Vision Slightly Blurred

In the midst of global protests in support of #BlackLivesMatter, the Poynter Institute caused a ruckus within the photojournalism industry last week with the provocatively titled “Photographers are being called on to stop showing protestors’ faces. Should they?”

At least part of the outright dismissal of the article by some photojournalists stemmed from the second sentence which reads “But there’s a growing movement that calls for journalists and citizens to blur or not show protesters’ faces.” In the same week, the encrypted communications app Signal released a feature to blur faces in photos, which served to conflate journalism ethics with social media norms. 

In this episode, Sarah Jacobs and Allen Murabayashi discuss:

• Photojournalism ethics and the Poytner article
• Darnella Frazier, the 17-year old who captured the killing of George Floyd on video
• John Edwin Mason's essay on protest photos
• Controversy at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
• Buzzfeed keeps embedding Instagram posts
• NYMag's cover of the BLM protests

In the span of less than a week, concerns about COVID-19 have taken a backseat to the nationwide protests against police brutality and racism sparked by the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmad Aubrey, and Breonna Taylor. Photojournalists covering the scenes have been confronted with violence against them by police and unknown agitators.

In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah Jacobs and Allen Murabayashi discuss the incredible photography being produced around the country – including by many smaller newsrooms, discuss whether we should be calling images "Pulitzer Prize worthy" in the moment that the work is created, and how ordinary citizens with cellphones are capturing incredible (and often unbelievable) scenes..

Finally, we meditate with graduation photos and a piece about skateboarding in NYC.

Harvard professor Sara Elizabeth Lewis raised the ire of some photojournalists by suggesting that there weren't enough photos of COVID-19-related death to create "mental images" of the breadth of the pandemic and the wake of destruction. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah Jacobs and Allen Murabayashi discuss the reactions by Gary He, Lucas Jackson and Reading the Pictures, Philip Montgomery's work for the NYT, plus a visualization of the news by Josh Begley.

But wait there's more! Is it unethical to use a telephoto lens to portray crowds during the pandemic? Jörg Colberg reacts to a photo of nurse Colby Hutson, Caitie McCabe's FaceTime photos, The Joys of Deleting Photos, and New York Nico's #BestNYPhotos

In this episode of the PhotoShelter podcast, Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah Jacobs and Allen Murabayashi talk about Travis Long's photo of a missile launcher-carrying protestor, Nicola Cordi's "Italy in the Spring of 2020" diptychs using Google Earth, Robert Pattinson's selfies for GQ, an interview with New York Magazine's Jody Quon, Emman Montalvan's portraits of Kehlani, and Justine Kurland's new book featuring the work of her Girl Pictures project.

Happy belated Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen laugh at Daniel Arnold's remote portraits of Jerry Seinfeld, critique Spencer Tunic's latest attempt at photographing nudes via Zoom, fawn over Justin von Oldershausen's apartment building portraits, compare Olivia Harris' sun worshippers to Greg Miller's Primo Amore, review more quarantine shoots by Nikola Tamindzic, Elizaveta Porodina, and Grace Gelder, and give a final wave goodbye to Deanna Dikeman's parents. 

Spring is in the air, and we've got the photos to prove it. Er, we're talking about the photos to prove it.

In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah Jacobs and Allen Murabayashi go gaga for Bryan Derballa's Brooklyn Botanic Garden photos, laugh with Liz Devine and her roomies, talk race with Elijah Nouvelage's viral nail tech photo from Georgia, those crazy UFO videos and much more!

Your weekly dose of photography and culture with hosts Sarah Jacobs and Allen Murabayashi. In this episode, we talk about a collection of 15 essays written by NYT staffers and contributors, DJs and strippers on Instagram, the trend of recreating famous artwork at home, and cool images of dolphins and whales to end the show!

A judge dismissed Stephanie Sinclair's lawsuit against Mashable after the website embedded an image she posted to Instagram without permission. How should photographers react and protect themselves?

Photojournalist Joshua Bickel's image of protestors in Ohio has been likened to zombie movies, and for good reason. But he's a bit uncomfortable with the comparison.

Matt Mendelsohn is trying to photograph an entire 500-student graduating class in Arlington, VA, while Calla Kessler captured students in their prom attire with an assist from her father. 

In this week’s episode of PhotoShelter’s podcast “Vision Slightly Blurred,” @sarahjake and @allen3m discuss sheltering in Dallas and Honolulu, the dystopian photography of empty places, how teachers are dealing with distance learning, and the creative things that photographers do.