up when I got serious about photography and my website, and I actually learned a lot about SEO through the advice I got from you guys,” Niall tells us. “I’m now super focused on SEO and proud to say — and this would not be possible without the WordPress architecture paired with PhotoShelter — that I bounce between page 1 and page 2 for the keywords I’m really going for right now in a Google search…such as music photography in San Francisco, or family photography in San Francisco, I’ve been #1. And I’ve been getting a lot more random organic inquiries from internet searches, sometimes through an image search. I actually just got an ad campaign with a major company because they found my music pictures online, through my PhotoShelter account first.” Niall makes sure to pay extra close attention to any field on the PhotoShelter back-end denoted with the little green “SEO” tag as these are the areas that can very directly affect one’s placement in Google searches — the “on-page factors” any photographer with a website should be keeping front of mind. “Honestly everyone I talk to is impressed with my knowledge of SEO,” says Niall. “I just tell them they should all be doing this!”

The green SEO tag displays next to any field on the back-end that may directly affect Niall’s SEO.

 

Brand consistency

While things like word of mouth, in-person visits, and consultations are still at the very top of the list for Niall’s business, he knows that without his blog, his design, and all of the tools and possibilities PhotoShelter has afforded him, he wouldn’t have been able to express his brand as consistently as he has over these past few years. “When I first started out I was just looking for a solution that displayed photos really well and was really good on the backend,” says Niall. “Now some of my biggest clients have found me on the internet, and that’s because I’m out there with this website. You guys helped me do that.”

– Senator Jon Kyl, April 8, 2011 on the Senate Floor

This is not a post about abortion or Planned Parenthood. This is a discussion about veracity and why it matters in photojournalism. In fact, about 3% of Planned Parenthood’s services are abortion-related. When Sen. Kyl was confronted with the facts, his office responded with “his remark was not intended to be a factual statement.”

The next two photos are the World Press Photo of the Year 2012. The top image is the submitted image that won, and the lower image is how it was first published.

I previously wrote that the top image looks like an illustration to me, and I called for transparency in the photojournalism awards process by suggesting that RAWs be submitted so that we had a baseline from which to judge the degree of transformation.

The typical argument for allowing such manipulation is that this is no different than what was done in the darkroom. But to me this is an irrelevant argument. We don’t use darkrooms, nor film anymore. The techniques we developed in the darkroom were specific to that medium, and the output devices of the time. The “hand of god” dodging technique was developed alongside low resolution, black and white newspaper presses. We now view images on Retina displays. We use Wacom tablets and Photoshop, which allows us to manipulate images in a more sophisticated fashion while doing it faster than ever. Filters and push button applications have given rise to “recipes” that allow us to cook images into the hyperreal.

(Stop with the Ansel Adams comments. We’re talking about photojournalism.)

I think Paul Hansen’s winning image is fantastic. I personally like the “original” better than the award winning image. But the more salient question is whether or not the original would have won. If the answer is “yes,” then why did the photographer feel the need to manipulate it for the awards? If the answer is “no,” then the judges need to examine what they are actually responding to in the image. The fact is that he felt that retoning the image was necessary and/or justified for the specific purpose of entering the contest. The image is on PEDs, and we forgot to set up drug testing.

But why does it matter? He didn’t move elements around in the photo, nor burn elements out of existence.

It matters because we are essentially saying as a society that reality isn’t real enough to garner our attention. The photo wasn’t intended as a factual statement.

This isn’t a mere case of photography evolving from black and white to color, and me responding as a Luddite. I know what the world looks like when I step out the door, and it doesn’t look like some of the news images I’m seeing nowadays. And I am arguing that this is having an insidious effect on how we perceive reality. We can argue to we’re blue in the face about whether the manipulation has crossed some arbitrary line of taste and/or ethics, but by looking at both images, we cannot argue that it has been manipulated. We need to ask ourselves why.

When my friend’s teenage daughter tells me she needs botox and she’s fat, she’s responding to a world filled with photos of women not intended as factual statements. When Jon Kyl makes up numbers to advance his position and that non-fact becomes a rallying cry, we are accepting that facts shouldn’t get in the way of governance. When an award-winning photojournalism photo has been toned to look like a movie poster, you are signaling to next year’s entrants that the bar has moved. Find the best retoucher you can, and heighten the drama as much as possible. We don’t care about factual statements. We care about visceral reaction and entertainment value. Make us feel something! Truth be damned.

News has an ethical obligation to be truthful. Not truthy. Not in the spirit of the truth. Don’t give me the old tired line about photography just being an interpretation of reality and “what about flash photography?” This photo is manipulated to the point of being an illustration, and I’m asking us to find the fortitude to pull it back. Create the guidelines that can inform a next generation of news photography that isn’t swayed by HDR and Photoshop – where the content, exposure and composition speak more about the efficacy of the photographer as a newsperson, rather than his/her ability to tone an image until we feel an emotion.

If photojournalists, their organizations, and their industry care about veracity, what is there to argue about when calling for the RAW when the truth is in question?

World Press Photo of the Year 2012. Photo by Paul Hansen.

The range of emotions expressed (anger, grief, despair), the position of the people and bodies, and proximity of the photographer to the subject make it an incredible moment in time. And because of these elements, this photo was deservedly named the World Press Photo of the Year.

It also looks like an illustration.

A number of faces look far too “bright” compared to what I think it should look like. It’s almost as if there was a huge fill flash set -1 1/2 stops under to give this perfect exposure. There is a high light source from camera right, but the front light is very diffuse compared to the contrast that one might expect.

Here’s another one:

Photo by Micha Albert

Micah Albert’s image won 1st place for Contemporary Issues – Singles. I am not a photojournalist, but I have traveled to a lot of places around the world, and I have never seen light this color given all the other environmental factors. To me, it looks like the white balance was deliberately moved to be “inaccurate” and some sort of warming filter was applied (“Earlybird” anyone?).

Photo by Wei Zheng

Wei Zheng took third place in Sport Action – Singles for this photo of a synchronized diver swimmer from the Olympics. The bokeh suggests a telephoto lens with a wide aperture, so the clarity of the water drops isn’t unusual. But the vignetting seems extremes, and the diver appears to be very dodged.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting that there has been any manipulation that falls outside of the rules of the contest, but when images cease to look real and to be overly retouched, we have a veracity problem. And if we subscribe to the common ethos of photojournalism (i.e. that we are trying not to deceive the viewer), then we have an increasingly enigmatic issue. This movie poster look reminds me of this article about Hollywood’s obsession with teal and orange. We have somehow come to believe that the images look better with copious amounts of Photoshop vs what is straight out of the camera.

These images are all the more startling when you compare them to winners from past years. For example, Jean-Marc Bouju’s winning photograph from 2003 doesn’t rely on any overt Photoshopping. It is an amazing photo because the context gives you everything you need to know to understand the story. Barbed wire, hooded prisoner, grasping his child in Guantanamo Bay An Najaf, Iraq.

Photo by Jean-Marc Bouju

We’ve been living with mainstream use of digital cameras in photojournalism for about 10 years, and photographers have had the same amount of time to hone their Photoshop skills. The enormous popularity of Instagram filters has not helped the veracity issue because now everyone can make an image look different and “cooler” than the original capture. But photojournalism has always been held to a different standard than other forms of photography, and I don’t believe the industry should change that stance.

So what can we do? I argue that high profile contests like World Press Photo should require that contestants submit their original, unretouched photos along side their final entries. That way judges (and public) have the opportunity to view the original image to see if it has been adulterated to the point of being an illustration. Granted, that is an arbitrary line, but we’ve been drifting into Photoshop world for a decade, and we’ve floated too far.

Sara Allen considers her brand in every business move she makes.

She and her team of fellow photographic artists make up onelove photography, a group of self-described Neo-Impressionists based out of California (mostly San Francisco and Los Angeles, to be exact). Together they’re shooting over 100 weddings per year, all the while maintaining a unique sense of style, distinct vision and brand, and high-end level of customization. With a gorgeous portfolio and stunning client work to showcase, it’s no wonder onelove works steadily all year long. But their secret to standing apart from the crowd? You guessed it. Sara signed up for PhotoShelter in 2006 and hasn’t looked back since.

Customization, Customization, Customization

“I want to be able to showcase myself uniquely. I don’t want a template,” Sara tells us. This is why she contracted a designer to build her a totally custom site from scratch — the site you see at www.onelove-photo.com. Her designers created a lovely look and feel for her to start with, but she needed more. Sara needed to be able to sell from the site. She needed to be able to update things on the back end without having to contract her designers again every single time she wanted to make a change. She needed all this, but most importantly, she needed to be able to fulfill this wish list while remaining 100% on-brand.

What Sara found in PhotoShelter was just that — a fully fleshed out and professional ecommerce platform including a built-in shopping cart and integrated print vendors, the ability to personally and dynamically update imagery directly on the site whenever and wherever she needed to, and a way to successfully make it work all within one single already-established design concept. “What’s so cool about PhotoShelter is I get to control what I need to control from inside, and I just love the fact that it’s so seamlessly integrated into my site — people can’t even tell!” And this ‘seamless integration’ is truly what hit home for Sara. She knew that PhotoShelter could supply her with the client galleries, portfolio display, and ecommerce platform she needed, but when she learned she could take all of those things and make them look exactly like her already existing, completely custom site, she was immediately sold. “When I found out about this level of customization, I thought it was just awesome, and I’ve been hooked on the service ever since then.”

Of course, transforming the website pages PhotoShelter provides to integrate with an existing design does take a little HTML/CSS elbow grease. To help customize PhotoShelter to match her site’s concept, Sara hired PhotoShelter Certified Consultant Steve Fox. As a Certified Consultant, Steve is not only a great designer, but is also very familiar with the customization process within PhotoShelter. To start, Sara expressed to Steve the need to showcase portfolio galleries on her site from different events, as well as for each member of her team. When Steve was finished, onelove’s clients were able to click the “Portfolio” option from the site’s main navigation, then click on a specific wedding/engagement shoot, and there they’d find the gallery as it exists in Sara’s PhotoShelter archive  – just completely rebranded to match the rest of the site.

On the left is a page from onelove’s personal site — the “Portfolios” page. On the right is a page from onelove’s PhotoShelter site — a gallery of images you will find after clicking into a portfolio.

A Little Bit of Marketing Makes it All Worth it

Once Sara got her PhotoShelter website customized and integrated, she was ready to start sending her clients there. Her favorite way to bring people to the site is via a marketing tactic she feels is worth the price of maintaining a PhotoShelter subscription alone. “When you go to a wedding with onelove, we leave a little postcard at the reception that has a photo of the couple on it, and on the back side it says ‘View our wedding photos online here’, and it has a link to the gallery and the password to the gallery,” she explains. “So we’re giving people a little card to take home, and the family and friends go crazy, because they really want to see pictures from the wedding!”

To achieve this, Sara creates the password protected gallery for the wedding ahead of time, leaving it empty, and naming it with the couple’s name and the date on which the images will be posted. Once she creates the gallery she will automatically have the direct link, so she can place that on the postcard. “It’s marketing,” says Sara. “It’s so awesome because all these people go to my website, and whether they buy or not, they have now been to my site. And if someone needs a wedding photographer, they’ll remember onelove. I have the ability to give people my name this way, and it’s visual, and they’re experiencing our brand.”

onelove’s listed password protected client galleries.

Uploading, Delivering, Selling

When Sara finishes a shoot, she uses Photo Mechanic, which has a plugin for PhotoShelter built right in, to load the images into her PhotoShelter Image Browser. Depending on whether or not she wants to upload the full sized high-res images, she’ll use Photo Mechanic to resize her files as she is uploading, which is a huge time saver and convenience for her. Because she almost always has the gallery created ahead of time for marketing purposes, she’ll upload directly there, and price for both print and personal-use download sales.

Onelove’s clients receive a CD containing images from the big day as part of the package deal, but family and friends of the bride and groom look to the website to get the prints they desire. Sara is set up to fulfill print orders via EZ Prints, one of PhotoShelter’s four integrated print partners. As far as pricing is concerned, Sara keeps what she feels to be the real value of her work at the forefront of her decision making process. “I price my imagery with the concept of spending a little bit more for something you value in mind. I want someone to see our photos as art, something beautiful.”

Copyright onelove photography

Image delivery is a large part of the game for onelove, as well. Vendors often come to Sara looking for photos of food, flowers, etc., and she needs to be able to just let them take what they want, for free, without too much work on her part. If it’s one quick image and the vendor tells her exactly what they want, Sara will use PhotoShelter’s Quick Send tool to handle the job. With Quick Send, Sara can very easily fire off an email to the vendor straight from her Image Browser containing a link to the individual image download.

A look at PhotoShelter’s Quick Send tool from onelove’s perspective.

Providing vendors with 100% off coupons is another trick Sara’s got up her sleeve. Because she doesn’t want them to have to pay but the work is already priced for client sale, coupons are a great way for her to allow the vendors to “check out” without actually having to fork up the cash. It also serves the purpose of letting the vendors choose select images from a gallery of hundreds without them actually having to tell her which ones they need ahead of time.

The Heart and Soul of her Success

“Point blank, if I wasn’t able to customize to this extent with PhotoShelter, I don’t think onelove would be where it is today,” says Sara. “We’ve worked hard to cultivate and maintain our brand as Neo-Impressionists, and we’ve been able to carry that through with PhotoShelter 100%. We’re able to show our very best face by having the ability to change our galleries out all the time, so we can always change things up to showcase our newest, latest stuff, and that just adds to our uniqueness. And the way that I can have the ecommerce integrated on top of that within the unique design — it’s kind of the best combination, it’s like a perfect storm.”

Experiencing PhotoShelter as she has, Sara makes a point to recommend the service to fellow photographers as often as she can. She feels that even for those who don’t already have a hand in the branding pot, the ability to so smoothly sell online is reason enough for her to spread the word. “I recommend PhotoShelter all the time! The #1 thing I tell people is that the ecommerce aspect is so great. I explain that you can integrate with PayPal, and you can pick from a ton of different third party printers. You guys have a bunch of choices, which is really helpful for a photographer.”

After all is said and done, Sara rests easy at the end of a long day because she knows she has chosen the right tools to set herself up for success. Distinguishing from her peers in the sea of wedding photographers out there is a must, and PhotoShelter has helped take and keep onelove’s online branding where Sara needs it to be. “PhotoShelter really has helped my business to succeed,” Sara tell us. “As any photographer knows, marketing and branding is the heart and soul of your success, so just the fact that I’m able to remain distinct as a photographer makes all the difference in the world.”