The Photo Feed 07.17.07

Shoot Football, Advertise Canon (Wall Street Journal)
Next time you shoot a pro football game, don’t stress about getting dressed. The NFL has your clothes all picked out for you. A new league rule requires photogs to wear red vests with Canon and Reebok logos. Canon is an official league sponsor, and Reebok is owned by Adidas, which makes league merchandise. Other sports leagues are imposing even harsher restrictions on photogs. Nascar, for instance, has begun asking photogs to sign agreements granting Nascar full ownership over any pix they shoot.

Scripps Pulls The Plug On Two Papers (Editor & Publisher)
The Cincinnati Post and The Kentucky Post will publish their last issues on December 31. Scripps decided to cease publication after Gannett Co., which owns the Cincinnati Enquirer, decided not to have the Enquirer continue handling the Scripps papers’ business operations. Scripps does not employ business or production staffs and decided it would be too expensive to continue publishing the papers on its own.

Photog Martin Hallam Wins Big (ePhotoZine)
Most of us would be perfectly happy with just one award from the British Institute of Professional Photography. But Hallam has raised the bar. The Stockport, UK-based photog has won 17 awards in the BIPP’s northwest regional categories, including the region’s commercial photog of the year.

MORE BELOW: A look at the breakdown of news orgs that have lost journos in Iraq ... Dow Jones and Murdoch reach a tentative deal ... Photog Alec Soth gets fashionable ... Give Manhattan a piece of your mind ... Are Mexican drug gangs looking to kill U.S. journos? ... A photog stumbles upon a Catch-22 ... Why newspaper pix are getting bigger ... British photog gets swept away by a tide while on the job ...ABC airs exclusive pix from Iraq ... UK leaders play musical chairs ... Photog has Little League parents up in arms ...

The Battle Of Who Can Lose The Most (IraqSlogger)
It’s no secret that the war in Iraq has been deadly for journos. When you look at IraqSlogger’s breakdown of news orgs that have lost journos in the war, it’s Iraqi media that have taken by far the largest hit.

Dow Jones And Murdoch Agree To Tentative Agreement (Editor & Publisher)
No rumors about it. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. has reached a tentative agreement to purchase Wall Street Journal parent company Dow Jones for $5 billion. The full DJ board will vote on the deal tonight, but the biggest obstacle will come on Thursday when the majority-owning Bancroft family meet to discuss the matter. According to DJ Chief Exec Richard F. Zannino, the family’s position is still “too close to call.”

Photog Alec Soth Gets Fashionable (Cool Hunting)
Magnum has tapped the busy photog to produce its third annual glossy Fashion Magazine. This one’s called Paris Minnesota, a peculiar combination, for sure, but that’s the point, says the Minnesota native. By combining pix of big name fashion figures shot in Paris with photos of teens in Minnesota, Soth hopes to “explore the distance between those two places.”

Give Manhattan A Piece Of Your Photog Mind (New York Times)
If you’re upset about the possibility of having to get a permit and show insurance to shoot in the Big Apple, you have a little longer to give the city your two cents. The city had originally planned to stop receiving comments on June 27, but has now extended the deadline to August 3.

Are Mexican Drug Gangs Looking To Kill U.S. Journos? (Editor & Publisher)
As if photojournos needed another thing to worry about, American authorities have told at least two Texas newspapers about rumors that drug trafficking gangs along the U.S.-Mexico border have their eyes on U.S. journos and are out for blood. But, if the threats that have been received are any indication, the only journos at risk are those reporting on the drug trade and anything else that might affect the gangs.

A Photog's Catch-22 (Washington Post)
Keith McCammon learned the hard way that he can't photograph the exterior of 3701 N. Fairfax in Arlington, VA. When he tried to shoot what he later learned was a Department of Defense building, he had to reckon with authorities, who made him delete the pix. His predicament raises a Catch-22 for photogs: You can't shoot federal buildings, but the government also won't tell you which more buildings are government property. (We're not talking about, say, the White House or the Pentagon here.)

Getting The Big Picture (Salt Lake Tribune)
That’s what members of a women’s study group were asking. The women, all Salt Lake Tribune readers, find the big pix and big headlines in their paper annoying. But there’s a good reason for making things bigger. As the paper’s design editor Colin Smith explains, “Large photos and headlines help convey the seriousness of the situation and viscerally connect readers to the event … as newspapers play a role as only one medium in an increasingly crowded landscape, we have to make sure that we're doing all we can to get occasional readers' attention. Sometimes, if you're in a crowded room, you have to talk a little louder to be heard.”

Risky Business (BBC)
A British photog is thanking his lucky lifeboats these days. He was swept up by a tide while shooting boats near the entrance of the Mersey Channel. He was able to call the Royal National Life Boat Institute, who picked him up and returned him to shore.

ABC News Airs Exclusive Pix From Iraq (National Press Photographers Association)
The pix, as well as some video, were shot by British photog Sean Smith, who works for the Guardian. Smith was embedded with the U.S. Army in Baghdad when he shot the collection of pix and video, which he has aptly titled “A Violent, ‘Normal’ Day in Baghdad.”

UK Leaders Play Musical Chairs (Advertiser)
Things can get messy when you try and shoot a pic of several politicians, but they can get downright sticky when you’re working with UK leaders. So when photogs tried to shoot Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and heads of the UK devolved administration during the British Irish Council meeting in Belfast, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond was unhappy about being stuck standing in the back. Thanks to some quick Edinburgh- Belfast communication, everyone ended up standing—and Salmond got a front row spot. And we wonder why politicians accomplish so little …

Photog Has Little League Parents Up In Arms (KETV Omaha)
Gerald Wurgler would be wise to watch his back these days. The photog shot the pix for a Little League soccer team in Omaha, but has never delivered the shots to the kids’ parents. Police reports are piling up, and Wurgler’s creditors are trying to repossess his property weeks after his office closed. Even Wurgler’s friends and family have gotten involved, telling him to deliver the pix. He doesn't seem to be listening.