livebooks blog

• The Fairey/AP lawsuit saga drags on. Last week, the Center for Internet and Society (CIS) at Stanford University filed suit against the AP on Fairey’s behalf. Now the CIS is asking the public to send examples of photos that are “like” the Mannie Garcia photo, we assume to prove that Fairey’s image didn’t necessarily come from that one specific photo. For more from Fairey’s side of argument, head over to the New York Public Library (NYPL) on February 26 for a discussion with CIS founder Lawrence Lessig, Shepard Fairey, and author Steven Johnson. The event is jointly sponsored by NYPL and Wired Magazine. Tickets are on sale here. (via Boing Boing)

• Magnum Photos is now accepting submissions for 2009 membership. As you’ve probably heard, Magnum is open for submissions only once a year. And only a talented few, and sometimes none at all, are invited as nominee members. If you’re looking for some inspiration, check out last year’s nominees: Peter van Agtmael and Olivia Arthur. Submission deadline is May 31, 2009.

• Northern Short Course (NSC) McLean, VA is fast approaching, on March 19 – 21. And so is the deadline for its Still Photography and Multimedia Contest. To make things easier for everybody, this year the NSC is accepting all entries electronically, due by February 27, 2009. In addition to more than 20 workshops, The NSC also offers bonus portfolio review sessions in the evenings.

Ada Figaro, a young homeless mother, photographed for a multimedia piece by Bill Frakes for Do1Thing. © Bill Frakes

This Valentine’s Day (Saturday, February 14, 2009), photojournalists, videographers, editors, writers, and volunteers are working in 18 locations nationwide to tell the stories of homeless teens. Their work will be uploaded in real time to the Do1Thing website, where many of their images and multimedia presentations are already available. One of my favorites is “Portrait of Perseverance” by Chris Stanfield, which tells the story of  22-year-old Sakina Lockhart, who made it all the way through college while living in shelters or hallways of rundown motels.

Do1Thing was conceived after photographers donated their time to shoot portraits of 346 foster children, 150 of whom were consequently adopted. Realizing the power photography could have to mobilize people around an issue, Najlah Hicks and Pim Van Hemmen decided to shine the light of visual storytelling onto several social issues affecting children and teens.

This is a model I think we’re likely to see cropping up more and more. It reminds me of the RAVEs that the ILCP does, sending a bunch of photographers into a threatened area to create a cache of images and other content that can be used to draw media attention to the issue. Both websites are also rich resources, giving people many options for how to help, and undoubtedly counting on the top-quality content there to drive potential donors and advocates to the site.

It also doesn’t hurt to have huge names associated with the project, like Do1Thing does. Of the more than 130 photographers, editors, and videographers signed on, here are just a few heavy hitters (although every participant deserves to be recognized for his or her contribution): Nina Berman, Bill Frakes, David Leeson, Tyler Hicks, Ed Kashi, David Hume Kennerly, Martin Schoeller, Vincent Laforet, Jimmy Colton, Stephanie Heimann, Bob Sacha, and pretty much every VII photographer.

Check out the Do1Thing website to see how you can join this prestigious group and other ways to help the more than 1.3 million homeless youths in the country through this initiative.

Fine art and portrait photographer Michael Jang tells some great “breaking into the biz” stories in this video interview from our Photographers in Focus series. While still in art school, he used a letter from his teacher and some creative subterfuge to crash big Beverly Hills parties — and make the images that launched his career. We wanted to make sure you got a chance to see it if you haven’t already.

Michael is in San Francisco like us, so we thought we’d check in and see what he’s been up to lately. He’s excited about his recent conversation with aspiring photographers at the University High School here in town. Check out the San Francisco Chronicle story about his visit to the school as well as a collection of his very early family photos, which have just been acquired by the SFMoMA this year. Michael also gave us some bonus video footage of him speaking at a Photoshelter panel discussion.

“Don’t lose sight of why you want to be a photographer and your love for photography,” he advises. “If you can make good pictures, people will find you.” His point — that the real issue is not how to make money, but how to make great pictures — might not be the most popular, since it’s not the easy solution, but judging from the applause after Michael’s comments, it needs to be said more often.