Michael Newman 1950-2012
We are sad to report the recent passing of long time PhotoEdit Inc. photographer Michael Newman.
Michael was a great family man, friend, and colleague and will be greatly missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.
Michael’s stock photography personified our mission of providing generations of students with a reflection of the world’s ethnic and multcultural diversity that is seldom portrayed today.
We feel that the greatest honor for any artist is to recognize their work and the impact it has made in our lives.
Please take a few minutes to view a gallery featuring a few of our favorite Michael Newman images.
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Sincerely,
Jesse Cantu, Chris Baldemor, Nikki Allen, Maria Deseo, Jessica Holley
Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
PhotoEdit Inc. invites you to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and recognize the many contributions the AAPI community has made in the creation of the United States. Asian American senators fought for the recognition of an Asian American heritage week in the late ‘70s and chose May to commemorate the first Japanese immigrants who came to the U.S. on May 7th 1843, as well as to celebrate the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869—most of the workers on the railroad were Chinese immigrants.
MSM055CC 016 001 | Cindy Charles | Poetry on Wooden Walls at Angel Island State Park tells plight of Asian immigrants detained at island due to 1882 racial exclusion laws, San Francisco, CA
The AAPI community is estimated to be at 16.6 million people in theU.S.and is one of the fastest growing minority communities. With roughly 30 ethnicities and over 100 languages that are represented under the Asian Pacific American umbrella, the struggles the AAPI community still faces are very complex and vary widely.
As a stock photography agency based in California, we’re aware that much of the history of struggles of the AAPI community is in our own backyard. So while we celebrate the diversity of accomplishments of the AAPI community, we also acknowledge the differences. In fact we have photos of Japanese internment camps in the Bay, Vietnam War protests, and Korean stores being looted during the LA riots on April 29th, 1992 that serve as chilling reminders that the AAPI community has overcome numerous struggles and fights for integration not that long ago (check out a few photos at the end of the post).
With our agency now based in Costa Mesa, we are neighbors to a large Pacific Islander community and to the largest Vietnamese American community in the U.S. (Westminster and Santa Ana a.k.a. Little Saigon)–a rich community that still vividly remembers April 30th as a reunification day and gathers to tell stories of the Vietnam War. The majority of our staff resides in Long Beach, where our Cambodian and Khmer neighbors continue to struggle with issues of poverty, having limited job opportunities, high school drop out rates (40% of Hmong, 38% of Laotian, and 35% of Cambodian populations do not complete high school), and young women/minors being sexually exploited.
We encourage photographers to take advantage of this month and capture the stories and struggles of your own families and other AAPI communities who are in your own backyards, in your morning commutes, where you eat, or where you get your nails done.
Below are a few of PhotoEdit Inc’s historical photos from our growing AAPI collection. Click through the link to view or license more AAPI photos in our collection: Asian Pacific American Photos
USH001BA 009 001 | Bill Aron | Historic black and white photo of a civilian exclusion order calling for the removal of persons of Japanese ancestry posted on a street in San Francisco, CA
CAL171DYW006 001 | David Young-Wolff | Monument at the cemetery in Manzanar War Relocation Center, site of one of the ten camps used for the imprisonment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, located in Owens Valley, California
DIS561MN 001 001 | Michael Newman | Korean store owners defend themselves with sticks during 92 Los Angeles riots
Here are a few blogs about Asian Pacific Heritage Month and cool posts about AAPI leaders, photographers, artists, and media gurus:
Hyphen Magazine (doing two posts per week in May about Asian American leaders entitled “Unsung Heroes”)
VisualizAsian (Asian American Empowerment Series–interviews with leaders)
AsianPacificHeritage (info on the month, history, and educational tools)
New Photos 4.26.11
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This week’s new images include travel photos of Mexico and Cuba, stunning commercial shots, school closures and the Dream Act, as well as some powerful photography portraying grief…all in the slideshow above.
Photographers featured in slideshow:
Kim Karpeles
Novastock
Laurie Allread
Ron Buskirk
Jeff Greenberg
Bill Bachmann
Odell Mitchell Jr. Photography
Cindy Charles
Bob Daemmrich
Jim West
All the images above and many more can be found and licensed at www.photoeditinc.com .
Fit ‘Em In – Tips for Group Photography (By David Snyder)
Last week, David Snyder gave helpful tips on shooting on location outdoors. In this week’s guest post, David gives his thoughts on group photography and how to ensure that the photos you take end up being usable. Check out his article below on how to take a winning group photo the next time you’re out in the field!
Fit ‘Em In – Tips for Group Photography (By David Snyder)
One of the most common types of photos I see from field staff of most NGO’s is a group shot – all of the conference-goers crowded around a sign or on the front step of the meeting hall.
My first piece of advice for such photos is usually this – don’t take them. Such photos are rarely if ever useful for the websites, calanders, and promotional pieces for which field shots are needed.
I’m not sure why, but we seem to have it in our brains that group shots are best – just think back on mom crowding you and your siblings together for a posed shot around the birthday cake. But, sometimes group shots are helpful, especially less formally posed shots such as students in class or farmers working together in a cooperative, to give two examples. Here is how to take better group shots next time you are in the field.
TIP 1 – AVOIDING AWKWARD POSED SHOTS AND MAKING USE OF SPACE
To avoid the awkward posed shot, try to take your group photos when subjects are engaged in some kind of activity. If kids are in class and you need a group shot of the students, photograph them while they are working on an assignment.
The best way to take usable group shots is to maximize the use of the space of the image – ie, fill the entire image left to right, or top to bottom, with subjects.
If you are posing subjects, rather than standing them side by side, the most common pose for group subjects, stagger your subjects from front to back if you have a manageable number, and place the subject closest to you in the left or right third of the horizontal image. The other subjects will not be as sharply focused as the subject closest to the camera, but the composition will be much more appealing (see image below).
David Snyder for JAM
Try placing one subject in the foreground – center in this case because it is a vertical image – and the other subjects staggered right and left behind that subject, rather than side by side.
TIP 2 – TAKING LARGE GROUP PHOTOS
If you must take a large group photo, such as that of a graduating class, in which all of them need to be in the same photo, there are tricks. One, try to make use of stairs that can lift subjects in the back of the photo above those in the front, always being conscious that every face needs to be visible. Place your taller subjects in the back, and use chairs for a few subjects in the front of the image to sit on to change the heights of the faces. In many cases, the best use of a chair is to stand on it yourself (see photo below). By standing on a chair, you can look down over the faces in the front of the image and capture those in rows 2 and beyond. Posed group photos always require some orchestrating (think of the assistant to the wedding photographer – a job that must surely be punishment for some horrid crime committed in a previous life). You cannot be shy about directing people exactly where to stand so that their faces are visible.
Finally, take lots of photos. A good general rule is to take one photo for every person in the picture. This may seem like overkill, especially if you have a group of 15 or 20 people. But you can always delete later. I promise you that someone in every photo will have their eyes closed, or will be laughing or looking down or looking away or talking to the person next to them when everyone else is right on pose (as in the picture below). With groups, one person can ruin a good photo of 20 people, so make sure you get the shot you need.
Always take lots of photos of posed groups to avoid people looking away or appearing otherwise distracted in a shot, as several subjects are here.
About David
David Snyder is a professional photojournalist and writer. He has over 12 years of experience as a writer, editor and photographer for NGOs and foundations and has photographed relief and development projects in over 55 countries.
To view or license images from David’s collection at PhotoEdit Inc. click through the following link: David Snyder Collection
