Adventure photographer Jimmy Chin recently shot a feature story for National Geographic about the derring-do of modern day rock climbing, and Renan Ozturk of camp4collective.com made this behind-the-scenes video of Chin at work. It’s full of spectacular views, sweaty palm moments, and insight about how Chin works while dangling from a climbing rope on El Capitan and other Yosemite cliffs.

The Art Institutes, a for-profit chain of colleges that offers degrees in photography and other fields, is training aspiring photographers by the hundreds at locations all over the country, as well as online. Many of the students graduate with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt, and dim career prospects.

The US Department of Justice recently sued the owner of The Art Institutes–Education Management Company–for using illegal recruiting methods to collect $11 billion in government-backed student loan money since 2003. EDMC, which is partly owned by Goldman Sachs, denies the charges.

EDMC owns several chains of for-profit colleges, so The Art Institutes doesn’t account for all the student loan money going into the company’s coffers. But former AI recruiters, career counselors, and students interviewed by PDN say that EDMC and AI are preying on low income students who lack the skills and preparation they need to succeed in college, or who lack the knowledge to explore far less expensive educational options available to them. “You’re really kind of ruining peoples’ lives. There’s no nicer way to put it,” one former EDMC career counselor told PDN.

EDMC see it differently, of course. “We offer a pathway to a higher education for many students who are not being served by traditional higher education,” a company spokesperson said.

The full story is posted here at pdnonline.com.

Students, faculty, alums and employees of Art Institutes programs can post their comments and experiences, or their reaction to the Department of Justice law suit, here.

It’s Friday and everyone here in New York City is more than a little on edge because of this supposed “Storm of the Century” that’s headed our way.

To take our mind off fast approaching Hurricane Irene, we’ve been getting a few laughs from this Tumblr blog entitled “Stocking Is the New Planking” where stock photos are reenacted for fun and general amusement.

We really know what the point of it is but that’s probably the point.

Stay dry, friends.

(Via psfk)

Thanks for your patience. PDNOnline and Rangefinderonline are up and running. And now, we’re told, techy folks are investigating what happened. Curious!

Is the replacement for the Canon 5D Mark II on the horizon?

If there was a vintage year for full-frame digital SLRs, 2008 would have been it.

With four major DSLRs with full-frame sensors (imaging chips that are about the same size as a piece of 35mm film) flooding the market — the Canon 5D Mark II, Nikon D700, Sony A900, and Nikon D3x — and two other full-frame carryovers from late 2007 — Canon 1Ds Mark III, Nikon D3 — 2008 was a banner year for “flagship” pro cameras.

If only every year was like 2008.

Three years on, at the time of this writing, only the Nikon D3 has been replaced with the slightly enhanced D3s. (HD video anyone?) It’s also worth noting that we haven’t seen any full-frame DSLRs released in nearly two years.

(more…)

Last week, photographer Jennifer McKendrick of Indiana County, Pennsylvania discovered that four high school seniors that she was scheduled to shoot for their yearbook had been bullying a fellow student on Facebook. So McKendrick sent e-mails to the students canceling the shoots. She explained why, attached screen shots of the bullying comments they had made–and cc’d the students’ parents. (more…)

In 2012 The Aftermath Project will award a $20,000 grant to a photographer exploring the lasting effects of conflicts on civilian populations. The work of the grant winners and four finalists will be published in the sixth volume of War is Only Half the Story, the book published annually by The Aftermath Project. Applications for the 2012 grants are now being accepted (click here to download a PDF of the application). Applications must be received by November 1, 2011.

In the call for applications, Aftermath Project founder Sara Terry noted that in the project’s five years of existence, “almost all the proposals we have received (with a few exceptions) have been about the dangers of post-conflict situations, full of (warranted) concerns about often depressing conditions. Those are important projects, and I’m proud that we have recognized many of them. But as we enter our sixth year of granting, I would like to add another note to the conversation. For me, from the beginning, covering the aftermath of conflict has also always included an interest in better understanding the human spirit in conditions such as these – I remember being absolutely confounded by the Bosnian Muslims I met who were determined to go back to the homes from which Bosnian Serb neighbors had chased them away (and worse) during the war. I wanted to try to understand where that spirit comes from, how it survives, and perhaps why it offers hope that humanity can rise again despite the most hateful of conflicts.”

The Aftermath Project is funded by donations from institutions and individuals, and does not charge an application fee.

Related stories:
Davide Monteleone Wins 2011 Aftermath Grant

Zuma Press photographer Narcisco Contreras of Mexico and freelance photographer Showkat Shafi of India were beaten by police and government forces, then arrested while covering a violent street protest in Srinigar, Kashmir on August 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports.

Shafi, who has shot for Al Jazeera online and Reuters, reported that he and Contreras were covering a clash between youth protesting Indian rule in the disputed region of Kashmir when police and soldiers charged the crowd, beating protesters and the photographers.  “We were covering the protests, standing on the side of the demonstrators, when the police charged the protesters … we were verbally abused and beaten with bamboo sticks and batons,” he told Al Jazeera.

Contreras said he tried to take shelter in a tailor’s shop. “The soldiers descended there and started beating everyone, including me.”

The photographers were then taken to a police station, along with protesters; according to the photographers and eyewitnesses, they were held for hours. The two have reported that they were beaten while in police custody. Contreras told Al Jazeera, “I repeatedly told them I’m a foreign journalist, but they continued beating me as if I was some criminal,” he said.  A police officer told Al Jazeera that the two photographers were released after they showed their press credentials, and denied that they were beaten.

Responding to reports that the photographers had been beaten, Farooq Khan, president of the Kashmir Press Photographers Association, told Al Jazeera, “Let’s remember that incidents like these have become a routine here.”

Hailey Clauson's lawsuit has provided fodder for a media debate about decency in the fashion industry, but the photographer's failure to obtain a proper model release will likely matter more to the case.

Photographer Jason Lee Parry has earned international attention this week as a defendant in a high-profile, $28 million lawsuit. A 16-year old model Parry photographed in sexy poses when she was just 15 is suing him for licensing the images without a model release. The case has triggered a debate about ideas of decency in the fashion industry. For photographers, however, the case serves as yet another reminder about the importance of obtaining proper model releases.

An image Parry made in March 2010 of a 15-year-old model sitting on a motorcycle with her legs splayed and her crotch in the center of the frame found its way onto t-shirts that were briefly sold by Urban Outfitters and other retailers. The model, Hailey Clauson, who is enjoying it-girl status with campaigns for Topshop and Zara among others, and her parents have filed suit in a New York district court claiming the photographer did not receive permission to license the images of their daughter. In fact, the suit claims that Parry failed to obtain a written model release of any kind.

Clauson and her parents also claim that the image—and others produced on the shoot—defames the model.

The clothing company, Blood is the New Black, which manufactured the shirts, Urban Outfitters, and another retailer, Brandy & Melville N.Y. Inc., are also named in the $28 million suit. The retailers have pulled the shirts from their stores.

The suit claims that Parry styled and posed the photographs of Clauson “in a blatantly salacious manner.” In addition to the image of Clauson on a motorcycle with her legs spread, the suit also points out that images of Clauson possessing beer, and riding on a motorcycle without a helmet, depicted her in violation of state and federal laws. The suit also alleges that Parry’s photos of Clauson in a leather jacket without a shirt, revealing “portions of her breasts,” are “inappropriate.”

According to the suit, Clauson’s parents were shown the images prior to their publication in Qvest magazine editorial. At that time, they claim, they complained about the image of Clauson on the motorcycle and, through Clauson’s agency at the time, Ford Models, instructed him not to publish the image.

The complaint, filed by plaintiff’s attorneys Ed Greenberg and Tamara Lannin, claims that Parry regularly creates images depicting minors in sexually suggestive poses. Parry’s “unconventional” work features “nudity, semi-nudity, sexually suggestive situations involving (only) women and what appear to be underage girls, many with bloody noses if incurred as a result of repeated drug use and/or physical violence.”

The complaint goes on to argue that Parry’s work is “out of the mainstream and unsuitable for publication” in most magazines and other media outlets.

Parry has claimed in a press release and in interviews that he was unaware that Blood is the New Black was using the image on shirts. Parry also claimed, “The photo in question was featured in the model’s portfolio on Ford’s site,” and that Clauson also featured the photographs on her own Web site.

Blood is the New Black, however, claims Parry knew the image would be put on a t-shirt, and that they were unaware that Parry did not have a proper model release.

The plaintiffs are attempting to establish that Parry exhibits a pattern of behavior of exploiting minors sexually in his images, and much of the press the case has received revolves around issues of decency in the fashion industry. It is more likely, however, that the case will hinge on whether or not Parry’s image was properly released for use on a t-shirt. If it wasn’t, as the lawsuit claims, Parry will need to show evidence that he didn’t know the image was being used on t-shirts by Blood is the New Black.

Correction: A version of this article published yesterday incorrectly stated that the filed complaint “acknowledged that Clauson’s parents were present at the shoot.” It does not. The complaint does, however, state that the shoot took place “with the full knowledge and approval of [Clauson's parents] and [her] then professional model management company.” Parry has stated that the model’s father was at the shoot, however he admitted during an interview on Good Morning America that the model’s father was not present when the photograph of Clauson on the motorcycle was made.