Janet Worne - Thoughtful Photography

Last Call for Entries

Time is running out. You must act soon to enter your favorite photographs in the Albuquerque Photographers' Gallery's first Juried Show, “In the Mind’s Eye”. The theme allows for a variety of interpretations. What is your vision of the world? It could be surreal or authentic, fantasy or truth—or it may include elements of both. Here is your chance to exercise your creativity, manifest your vision and have it displayed in Albuquerque's premier cooperative fine-art photography gallery.

Selected entries for “In the Minds Eye” will be exhibited in our February show at The Albuquerque Photographers’ Gallery, Feb 3rd through the 29th.
 
Important Dates:
 
January 5th          -   Submission deadline
January 10th        -   Artists notification
Jan 28-30th          -   Deliver artwork to APG
March 1st-3rd       -   Pick up artwork from APG
February 3rd        -   First Friday opening reception

Contact Information:

Albuquerque Photographers’ Gallery
303 Romero Street, NW, in Old Town @ Plaza Don Luis
Gallery phone:  (505) 244-9195

www.AbqPhotographersGallery.com

Juried show contact person:  Mellany Herrera….(505) 917-9016  mellany@mellanyphoto.com
Visit the APG website for submission guidelines and entry forms.

New Mexico is Burning

Living in the high desert has it's pros and cons. What is great about it is also what is dangerous. It is dry here. I love the low humidity but it seems we are now on the extreme low side of dry. The latest update on the New Mexico Fire Information website is: "The entire Santa Fe National Forest, encompassing 1.6 million acres, is under Stage II fire restrictions due to severe drought conditions and extreme fire danger."

We went camping in the Pecos Wilderness on Saturday. We, of course, knew that the dry conditions meant no campfires but we did not expect to have to actually flee smoke from a wildfire. I took this photo of the Pacheco Wildfire heading our way just before we packed up to go home. Five days later the fire has consumed 5,500 acres and is only 10% contained.

Gallery Has Moved

 
The Albuquerque Photographers' Gallery--the co-op gallery I joined in August 2010--has finally emerged from the dark little shop that we affectionately called "the cave". We have moved to a much better location on the west side of the San Felipe de Neri church in Old Town, Albuquerque. It is a spacious, well-lit space in the Plaza Don Luis.

Come and visit us!

The Moment You’ve Waited For

This is a fun way to spend a few minutes or many hours--sort of "A Day in the Life of" by the minute...

Here it is: Earth, covered by stacks of thousands of virtual photographs, corresponding in location to where they were taken by Lens readers at one “Moment in Time” (15:00 U.T.C., Sunday, May 2).

Spin the globe in any direction to get where you want to go. Click on a stack and the top photo will open, giving the photographer’s name or pseudonym (if supplied) and a brief caption (again, if supplied). Another click will send that picture to the bottom of the stack so the next one can open. The uppermost pictures in any stack are those you’ve recommended to one another. The height of the stacks reflects the number of submissions from any given area. Note the pull-down menu in the upper left corner. Pictures can be searched by topic — community, arts and entertainment, family, money and the economy, nature and the environment, play, religion, social issues or work — but not, unfortunately, by photographer. (That’s for “A Moment in Time 2.0.”) From any individual picture, you can always return to the globe by clicking on “Return to Globe X” in the upper right corner.

via lens.blogs.nytimes.com

Kentucky Derby

Congratulations to Calvin Borel on his third Kentucky Derby win in four consecutive years. It still seems strange for me to be watching it on TV instead of sitting on the track in the dirt (or mud). This is the second year I haven't covered the Derby after 18 years in a row of working it.

I obviously don't have a photo of this year's finish but I will share Calvin's celebration from 2007 when he won on Street Sense.

Photojournalist Wins Oscar

Photojournalist Louis Psihoyos Wins Oscar For "The Cove"
 
Award-winning photojournalist Louis Psihoyos has won an Oscar for his film “The Cove,” the first time a still photojournalist has made the leap to the highest movie award since 2004 when Zana Briski won for “Born Into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids.” As a still photographer, Psihoyos won multiple categories in the College Photographer of the Year contest and later, honors in Pictures of the Year. NPPA caught up with Psihoyos the day after his Oscar win.

By Bruce Young

© 2010 News Photographer magazine

HOLLYWOOD, CA (March 8, 2010) – “What I set out to do was not so much make a movie as to create a movement,” Louis Psihoyos told The New York Times last July. He had already enjoyed working over 18 years as a National Geographic photographer, and was continuing a successful still photography career, but he had never made a movie before....

via nppa.org

It is so amazing to see a still photographer turn a documentary/investigative story into an Oscar winning film.

Zuni Dancers

Check out my latest audio slide show, now on the New Mexico Magazine website, as well as on my own site. This coincides with my story and photos in the March issue of the magazine on the same subject.

This was a fun subject to work on. The costumes were colorful, the drums were hypnotic and the kids were a joy to work with. They seemed as excited to have me there as I was to be there and I was honored that they allowed me to photograph them dancing in front of Dowa Yalanne, the Zuni's sacred mesa.

Photo Show

   If you are in the Albuquerque area I have some of my work on display at the Rio Grande Credit Union Community Gallery, in the Rio Bravo Branch. There will be a reception tomorrow, Saturday, January 23rd, 10 AM to 12:30 PM. The show continues through March.

Ethics, or Lack of it, in Haiti

I have been watching events unfold in Haiti through two personal lenses: the lens of a photojournalist and the lens of a search and rescue dog handler. I have been to (much smaller) disasters as both--but not at the same time.

I have experienced having to photograph the anguish in another human's face as they realize they have lost everything and sometimes even loved ones. I can't help them except to document their plight and show it to the world.

I have also been to the scene of a flood or tornado in search of missing loved ones. Using the powerful nose of my dog, we locate their bodies--or if we are very lucky--we find them still alive.

When I'm working as a photojournalist, I am outside the police lines. I photograph the rescue workers from afar and interview the survivors. When I'm working as a search and rescue team member, I'm inside the yellow tape, trying to ignore the cameras and concentrating on the important work of finding the missing.

Never once have I taken advantage of my situation and snuck a picture for the newspaper while searching with my dog.

So now you may understand my discomfort when I see this trend on the network news channels where their doctor/reporters seem to have a foot firmly planted on each side of the yellow tape as they minister to the injured and report on their own work at the same time. What happened to good old journalistic ethics?

There is a great story on this subject by Gary Schwitzer, an associate professor in the University of Minnesota School of Journalism & mass Communication, at MinnPost.com. In it he talks about teaching his students about an ethics tool called "the Potter Box, named after Ralph Potter, an emeritus professor of social ethics at Harvard Divinity School. The box has four quadrants, labeled Facts, Loyalties, Values and Principles."

Check it out, it's an interesting read.

Remembering Life Magazine

At the risk of showing my age and yours, I would like to ask; do you remember Life Magazine? THE Life Magazine, not the wimpy re-make that has shown up from time-to-time in recent years. I remember when Life Magazine was a common sight in many households. I remember pouring over photographs of the Kennedy children in the Oval Office and crying over the emotional images of President Kennedy’s funeral. Even as a child, I was impressed by the stunning Black and White photos.

Ask any photographer to name the premier American photo magazine of all time and you’ll probably get one of two answers. He or she will name the National Geographic if they treasure exquisite color travel and nature photography or Life Magazine if they love classic Black and White photojournalism. (When I started out in photojournalism, my hands-down favorite hero was W. Eugene Smith, one of Life’s finest.) I suppose a younger photographer might have a different answer and if you fall into that category, I would love to hear your take on this.

Today, Life and Getty Images has launched Life.com, an online playground for those of us whose memory banks are richly papered with images from Life Magazine. As stated on their About page: "LIFE.com not only lets you wander through the legendary LIFE and Getty archives, but with more than 3,000 new photos added every day, it also gives you the best pictures of the people and places shaping our world now."

Check it out.