Vision Slightly Blurred

As the Taliban quickly overran major cities in Afghanistan – culminating in the capture of Kabul – civilian and professional photographers captured the unfolding chaos and the heartbreaking reality of on-the-ground despair. 

In this episode of the PhotoShelter podcast, Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen discuss satellite imagery to Falling Man comparisons to photojournalists risking their lives to capture the historical record.

Apple recently announced a new set of features aimed at combatting Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM), which include the ability to scan a user's phone and iMessages. Since the announcement, the company has repeatedly clarified the safeguards that are in place, but privacy advocates have bemoaned the potential for abuse and "mission creep."

The exchange of CSAM imagery through Electronic Service Providers (ESPs) like Facebook, Instagram, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc has reached epidemic-like proportions, and a New York Times report on the issue illustrated how confounding and disturbing the problem has become.

In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen discuss the implication for photographers, and react to the various arguments made by privacy advocates as well as abuse experts.

A photo conspiracy theory is afloat after uncredited, potentially lucrative images of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck on a yacht were released by TMZ. The images affirmed the rumors that the pair had gotten back together after 20 years apart. Others suggested that they were in the midsts of a shot-for-shot recreation of 2002's "Jenny from the Block" music video! Conspiracy or happy couple????

Also on the show: The New York Times goes from the gold with a square crop of the Olympics,  Twitter hosts a hack-a-thon to find bias in their AI, and the New York Public Library announces plans to shutdown public access to a trove of 1 million images that you could check out with your library card.

Ryan Shorosky, photographer and long-haul trucker, built a significant Instagram following while driving a semi around the country. We he made some of his scenic images featuring his signature technicolor skies available for sale, many of his fans jumped at the opportunity. But as the months went by, and the excuses piled on, people started to get suspicious. VICE tracked down some of the victims and Shorosky himself. Is it a case of fraud, or unexpected success coupled with an itinerant life that made fulfillment difficult?

Also on the show: Ken Light published a new book documenting an "empire in decline," Twitter bans a PhD researcher for posting an image of Bree Newsome taking down a confederate flag, a stunning photo of Simone Biles and other Olympic photos, and who says NYC is a cold, heartless place???

Todd Bigelow’s career hasn’t gone exactly as planned. That is to say that no plan from the past few decades could have anticipated the sea of change in the photo industry – from the rapid shift to digital photography to the decimation of staff positions and the rise of the freelance economy. All this has led him to do what any savvy business owner does – pivot with the shifting winds, make informed business decisions, and diversify his income stream. In the process of doing so, he’s become a well-respected business educator, who recently published a book: The Freelance Photographer’s Guide to Success: Business Essentials.

So much of what Todd has been preaching about in the past decade has resonated with me. And after reading his book, I reached out to him to get the lowdown.

Pulitzer Prize Winning Photographer Danish Saddiqui was killed in Afghanistan while covering a conflict between Afghan Security Forces and the Taliban. Saddiqui was the Chief Photographer for Reuters in India and had spent a decade masterfully capturing his home country, as well as much of the Middle East. 

Also in the show: photographers capture the terrible flooding in Western Europe, Instagram "experiences" gain private equity funding, the incredible photos of Wyoming pioneer Lora Webb Nichols, and fashion photographer Mert Alas creates a gin(?)

Caroline Fraser takes the Grand Prize in the 2021 Audubon Photo Awards for a stunning image a Greater Roadrunner backlit through a blanket of dust. It was one of many incredible photos in this year's contest.

Also in the show: PhotoShelter's newest guide to mentorship, Norway enacts legislation requiring advertisers to attach a label indicating manipulated photos, Chinese conglomerate Tencent uses facial recognition to police a cyber curfew, and David Hobby spots content creation studios at the mall. Say what?

Five days after the tragic building collapse in Surfside, Miami, over 150 people are still unaccounted for. Photographers have been on the scene capturing images of the debris along with heartbreaking images of grief. Sarah and Allen discuss coverage from the Miami Herald, Washington Post, and the New York Times.

Also in the show: A Brooklyn apartment is transformed into a content creation studio, the Old Houses of Instagram, Jason Fulford's "Photo No-Nos," and Elinor Carucci captures the beauty of grey hair during COVID.

In a Mother Jones piece, Ramenda Cyrus analyzes A1 coverage of last year's George Floyd protests and contends that the media is still relying on old tropes to represent Black Americans. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Allen and Sarah take a look at her arguments and the supporting voices of author Martin Berger and "Reading the Pictures" publisher Michael Shaw.

Also in the show: The 400 Years Project collects stories of Native Americans, facial recognition errors are preventing people from collecting unemployment, Darnella Frazier receives a special citation from the Pulitzer Prizes for her video of George Floyd being murdered, Emily Ratajkowski sells her NFT for $175,000, and books from Ben Brody, Sebastiao Salgado, and Todd Bigelow.

Unfold, a layout templating app owned by Squarespace, contacted queer photographer Ryan James Caruthers to use 12 of his photos for a Pride Month Instagram feature. When he asked for compensation and to not exploit him especially for Pride, one of the co-founders responded that "I strongly disagree with the sentiment that any effort that doesn't include a dollar sign is 'exploitative.'"

After a flurry of reshares and negative press, Unfold reconsidered their position, apologized, and announced that they would be compensating photographers in the future.

Also: Photojournalist Alicia Vera pens an op/ed in the Washington Post about being sexually harassed by David Alan Harvey, the NYT hires 15 photographers under 25 to capture NYC in the month of May, Instagram sheds some light on their algorithm, and iOS 15 will finally allow you to block exes from appearing in your photo memories.