A special New Year’s edition!
January 1, 2024
NEWS – It’s all local
What happened in the industry this month?
#ONPA MATTERS
It’s all about us.
1/ 2024 ONPA Board of Trustee voting has closed and ballot results are in. All Board of Trustee positions were uncontested; congratulations are in order to Kim, Andrew, Sam, Lisa, and Kristen. We look forward to the New Year – and with it, a renowned sense of purpose in serving the needs of students, professionals, and life members alike.
#OTHER INDUSTRY MATTERS
Where to begin? Where to end?
1/ The visuals team at the Columbus Dispatch has set up their new studio after yet another move.
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2/ On AI:
- NYT – Opinion: A.I. Is the Future of Photography. Does That Mean Photography Is Dead?
“Aside from very real concerns about the livelihoods of professional photographers, especially those who work in commercial photography, I worry that A.I. image generators may leave society as a whole more vulnerable to widespread manipulation — as presaged by hoax A.I. images of Donald Trump violently resisting arrest or, somewhat more comically, of Pope Francis wearing a Balenciaga-inspired coat.”Mark Loundy hits the nail on the head with a poignant and chilling comment over in the Photojournalists Cooperative FB group:
“Nothing is going to stop passionate artists from using the media of their choice. But photography as an empirical “truth” is under mortal threat of being overwhelmed by a tsunami of photorealistic AI output. There will be so many AI images that viewers will default to the assumption that nothing that they see is real.A tiny flicker of light are efforts such as the Content Authenticity Initiative to authenticate imagery.”
- SF Chronicle – What Sports Illustrated’s AI Scandal Says about the Future of Journalism
3/ Sylvart Studios, Barberton (Summit Co.) – Local Akron-based photographer Tom Scott posted a nice picture from the studio’s 80th anniversary celebration – making it one of the longest mom ‘n pop studios still in operation, somehow avoiding being gobbled up by corporate behemoths such as Lifetouch.
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4/ PetaPixel – Ski Resort Owner Sues Over ‘Influencers’ Taking Photos on Slopes
#PEOPLE
Movement, Highlights & More
1/ Liz Dufour is celebrating her 40th year working for Gannett — she’s currently a staffer at the Cincinnati Enquirer! Check out her year in photos:
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2/ Kassi (Jackson) Filkins has really hit the ground running upon the recent launch of Akron’s newest nonprofit news organization, SignalAkron. In a newsletter that hit my inbox Wednesday, Dec. 27, written by Susan Kirkman-Zake, there was a feature photo from her that I just love.
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3/ MaryAnne Golon, director of photography at the Washington Post (2012-2023) is retiring.
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#RESOURCES and #INSPIRATIONS
Helpful things and eye-catchers
1/ Happy holidays! Here’s a wonderful frame 1971 of Edith, made by Emmet Gowin.
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2/ Sagely advice as we begin another year.
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3/ Walt Stricklin posted a fun origin story from 50 years ago on how he got started – you can click his name to navigate to the Facebook post.
“After showing my portfolio, the only thing the Chief Photographer wanted to know was whether I had processed and printed my own pictures.”
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4/ Taylor&Francis Online – Doctored photographs create false memories of spectacular childhood events. a replication of Wade et al. (2002) with a Scandinavian twist
h/t to Melissa Lyttle for posting about this over on X.
I’ve read the paper multiple times now, and it’s absolutely fascinating – especially in the wake of our current hand-wringing and groveling over all things related to the AI movement. Take some time with the paper, if that’s your thing – it’s long and scholarly.
“Can exposure to a doctored photograph of a plausible yet fictitious childhood event create false memories in adults? Twenty years ago, (Wade, K. A., Garry, M., Don Read, J., & Lindsay, D. S. (2002). A picture is worth a thousand lies: Using false photographs to create false childhood memories. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9(3), 597–603) found that half of the participants reported false beliefs or memories after multiple interview sessions about a doctored photograph of themselves as children on a fictitious hot air balloon ride. In this replication, which rigorously recreated the method and procedure of Wade et al. (2002), participants were interviewed over three interview sessions using free recall and imagery techniques about three true and one fictitious childhood event photos.”
5/ It’s that time of year again: the annual list of 2023 Year in Pictures. Note: some are paywalled. If I missed anyone locally, please forward those links, and I’ll update this edition of the newsletter.
A couple of POY’23 fronts that I’ve seen from Ohio.
Local (Ohio)
- Albert Cesar, The Enquirer
- Liz Dufour, The Enquirer
- Andrew Dolph, The Times-Reporter
- Kareem Elgazzar, The Enquirer
- Sam Greene, The Enquirer
- John Kuntz, Cleveland.com
- Cara Owsley, The Enquirer
- David Petkiewicz, Cleveland.com
- Carter Skaggs, intern at The Enquirer
- A year in photos: Beacon Journal photographers share their favorite shots from 2023
- Central Ohio high school sports: Columbus Dispatch photos of the year for 2023
- Toledo Blade: Blade pictures of the year
Nation/World, in no particular order
- NYT
- USAT
- WaPo
- Time
- AP
- Reuters
- EPA
- ABC
- CNN
- The Guardian
- The Guardian Australia
- The Atlantic
- NatGeo – printed newsstand services ceased this year
- New Scientist – the best photos of the natural world; new to me, h/t to Scott Brauer
- WomenPhotograph
- SFChronicle
- Chicago Tribune
- From Amateur Photographer, The AP Team, core AP Contributors and Picture Editors share their favorite photographs of 2023
- The Press Democrat
6/ A feature clipping of Kim Barth’s made it’s way onto local New Philadelphia legend Sam Hitchcock’s FB feed. The photo, depicting one of Sam’s daughters, was made 40 years ago from Kim’s time on staff at the Times-Reporter.
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7/ San Francisco Standard – The Years-Long Photo Odyssey of a Man, a Bridge, and Countless Strangers
“It’s like I’ve crossed paths with millions of people, whether I’ve taken their photo or not,” Ricker told The Standard. “And I’m probably in the background of, like, a million tourists’ photos.”
8/ Leica Gallery Los Angeles – Romeo Okwara, Through my lens: he’s an American football player currently with the New York Giants, and an accomplished photographer.
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9/ The Art Newspaper – How a man from Ohio became one of Argentina’s greatest 20th-century photographers (click/copy link to a browser to view – clicking on a mobile device prompts their app download)
Born in Sandusky, Ohio, in 1868, Olds studied tintype-making early on at Willard A. Bishop’s photography studio there and opened his own shop in the area with another photographer when he was still in his 20s. But by the time he was 30, the economy was weak, their business was struggling and he felt the locals did not appreciate his “innovative ideas in photographic art”. He sold his share in the studio and, at the urging of an uncle in Buenos Aires, decided to take a job at a photography studio in Chile.
10/ Folks, the bar has been raised for pictures of coaches being drenched by celebratory players! Meg is a staffer at the San Diego Union-Tribune. I just love this picture. Way to go Meg!
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11/ Super useful information regarding changes in finances come 2024, in this article: How Saving for Retirement is Changing in 2024. h/t for Todd Bigelow for sharing via the Business of Photography Workshop, over on X.
12/ Happy New Year!
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