Winter Romance

winter art

Winter! There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you.
Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire - it's the time for home.
You know you are grown up when summer is just a season.

ct-graphics - Winter Romance stock photo - Winter Romance photo print - Winter Romance photograph: "Winter Romance"

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Photographers Denied the Freedom To Choose What They Photograph

Elaine Huguenin co-owns Elane Photography with her husband. The bulk of Elane's work is done by Elaine, though she subcontracts some of the work some of the time. Elane refused to photograph Vanessa Willock's same-sex commitment ceremonies, and just today the New Mexico Human Rights Commission held that this violated state antidiscrimination law. Elane has been ordered to pay over $6600 in attorney's fees and costs.

I haven't seen any written statement of reasons, but the order must implicitly rest on two interpretations of state law: (1) This sort of photography company constitutes a "public accommodation," defined by state law "any establishment that provides or offers its services, facilities, accommodations or goods to the public, but does not include a bona fide private club or other place or establishment that is by its nature and use distinctly private." (2) A refusal to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony constitutes sexual orientation discrimination, which New Mexico law forbids. These may or may not be sensible interpretations of the statutory text. But the result seems to me to likely violate the First Amendment (though there's no precedent precisely on point).

Photography is an art, and Huguenin is an artist. It may not be high art, but it embodies a wide range of artistic choices (especially since she says she takes a "photojournalist" approach, rather than just doing normal staged photos). And though she sells the art to its subjects, that is of course part of a long and continuing tradition in the arts, including painting and sculpture, as well as photography. Certainly many of the works protected by the First Amendment (books, newspapers, movies, and the like) were created for money and distributed for money.

Yet the New Mexico government is now telling Huguenin that she must create art works that she does not choose to create. There's no First Amendment case squarely on point, but this does seem pretty close to the cases in which the Court held that the government may not compel people to express views that they do not endorse (the flag salute case, West Va. Bd. of Ed. v. Barnette, and the license plate slogan case, Wooley v. Maynard).

For whatever it's worth, Huguenin also says she exercises political judgment in deciding what to photograph (for instance, she reports that she refuses to make photographs that put horror films in a positive light, or to take photographs that positively portray abortion, pornography, or nudity, as well as same-sex marriage). I don't think that sort of political selectivity should be required for photographers to be protected as artists, but it seems to me to highlight the scope of the artist's judgment, and the artist's constitutional right to exercise such judgment (just as a bookstore has the right to choose which books to stock).

Consider also a hypothetical analogy: Say that instead of Willock's trying to hire a photographer, Willock was trying to hire a solo freelance writer (or a writer in a two-person freelancing partnership) to write materials for Willock's (hypothetical) same-sex marriage planning company. The writer refused on the grounds that she didn't want to promote such a company.
I take it the law would cover the writer as much as it would cover the photographer (why wouldn't it?). Yet wouldn't requiring writers -- even writers of press releases and Web sites -- to write words that express views they reject violate the First Amendment? And if not, what's the difference between that and requiring photographers to take photographs that implicitly but strongly express views they reject? (Wedding photographs, of course, express views celebrating the event being photographed.)

More about the issue at: volokh.com

and Related Posts (on one page):
Right To Choose Which Photographs You Create:
The ACLU and the Elane Photography Case:
Religious Exemptions and the Elane Photography Case:
Legal Requirements That You Write Things or Create Photographs:
First Amendment and Photography/Writing/Publishing/Book Distribution for Money:
Religious Accommodations and the Elane Photography Case:

Photo of the day:

Colorado Wildflowers

Blooming Globe Flower

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photographer Preston Gannaway has won 2008 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography

Concord Monitor photographer Preston Gannaway has won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography.
The award, announced this afternoon at Columbia University in New York, honored Gannaway's work on a project called "Remember Me," which chronicled the death of Carolynne St. Pierre of Concord and its impact on her family.
The Pulitzers are the premier awards in American journalism. This is the first Pulitzer Prize ever awarded to the Monitor or any New Hampshire newspaper. The Monitor was, by far, the smallest newspaper to win a Pulitzer Prize this year.
Gannaway was part of a two-person team on the St. Pierre project, which also included reporter Chelsea Conaboy. They were invited by St. Pierre and her husband, Rich, to report on matters both medical and personal, in part to provide their children with a documentary of their mother's final days. "Both the written and multimedia stories will provide information and immeasurable comfort, later on in life, when Melissa, Brian, and Elijah begin to search for answers about their mother, Carolynne," Rich St. Pierre wrote last December.
Together, Gannaway and Conaboy spent two years reporting on St. Pierre's death and its aftermath. Gannaway's winning Pulitzer entry included 19 of the photographs she shot, and the Monitor published, last year.
Monitor editor Mike Pride was co-chairman of the Pulitzer Prize board. But because Gannaway was a finalist, he did not participate in the decision on the feature photography award.
Gannaway spent nearly five years as a Monitor photographer, where her assignments ranged from high school sports to presidential politics. Her work won numerous awards. In 2005, for example, she was named New England Photographer of the Year by the National Press Photographers Association. This year, the St. Pierre project won two awards in the prestigious Pictures of the Year International competition.
Before working for the Monitor, Gannaway was a photo intern at newspapers in New Mexico and Maine. She began her career at the Coalfield Progress in Virginia after earning a bachelor's degree in fine art photography at Virginia Intermont College.
Gannaway left the Monitor last month and - after a celebration in Concord today - starts a new job at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver this week.

Prize-winning entry:Multimedia presentation of the series.
Slideshow of the Pulitzer photos.

PDFs of the photos and stories as they appeared in the Concord Monitor:
Part One: Our history being built (Oct. 5, 2006)
Part Two: A sea of grief is coming (Jan. 13, 2007)
Part Three: In the blue room (Feb. 13, 2007)
Part Four: Now we're four (Dec. 8, 2007)
Part Five: Surviving Together (Dec. 9, 2007)

Online versions of the stories as printed in the Concord Monitor:
Part One: Sick with cancer, a mother fights for time (Oct. 5, 2006)
Part Two: 'The sea of grief is coming' (Jan. 13, 2007)
Part Three: She died as she wished -- surrounded by loved ones (Feb. 13, 2007)
Part Four: 'Now, we're four' (Dec. 8, 2007)
Part Five: Surviving together (Dec. 9, 2007)

Read more at cmonitor.com

Picture of the day:

Famous Buildings

24-Karat Gold plated Capitol in Denver, Colorado

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Tamron Announces Ultra-Wide and Tele-Macro Zooms

The 10-24mm zoom is designed to work with DSLRs that have APS-C-size sensors, while the 70-200mm lens can be used on any digital SLR with a compatible mount.
By Aimee Baldridge February 4, 2008

Click to see enlarged views of Tamron's new ultra-wide and tele-macro zoom.

Tamron has announced the development of two new lenses. The SP AF10-24mm F3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) is designed for use with digital SLRs that have APS-C-size sensors, while the SP AF70-200mm F2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro can also be used with full-frame DSLRs. Both lenses have internal focusing mechanisms and will be available with Canon, Nikon, Pentax, and Sony mounts.

The SP AF10-24mm F3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) incorporates an HID (high index/high dispersion) element and two LD (low dispersion) elements to minimize chromatic aberrations, as well as a molded-glass aspherical element and three hybrid aspherical elements to further reduce optical flaws. Tamron also says that the lens design minimizes peripheral light fall-off, and that the lens uses newly developed internal multiple coatings to reduce flare and ghosting. The lens has a minimum focus distance of 0.8 feet throughout its zoom range, a maximum magnification ratio of 1:5.1, and an f/22 minimum aperture. It takes a 77mm filter and comes with a flower-shaped hood.

The SP AF70-200mm F/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro has a minimum focus distance of 3.1 feet throughout its zoom range, a maximum magnification ratio of 1:3.1, and an f/32 minimum aperture. It incorporates three LD elements and internal multiple-layer coatings. The Canon and Nikon versions of the lens have a switch on the barrel for quickly changing between autofocus and manual focus. The lens takes a 77mm filter and comes with a flower-shaped hood and a removable tripod socket. The new lenses are expected to be available later in 2008. Pricing has not yet been announced.

more from By Aimee Baldridge at popphoto.com/
and
Tamron Press Release for SP AF70-200MM F/2.8 DI LD (IF) MACRO
Tamron Press Release for SP AF70-200MM F/2.8 DI LD (IF) MACRO

Picture of the day: Shaggy Fleabanes from the series Colorado Wildflowers



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Disposable cameras: They're not trash, but not exactly treasure either

We sometimes hit the road with not one, but three digital cameras, including single-lens reflex cameras and compact point-and-shoots. But there are situations when putting your expensive gear into the fray may not be the smartest move. That's where a single-use digital camera might be more suitable.
Pure Digital Technologies, credited with introducing the first disposable digital camera in 2003, continues to corner the market on the product. It's the line most local retail stores seem to stock under their own brand. We sought out RiteAid's One-Time-Use Digital Camera ($20), CVS's Digital One-Time-Use Camera ($22) and Ritz Camera's Dakota Digital Single-Use Camera ($19). With the exception of a few cosmetic details, they were identical Pure Digital cameras.
But sometimes it's not all about the equipment. Processing fees and prints make a difference. We wondered: Would a disposable digital camera be up to the job -- and would the resulting prints satisfy?
METHODOLOGY: The camera can hold 25 images and features an automatic flash and a picture preview window, so you can shoot and delete at will. It must be returned to the same retail chain from which it was purchased (the cameras don't work with your home computer). Processing fees include a CD and prints. We shot, returned to the stores and saw what developed.
RESULTS: First, a word on the cameras. They all functioned the same, though the CVS version had a pull tab, which ensured that the battery hadn't been wearing down while it sat on the shelf (a big plus).
In all cases, the picture previews were grainy, and it was hard to tell whether the shot was in focus. But that's a definite upgrade from no preview at all. (Still, our subjects inevitably lost an arm or the top of their heads on our first try; correct framing took two or three tries.)
The automatic flash spoiled close-ups of flowers and seemingly caught every reflective surface possible, even when we considered the light generous enough to deem a flash unnecessary.
For the next generation of disposable digitals (you listening, Pure Digital?), we want an adjustable flash that fires only when the photographer wants it. A zoom would be nice, too, but we won't get greedy.
The comparison really came into play with the processing.
• Our CVS pre-tax tab came to $9.89; the CD offered two sets of photos (small for e-mailing, about 1 by 2 inches at 300 dpi, and large for printing, 4 by 6 inches at 300 dpi), with easy instructions for e-mailing, printing and creating a slide show. At first glance, the prints were fine, but a closer look showed that they were pixelated.
• The photos from RiteAid ($7.25) were awful; one subject's skin tone rendered as a sickly pink and orange, and the images were foggy. The CD came with the same perks as the CVS version.
• Ritz ($11) came through on color, and the images were sharp, but two different computers rejected the CD. Sigh. Ritz replaced the defective CD when we returned it. To e-mail images, you must install the free software on the CD.
CONCLUSION: With two of the three options, the print quality was unacceptable. We'd rather risk our serious gear or forget about picture-taking altogether than use the cameras from CVS or RiteAid. For more pedestrian travels, we'd recommend Ritz Camera's Dakota Digital Single-Use Camera.
Thanks to ANNE MCDONOUGH, Washington Post Service and miamiherald

Picture of the day: Denver, CO City Hall


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