The Photo Feed 04.30.08

PDN Editor Weighs In On Miley Cyrus Pix (Baltimore Sun / Huffington Post / New York Times / Women’s Wear Daily, 1st item / L.A. Times / Slate / PDNPulse)
There’s been lots of finger-pointing since Annie Leibovitz’s back-baring photos of Miley Cyrus began making headlines earlier this week. Star editor Bonnie Fuller blames the pix on Miley’s parents. Dad Billy Ray Cyrus says he never would have approved had he stayed for the entire shoot. Disney blames Vanity Fair. Vanity Fair fashion and style director Michael Roberts blames the uproar on what he calls “the whole kiddie porn prurient angle” … and the list goes on. But as PDN’s editor Holly Stuart Hughes explained to the Baltimore Sun’s Glenn McNatt, blame can’t be lodged at a single individual or party. After all, says Hughes, in big celebrity portrait shoots like this one, “[T]he celebrity is a complete participant in the production, and the publicist is there every step of the way.” Also: The Los Angeles Times takes a look back of some of Leibovitz’s other controversial magazine covers. Also: Disney gives Daniel Brook an unreassuring response when he questions the company about a racy child advertisement that appeared in China.

Vanity Fair To Get A Web Makeover (Women’s Wear Daily, 2nd item / Digital Spy / PDNPulse)
Vanity Fair is planning to revamp its Web site to make it what editor Graydon Carter calls “a fun, funny, spunkier version of the magazine.” Among other things, the new and improved VanityFair.com will feature more photos of socialites clad in fancy clothes. The magazine might want to consider getting some extra bandwidth, too. The current site apparently crashed earlier this week when hundreds of people tried to check out Annie Leibovitz’s photos of 15-year-old Miley Cyrus.

Orange County Register Lays Off Dozens (FishbowlLA)
Things aren’t so sunny at the Orange County Register right now. The paper has laid off between 80 and 90 staffers. Although managers tried to protect “basic reporting and editing staff and targeted high salary employees,” according to editor Ken Brusic, at least four newsroom staffers were laid off, including photographer Daniel Anderson.

MORE BELOW: Who's threatening your income? ... AP exhibits "The American President" ... Tim Flach talks about his Equus project ... New York Times captures some "well-placed appendages" ...

Who’s Threatening Your Income? (British Journal of Photography)
If the prices of your pix are falling, iStockphoto executive VP Kelly Thompson doesn’t want you to blame microstock. “It’s not the micro-stock agencies that changed [the stock photo market],” Thompson told the British Journal of Photography. “It’s also the fault of Canon and Nikon because they introduced pro cameras (sic) under $1000, making it easier for amateurs to take great pictures. Why aren’t they blamed as well? With those economics, it had to happen.” Still, he doesn’t think this is reason for professional photogs to worry. “Do not panic. Adjust,” says Thompson. “Micro-stock is just one more channel to use to sell your photos.”

AP Exhibits “The American President” (NPPA)
If you’ve grown weary of seeing photos of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain, now is your chance to inundate yourself with images of former presidents. The Associated Press has just opened exhibits in New York and Washington, D.C., featuring more than 80 photographs of American presidents, including John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan. Of course, if you’re longing for more Hillary, Obama or McCain pix, don’t worry. There are a few of those, too. The exhibit will travel to Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism on May 9, and will visit other college campuses over the next few months.

Tim Flach Talks About His Equus Project (Shoot! The Blog)
For the last two years, photographer Tim Flach has spent a lot of time traveling the world to document the origin of horses. (Yes, he’s even captured some Zonkeys and Zorses.) In October, Abrams Books will publish Flach’s resulting images in Equus. The photographer recently spoke with Rachel Hulin about how the project started, how he funded it, shooting embryos and more.

New York Times Captures Some “Well-Placed Appendages” (Slate)
Sunday’s New York Times featured a spread of nudists. But photographer Adriana Zehbrauskas’s images manage to conceal the nudists’ most intriguing parts.