Photographs And Paintings Used To Launder Money

The New York Times reports detailed information about how art work is used for laundering money. It’s not just drug cartels. Greedy CEO’s are able to hide their millions through the vague business practices of the art world.

This activity has always been whispered about in art circles, but seems to be more prominent now. The art market has never been subject to the accountability of financial transactions as in other businesses. Auction houses and top galleries claim anonymity is necessary with transactions in the millions. Why? I can imagine clients want to keep their purchases quiet for security reasons, but anyone who can afford a Matisse can afford to keep their collections safe.

Read the NY Times article for the dirty truth.

Famous Mothers With Their Children

Happy Mother’s Day, Friends.

Hope you enjoy these classic photos of famous mothers and their children from the pages of Life magazine. And the one of my own mother taken at lunch today, shown below.

Mothers & Kids

Move Over Instagram, EyeEm App Allows You To Sell Your Photos

EyeEm logo

When Instagram (owned by Facebook) tried to claim all rights to an individual’s content, including their photos, they lost a world of users, including me. I immediately closed my Instagram account with no regrets. The following is taken from Instagram’s privacy policy change on Dec 17, 2012:

“To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you.”

No thanks, I thought. Sooner or later, someone will develop a better app. Welcome EyeEm. EyeEm is an app developed by photographers, not business people trying to capitalize on a photographer’s images. EyeEm says:

“Your photos will always remain yours and nothing will ever be done with them without your consent. Being photographers ourselves, there’s nothing we value more than our community’s rights and privacy. If a platform makes benefits, it must be through an opt-in program and revenue-sharing with the creators. Period.”

I, for one am very interested. In fact, I am downloading the EyeEm app now.

Andreas Feininger’s Photos of Animal Skeletons

Andreas Feininger – Bat Skeleton

I came across this posting of Andreas Feininger’s black and white photos of animal skeletons. They are beautiful and morbid at the same time. Taken in 1951, they span animals as small as a hummingbird to as large as an elephant. I thought you would enjoy these 17 photographs as much as I did.

Andreas Feininger – Bird Skeleton

 

Technology Threatens Camera Manufacturers

Joe Murphy’s 3D printed lens adapters

I found an interesting article today. Photographer Joe Murphy has manufactured his own tilt-shift lens adapter using a 3D printer. I paid over $2,000 for my Canon 24mm tilt-shift lens. I doubt I would have done that if I were able to do what Joe Murphy did. Add to that, the designs are available for anyone to download and use for free.

This brings up issues I was discussing with a friend a few weeks back. 3D printing is very expensive now. When home printers first came into being, they were expensive too. It didn’t take long before the prices dropped to an affordable level. This will happen with 3D printers as well.

What does this mean? Well, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the average person will be able to manufacture equipment at home for a fraction of the cost of buying it from a large company. I can see this happening with all sorts of things: table ware such as plates and utensils, car parts, belts, and even camera equipment. Imagine you have the misfortune of breaking a piece of your expensive camera lens. No worries, just print a replacement part. Need to add a bottle holder for your gear bag? Whip one out in a flash and add it on. The possibilities are endless.

What’s the bad news?  Camera companies may lose sales because anyone will be able to copy their designs and print them out. Manufacturing jobs may shrink due to lost sales. Granted, the size of printing is limited to the size of the 3D printer, and the material may not be a good as that used by say, Canon, but technology will catch up in that regard too. The future looks quite intriguing.

Playing With Photo Apps

This is a photograph I took for a client. It was a straightforward shot taken with my Canon 5D Mark II.

The unusual pose inspired me to pull the photo into my iPhone and jazz it up with a photo app. The apps are getting more sophisticated as time goes on, making it easy for anyone who has a smart phone to create interesting images.

I am enjoying exploring these apps, but they also make me realize how important it is to know what you’re doing as a photographer. I appreciate an impeccably executed no frills photograph even more in this day and age of what I call “click and oooh”.

 

Henry Ward Beecher Quote About Painting

Henry Ward Beecher

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.

~ Henry Ward Beecher

 

 

Great Deals on Think Tank Photo Bags

Hi Photo Friends,

If you are in the market for a new photo gear bag, Think Tank, is offering some great special deals. In my opinion, they are the best gear bag company out there.

Click this link for free shipping.

Click this link for a rebate on the Airport 4-Sight bag.

Click this link to register in the drawing for a free Think Tank product.

Photojournalists Using Instagram

Benjamin Lowy’s iPhone image of the destruction of Superstorm Sandy. © Benjamin Lowy/reportage by Getty Images

There’s a trend forming. Photojournalists are now using Instagram and their smart phones to report everything from deadly storms to war to professional sports.

This brings up many questions. Photojournalism has long been about integrity, honesty and clarity. Will the one-click editing filters and ability to manipulate the images make them less believable? Is our world so hungry for quick information that we are willing to sacrifice quality? Is the job of a photojournalist becoming extinct?

There’s an intriguing article in American Photo Magazine about this situation. It’s worth the read. Benjamin Lowy, one of the photojournalists I curated into my exhibit “Wide Angle View” at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art in 2011, uses an iPhone. He is giving a talk at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles on April 18, 2012. I am going and am very interested in what he has to say about the drastic changes in visual reporting.

Our world is speeding faster than ever. We need to keep up, but at what cost? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Generous Billion Dollar Gift From Leonard Lauder To MET

Woman in an Armchair (Eva) by Picasso

Cosmetics billionaire, Leonard A. Lauder has promised his Cubist collection worth over $1,000,000,000 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The collection includes paintings, sculptures, and drawings of the titans of cubism: Picasso, Braque, Gris, and Leger. Thomas P. Campbell, the Met’s director, says “It is an unreproducible collection, something museum directors only dream about.”

Leonard Lauder and his brother Ronald are heavy hitters in the NY art collecting world. According to the NY Times, Leonard Lauder says of his collection “You can’t put together a good collection unless you are focused, disciplined, tenacious and willing to pay more than you can possibly afford,” Mr. Lauder said. “Early on I decided this should be formed as a museum collection,” and “whenever I considered buying anything, I would step back and ask myself, does this make the cut?”

The MET is planning an exhibition of the collection in the fall of 2014.