divorce proceedings commence

there's press photography and then there's conflict photography. I respect both of them but they are two different kinds of photography but still considered photojournalism
 
there's press photography and then there's conflict photography. I respect both of them but they are two different kinds of photography but still considered photojournalism

not sure i share that opinion.

as well, i think 'conflict photography' isn't far off from the ambulance chasing 'journalists' outside the court house
 
Stories are directed through Political & Corporate agendas.

To keep the locals busy and away from national and international stories, give them reality TV and intensive media blitz such as the Tori Stafford case.


. . . . . and to move the herd in the direction you want, just spin a lie or a mass media blitz.

We are all part of the problem and the solution.

JMHO
 
cover the civilian population in Iran, a population very similar to us, in hopes of invoking a little sanity before we start dropping bombs on them... (insert silence) begin fundraising, begging, borrowing and (hopefully not) stealing

I lived in Iran as an American Peace Corps teacher from 1972 to 1974, and have been back since the revolution. I am very moved by your commitment to this goal. Unfortunately, I am out of work at the moment and can't be of financial assistance, but I may be a source of information that could help. Don't hesitate to contact me, if you need any background assistance.
 
I'll second Al Jazeera's English language TV news. I get it on LINK TV. Beats everything else for global coverage.

Al Jazeera used to be great, but has changed for the worse over the last few years IMO. It is now little more than the mouthpiece of the Qatari government. For example, you'll find scant coverage of the brutal government crackdown on anti regime protestors in Bahrain but their ample Syria coverage is entirely anti regime. In fact, some of the key staff at Al Jazeera's Beirut bureau recently resigned in protest of their biased coverage (link below).

http://rt.com/news/hashem-al-jazeera-resignation-523/

Anyway... John, as Simon said if anyone is meant to do this job, you're that man. But there's nothing wrong in taking a break either. Hang in there man!
 
Eras end and that of true freelancers is about done, no doubt there are a few exceptions out there. But the business model (sell ads to pay for news staff and news coverage) has not only been in a rapid decline, but ended for prize-winning publications many years ago.
Why send a photographer when someone living nearby with a cell phone can snap an image? Quality is dying and being replaced by instantaneousness.
 
John, you do lovely, deep, powerful work. Whether you do it locally, globally, in PJ or some other genre, keep at it. I can't imagine how anyone earns a living at it. But your work shouldn't come to an end even if you shift gears into some other realm of photography. Hang in there.
 
my friends, thank you for the kind comments. i will never stop doing what i do and love. neither myself nor my wife would allow that.

the funding just has to come from somewhere else and i, and a few other photojournalists, are committed to sorting that out. we are very close to having out own foundation set up that can provide tax deductible, charity receipts. until then we are partnered with The Institute for Middle East Studies at the University here. they have been such a blessing.

our biggest commitment right now is getting the Syria story and Iran story told in as complete a fashion as possible and i will keep all informed as they both roll forward.

trying to figure it out minus the cavity that is the modern media machine (there are a few solid examples left but they are rare) has been difficult but nothing is impossible.
 
I lived in Iran as an American Peace Corps teacher from 1972 to 1974, and have been back since the revolution. I am very moved by your commitment to this goal. Unfortunately, I am out of work at the moment and can't be of financial assistance, but I may be a source of information that could help. Don't hesitate to contact me, if you need any background assistance.

my friend, you have no idea how important people like yourself and your offer are.

i am an very east to please traveller and often background like what you are offering can be invaluable. it doesn't always have to be $ as there are ways to offset it. hell, most of the time i just need a corner of someones floor to sleep on and contacts sometimes lead to that.

i will be in touch. i am on a plane for a few days here soon but my friends and i will contact you upon return.
 
Al Jazeera used to be great, but has changed for the worse over the last few years IMO. It is now little more than the mouthpiece of the Qatari government. For example, you'll find scant coverage of the brutal government crackdown on anti regime protestors in Bahrain but their ample Syria coverage is entirely anti regime. In fact, some of the key staff at Al Jazeera's Beirut bureau recently resigned in protest of their biased coverage (link below).

http://rt.com/news/hashem-al-jazeera-resignation-523/

Anyway... John, as Simon said if anyone is meant to do this job, you're that man. But there's nothing wrong in taking a break either. Hang in there man!

thank you Jon. i am glad you mentioned the Bahrain situation as it seems to have been ignored.

i'll never quit, just need to sort out a new approach
 
Eras end and that of true freelancers is about done, no doubt there are a few exceptions out there. But the business model (sell ads to pay for news staff and news coverage) has not only been in a rapid decline, but ended for prize-winning publications many years ago.
Why send a photographer when someone living nearby with a cell phone can snap an image? Quality is dying and being replaced by instantaneousness.

i agree that is true in most of the dailies and such but there is room for quality. we just need to come to the conclusion that our work is homeless right now and we need to find that home. it's only a challenge, not an end game.

i am lucky enough to know some very influential people that back my work so i have a leg up already. we are all working very hard at coming up with a model that works. unfortunately this requires a few failures in the beginning.
 
Looking at the work on your site, I don't think it's appropriate for the market that you're trying to break into. It's more like what you'd see as a one-shot illustration for a story in Atlantic magazine, not any hard journalism outlet (and I have a lot more to say about that, but I'm not the one you need to hear it from).

If I were serious about the business, I'd give up The Attitude about how the business done you wrong (and I don't think most of the posters above are helping you at all in this) and get with real editors of specific publications you want to be in, to see what you need to do to make your work more interesting to them and others like them, and then do that.
 
the funding just has to come from somewhere else and i, and a few other photojournalists, are committed to sorting that out. we are very close to having out own foundation set up that can provide tax deductible, charity receipts. until then we are partnered with The Institute for Middle East Studies at the University here. they have been such a blessing.

I'm currently trying to do something similar in academic research (set up a research foundation to become independent of the institutional career model, which produced scholars during the time of my father and grandfather but which now produces some kind of academic managers that want to do research but don't really have the time to). It's quite tricky and requires us to do a lot of management ourselves. Decoupling yourself from the market is not always possible and usually a mixed blessing, especially if you want to take the long position.

You sound basically like you are trying to source funding directly, a bit like Kickstarter, to become independent from what is actually in demand and get the independence to do what you want. It seems to me that that would be something pretty new in photojournalism. I'm not sure whether that ideal of media-funded photojournalism ever was that accurate to begin with as it seems in retrospective.

In the end it was probably always a demand-driven thing, just as it is now. Maybe it's more a question of finding where the demand is and adjusting to it. For us, this has meant a lot of work in change management in academic institutions for profit. I like that, but a scholarly activity it is not.
 
Looking at the work on your site, I don't think it's appropriate for the market that you're trying to break into. It's more like what you'd see as a one-shot illustration for a story in Atlantic magazine, not any hard journalism outlet (and I have a lot more to say about that, but I'm not the one you need to hear it from).

If I were serious about the business, I'd give up The Attitude about how the business done you wrong (and I don't think most of the posters above are helping you at all in this) and get with real editors of specific publications you want to be in, to see what you need to do to make your work more interesting to them and others like them, and then do that.


I suspect you are mistaking me for someone other than myself.

I have been pumping work through those same editors for almost 15 years. From full time assignment work for major press outlets to coast to coast news and wire work. I have direct lines to the 'editors' you speak of.

I am not trying to break in, I am trying to break out. Forgive me if I caused you any confusion.
 
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