Women In Photography International announced that it had honored Sylvia Plachy for its Distinguished Photographer Award for 2004.

Plachy brings an indisputable European aesthetic to her work, especially documenting life in New York City. Moody, even surreal but tangible. I feel my toes squishing through clay whenever I see her images. Her origins in Hungary and her early apprenticeship with Andre Kertesz bode her well through the years. Her book Unguided Tour is a must-have on every photographer's book shelf. The Tom Waits record in the back is a bonus.

Via PhotoTalk

At Perpignan this year, Getty Images announced a $100,000 “investment” grant for photojournalists. But there are no free lunches.

“Getty Images will hold a one-year exclusive rights deal with the photographers to market and license the images to its customers, delivering contributor royalty fees to photographers … The photographers will always retain copyright.”

As Andy at PhotoTalk astutely points out, with 5 photographers being chosen for this program, the nickel and dime value for each photographer is $1,666 per month. I just hope Getty isn't expecting these photographers to shoot exclusively for them. In some quarters $1,666 is a LOT of money, but it just doesn't go very far out here in the US.

Via Adithya Sambamurthy

Via Adithya Sambamurthy

New York Times reports that the Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Eddie Adams died on Saturday.

For those who who don't know, the photograph you see below by Eddie Adams is considered an epochal moment in the history of geopolitical events. It's a photograph of Brig. Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan of South Vietnam executing a suspected Vietcong prisoner.

In a world where photography was defining our perceptions and underscoring our need to better understand the ramifications of an international policy gone awry, Adams' images informed, instructed and infused in us the need to question our actions both at home and in a foreign land.

On a tangent, students of photojournalism ought to check out the Eddie Adams Workshop. The nation's top 100 photographers are chosen each year based on a portfolio review and the recommendation letters of either instructors or peers. I was honored to be selected for the thirteenth meeting of that august group in upstate New York.

I am sure his presence there and among the photojournalism community will be greatly missed.