Hospital employees fired over camera-phone use

Cameras inside hospitals have long been a legal no-no. Now, hospitals are taking steps to prevent the use of camera-phones as well.

Are Google's street-level cameras intrusive?

Absolutely. Are they illegal?

Hardly.

An Oakland, Calif., woman is concerned about Google's new map service called Steet View.

Photographer's image stolen by porn film company

Lara Jade, a very talented 17-year-old photographer in the UK fell victim to TVX Films when the company stole a self-portrait from her DeviantArt.com Web site to use on the cover of the DVD porno "Body Magic."

Jade took the shot when she was 14.

She emailed the president of TVX Films who, in addition to being a thief, is evidently illiterate, based on his response. Jade is attempting to find an attorney in the U.S. that will take the case.

Simon Dumenco empties both barrels at "underqualified, opportunistic M.B.A. types"

Simon Dumenco, Advertising Age's Media Guy, has some harsh words for print publishing moguls.

When he's right, he's right

Richard Schickel, film critic for Time magazine and a book reviewer for the Los Angeles Times, holds forth on the "elite enterprise" that criticism is--or should be. I'm sure he's ruffled the feathers of bloggers who purport to be critics, but, that's a good thing.

Three Steichen images from 1908 recovered

George Eastman House


Three autochrome glass plates, shot by Edward Steichen, were recently donated to the George Eastman House collection in Rochester, NY.

The images were owned by 96-year-old painter, Charlotte Albright, daughter of the woman on the plates. Her mother, Charlotte Spaulding, was a student of Steichen's and, for a brief period, a photographer herself.

And you thought they couldn't outsource local reporting?

I realize I'm a couple weeks late on this but it's created such a buzz in newsrooms across the U.S. that it's worth a mention. The publisher of the PasadenaNow Web site, James Macpherson, has hired two Indian journalists to cover the Pasadena city council from India via Webcasts.

My own staff covered news in Charlotte, Louisville, Newport News, Phoenix and Austin from Dallas for Belo Corp. So, it can be done. How much local news coverage is really done face-to-face--particularly at smaller news outlets?

Rob Curley's tips for aspiring journalists

Rob Curley, one of the brightest innovators in online journalism, recently offered his thoughts on what an aspiring online journalist should be thinking about.

Curley is regarded as one of the best minds in journalism today and his work in making newspaper Web sites vital and relevant is viewed as the industry standard.

Newspaper Web video: One Brit's view

"Why, professor Hart, are we discussing video rather than digital photojournalism?" you ask.

Because students, video looms near in your post-graduation future. You will shoot video, you will edit video and you will post video to the Web in the very near term. Our local daily, The Dallas Morning News, is not only issuing video cameras to its photo staff, but many reporters are being equipped with video cameras as well.

Learn it, get used to it, embrace it.

In his excellent blog, television news veteran and journalism professor, Adrian Monck, suggests that British newspapers still have a long way to go toward understanding how to best use video online. He offers a few quick tips for newspapers attempting to shoot for the Web.

Reuters removes all images by freelance photographer Adnan Hajj

Reuters strengthened their oversight of images in their Mideast bureau after Hajj, a Reuters freelancer since 1993, was caught digitally manipulating images he shot during the recent Israel action in Lebanon.

This paragraph, in particular, is instructional for student, as well as professional journalists:

"News photographers commonly use Photoshop to crop digital photographs and correct minor imperfections but its more sophisticated applications, which can radically alter an image, are taboo."

The Decline of Fashion Photography

Here's a compelling essay, in photos, by Karen Lehrman, author of "The Lipstick Proviso: Women, Sex & Power in the Real World, on the decline of fashion photogaphy.

It was published on Slate in 2001 but it's still relevant, given the extremely broad definition of what purports to be fashion photography today.