David Hobby
David Hobby is a 20-year career newspaper shooter. He studied photojournalism at the University of Florida and has worked for the Leesburg (FL) Commercial, the Orlando (FL) Sentinel, UPI, and lots of other publications as a freelancer/stringer/intern. He has been a staff photographer at Patuxent Publishing (Columbia, MD) from ’88-’99 and at The Baltimore (MD) Sun. He currently shoots editorial and institutional assignments.
On his blog, Hobby is simply known as the The Strobist. His posts are focused on learning how to use off-camera flash to take your photos to the next level. Or the next ten levels. There is so much great information on this site, I wouldn’t begin to be able to summarize it all here, but if you’re interested in low-budget lighting with hand-held off camera flashes, this blog is your one-stop-shop. From sharing the inspirational work of others, to reviews of the latest flash gear, to a basic intro to lighting, you’ll only find the best advice and knowledge regarding lighting for photojournalists.
The Strobist blog could be thought of as a lighting idea bank, run by and for the most enthusiastic DSLR photographers. According to the site, there are over 250,000 regular readers, and the discussion group has more than 40,000 members, all of them sharing ideas and techniques for small-flash lighting. Check out the latest posts (updated automatically):
- On Assignment: Back to the Well
- Q&A: Photek Softlighter II or Paul Buff PLM?
- Readers Shoot Back: Vivian Chung
- Lighting In Layers on Lynda.com
- HCAC: Soprano Rebecca Hargrove
Pat Davison
Pat Davison has held staff positions at major U.S. newspapers and freelanced for dozens of magazines over the two decades he’s been a photojournalist. Davison is now a professor at the University of North Carolina where he combines teaching with photography and multimedia projects. Being a prof doesn’t keep him from shooting though, as he still takes assignments and sells prints of his work. He has a slew of awards under his belt, but most noteworthy is that Davison shared the Pulitzer Prize in News Photography in 2000 with the Rocky Mountain News photo staff for coverage of the Columbine High School tragedy.
Davison’s blog, Carolina Photojournalism, is not so much about his personal work (which you can find on his website) as it is a place to show off the work of his students, from beginning to advanced. It’s also a place to find out about the latest amazing multimedia project the students have done, like covering the Special Olympics live, documenting life in southern Thailand after the 2004 Asian tsunami, or documentary storytelling in the Galapagos. The multimedia projects are a truly amazing time of learning for students. I know firsthand from the 2005 project in Santiago de Compostela, Spain that I was a part of while at Carolina where I got to photograph the ancient tradition of caring for wild horses called “a Rapa Das Bestas”.
If you’re in the Chapel Hill, North Carolina area it’s definitely worth checking out a photonight on the first Tuesday of every month where you can hear from photographers like Antonin Kratochvil, Kristen Ashburn, Chris Rainier and many other known and unknown photographers (photonight is where I was first exposed to the work of Vincent Laforet). Finally, if you can’t tell already, I studied under Davison from 2005-2006 and found him to be a truly inspirational teacher, mentor and friend.
View the latest posts (updated automatically):
Also, Pat asked me to make sure that Chris Carmichael gets credit for being the one who updates the Carolina Photojournalism blog.
Tewfic El-Sawy
Egyptian-born Tewfic El-Sawy is best known on the internet as The Travel Photographer. Now residing in New York, he’s a freelance photographer who specializes in documenting endangered cultures and traditional life ways of Asia, Latin America and Africa. What’s perhaps most interesting about El-Sawy is that he invites others to join his photo expeditions on a referral/friend basis. He then shares the experiences on the blog, like a recent trip to Theyyams of Malabar, going over the hotels, the route, what worked and what didn’t and how he’d do it differently next time. El-Sawy also shares lots of great links to other work that interests him on his blog, like a WSJ photo of a burqa-clad woman walking in an old Kabul bazaar, or The Boston Globe’s Scenes From Pakistan. He shares insight on how the shot was probably taken and any experience he’s had with that area. It’s an amazing resource for any travel photographer, or anyone else who needs some inspiration. Check out the latest posts (updated automatically):
- Sufi Saints Photo Workshop | A Thought
- Sufi Saints Photo Workshop | Back In Delhi
- Sufi Saints Photo Workshop | Srinagar Two
- Sufi Saints Photo Workshop | Srinagar
- Sufi Saints Photo Workshop | Delhi Again
Shawn Rocco
A photojournalist with the Raleigh News & Observer in Raleigh, NC, Shawn Rocco searches for storytelling moments amidst the grind of daily photojournalism assignments. Never lacking in inspiration, and with the help of his camera phone he captures his personal thoughts about assignments and other random things that you get to witness as a photojournalist. I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with Shawn over a beer and darts at a UNC Photonight and running into him on assignments, and I can say he’s a great guy to be around. Check out his camera phone blog called Cellular Obscura. Here are some of the most recent posts (updated automatically):
- come on over
- Showtime at The Ackland
- Site redesign and migration
- Boylan Heights ArtWalk time again!
- Honorable mention at photoSpark
Andrea Bruce
Andrea Bruce is an Indiana native and an alumna of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After shooting as a staff photographer for The Concord Monitor and The St. Petersburg Times, she joined the staff of The Washington Post where she began to chronicle the world’s most troubled areas. She has won many awards for her work, including top honors from the National Pictures of the Year competition, the White House News Photographers Association (where she has been named Photographer of the Year three times), and the prestigious John Faber award from the Overseas Press Club in New York. (Bio taken from Bruce’s website: www.andreabruce.com)
Currently based in Baghdad, Bruce writes a weekly column for The Washington Post called Unseen Iraq. Her column, which is displayed in blog format on the Washington Post website, shows some very different aspects of life in Iraq which are truly “unseen”. After viewing the images alone I got a more complete picture of life in Iraq–you won’t find the usual gloom and doom. The writing is very creative and easy to read, as one commenter notes:
Many of these posts are like poems. I have, for a few years now, read the blogs of Iraqis and researched the country for a film about Iraqi refugees, and Andrea Bruce’s articles and photographs are the most insightful and touching I have found anywhere about everyday life in Iraq.
We don’t know how long she’ll be based in the Middle East, but while she is we can all enjoy a fresh and inspiring perspective on life in Iraq. Check our her latest contributions (updated automatically):
Vincent Laforet
Vincent Laforet is perhaps best known for his aerial photography, which got a lot of attention after he published striking aerial images of hurricane Katrina’s devastation in New Orleans in the New York Times. I was privileged enough to hear him speak at The University of Chapel Hill’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication about his time in New Orleans, and I even scored a portfolio review with him (later that night I got into a wreck on my bike, so I think I forgot most of his advice). I remember being blown away by the beautiful graphic nature of his images and wanting very badly to be in a helicopter photographing myself.
On his blog, http://blog.vincentlaforet.com, he shares highlights and previews from current projects he’s working on as well as stuff that inspires him. He is obviously a lover of gadgets and shares a lot about his equipment, software and general work flow. In fact, he’s a member of Apple’s “Aperture Advisory Committee” and a Canon “Explorer of Light” and “Printmaster”. I’m not really sure what all of that means, but I think it means he gets access to lots of free goodies, and gear that hasn’t yet been released. Before the Canon 5D Mark II was released, he got to test it out and give feedback, and posted HD video samples shot with it. His posts on that actually helped me decided to upgrade to the 5D Mark II because my original 5D had been stolen, along with my HD camcorder, so naturally the Mk II was a viable option. He’s got some great tutorials and tips on using the 5D Mk II, like this one and this one. He often shares behind the scenes video from his projects that are extremely helpful for photojournalists and generally interesting for anyone else.
Check out the latest posts from Vincent Laforet’s Blog (updated automatically):
- Two Pretty Amazing shots with the MōVI and the RED Epic Infra Red in 5K
- Quick Note: Technicolor Color Assist now supports Apple’s Final Cut X
- MōVI: This should help me with all the questions I’ve been getting…
» Next Entries