I can't believe this photographer was "undiscovered." Can you?

You may have read about the John Maloof's discovery of more than 30,000 negatives by Chicago street photographer Vivan Maier. John is what I'll call a curator/historian/photographer, and he has put an impressive amount of effort into publicizing the beautiful work of Maier.


Maloof was so inspired by Vivian Maier, that he became a photographer himself. He also co-authored Portage Park, a collection of photographs documenting the Portage Park neighborhood in Chicago. Check it out HERE on Amazon.com.

The images below are all credited to Vivian Maier. John Maloof has them posted on his tribute blog HERE. Can you imagine shopping at an estate sale, buying a box of negatives, and discovering these images by a photographer that you had never heard of:

You can see Maier's influence on John Maloof as you look at his personal collection of Chicago Street Photography HERE.

PHOTO CONTEST for MUSIC LOVERS

Photopol.us is sponsoring its first ever photo contest, and the contest is geared toward the photog who loves MUSIC (and wants to be a part of a great local event).

On November 14, the Cystic Fibrosis Concert Series is hosting its third annual Rhett Miller Show (with the O's and Shibboleth) at the Granada. All proceeds go to research and adult studies of Cystic Fibrosis (a life-threatening genetic disease affecting 70,000 children and adults worldwide).

The rules are simple: post an original image (taken by you) of a show you attended, a musical performance, backstage experience, etc. to the assigned Flickr account. Deadline is November 4th. Winners will be announced on November 6th for a grand prize of tickets to the Cystic Fibrosis Concert Series!

Click HERE for the full story...

MEETING REMINDER

Thanks to Roderick Pena for the information below:

We will also discuss Seminars this Quarter hosted by Capture.

Speaking of seminars, I want to know how many people are actually interested in learning about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. If you click the following link, it will take you to a short survey, the results of which will determine whether or not Capture hosts a seminar this quarter for Lightroom. Click HERE for the Survey Link.

Lastly, I'm still looking for a few members of Capture that are interested in helping out during the AID Halloween Party on Friday, October 30th while we photograph students in their costumes. If you're interested in being a part of the event, please let me know.

For those of you who weren't here last quarter, Samantha Nance, an 8th quarter animation student from The Art Institute of Dallas passed away nearing the end of the quarter. As our condolences go out to the family of Samantha Nance, AID has named a scholarship in her name.

Proceeds from Capture's print sales of the Halloween pictures will go towards the scholarship.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you,
Roderick Peña
aidcapture@gmail.com

Book Signings and Job Leads, Oh My!

Jason Sheeler, writer for F!D Luxe, has posted a blog entry about a FUN event on Tuesday, October 20: Photo blogger captures portraits of on-the-street fashion. Wanna meet the author of this crazy street-fashion book along with Jason Sheeler?

Meet Scott Schuman Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Barnes & Noble (7700 W. Northwest Highway, 214-739-1124) for a book signing and Q&A with Dallas Morning News style writer Jason Sheeler.


Also - maybe you need a job....Job Fair is on Tuesday, October 20 from 11:00am to 1:00pm. 8th floor. 20 employers and 9 student organizations will be there for your networking delight!We're posting jobs like crazy on our job board. Check it out HERE!

Historic Week

So, this has been a big week for photography.

First, the Nobel Peace Prize for physics is given to William S. Boyle and George E. Smith, without whom we might not have digital photography as we know it. Read about it HERE.

Also, photographer Irving Penn passed away at 92 years old. More about his life HERE.

Guest Blogger: Assistant Director of Photography at the Dallas Morning News, Irwin Thompson

Irwin Thompson is the Assistant Director of Photograhpy at the Dallas Morning News. Here's what he shared with us:

"I graduated from the University of Louisiana at Monroe in 1984 and worked with the Monroe News Star World for two years and three years with the New Orleans Times-Picayune. I have been with the Dallas Morning News for 19 years - three years as the Assistant Director of Photography.

With the recent downturn in the economy, I think the biggest challenge in the newspaper business has to be what to do with online content. It's difficult to compete and sell your product when you're giving away the content for free, as most media organizations do on the web. I think when the economy starts bouncing back, hopefully, we can find a way to charge something for the content.

The biggest mistake I see in photographers is attitude. Attitude is everything and it shows in everything you do in life. Before you can take a great picture, you have to believe you can take a great picture. Nothing comes easily in life or photography; you have to work for what you want.
You're not owed anything, you have to put in your time and the more you shoot the better you with get. It's ok to make mistakes, but learn for your mistakes and build on them, and you will improve your shooting. If you think you can or can't...you're right!

Learn everything you can, listen, ask questions and never ever give up. It's going to get tougher and tougher to get a job in the newspaper industry, but learn to shoot pictures and video, build slideshows, edit video and do audio slideshows and multimedia. The more you know, the better your chances are of getting hired. Don't be afraid to work long hours and do whatever it takes to get the job done. You have to love journalism to work in this field. Where else you get a chance to live the news?"

For fun, we submitted two images (below) from Ai Dallas student, Christian Fries, as if they were submitted for publication. Irwin put on his "photo editor hat" and gave the following critiques:

"I love the light on the metal worker, but the only way I knew he was a metal worker, was by the slug. Very nice composition, and portrait. I love the rule of thirds here, but I need to see more of his environment. I want to know what he does without reading it. I need to see more separation on the cap and background. Overall nice effort."

"A simple black and white portrait. Everything is great here...except the cropping. I think we can crop down from the top to the black line on the wall and up to the belt on the bottom. It just cleans up the picture and takes you to the center, and it reads quicker. Again, love the rule of thirds."

Finally, Irwin sent us one of his own images, which we found to be pretty powerful:

(photo credit: Irwin Thompson)