So the following week I signed up for a workshop with David Alan Harvey and Kent Kobersteen (and Raul came as a bonus).

A few weeks later I was on a bus to Mexico. And there it begins.

smiling….hmmm, yes….well i just cannot seem to take that final step…nor Soth, nor Erwitt, nor Parr, nor Koudelka, nor Parke, nor Anderson, nor Goldberg, nor Sanguinetti, nor Peress, nor Meiselas, nor Webb, nor Gilden, nor Pellegrin, nor Davidson , and a bunch more , well, some of us just cannot seem to become all that we can be!!

and yes, the Russell Miller book, yawn yawn, needs an update….

yes, exactly…when people discuss the potential power of photography, it very often focuses on war or social conditions of one kind or another….where photography has really DONE THINGS to make the planet a wee bit better is in the natural history arena…and yes, Nick and Mike have hugged a lot of trees and saved a lot of animals and of course done justice to the positive efforts of man as well…thanks for pointing to this…

cheers, david

Doesn’t look too difficult :-)

p.s. just start to read “Magnum” by Russell Miller. Capa is a hoot! Of course the book was written in the pre-Michael Dell era. Someone should do an 10th anniversary update….

They’re all interesting, but I was particularly interested in the tripwire ones actually – the additional light provided by the flash makes them look so unreal.. almost like stuffed animals, but then the context makes you do a double-take, and think ‘hang on.. is that REAL?’

Keep it up mate!

B

i missed your right answer…if you are indeed first, then i own you a good and thorough review…send me a link please to my email listed here on Burn, and i will do my best…

MARK TOMALTY

oh no, i did not see it as a shot..it was an accurate statement and i just wanted to add..that’ all..thanks for making a good point….

What a great work that you did last year at VISA-Perpignan 2011 with that huuuuuuuuuge tree picture in the wall. That’s a work-alcolic or work addict or ambitious person whatever. Great!

P.

Where individuals, such as Nick and Lanting, have inspired is in their willingness and abilitiy to
get into the trenches and try and effect change through their images.

Landscape photographers seems to have reached a plateau where most seem to rely on rule of thirds; blurred water; rock in foreground, sweeping landscape/seascape; over-used HDR etc… I’ve always admired (and still do) Freeman Patterson; his landscape work comes from within, it doesn’t imitate. Cheers :-)

>> MN: And I can’t justify what I do if I’m not reaching the planet. I gotta have a huge audience because my work is about saving the planet, you know. Its not about me, its about tigers and elephants and stuff like that. So if I didn’t have this microphone, I’d just be pissing into the wind. <<

I don't blame Nick, of course. The Global Microphone *is* perhaps the biggest reason photographers (and writers) want their work published in National Geographic Magazine. But that sentiment — a global microphone vs. "pissing into the wind"; and that urge to "save the planet" — well, I think both are misguided, esp if you care about the future of the Society… and our society:

1. Nick's earlier effort to "save the planet" meant teaming up with one of Africa's long-ruling dictators — a trade-off that, in my mind, is a disastrous one:
http://societymatters.org/2009/07/13/befriending-thugs-who-love-the-planet/

2. A Society like National Geographic that has millions of "members" — but that still embraces that "one-to-many" model of communication – is doomed to continue its current nosedive. Photographers like Nick & David might be able to get access to that microphone to tell their stories every few years, but I don't believe that microphone will exist for all the next-generation photographers who Nick & David are also trying to serve.

Put another way: The future of publishing isn't the one-to-seven-billion model that evidently convinced Nick to move from Magnum to NGS; the future of publishing is in community-focused platforms like… BURN.

–
P.S. I *do* think National Geographic has a future. But it'll be as a community catalyst — as a way to empower millions of (citizen) journalists who share a particular set of values — esp freedom, democracy, and open societies. After all, those are the values that make real journalism possible. … But I'm convinced Nat Geo will wither & die if it insists on sticking with the old publishing model that's collapsing, namely: Pushing lion & elephant pictures to the people formerly known as the audience.

@DAH Check your Facebook feed about the mask from Puerto Rico. I had the correct answer about an hour after you posted the shot of your mask on Instagram. I know those are from Ponce, and are called Vejigante masks…they are some of the only carnival masks that have the horns on the bottom. Didn’t you say that Facebook would have a winner as well? And no, I’m not from Puerto Rico! Keep up the great work!