How a Photo Became an Icon

Here is a history of how a picture snapped at a funeral became one of the best known images in the history of photography. The piece is a review of a new book, Che's Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image, by Michael Casey. In 1960, Cuban photographer Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez (better known as Korda) photographed Ernesto Guevarva at a funeral for victims of an explosion  aboard a freighter docked in Havana. Korda radically cropped his image to focus of the charisma of the revolutionary. Later, Andy Warhol turned the image into art (above). It's a fascinating tale of what can happen when a photograph is subsumed by cultural forces.--David Schonauer

Create Your Own Magazine, One Copy At a Time

The New York Times has an article today about a new service from Hewlett-Packard called MagCloud, which lets you publish your own magazine. As if old media didn't face enough competition already! Here how it works: You do the writing, photography, and design, create PDFs, upload them to the site, and your work is printed on HP Indigo digital printers. All that costs you nothing. If you want to actually buy issues of your magazine, MagCloud will sell them to you for 20 cents each. If you wish to resell them, you can charge whatever you like.
     It's a new angle on vanity publishing. And why not? There are plenty of companies now that let you print your own books. I haven't seen the quality of MagCloud printing, so I can't vouch for it. But this is another indication of just how personalized mass communication is becoming. Let's take a poll: If you were to create your own magazine, what would it be about?--David Schonauer

Annie Leibovitz Signs with Getty Images

The famed portraitist and editorial photographer who has shot everyone from Angelina Jolie to Queen Elizabeth II has signed a deal to be represented by Orchard Represents, a division of Getty Images that markets high-end and specialist photographers. The announcement was made by Getty earlier today.
    In the press release detailing the news, Leibovitz was quoted as saying, "Getty Images has quietly become one of the leading agencies in the world. I look forward to working with Jonathan Klein and his team.”
   Other photographers represented by the boutique division include Lorenzo Agius and Tom Stoddart.
  The announcement comes several weeks after a New York Times article disclosed that Leibovitz had put up her past work and copyright to secure $15 million in loans to cover a financial shortfall. (Go here for details.)
    Getty itself recently announced that it would be eliminating 110 jobs, or five percent of its workforce. The company must be grateful to add the best known photographer in the world to its roster. --David Schonauer

SI Model "Porn" on Southwest Airlines?

If you fly on Southwest Airlines, perhaps you've seen the planes with the picture of 2009 Sports Illustrusted Swimsuit Issue cover girl Bar Rafaeli painted on the side. Even if you are earthbound, you may have read reports about the latest aggressive marketing project. The airline has a lighter-than-air approach to entertaining it customers, who, buy and large, seem  to enjoy the effort. However, I could have warned Southest executives that they'd get letters about the picture of Rafaeli. This report doesn't say how many letters and emails the airline received, but it quotes a Southwest spokesman who said about a quarter of the responses were negative. That includes the letter from one offended person who said his plane looked like "flying porn."  Another person called the plane "tacky."
     The story is an interesting starting point for a discussion. I don't think the picture on the Southwest plane is pornographic. I understand that some people might. You are invited to state your opinion here.
     The discussion is important, I think, because it helps us all understand what kinds of public imagery most people consider acceptable. It's easy to fire off a letter accusing someone of promoting pornography. (As the editor of a photo magazine,I've gotten plenty of those notes. They all seem to begin, "If I'd wanted a porn magazine, I'd have bought Playboy, not American Photo.") That probably why I'm sensitive when people play the porno card.
    My point here is that there a big space between "tacky" and "pornographic." Is the SI image tacky? Yeah, I think so, in the context of this use on an airplane. For me, basically any ad painted on the side of a commercial airplane would be fairly tacky. (Would it be any better if Southwest had painted an ad for Imodium or Cialis on its plane?) Hyperbole doesn't help the discussion.--David Schonauer

      
    

Media Watch: Does Sex Sell, or Not?

Two stories turned up today on the blogs--and I'm trying to synthesize their seeming contradictions. First comes news that Playboy magazine is closing its New York editorial/sales offices and either laying off staff or offering them a relocation to the company's Chicago headquarters. It's part of a larger reorganization in which the magazine will be overseen by former Maxim editor Jimmy Jellinek, who has most recently been running Playboy's website. It's a s super bad month for magazines in general, and skin mags are really hurting. So does sex no longer sell? Ummmmwelll...the problem of course is that sex won't sell when some people on the web are giving it away for free. (Come to think of it, that's what ails the entire big media world, isn't it? Nobody wants to pay for information because the Internet wants information to be free.)
     At any rate, I also ran across a rundown of the 10 women with the sexiest lips on manofest.com. Among the group: Jessica Alba (#9),  Christina Aguilera (#7), and Angelina Joli (#1).

Edit Agreement for Jolie Baby Photos?

The New York Times is reporting that People magazine paid more than cash for first rights to photos of Angelina Jolie's new set of twins. It has previously been reported that People paid $14 million for the photos of  Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon, the latest addition to the family of Jolie and husband Brad Pitt. But the Times says the contract also called for People to "offer coverage that would not reflect negatively on [Jolie] or her family."
    A spokesman for the magazine denied the claim.
    There are a lot of aspects to this story that bother me. If the claim by the Times is true, I would like to heartily condemn People for selling out its sense of journalistic authority. But I'm informed enough to know that this kind of agreement is nothing new. Promises get made. (Including them in contracts would be a new twist, however.) The bottom line is this: $14 million for baby pictures? This is out of control.

Top-Earning Dead Celebrities, 2008

Just because a fellow's dead doesn't mean he can't be a good earner. A great picture of a sexy movie star is still great, and even sexy, when the lovely lady (or guy) is gone. That's one of the reasons I love photography, and one of the reasons I love the "Top-Earning Dead Celebrity" list that Forbes magazine does every year.
      Regular readers also know that I am particularly interested in the earning potential of one dead celebrity, Marilyn Monroe. I've been covering legal battles between her estate and photographers. The fight involves a legal battle over Monroe's so-called post-mortem right of publicity. Go here and here and here for some of my posts on that subject.
     Meanwhile, let's look at which dead celebrities raked it in this year. Try guessing the top five of '08.

Epitaph For Digital Railroad

The news that Digital Railroad has shut down its servers is sad if not unexpected. It was clear the business was in trouble when the Diablo Management Group took control and chief executive Charles Mauzy departed with other employees. Nonetheless, I was shocked to hear that a notice had been posted on the DRR site today saying that it was shutting down. That left a lot of photographers around the world in the lurch. Apparently competitor PhotoShelter is offering a special rate for former DRR subscribers. I am a friend of DRR founder Evan Nisselson, and he sent me a note this morning, which I share here:

It is a very sad day! I am very sorry for our members.
     There are many variables that have helped and challenged the success of DRR. There are many things that could have been done differently and I am sure we all have learned through the process – I know that I have.
     I evolved to chairman of the board almost a year ago and since then have had no control and limited input.
     After Diablo Management took over the board and operations of the company on Oct. 10th I tried to gather people to acquire the company back. I came very close but unfortunately it didn't happen. These
didn't materialize for several reasons including the very challenging financial times we are in.
     After these initiatives didn't materialize - Diablo wouldn't even return my emails or calls. We kept advising that the members needed and deserved advance notice if the company was going to turn off the
platform but after this advice from several people - Diablo Management only gave members 24 hours to transfer images.
     Unfortunately sharing this perspective doesn't change anything but I hope it helps clarify a bit.

Best,
Evan

The history of the Internet is filled with the names of products and companies that are no longer with us. The fact that new VC funding wasn't available now isn't surprising either, given the state of the economy and tight credit markets. Does anyone have thoughts about what went wrong here?--David Schonauer

Who Cares About Joe the Photographer?

After last night's debate everyone is talking about Joe the Plumber. Both candidates were falling all over themselves to help this guy with tax breaks and other promises. I thought he was just a mythical figure but of course like the rest of America I later found out he was a real plumber.
      Well, I own a little house with old pipes and kids who over the years have shoved any number of small objects down drains. I know about getting plumbers in on the weekend, and I think a couple were named Joe. From my experience they do pretty well.
      What I wonder about is Joe the Photographer--the everyman shooter who brightens our world and documents our weddings and brings nature into our homes. Who's going to protect him him or her? The prices for stock photography is are ridiculously low, the idea of copyright is withering away, pro cameras are really expensive, and magazines are disappearing, among other problems.
      Like mythical Joe the Plumber, who is also a real plumber, there are real Joe the Photographers. I looked up a few on Google:
      There is of course Joe McNally, who topped my Google search. He's a pretty famous pro--maybe not the Joe the Photographer I'm looking for.
      There is Joe Buissink, who was on our list of 10 Best Wedding Photographers in 2007. Yes, he shoots weddings, but they're in Beverly Hills.      
     There is Joe  Roenthal,  who took the picture of Marines raising the flag  at Iwo Jima. He passed away in 2006. He was one of the nicest Joes you could ever hope to meet.
     There is "Not Your Average Joe" photography in Dallas--a business run by photographer Joe Grisham. That name rules him out, I guess.
    Then there is Denver photographer Joe Kelly, who does weddings, high school senior pictures, dances, and more. Yeah, that's Joe the Photographer. I may give him a call tomorrow and talk to him about how he sees things.
     Any other Joes the Photographers out there want to give a shout and tell us about the state of the photo business? --David Schonauer

    
       

Censorship and the Debate Over the Depiction of Smoking in Imagery

I get a newsletter from the National Coalition Against Censorship, and in the most recent edition there is an interesting editorial about an issue I wasn’t aware of. According to NCAC executive director Joan Bertin, anti-smoking advocates are arguing that movies depicting people smoking should get an “R” rating.
      Luckily, there is in photography no organization like the MPAA, which tags every movie with a rating. Otherwise, there would almost certainly be pressure to remove all images of smoking from photographic archives.