Vision Slightly Blurred

Free stock photo site Unsplash entered the news cycle again when the UK government used a photo of an Atlanta-based dancer as the subject of their "Cyber First" ad campaign, suggesting that dancers would be better served with a job in cyber security. Photographer Krys Alex, who previously had uploaded the image to Unsplash, was horrified that her image could be appropriated in such a way. But folks, that's how Unsplash works! It's almost like Zack Arias told you so...Also: The Grammy's encourage artists to #GiveCredit, photographers band together to encourage voting in the States of Change print sale, Maggie Shannon's midwives essay, the NYT's on-going "World Through a Lens" travel column, and the winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

Adobe Photoshop Element's Face Tilt feature allows you to repositions faces in your photos to direct their gaze back towards the camera (or anywhere else you see fit). Washington Post photo editor Olivier Laurent asks whether Adobe has gone too far.Photographer Melissa Golden gets critical of pandemic portraiture, Gary He launches a subscription-based food newsletter to diversify his income, and we celebrate Indigenous People's day and the work of Edward Curtis.

A small controversy occurred this past weekend when the AP circulated handout photos taken by White House photographer Joyce Boghosian of President Donald Trump signing documents without a mask while being treated for COVID-19 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.Were they staged? How are presidents depicted while they are sick? Sarah and Allen discuss the details and nuance of staging photos for political propaganda.Also in this episode, Chrissy Tiegen releases photos on social media following the loss of her unborn child, and a bird's eye view of cruise ships being dismantled in Turkey.

Since its inception, Photoville has used outdoor space to display a wide range of incredible photographs on the Brooklyn Bridge waterfront – which ironically makes it a perfect way to celebrate photography in the era of COVID-19. This year's show runs from Sept 17 - Nov 29 at multiple locations around the NYC, so check it out.Also in the show, TIME tapped multiple photographers for its TIME 100 issue of influential people, and Sarah and Allen tell you why it doesn't create visual cohesion; PhotoShelter's Caitlyn Edwards interviews Isadora Kosofsky who gained access to an all-COVID-19 nursing home; Antwuan Sargent interviews Joshua Kissi; Luke Gilford's upcoming book "National Anthem: America's Queer Rodeo"; HONY raises $2.6m for an incredible woman, and Sarah loves cake.

Last week, New York Magazine's The Cut published a lengthy essay written by model Emily Ratajkowski on her experiences working as a model, actor, and influencer entrepreneur. She gives numerous examples where she felt unable to control her own image from being sued by a paparazzo, having two Instagram posts appropriated by Richard Prince, and being sexually assaulted by a photographer who later sold photos taken the night of the assault as "art" without her consent.Sarah and Allen try to unpack all the legal scenarios and talk about ethics within the modeling and photo industry.

Flak Photo's Andy Adams asked his followers for their website URLs early this month, and was surprised to find that a number of them didn't have a website. Instagram has become the dominant way to follow photographers and see updates, but that doesn't mean it's a good replacement for a website. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen discuss the limitations of social media, and the value of building your brand and SEO through your own website.

The British Journal of Photography recently released their 2020 Ones to Watch list – a globally diverse list of talent that includes a number of photographers that we've talked about in previous shows. Also, SFMOMA creates a series of short animations to introduce some of the pioneers of photography. The animation is kitschy, the info is high quality, and you'll want to read up on the names you've heard before, but probably forgot since your college photo history course.

On September 5, 2020, The New York Times published the latest entry in their "The America We Need" Times Opinion series to examine two neighborhoods on Chicago's North Side and South Side and the enormous disparities in wealth and health.The NYT hired an out-of-towner – Magnum Photos' Alec Soth – to cover the sensitive and complex topic of the effects of segregation and racism, only to discover that Chicago photographer Tonika Johnson had done nearly identical work with a significantly greater depth for years.In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen discuss the controversy and complexities surrounding the NYT's article, plus John Divola criticizes MFA student William Carmargo, and Jeff Mermelstein photographs your texts for #nyc.

Sarah is back in NYC, and we're ready to talk photography! In this episode, a network of surveillance cameras captures the California wildfires, the Whitney Museum tries to mount a show with Black photographers with images from a charity print sale, Texas Isaiah becomes the first trans photographer to land the cover of Vogue UK, and remembering Chadwick Boseman in pictures.#WakandaForever

Today's episode is an audio version of Allen Murabayashi's piece entitled "What Photographers Can Learn from the Whitney Museum & See in Black Debacle" which can be found at blog.photoshelter.com

Is Alberto di Lenardo the next Vivian Maier? Prior to his death, di Lenardo showed his granddaughter a "secret room" filled with the negatives of over 8,000 photos which she edited into a new book entitled "An Attic Full of Trains."Also, Aaron Siskind's "Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation," Hannah Beachler requests that we use color photos from the Civil Rights era, and Bill Shapiro on the strange lure of other people's photos.

In this jam-packed episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen discuss how citizen journalism and professional photojournalism gave us an incredible point of view of the tragic explosion in Beirut, Andy Day and Benjamin Chesterton uncover Magnum Photo images of child sexual exploitation, Instagram censors (then allows) images of plus-size Black model Nyome Nicholas-Williams, CJR interviews Art Greenspon, Robert Hodierne, David Burnett and David Hume Kennerly on covering COVID, the #ReeseChallenge, and a wild boar steals a man's laptop!

With a $765 million loan under the U.S. Defense Production Act, Kodak has pivoted from film chemistry to pharmaceutical ingredients. The loan sent Kodak's stock price soaring from $2.61 to as high as $60 before settling in the low $20s. Eyebrows were also raised when it was revealed that Kodak Executive Chairman Jim Continenza scored a stock option grant the day before the announcement that could net him close to $100 million. Also, Judge Nelson Lee stays his own ruling for three weeks to allow Seattle media companies to prepare their appeal to the Seattle Police Department's subpoena of unpublished photos and video, we remember Civil Rights icon John Lewis through photos at Comic Con, Rite Aid uses facial recognition in their stores, AP announced they're switching to Sony, the Potato Photographer of the Year, and mesmerizing drone footage of a dog herding sheep! 

After 18 months, a campaign started by then 18-year old Mercedes Baptiste Halliday, a Black photo student in London, to stop the sales of a republication of Gian Butturini's "London" by Martin Parr has come to and end. An official apology plus Parr's request to destroy the remaining inventory (although publisher Damiani has apparently put the books on sale rather than destroyed them) has given Halliday a well-earned victory against racism and an entrenched "generation of white, middle-aged men who do what they want without any consequences."Plus, three male doctors create fake social media accounts to spy on female medical professionals for the purposes of moral judgement, some great photos of NEOWISE, and an octogenarian couple in Taiwan become the latest hit on Instagram.

After the controversy surrounding Annie Leibovitz's Vogue cover of Simone Biles, Vanity Fair published a beautiful photo spread of Viola Davis taken by Dario Calmese. The images were spectacular, but Calmese used an old photo as a reference image for the cover, which caused controversy and discussion on Twitter.

Co-host Allen Murabayashi recounts his participation on an ICP panel about protestors and ethics with panelists Tara Pixley, Brent Lewis, and Joshua Lott, David Burnett writes a letter to NPPA, Amy Scott responds, Women Photograph announce their grant winners, and Twitter does not like Annie Leibovitz's photos of GOAT Simone Biles. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen breakdown the week's photo news right now!

President Trump gave a Fourth of July Speech at Mount Rushmore, which provided a perfect spectacle for Presidential propaganda. Did the media get played by circulating these "patriotic" images, or was the publication more nuanced? In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah Jacobs and Allen Murabayashi also discuss controversy surrounding diversity at Magnum Photos and of members Martin Parr and Lua Ribeira, and finally some images of hot dogs to round out the holiday weekend.

As Pride month comes to a close, we highlight just a small number of photographers doing thought-provoking work from Robert Mapplethorpe's controversial sex images to tender images of middle-aged love by Matthew Papa.Also in the show, the Photo Bill of Rights is unveiled (controversy follows), the Robert Giard Foundation's grant for emerging LGBTQ photographers, Tom Bianchi, Collier Schorr, Ryan McGinley, Muholi, Queer Appalachia, and a comparison of three kiss photos by Elinor Carucci, David Uzochukwu, and Ryan James Caruthers.

Juneteenth, the Summer Solstice, and Father's Day – all in one weekend – with some fantastic photography to boot.In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen discuss the wonderful work of Jake May in Flint, MI, Linda Tirado sues the police for shooting her in the eye, Jesse Dittmar takes an assignment with the Washington Post to photograph TikTok star Charli D'Amelio, and the NYT's "Self-Portraits From Black Photographers Reflecting on America."

As photographers responded to the controversial Poynter article entitled "Photographers are being called on to stop showing protesters' face. Should they?" PhotoShelter co-founder Allen Murabayashi published a series of pieces that intensified the conversation around the First Amendment and the well-being of protesters and vulnerable populations. Allen and co-host Sarah Jacobs also discuss Michael Christopher Brown's response to criticism of his NY Mag cover, Michael Santiago takes a buyout, Apple gets a patent for "socially distanced selfies" and BIPOC photographers create the viral #VogueChallenge.