Most online stock agencies require that your images be submitted in TIFF or JPEG format at resolutions high enough to be printed at A3 or bigger. In order to do this you will have to have shoot the image on a camera with at least 6 megapixel this will give a file size of at least 17MB at 8 bit. You are then required to Interpolate (upsize) your image to at least 48MB before submission. Use Adobe Photoshop CS/CS2 camera raw to open your RAW files. This allows maximum control over the editing process. Camera RAW is a photoshop plugin for CS/CS2.
The difference between RAW, JPEG and TIFF.
RAW files are the camera’s data from the three sensors RGB (Red, Green, Blue) recorded as independently editable data. As the three colour chanels are not combined you have much easier editing capabilities over exposure, contrast, saturation and white balance, than if you had shot in JPEG. Shooting in RAW will also allow you to interpolate your images in Camera RAW allowing you to escape the tedious process of having to upsize using Genuine Fractals. (See appendix: Genuine Fractals). All professional photographers shooting with digital cameras shoot in RAW.
JPEG is a file format used by most point and shoot cameras that combines the three colour chanels and compresses the image using a mathematical algorithim. Most point and shoot camera only allow JPEG files. There is a certain loss of image quality with JPEG compression and it becomes more noticeable the higher the compression ratio. Loss of image quality is a bad thing, which is why we always shoot in RAW.
TIFF files are the same as JPEG except that they do not compress the image and therefore have much larger file sizes. There is no loss of image quality with TIFF files. Images are usually sent into the agency in TIFF format.
Dust, Scratches and Noise
Beware of getting dust in your camera. Today's DSLR cameras have one problem that the manufacturers are working to eliminate. Dust getting onto the sensor. When this happens you get blemishes or spots on your photos that show up especially in the areas of same colour like the sky or someones face. They are very unsightly and must be removed in an image editing program like Photoshop, before you submit to the Stock agency. If you are still shooting film and want to scan your negatives, make sure you scan them at double the resolution you want to save them as. If you want a 50MB file you will have to scan the slide at 100MB to achieve a desirable resolution. Drum scans from a professional output lab are best, but some fine desktop scanners are also available. The Nikon DS4000 is a good choice, the Minolta Dimage 5400 is a better one. These scanners come quipped with DIGITAL ICE a software program that uses the data from the sensors to see where the dust and scratches are and to then correct the image, or in other words, it does all the photoshopping for you.
When scanning slides make sure you have DIGITAL ICE or you will have to spend hours touching up. Digital noise is the effect of colour patterns and texture that show up in images that are underexposed or shot on a high ISO (film speed). Basically these unsightly patterns and textures, that show up in the darker areas of images not badly affected or in all areas of more severe images, are caused by the over sensitivity of the sensor. On long exposures the light enters the camera, hits the sensor then small amounts of it are bounced back onto the back end of the lens to then be reflected back onto the sensor, creating colour and noise patterns and textures. With high ISO settings the same principle applies except it is magnified into a shorter time by the high sensitivity of the sensor. On a slow ISO of 100 with a proper exposure the sensor only picks up the direct light from the subject. Underexposed images can be brought up to the proper exposure but with very severe noise effect.
Each agency will have its own specific requirements, as you may chose to submit your images to more than one agency you will want to have the highest possible image quality as some agencies demand higher quality than others. Always aim to achieve the highest image quality with your digital camera or scans, file sizes of 50-70mb are standard for most agencies.
What kind of camera will I need?
Selling stock photography on-line requires that you have a high resolution camera that has at least 6 megapixels. Cameras with lower resolution create images that when blown up to a large size turn to Jaggies (INSERT JAGGIES IMAGE). DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras are very popular with photography enthusiasts as they allow you to control the many camera functions such as shutter speed and lens aperture as well as the use of different lenses and accessories. They also allow you to shoot in RAW a very important feature for the serious amateur.
Two popular manufacturers of DSLR cameras are Canon and Nikon (chose one or the other, stay away from anything else). One of the best places to buy a DSLR is at Amazon.com. The Canon 400D is a very popular camera having won the prestigious TIPA award for 2005. Retailing at Amazon for $828 this camera is a steal compared to what was available just a few years ago. The 400D uses Canon's acclaimed CMOS technology, for outstanding image quality and 10 Megapixels resolution. This camera has all the image capture power you will need for any stock agency online. It is light weight, easy to use and is full of all the features you will need to take great photographs. It can shoot in RAW or JPEG mode, we always recommend shooting in RAW. More on RAW later.
Quality Lens the most important part of your kit.
The most important part of your camera is the lens. It is the lens that gathers and focuses the light from the subject on to the sensor (film). The quality of the material the lens is made out of determines the quality of the image captured. Expensive lenses refract the light in a cleaner manner, rendering the detail in an image with the highest possible clarity. Cheep lenses tend to make images look blurred or flat. If you are starting out and want to get a great kit, buy a cheeper body such as the 400D and spend more on a decent lens. Today you can find great lenses from third party vendors such as Sigma and Vivitar that cost a fraction of what the Canon lenses cost.
As you may have gathered by now we favour Canon, not saying that Nikon is a poor choice, just that we have been using Canon forever and love them. It used to be said that Nikon was the choice of the top professional, but when they failed to switch to a digital lens mount backing the 80’s they fell behind when the advent of digital hit the market. Nikon make great cameras, Canon make slightly better ones. For entry level the 400D kicks the D40.
And as this is not an expose on what camera to use. Our final words, no matter what camera as long as it meets the minimum pixels count requirements and it not noisy you images will have a good chance of passing the agencies editing processes.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Hong Kong Photographer Stock Photography Royatly Free vs. Licensed
There are two types of licenses for the reproduction of photographs. One is called Traditional License the other Royalty Free. Traditional License means that a license is sold that allows an image to be used in a specific way. The license will stipulate the media of reproduction (book cover, magazine, newspaper or web), the number of copies, the geographical area and the time limit for usage. The license is for a one time usage and any additional usage of the image must be negotiated under a new license. Traditional license allows the photographer to control how their images are used and gives the buyer the added knowledge of knowing where an image they may wish to buy has been used previously. A buyer may wish to obtain complete control of an image and this is known as a buy-out. With a buy-out contract the photographer sells complete copyright of an image.
The second type of license is called Royalty Free and as its name suggests gives the buyer freedom to do with an image as they please. Once a buyer pays for an image they may then reuse it as many times and in as many places as they see fit. The photographer or agency get a one time fee and have no control over repeat use of the image. The only limitation are that the buyer may not resell the image or make reproductions solely for the purpose of selling, like putting it on coffee mugs or Tee shirts.
If a photo buyer knows they can find an image in Royalty Free, either in a CD ‘clip art’ disc or from a subscription stock website, why would they want to pay a higher fee or hire a photographer to shoot what they need. If everyone keeps selling Royalty Free there will come a time in the not too distant future when stock photography will cease to be a viable business. Traditional License is under threat. With a great number of RF images available buyers will start to think that all images are RF and will expect RF rights with all purchases. A photographer who indiscriminately sells RF is selling himself and all his colleagues short. Unfortunately many photographers do sell RF and some even make some money from it. However it is short term one shot money. RF is killing the goose to get to the golden egg. If you want to sell RF and many photographers do, it is custom practice to submit your seconds or outtakes to RF. Do not give your best material to RF. One of the reasons RF exists is that for every good photo created the photographer had to shoot at least 30 others that were not so good. It is these ‘not so good’ photos that end up in RF. Again RF is not good for the photography business. Also if your selling RF don't put travel images in, the volume of sales will never make them work and you will only hurt the next guy.
MICRO SITES AND SUBSCRIPTION SITES – these are sites that sell their images at way below the market value of a photograph. Sites that charge $1 per download and give the photographer $.20 of that. Ask yourself, is my photograph, all my hard work, worth only $.20 Photographers who submit to these sites have no idea of the true value of their work and are selling themselves and the entire industry short.
The average sale at a legitimate online stock photography website is US$100-US$150. How many .20¢ does it take to add up to that. The highest Stock Sale in recent memory was US$42,000...
That is my word on Micro-sites. As a professional photographer with an eye on the future, one can see that Micro sites have only a limited future before the novelty wears off. People will soon realize that pennies a photo ain't the way, when they can have £...
Up next which agencies to work with, which to avoid...
The second type of license is called Royalty Free and as its name suggests gives the buyer freedom to do with an image as they please. Once a buyer pays for an image they may then reuse it as many times and in as many places as they see fit. The photographer or agency get a one time fee and have no control over repeat use of the image. The only limitation are that the buyer may not resell the image or make reproductions solely for the purpose of selling, like putting it on coffee mugs or Tee shirts.
If a photo buyer knows they can find an image in Royalty Free, either in a CD ‘clip art’ disc or from a subscription stock website, why would they want to pay a higher fee or hire a photographer to shoot what they need. If everyone keeps selling Royalty Free there will come a time in the not too distant future when stock photography will cease to be a viable business. Traditional License is under threat. With a great number of RF images available buyers will start to think that all images are RF and will expect RF rights with all purchases. A photographer who indiscriminately sells RF is selling himself and all his colleagues short. Unfortunately many photographers do sell RF and some even make some money from it. However it is short term one shot money. RF is killing the goose to get to the golden egg. If you want to sell RF and many photographers do, it is custom practice to submit your seconds or outtakes to RF. Do not give your best material to RF. One of the reasons RF exists is that for every good photo created the photographer had to shoot at least 30 others that were not so good. It is these ‘not so good’ photos that end up in RF. Again RF is not good for the photography business. Also if your selling RF don't put travel images in, the volume of sales will never make them work and you will only hurt the next guy.
MICRO SITES AND SUBSCRIPTION SITES – these are sites that sell their images at way below the market value of a photograph. Sites that charge $1 per download and give the photographer $.20 of that. Ask yourself, is my photograph, all my hard work, worth only $.20 Photographers who submit to these sites have no idea of the true value of their work and are selling themselves and the entire industry short.
The average sale at a legitimate online stock photography website is US$100-US$150. How many .20¢ does it take to add up to that. The highest Stock Sale in recent memory was US$42,000...
That is my word on Micro-sites. As a professional photographer with an eye on the future, one can see that Micro sites have only a limited future before the novelty wears off. People will soon realize that pennies a photo ain't the way, when they can have £...
Up next which agencies to work with, which to avoid...
What to Look for When Shopping for a Digital Camera
Shopping for digital camera for the first time can be a confusing and daunting experience. With so many models and features from which to select, first-time purchasers often rely upon the advice of a sales person as to which is the best digital camera. Someone who may not be all that knowledgeable about available products and features, or does not know what the main function of the camera will be. All of which are very important.
First-time purchasers also often make the mistake of purchasing a digital camera solely because of its appearance, brand name, or price; without knowing a thing about digital camera photo quality or camera memory.
There is a wiser method of determining which camera to buy. First and foremost, determine the purpose for the camera. Will it be for semi-regular personal use, to take photographs as a hobby, or for professional purposes? Only after determining primary camera use is it time to move on to what specific features are most desirable in a camera.
Digital Camera Resolution
Digital camera resolution is very important. The resolution determines how many pixels make up a photo. The term ‘Pixel’ is short for ‘picture element.’ Each pixel refers to a single point in an image.
Pixels are usually measured in horizontal x vertical resolution. High picture resolution results in a shaper picture. For the most part, higher-end cameras are capable of a higher picture resolution; lower priced cameras usually have a lower resolution capacity.
Because a high resolution camera takes up more camera memory, most cameras allow you to change picture resolution. If you want to e-mail photos to friends, a low resolution such as 640 x 480 work’s fine. If you want to print photos, a high picture resolution is necessary for a clear picture that is not grainy.
Digital camera compression is another important aspect. It is the process that shrinks a photo’s file size. Pictures saved as JPEG files take up less memory space. Compression also makes it faster to save and download photos; it makes it easier to send and download e-mail pictures. However, compression affects image quality.
Because compression causes a small amount of data loss, if you want to take pictures for professional purposes you will want a camera that can take uncompressed photos.
Digital Camera Memory
Digital camera memory equals film to a conventional camera. It is storage space for pictures. If you plan to download pictures from your digital camera directly to a computer or other source, a high camera memory capacity might not be important. However, if you take many pictures at one time without downloading, you will want a camera that has a lot of internal memory, or one with expandable memory so that you can purchase a large-capacity digital camera memory chip or memory card.
These important aspects, along with required power source and connection functions, and consideration of extra features such as an LCD viewfinder, self-timer, built-in flash, and capacity for audio recording – and the price – should all enter into the decision making process when it comes to purchasing the best digital camera for your purposes.
You only other consideration is buying the best quality digital camera you can, within your budget. Persons who will be using the digital camera mainly for e-mail purposes can get away with a used digital camera, or inexpensive model. Where as hobbyists and professionals will want to get the best, top digital camera they can afford.
First-time purchasers also often make the mistake of purchasing a digital camera solely because of its appearance, brand name, or price; without knowing a thing about digital camera photo quality or camera memory.
There is a wiser method of determining which camera to buy. First and foremost, determine the purpose for the camera. Will it be for semi-regular personal use, to take photographs as a hobby, or for professional purposes? Only after determining primary camera use is it time to move on to what specific features are most desirable in a camera.
Digital Camera Resolution
Digital camera resolution is very important. The resolution determines how many pixels make up a photo. The term ‘Pixel’ is short for ‘picture element.’ Each pixel refers to a single point in an image.
Pixels are usually measured in horizontal x vertical resolution. High picture resolution results in a shaper picture. For the most part, higher-end cameras are capable of a higher picture resolution; lower priced cameras usually have a lower resolution capacity.
Because a high resolution camera takes up more camera memory, most cameras allow you to change picture resolution. If you want to e-mail photos to friends, a low resolution such as 640 x 480 work’s fine. If you want to print photos, a high picture resolution is necessary for a clear picture that is not grainy.
Digital camera compression is another important aspect. It is the process that shrinks a photo’s file size. Pictures saved as JPEG files take up less memory space. Compression also makes it faster to save and download photos; it makes it easier to send and download e-mail pictures. However, compression affects image quality.
Because compression causes a small amount of data loss, if you want to take pictures for professional purposes you will want a camera that can take uncompressed photos.
Digital Camera Memory
Digital camera memory equals film to a conventional camera. It is storage space for pictures. If you plan to download pictures from your digital camera directly to a computer or other source, a high camera memory capacity might not be important. However, if you take many pictures at one time without downloading, you will want a camera that has a lot of internal memory, or one with expandable memory so that you can purchase a large-capacity digital camera memory chip or memory card.
These important aspects, along with required power source and connection functions, and consideration of extra features such as an LCD viewfinder, self-timer, built-in flash, and capacity for audio recording – and the price – should all enter into the decision making process when it comes to purchasing the best digital camera for your purposes.
You only other consideration is buying the best quality digital camera you can, within your budget. Persons who will be using the digital camera mainly for e-mail purposes can get away with a used digital camera, or inexpensive model. Where as hobbyists and professionals will want to get the best, top digital camera they can afford.
Do You Have A Passion For People Photography?
Well, I’m sure you have a passion for photography and that’s why you are reading this article.
If you enjoy photographing events and love to take pictures of people have you ever considered photography as a career or even just a means to making some money on the side to pay for your hobby?
Probably the hardest part is getting started. These days it’s probably easier than it has ever been to get into photography as a profession. What with the introduction of digital photography, taking photographs has become a lot easier, sorting and presenting the photographs is also much cheaper and can be made to look a lot more professional, as you don’t have to print any photographs that you are not going to sell, and all your presentation can be done as a CD slide show. Probably the best way to start is to take portraits to get a bit of experience, why not try a bit of event photography to help you to get used to working fast.
Digital wedding photography tips...
· Certainly don’t try any wedding photography until you feel pretty confident.
· Try to get some experience of wedding photography by offering to go out with professional wedding photographer for a few occasions. Offer him the opportunity to use any photographs that you may take as a thank you for the experience.
If you can get proficient at wedding photography you will always be able to earn a bit of extra money. (As there are always more weddings on a Saturday than there will ever be enough wedding photographers to cover them.)
Most good wedding photographers love doing weddings and that’s what probably makes them good. However, some very good portrait and general photographers start to go grey just thinking they may have to do a wedding.
A word of warning! If you find it hard to talk to people, leave wedding photography well alone.
If you enjoy photographing events and love to take pictures of people have you ever considered photography as a career or even just a means to making some money on the side to pay for your hobby?
Probably the hardest part is getting started. These days it’s probably easier than it has ever been to get into photography as a profession. What with the introduction of digital photography, taking photographs has become a lot easier, sorting and presenting the photographs is also much cheaper and can be made to look a lot more professional, as you don’t have to print any photographs that you are not going to sell, and all your presentation can be done as a CD slide show. Probably the best way to start is to take portraits to get a bit of experience, why not try a bit of event photography to help you to get used to working fast.
Digital wedding photography tips...
· Certainly don’t try any wedding photography until you feel pretty confident.
· Try to get some experience of wedding photography by offering to go out with professional wedding photographer for a few occasions. Offer him the opportunity to use any photographs that you may take as a thank you for the experience.
If you can get proficient at wedding photography you will always be able to earn a bit of extra money. (As there are always more weddings on a Saturday than there will ever be enough wedding photographers to cover them.)
Most good wedding photographers love doing weddings and that’s what probably makes them good. However, some very good portrait and general photographers start to go grey just thinking they may have to do a wedding.
A word of warning! If you find it hard to talk to people, leave wedding photography well alone.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Pixel This!
Take your eyes off digital photography for six months and high-tech image making reinvents itself—again. Just in time for the holidays, we bring you the latest revolution in digicams, camcorders, printers, solar chargers, and more.
1. JVC GZ-MG505 - RECYCLE YOUR TAPES
The MG505 records directly to an internal 30GB hard drive that stores up to seven hours of high-resolution wide-screen video. No tapes or discs needed. There are cheaper hard-drive-based camcorders on the market, but none matches the 505's video quality. The secret is a three-chip sensor that splits the incoming signal into three channels of light—red, green, and blue—and records each color separately. Once the drive is full, you download, edit, and store footage on your computer. Bonus: A still mode lets you capture five-megapixel photos on the hard drive or a memory card. $1,300; jvc.com
2. Nikon D200 - SHOOT LIKE A PRO
Trickle-down technology seems more like a flood in this digital SLR, which comes with professional-level features typically found on models that cost three times as much: a high-resolution 10.2-megapixel sensor, a dust-sealed magnesium-alloy body, five-frames-per-second shooting speed, wireless capabilities, a sophisticated 11-area autofocus system, and a battery "fuel gauge" that helps you avoid power failures at critical times. Cameras with this much going on can feel bulky in the hand, but the D200 is amazingly ergonomic and sleek. $1,700 (body only); nikonusa.com
3. Kodak EasyShare V610 - GET CLOSER
Save room in your cargo shorts for this wildlife- and travel-friendly digicam. The 6.1-megapixel V610 takes advantage of a unique dual-lens design to offer the equivalent of a 10x optical zoom, which yields higher quality than a digital zoom and reaches out to an astounding 380mm (film equivalent)—easily enough to capture hippos from a safe distance. Despite its slim, lightweight design, the V610 comes with smart upgrades like a larger-than-average 2.8-inch LCD screen and built-in Bluetooth technology for wireless image transfer. $400; kodak.com
1. JVC GZ-MG505 - RECYCLE YOUR TAPES
The MG505 records directly to an internal 30GB hard drive that stores up to seven hours of high-resolution wide-screen video. No tapes or discs needed. There are cheaper hard-drive-based camcorders on the market, but none matches the 505's video quality. The secret is a three-chip sensor that splits the incoming signal into three channels of light—red, green, and blue—and records each color separately. Once the drive is full, you download, edit, and store footage on your computer. Bonus: A still mode lets you capture five-megapixel photos on the hard drive or a memory card. $1,300; jvc.com
2. Nikon D200 - SHOOT LIKE A PRO
Trickle-down technology seems more like a flood in this digital SLR, which comes with professional-level features typically found on models that cost three times as much: a high-resolution 10.2-megapixel sensor, a dust-sealed magnesium-alloy body, five-frames-per-second shooting speed, wireless capabilities, a sophisticated 11-area autofocus system, and a battery "fuel gauge" that helps you avoid power failures at critical times. Cameras with this much going on can feel bulky in the hand, but the D200 is amazingly ergonomic and sleek. $1,700 (body only); nikonusa.com
3. Kodak EasyShare V610 - GET CLOSER
Save room in your cargo shorts for this wildlife- and travel-friendly digicam. The 6.1-megapixel V610 takes advantage of a unique dual-lens design to offer the equivalent of a 10x optical zoom, which yields higher quality than a digital zoom and reaches out to an astounding 380mm (film equivalent)—easily enough to capture hippos from a safe distance. Despite its slim, lightweight design, the V610 comes with smart upgrades like a larger-than-average 2.8-inch LCD screen and built-in Bluetooth technology for wireless image transfer. $400; kodak.com
Arresting Faces
The faces are "right out of central casting," says Mark Michaelson. For a decade, the graphic designer collected old mug shots—he got them from a retired cop in Scranton, Pennsylvania, from a file cabinet bought at a Georgia auction and stuffed with pictures, and from eBay—until he had tens of thousands. All of them might have remained the personal collection of this self-described pack rat. But with the growing popularity of vernacular, or found, photographs, Michaelson's trove suddenly had wider appeal. This past fall, he exhibited the mug shots in a New York City gallery and published them in a book slicker than an L.A. loan shark.
Michaelson, who has worked at Newsweek, Radar and other magazines, got interested in underworld imagery after a friend gave him a Wanted poster of Patty Hearst. For his collection, however, he avoided famous people and notorious criminals in favor of what he calls "the small-timers, the least wanted." His book is even called Least Wanted: A Century of American Mugshots. It is a sort of accidental tour of the crooked, down and out or unlucky. But because Michaelson, 51, knows little or nothing about most of the subjects, readers have to supply the backstory. "I don't have any more info than what the viewer gets," Michaelson says in a telephone interview from Berlin, where he now lives.
Why, exactly, were the pair of Fresno cross-dressers—clad like modest housewives—arrested on successive Tuesdays in 1963? What sort of upbringing, if that's the word, befell a Pennsylvania boy known as Mouse, who was arrested in the 1940s at ages 13, 14 and 18? We can only wonder. If the pictures are short on detail, they still add up to a vivid, impressionistic archive of American metamorphosis: bowler hats and beehives; Depression-era vagrancy and a 1970s narcotics bust; the arrival of Irish, German and Italian immigrants; the first wave of anti-Communism, in the 1930s, with the accused Communists' mugs mounted on pink cards; and the racism, as in the description of a Missouri man (a "close mouthed Negro who is probably committing burglaries"), who was arrested in 1938 for stealing "several pairs of stockings."
The New York Times called the pictures "a catalog of the human face and the things that can happen to it." But Michaelson is interested in the photographs as pop artworks, too, à la Andy Warhol. To that end, he has blown some of them up to poster size, stamped them with a number and signed his name. A gallery in Rome was scheduled to exhibit those works this past month.
He has also posted a portion of his collection on the photo-sharing Web site Flickr.com, where people discuss and rate photographs. Responding to a shot of a thin-faced, exhausted-looking Minneapolis woman arrested in 1963, one commentator wrote, "She looks [like] a mean one, doesn't she?" Another said, "That's some serious Minnesotan crossbreeding." And another: "We can tell by her lack of make-up, oral hygiene and feminine charms that it most likely wasn't hooking." Reading the comments, one gets the feeling that Michaelson's mug shots encourage a kind of voyeurism, which doesn't always bring out the best in people.
But we are drawn to the photographs by their undeniable authenticity. In this day of flickering instantaneous images and photo-manipulation software, the mugs stare back as rare artifacts. "In an increasingly digital world," Michaelson notes in the book, "the hard copy original is an endangered species." Yet there's something else. The Least Wanted images intrigue us in the way a collection of old passport photos might not. A mug shot captures people at their lowest or most vulnerable. We look hard at their faces, calculating guilt or innocence. And then look harder.
Michaelson, who has worked at Newsweek, Radar and other magazines, got interested in underworld imagery after a friend gave him a Wanted poster of Patty Hearst. For his collection, however, he avoided famous people and notorious criminals in favor of what he calls "the small-timers, the least wanted." His book is even called Least Wanted: A Century of American Mugshots. It is a sort of accidental tour of the crooked, down and out or unlucky. But because Michaelson, 51, knows little or nothing about most of the subjects, readers have to supply the backstory. "I don't have any more info than what the viewer gets," Michaelson says in a telephone interview from Berlin, where he now lives.
Why, exactly, were the pair of Fresno cross-dressers—clad like modest housewives—arrested on successive Tuesdays in 1963? What sort of upbringing, if that's the word, befell a Pennsylvania boy known as Mouse, who was arrested in the 1940s at ages 13, 14 and 18? We can only wonder. If the pictures are short on detail, they still add up to a vivid, impressionistic archive of American metamorphosis: bowler hats and beehives; Depression-era vagrancy and a 1970s narcotics bust; the arrival of Irish, German and Italian immigrants; the first wave of anti-Communism, in the 1930s, with the accused Communists' mugs mounted on pink cards; and the racism, as in the description of a Missouri man (a "close mouthed Negro who is probably committing burglaries"), who was arrested in 1938 for stealing "several pairs of stockings."
The New York Times called the pictures "a catalog of the human face and the things that can happen to it." But Michaelson is interested in the photographs as pop artworks, too, à la Andy Warhol. To that end, he has blown some of them up to poster size, stamped them with a number and signed his name. A gallery in Rome was scheduled to exhibit those works this past month.
He has also posted a portion of his collection on the photo-sharing Web site Flickr.com, where people discuss and rate photographs. Responding to a shot of a thin-faced, exhausted-looking Minneapolis woman arrested in 1963, one commentator wrote, "She looks [like] a mean one, doesn't she?" Another said, "That's some serious Minnesotan crossbreeding." And another: "We can tell by her lack of make-up, oral hygiene and feminine charms that it most likely wasn't hooking." Reading the comments, one gets the feeling that Michaelson's mug shots encourage a kind of voyeurism, which doesn't always bring out the best in people.
But we are drawn to the photographs by their undeniable authenticity. In this day of flickering instantaneous images and photo-manipulation software, the mugs stare back as rare artifacts. "In an increasingly digital world," Michaelson notes in the book, "the hard copy original is an endangered species." Yet there's something else. The Least Wanted images intrigue us in the way a collection of old passport photos might not. A mug shot captures people at their lowest or most vulnerable. We look hard at their faces, calculating guilt or innocence. And then look harder.
A Light in The Darkness
The Japanese photographer Eikoh Hosoe will always be closely identified with his compatriot, the novelist Yukio Mishima. Collected in the 1963 book Ordeal by Roses, Hosoe's intimate portraits of Mishima — with their air of sadomasochism and homoeroticism — have become iconic, and sprang[an error occurred while processing this directive] from an artistic interest the two men shared in the grand themes of beauty and decay, love and hatred, life and death. But while Mishima became obsessed with the latter (famously committing seppuku in 1970), Hosoe was able to tame his darker promptings and channel his creativity toward life-affirming ends. He found satisfaction in teaching — becoming a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Polytechnics in 1975 — while perfecting a photographic style characterized by consummate control of light and shadow. Themes as diverse as the architecture of Gaudi and the fragility of life in a nuclear age informed his work.
Born in the city of Yonezawa in 1933, and obsessed with cameras since buying his first as a teenager, Hosoe is recognized today as one of Japan's greatest and most remarkable photographers. A major exhibition of his work, covering pieces from as far back as the 1960s..
Born in the city of Yonezawa in 1933, and obsessed with cameras since buying his first as a teenager, Hosoe is recognized today as one of Japan's greatest and most remarkable photographers. A major exhibition of his work, covering pieces from as far back as the 1960s..
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