The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) has awarded its annual Clifton C. Edom Award to Brian Storm, founder of multimedia production company MediaStorm, the photojournalists’ organization announced today. The award, named for the first head of the photojournalism program at the University of Missouri at Columbia and the founder of the awards now known as Pictures of the Year International, recognizes an individual who inspires and motivates members of the photojournalism community.

NPPA also announced several other awards.

The Joseph A. Sprague Memorial Award was awarded to two recipients:  photographer Charles W. “Chick” Harrity, a former contributor to US News & World Report, and Dennis Dimick, executive environment editor and interim director of photography at National Geographic Magazine.

Jim Estrin, senior photographer at The New York Times and editor of the LENS blog will receive the Kenneth P. McLaughlin Award of Merit, given to those who render “continuing outstanding service in the interests of news photography.” John Harrington, photographer and writer on business issues, received the J. Winton Lemen Fellowship Award for service in the interests of press photography.

A full list of winners and honors can be found on the website NPPA.org.

In Emmanuel Dunand’s photograph of Aline Marie, once can see the reporters gathered behind her. To see a larger version of the image visit NPR’s The Picture Show.

A photograph by AFP/Getty Images photographer Emmanuel Dunand of a woman mourning on the night of the Newtown, Connecticut shootings sparked a bit of controversy and a lot of discussion about journalistic etiquette on NPR’s The Picture Show blog yesterday.

NPR had run the photograph of Aline Marie praying in front of a statue of Mary outside a Newtown church with a story about the shootings. Marie got in touch with NPR to voice a complaint that her very private moment had been interrupted by photographers, and none of them had asked who she was. “I felt like a zoo animal,” Marie told NPR. “No one introduced themselves. I felt violated.”

Marie’s response was measured. She didn’t ask NPR to take down the photograph. And her story ended up on NPR’s blog.

There Coburn Dukehart wrote that he’d spoke with Dunand, the photographer, who said, Dukehart writes, “He thought that leaving her alone [with her grief] was the most respectful thing to do.” Dunand also told Dukehart that AFP did not require photographers to get their subjects’ names when making images in public places.

Getting the name of a subject helps a photographer deliver a more detailed caption that gives editors more information with which to work. This clearly isn’t possible during a fluid situation, especially one that involves large groups of people or takes place in the midst of a conflict. But when a photograph captures an intimate moment, and the power of their image is predicated on the emotion of a single person, being unable to identify that person runs contrary to the feeling of the image.

As one commenter noted: “I’ve been a professional photojournalist for nearly 30 years, and if I ever went back to an editor with that photo and no name, the first thing they would say is “‘nice photo, but we need a name.’”

On the other hand, there were clearly a number of photographers and videographers around Marie. Would she have wanted each one to introduce her or his self? Was it realistic to do so?

What would you have done?

Photo Courtesy Nancy Pelosi/via Flickr

© Cliff Owen/AP

The hand-out photo that the office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi gave to the press yesterday featured all 61 female representatives of the newly sworn in 113th Congress. The problem was: Four of the representatives shown in the photo came late to the photo-op, and were Photoshopped into the photo after the fact. According to Poynter, the doctored photo was uploaded to Flickr and also emailed to news outlets with a note from a spokesperson in Pelosi’s office that said, “Please note this version has the four Members who were late photo-shopped [sic] in.”  The four late arrivals were dropped into the back row of the group photo.

The AP released an undoctored photo of the scene, without the four missing representatives. It was shot by Cliff Owen.

At a press conference yesterday, Minority Leader Pelosi defended the release of a Photoshopped photo. ABC News reports that she said the representatives who posed for the photo were too cold to wait for the latecomers.

“It was an accurate historical record of who the Democratic women of Congress are,” Pelosi said. “It also is an accurate record that it was freezing cold and our members had been waiting a long time for everyone to arrive and … had to get back into the building to greet constituents, family members, to get ready to go to the floor. It wasn’t like they had the rest of the day to stand there.”

Questions linger about this photo doctoring incident, however. Questions like: Why does any news outlet still run hand-out photos, especially when there’s a wire service photographer on the scene? And: Should we trust members of Congress who don’t have the sense to wear coats when they go outside in Washington in January?

Stanley Greene has won the 2013 Aftermath Grant for his proposal to create a new project, “The Rise of Islam in the Caucasus,” The Aftermath Project organization announced today. The Aftermath Grant, worth $20,000 in 2013, supports photographers whose work addresses the legacy of conflict.

In making the announcement, The Aftermath Project noted that Greene is the first “conflict photographer,” as Greene is widely known, to win an Aftermath Project grant. Greene is a member of the photographer collective NOOR Images.

Finalists for the grant include Gwenn Dubourthoumieu, who is pursuing an ongoing project about sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Boryana Katsarova, who is working in post-conflict Kosovo, concentrating on the city of Kosovska Mitrovia; Isabel Kiesewetter, who is working on a project that investigates how former military bases in East and West Germany are presently being utilized; and Martino Lombezzi, whose project examines the impact of the border fence between Lebanon and Israel has on local populations.

Greene’s proposal and those of the finalists were selected from 234 entries from around the world.

The first round of judging for the grant was completed by Aftermath Project Founder Sara Terry and Aperture editor Denise Wolff. Terry and photographers Nina Berman and Eros Hoagland selected the winner and finalists.

The 2013 Aftermath Project grant is supported by The Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Related: Anatomy of a Successful Grant Application
$20,000 Aftermath Project Grant for 2012 Awarded to Andrew Lichtenstein
Look3 Report: Stanley Greene on Luck, Film and Supporting Young Photographers
Eros Hoagland Wins $20K Grant for Conflict Photographers

A French court has decided to put Sipa Press under bankruptcy protection while the photo agency searches for a new owner, according to a report today in Le Journal de la Photographie.

Sipa Press, which was founded in 1973 and has been the French distributor for AP, Rex Features and other international agencies, faced the possibility of a court order to liquidate its assets after it declared bankruptcy in late November. The legendary photo agency was forced to file bankruptcy after its parent company–DAPD, a German media company–ran out of money and declared bankruptcy on October 2 in Berlin.

Two other French-based subsidiaries of DAPD that declared bankruptcy with Sipa Press have been forced to liquidate, Le Journal de la Photographie reports. More details are available on their web site.

Related stories:
Sipa Press Files for Bankruptcy
Sipa Press Founder Goksin Sipahioglu Dies

News photo agency Sipa Press has filed for bankruptcy in Paris, following the bankruptcy of its parent company in Germany in October. The fate of the photo agency–including the possibility of liquidation–will be decided by a French court on December 6, according to Le Journal de la Photographie.

Sipa, which was founded in 1973 and is currently the French distributor for Associated Press, Rex Features and other international agencies, was acquired in July 2011 by DAPD, a German media company. DAPD was established in 2010 with ambitions to compete against more established news services in France and Germany. In addition to the Sipa Press acquisition, DAPD had launched two other companies–Sipa News, a wire service providing both news reports and photos, and French Language Service (FLS), a French-language wire service staffed by journalists formerly with Associated Press in France.

But DAPD ran out of money, and declared bankruptcy in Berlin on October 2. DAPD was one of eight subsidiaries of a larger holding company– HQTA AG–that ran short of cash and declared bankruptcy at the same time. Three hundred employees were affected. The German government has stepped in to pay their salaries, and HQTA says it will lay off 100 employees by December 1.

Meanwhile, the bankruptcy of DAPD left Sipa Press, Sipa News and FLS without enough money to operate, forcing DAPD’s representative in France to declare bankruptcy on behalf of the Sipa group and its owners, according to the report in Le Journal de Photographie. The 127 employees of the three companies have been told their November salaries will be cut in half, and paid in mid-December.

Le Journal de Photographie speculates that Sipa Press will be put under receivership (court-appointed management) and reorganized, while Sipa News is likely to be liquidated.

Sipa Press was launched in 1973 by Goksin Sipahioglu. Along with Gamma and Sygma, it was part of a triumvirate of once-legendary French picture agencies. But all three agencies fell on hard times during the 1990s because of changing technology and markets. Sygma was acquired by Corbis, but was eventually liquidated. Gamma merged with Rapho, another French photo agency, and is now part of an consortium called Eyedea, which was rescued from bankruptcy in 2010.

Related:
Sipa Press Founder Goksin Sipahioglu Dies

A California law meant to impose special penalties on the paparazzi for reckless driving has  been declared unconstitutional by a Los Angeles County superior court judge, according to several news reports.

Judge Thomas Rubinson said the law was too broad when prosecutors invoked it against photographer Paul Raef. The paparazzo was charged with reckless driving last July after a high-speed chase of pop star Justin Bieber’s car.

The law, which was enacted in 2010, imposes extra penalties on anyone who drives dangerously to take photos for commercial gain. It was intended to target the paparazzi, although it could be used to prosecute photojournalists rushing to breaking news events.

The extra penalties include jail terms up to six months and fines up to $2,500. It was signed by former governor (and actor) Arnold Schwarzenegger, and it was supported by several celebrities who have lobbied state lawmakers to pass laws restricting the activities of the paparazzi.

Raef was first to be charged under the law when he chased Bieber’s car on a California freeway last summer at speeds that allegedly exceeded 80 miles per hour.

Rubinson said the law interfered with news gathering activities protected by the First Amendment.

Reaf still faces reckless driving charges and fines that any driver might face, but he’s no longer subject to the additional penalties called for by the photos-for-commercial-gain law.

And the law itself has not been struck down entirely. Rubinson’s ruling on the law applies only to Raef’s case. If prosecutors appeal the ruling to a higher court, the law could be struck down entirely.

© Wyatt Gallery

A print sale fundraiser for Hurricane Sandy relief featuring $50 prints of iPhone photographs from a great list of photographers will take place this Monday, November 19 at Foley Gallery in New York.

Organized by Wyatt Gallery, Michael Foley, Ben Lowy and Ruddy Roye, and curated by Jun Lee, the show includes photos by Lowy, Roye, Gallery, Ed Kashi, Stephen Wilkes, Hank Willis Thomas, Michael Christopher Brown, Craig Wetherby, Yosra El-Essawy, Sam Horine, Nicole Sweet, Dylan Chandler, Brent Bartley, Stanley Lumax and Erica Simone.

Gotham Imaging is printing the photographs for the exhibition. And according to the event page they are working on enabling online purchases for those who can’t make the event.

For more info and to RSVP, check out the event page here:

http://www.facebook.com/events/377613858994356/

UPDATE: Prints from the show are also available for online purchase, here: http://sandyrelief.bigcartel.com/

Fine-art photographer Isa Leshko, a native of New Jersey whose series Thrills & Chills was largely shot on the Jersey Shore, is contributing in two ways to the rebuilding of the area.

She is donating archival pigment prints of her image “The Wave” from Thrills & Chills to a fundraiser organized by the Richard Levy Gallery . From Dec. 4-9th they will be exhibiting at The Miami Project, a new art fair. Richard Levy Gallery is dedicating a wall of their booth to artwork donated by their artists for Sandy relief. 100% of sales go to the Red Cross. Leshko will be selling 4.5 x 4.5 inch prints of “The Wave” for $100.

“The Wave,” © Isa Leshko.

“In addition,” Leshko says, “from now through the end of the year, I will be donating 20% of any income I derive from sales of gelatin silver prints from my Thrills & Chills series to the following two organizations:

1. Architecture for Humanity’s Restore the Shore fund

2. Rebuilding Together

Feature Shoot also assembled a list of other charity efforts, which you can check out here.

UPDATE:

We received word that the folks at Slideluck Potshow are hosting an event on November 20th at White Box Gallery in New York. The event will raise money to benefit charities that are helping members of the Red Hook, Brooklyn community recover. For more info on the event and to RSVP check out the event page, here.

UPDATE:

TIME and online print retailer 20×200 are collaborating on a sale of 12 prints by noted photographers that will benefit six charities in the New York area that are helping people effected by the storm. Joel Meyerowitz, Alfred Eisenstaedt and Stephen Wilkes prints are part of the collection, which was selected by TIME’s photo editors. Prints will be available until December 16. For more info or to purchase a print visit Art for Sandy Relief.

© Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

At a time of cost cutting for media budgets, lots of news organizations imagine that user-generated content can fill the void. But the recent failure of crowd-sourced news photos of Hurricane Sandy, and the shortage of coverage of other climate change-fueled disasters around the world, demonstrate how far we are from truly democratizing the medium of photography. Photographers worry that the lowering of technological barriers means “everyone’s a photographer now,” but in fact, the number of people who can take and share news photos is still limited by economics, infrastructure and geography.

Now that news organizations have quit crowd-sourcing instantaneous images of the approaching storm, we are seeing enterprising professional photojournalists who are focused less on flooded tunnels and wrecked cars, and have been seeking out the less obvious stories behind the slow process of rebuilding, rehousing the displaced, and supporting those underserved by relief efforts. (The New York Times photographer Ruth Fremson’s November 2 coverage of people coping without power, elevators, heat or  a sense of security on the upper floors of public housing projects is one example.)

Among the critics of the media’s immediate response to the storm, photographer Kenneth Jarecke  and Prison Photography’s Pete Brook  (who gathered a round-up of storm coverage) seem most irked by the poor quality of many of the images editors chose to publish (by professionals commissioned to shoot on iPhones and by amateurs).  “Most of the photographs are REALLY bad,” Jarecke wrote. “It’s history. It changes people’s lives. You’re not allowed to make excuses or drop the ball, but sadly most of you did.”

As a New Yorker who was seeking up-to-date information about friends and loved ones the day after the storm made landfall, I’ll forgive esthetic lapses in favor of timely and useful information. The problem was, amateur photographers don’t seem to know how to write captions, and they lack  journalistic instincts.

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Retired Associated Press shooter Walt Zeboski, who photographed Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign as well as many other people and events for the wire service, died at the age of 83 on Monday at his home in Sacramento, the AP reports. The cause of death was pneumonia.

Zeboski joined the AP staff in 1966. Over more than three decades he covered California politics and politicians. Among other subjects he photographed were labor leader Cesar Chavez, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme (who attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford in 1975), and Queen Elizabeth during her 1983 visit to Yosemite National Park.

More details are available in the AP obituary for Zeboski.