Veteran Associated Press War Photographer Horst Faas Died Age 79

Veteran Associated Press war photographer Horst Faas, who was known for his images of the Vietnam War, has died at the age of 79. German-born Faas oversaw AP’s photo operations in Saigon for a decade from 1962, during the height of the combat, in a career that spanned nearly half a century.

Associated Press said he died in Munich on Thursday. The news agency said he had been paralysed from the waist down since suffering a spinal haemorrhage in Hanoi in 2005.

When Faas accepted the first of his two Pulitzer prizes in 1965, he had said his mission had been to “record the suffering, the emotions and the sacrifices of both Americans and Vietnamese in … this little blood-stained country so far away” :: Read the full article »»»»

FAVOURITE NEW THOUGHT! FLORE ZOÉ

PHOTOGRAPHER

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REBLOG: LA’s Getty Center puts Herb Ritts in perspective

In the 1980s and ’90s, photographer Herb Ritts’ black and white portraits of movie stars and models like Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell created a look that was emblematic of the era, and now they are the subject of a major exhibit at Los Angeles’ Getty Center.

“Herb Ritts: L.A. Style,” which launched on Tuesday and runs through August 26, features renowned work by the artist including vintage prints, magazine covers, commercials and music videos. Around 20 percent of the photographs are on display for the first time. Ritts died in 2002, age 50.

“These were either never seen before or published once in an editorial spread in a magazine, then just sat in the archive,” curator Paul Martineau told Reuters. “I was looking to balance the iconic pictures that everyone knows and loves with the pictures that no one knows.”

Photographs that “everyone knows and loves” include a seminal portrait of Richard Gere in a San Bernardino gas station in 1977, wearing a t-shirt and smoking a cigarette. The shot was taken while the movie star and Ritts waited for the station attendant to change a flat tire.

Gere’s “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” hit theaters a few months later with the actor in a memorable supporting role that launched his career. Within months, the young photographer found his photos in the pages of Vogue, Esquire and Mademoiselle, with the last publication offering him his first assignment photographing Brooke Shields. Read the full article »»»»

Favourite New Thought: John Hoerner

It’s often said the best camera is the one you have with you at the time…

In this case it was John’s $100 second-hand Ricoh GX 8.

Check The amazing Mr Hoerner’s website at: http://johnhoerner.com/

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2012 Winner: Roderick McNicol

Late artist Margaret Olley, author Tom Keneally and former Art Gallery of New South Wales director Edmund Capon are among the well-known faces captured by photographers for the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2012 – NPPP 2012. This years winner, Melbourne photographer Roderick McNicol, has scooped the pool with a photo of his mate Jack Charles.

McNicol’s subject has led what is euphemistically called ‘a colourful life’. Part of the stolen generation, Jack Charle has had an extensive, if at times an interrupted career as an actor, working in both theatre and film.

The actor is open about his time spent on the streets, in jail and in the throes of heroin addiction. Parallel to his acting, Jack Charles lived a darker life of drug abuse, crime and internment. Add to this Jack’s revelation and exploration of gayness, offering the viewer a glimpse of this ‘colourful life’

Happy now, with his drug dependency well and truly behind him and his acting career flourishing, Jack is thriving in a new role as mentor to his community. Throughout it all, Jack Charles and Roderick M sustained a decades-long friendship, this win couldn’t have gone to a more fitting pair.

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