David Sanger Photography

Getting the shot in Shanghai

david sanger — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:50:16 +0000

Focus. Concentration. Iconic. Impact. Travel images work best when they communicate simply and directly with the viewer. Making a simple picture, however, is often more difficult and time-consuming than taking a complicated photo. The difference lies in the process of engaging with the subject — a culture, city or location — over a long period of time until you find out what to shoot and what to leave out.

Shanghai is a fascinating mix of super-modern, cutting- edge architecture and a traditional cultural sensibility dating back thousands of years. The city presents itself as crowded, chaotic and fast-moving, day and night. For the first few days of a week-long shoot I focused on capturing the obvious landmarks: the Pudong skyline across the Huangpo River from the Bund, crowds on Nanjing Road’s busy shopping promenade, market stalls, noodle and dumpling shops, the steady flow of river boats and early morning tai-chi practice.

Working a city is always a similar process for me. There’s a gradual shift from the obvious to the subtle, from cliché shots to more uniquely seen images. Once the everyday shots are taken there’s time to wander and see what appears next. Sifting through the onrush of perceptions and sensations, I gradually become aware of key iconic themes that can speak more simply of the experience of a place and a people.

In Shanghai I wanted to show the traditional religious and spiritual basis of the culture, now re-emerging since the opening of China to the West. Beneath the frantic 21st- century world of commerce and business is a deeper flow of traditional culture, still vital after all the upheavals of the last century. Several Buddhist temples are open to tourists. I chose the large complex of Longhua Si on the outskirts of the city. I arrived just after sunrise on a Sunday while residents were still coming in for morning practice and meditation.

(Also published in SATW traveler. Thanks to Christine Loomis for editing help. )

(yes I know the same image was used in the post on Creating Value in Travel Photography. Sorry, it just worked out that way.)

Waves

david sanger — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:23:17 +0000

This timeless and tranquil image of waves was selected by the book designer for the title page of my San Francisco Bay book with John Hart. As a counterpoint to many of the bold and colorful landscapes in the book, this simple closeup shot – fluid, undulating and without reference to land – conveys the simplicity of water which fills the Bay. The image was shot with a 200mm lens from the deck of a party boat after an all-day sturgeon fishing expedition in San Pablo Bay

Photographers work for Haiti Relief

david sanger — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:28:23 +0000

Tuesday afternoon, just before 2pm PST, the 7.0 quake hit Haiti leveling much of Port au Prince. Not content with texting a contribution, San Francisco photojournalist Lane Hartwell wanted to do more. Why not produce a magazine as a fundraiser?

Two days later, Thursday evening at 11pm Lane tweeted that the 40-page color magazine Onè Respe, with images and stories of Haiti, had been edited, designed, printed and published. Online orders would ship immediately with proceeds going to the American Red Cross.

How did this happen so quickly? and what does it mean for the future of print photojournalism and humanitarian efforts?

“My first instinct was to want to go there and shoot,” said Lane, “but that wasn’t possible.” “How can I help?” she asked. The next morning the answer came. She’d been aware of HP’s print-on-demand magazine project MagCloud and had worked with consultant Derek Powazek in the past. ”Let’s do a MagCloud magazine,” she thought. A few phone calls and Derek was on board, offering to design the layout and shepherd the project to completion. HP discounted, and then donated all the printing costs.

Fellow photojournalist Peter Pereira and Lane had kicked around the idea of a magazine and he had been in Haiti in November. He quickly agreed to contribute an essay. The idea of images of Haiti before the earthquake was appealing. Seeing the real life of the people of Haiti could be educational, and give a feeling of hope rather than despair.

By Wednesday afternoon the project had taken on a life of its own. Working with partner and co-editor Michael Biven, Lane put word out on Facebook for photographers with images of Haiti. Things were happening fast. Newspaper staff photographer Chet Gordon, who works with NGOs, had shot in Haiti in 1993 and sent scans of Port au Prince street scenes.

what else is there to say?
Originally uploaded by LindsayStark

Lane also searched Flickr and found a strong portfolio of Haiti portraits by Lindsay Stark, a researcher, photographer and aid worker with Columbia University’s Group for Children in Adversity.

The last piece seemed like a long shot. Lane had had a portfolio review with Mary Ellen Mark and kept in touch with her, so wrote asking if she’d like to contribute. “Of course,” was the reply. “I feel honored to give an image.” Her image, an ethereal black and white of Mother Teresa giving communion to a nun, was specifically chosen to give a message of hope, compassion and charity.

Once the images were gathered, uploaded, and edited, the layout was designed in pdf form and sent up to the printer. Forgoing the normal print proof, the team reviewed the final version online and by Thursday evening the full 40 page issue was ready for HP’s Indigo printers. Online orders, paid by credit card, started shipping immediately. Mine arrived in two days by US Post. The color is sharp, the paper good quality, though not brilliant, and the color wraparound cover of a schoolboy at a desk is strong and poignant.

After the rush to create came the hard work of publicity, but with coverage from bloggers, Wired magazine, the New York Times, and donations from Moo Cards the word spread.

With all the emphasis on online, it might seem surprising to put such effort into creating a print publication. Online is more immediate, but the attention span is short; people donate, and move on. A print magazine is tangible, so fundraising becomes a two way street. People give generously to relief efforts; they receive in return a window into the actual life of the people of Haiti, not disaster images, but photos of children and families, of day-to-day life and work, of what it is like to live in the country. The magazine is something they can keep, and pass around. Months from now, when the daily news has moved on, the images will still inform and inspire.

The quick turnaround from MagCloud offers photographers, not just photojournalists, new options for presenting their work and telling their story. There are no up-front costs. You can update the layout and add or change images at any point. In addition to humanitarian fundraising, magazines could be a revenue source to support ongoing projects, or simply another avenue for publicity and marketing. No doubt we’ll see more issues from MagCloud as photographers experiment with this new outlet.

If you haven’t ordered a copy, please do so. The price is $12, all of which goes to the American Red Cross International Response Fund for Haiti relief (plus US postage). You might even order several and give one to your community library.

Prague Moon

david sanger — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:00:41 +0000

Prague has an ethereal, dreamy tone to it at times. The cobbled streets, the restrained excitement of the crowds, the busy shopping streets, and yet an understated satisfaction at simply being a new, brisk and energetic European city. In the summer is is bustling. full of movement. Yet after sunset, when the hawkers leave the Charles Bridge and the trams have carried the commuters home, a quiet settles on the Vlatava River. The same quiet deepens until the still hour before sunrise.

To get an overview of the river with the full moon over the rooftops, I climbed the ramparts of the park opposite Hradcany castle. The pink glow came and went quickly. It always does..

Something about the pallet of the digital medium lends itself to this scene. There’s a historical air about it, reminding me of a painting

Clearing Storm

david sanger — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:38:59 +0000

After five days of rain in San Francisco the sun has finally come out, for a brief while; more storms on the way however. The moments when light breaks through the clouds are always special for photographers, as in this image from high on Chimborazo volcano in Ecuador. The moments are fleeting but they lift the spirits.

Photographing the Golden Gate

david sanger — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:10:43 +0000

Beneath the gnarled pines of the headlands of the Golden Gate, rank upon rank of whitecaps roll in across the Pacific Ocean. With a muffled roar they spend themselves in a surge of foam on the rocks and sands. A foghorn croons in the mist-laden air, warning mariners passing the narrow strait into San Francisco Bay. Along a winding trail on the cliff’s edge hikers and mountain bikers pass over the hilly terrain. For over two hundred years the broad bluffs at the tip of the San Francisco peninsula have protected the approach to the Bay. Now they are home to the country’s largest urban national park, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. For day hikers and photographers alike, the park is a wonderful place to explore nature just a stone’s throw from the city.

For a story on the GGNRA I wanted to show the rugged outer shore at the north end of Baker Beach, right at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. I had scouted this location before, on a foggy morning, and decided the best light would be when the low angle rays of sunset illuminate the bridge with a warm glow from the west. Returning on a clear evening just before sunset (when the tide was low), I scrambled down a rough cliffside path and set up my tripod on the tiny sandy beach. The heavy Manfrotto tripod secured my Nikon and wide-angle lens safely above the waves which lapped the shore.

Composing a scene which balanced the graceful arch of the bridge with the rough rocks of the shore, I set my aperture to f/22 for maximum depth of field, to get both the rocks and the bridge in focus. This gave a long exposure – several seconds – to give the incoming waves a light, silky look. At the last moment a solitary seagull settled on the rock so I quickly reframed to include it., and then took a dozen shots, varying the exposures.

Although many national parks are in remote wilderness areas, it still amazes me that this beach is less than nine miles from San Francisco’s downtown Financial District. Sometimes the most wonderful and inspiring vistas are literally “in our own backyard.”

Beware of Photo Contests

david sanger — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:41:31 +0000

Barbados, Boys running on beach: Frommer’s Caribbean Guide 2009

The cover of a travel guidebook is key to its success. Publishers have always put a lot of effort into picking just the right image to sell a book and its destination, and have paid well for the usage. That is, until now.

Rather than pay established rates of a thousand dollars or so from a stock agency or established pro, one leading company, Wiley Publishing, has now moved to crowdsourcing images for the cover of a Frommer’s guide. They have announced a photo contest, sponsored by Air New Zealand, and aimed squarely at amateur and semipro photographers. The winner will get $5000 and their photo on the cover of a Frommer’s guide.

What’s the catch? Five grand sounds like a handsome payment.

The catch is very simple. Read the rules!. Not only can Wiley publish the winning image. They can also publish every single image submitted to the contest by every contestant, in any of their books, forever, all without any payment whatsoever. So they aren’t paying $5K for one image, but for thousands of images.

As an added catch, not only are contestants required to relinquish publishing rights forever (albeit non-exclusively), but they must agree to indemnify Frommer’s (i.e. pay all their legal bills) if there is any question whatsover about the image later on. Not even pros do that.

Here’s the legal details:

License: Participant retains ownership of the copyright in any submitted photographs. However, by entering photograph(s) in this Contest, participant grants Sponsor the irrevocable, perpetual right to edit, adapt, use and publish in any media now known or hereafter discovered any or all of the photographs without compensation to the participant, his or her successors or assigns, or any other entity. ENTERING A SUBMISSION IN THIS CONTEST CONSTITUTES PARTICIPANT’S IRREVOCABLE ASSIGNMENT, CONVEYANCE, AND TRANSFERENCE TO SPONSOR OF THE FOREGOING RIGHTS. Photograph(s) shall be given attribution credit based on the name supplied with submission. The winner shall work with Sponsor to change the file in any way deemed necessary for publication of the photograph(s). The participants shall supply, upon request, original, unmodified digital files.

and

Participants… waive and release, and agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless, Sponsor,all contest and advertising agencies, and their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, distributors, and all of their respective officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents, and their respective successors and assigns (the “Indemnified Parties”), from and against, any and all rights, claims and causes of action whatsoever that they may have, or which may arise, against any of them for any liability for any matter, cause or thing whatsoever…..arising in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from…. the use of the photograph….

Photographers who are tempted to participate should stop and think if this is a risk they want to undertake. Like several other rights grabs which have surfaced recently, this contest is no contest at all. At the very minimum Wiley ought to pay for whatever images they use in any of their books, and adjust the onerous indemnification terms.

Photographers who wish to complain can find Frommers Travel on Facebook and on Twitter at @frommerstravel .

California State Parks Funding Initiative

david sanger — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 08:19:07 +0000

California’s 278 state parks are in trouble. Funding has been cut several years in a row. Now several citizens’ groups have joined together with a proposal for the November 2010 ballot to raise money for the parks from an annual $18 surcharge on vehicle license fees. Sponsoring organizations include Cal State Parks Foundation, Audubon Society, Save the Redwoods Leagueand scores of others.

The “California State Parks and Wildlife Conservation Trust Fund Act of 2010″ does more than provide funding for the parks. California vehicle owners will also benefit with a State Park Access Pass giving day use admission to all state parks throughout the year.

RIght now sponsors are collecting signatures to get the measure on the ballot. You can volunteer at the Parks Foundation Take Action web page. For more background check the Save The Redwoods FAQ pdf.

Our parks are a wondrous resource, refreshing, inspiring and well-deserving of our care and support.

Snow on Mount Diablo

david sanger — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 05:04:52 +0000

Snow in the San Francisco Bay area is a rare occurrence; every few years there’s a dusting at the higher elevations. With a forecasted freeze with snow levels down to 1000 feet, I planned an early morning outing to Antioch, hoping the skies would then be clear. Green grass in the foreground and a scattering of Spring wildflowers provide color and contrast to the glistening snow on the peak.

Reading the Tea Leaves

david sanger — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 06:04:35 +0000

What does 2010 hold for photographers? Will the economic recovery lead to a return to healthy profits? Will the abundance of digital media continue to drive up supply and drive down prices? Will newer technologies emerge to further disrupt the business of photography? or to offer startling new opportunities?

Despite all the disruption of the past decade, the pace of change seems to be accelerating. Some things to keep an eye on in 2010:

Google Book Settlement: However this plays out in the courts, there is a tremendous pent-up demand for online access to all books (and other media). The internet is becoming the de facto means of accessing any kind of information or entertainment. Follow law proefessor James Grimmelman’s Laboratorium for up-to-the minute coverage.

Microstock revenues: Industry analysts including Selling Stock’s Jim Pickerell have suggested microstock sales might be declining for top photographers. This would indicate that the market is now so completely oversaturated with images that revenue potential overall is diminished. Perhaps more distributors will toss in the towel.

eBook market heats up: Apple’s soon-to-be-released tablet computer, with full color unlike the Kindle, might possibly reinvigorate the market for feature magazines as well as provide a high-end outlet for photographers willing to develop their own apps.

More crowdsourcing: The trend towards user generated travel imagery, especially for web apps is increasing. Hot new startups like Nextstop.com and others promise to take a bite out of the online guidebook market individual photographers are just beginning to explore. Perhaps there’ll be room for both amateur and professional content but expect competition to be strong and revenue slim.