Beware: a new study shows that tobacco smoke and vaping aerosols kill eye cells

A new study shows that smoking potentially damages the eyes more than anyone thought, as smoking can kill the eye's corneal cells.

Tobacco use has been scientifically linked as a cause of heart disease, stroke, chronic pulmonary disease and lung cancer. The data on smoking and those diseases is undeniable. The deadly health effects of tobacco have been well known since 1964, when Luther L. Terry, M.D., then Surgeon General of the U.S., released the first report of the Surgeon General's Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health.

In addition to those diseases, smoking can impair human color vision acuity, an extremely serious problem for photographers and visual artists.

This past September, Scientific Reports, an online peer-reviewed journal published by Nature Portfolio, published a new study about smoking and vision. “Cigarette smoke extract and heated tobacco products promote ferritin cleavage and iron accumulation in human corneal epithelial cells,” by Wataru Otsu, PhD, DVM, et. al. from the Gifu Pharmaceutical University, Gifu, Japan. The study details the alarming problem that cigarette smoke and baked tobacco aerosols from vaping devices can kill the eye's corneal cells.

Even without this new information, for photographers and visual artists or for anyone who needs their eyes in top working order, we already knew that the effects of smoking on vision is frightening.

Beware: Some photo contests and campaigns are little more than rights grabs

Recently, the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife (NJDFW) conducted a “Photo Campaign” to solicit free photo submissions of wildlife for their photo library. They asked for images of New Jersey's “fish, wildlife, habitats, and the recreation associated with them.” They particularly noted that they were “committed to the principles of equity, diversity and inclusiveness, and encourage entries from people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds.”

That sounded great to me as I read the announcement. Then the hammer fell, or rather it was smashed down hard.

COVID-19 and Photography: Part 1a, Update - Understanding how the virus spreads

In the U.S., COVID-19 has already killed more than 193,000 people. It's done it in less than seven months. COVID-19 is a serious, highly infectious coronavirus. Since writing Part 1 of this series, nothing has changed about how serious the virus is and that photographers, amateurs and professionals alike, need to determine how to safely make photographs in the COVID-19 pandemic world. The photographic community needs to not only remain stay safe and healthy, but ensure, to the extent possible, that we don't spread the disease to others while making photographs.

While much about COVID-19 is still unknown, since writing Part 1 in late June, scientists have learned a great deal more about how the virus spreads. Here's what we know at this time.

Mask Up! Social Distance! No Touching! — COVID-19 is alive and well

Opinion: From the desk of Ned S. Levi

Today in the world, COVID-19 has infected more than 9.5 million people and taken more than 484,000 lives. In the U.S., COVID-19 has infected more than 2.4 million people and taken more than 124,000 lives.

Just yesterday, there were more than 173,000 new cases of COVID-19 in the world and more than 39,000 in the U.S. The fact is that COVID-19 is alive and well and still infecting and killing people, particularly those who don't remain on guard and cautious.

Any person who says that the fight against COVID-19 is over or remotely close to over is not telling the truth.

COVID-19 and Photography: Part 1, Understanding how the virus spreads

In the U.S., COVID-19 has killed more than 100,000 people. It's done it in less than five months. COVID-19 is a serious, highly infectious coronavirus. Photographers, amateurs and professionals alike, need to determine how to safely make photographs in the COVID-19 pandemic world. We need to not only stay safe and healthy ourselves, but ensure, as much as possible, that we don't spread the disease to others while making photographs.

While much about COVID-19 is still unknown, scientists have learned a great deal about how the virus spreads in the last several months. Here's what we know at this time.

COVID-19 transmission is primarily person-to-person.
 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said for months that the primary way that COVID-19 spreads is person-to-person. It's spread mainly between people who are near to each other, six feet or closer, via respiratory droplets expelled from an infected person when they cough, sneeze, or merely talk. The droplets are inhaled by those nearby, infecting them. The CDC therefore recommends that during the pandemic, everyone “socially distances” by staying six feet or further from those around us.

Art is more than culture, stories and memories. It's jobs and economic impact!

The dictionary defines art as “The expression or application of creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting, drawing or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.” I suspect that, at the least, poets, choreographers and musical composers, among many others, would consider that definition narrow and unnecessarily exclusive.

Contributing $763.6 billion annually to the nation's economy, the arts are more than just a critical part of the U.S. economy. The arts are important to the quality of most American's lives.

Pablo Picasso said, “We all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.”

Art is a medium which is highly communicative and can tell the stories of people across the globe like no other medium.

"Popular Photography" Ceasing Publication

In May, 1937, many major historical events occurred:

• Margaret Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for “Gone with the Wind.”

• War Admiral won the Kentucky Derby.

• The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies 21–10 (LOL – It did happen).

• King George VI of Great Britain was crowned.

• The Golden Gate Bridge opened.

• The German dirigible Hindenburg blew up while landing at Lakehurst, NJ

• And “Popular Photography” Magazine was published for the first time.

Nikon to retire, reassign or rationalize 23.5% of domestic workforce

The rumors have been flying for some time about Nikon layoffs in Japan. Today, Nikon finally announced their workforce plans publicly.

Nikon's last quarterly financial report was mixed and troubling. While Nikon was able to increase overall income and earnings per share substantially, they continue to face shrinking sales which doesn't bode well for future earnings if the trend continue

A giant in photographic gear innovation and invention has died: Paul C. Buff

Paul C. Buff, one of photography's greatest inventors and innovators passed away this week at the age of 78.

He lived through the depression era where his philosophy of life was formed. For decades Buff, an American, had been one of photography's most amazing lighting innovators, not only for photographers, but for filmmakers and videographers alike. Buff formed his company, Paul C. Buff, Inc. in 1980 as a research company.

Buff was a long time inventor and engineer. Some called him a visionary inventor. Prior to entering the photography lighting design and manufacturing world, he had been an audio recording studio owner, with many gold records. That business evolved into designing and manufacturing professional audio equipment. To this day Buff still remains widely recognized in the audio community for his savvy, innovation and success, especially with his high quality computerized recording console technologies. He worked with such music industry luminaries as Frank Zappa, Ray Dolby, The Beatles, Carol King and many others in the field.

Tell your Senators and Representative to not support proposed Anti-Piracy legislation SOPA and PIPA

Today, across the Internet, many have darkened their websites in protest of the pending Anti-Piracy legislation in the US Senate and House of Representatives. Others are presenting statements and editorials explaining their serious objections to this new legislation, as currently written.

As a professional photographer, I take my work, copyright issues, and piracy of copyrighted work, mine and that of others, very, very seriously. Theft of copyrighted material, photographs, drawings, film, video, music, art, the written word, and creative ideas made public through various means, is very serious business.

I believe that more must be done to protect the creative products of human minds. Without it, those who create such work will be unable to make a living as others unfairly steal their hard work and genius. Without protection, creativity will be stifled and the world will loose much which makes human endeavors great.

That being said, the current pending Anti-Piracy legislation is heavy handed, a dangerous assault on free speech and the constitution, wrong thinking, and will stifle creativity by putting too much power in those hands who have cash in their pocket. It will hand over great power to a few companies and organizations who have large resources, over who gets to exercise creativity, and cause independent artists, artisans, and authors, to be lost in a sea of cash they don't have, in my opinion.

The Anti-Piracy bills, if enacted into law would violate the First Amendment, illegally censor Internet content, and cripple the Internet, while threatening whistle-blowing and other free speech actions.

It's one thing to go after websites which are allegedly directly involved in copyright infringement, but the proposed bills would allow the government to target sites that merely provide information which could help users get around the proposed law's censorship provisions. That amounts to unconstitutional prior restraint against protected speech, and, in my opinion would severely damage online innovation.

Social media sites like Facebook, Google Plus, or YouTube, sites with user generated content, would be especially vulnerable to proposed law. They would have to expend huge amounts of their resources to police their sites for copyright violations, as these new PIPA and SOPA proposals make them liable for the uploads from you and me, which might be copyright violations. Venture capitalists have said, en masse, they won’t invest in new online startups if the legislation passes, as it would be likely that under the new law, new companies couldn't be successful, due to the onerous liability and capital requirements required.

Talk about damaging the potential for innovation, something these bills are supposed to enable, but don't!

Worse yet, the proposed laws would decimate the open source software community. This would be tragic for those who love freedom and liberty. Anyone who writes or distributes VPN, proxy, privacy or anonymization software would be immediate targets of the proposed laws. This would even include organizations funded by the US State Department to create software which helps democratic activists get past authoritarian regimes’ online censorship mechanisms. It's ironic that the proposals would replicate the same practices as these regimes, and outlaw the tools used by activists to circumvent censorship in countries like Iran, Syria and China.

Then there is the provision in these laws which would grant broad immunity to all service providers, even if they overblock innocent users, by blocking sites voluntarily with no judicial oversight. Since the proposed law's standard for immunity is so low, as to be beyond any reasonable thought, with the potential for abuse “off the charts,” these service providers need only act “in good faith” (vaguely defined) and base their decision “on credible evidence” (extremely vague) to receive immunity from prosecution or civil suit.

The proposed law would allow big business associations like MPAA and RIAA to create site blacklists of competitors and independents to shut them down, even if the evidence was bogus. Intermediaries would be under enormous financial pressure to accede to shutdown demands to avoid court orders. This gives outrageous censorship powers without any judicial or legal oversight to big business. Independent creators and purveyors of creativity would have a difficult or impossible fight against this, due to the huge financial resources of the corporations they would be pitted against. Anti-competitive and anti-trust laws would be of no help in this fight.

The proposed law would give the US Attorney General new authority to block domain name services (DNS), a provision that has been universally criticized by Internet security experts and First Amendment scholars. Even the blacklist bills’ authors are now publicly second-guessing that provision. The problem here is that the methods used to accomplish this task, something that China currently uses to censor the Internet available to their citizens, would make the Internet in the US even more vulnerable to hacking and piracy than it already is, and ironically like other provisions of the proposed law, that is part of what it is supposed to stop.

Finally, the proposed law circumvents a pillar of American justice, that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt. Under the proposed Anti-Piracy legislation, it's like the old Soviet Union, where you were guilty unless you prove yourself innocent, beyond a reasonable doubt.

Once accused of piracy or copyright infringement, under the proposed law, your work product, your photos, movies, music, etc. can be removed, stopping all marketing of your products and all sales. Moreover, restoration won't occur until you prove it's yours and there was no piracy or copyright infringement. During that time, the fight to prove your innocence will cost a bundle, and you'll be unable to draw an income from your work.

All copyright holders already have a reasonable mechanism to halt infringement and recover damages, both statutory and actual, via the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and having used it myself, I can tell you, it works, though it could use some improvements.

That being said, neither PIPA nor SOPA are the answer. These are dangerous pieces of legislation and must be stopped. Please, contact your Senators and Representative in Congress and tell them to vote against these bills and write legislation which reasonably and constitutionally work to help creative Americans, not put them at risk or at the mercy of big business. Tell them to not put the Internet, content providers and ordinary Americans at risk to hackers and thieves.

Tell your legislators the law they write must not deprive Americans of our basic human rights.

Focus, overcoming the "fuzzies" Part 2

In Part 1, I discussed how auto-focus works, and many of the modes of auto-focus found in today’s camera’s. In Part 2, I’ll discuss how to use auto-focus, difficult auto-focus situations, and when to manually focus your camera if it has that capability.

A not so famous photographer said in 2007, “Out of focus photographs give me a headache.”¹

Visiting the National Zoo’s panda exhibit where the glass wall separating visitors from the bears has a zillion finger prints and other dirt, travelers notice their photographs of the Pandas are out of focus, but the fingerprints on the glass are “sharp as a tack.” Seriously, wouldn’t that give you a headache?

When I first started pursuing photography seriously, auto-focus wasn’t even a dream, but today, auto-focus is the standard, and on most cameras, in most situations it does an outstanding job, more quickly, and sometimes better than photographers can do for themselves. Please note the use of the phrase, “in most situations,” and the word “sometimes” in the previous sentence.

If you want your photographs consistently to be in focus, care and thought must be given to the process.

For good auto-focus the photographer must be cognizant of how auto-focus works. For stationary subjects, the general technique used when auto-focus is difficult is called, “focus and recompose.”

Utilizing your knowledge of how auto-focus works, you allow the camera to find the ideal “focus” for your photograph, then, after locking-in the focus, compose, or rather “recompose” the image to that desired. This is only possible if your camera permits manual focus lock. Most auto-focus cameras utilize the shutter release button to lock the camera’s auto-focus when the button is pressed halfway down. As long as the button is not released, the focus will be locked, and remain locked until the photograph is taken by pressing the shutter release all the way.

We already know, to auto-focus, the camera must find the edges of your subject on which to focus by sensing the differences in the scene’s contrast. For difficult to focus stationary subjects I use single area focus and directly point to an edge or line on the subject. If that won’t work, I’ll focus on another object, equidistant to the subject of the photo. I lock the focus and compose my image, all the while holding the shutter release halfway down, then when ready, take the photo.

Sometimes, if conditions permit, I close the aperture of the lens to the extent possible to lengthen the depth of field, to better ensure good subject focus. That can have negative results, however, if it brings into focus, objects you would rather have out of focus to make your main subject stand out.

For subjects in motion, such as birds, I suggest using continuous group dynamic focusing. This allows the camera to use multiple focus points to auto-focus, so if the subject moves for a moment, away from the photographer’s primary focus point, it will remain in focus while the photographer pans the camera to keep composing the image as photographs are taken. This mode, allows the camera to more easily find those elusive edges for focusing on moving objects. A method to assist you focus on a moving subject, such as a bicycle rider, is to prefocus on something which is stationary and equidistant from where the rider will be going across your field of vision.

Sometimes, the camera’s auto-focus can be fooled into focusing on the wrong subject. The National Zoo’s Panda exhibit mentioned above is a perfect example. At zoos, we want to take photos of animals behind glass or chain link fences, but our cameras often auto-focus on the glass or fence. In that situation bring your camera as close to the barrier as possible, such as in between the links of the fence. This brings the fence or wall too close for the camera to focus on it, so it ignores it, and focuses on the real subject instead.

If you have manual focus available in your camera, there are times it’s the best focus method to use. For macro or close-up shots, night photography, portraits where I generally focus on the eyes, fireworks, low light or distant landscapes, I manually focus my camera.

A final thought. For many landscapes, I concentrate my focus on the foreground of my image, and let the focus be what it may for the rest of the photo. This is the way our eyes generally focus on outdoor scenes, and is a very natural look for landscapes, where the background focus is a bit soft.

¹Completely frustrated with a lens that was “back focusing” while traveling in Los Angeles in 2007, when reviewing photos taken earlier in the day, which had to be re-taken, I said, “Out of focus photographs give me a headache.”

Focus, overcoming the "fuzzies" Part 1

Ansel Adams said, “There is nothing worse than a brilliant image of a fuzzy concept.” While I certainly agree with Adams’ sentiment, if your photo is out of focus, no one will care about your image.

Today’s digital cameras, whether expensive DSLRs or low end Point & Shoots all have remarkably accurate automatic focus capability, but sometimes, your image composition, or conditions which are a bit out of the ordinary, can defeat any camera’s auto-focus.

In Part 1, I discuss how auto-focus works, and many of the modes of auto-focus found in today’s camera’s. In Part 2, I’ll discuss how to use auto-focus, difficult auto-focus situations, and when to manually focus your camera if it has that capability.

In auto-focus, the camera senses the difference in contrast between the edges of objects as seen through the lens. When the subject has sharp contrast differences, the camera will probably easily and correctly focus. If the edges of your subject are fuzzy, or aren’t clearly distinguishable from the surrounding background, the camera will have difficultly focusing, if it can at all. When this occurs, the camera’s auto-focus system will keep searching to find a clear sharp edge. This is sometimes called hunting.

Usually, in brightly lit conditions where the subject’s color makes it stand out from the background, auto-focus has little problem. If the light is dim, or the subject is similar in color to the background then auto-focus probably won’t work. Likewise, if your subject has multiple line patterns, it may have too many edges and the auto-focus system may not be able to decide on one to use, and therefore hunt. The same thing happens when there are many objects in the focus area.

Recently, at a forum I frequent, a photog new to his DSLR told us how he tried to take a photo of a coyote about 100 yards away. He was trying to understand why his photograph was out of focus. The problem was the image was monochromatic, with the coyote blending into the background. In addition, in the overall landscape the coyote wasn’t much more than a blip. The camera’s auto-focus really didn’t have a chance. The photog needed to manually focus in this situation.

Auto-focus has a number of methods or modes it uses to determine at what distance from the camera it should focus the lens to produce a sharp image. The modes have different names, according to the type of camera and brand. I’ll briefly discuss the major modes.

Face Detect:

The camera automatically detects the location of faces in the photo and focuses on them. If you’re taking a photograph of a single individual, or a small group of individuals in a single row, or “scrunched” together, I’ve found this mode works exceedingly well, especially on newer cameras.

The mode has difficulty when you’re photographing people of different complexions, and large groups in multiple rows or at tables, as they depend on depth of field and the photographer doesn’t control the actual point of focus.

Dynamic Area (No Frame):

The camera uses information from multiple focus points in a specific area of the image to determine focus. This mode is especially suited to continuous focusing, for action photographs. In this mode, the camera gets to choose the primary focus point in the focus area, not the photographer, which can be a problem.

Group Dynamic:

This mode is similar to the Dynamic Area mode. It uses multiple focus points in a specific area of the image to determine focus, but unlike Dynamic Area focus, the photographer chooses the primary focus point within the focus area. This mode is especially suited to continuous focusing, when shooting action photographs.

Closest Subject Priority:

In this mode the camera focuses on the closest object of significant size in the image. The problem with this mode is when the closest subject is not the main subject and the camera focuses on the wrong part of the image. I never recommend this mode.

Single Area:

In this mode, the photographer chooses which focus point among all the available focus points for the camera to set the focus. In some cameras, it’s always the center focus point. This is an excellent mode for portraits or any photograph in which your subject(s) are stationary.

For many amateur photographers, Face Detect mode can be extremely helpful in taking photographs of groups, as long as you understand its shortcomings.

I never utilize Dynamic Area focus due to its uncertainty, but do use its cousin, Group Dynamic focus, when I’m using continuous focusing for action photographs.

For stationary subjects, I use Single Area mode, and use the focus point which matches the location of where I want to focus in the photograph, or I use the center focus point (more often than not), focus, then recompose my image to get the precise composition of the image I desire.

Part 2 next week.

Photography Exhibition: The Hallmark Museum of Contemporary Photography - Blake Fitch - Expectations of Adolescence

The Hallmark Museum of Contemporary Photography in Turners Falls, MA has some of the most interesting exhibitions of contemporary photography on the East Coast of the US. Blake Fitch, Expectations of Adolescence, a ten year study of two girls, continues in that tradition. If you’re in north-central Massachusetts, about 100 miles west of Boston, don’t miss this exhibition.

The exhibition will run through June 28, 2009.

Blake Fitch was born in Rochester, NY in 1971, and educated at Pratt Institute with a B.F.A. in Photography and a minor in Photo History (1994). She has gone on to receive a masters degree in Arts Administration from Boston University (2001). She has photographed extensively in the United States and South America, focusing on themes of identity, rites of passage, civil rights, and the exploration of community within third world countries.

This exhibition, at Gallery 52 of the Museum, is the culmination of a ten year photographic project documenting the emotional and physical growth and emotional maturation of two young girls. It’s quite amazing.

As I travel, I love seeing the work of other photographers as I hope you do. If you know of a new photographic exhibition which you think the Blog should publicize, please contact me.

Photography Exhibition: At MoMA - Into the Sunset: Photography's Image of the American West

The MoMA (Museum of Modern Art – New York City) consistently has some of the best photographic exhibitions in North America or anywhere, for that matter. The current exhibition, Into the Sunset: Photography’s Image of the American West is no exception. If you’re in the New York City area, don’t miss this exhibition.

The exhibition will run through June 8, 2009.

“Into the Sunset: Photography's Image of the American West examines how photography has pictured the idea of the American West from 1850 to the present. Photography's development coincided with the exploration and the settlement of the West, and their simultaneous rise resulted in a complex association that has shaped the perception of the West's physical and social landscape to this day.”

“Into the Sunset brings together over 120 photographs made by a variety of photographers. These works illustrate photography's role in popularizing ideas of the sublime landscape, Manifest Destiny, and the "land of opportunity," as well as describing a more complex vision of the West, one that addresses cultural dislocation, environmental devastation, and failed social aspirations.”

As I travel, I love seeing the work of other photographers as I hope you do. If you know of a new photographic exhibition which you think the Blog should publicize, please contact me.

Photography Exhibition: At the Photographic Center Northwest - Andy Freeberg, Guardians & Sentry: Sitting in the Art World

If you’re in the Seattle area in May, you might want to drop in on the new photography exhibition at the Photographic Center Northwest, Andy Freeberg, Guardians & Sentry: Sitting in the Art World.

The exhibition will run from May 1 - May 29, 2009

Andy Freeberg photographs women Guardians in the art museums of Russia, as they sit and guard the collections. When looking at the paintings and sculptures, the presence of the women becomes an inherent part of viewing the artwork itself. In a second series, Sentry, Freeberg photographs the Chelsea Galleries white bunkerlike front desks that display the top of the heads of the desk sitters - often the only other human presence. In a deadpan approach, he targets the uniformity, anonymity, and their chilling effect.

I’m not going to be able to see this exhibition myself, but it sounds very interesting, and if I was in Seattle, I would definitely see it.

As I travel, I love seeing the work of other photographers as I hope you do. If you know of a new photographic exhibition which you think the Blog should publicize, please contact me.

Destination: For a wild time in San Diego, don't forget your camera

If you're like me, and are fascinated by wild animals, treat yourself to one of the San Diego Wild Animal Park's Photo Caravan Safaris. While it might not be the same as the safaris in Kenya or Tanzania, these "domestic" safaris are a real blast.

The Park, part of the Zoological Society of San Diego, is located approximately 35 miles north of San Diego, near the city of Escondido, California.

The Photo Safaris are not just for adults, or photographers. They are great fun for families. You get to be "up close" to wild animals which in zoos have a tall fence, or glass partition separating you from them.

The minimum age for short Safaris is six, and it's eight for the longer ones. We had a 10-year-old on our Safari. She had a great time learning about the animals from our guide, and dropping apple slices into the mouth of a rhino.

On Photo Caravan Safaris you travel in the park's Safari trucks like the one above. Keep in mind for children, the fence walls of the truck are about four feet high. There are benches in the truck to knee on, but very small children can not see easily.

On most of these Safaris you'll have the opportunity to directly interact with some of the animals like this woman feeding a giraffe. What a thrill it is for adults, teens, and children alike to be that close to these wild creatures. Some youngsters might have some fear of getting close to large wild animals, so you need to consider that before you take a young child on a Safari.

The Photo Caravan Safari trucks literally take you right into the center of the Park's field exhibits. They offer a rare opportunity to spend time with and learn about wild animals, unmatched at zoos or animal amusement parks. Each truck has a trained driver and guide. The guides are well schooled to answer questions about the animals themselves and animal conservation. Drivers stop the trucks near the animals for the best photographic opportunities, and they'll make extra stops for photos whenever requested by Safari participants. They made several such stops for me.

We went on the 3½ hour Deluxe Adventure Photo Caravan Safari which took us into both the African and Asian Field Exhibits. We saw oryxs, gazelles, giraffes, rhinos, impalas, chitals, cranes, waterbucks and storks, to name just a few. A snack was provided at a brief stop, and water was available at all times. To see more Safari photos go to my Safari photo gallery. Click on the "Map This" button there, to see a map of where we went in the Park on the Safari, how extensive the Safari was, and where each photo was taken.

The Deluxe Adventure Photo Caravan Safari costs $150 per person, plus the cost of admission to the Park, which is $35 for adults (12 years old and up) and $26 for children, for a one day pass. That may seem high, but in my opinion, it's more than worth it. Other Photo Safaris range in price from $69 for the Snapshot Safari (1 hour) to the $230 Early Riser Ultimate Photo Caravan Safari (4½ hours), plus the cost of Park admission. The proceeds of these Photo Safaris are important for the Park to raise necessary funds for their animal conservation and education programs.

I used my Nikon DSLR for these photos, but you can get marvelous photos with a good "Point and Shoot" camera. Your camera does need to be able to take both "wide angle" and "telephoto" photographs, but with a good zoom lens on a DSLR or SLR camera, or the zoom lens on most of today's "Point and Shoot" cameras you'll be all set for great photos. I used an 18mm-200mm Nikkor zoom lens for my photographs. I found I was close enough to the animals that I never needed a more powerful (longer) telephoto or zoom telephoto lens.

There are many great exhibits to see at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, from the "big" cats to exotic birds of all shapes and sizes, and of course the elephants. After the Photo Safari we took in many of the other exhibits. We especially enjoyed our walk to the Lion Camp, Heart of Africa, and Lagoon exhibits, but the Photo Safari was by far the highlight of the day, and an incredible 3½+ hours, for us and all Safari participants.

Photography Exhibition: At the Art Institute of Chicago - Photography on Display: Modern Treasures

If you're planning an upcoming trip into Chicago, the new exhibit, Photography on Display: Modern Treasures will be coming to the Art Institute of Chicago in just a few weeks. The exhibition appears as though it will be fantastic as it explores the different avenues for presenting photographs in the world.

The exhibition runs from May 9–September 13, 2009

“This exhibition, presented in conjunction with the debut of the new photography galleries of the Modern Wing, explores the different avenues for presenting photographs in the world. Around 130 works by some 70 modernist figures, including classics such as Albert Renger-Patzsch, Walker Evans, and Dorothea Lange, demonstrate the range of photography’s spaces of display: from salon exhibitions to commercial galleries, magazine spreads, or art-school assignments. Each of these spaces helped shape the ideas that continue to make photography a singularly influential field.”

If I’m in Chicago during this exhibition, I’m not going to miss it.

As I travel, I love seeing the work of other photographers as I hope you do. If you know of a new photographic exhibition which you think the Blog should publicize, please contact me.

Photography Exhibition: At the National Portrait Gallery - Portraiture Now: Feature Photography

There is a wonderful photography exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., Portraiture Now: Feature Photography.

The exhibition runs through September 27, 2009.

“Portraiture Now: Feature Photography” focuses on six photographers who, by working on assignment for publications such as the New Yorker, Esquire, and the New York Times Magazine, each bring their distinctive “take” on contemporary portraiture to a broad audience. Critically acclaimed for their independent fine-art work, these photographers—Katy Grannan, Jocelyn Lee, Ryan McGinley, Steve Pyke, Martin Schoeller, and Alec Soth—have also pursued a variety of editorial projects, taking advantage of the opportunities and grappling with the parameters that these assignments introduce. Their work builds upon a longstanding tradition of photographic portraiture for the popular press and highlights creative possibilities for twenty-first-century portrayal.

If you're in the Washington D.C. area, don't miss this exhibition. The National Portrait Gallery is conveniently located at Eighth and F Streets, NW, in Washington D.C., above the Gallery Place–Chinatown Metrorail station (red, yellow, and green lines). The Gallery is open from 11:30 a.m.–7:00 p.m. daily, but closed December 25th. There is no admission fee.

If you can't make it in person to Portraiture Now: Feature Photography, you can see a limited number of the works, in the actual exhibition, in the Feature Photography online gallery. Take some time to wet your appetite to visit the Portraiture Now: Feature Photography in person by viewing the online version of the exhibition.

As I travel, I love seeing the work of other photographers as I hope you do. If you know of a new photographic exhibition which you think the Blog should publicize, please contact me.

Photography Exhibition: At the Getty Museum - In Focus: The Portrait

There is a terrific photographic exhibit at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, In Focus, The Portrait.

The exhibit runs through June 14, 2009.

Following the invention of photography in 1839, portraiture became accessible to all. The 1850s marked the beginning of the medium's commercialization. Continuing technical improvements enabled the instant capture of likenesses under virtually any condition and expanded the dialogue between the photographer and the sitter.

While photography was first presented as the most truthful of representations, its underlying subjectivity is especially relevant in portraiture.

This exhibit is made exclusively of images from the J. Paul Getty Museum's collection. The selection of portraits surveys the relationship between photographer and subject, including formal portraits, intimate pictures, and documentary photographs.

Among my favorites in the exhibition are works by Matthew Brady, Edward Steichen, Paul Strand and Alfred Stieglitz. In the exhibition, Stieglitz's portrait of his wife, Georgia O'Keeffe is marvelous. O'Keeffe is one of America's most famous and celebrated artists. Just last week I saw two small, but terrific examples of O'Keeffe's work at the Museum of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts is the oldest school of art, and houses the oldest art museum in the United States. It is internationally renown for its collections of 19th and 20th century American paintings, sculptures, and works on paper.

If you're in the Los Angeles area, be sure to visit the Getty and see this wonderful photographic exhibition.

As I travel, I love seeing the work of other photographers as I hope you do. If you know of a new photographic exhibition which you think the Blog should publicize, please contact me.

Photography Exhibition: At the Philadelphia Museum of Art - Daidō Moriyama: Tokyo Photographs

Currently at the Philadelphia Museum of Art there is a wonderful exhibition, Daidō Moriyama: Tokyo Photographs.

The exhibition will run until August 23, 2009

I agree with the Museum that Daidō Moriyama is one of the most important and exciting Japanese photographers of our time, having made prolific, often experimental pictures of modern urban life since the 1960s. This exhibition showcases a group of approximately 45 photographs made in and around Tokyo in the 1980s, when Moriyama focused his mature aesthetic on the city with renewed intensity.

Moriyama approaches the world with an equalizing eye, capturing disparate peripheral details that in themselves account for little, but together add up to a powerful diagnosis of modern experience. In 1980s Japan such details encompassed the disorienting and sometimes brutal juxtaposition of traditional culture and modernization, most visible in the glut of consumer goods and images. But in Moriyama’s photographs these subjects appear alongside the banal elements of any streetscape: a derelict patch of pavement and wall, a car with an aggressive key scratch running its full length, even a single rose blossom.

If you're traveling in the Philadelphia, PA area, don't miss this wonderful exhibition.

This article is the first of a new feature of the NSL Photography Blog, to bring to your attention important, interesting and worthwhile photography exhibitions by famous, not so famous, and unknown photographers. As I travel, I love seeing the work of other photographers as I hope you do. If you know of a new photographic exhibition which you think the Blog should publicize, please contact me.