Photo © Herman Leonard

Herman Leonard, one of the most prominent jazz photographers of the 20th century who became famous for capturing musical greats like Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie and Billie Holiday, has died at a hospital in Los Angeles. He was 87.

Leonard passed away Saturday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in LA, said a family spokesperson on his website. Leonard had moved to Los Angeles from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina flooded his home and destroyed thousands of his photographic prints.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest music scene photographers of the mid-20th century, Leonard is most known for his shots of jazz and vocal greats performing in smoky blues clubs throughout the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s. Moving between Paris, London and New York, Leonard’s photographs displayed his signature smoky, back-lit style that is now part of the era’s unmistakable look.

As super-producer Quincy Jones recalls, “I used to tell cats that Herman Leonard did with his camera what we did with our instruments. Looking back across his career, I’m even more certain of the comparison: Herman’s camera tells the truth, and makes it swing. Musicians loved to see him around. No surprise; he made us look good.”

130 of Leonard’s photographs are in the Smithsonian’s permanent collection. His most enduring images include Frank Sinatra brooding in the recording studio, Ella Fitzgerald singing in a packed club while Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman sit enraptured, and Louis Armstrong with a bottle of champagne. In 1956 he was Marlon Brando’s personal photographer on the actor’s trip to Asia.

Even after more than six decades as a photographer, Leonard later admitted that he still got the same rush when he looked at his photographs. As he said in an interview just last year, “It is amazing how an image can revive the feeling of the moment. The thrill of actually being there has never left me.”

Here’s a contest, a chance to win a SanDisk card: I have two questions for you: One, what makes this image so strong for you? It was shot almost 65 years ago, yet it resonates with today’s viewers, who may have had grandparents around at the time it was taken. Really, I’m very curious to know what hits you when you see it?  For the back story of this photograph see the end of this post. *

Now two, this takes a bit of work on your end, but not too hard: Who can do a reenactment of it, even have two friends be your models, unless you are lucky enough to find an actual sailor and nurse! Shoot it on any camera (I said any, that includes your iPhone, Polaroid, Holga–whatever you’ve got.) Attach it to a comment below (or you can tweet @marcsilbershow and include the link to this post) and we’ll see who comes up with the best shot and I’ll send SanDisk card to the winner–how’s that?

© Alfred Eisenstaedt 1945

Contest Details:

Answer why you think this so powerful, or what it conveys to you. You can do that now.

Shoot a reenactment of this photograph (don’t worry about matching their wardrobe) with any camera.

Attach it to a comment below or tweet to @marcsilbershow and include the link to this post

Deadline is 7/31. Winner will be chosen by 8/8. Ok, let’s’ see what you’ve got!

*As Eisenstaedt describes it in his autobiography: “I was walking through the crowds on V-J Day, looking for pictures. I noticed a sailor coming my way. He was grabbing every female he could find and kissing them all — young girls and old ladies alike. Then I noticed the nurse, standing in that enormous crowd. I focused on her, and just as I’d hoped, the sailor came along, grabbed the nurse, and bent down to kiss her.”

Photo copyright Eadweard Muybridge/U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office

Unseen photographs from Eadweard Muybridge, the 19th century photographer who pioneered the use of multiple cameras to capture motion, will be shown to the public for the first time ever in Britain later this year.

Muybridge (1830-1904) will be the subject of a brand new exhibit at the Tate Britain museum in London beginning in September. The show will be a retrospective of the photographer’s experiments in the emerging artform, and will include his famous images of humans and animals in motion (like the iconic The Horse in Motion), as well as his photographs of the American West during the 1860s.

Most notable in the exhibit however will be a series of never-before-seen images (like the one above, titled First-Order Light-house at Punta de los Reyes, Seacoast of California, 296 Feet Above Sea (4136), 1871) that will feature early pictures of lighthouses from Muybridge’s work for the U.S. Coast Guard.

The exhibit will also feature rare cyanotypes (blue photographic prints) that are the closest thing to negatives ever found of Muybridge’s work.

The Edweard Muybridge photography retrospective can be seen at the Tate Britain starting September 8 through January 16, 2011.

“Migrant Mother,” 1936.  Photo copyright Dorothea Lange/Library of Congress

In a new book on American photographer Dorothea Lange, biographer Linda Gordon goes behind the camera of one of the most influential documentary photographers and photojournalists of the last century.

Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits chronicles the extraordinary beginnings of one of America’s most celebrated photographers, offering a candid look at Lange’s struggles with obstacles such as her own physical disability (a childhood bout with polio left her with a deformed right foot) and her efforts to document The Great Depression.

In the new book, Gordon makes clear that Lange knew the only way to convey the tragedies and devastation of the Depression was not to show desolate fields and sand storms, but people themselves. Lange’s most famous photograph, of course, did just that.

“Migrant Mother,” as it is now known, has become the defining image of The Great Depression. The photograph shows Florence Owens Thompson and her children in 1936 in Nipomo, California, destitute and haggard from searching for work as migrant farmers. The family had been living off frozen vegetables they found in the ground, Lange would explain in an interview decades later, and had just sold the tires from their car for food.

At just 32 years-old, Thompson’s face is aged with desperation and anxiety, yet Lange managed to capture the woman’s deeper beauty, says Gordon.

“That’s really part of what Lange’s genius was about,” Gordon told NPR in a recent interview. “That she could make pictures of very poor people — people very, very hard hit — and still make them extremely attractive individuals.”

More than just a documentary photographer, Lange created a style and ethic that influenced countless photojournalists, artists and activists, and her story is an essential brick in the broader history of photography itself.

Linda Gordon’s new book, Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits, is available in stores now. To hear an interview with Gordon, click here.

Irving Penn’s 2 Guedras

A famous 1972 photograph by Irving Penn of two Guedra dancers from Morocco sold for a whopping $314,500 at auction this past week, the centerpiece of the largest collection of photos from the iconic photographer ever to be put up for sale.

A platinum-palladium print, “2 Guedras” was given an estimated price of $40,000 - $60,000, yet fetched much higher than anyone could have predicted. The image shows two thickly veiled women posing for their picture. Penn himself described the dancers from Goulimine, Morocco, as artists whose dance “has its roots in a very ancient cultural ceremony, a symbolism that has been lost in time.”

“Those chosen sat, eyes fixed on the lens, enjoying the camera’s scrutiny yet themselves impenetrable, unhurried during the considerable time we spent together,” Penn said.

Also at the Christie’s auction was an autographed retrospective from famed Canadian-Armenian portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh. A signed copy of the book that takes a look at Karsh’s 50+ year career is priced at $980.

Irving Penn, who was more widely known for his fashion photography, died late last year at the age of 92.

The new Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibit will visit Chicago, San Francisco and Atlanta

Henri Cartier-Bresson, master French photographer and pioneer of photojournalism in the 20th century, will have his first exhibit in the United States in nearly 30 years when a retrospective of his work opens at the New York Museum of Modern Art on Sunday.

“Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century” will include 300 or so of the famed photographer’s most iconic images, along with special presentations, lectures and several documentary films. It is the first retrospective of his work since he passed away in 2004 at the age of 95.

The exhibit will include many photographs never seen before by the public, including his lesser-known work from the United States.  There will also be giant maps that trace Bresson’s world travels (noting when and where certain works were produced), exhibit sections split by his work in the “Old” and “New Worlds,” as well as portraits of many of the century’s most celebrated artists and thinkers, like Jean Paul Sartre, Henri Matisse and Truman Capote.

Bresson, who once said “there is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment,” lived a life capturing the decisive moments around him. His uncropped, black-and-white images managed to find the subtle beauty buried within the “real” world people experienced everyday.

The Bresson exhibit runs at the MOMA through June 28, and from there it will head to Chicago in July, San Francisco in October and Atlanta in early 2011.

Jayne Mansfield. Photo by Peter Gowland.

Peter Gowland, the famed glamour photographer who captured six decades worth of fashion magazine covers, beauties in bikinis and Hollywood movie stars, died on March 17 after complications from hip surgery. He was 93.

During his long career, Gowland shot over 1,000 magazine covers — from Rolling Stone and Playboy, to Modern Photography — and was the author of 26 books on photography. He shot many of the most famous movie stars of the ’50s and ’60s, including Rock Hudson and Robert Wagner, and became known for inventing his own large-format cameras which would go on to be used by contemporary masters like Annie Leibovitz.

Of course, Gowland’s most memorable images were of sun-soaked women in bathing suits, the kinds of photographs that adorned every male locker and shaving mirror across the country. Gowland photographed Ann Margret, Jayne Mansfield, Julie Newmar and Raquel Welch in the stunning pinup poses that would influence countless fashion and magazine photographers in the second half of the 20th century.

Growing up in the ’20s and ’30s, Gowland learned the art of lighting from motion pictures. Both his parents were actors, and he himself appeared in at least 12 films, but he would eventually go on to develop a fascination with photography.

Gowland and his wife, Alice, had their first date on the same day Pearl Harbor was bombed, and (despite it being a “date which would live in infamy,” as he later joked) they eloped two weeks later in Las Vegas. She would sell his pinup photography when he was drafted into the war. Later, her presence would set models at ease when they sat in front of his camera.

In the 60+ years to follow, Peter and Alice Gowland would revolutionize the world of photography together.

Jim Marshall in 2002.

Jim Marshall, who captured many of the 20th century’s greatest musicians in some of their most iconic images, and who is often described as the Godfather of rock photography, died in his hotel room in New York City on Tuesday. He was 74.

Raised in San Francisco, Marshall bought his first Leica camera in 1959. Only a year later, after a life-changing chance meeting with jazz great John Coltrane, Marshall would discover his passion. From there he would make a career out of documenting great rock and jazz heroes — from Jim Morrison, Janice Joplin and Bob Dylan, to Coltrane, Miles Davis, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles and many, many more.

According to his website, Marshall shot over 500 album covers. He is also the man behind some of rock’s most iconic images. He photographed Johnny Cash giving the middle finger during the singer’s San Quentin prison concert. He was the only photographer allowed backstage at the final Beatles concert in San Francisco in 1966. He shot Jimi Hendrix lighting his guitar on fire at the famous Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. He was also the chief photographer at Woodstock.

Almost as famed as his images was his reputation as a surly, forceful artist. He refused to mess with lighting or let his subjects wear make-up, preferring instead to capture them in their natural element. He never let anyone tell him where, when or how to shoot, and he often kicked publicists, agents and managers out of the room. And for him, this was a bond not to be taken lightly.

“I consider what I do with the person I shoot a covenant,” he once said. “They present themselves to me, and I treat them with dignity. I refuse to violate that trust.”

As the unofficial documenter of music culture in the ’60s and ’70s, Marshall left behind a legacy that will be appreciated by music-lovers and photographers for many years to come.

His craft was everything to him. “I have no kids,” he often said. “My photographs are my children.”

Elvis Costello on tour in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1977. Photo by Anton Corbijn.

The only way to know what images are the most indicative of life in the world of rock ‘n’ roll is to be a part of that world yourself. In his new book, “Taking Aim,” photographer and singer-songwriter Graham Nash (of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young) has hand-picked the best photographs to take us into that world.

Collecting images from such luminaries in the photography world as Daniel Kramer, Charles Peterson, Annie Leibovitz and others, the book manages to give fans a glimpse behind the curtain of some of the most iconic singers and musicians. Included in the book are photos of everyone from Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin, to Kurt Cobain, Sting and REM’s Michael Stipe.

A veteran photographer himself, Graham Nash has been collecting photographs for almost four decades now. He has shown his own work in numerous exhibitions over the years, and is currently touring his “Taking Aim” exhibit around the country and talking about style, technique and what it takes to create a great rock ‘n’ roll photograph.

“I wanted energy,” he said in a recent interview about choosing which works to include in the exhibit. “I wanted to be able to show the energy of rock and roll in all its forms, be it very still or incredibly chaotic.”

To see Nash’s collection of images from music history, check out his book, “Taking Aim,” or try to catch him at one of his exhibits. Stay up to date on where his shows will be over at GrahamNash.com.

Photograph © Michael Zagaris 2010. All Rights Reserved

In the latest episode of “Advancing Your Photography,” Marc Silber sits down for an interview with acclaimed rock ‘n’ roll photographer Michael Zagaris. As one of the most notable names in both the music and photography worlds, Michael has been the band photographer for acts like The Who, Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones, and is currently the team photographer for both the San Francisco Forty-Niners and the Oakland A’s.

In a career that most artists can only dream of, Michael has picked up countless stories of his days on the road with some of the world’s most famous musicians and athletes. His ideas on style, technique and composition are a unique combination of experience and talent, and his take on the art of photography is unlike any other.

Watch the video and you’ll learn all about:

1.  What it means to be called an “Inside-Out Shooter” — Michael has gained attention over the years for his unique ability to gain insight into his subjects and capture their most intimate moments. Find out how he does it.

2.  What is it like to photograph rock royalty? –  Many of this year’s Grammy nominees appear in Michael’s images: from Carlos Santana, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton, to Madonna, Bono and Bruce Springsteen (who recently won the award for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance).

3.  How do you “become what you shoot?” — Though it may sound like a puzzling phrase at first, Michael’s mantra of becoming what you shoot is central to his photography. Listen in on our interview to find out what he means and how you can use it to help strengthen your craft.

To see more of Michael Zagaris’ unique advice on how to improve your photography, be sure to watch the latest episode of “Advancing Your Photography” with Marc Silber. Also, check out some of Michael’s amazing shots over at www.WolfgangsVault.com.

Robert Redford. Photo by Ron Galella

Ron Galella is a controversial man. As one of the most famous celebrity photographers of the last half-century, he’s been called everything from a parasite and a vulture, to the “Godfather of the U.S. paparazzi culture.” And in the new documentary Smash His Camera, we’re given a whirlwind tour through the career of Hollywood’s most-hated man.

In his review of the film, Roger Ebert quotes Andy Warhol: “A great photograph,” the artist said, “shows the famous doing something unfamous. Ron Galella is my favorite photographer.” Galella spent nearly fifty years hiding out in search of famous faces, and he collected over three million of images of celebrities like Elvis Presley, Robert Redford, Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando (who punched him, causing him to lose four teeth and break his jaw), and his favorite, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Still, Galella sees his work as more than just fodder for gossip magazines. “I look for the glamor,” he says. “I’m interested in portraiture. I’m not like these other guys who take celebrity pictures now. There’s an art to what I do and it’s all about the expression. It’s not just about taking a picture of someone famous; anyone can do that.”

The documentary, which premiered last week at the Sundance Film Festival, showcases this tension between the two Galellas - the monster who hid in bushes and stalked movie stars, and the artist who captured some genuinely beautiful photographs. For Roger Ebert, this contradiction is why he is so fascinating. “He is a viper, a parasite, a stalker, a vermin. He is also, I have decided, a national treasure.”

To see a collection of Galella’s work, visit his website at RonGalella.com. Also, be sure to keep an eye out for Smash His Camera when it hits wide release.

 Photograph © Teru Kuwayama 2009. All Rights Reserved.

In the latest episode of Advancing Your Photography (AYP), I interview photographer Teru Kuwayama, a veteran, well-traveled photographer who has made a name for himself as one of the leading documentary photojournalists in the industry. His work has been featured in magazines such as Outside, Fortune, Newsweek and National Geographic, and he has received numerous awards and accolades, including grants from the Alexia Foundation for World Peace and the New Fork Foundation for the Arts. He is currently on a John S. Knight Fellowship at Stanford University.

Teru’s passion for photography arises out of a need for exploration. He frequently finds himself on assignment in countries throughout Asia and the Middle East, always striving to dig deeper and ask questions. His travels in Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan have brought him to the forefront of conflict, and still his curiosity pushes him further. In our interview, you’ll learn about what motivates Teru as a photographer, as well as his advice for  improving your own photography.

1. Curiosity – A desire to travel, to go deeper and to really connect with people plays a key role in Teru’s passionate photography. At the core of his work is sheer curiosity in the way things work, as well as how they don’t, and that should be your first step.

2. Be a contrarian – When Teru is handed an assignment and told to look for a specific shot, he tends to pursue the opposite. He looks for the “counter-narrative” in the story he is being told, and this allows him to be more aware of what’s really happening.

3. Compassion – The only way a viewer will be truly impacted by your work is if there is a palpable feeling between the photographer and subject. Photograph what you are passionate about.

4. Don’t think too much – Photographers, by nature, can be an obsessive breed. Even the best can lose themselves in the minutiae of their work. Ultimately, however, cameras and equipment are just a series of tools  at your disposal, and it is important not to get too distracted by anything more complicated than the act of looking at something beautiful and deciding to record it.

To hear more of Teru’s  advice on how to advance your photography, watch the latest episode of AYP. Also, be sure to check out Teru’s work over at TeruKuwayama.com.

Photograph above © Camille Seaman 2009. All Rights Reserved.

In the latest episode of Advancing Your Photography (AYP), I had the chance to interview artist and photographer Camille Seaman. Aside from having her work featured in magazines like Newsweek, Outside, Men’s Journal, Camera Arts, Issues, PDN and American Photo, Camille has also self-published several books, like Melting Away: Polar Images and My China. On top of that she has won numerous awards, including a National Geographic Award in 2006 and the Critical Mass Top Monograph Award in 2007.

The daughter of a Native American father and an African American mother, Camille offers a unique perspective on the art of photography that is at once an artistic inspiration as well as a practical set of suggestions. Watch the interview and you’ll learn all about:

1. Having a connection to your work – Raised as a part of a small Native American fishing tribe, Camille grew up knowing that she was a part of everything around her. The goal of her photography is to help people feel this connection to their planet.

2. Capturing natural light – Be sensitive to the quality of light wherever you go. Look at old paintings from the masters — Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Caravaggio — and pay attention to how they sculpt light. After sharpening her awareness to the qualities of light, Camille finds she can photograph inanimate object (like the gorgeous iceberg above) with the same intimacy she would use to shoot portraits of people.

3. The importance of your card – Camille offers an amusing if slightly scary story about a trip to Antarctica, where it was so wet that her camera strap began to unharness without her knowing. Just as she was stepping off the ship, the camera fell into a pool and was ruined by saltwater. Amazingly, her Sandisk card remained in perfect shape.

4. Composition — According to Camille, the important thing to remember when considering composition is that, as a photographer, you are trying to arrange objects in order to activate space. To do this, don’t think of the shot as three-dimensional. Think of it as a dance, where objects can interact and draw the eye, and you are the choreographer.

To see more of Camille’s indispensable advice on the art of photography, watch the newest episode of AYP. Also, be sure to check out a collection of Camille’s work over at CamilleSeaman.com.

In the latest episode of Marc Silber’s Photography Show, I interview accomplished dance and commercial photographer RJ Muna, who has made a career out of crafting innovative art. Aside from being a regular in such magazines as Commercial Arts and American Photography, RJ has won over 150 national awards, including the International Center of Photography’s Infinity Award for Applied Photography and the Lucie Award for Best Commercial Photographer.

In our interview, RJ fills us in on his preferred style, offers some helpful tips on getting the right lighting for your shoot and tells us what it’s like to photograph professional dancers. Here’s some more advice from the interview:

1. Develop a concept — Having a well-thought out concept is RJ’s essential ingredient for developing a great photo shoot. For him, the conceptual underpinning is the most important aspect. Once that is in place, all else follows.

2. How to get the right lighting — Try to start with one light, and determine where that will come from (whether it’s above, to the side, etc.). Then from there you can start to fill in the edges with key or edge lights.

3. Dance photography — When dancers come into RJ’s studio, he allows them to move freely before shooting, and then picks up on each dancer’s unique personality. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to be passionate about what you are shooting — “there is nothing more exciting than watching a human body in motion,” he says.

4. The magical element — To capture that elusive bit of magic in your work, RJ offers some great advice:  try to do something off balance from what you would expect. Put a new spin or angle on the standard, and that little bit extra will make it unique.

To see more insights into perfecting the art of photography, check out my interview with RJ Muna. Also, be sure to check out more of RJ’s work at his website, RJMuna.com.

Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor. Photograph © Baldomero Fernandez 2009. All Rights Reserved.

In the latest episode of Marc Silber’s Photography Show, I interview famed fashion and portrait photographer Baldomero Fernandez. Baldomero’s work has been featured in numerous magazines and trade journals, including The New Yorker and on the cover of Life Magazine. He’s also appeared in American Photography Annuals for the last decade, and has won numerous awards, including one from MTV for his work on a PSA.

In the interview, Baldomero offers some revealing insights into his personal motivations as well as tips on advancing your own photography. Here’s a taste of what you’ll learn:

1. Tell a story — Baldomero’s biggest passion in photography comes from his ability to tell a story. Creating a narrative, whether it’s preplanned or it just comes to you on the spot, is essential to great photography.

2. Be deliberate — The secret to creating good portraiture is being deliberate. A set that looks natural and effortless only achieves this because it has been thoroughly planned. Staging and presentation are everything.

3. Keep it simple — Even though you may have a dozen of lights up, the importance of simple lighting can’t be overstated. Baldomero also tries not to give his models a lot of direction, but rather lets the environment bring out the shot.

4. Stay focused — Most artists have interests in numerous places, as well as photography, so staying on point can be difficult. Baldomero overcomes this by diving back into his images and editing out the things he gets sidetracked on.

To hear more insights from Baldomero Fernandez, check out the latest interview from The Marc Silber Show. Also, make sure to visit more of Baldomero’s work at www.baldomero.com.

Alex Rodriguez in the dugout. Photo courtesy of Jamie Cohen.

Watch the video

In the latest episode of Marc Silber’s Photography Show, I travel to the Big Apple to interview famed sports photographer Jamie Cohen. Her work in the world of athletics includes calendars for NYC sports teams like the New York Rangers, the New York Knicks and a number of drivers for NASCAR. Most notably she has worked for Fox Sports over the last seven years, photographing some of the world’s biggest stars like Alex Rodriguez (above).

During the interview, Jamie offers some essential tips for those of us just beginning portrait photography as well as those who are seasoned veterans. For example, to capture unique images of iconic faces, Jamie has developed a number of tricks and techniques. One thing she likes to do is shoot her subjects “in between poses.” She’ll ask them to fix their shirt or adjust their hair, and as they break from a pose she manages to capture a more intimate, candid expression.

To see the entire interview, including some cool stories and behind-the-scenes footage of sports stars, as well as Jamie’s indispensable advice on capturing incredible portraits, check out the latest photography show episode.

“Any Window,” 1940. Photo by Roy DeCarava

Roy DeCarava, whose 70 year career in photography was marked by a style, substance and subject matter that made him one of the most respected photographers of the 20th century, passed away last week. He was 89 years old.

Growing up in Harlem in the ’30s, DeCarava discovered his passion for photography only after studying to be a painter. Among other reasons, he found the immediacy and freedom that photography offered not available to black painters of the time. This painterliness can be seen in much of his work — the band members solemnly exiting the stage; a young girl in a white gown walking down a trash-strewn street; a child sitting alone at the bottom of her stoop. These images defined his personal connection with his subjects.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to paint, but photography told me right away,” he said in an interview with The Washington Post in 1986. “I was very shy, scared to death of people, and somehow the camera gave me a license, a way of relating to people.”

Like his other work, DeCarava captured many of his famous contemporaries, like Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis, in a way that purposefully tried not to portray African Americans in a politicized light. “One of the things that got to me,” he said in a 1982 interview with The New York Times, “was that I felt that black people were not being portrayed in a serious and in an artistic way.”

And that’s how DeCarava’s legacy will be remembered: as a genuine artist who was uncanny at capturing the beauty of normal, ordinary people. To see more of his work, or to read about his influence on the photographers of today, check out these books and novels.

Click to Watch Video

It’s alway a pleasure and an adventure to talk with Chase. This time we met up in the bay area and talked about his new book The Best Camera, his new iPhone app and other amazing things he’s been up to.  He discussed some practical advice for “turning an image on its head,” which is his signature move.  What you’ll hear is how he keeps himself inspired, in fact you’ll find it rather catching, so get ready to go out and get shots after viewing this. And yes, he does tell you what the “best camera” is. So tune in and be prepared to advance your photography…

Watch the video

In the latest episode of Marc Silber’s Photography Show, I interview famed stock photographer John Lund, whose thirty-year career in photography has shaped him into one of the leading artists in the industry. Lund’s work has been featured in countless photography publications, journals and trade magazines.

During the interview, viewers are offered a candid look at a photographer with genuine skill and experience. With a style he himself describes as “clean, graphic and conceptual,” Lund offers a detailed breakdown of the process he goes through when creating each of his fantastic photographs — from initial conception, through the shooting of various images and finally to the polished product. Through this combination of high art ideas, multiple photographic images and some digital tweaking, Lund manages to create “new photographic realities [that] illustrate concepts.”

But the best part is he wants to share his techniques with you. So to hear more about Lund’s work, as well as his essential advice for both amateur and professional photographers, check out our latest photography show episode.

Soldier taking cover at Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6th 1944 - Photo: Robert Capa

In the 20th century, there were few photojournalists who were able to capture the honor, violence and horror of war as thoroughly as Robert Capa. In his short life, Capa covered five separate wars: the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the First Indochina War. As a combat photographer, Capa’s working days were spent everywhere from the front lines of the Normandy Invasion in 1944 (above) to the mine-ridden jungles of Vietnam. His indomitable courage in the line of fire, all in the name of capturing a story, set the standard for war journalism to come.

Now, 55 years after his death in battle, Capa’s story will finally come alive on the big screen. The film, produced by Columbia Pictures, will be directed by Michael Mann and will be based on the Spanish-language novel, Waiting for Robert Capa by Susana Fortes.

The story follows Capa’s early days as a refugee from Hungary in 1935, and through his relationship with fellow photographer, Gerda Taro, an escapee from Nazi Germany. The two fall in love and find themselves on the front lines of a brutal and bloody battle, eager to protect each other yet also striving to capture the individual stories of war.

News of the film comes at an extraordinary time for Capa scholarship. Recently one of his most famous photographs, of a Spanish Loyalist soldier in the split second after being shot, has fallen under intense speculation after a handful of critics questioned its authenticity. Also, over 4,000 never-before-seen photographs taken by Capa and Taro during the Spanish Civil War were recently discovered in a couple of suitcases. They will be shown at Manhattan’s International Center of Photography next fall.