Worst PlayStation Ad? Worst Ad EVER?

The user comments on AdsoftheWorld are not generally filled with kindness. But reaction to the new PlayStation 3 ad (from TBWA\Wien and photographed by Gerhard Merzeder) is unusually severe:

"This is most likely the worst piece of advertising ever made."

"A masterpiece of awful advertising."

"Thumb penis garbage."

"SHITAD."

Here is where I'm supposed to link to the ad, but I should probably flag this as not-safe-for-work (although you work in photography, so your work is probably cool with pretty much anything). Ready? Here you go.

(Related post on Gawker.)

The Photo Feed 05.13.08

Did The Dove Ads Get A Facelift? (Slate / PDNPulse)
On Friday, we told you about the were-they-or-weren’t-they-airbrushed controversy over some ads from Dove’s “Real Women” campaign: A New Yorker profile of photo retoucher extraordinaire Pascal Dangin suggested they were; Annie Leibovitz, Dangin and Dove manufacturer Unilever insisted they weren’t. With both sides standing by their stories, we may not ever know the truth and, unfortunately, says Slate’s Jacob Leibenluft, looking at the images themselves won’t give us many clues.

Seattle Times Cuts 19 Newsroom Jobs (Seattle Times)
Last week was a dreary one in Seattle, where The Seattle Times Company cut 125 employees, including 19 in the newsroom. All of the newsroom cuts came in the form of buyouts. (73 of the non-newsroom staff were laid off, another 51 accepted buyouts; one left voluntarily.) It’s unclear if any photographers were affected.

Seriously, People: Mariah Carey Cashes In On Wedding Pix (Gawker)
People has beaten OK! to yet another set of exclusive photos. This time OK! lost out on pix of Mariah Carey’s surprise wedding to Nick Cannon. According to Gawker, the magazine paid “around $2 million (if not more)” for the photos. This seems pretty high, though. This is Mariah Carey, not Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, so it’s tough to imagine that consumers are itching to pick up a copy and see those exclusive Mariah wedding pix.

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How Newsweek Covered The Burma Cyclone

Reporting from Burma, where a cyclone caused severe destruction and loss of life earlier this month, has to be challenging. Some journalists are working anonymously, to keep from being expelled or otherwise threatened by the country's backwards dictatorship. Related BBC story.

The current issue of Newsweek includes a photo package from Burma, and editor Daniel Klaidman editor gives his photo staff a shout-out in this week's editors note:

"Great reporting requires talent, instinct—native or honed through experience—and serendipity. That's equally true of the best photojournalism. When a tropical cyclone devastated Burma on May 2, we saw all those qualities on display here at NEWSWEEK. The early reports were sketchy, but Simon Barnett, our director of photography, sensed they were ominously bad. He also knew that getting images out of a repressive dictatorship like Burma's would be a challenge. 'We realized that this disaster, unfolding in a poor, remote country, devoid of technology, would be the domain of the professional photojournalist—if any happened to be in the country at the time,' Simon recalls. His international photo editors, James Wellford in New York and Bija Bociek in London, reached out to their network of photographers and found several who had made it into Burma. The results, obtained rapidly and under extreme circumstances, are the wrenching images by photojournalists Will Baxter and Ayalung Thaksin that we publish, along with an essay by Melinda Liu, in this week's magazine. Simon, a bighearted Welshman, believes passionately in the power of news photography. 'We commit these resources for the simple reason that if we as a public don't see these tragedies, we care less about them. The power of still images can change things, and I hope they do.' A noble sentiment backed up by hard work."

I haven't seen the photos yet. They're not on the Newsweek Web site (or they're hidden somewhere I can't find them). So I wait for the Post Office to bring me this week's issue.

Photo Op '08: Non-Stop Barack

We now return to the Barack Obama press honeymoon. The news media apologize for the brief interruption.

* With Hillary losing to simple math, Barack rocks back on the covers of Time, Newsweek and The Economist this week. Time tapped Aurora photographer Callie Shell, Newsweek has Charles Ommanney, and The Economist runs a photo by... who the heck knows, they never run credits. (Orphan work alert!)

* Obama also beams from the June issue of Esquire, which landed on the PDN news desk this morning. Something about this cover struck a familiar note, and not just because we see a lot of Platon photos around here. Oh, here's why. It looks just like the December 10, 2007 cover of Time:

Congrats to Platon for scoring two major, major covers with the same shoot (his archive is syndicated by CPI). We wonder how the Esquire editors failed to get an exclusive Obama portrait for their cover. Awesome type treatment notwithstanding, are they honestly satisfied making the same visual statement Time made six months ago?

The Photo Feed 05.12.08

Photojournalist Killed In The Line Of Fire In India (IBN Live)
Photojournalist Ashok Sodhi was lifting his camera to take a photo when he was killed by an oncoming bullet on Sunday. Sodhi had been trying to photograph a house at which alleged terrorists were shooting at security forces. Police had warned against running ahead, but 45-year-old Sodhi insisted on getting pictures for the Daily Excelsior. “I want to shoot my pictures on my own,” the photographer had said shortly before dying, according to one of his colleagues.

Lancome’s Ugly Situation (Women’s Wear Daily, 1st item)
Now that her stalker has been convicted, Uma Thurman has moved on to other legal matters. On Friday, the actress filed a $15 million federal lawsuit against Lancôme for using her image in advertisements after her contract with the company ended in 2004. Lancôme, meanwhile, has filed its own lawsuit, saying it didn’t violate its contract with Thurman and doesn’t owe her money. “The use of Ms. Thurman’s image after her contract expired, however minor, was neither deliberate nor intentional,” said a spokeswoman for L'Oréal.

Isaiah Washington Claims Grey’s Anatomy Misused His Photo (Hollywood Reporter)
Grey’s Anatomy alum Isaiah Washington believes his former show used his photograph without permission. The actor has filed a complaint with the Screen Actors Guild and ABC, claiming that he never consented to the use of his photograph in a fictional newspaper article about his former character in the show’s May 9 episode. Washington’s attorney, Peter Nelson, says, “They have the rights of the character to advance the story, but not the image.”

MORE BELOW: The year the stock market crashed? ... Tim Hetherington weighs in on the role of violent images ... Former ASMP president sets NYT straight ... How to set yourself apart ... 1,800 people grin and bare it all for Spencer Tunick ...

APA Responds to PDN's Orphan Works Story

Below is a response from Advertising Photographers of America (APA) national CEO Constance Evans to PDN's May 8 story about Orphan Works.

Here's a link to the original story: Photo Advocates Divided Over Orphan Works.

Additionally, the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) attorney Mickey Osterreicher recommends this story for a more nuanced view of that organization's opinion.

More responses welcome... Leave a comment at the end of this post or e-mail dlang@pdnonline.com.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Jupitermedia?

Another quarter, another ho-hum financial report from Jupitermedia. The company lost money and its stock price is down.

Why do we care? Because Jupiter does most of its business in stock imagery, and it will be the only major publicly traded photo agency after Getty Images goes private later this year. Jupiter's financials are one snapshot of how well the photo industry is doing overall.

This morning CEO Alan Meckler took questions from investment analysts. As he does every quarter, he tried to assure them better days are ahead. The company's RF subscription services are doing well. Same with microstock site StockXpert. Meckler has high hopes for the upcoming Jupiter Digital "superstore," which will license a variety of media products. Meckler said the site has a launch date of September 1. (This time last year, he predicted it would launch in early 2008.)

Fine, but what else is in the stars for Jupiter?

Below I've typed up a revealing a question-and-answer exchange from today's Jupiter earnings call. I've highlighted the most interesting parts. It sounds like Jupiter and its investors would love to see the company sold to Corbis, the number two stock photo brand after Getty. It may be a long shot. Getty and Jupiter were in merger talks last year, but Getty walked away. Also check out Meckler's explanation for why Jupiter hasn't been acquiring image libraries. It sure weakens the case that somebody would want to acquire Jupiter's image collections.

The Photo Feed 05.09.08

Just How “Real” Was Dove’s “Real Beauty” Campaign? (AdAge / PDNPulse / New Yorker / Portfolio)
Annie Leibovitz just can’t get a break from controversy. Coming on the heels of last week’s Miley Cyrus gaffe, a New Yorker profile quoted Pascal Dangin as saying that he extensively retouched photos that Leibovitz shot for Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty, which celebrated women of all shapes and sizes. “Do you know how much retouching was on that?” the renowned photo retoucher asked writer Lauren Collins. “[I]t was great to do, a challenge, to keep everyone’s skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive.” Dove manufacturer Unilever, Leibovitz and even Dangin are now saying the quote is misleading. In a joint statement released today, Dangin explained that the New Yorker profile “incorrectly implies that I retouched the images in connection with the [2005] Dove 'real women' ad. I only worked on the [2007 Dove Pro-Age] campaign taken by Annie Leibovitz and was directed only to remove dust and do color correction—both the integrity of the photographs and the women's natural beauty were maintained." You can read the full statement here.

For One Photo Spread, Less Retouching Is More (Women’s Wear Daily)
More isn’t staying mum about the facelift it will get with its October redesign, and it’s not staying silent on the prevalence of real life plastic surgery either. The magazine’s June issue illustrates a story on women’s tendency not to fess up to having plastic surgery with an unretouched photo—and a provocative caption. “Highlights to cover gray by Rita Hazan ... strong arms from working out every morning, Botox (yes!) and collagen by Dr. Pat Wexler,” the caption reads.

Ken Starr: Paparazzi Prosecutor? (L.A. Times)
Ken Starr may be best known for investigating President Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, but he may soon have a different reputation around southern California. Officials in Malibu are looking to Starr to find a way for the city to crack down on the swarms of paparazzi. The city’s mayor, Pamela Conley Ulich, has called on Starr, who is currently the dean of Pepperdine Law School, to gather media and legal experts to draft an ordinance prohibiting paparazzi from convening outside of schools and other areas. The ordinance may also tax the paparazzi.

MORE BELOW: An interview with the creative director of Colors ... Photog Naoki Honjo talks about shooting little houses ...

Report from the Griffin Museum Focus Awards

PDN Custom Media editor Jill Waterman is in Massachusetts for the Griffin Museum of Photography Focus Awards and brings us this report:

The presenters of the Griffin Museum of Photography's third annual Focus Awards were as memorable as the recipients, making for a festive evening before a standing-room only crowd Thursday. The Focus Awards recognize photo industry professionals instrumental in boosting the awareness of photography among the general public. Interspersed with insightful video segments about each recipient, Master of Ceremonies Brian Clamp introduced presenters for awards in four categories.

News photographer Rick Friedman presented the Spotlight Award to Nikon Corporation citing that, with the D3 camera, Nikon really listened to what photographers wanted, with amazing⎯or in Boston slang⎯"wicked good" results.

The sexiest Internet executive (according to People Magazine), cyber guru Omar Wasow, awarded the Rising Star honor to innovative New York gallerist Jen Bekman, noting that with her latest online exhibition 20 x 200 Bekman has shipped more than 11,000 prints, to make this exhibit "the gateway drug to the artworld".

Tom and Ray Magliozzi, better known as Click and Clack from the NPR radio show Car Talk, gave Boston-based photographer, author and educator Henry Horenstein the New England Beacon award, joking that they had only met Horenstein 25 minutes earlier. In actuality the three have been friends, as well as poker rivals, since their college years.

Acclaimed actress Anna Maria Horsford presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to curator, author, educator, historian and photographer Deborah Willis, stating one important correction: Willis's award is really just for halftime life achievement.

Award recipients and presenters at the Griffin Museum Focus Awards. Photo by Mike Ritter, www.ritterbin.com.

 

Getting Paid to Switch from DSLR to Medium-Format Digital

In our review in this month's PDN of the Leaf AFi 7, we opined for a bit on the pros and cons of digital SLRs vs. medium format digital cameras. Though we generally liked the AFi 7, the heart-stopping $35,000 price tag likely puts this 33MP, 6x6-format camera out of the reach of many photographers.

But what if someone were willing to pay you to make the switch? What if they were willing to pay you a lot of money -- nearly $10,000 to be more precise which would help offset the high cost of the Leaf. Well, that's what London-based digital sales and rental house Peartree is offering to photographers, £5,000 (or approximately $9,700 in USD), or £3,000 if you're interested in the 22MP Leaf AFi 5, according to PhotographyBLOG.

The only catch? You have to hand over your beloved Nikon, Canon or Kodak (does anyone still use one of these?) DSLR and two lenses to Peartree for the AFi 7. Yes, that caveat might change things for some photographers.

But if you really want to make the jump to medium-format digital and you're willing to part with your DSLR workhorse, the offer is only available for a limited time so you better move fast.

The Photo Feed 05.08.08

Reuters Photog Detained In Zimbabwe (Washington Post)
For the last three days, Reuters photog Howard Burditt has been detained in his native Zimbabwe for allegedly using a satellite phone to transmit photographs. Reuters Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger has called on Zimbabwean authorities to release Burditt immediately, but officials say it is illegal to use unregistered satellite phones. Burditt was arrested while covering the tense aftermath of the country’s elections.

New York Times Cuts Several Newsroom Jobs (New York Post)
In April, The New York Times warned that it would lay off some of its journalists if too few accepted buyouts, and now the deed is done. The paper would not specify the number of layoffs or which staffers lost their jobs. (The New York Post reports that 15 people lost their jobs, but their subsequent quote about “relatively small numbers” getting laid off from Executive Editor Bill Keller makes this number questionable.) According to insiders, staffers at the business and national desks were spared while the metro desk took a hard hit.

NPPA Voices Opposition To Orphan Works (NPPA / PDNPulse)
The National Press Photographers Association has joined the Advertising Photographers of America and the Stock Artists Alliance in opposing the latest Orphan Works legislation. On Wednesday, the NPPA sent a letter opposing the bill to Congressman Howard L. Berman, who chairs the House Committee on the Judiciary. As NPPA president Tony Overman explained in the letter, “We recognize well the difficulties of managing rights for historical images. We believe a carefully and narrowly tailored expansion of the fair use exception to the Copyright Act would address the legitimate concerns of librarians, historians and educators.” He added, “There is no reasonable argument to authorize infringements for commercial use or of previously unpublished works; and certainly no reason at all to extend that authorization to newly created works.”

MORE BELOW: Business Week names new DoP ... Security guard assaults photog at concert ... Bill Eppridge recalls shooting RFK ... Photog Jamel Shabazz goes on display in the Bronx ...

Kodak's First Digital Camera -- We've Come a Long Way, Baby

LOL, this is too funny. Retro Thing has pix and a write-up on Kodak's first digital camera from 1975. Built by Kodak researcher Steven Sasson, it's amazing this raggle-taggle device worked at all. Using a lens from a Kodak Super 8 camera and a then Jetsons-like space-age CCD image sensor, the camera took 23 seconds to record a fuzzy 100-line B&W image to a cassette tape. (Yes, that's a cassette tape stuck to the side of it!)

Here's what Sasson had to say about his innovation: "On the side of our portable contraption, we shoehorned in a portable digital cassette instrumentation recorder. Add to that 16 nickel cadmium batteries, a highly temperamental new type of CCD imaging area array, an a/d converter implementation stolen from a digital voltmeter application, several dozen digital and analog circuits all wired together on approximately half a dozen circuit boards, and you have our interpretation of what a portable all electronic still camera might look like."

Try fitting that in your camera bag!

From Retro Thing via DVice. 

The Photo Feed 05.07.08

National Geographic Nabs Some Webbies (Folio / PDN / A Photo Editor)
National Geographic has been having a very good May. After winning three Ellies last week—including one for photojournalism and another for General Excellence—National Geographic has picked up four Webby Awards for its Web site. In addition to taking home the Webby for best magazine site of the year, the site was recognized for best use of photography for its Your Shot feature. Also: Rob Haggart is glad that magazine awards are finally being handed out for photography, but he’d still like some recognition for photo editors.

A Flickr Of Promise? (USA Today)
With stocks plunging after Microsoft pulled the plug on negotiations to purchase their company, Yahoo executives have had little reason to be optimistic lately. But here’s one: Flickr has grown by 56 percent in the last year, making it the most popular photo-sharing site. Photobucket may still dominate photo-sharing sites when it comes to market shares, but Flickr is bringing in the most visitors—44.4 million in March 2008, compared to 28.4 million in March 2007.

Put On A Happy Face (L.A. Times)
If you want to know what the Clintons are really thinking following Hillary’s narrow victory in Indiana, just look at the pictures. But don’t bother looking at Hillary Clinton’s attempted smile. Instead, says L.A. Times blogger Andrew Malcolm, look at the faces of Bill and Chelsea, which Hillary’s communications team would have been wise to keep out of the photos.

MORE BELOW: Lexington Herald-Leader seeks buyouts ... Playboy: Bible Park USA's wrecking ball? ... J.K. Rowling wins photo privacy appeal ... Photo Milton Gendel finally gets a U.S. exhibit ... British Library acquires photog Fay Godwin's letters and photos ... Steven Meisel shoots Eva Mendes for CK ...

Orphan Works Webcast, Updates

Update: New PDNOnline story May 8: Photo Advocates Divided Over Orphan Works

****

It's a big week for orphan works, a copyright reform proposal designed to make creative works whose copyright holders cannot be located available for use. The first orphan works bill, introduced 2006, died in committee. Last month, two bills were introduced in Congress in an effort to try again. Artists groups are deeply divided over the latest proposals. Here are some links and updates:

- This afternoon at 2 ET, a congressional subcommittee plans to mark up H.R. 5889, the House version of the orphan works amendment. You can watch the meeting online via The House Committee on the Judiciary. (Correction: It doesn't look like they're going to webcast this meeting after all.)

- Webcast: Several artists groups held a forum on orphan works last night at the Society of Illustrators in New York. You can watch it online here.

- Advertising Photographers of America and the Stock Artists Alliance have come out against the bill. Opponents say the law would be a violation of artists rights and have many negative unintended consequences. The Illustrators Partnership also opposes the bill and has a site for people to contact their congressperson.

- The American Society of Media Photographers supports the House version of the bill, essentially saying this law is destined to pass anyway and the current version contains the best concessions artists are likely to get. The Graphic Artists Guild is "taking a neutral position" on the latest bills.

- One of the interest groups that has supported orphan works reform in the past, the American Library Association, is supporting the Senate bill but not the House bill.

- We are waiting for other groups to weigh in. At first glance, the bills' most powerful supporters are technology companies and book publishers.

- Check the text and status of the bills here: S2913, HR5889.

- Previously on PDNOnline: Orphan Works Bill Would Establish Database Of Photo Copyrights

Watch PDNOnline more orphan works news later this week.

Hearing on NYC Law to License Wedding Photogs

Apologies for the short notice on this one. The New York City Council is holding a hearing this morning at 10 a.m. about a proposed local law that would license and regulate wedding photographers.

Details about the hearing and the law are here.

More at Photo Attorney.

Texas Monthly

Two things to note about the May issue of Texas Monthly; first off Platon really delivers with this lovely portrait of Willie Nelson. It seems the picture is so good that the designers couldn't bring themselves to place any text at all on the cover. Why should they? This photo says it all. Another example of minimal beauty exists inside with the feature photography for the story 'Remains of the Day' shot by Jeff Wilson. The assignment was to photograph the Texas State Cemetery and the monuments are lit and photographed like portraits. Wilson has given stones and patches of grass some distinct personality which is no easy feat. Bravo.

Texas Monthly
Photography Editor: Leslie Baldwin
Art Director: TJ Tucker

The Photo Feed 05.06.08

Getty Images Shuffles Its Executives (PDN)
Getty Images is undergoing an executive shakeup as the company prepares to go private in its sale to Hellman & Friedman. The company’s senior vice president of sales, Bo Olofsson, will resign once the merger is completed, and his job will be split into three regional positions, to be held by Jeff Beyle, Michael Teaster and Lee Martin. Nicholas Evans-Lombe, the Executive Vice President of imagery, products and services, will be promoted to executive VP and COO. CEO Jonathan Klein will stay put in New York for another year after relocating from Seattle last September.

Will The Web Set Newspapers Free? (Reuters via Yahoo!)
Newspaper editors aren’t ready to give up on their industry just yet. According to a survey of editors conducted by Zogby International, most editors believe the newspaper industry can sustain itself—if it embraces the digital era. For about 56 percent of respondents, the industry’s future will include making the majority of news—print or Web-based—free. That’s compared to 48 percent who believed free content was the wave of the future when surveyed a year ago.

Adobe Offers Free Newspaper Video E-Seminar (Genesis Project)
If you’re a photojournalist who has been slow to get on the video bandwagon, you may want to clear your calendar for tomorrow, Wednesday, May 7. From 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Pacific (2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern), Adobe’s Dennis Radeke will be offering an introductory seminar on creating and distributing video for newspapers. The free seminar will take place online. You can sign up here.

MORE BELOW: How National Geographic won the National Magazine Award for photojournalism ... Pascal Dangin: the photo retoucher who makes fashion photogs great ... How photography gave HIV/AIDS carriers a voice ... Getting more business out of your business card ... Two days in the life of a paparazzi subject ...

AP on Your iPhone

Now here's an idea that doesn't make us completely depressed about the future of the news industry -- get the AP on your iPhone.  Yes, sure this sounds a bit gimmicky and kind of redundant considering that you can already get any sort of news you want on a smart phone by just turning on its web browser, but there's something attractive about having a wire service that's specially tailored to fit the iPhone. It sounds sort of...Apple-like, right?

The service, called the Mobile News Network, was launched back in April and now has 107 participating newspapers including The Miami Herald, San Francisco Chronicle, and St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Ok, no New York Times or Washington Post yet but give it time to catch on. Back when it was announced less than a month ago there were only 18 participating papers. Word is that the country's two largest newspaper companies -- Gannett Co. and Tribune Co -- are still deciding on whether to jump on board.

No word yet on how photography will be featured in the service but given that the iPhone has one of the best screens we've seen on a smart phone for displaying photos, expect images to play a prominent role. It might not be long before digital cameras will have an "iPhone-friendly" file format alongside alongside JPEG and RAW.

Things should really get interesting if and when there's a 3G iPhone. Along with text and photos, we'd love to see AP's mobile service tackle streaming live video feeds of news events directly to a 3G iPhone. Now wouldn't that be something?

The Photo Feed 05.05.08

Million Dollar Babies (New York Times / PDNPulse)
Maybe you wouldn’t pay a few million for those exclusive first pix of J.Lo’s twins. But magazine execs say they’re willing to shell out some serious dough for celebrity baby photos so that their titles are “known as the place to go for those pictures” and to keep competitors from nabbing them. “The consumer’s expectation is if the photos are going to be available, I’m going to see them in People,” Paul Caine, People’s publisher, told The New York Times. “If we don’t get them, we miss that brand promise, we lose the halo that goes with that.” Still, says OK! editor Sarah Ivens, shelling out thousands—or millions—for celebrity photos can be a gamble, so magazine executives must trust their guts.

J-Schools’ Flashes From The Past (ClickZ / Digital Journalist / min / Contra Costa Times via Romenesko)
In newsrooms, “do or die” is the mantra when it comes to multimedia. But as Vin Crosbie has discovered while teaching multimedia at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, most journalism professors continue to cling to the past when teaching students the tricks of the trade. Even if they did focus more on multimedia, though, there’d be no guarantees for students entering the newspaper industry today. The Colorado Springs Gazette invested a lot of money to train photojournalist David Bitton to shoot video, and yet, for all of his training and enthusiasm, Bitton was laid off, along with 25 percent of the Gazette’s newsroom staff. “Layoffs can hit anyone in this industry and at any time,” Bitton writes in the latest issue of the Digital Journalist. Also: At least one journalist is hoping that MTV’s reality show The Paper will make newspapers hip again. Also: Even if newspapers are struggling, George Janson, the managing partner and director of print for mediaedge:cia, isn’t buying doomsday predictions about magazines.

Do Photo Retouchers Know When To Say ‘When’? (Newsweek / Huffington Post)
Here’s the least surprising news of the week: from brides to men’s and women’s magazines, everyone is retouching photos. And while this may be the norm, Newsweek’s Jessica Bennett thinks it’s a dangerous one for young women who aspire to imitate the models they see in magazines. Also: While Bennett argues that retouching has predates the digital era, artist Kimberly Brooks thinks that photography has undergone a sex change during the last decade, thanks to Photoshop. Whereas “The rather masculine act of capturing or ‘shooting’ a moment (‘the hunt’) with a sound subject and composition has evolved into one where the real art comes in the editing, not the capturing,” she writes. “The photographer, like a woman putting on make up at her vanity before going out for the evening, edits reality: the best features and colors are enhanced and sharpened, and a new, hyper-realistic art form, with a nod to surrealism of last century, is born. Not that Brooks thinks all photo manipulation is bad. She recently interviewed photog Tom Chambers about his “Prom Dress” series, in which he “practices his craft in Photoshop to a haunting hyper-realistic extreme that warrants close attention,” says Brooks.

MORE BELOW: Picturing photography's future? ... How does your salary compare? ...

New York Photo Festival Schedule Posted

New: Check out the schedule of events for the New York Photo Festival, taking place May 14 to 18 in Brooklyn. There are talks by artists scheduled almost nonstop for four days, so there will be something to see whenever you stop by. Highlights include the Aperture Presents discussions between 5 and 6 each afternoon, as well as the New York Photo Awards ceremony scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday May 16.

PDNOnline will be providing coverage throughout the festival. (Related story.)