"I mean, photojournalism is not dead. I think we can agree on that."

Kadir van Lohuizen, interviewed on the New York Times Lens Blog as the NOOR photo agency is commemorating their fifth anniversary at the 2012 Visa Pour l'Image Festival.

"Literally every day, someone is being arrested for doing nothing more than taking a photograph in a public place"

Today's must read, via The New York Times Lens Blog

Mickey H. Osterreicher is the general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association and edits the organization’s Advocacy Committee blog. He spoke with James Estrin. Their conversation has been edited.

"It’s not just news photographers who should be concerned with this. I think every citizen should be concerned. Tourists taking pictures are being told by police, security guards and sometimes other citizens, “Sorry, you can’t take a picture here.” When asked why, they say, “Well, don’t you remember 9/11?”
I remember it quite well, but what does that have do to with taking a picture in public? It seems like the war on terrorism has somehow morphed into an assault on photography.

Q.What’s caused this?

A. It’s been a perfect storm. There’s 9/11, and now photojournalists who traditionally worked for newspapers are losing their jobs and becoming freelancers who may not have the backing of their news organizations. You have Occupy Wall Street, where police didn’t want some of their actions to be photographed. And now everybody with a cellphone is capable of recording very high-quality images. And everyone has the ability to upload and share them almost instantly. There is no news cycle — it’s 24/7 with unlimited bandwidth."

Full post here.

Legal Issues

Photojournalism v. Law

A Lens blog guide to knowing one’s rights of photography.

• You Can Photograph That Federal Building »

• Cracking Down on Croparazzi »

• See Officer, I Can Too Take That Picture »

• ‘Step Away From the Camera!’ »

Related:

Why Is It So Hard to Get Press Credentials?


New York Times photographer arrested while covering arrest

Photographer's Rights: NYPD's Backwards Policy on Photography at Occupy Wall Street

 NYPD 'consistently violated basic rights' during Occupy protests – Report by NYU and Fordham law schools

“That the First Amendment right to gather news is . . . not one that inures solely to the benefit of the news media; rather, the public’s right of access to information is coextensive with that of the press"


Tracking Journalist Arrests at Occupy Protests Around the Country, Part Two


"You got that credential you’re wearing from us, and we can take it away from you.”

NY Firefighters Gather for News of Bin Laden

Michael Appleton for The New York Times



Via The New York Times Lens Blog

Firefighters Gather for News of Bin Laden

By DAVID W. DUNLAP


Michael Appleton managed to bridge a decade in a single photograph on Sunday night

His perfectly distilled picture showed the firefighters of Ladder Company 4 — which lost seven men on 9/11 — perched together on their aerial ladder, watching a news bulletin in Times Square declaring that Osama bin Laden was dead. Though their backs were to the camera, the men’s body language spoke eloquently, beginning with Firefighter Stassi’s obvious exultation. “Each individual has his own reaction,” Mr. Appleton said. “One is celebrating. Others are about to embrace. They’re tight. They’re close.


“It’s like the weight is off their shoulders, perched up there, enjoying each other’s company, shoulder to shoulder. And it was over very quickly.”

Like most of the best news photographs, Mr. Appleton’s composition was the product of pure luck and the experience — and the sharp eyes — to know what to do when such good fortune comes along. Asked by The Times to get himself to Times Square for President Obama’s announcement on Sunday, Mr. Appleton found a somewhat mellow mood at about 10:30 p.m., as news of the killing was not yet generally known. As the president began to speak, however, the crowd grew larger and more attentive.

“There was a crescendo when the Fire Department showed up,” he said.

Ladder Company 4 — the “Pride of Midtown,” together with Engine Company 54 and Battalion 9 — parked its rig in the middle of Broadway. Mr. Appleton tried to get aboard the truck to photograph the appreciatively cheering crowd. But lots of other onlookers had the same idea until the firefighters chased them off before seating themselves on the ladder.

“They were starting to line up,” Mr. Appleton said. “I looked across street at Bubba Gump’s and I could see there was a second-floor window that would give me the vantage I needed. I envisioned the photo before I went up.”

It took a moment to persuade the manager. In that time, Mr. Appleton feared this precious confluence would simply evaporate. Instead, by the time he positioned himself in the restaurant’s window, there were more firefighters side by side on the ladder. Then it was a matter of waiting for the illuminated zipper across Broadway to display the full message.

Mr. Appleton, 33, has been engaged with this story since it began, when he was assigned by The Daily News to cover St. Vincent’s Hospital and wound up instead with extraordinary pictures of the towers’ collapse.

“My career really started on 9/11,” he said by telephone on Monday, after covering the mayor’s news conference on no sleep whatsoever. “It was my baptism by fire.”

Related: Then and Now: VJ-Day and the death of Osama bin Laden