Video: Inside the surge
The Guardian’s award-winning photographer and filmmaker Sean Smith spent two months embedded with US troops in Baghdad and Anbar province. His harrowing documentary exposes the exhaustion and disillusionment of the soldiers.
The comments of the last soldier speaking to the camera are pretty deep…
According to a Wall Street Journal article, the NFL will force member of the media to be an advertisement billboard
But some of the NFL’s other actions have horrified Alex Marvez, president of the Pro Football Writers Association and a South Florida Sun-Sentinel reporter. He winces at the new rule requiring photographers to wear red vests with small Canon and Reebok logos. Mr. Marvez calls the idea of using working press members as advertising vehicles « really alarming. »
Even worse, some people try to force you to give away all your copyright!
She was taken aback when, before June’s Pocono 500 auto race, she was asked for the first time to sign a credential application agreeing that Nascar would own all images captured at the event. She pushed back and received press passes without hassle.(…)
That incident echoes a battle between the Ladies Professional Golf Association and photographers resisting the organization’s assertion that it had broad rights to re-use photos shot at a 2006 tournament in Hawaii without permission of the organizations that took the pictures. After the AP and local papers boycotted the first day of the event, the LPGA relented.
First, there where kisses. Then there where hugs. But as the clock was ticking, tears started to appear.
Covering the first Van Doos leaving for Afghanistan was absolutely heartbreaking: one of the most difficult assignment I had to cover yet. Many time I had to restrain my emotion, many time I had to restrain the tear that was coming to my eyes.
Seeing so many mothers hugging their kids, so many kids hugging their father, so many fathers hugging their son, so many loving spouse and girlfriends hugging their beloved one…
First, we had to “steal” those very intimate moments. And then, we had to step in to ask names. One time, it was so heartbreaking that I could not. I had to ask a friend of the guy, because his girlfriend was so in pain that I was just not able to ask myself (third photo).
I did not know it would be so emotional. Even after the event, when I was editing my photos, many times a “ball of emotions” came right down from my gut, up to my eyes.
It is a good thing after all that my friend Hubert, who was getting married the day before (pictures on this blog soon!), will leave only next week, when medias will not be invited. I am not sure I would have been able to do my job properly with him being one of the guys leaving yesterday.
I already talked about photographing grievance and other painful moments. Again, I had the proof that what we do is important. Late yesterday evening, Nathalie Dupont, the lady in the second photo, sent me this email after discovering it on the Gazette web site (reproduced with her authorization):
Bonjour!
Un petit mot pour souligner votre remarquable talent pour saisir l’émotion du moment! Si vous saviez tous les reproches essuyés par nos nombreux neveux et nièces avant le départ, n’ayant pas de photos convenable de nous deux… Une seule comme celle-là leur suffit amplement! Moi qui a longtemps cru que je n’étais pas photogénique… preuve à l’appui que le problème est souvent derrière la caméra, pas vrai? Merci pour ce baume au coeur!
(…) Pour les moments touchants, dommage que vous manquiez tous les ohhhhhh! et ahhhhh! des gens qui n’étaient pas sur place et qui s’ébahissent ici devant la photo
My free translation:
Hello!
Some words to underline your remarkable talent to photograph all the emotion of a moment! If only you would know all the everyone in the family was sad to not have a decent picture of us before his leave. Just one like this is more than enough for them! And me who was thinking all those year that I was not photogenic… Now I have the proof that the problem was behind the camera, right? Thank you for healing our heart!
(…) For the touching moment, it is sad that you miss all the “owww!” and “awwww” of the people gathered here when they look at the photo.
I sent her a high-resolution version of the photo. That is the least I can do to repay my invasion of their privacy.
With my work with La Presse, and now with this one for The Gazette, I feel very connected with those guys. I have photos. I have names. I will check the headlines with another eye now.
My big project with La Presse can finally be unveiled. 50 portraits of the “Van Doos” (the Royal 22e Régiment) leaving for Afghanistan this month. The result so far: 5 pictures in yesterday’s front and a double spreads with more portrait in pages A2 and A3, and more portraits in today’s A2 and A3. And more on the website.
Here is some shoots that I like, all taken with the same setting: a 85mm f1.8 lens with an off camera flash bounced into an umbrella.
Lieutenant-Colonel Stéphane Lafaut
Caporal Chef Éric Rouleau
Sergent Steve Chagnon
Capitaine Luong Nguyen
Caporal François-René Cormier
I got my flashes back, and it cost me only $120 for both. I tell you: If you live in Quebec City, you must go to Service Caméra Pro (2042 Boul. Père-Lelièvre) for all your repair need. They don’t sell camera; they only repair them so they know what they do. They are cheap, fast and reliable. They even clean your sensor for $40 in 10 minutes while you wait!
An inuksuk (plural inuksuit) (alternatively inukshuk in English or inukhuk in Inuinnaqtun) is a stone landmark used as a milestone or directional marker by the Inuit of the Canadian Arctic
Inuksuit vary in shape and size, and perform a diverse array of tasks. It is a symbol with deep roots in the Inuit culture, a directional marker that signifies safety, hope and friendship.
Technical: Canon EOS 1d Mark II, 1/250 at f11 with a 300mm prime lens – ISO 500