Writing Here:

duckrabbit
David White
Ciara
John Macpherson
Peter
Sara Trula
Carl Pendle
Joni Karanka
Mike Lusmore
Julian Lass

What they say about duckrabbit:

'One of the hazards of publishing a well-known photojournalism blog - getting multimedia like yours, where the photos are both powerful and moving, and I end up in tears at my desk.'

Alan Taylor, Boston Big Picture)

'David White's multimedia work with duckrabbit is very exciting.'

Kate Edwards (Guardian Magazine Picture Editor)

'I am a fan of duckrabbit. I am not a fan because I agree with everything Ben has to say, but because he says it without frills and then will spend the time necessary to engage the consequent discussions. Such commitment is a priceless commodity.'

Prison Photography

'I met one of them at an academic conference in the summer. He was the sanest person there, but sure enough by damn gadnabbit ruffled more than a few fluffed up peacock feathers.'

The Photography Pages

'If you haven't seen the duckrabbit blog on multimedia you should.'

Stephen Alvarez

'duckrabbit has done another jaw-dropping job with Condition Critical, a highly commendable and important project for Medecins Sans Frontiers.'

The Travel Photographer

24 Hour Photo People

AKA Flickr, Facebook, and other sharing sites.

Social media has been such a buzz term in photography in recent years, and part of that buzz has been around how artists are using the internet to appropriate or repurpose images and data for their creative efforts.

And now FOAM have dipped a toe into this [...]

The Revolution Will Not Be Twitterised?

This is a great article on why digital talent doesn’t want to work for some companies.

I think the post hits upon some really interesting points, points that hold true beyond the simple issue of digital talent working for companies and reaches as far as saying something about why there’s a lack of innovation [...]

Getty Grants For A Good Laugh

close today.

Last year they awarded the major grant to Stefano De Luigi for a project title T.I.A, ‘This Is Africa’. If you get to the end of this (extended) post you’ll be able to read what a group of Kenyan photographers think of the judges choice but for those who don’t stay the [...]

Competition: Please fill in the missing word

Has Steve McCurry proved himself to be a godlike *******, Nachtwey style? According to the ever brilliant APHOTOEDITOR

Old schooler McCurry goes for the craigslist classified ad seeking an intern who is “highly motivated” with a “proven track record of excellence.” This intern must be proficient in “retouching in Photoshop” and [...]

Tonight I’m going to let you into one of photojournalism’s dirty little secrets

The Democratic Republic of Congo is the most colourful place I’ve ever visited. The women even smile.

Madam Agata teaches a group of women in their last month of pregnancy to knit (c) Yasuyoshi Chiba/duckrabbit/MSF

Infact it’s the Muzungus (white people) who were the most drab, including this dodgy looking geezer:

 

Faking it – how to win a World Press Award but get banned from a wildlife comp for life

During the judging of the recent World Press Awards one thing you can trust is that, on the whole, the judges will pick great pictures. With a hundred thousand or so to chomp through they’d have to be visually illiterate to do anything else. But can you trust that the work they pick [...]

OUCH: Maggie Steber accuses duckrabbit of conducting a hysterical witchunt. Am I?

There’s no question that Maggie Steber is a top, top photographer. She’s hugely respected for all the right reasons and her voice carries weight.  Tonight she’s written that duckrabbit’s (Benjamin Chesterton’s) questions regarding  Jodi Bieber’s World Press winning photograph are ‘hysterical’ and amount to a ‘witchunt’.  That’s quite a dressing down that deserves some [...]

‘Finally! … Our Truth’

Got a cool email this morning. Samira Hack, who was a prominent voice in the Open Eye documentary and photofilm I made with Joseph Rodriguez got in contact with Joseph with these words:

‘All that I can say is, Finally! I am very pleased with the results [...]

Photojournalism and ‘What is the point of ‘exclusivity’ these days?’

Like many, I have been glued to my computer watching the epic events in Egypt unfold. Images coming in from all over, different views every day, a plethora of images.

Visually I have a great handle on things thanks to the amazing power of the tintertwizzle.

I noticed Time shouting that they had an [...]

When is a photograph a lie?

It’s hard to argue with a photographer when they point to a photo of their own that they once loved but now think is a ‘lie’.

Simon Sticker has done just that in an interesting post about a photo he took in Rwanda.

In photography he says, referring to his own pictures, a [...]

This is just lovely

Wish more people made gentle films like this.  And wish more people understood this is a convinceing way to engage people about climate change.

Thanks @finnryan for sharing

Fly Fishing | Climate Wisconsin from ECB on Vimeo.

Pretty pictures but journalism my arse

Ciara Leeming summed it up beautifully on the BBC recently when she said the problem with many ‘photojournalists’ is that they have little understanding of journalism.

Dominic Nahr’s set of pics in TIME is a great example. Why?  Where is the coherency and where is the story?

To be fair to Dominic he’s run [...]

Morel Won The Case

Remember this discussion: Leroy vs Morel?

Word came out the day before yesterday that Morel won the case, check out the analysis here..

Good news for creatives!

Happy new year everybody!!

(EDITOR’S NOTE)

Morel has not won the case. AFP/GETTY have lost  the legal argument that he cannot sue them. That said duckrabbit expects [...]

‘A call to arms to emerging photojournalists’, MOG on Foto8

Mog wishes to issue a call to arms to emerging photojournalists. Be aware, we are on the brink of a social and cultural revolution that in all likelihood will make Thatcherism seem mild and innocuous by comparison. Too many young photographers based in the UK seem obsessed with looking abroad for stories and [...]

Joerg Colberg to curate Visa Pour L’image

Everybody knows (and behind his back everybody says) that one of the problems with the Visa, Festival of Shanty Towns, is that it only has one curator, and as time ticks on more and more people are turning blue trying to squeeze into the narrowness of that curator’s mind. (that may sound a bit [...]

More On The Future

Some interesting thoughts by Claudia Hinterseer of NOOR Images in this BJP article:

“The present is (roughly) making stories on spec and selling pics for publication in print, online and so on, the future is in initiating projects, multimedia, grants and foundations. To survive you have to do both for a period of time.”

[...]

JF Leroy, ‘I am listening’

Some of you will have been following the debate about why JF Leroy (Director of the Visa Pour L’Image Festival) has gone to such lengths to give the Haitian photographer Daniel Morel a kicking for uploading 15 of his pictures to Twitpic on the night of the Haitian earthquake.

I recommend that you read the posts [...]

The tweet said: Archive of audio & video interviews with 40 plus white photographers & one person of color

duckrabbit followed it thinking that can’t be true, right?

PERSPECTIVE ON THIS (from the comment section):

Iamnotasuperstarphotographer:

“Good to see better gender representation though…

I am very happy to see that the glass ceiling is being put under pressure for the benefit of women. Any progress is good progress and I hope to [...]

Dear Mr Leroy (an open letter)

Thank you for your  response to my post yesterday critisizing the way way certain photo agencies seem content to abuse the rights of indvidual photographers. I am sorry that we misunderstood you. Might that have something to do with upholding a logic that many people find is at odds with your self stated remit [...]

JF Leroy responds ‘My position here is that of an insurance company.’

Yesterday duckrabbit published a post criticizing the photo industry for selling a set of pictures of the aftermath of the Haitian Earthquake but refusing to compensate the photographer because he had shared them on a twitpic.  Much of my criticism was aimed at JF Leroy, the Director of Visa Pour L’Image (a photojournalism festival).  You can [...]