© Georgianne Nienaber

Photographers and journalists reporting from the Gulf on the Deepwater Horizon spill are now subject to $40,000 fines and Class D felony convictions if they are found to be in violation of a new Coast Guard directive.

The directive established a 20-meter [65-foot] safety zone around all oil containment boom in the gulf. According to The Deepwater Horizon Unified Command press release, “[v]essels must not come within 20 meters of booming operations, boom, or oil spill response operations under penalty of law.”

In a blog post over the weekend, journalist Georgianne Nienaber argued that  this new regulation effectively prevents photographers from getting near affected areas. “If the Coast Guard has its way, all media, not just independent writers and photographers… will be fined $40,000 and receive Class D felony convictions for providing the truth about oiled birds and dolphins, in addition to broken, filthy, unmanned boom material that is trapping oil in the marshlands and estuaries,” she wrote.

According to the Coast Guard directive, “[t]he safety zone has been put in place to protect members of the response effort, the installation and maintenance of oil containment boom, the operation of response equipment and protection of the environment by limiting access to and through deployed protective boom.”

CNN’s Anderson Cooper also addressed the directive on his television show. The protestations from the press prompted a response from Unified Command that stated, “These 20-meter zones are only slightly longer than the distance from a baseball pitcher's mound to home plate. This distance is insignificant when gathering images. In fact, these zones, which do not target the press, can and have been opened for reporters as required.”

MSNBC also reported on another act of press obstruction by BP over the weekend. Lance Rosenfield, a Texas-based freelance photographer working on a story that is part of a collaboration between PBS and ProPublica, was detained when he took pictures of a BP oil refinery in Texas. According to MSNBC, “Rosenfield…said he was followed by a BP employee after taking a picture on a public road near the refinery, and then cornered by two police cars at a gas station. The officials told Rosenfield they had the right to look at the pictures taken near the refinery and if he did not comply he would be ‘taken in’.”

A response by BP officials claimed that “[t]he photographer was released with his photographs after those photos were viewed by a representative of the Joint Terrorism Task Force who determined that the photographer's actions did not pose a threat to public safety.” Editor-in-chief of ProPublica, Paul Steiger, explained, “[W]e certainly appreciate the need to secure the nation’s refineries. But we’re deeply troubled by BP’s conduct here, especially when they knew we were working on deadline on critical stories about this very facility. And we see no reason why, if law enforcement needed to review the unpublished photographs, that should have included sharing them with a representative of a private company.”

—By Cameron Handley

Related:

The Oil Spill Story Finally Hits Home

Oil Spill Coverage From Local Perspectives

Amazing Footage of Gulf Oil Spill Captured with Canon 5D Mark II

Oops!

Panasonic’s PR department must be kicking itself for releasing this behind-the-scenes video of the making of a new commercial for the Panasonic Lumix G2.

Watch the clip below and you’ll see the Canon 5D Mark II with Canon L-series glass being used frequently throughout the filming of the spot even though the G2 shoots 720p HD.

Truthfully, most consumers — who this camera and the commercial are primarily aimed at — aren’t going to notice (or care) but camera geeks will and the behind-the-scenes footage is already turning up far and wide in the tech blog-o-sphere.

Doh!

UPDATE: Looks like the behind-the-scenes video has been removed. Wonder why.

(Via Photography Bay & CrunchGear)

Toronto-based photojournalist Brett Gundlock, who was arrested by police while photographing G20 protesters over the weekend, says his government-issued press credential was clearly visible to the officers who took him into custody on Saturday evening. A photograph taken by a Reuters photographer at the scene even shows his visible badge during the arrest, he says.

Gundlock also said he held the press badge up and pointed it out to police before he was wrestled to the ground and cuffed with zip ties.

After being charged with obstructing a peace officer and unlawful assembly, Gundlock and a colleague were released on bail. The conditions of Gundlock’s bail prevent him from attending or photographing protests until July 2, and he’s not permitted to go into downtown Toronto until Monday, July 4, he told PDN. He is scheduled to appear in court in August.

Gundlock added that seven photojournalists he knows were arrested or detained over the last weekend, when more than 900 demonstrators were detained. According to reports, the mass arrests are the largest in Canadian history.

Today Gundlock posted some of the photographs he took of the protests on his blog, here. They show violent protesters, vandals and looters, and include a photograph of a police cruiser on fire.

Related: Photojournalists Arrested in G20 Clash

Among the problems facing Africa are war, starvation, disease, and the somewhat myopic media of the northern hemisphere (mostly the US and Europe) that can't see much beyond the human tragedies of the continent.

That, at least, is the view of many Africans, including Victor Acquah, who has just launched AfricanLens.com to showcase photojournalism that tells a broader, more balanced story. Acquah, a US-educated Ghanian who makes a living as a web analytics consultant in the Washington, DC area, is soliciting stories about Africa for his new Web site.

Captivated by the stories about the lives of regular people on The New York Times Lens blog and Pictorymag.com, Acquah went searching for sites that told stories about Africa and Africans.

"I couldn't find one source with a balanced view of Africa," he says, so he started AfricanLens.

"The goal of the site is not to deny or rebut any of the pictures of Africa that are shown," he emphasizes. "There's horror and tragedy, but also vibrancy and culture. AfricanLens is looking to show the complete story."

An admirable goal, but AfricanLens is another labor-of-love photo site that doesn't pay contributors, at least not yet. "I fully understand that most of the interesting stories may come from established photojournalists who may expect payment for their work," Acquah says. Until he can find sponsors to pay contributors, he's settling for any contributions he can get, including work from amateurs.

Another challenge for Acquah is that he had hoped to feature more African voices, but he's finding that many Africans lack the technology–cameras, lenses and internet connections–that they need to tell stories. And African audiences may lack the bandwidth necessary to view the site, Acquah surmises.

In short, challenges abound, but Acquah does have dream, a mission, and a stake in the game, all of which make for a good starting point, at least.

May 19th, 2010

We catch some grief for mentioning Vincent Laforet's name in this blog from time to time (how dare we talk about someone who is making news in the photo industry!) but while watching the season finale of House the other night, we couldn't help but wonder what Mr. Reverie thought of the show considering it was shot entirely with a Canon 5D Mark II.

Laforet's saved us the trouble of calling him up and interviewing him by writing his own blog post entitled "Thoughts on 'House' Finale."

Like us, Laforet thought the episode looked "STUNNING."

But what impressed Laforet more than the performance of the 5D Mark II was the lighting, giving big kudos to House's Director of Photography Gale Tattersall. Read more here.

As a side note, we've received some questions from readers about whether Canon paid Fox to shoot the House finale with the 5D II. According to a Canon spokesperson, that was not the case.

"Canon did not pay or sponsor the show at all," said Len Musmeci, Senior Specialist in Public Relations at Canon U.S.A. "It was their decision to use the 5D Mark II."

If you missed the House finale, you can catch it on Fox's site for the next week.

May 7th, 2010

Ok, this is from that super-cheesy Cheezburger network but worth a look on a Friday. The blog is called "Ridiculous Poses" and it features photos of models in…wait for it…ridiculous poses.

Check out "Manicorn" below.