PDN - White-Washed Photo Contest? Hardly

Is Photo District News guilty of "passive raciscm" in their latest photo annual? In a word, no. What started (here) as race-baiting, evolved into money-grubbing race-baiting here, with a well honed charge that PDN's photo contest is passively racist because their jury is all white.

I have been critical of PDN's past photo contests (No Confidence Vote for the PDN/NGS Contest, (1/28/08), but this charge is just outright asinine.

There are three premises that these charges suppose:

1) By having a jury that looks all white, these individuals will select or be pre-disposed to selecting white photographers, white subjects, or issues predominantly of interest to whites.

2) They should have been actively racist in saying "hey we need a _____ guy or a ______ woman here to round out the color spectrum for our judges."

3) That, independant of race, judge(s) "of color" were asked to judge not for the color of their skin but their stature in the industry, and could not do it, for whatever reason.

(Continued after the Jump)

Premises 1 and 2 are actively racist, as compared to the initial charge which suggests passive racism, and premise 3 results from the lack of actual knowledge of the inner goings-on of the contest, and is an assumption by critics.

The judges didn't have a headshot (or likely even a name) associated with each entry during the judging. Judges don't say "hey, all our entries are about the good in the world as represented by white people, we need some black and asian plight to offset that good so our contests' winning entries appears balanced."

Unfortunately, this charge deserved to stay on the backpage of the Weekly World News, and instead, was brought into, for lack of a better way to put it, the mainstream blogosphere by A Photo Editor (here), so I felt it necessary to put forth a response as well. A silly $1k offer, is the best money the critic will never have to spend, in order to get this type of charge out of the backwater where it should have stayed.

An era has arrived when people are largely judged by the content of their character, and not the color of their skin. Does racism remain? You bet. Whites can be racist, just as well as blacks, asians, hispanics, and so on. We will never eradicate all racism. Bush's trusted Secretarys of State? African American, alonside other races in other cabinet posts. Obama's trusted VP and cabinet officials too cross a spectrum of race, and in both administrations, race was not a factor.

PDN is neither actively nor passively racist. Further, neither are the judges.

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Conan O'Brien: Transformed Background an Infringement?

Conan O'Brian, the new host of NBC's signature late night show, has transformed from Carson's curtain, to Leno's cityscape, to what truely looks like the other-worldly Mario Brothers:

The above background from NBC, with the overlay of Mario's kingdom by the good folks at Serious Lunch, (they have an animated gif there that is a challenge to watch for more than a few seconds), show that it's hard to dispute the two are the same. They also have a link to a much larger version for you to look at in more detail.

So, the question is:

Derivitive work?
Was the use transformative?
Did Conan/NBC need to license the scene?
If permission for a derivative work is required, but NBC did not seek it, would Nintendo likely sue?

I have my own opinions on this, but what say you?

(Comments, after the Jump)

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UPDATED: Gordon Ramsay on Photography & Laughter

Two days ago, we wrote about Gordon Ramsay in In Search of Excellence (6/1/09), which was very significantly commented on, with much color and entrenched opinon. As I am making my way through the series, he makes a point about photography, alongside the idiocy of the owner of a Los Angeles restaurant, who is not only a part time actor, but, apparently, thinking he also can take a photograph. He cannot.


and another one "with ghastly pictures":

Food photography belongs in magazines and cookbooks, it would seem, but definitely NOT on menus. I would humbly agree, unless, perhaps it's Denny's, IHOP, or that type of dining experience.

Next up, is laughter, and the place for it.

(Continued after the Jump)

I've addressed this issue before, as it relates to people in the background while you are on the phone with a client. If you have people in your office, pets, or children, they cannot be making a ruckus while you are on the phone. If you are conversing with a client, and they hear people hooting and hollering while you are carrying on an important conversation, the client will think you are just having a party and taking a few snaps in between beers, and god forbid the laugh in the background come at a pause in the conversation where your client says something that would never warrant a laugh at all.

Dogs barking, children screaming, and other distracting noises in your home office should be verboten during business hours, or at the very least, when you are on the phone. In the above clip, laughter is heard from the kitchen which doesn't make the restaurant come across as professional, or focused on getting the customers' food out in a timely manner.

Details, details details. Unlike the previous clips where many people missed the point and decided to focus on Gordon's language and so on, these clips don't have that.

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In Search of Excellence

Of late, one of the best shows about quality and service I have found is Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. The restaurant business can easily be compared to the photography business.

Food = Images
Kitchen = Darkroom/Post-Production space/Image Management
Decor = Photographer attire
Servers = level of service
Hostess stand = initial phone call
Roaming manager = follow-up after shoot

And so on. What I like so much about Ramsay is his commitment - and demand - for excellence. He demands excellence at every turn. Here is a clip from his show:

You must unequivocally be committed to the highest level of excellence as a photographer for every client for every shoot.

(Another video, after the Jump)

Here's another clip:


And one more:


Ramsay makes no excuses for his level of expectation, and neither should you.

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