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I actually managed to see the “Hey Hot Shot” exhibit this week. Its pretty good, although I did spend more time looking at framing than images (probably due to my upcoming thesis show). If you haven’t visited the 20×200 site for a while, you should take a look and see what’s selling and what isn’t. The photographs are moving quicker than the drawings or printmaking, especially Andrew Hetherington’s (of What’s the Jackanory) print of a cow that apparently nearly sold out in 8 minutes last week.

I like a lot of the work shown on the website and would even considering buying some prints if I had more money (or a real job). Justin’s friend Kate had a show of her Obsessive Consumption at the gallery and has a few prints on the site. Her drawing is only half sold through, but her photograph has only one $2000 print left.

Thinking of my upcoming thesis and my fascination with framing choices and print sizes, I found this next image an interesting example of how print size can be important. I can’t decide if my prints should be 16×20 or 20×30, or even a variety of sizes based on the image. Most images on 20×200 seemed to have sold through the cheaper size first. This one has no $200 13″x20″ left and 56 $20, smaller size remaining. I would certainly rather have this image in 13×20.

And this image had totally sold out from Carlo Van de Roer who also has some nice work on his website here.

Although it is a kind of interesting new way of working with Video (ignoring phrases like “space time fusion algorithm,” and “novel multi-view stereo technique.”). Kind of like HDR photo’s, but in a moving image. See their website here and the gizmodo post here.

Using Photographs to Enhance Videos of a Static Scene from pro on Vimeo.

I remember watching airwolf as a kid in England and thinking that the actor who played Dominic Santini was old back then in the ’80’s. Well, he’s still kicking and has 3 movies set for release in 2009, including one called Death Keeps Coming! An appearance he made on breakfast television made it onto The Soup this weekend.

And speaking of the soup, here is a video (from their blog) of how they would prefer the Olympics to look. I would agree that all of the running, jumping and swimming around is kind of boring.

And instead of Time magazine having something from the Olympics or the attacks in Georgia as their most popular story, it seems their readers were more interested in spray on contraceptives. It never ceases to amaze me that sex will sell above any other news.

Watch this tonight on PBS at 10pm EST “Documenting the Face of America,” a film about Roy Stryker and the F.S.A. photographers that airs tonight at 8 PM on PBS. Time’s “Looking Around” blogger Richard Lacayo is back from vacation and already keeping us in the know! I appreciate his assessment of Annie Liebovitz’s photography “Most of her pictures strike me as ingenious and all too efficient in the way they wrap up a celebrity into some high pitched version of the familiar package that they are. They tell us what we already know and they tell it to a T.”

Being back at work and not incredibly busy, I have been browsing through the usual blogs and photo websites that I have bookmarked. There has been some interest in this site that shows a large amount of student work from the UK. I didn’t really find anything too amazing there, but enjoy reading the always verbose and often cliche artists statements. I have however greatly enjoyed reviewing the work included in Seesaw online magazine much more. They have a great page of links to other British photography based websites.

“Country Schools, Estonia” by Katrina Tang

“Terminus Riga, Latvia” by Iveta Vaivode

“Little Chef, England” by Liam Eyers

Ben, Justin, Woojin and Ensouk at Rye Playland beach on July 20, 2008 in Rye, New York. (Photo by Unknown)

The view when leaving work for the Vitamin Water Party on July 14, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Ben Hider)

Ben enjoying the sunrise at the Pratt Studios on July 14, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Ben Hider)

From the cult online comic strip what the duck. But is it really very funny (or a little close to home?). Popphoto.com posting with more details, here.

The James Brown estate is taking Corbis to court under the ‘right to publicity’ law as they believe their archive should own the images it allows people to use. The Brown estate argue that because Corbis charges for the images, it too must seek permission, and they are in effect challenging the archive’s fundamental business model. The Brown estate has just gone under auction at Christie’s and made either his state or his trust $857,688. (Paul Shaffer bought his medical bracelet from the day he died for $32,500)

“The right of publicity is the right to your image and your voice and other personal characteristics. And you are protected from the commercial use by somebody else of your image. It’s a little different from copyright. You can copyright a song, you can copyright a movie — that is a tangible work of art. … But rights of publicity are quite different,” said one of the laywers

If a photographer takes a photograph, the photo is an original work and it’s protected by copyright. But the subject of that photo must grant permission before it is used on a product like a T-shirt or a mug. Celebrities typically charge a licensing fee for that use, like Jessica Alba’s baby (called Honor) photos for OK magazine which she is thought to have been paid $1.5 million by them for exclusive rights. The “right of publicity” is currently a law in 19 states.

It seems to me that this is one of those stupid celebrity complaints case. If you don’t want to have your picture taken, or even have little mustached men with long lenses hiding in your bushes, then don’t become famous. Funnily enough I don’t seem to have this problem. I know I freelance for a celebrity photo agency, but that doesn’t change my opinion. When you place yourself into the public eye and enjoy the money and fame that comes with being an actor, then accept that some people are going to gain financially from your image. I think it is great that people like Jessica Alba have worked out that they should cut out the middle man (ie. Wireimage, Retna, Getty Images, Corbis etc…) and go straight to the magazines. Now I just want to know how much the photographer got paid!

Photoshelter Day has been announced and it includes aphotoeditor blogger Rob Haggert on July 20th at 7pm. They’re also showcasing the new Nikon D700 for the first time. Here is the days schedule.

From the press release -

PhotoShelter Inc., the leading online destination where more than 37,000 photographers sell stock photography and access powerful solutions for e-commerce and image storage, today released the full speaker agenda for its Shoot! The Day gathering in New York City on July 20, 2008, and revealed a special treat for attendees from title sponsor Nikon, who will introduce to participants its recently announced D700 FX-format (23.9 x 36mm) digital SLR camera. The day’s event will also include an in-depth look at the creation of a national ad campaign that utilizes stock photography in a case study delivered by Rachel Rein, Art Buyer at ad agency Hill Holliday, New York.

Shoot! The Day, a worldwide event designed to revitalize the stock photography industry, will mobilize thousands of photographers across the globe to connect, take pictures and learn. Billed as a free day of demos and dialogue, the New York City gathering will take place from noon to 7:00 p.m. at Shoot Digital Studios and will include a full afternoon of keynote speakers and panels. In one studio, magazine photo editors, ad agency art directors and art buyers will share their stock photography insights with attendees. A second studio will contain speakers focusing on best practices in photographer technique, workflow management and business success. In the third studio attendees will be able to meet representatives and demo products from top equipment manufacturers, service providers and industry organizations.

I am a few days late posting this (or this) as I have been trying to enjoy my last few days before this full week of work. Getty has cut another deal, this time with flickr. They are using the website as a resource to have more access to more images so that they can rule the image ownership world. Getty is going to be hauling through flickr to try find photographers work that they like so they can get them to sign a contract and feature the work in a special Flickr on Getty portfolio. Flickr has over 2 billion images - good luck editing some good work out of that! Here is an interview with the almighty CEO Jonathan Klein.

From PDNOnline:

Getty Images says it will launch a collection of stock images by photographers recruited from the Flickr photo-sharing site. The Flickr-branded collection is the fruit of a strategic partnership between Getty Images, the biggest stock picture agency, and Flickr, a Yahoo!-owned site frequented by millions of digital photo enthusiasts. Over the next several months, Getty editors will invite select Flickr photographers to contribute some of their work to a new collection that will be available on gettyimages.com. Flickr will not be a party in the licensing and will not take a cut of the fees.