Reminder: NPPA's Northern Short Course THIS WEEK!

For the last decade, I've supported the National Press Photographers Association Northern Short Course as a presenter. This year, for three days, we'll be in New Brunswick, New Jersey (exit 9!) March 11th through 13th. I present on, what else? - the business of photography. Here's the entire program, which includes William Foster on social marketing/websites, Paula Lerner on multimedia, Tom Sperduto on lighting, courses on audio, Final Cut Pro, and portfolio reviews, and more!. Check it out! (I blogged about it last year too here).

Come for a day, or really treat yourself and come for all three days - it is, HANDS DOWN, the most cost-effective solution to learn all about lighting/multimedia/Final Cut/etc.

(Comments, if any, after the Jump)

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CoolTech - iPhone Emergency Solution

How many times have you been without a much-needed recharging solution with your non-battery-swapable iPhone? For me, it is all to often, and I just can't risk losing a call because of a dead iPhone. So, friend and colleague, virginia corporate headshots photographer Mark Finkenstaedt had a solution. Mark did all the hard work doing this testing, and here are the results.

This battery, by ebay seller scr-boya (other listings here) lists the following features:

-Capacity:1900mAh
-100% Brand New
-Dimension:67mm X 62mm X 15mm
-Input:5V 0.8A
-Output: 5V 0.5A
-Charge time: About 4 hours
-Colour: Black only

At right is one of the four of mine that I won, on eBay, for $0.99 each, plus $8.99 shipping (each!) from China. So how long does it take for the battery charge to fully charge?

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When the 10% battery warning indicator came on, the battery was installed, and below is the timeline for it to charge:
(click to enlarge)

At $10 per unit (including shipping, and I tried getting more, but no response), I can justify buying several (which I did) and now I have a backup in my car, camera bag, and two rotating on chargers in the office. The seller shipped both to Mark and I (from China) without any problems, so if you're looking for a great solution, this one one gem that has already saved me from a dead iPhone battery. There are other sellers on eBay with variations on this item, so you might find others that work just as well, but so far so good with this seller!

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World Press Photo - Disqualification of Image

For World Press Photo 2010, the bar has been raised to a high level with the new requirement of the submission of RAW image files for review alongside any image that the judges suspected were excessively manipulated. Below is the collection of images for review:

The DQ'd entrant, Stepan Rudik wrote over at PetaPixel (here) in part "...I do NOT argue the decision of the jury...." and then he goes on to attempt to justify the alteration he made, and then hopes " I believe this explanation is important for my reputation and good name as a reportage photographer."

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Doubtful.

A quick search on Google for "Stepan Rudik" turns up all manner of listing regarding this issue, so, good luck getting your good name back.

Rudik cannot hold out this image as reportage, but rather, as an illustration. He created digitally what he wanted to see and not what was actually captured. Did the manipulation change the content of the image? No, I think that the crop did (yes, allowable), and he really mis-treated the image with the excessive vignetting, over-contrast, and so on. Frankly, I think he did more of a disservice to the honesty of the image with the over-manipulation than he did with the removal of the shoe, but, unfortunately, that over-manipulation seems to have been allowable.

Rudik damaged not just the integrity of the image, but of himself and his honesty, but also the integrity of photojournalism.

Digital manipulation is going to be a very slippery slope, and the honesty of what we capture must be a paramount consideration, not chasing the self-aggrandizement in a photo contest.

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