Election Night 2011 – Tim Burgess Wins 2nd Term in Seattle City Council
Above is Seattle City Councilman Tim Burgess being interviewed by a local TV station on Yesler Way Tuesday night, outside City Councilwoman Sally Clark‘s election party at Merchant’s Cafe. Burgess was commenting on his re- election victory and the passing with a strong margin of the Families and Education Levy which he supported. I had an excellent time yesterday on election night, following around Seattle City councilman Tim Burgess who cruised to victory in his re-election to another 4 year term. The first results were announced around 8:15PM. They indicated he had the lead with 81% of the votes over opponent David Schraer.
Earlier in the evening, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, Tim Burgess and other Seattle officials supporting the Families and Education Levy, gathered at Elysian Fields. Since there was not a dedicated TV broadcast concerning the election results the had to and search on their smartphones for the first word on the first results of the election being announced which was supposed to be at 8:15PM. Members of the media were assembled in the restaurant waiting to hear their reaction to the results.
Blue Angels Over Seattle
Well the Blue Angels are back in town so it must be the start of Seafair week. I love watching these precision US Navy jet fliers passing over our city and lakes except for when like today I did not make it across the floating bridge of US 90 on my way back from an appointment in Bellevue. Sitting in traffic when I need to be traveling is not my idea of fun. Still they are a blast to watch. Just have to remember not to ty and get across Lake Washington during the day. Traffic all over the region will be messed up from 10 AM to the start of rush hour as these guys practice their display and then performance over the weekend.
“The Black Garden” Latest Project by Jason Eskenazi
My friend Jason Eskenazi is working on a new book project and is seeking help in funding it. He has a page on the website Kickstarter where you can go to learn more about him, his previous work and his newest project and maybe pledge some funding.
His first award winning book “Wonderland: A Fairy Tale of the Soviet Monolith” was a jewel of a masterpiece and I am greatly anticipating the publication of “The Black Garden”.
THE BLACK GARDEN – A New Photography Project by Jason Eskenazi:
“My project The Black Garden is a photographic investigation of the East/West divide. Basing myself in Istanbul for one year, I will photograph the texture of life throughout the Middle East and beyond as the Muslim world continues to confront the tide of western-style ideals for better or for worse.
I want to understand the contemporary dilemmas of our civilization by seeking modern equivalents to the East/West dichotomy. From the mythic Trojan War, to the split of the Roman Empire, to Islamic control over Western Europe, to today’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to the revolutions in Egypt and Libya, human history has been plagued by successive waves of both territorial and cultural conquest across the Eurasian divide over the course of 3000 years. This ancient world spanned the same locales where many of the world’s crises are now taking place.
After 9/11, the real battles and new borders of the 21st century are no longer being fought over physical territory, but over imagination, West vs. East, of how best to attain, order, and maintain a society. I want to investigate this dichotomy.”
To continue reading, go to Kickstarter
Awards & Grants:
Best Photography Book POYi, 2008 “WONDERLAND.”
Fulbright Scholar, 2004
Guggenheim Fellow, 1999
Dorothea Lange/Paul Taylor Prize, 1999
Alicia Patterson Foundation Grant, 1996
Going to the Dogs
Here is an picture from the weekend of Luna flying through the air to catch a ball. She is pretty devoted to retrieving it and loves to jump up to catch it on the fly. Share on Facebook
Pictures of the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Aftermath
A wave approaches Miyako City from the Heigawa estuary in Iwate Prefecture after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck the area March 11, 2011. Picture taken March 11, 2011. (REUTERS/Mainichi Shimbun)
I am amazed by many of the news picture coverage of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan the past couple of days. I lived in Japan for 1 1/2 yrs many years ago, and experienced a few earthquakes there but this is entirely different. My heart goes out to the victims of this disaster. We can all be so vulnerable at times and unaware. It brings to mind how we too in the Pacific NW are living close to the same type of fault lines and scenes like these could be happening on our coast someday. Share on Facebook
If interested see some more of these pictures on the Boston Globe’s site The Big Picture and also on the Alantic Monthly’s site In Focus
Minamisanriku is submerged after Friday’s strong earthquake-triggered tsunami in Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan, March 12. (Kyodo News))
Officials in protective gear check for signs of radiation on children who are from the evacuation area near the Fukushima Daini nuclear plant in Koriyama. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)
A man holding a dog walks on a street in Kesennuma city, Miyagi prefecture on March 12. (AFP/Getty Images)
Photography blog by Daniel Sheehan who creates photography for editorial publications and corporations and is available for commercial photography assignments.
Boeing 777 | Boeing Commercial Airplane Assembly
On an assignment for the magazine Businessweek, prior to it being acquired by Bloomberg, I got to go to Everett, WA and photograph the Boeing 777 as it was being assembled. The Boeing 777 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world’s largest twinjet and is commonly referred to as the “Triple Seven”. The aircraft has seating for over 300 passengers and has a range from 5,235 to 9,380 nautical miles, depending on model. Its distinguishing features include the largest-diameter turbofan engines of any aircraft, six wheels on each main landing gear, a circular fuselage cross-section, and blade-shaped tail cone. Developed in consultation with eight major airlines, the 777 was designed to replace older wide-body airliners and bridge the capacity difference between the 767 and 747. As Boeing’s first fly-by-wire airliner, it has computer mediated controls; it is also the first entirely computer-designed commercial aircraft.
Although the plant is illuminated partly by florescent lighting which gives everything a green cast, I corrected for that. The green cast on the body of the 777 is a protective coat and is removed before it completed and painted. Boeing doubled the size of the Everett factory which is one of the largest buildings in the world, to accommodate production of the 777.
Every time I fly on a Boeing 777, I remember how they look as I saw them on my tour to watch them come together here in Washington State.
Zombies Set to Invade Seattle Again on Saturday
Last year around this time, I was out at a bar in Seattle having a beer at the High Dive in Fremont, watching “The Buckets”, a local band my friend Michael plays guitar in. When the show was done I headed towards the door and saw these Zombies at a table and photographed them and wondered why they had been let in to the bar dressed like that. Then I hit the streets and it looked like the Zombies had taken over the city. I started taking photos as they walked by. There were thousands of them around. I did make it out of Fremont ok. It turned out that more than 3 thousand people participated that Friday night in Fremont in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for most people in a zombie walk.
After the walk the zombies went for a viewing of some outdoor movies, Shaun of the Dead, and playing of Michael Jackson’s Thriller for zombies to dance to. More than a thousand zombies danced to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. The event was scheduled before his death, and so it turned into a tribute to him.
As it turned out, Fremont broke the world’s record for the most zombies in one place with the new official record of 3,894 zombies. Then England stepped in and took away the record. So this Saturday is the second annual Red, White & Dead event. Seattle can then lay claim to the “Zombie Capital of the World” once and for all in the “Dead” Center of the Universe. The goal is to outdo the Brits, who hold the zombie walk Guinness World Record through the Big Chill Music Festival in England. From noon to midnight Saturday at Fremont Outdoor Movies (3501 Phinney Ave. N.), there will be an attempt to beat Guinness Book of Records with most “zombies” in one location. 3,575 are expected. From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., zombies will dance and walk on sidewalks in Fremont, with North 35th Street closed from Phinney Avenue North to First Avenue NW. his year also marks the “Year of the Zombie” and Seattle seems to be the center of attention, as 2010 marks another first for Seattle with ZomBcon, the world’s first Zombie Culture Convention infecting Seattle on Halloween weekend at the Seattle Center and Experience Music Project with over 100 Exhibitors, 10 interactive fan workshops, panels, a SIFF-curated film series, and Halloween Masquerade , Zombie Prom party. We plan to have a collection of experts, authors, filmmakers, historians, celebrities and all the gear and fan fare for the Quintessential Zombie fan. Here are some pictures from last years zombie walk.
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Editorial photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan, who shoots corporate and editorial photography and portraits for publications and Seattle Wedding Photography with an artistic photojournalist style.
Jorn Ake | New York Poet
Monday night the poet Jorn Ake was in town giving a reading from his latest book at The Elliott Bay Book Company in their new Capital Hill location. It was the first time I had visited Seattle’s legendary independent bookstore’s new location and was impressed that they very much kept the spirit of the old bookstore in the translation to Capital Hill. I first met Jorn in Prague where he and his wife Claudia were living and I was visiting with my wife Jana. It was good to see them again.
The New York City-based poet Jorn Ake read from his Blue Lynx Prize-winning new collection, Boys Whistling Like Canaries (Eastern Washington University Press). “Boys Whistling Like Canaries is a collection haunted by the grim history of the 20th century, and by how its legacy continues to so troublesomely endure. Ake tackles the most vexing subjects—among them our current wars, the Holocaust, and Cold War totalitarianism—yet he reckons with them without resorting to bromides, polemics, or the benumbing timidity with so often afflicts the work of American poets when they seek to confront injustice. In his rangy and querulous approach, Ake recalled the work of two of our finest poets of social justice, George Oppen and Thomas McGrath. To be linked with them is no small accomplishment.” – David Wojahn. Jorn Ake’s 2001 debut, Asleep in the Lightning Fields, received the X.J. Kennedy Poetry Prize.
Photograph by Seattle Photographer Daniel Sheehan specializing in photojournalism, portraits and photography for publications and corporations.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
Recently I was working on my archive and I stumbled upon this executive portrait of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer which I shot on assignment for Yahoo Business Magazine. Although he did not give me a ton of time Ballmer was very gracious with me despite what I had heard from others. Coincidently Mocrosoft today announced that driven by Windows 7 sales, their profits grew 35 percent in the 3rd quarter beating all industry analysts estimates. Microsoft had $4.01 billion in profit, or 45 cents a share, on $14.5 billion in sales in the third quarter, which ended March 31. This was an increase of 6 percent compared with the same quarter a year ago, when the company made a profit of $2.98 billion, or 33 cents a share on $13.65 billion in sales.
Ballmer has a long history with the company and joined Microsoft in 1980 and became Microsoft’s 24th employee, the first business manager hired by Bill Gates and was named CEO in January of 2000. Photograph by Seattle Photographer Daniel Sheehan specializing in photojournalism, portraits and photography for publications and corporations, and a wedding photographer, with a candid photojournalist style.
Gebhard Ullman
Gebhard Ullman Clarinet Trio
Last week I was assigned to photograph the Gebhard Ullman Clarinet Trio. I was not sure what to expect from a trio of clarinets coming out of Berlin, but I was taken aback by the talents of Gebhard Ullman, Juergen Kupke and Michael Thieke and their music from their opening number as they slowly strolled through the house to the stage, to the finale. An amazing amount of variety from such a tight ensemble of reed players. Their music was swinging and sophisticated and somewhere out there to the mysterious, abstract yet strangely accessible.
From the Earshot Jazz Magazine program notes “Ullmann is a follow-up guy in a world of intermittency. We hear sounds in snippets, music in simple, single song structures, see acts come and go with astonishing speed. Yes, improvisers come up with different ideas constantly, never uttering the same exact thing twice, but the extended suite on Ullmann’s new Ballads and Related Objects comes back again and again to a series of firefly-like blinks, woody auras with sonic embers around the core combustion, as on “Variations on a Theme by Claude Debussy.” But the blinks go to yelps and clarinet shouts, barking that front-ends a chatter of clarinet/alto clarinet/bass clarinet, a recurring intensity.
Ullmann sees his follow-ups more concretely, too: “However I may seem to go in different directions at the same time, I follow up most of the formats for many years. Mostly more than a decade.” He’s right, too, bringing bands back time and again to explore the platform, to survey how the ensemble has grown as individuals. Ballads is the third session from Ullmann, Jurgen Kupke (clarinet), and Michael Thieke (alto clarinet), and as it’s released, Ullmann is also putting out another date with trombone madman, Steve Swell. The simply named Ullmann/Swell 4 spills out News? No News!, a rambunctious blurt of energetic action that records no distance or creative tension between Ullmann, a Berlin transplant who spends most of his time in Europe, and the New Yorker. One could imagine the difference in scenes, Europe more friendly to the avant-garde, North America more occupied by its love for the mainstream, its measuring of art by the yardstick of commerce. But Ullmann resists the characterization: “We are all trying to move forward musically and be able to survive. There is no difference,” he replies when questioned on how we differ on opposite sides of the Atlantic.
As for the Clarinet Trio, Ullmann infuses the music with what qualities he sees in Thieke and Kupke: “They bring in contemporary music, performance, jokes.” He’s emphatic about their musical potency, too: “You never heard a trio like this. It is at times more than a trio almost an orchestra. It is all of my woodwind music.” Like ROVA and the WSQ before them, the Trio does indeed encompass Ullmann’s many interests, his core. “Be it bands like Henry Cow or Can, be it the classical music I grew up with or the contemporary composed music I listened to as a teenager, composers like Lutoslawski, Henze or Stockhausen,” he comments, the woodwind elements didn’t exist. And even as some of Ullmann’s impetus was to “transpose to wind instruments” what he heard in music that did not feature them, he also knows that “minimalistic techniques and techniques using overtones, multiphonics and such [can] give the impression of more than 3 players,” enabling the ensemble to move beyond some of the limitations of the source material. Continue reading here. Jazz Photographer and Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan covers jazz performances, creates portrait photography for publications and corporations and is a Seattle Wedding Photographer, wedding photography with an artistic photojournalist style.
A Toast to Akihito Emperor of Japan
Emperor Akihito of Japan
I was going through some old files and I came across some photos I forgot I had taken. In 1994 on a news assignment, I photographed Emperor Akihito of Japan who was on a visit to New York. It was at a reception at the Metropolitan Museum of New York and all of the New York social and political elites came out to meet him. It was an interesting evening to witness. Here the Emperor was applauding a toast New York Governor Mario Coumo has made I believe. Akihito is the current Emperor of Japan, and the 125th Emperor according to Japan’s traditional order of succession. He acceded to the throne in 1989, and is the 20th most senior monarch or lifelong leader. He is the world’s only reigning monarch whose title is customarily translated into English as “Emperor”.. Photographs on this website by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan © 2010. All Rights Reserved. Please inquire for permission before using. In addition to editorial and corporate assignments, Daniel is also a wedding photographer and was named the best wedding photographers in Seattle by the Wedding Photojournalists Association.
Editorial Portrait of a Real Estate Agent
I was assigned to make an environmental portrait of Seattle real estate agent Jan Sewell who also runs a successful staging business for other real estate agents recently for a magazine piece about her beautiful home in Madison Park. Her place is like a museum with incredible art on all the walls and sculpture scattered all around the place. She does decorate homes for a living after all, so it is no surprise her place is drop dead gorgeous. Making a portrait of her was more of a challenge as she like a fair number of people do not like to have their picture made. I can not tell you how many times I hear from subjects the” I can’t take a good picture.” and I respond that not to worry, I would be taking the pictures and they should just relax. That is what Jan did and all involved were happy with the results.
Editorial Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan who specializes in people, portraits, andplaces. SEATTLE EDITORIAL PHOTOGRAPHER Daniel Sheehan shoots assignments in a photojournalistic style that is real, straightforward, subtle and unobtrusive.
Guardian (UK) Steals Photo from Photographer
This is Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan’s photo of Larry Ochs that the Guardian (UK) used without permission and without a photo credit on their website with an article headlined “Spanish fan calls police over saxophone band who were just not jazzy enough” All Photographs on this website Daniel Sheehan © 2009. All Rights Reserved. Please inquire for permission before using.
After discovering their unauthorized use a day or so afterwards I wrote to their music editor at music.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk but he has not yet seen fit to respond. I am now pondering what my next move will be. UPDATE: I have received word from the Guardian that they are sorry they used the photo without permission and offered payment and then some for for their use.
Click on jazz photography to see the original blog post on my jazz photography website eyeshotjazz where the photo was first posted last year.
Here is their story:
“Jazzman Larry Ochs has seen many things during 40 years playing his saxophone around the world but, until this week, nobody had ever called the police on him. That changed on Monday night however, when’s Spain’s pistol-carrying Civil Guard police force descended on the Sigüenza Jazz festival to investigate allegations that Ochs’s music was not, well, jazz.
Police decided to investigate after an angry jazz buff complained that the Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core group was on the wrong side of a line dividing jazz from contemporary music. The jazz purist claimed his doctor had warned it was “psychologically inadvisable” for him to listen to anything that could be mistaken for mere contemporary music.
According to a report in El País newspaper yesterday, the khaki-clad police officers listened to the saxophone-playing and drumming coming from the festival stage before agreeing that the purist might, indeed, have a case. His complaint against the organisers, who refused to return his money, was duly registered and will be passed on to a judge.
“The gentleman said this was not jazz and that he wanted his money back,” said the festival director, Ricardo Checa. ”He didn’t get his money. After all, he knew exactly what group he was going to see, as their names were on the festival programme. He added: “The question of what constitutes jazz and what does not is obviously a subjective one, but not everything is New Orleans funeral music.”
“Larry Ochs plays contemporary, creative jazz. He is a fine musician and very well-renowned.” ”I thought I had seen it all,” Ochs, who reportedly suffered a momentary identity crisis, told El País. “I was obviously mistaken.” ”After this I will at least have a story to tell my grandchildren,” the California-based saxophonist added.”
Jazz Photography by editorial photographer and photojournalist Daniel Sheehan who covers jazz performances, and creates portrait photography for publications and corporations. He is also a Seattle Wedding Photographer at A Beautiful Day Photography, a wedding photographer with an artistic photojournalist style.
‘The Americans’ Revisited
So a little more on Robert Frank’s influential book “The Americans”.
Looking In: Robert Frank’s ‘The Americans’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through Jan, 3, 2010.
Frank shot 767 rolls of film on his 10,000 mile road trip across America in the mid 1950′s, a total of 27,612 individual shots in total. He then edited it down and made over 1,000 work prints of different images and after 2 years finally selected the 83 images that actually were printed in the book. Editing is so important and perhaps the hardest skill for a photographer to learn. How to edit your own work. I hope to make it to NY to see this exhibit before it comes down. There is an interesting review of the Frank exhibit at the Met in the Wall Street Journal.
Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans” celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of The Americans, Robert Frank’s influential suite of black-and-white photographs made on a cross-country road trip in 1955–56.
“In the first room at the Met is a wall of about 80 work prints, most of which have never been exhibited before. They were at one time candidates for “The Americans,” and most were edited out over the two years he spent on the winnowing process.
Almost every one of these outtakes is wonderful—and these are only a sample of the 1,000 work prints he made, themselves a tiny fraction of the rough diamonds still buried in the contact sheets. Many photographers would feel lucky in a lifetime to have captured a handful of the images that Mr. Frank rejected.
Why he chose to publish one picture over another will have many of us studying the excellent essays in the catalog to gain a better hold on his reasoning. Everything was sacrificed to the flow across pages and the four sections of the book. The icon of riders looking at us from a New Orleans trolley car is followed by another frieze-like composition of busy pedestrians on Canal Street moving in apparent isolation.”
The Americans – Robert Frank
City Hall, Reno, Nevada, 1956
My friend Jason Eskenazi wrote me with a request.
Dear Dan,
As you know I worked at the MET for almost 2 years as a security guard. In the last months I guarded the Robert Frank show almost everyday. Ive been asking famed photogs what photo of the 83 images in the Americans really does it for them or that they can say they were ‘born’ out of, is their hands down favorite. I’m trying to get 83 photographers to respond to this survey question.
I finally quit and Im on my to Turkey.
Hope all is well.
JE
He presented me with a dilemma. I went back to the book and went through it again through all 83 images evaluating my emotions and thoughts.
I responded to him with these thoughts.
Selecting only one is like breaking apart a string of pearls and saying this one is my favorite. He put them all together, sequenced, juxtaposing them in an order that gave them a particular meaning. Telling a story.
Picking apart the thread and isolating one image changes its meaning.
But since you asked, my favorite picture changes almost every time I seriously look at the book.
I like #81 City Hall, Reno, Nevada, 1956, these days, after having shot more than my share of just married couples in the past few years.
He nailed it.
A Whole Nother Kind of Jazz
WAYNE HORVITZ: THESE HILLS OF GLORY
Soloist Carla Kihlstedt (violin) and the Odeonquartet, a world-renowned chamber group featuring Seattle Symphony musicians, perform Wayne Horvitz’s new chamber-music work, These Hills of Glory
The Earshot Jazz Festival is in it’s final week and so I am looking forward to staying home in the evenings starting next week for a least a little while. It has been a lot of fun covering the festival. I have seen and heard a lot of different styles of mostly jazz being played but the music of Wayne Horvitz was something very special.
Pianist Cristina Valdes performs the world premier of Wayne Horvitz’s For Piano Alone in Four Parts
The Odeon Quartet consisting of Gennady Fillmonov, violin, Artur Girsky,violin, Heather Bentley, viola, and Helene Ferret, cello, perform the world premier of Robin Holcomb’s Carry Over
Wayne Horvitz joins the Odeon Quartet and Carla Kihistedt on stage at the end of the performance of These Hills of Glory
KENNETH JARECKE on Cowboys and Photojournalists
Kenneth Jarecke has a photo essay on the Montana State Fair and his thoughts on the comparison between cowboys and photojournalists up on the New York Times photo blog Lens. Some of the comments after the essay are a good read on the subject too.
“While watching the 4-H youngsters going about their business at MontanaFair in Billings this month, I was struck by a parallel. Here I am in 2009, at a fair ground: a photojournalist, making pictures of cowboys in every direction I look. Don’t any of us know that none of us are supposed to exist?…
[...]The publishing industry is suffering through its killing winter right now. Many of the big outfits I’ve worked for in the past won’t survive. That doesn’t mean photojournalism will disappear, it just means that we’ll have to pay for it a different way. As more publications use the McDonald’s philosophy of giving away the hamburger and making money on the fries and soda — but then failing to charge for any of it — photojournalists will have to create a new market for their work.
[...]Professional photojournalists have only their eye, their experience and their work ethic to create lasting images. It has nothing to do with what kind of lariat they’re carrying.
[...] if you can’t make a great picture in your own backyard, it isn’t going to happen anywhere else.”
Ken has an extended edit of the photoessay back on his own website here.
Blue Angels Redux
Blue Angel pilots fly in a tight formation over Lake Washington on a hot summer day. The U.S. Navy Blue Angels are back in Seattle again performing their amazing air show routine in conjunction with Seattle’s annual Seafair celebrations. Some of their movements are astonishing to watch.
Photographs by Seattle Photographer Daniel Sheehan specializing in photojournalism, portraits for publications and corporations, and photojournalistic Seattle wedding photography.
Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958–June 25, 2009)
As Michael Jackson‘s memorial service is being held in L.A. as I write, I felt moved to go to the files and pull up an old negative from the time I got to see him perform and photograph him. We were all so much younger, and his music was a dominant note on the soundtrack of our lives. He was everywhere on the radio and MTV. It is almost incredible to remember how really big he was then. Seeing him and photographing him on assignment was a big deal. He was a major force and influence in popular music.
Michael Jackson performed at the Gator Bowl Stadium in Jacksonville Florida before 45,000 people for each night for three nights July 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 1984. I was there on July 23rd on assignment to photograph him for the Black Star Photo agency. It was a big news story everywhere Michael went.
He was on his Victory tour at the top of his game. He performed with his brothers Jackie, Jermaine, Tito, Marlon, and Randy. The tour reunited all Jackson brothers including Michael, who had just released the highly successful Thriller album in 1982, two years previous to the tour, and Jermaine, who had not recorded or toured with his brothers since they left Motown in 1975. The Jacksons’ Victory Tour was the group’s final concert tour of the United States and Canada.
The tour commenced on 6 July in Kansas City and concluded on 9 December in Los Angeles. The tour consisted of 55 concerts to approximately 2 million fans. It was named after the newly released Jacksons’ album Victory although none of the songs from that album were on the tour’s set list.
The set list consisted of songs from the Jacksons albums Destiny and Triumph, but not the Victory album. There were also songs on the list from Jermaine’s and Michael’s solo careers. Michael’s albums Off The Wall and Thriller were both represented.
Here is the set list.
“Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”
“Things I Do for You”
“Off the Wall”
“Human Nature” (with “Ben” introduction)
“This Place Hotel”
“She’s out of My Life”
“Let’s Get Serious”
“You Like Me Don’t You”
“Tell Me I’m Not Dreamin’ (Too Good to Be True)” (duet with Michael Jackson)
Jackson 5 Medley: “I Want You Back” / “The Love You Save” / “I’ll Be There”
“Rock with You”
“Lovely One”
Interlude
“Workin’ Day and Night”
“Beat It”
“Billie Jean”
“Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)”
The tour reportedly grossed $75 million and set a new record for the then-largest grossing tour. Michael Jackson donated all of his proceeds ($5 million) from the tour to three charities, including the T.J. Martell Foundation for Leukemia and Cancer Research, The United Negro College Fund, and the Ronald McDonald Camp for Good Times.
There was one other reason for the concert to be memorable. They rounded up all of the photographers and video folks and put us in a fenced in area about 40-50 yards away from the stage.
Normally covering a concert the press would shoot from a spot just in front of the stage, so it was a little dismaying to find out how far way we were to be. A 600mm lens with an extender was kind of the only way to get a decent sized image at theses shows. We were all a little miffed. Dennis Hamilton of the Florida times Union newspaper brought along a bag of white gloves which we put on and posed for this photo below. Dennis is in the top row center and I am just to his right. Carol Guzy, three time Pulitzer prize winning photographer at the Washington Post, is third from left. Will Dickey of the Florida Times Union is to the right of her. And down in front is Tom Burton from the Orlando Sentinel. Just to the right of Tom is Don Dughi, of UPI. and with the gloved hand sticking out, is John Coffeen of the Tampa Tribune. Can not recall who every one else is. If you recognize them let me know in the comments. I was just reminded of the pyscho Public Relations woman who kept shouting at us to point our camera at the ground after we shot some photos. We were only allowed to shoot a couple of songs as I remember it.
Photographs of Protests in Iran Made at Extreme Risk
The fantastic photography blog of the Boston Globe “The Big Picture”, has a new post titled “A troubled week in Iran.
They say “In the ten days since Iran’s disputed presidential election, street demonstrations have taken place every day. Iranian citizens, supporters of opposition candidates, continue to take to the streets and document what they encounter there, despite explicit government bans, the danger of arrest (many hundreds placed in custody), or possible physical harm (at least 19 deaths so far). Iranian officials maintain their stance that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the undisputed winner, and have increased restrictions and pressure on opposition members, protesters, foreign media and communication networks as they work to regain control….Many of the photographs here were taken and transmitted at great risk in the past week, in the hopes that others would be able to see and bear witness. ” They have added 38 photos now to see. Below are just 4 of them. Go and check out the rest at The Big Picture
Supporters of Iran’s presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi face off against riot police during a demonstration on June 20, 2009 in Tehran, Iran. Thousands of Iranians clashed with police as they defied an ultimatum from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for an end to protests over last week’s disputed presidential election results.
In this photograph posted on the internet, protesters clash with riot police at an anti-government protest in Tehran, Iran on Saturday June 20, 2009
A screen grab taken on June 21, 2009 from a video posted on YouTube reportedly shows Iranian men trying to help a wounded woman named “Neda” after she was shot in the chest during a protest in Tehran on June 20, 2009. She died only moments later. Neda Soltani has become an iconic figure among supporters of the opposition, her memorial on June 22nd was apparently disrupted by Iranian riot police
Iranian riot police clash with demonstrators in Tehran, Iran Saturday June 20, 2009.
More Photos From Iran Election Protest
Supporters of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi demonstrate June 16, 2009 in Tehran, Iran.
The blog of the Boston Globe “The Big Picture”, has just posted some more photos from today’s demonstrations in Iran. They say”After the relatively free (if sporadic) flow of news, tweets, video and photographs from Iran the past several days, today saw a tighter clampdown, with the government officially banning foreign media from covering rallies and taking further efforts to block online communications. Though photographs from inside Iran are now more rare, there are still a few available. Collected here are three mini-collections: images of reactions from Iranians abroad and the international community, images of pro-Ahmadinejad rallies from Iran (allowed under current restrictions), and several photos from continued rallies held today in support of reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi.” They have added 27 new photos today. Go and check it out It is at The Big Picture
Photographs From Iran
As a Seattle photojournalist and former foreign based photographer for NY Newsday, I have been following the turmoil in the aftermath of the presidential election in Iran over the weekend and have found a source of some really great photojournalism on the blog of the Boston Globe “The Big Picture”. Go there and check out the entire post of 38 photos. It is at The Big Picture
A supporter of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi shouts slogans during riots in Tehran on June 13, 2009. Hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared winner by a landslide in Iran’s hotly-disputed presidential vote, triggering riots by opposition supporters and furious complaints of cheating from his defeated rivals.
A riot-police officer strikes a man with a baton near Tehran University on June 14, 2009. Iran’s defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi said on Sunday he has asked the powerful Guardians Council to cancel the result of the presidential poll, while urging his supporters to continue peaceful protests.
Backers of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi are beaten by government security men during riots in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 14, 2009.
Defeated reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi center, raises his arms as he appears at an opposition demonstration in Tehran on June 15, 2009, appearing in public for the first time since an election that has divided the nation.
New York Times Runs Staged Photograph
The New York Times ran an unusual note from the editor last Friday stating:
“A picture on May 5 with the continuation of a front-page article about the porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and the strategic advantages it offers to Taliban insurgents fighting American troops, showed a silhouetted Taliban logistics tactician, who was interviewed for the article, holding a rifle, creating the impression that the weapon belonged to him. The Times subsequently learned from the photographer that the rifle belonged to the owner of a home in Pakistan where the interview took place, and that the Taliban tactician had held the weapon only for the purpose of the photograph.
“Had The Times known this information at the time of publication, it would not have used the photograph to illustrate the article.”
I was wondering about who had made the picture and what the circumstances about it were. I found out today well known and respected Washington DC photographer John Harrington posted some information he dug up about the controversy. I think it is especially interesting to read what he has to say about the relationship between what the NY Times stands for and what they pay the photographers who contribute to their newspaper.
He says:
“ Zackary Canepari has a pretty big problem. At the ripe old age of 30 or so, he is likely now persona non-grata at the New York Times, and his journalistic ethics will also likely give other editorial publications pause to hire him.” Then he continues ….Unfortunately, when publications pay a pittance for their photographers, and do not pay a living wage, the photographers with the integrity necessary to work for the top publications in the world do other things – their own projects, books, commercial work, and so on. Heck, even a few teach classes and workshops. Because the New York Times has not, well, pardon the pun, kept up with the times, in terms of pay, they have reapt what they have sown. I would not be surprised that there are others they didn’t catch, and in an era where photographers are driven to compete, whether Zack’s posed photo, which is over the line, to the Reuters photographer with the “enhanced” smoke , which is egregiously over the line, until photographers are paid fairly enough that they can do their jobs – and, it should be said, are staffers with job security, pressures like this will continue to errode the public’s trust in journalistic works. The problem is, once people realize this and think about course-correcting, it will be too late, and visual journalism will have been dealt a mortal blow around the world.
PDNPulse first reported, in New York Times Withdraws Posed News Photo (5/19/08), about the photo above, and the Times’ withdrawal of the photograph, including an apology that PDN ran.”
I used to do assignments for the Times over the years. In fact I believe my first assignment was back in 1981. The going rate for a days assignment was $200. The last time I worked for them was a few years ago and the rate more than 20 years later was still $200. I stopped because they stopped paying for the expenses of making the photos like reimbursement for film and digital processing they used to pay for and then a year later they demanded that all freelance photographers who wish to get work from them sign a contract that gave them the right to uses the photos again without paying any compensation, and they wanted to sell the rights to use the pictures to third parties and take a 50% share of the third party payment. I think my memory is correct on these details. I am sorry to see how they treat photographers because otherwise I enjoy reading their paper. It is sad that some succumb to the temptation to make their photos more sexy by staging news pictures in the hope of getting a good reputation as a photojournalist. All it takes is getting caught once to lose it all. This is only the most recent incident we have heard about.
Go to John’s excellent blog Photo Business News & Forum to ready the whole thing. It is at
http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com
Clark Family Photograph
Danielle and Greg Clark are another couple whose wedding I photographed a few years ago and have asked me to photograph the sudden expansion of their family for a photograph they can send out to friends and family for the holidays. Anders is the new addition to their family and what a wonderful boy to photograph. He was a joy.
I am often asked to photograph families in the course of my work as an editorial photographer, and approach it much as I would a portrait for a magazine. Look for good light and with a straightforward approach, show them at their best. Janee and her family made the assignment fun; the rare November sunshine made it easy. Late afternoon filtered sunshine is one of my favorite light sources.
