livebooks blog

• After Tom Gralish helped pinpoint the photo that was used as the starting point for the famous Obama HOPE poster (by Mannie Garcia for the AP), the AP on Wednesday “reached out” to the lawyer of Shepard Fairey, who created the poster and is now much richer and famouser. Carolyn E. Wright, the author of the Photographer’s Legal Guide and the writer of the Photo Attorney blog, wrote a long post Thursday analyzing the AP’s case and concluding that she, at least, would take the case. via: Online Photographer. John Harrington has several good posts on it too: here, here, and here.

• Everyone is atwitter over Paolo Pellegrin’s photo essay for the New York Times, Great Performers. And they should be. It’s stunning and unveils just how staged most celebrity photos are with its dedication to a photojournalistic truth. It also reminded me instantly of Paolo’s Iraqi Diaspora project, which I saw at Visa pour l’Image this year, and which had everyone in Perpignan atwitter to see a photographer so skilled in black and white also blow us away with color.

• Greg Gibson has a great post on his blog explaining in detail how McLatchy-Tribune News Services photographer Chuck Kennedy convinced the White House to let him set up a remote camera at the foot of the podium during Obama’s swearing in. Probably the most impressive part is seeing just how many front pages ran the image…a great lesson for photographers about always trying to do something new, even when it seems like it’s all been done before.

Resolve: v. To deal with (a question, a matter of uncertainty, etc.) conclusively; settle; solve. n. Firmness of purpose; resolution.

I’m excited to introduce RESOLVE, a new photography blog from liveBooks. We don’t have to tell you that this is an important moment for photography — things are changing fast and there seems to be far more questions than answers. That’s why we decided to create this online resource for photographers, a place to come together with your peers, to get inspired by great work, and to learn from the experiences of photo professionals from every corner of the industry and the world. While giving individual photographers the tips and tools to build creatively fulfilling, economically sustainable businesses, we are also working toward positive RESOLUTIONS to some of the hardest questions facing the photo industry at large.

I’m not going to sit here and deny that the forecast often looks gloomy, but I also know that photographers and photo industry professionals are some of the most innovative, passionate, creative individuals I know. If anyone is going to figure out where the photo industry should go from here, it’s the photo professionals themselves (that means you). As the editor of RESOLVE, I’m mostly here (along with Associate Editor Carmen Suen) to help where I can: keeping things focused, helping visual people communicate in words, and exploring innovative modes of collaboration.

I hope that a few of you have seen my name floating around the internet before, but in case you haven’t, let me introduce myself. I am the Social Media Editor at liveBooks, based in often-sunny San Francisco, which I’m pretty happy about coming from a lot of cold Midwest and East Coast cities as I have. Most recently I was in NYC working as senior editor at American Photo, writing for the magazine as well as PopPhoto.com and the State of the Art blog. I have a degree in magazine journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago (serious brrrr) and grew up in Athens, Ohio. I like writing, sometimes I even think I’m good at it, but what I really love is helping people communicate, making connections with people (especially photo people), and using those connections to foster stronger community.

A few notes on how this blog works. Because we know you’re busy, we aren’t going to post anything that takes more than five minutes to read. Each post covers a few important points of a larger topic and is linked to earlier posts on the same topic (plus we’ll let you know when later posts are coming). That way you can dig in deep if you have the time — or jump onto the next thing that catches your interest.

At the end of many posts we ask additional questions, titled “Be Part of the RESOLUTION.” Any post is only one person’s opinion, and you can help us provide the best information possible by sharing your own perspective in the comments. Oh, and about those comments: We are serious about keeping them positive. We think it’s time to do more than complain about the way things are — let’s figure out how to change things into the way we want them to be. Healthy debate is always welcome here, as are constructive criticism, and even controversial and unpopular ideas. But we will not tolerate unproductive personal attacks on our contributors or other commenters, especially if they are anonymous.

I hope you’ll quickly start to think of RESOLVE not just as a community but as your community. The more people who contribute to it, the stronger it will become, so please get in touch with me (and Carmen) if you are interested in collaborating with us on one or several posts. Or maybe there is a question you can never find a good answer to. Send it to us and we’ll find an expert to answer it. And last but not least, if you hear about anything photography related that is innovative, cutting-edge, or just a great idea, LET US KNOW — even if it’s your own project. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

~Miki Johnson, Editor, RESOLVE