Photo Traveler

Bob Krist’s Travel Photography Blog

Travel Photography in the Time of Underpants Bombs…

Career issues, Destinations, Ironies, Legal Issues, Photo Gear, Technology, Travel — January 8, 2010

….will be much tougher than Love in the Time of Cholera. I just flew down to a job in Miami from Newark Airport (good old Terminal C, my home away from home and the same one that was shut down the other day because somebody waltzed up the down staircase) and while it wasn’t too bad, it’s not going to be the same either.

The time of one carryon and one carryon only is coming. Especially on overseas flights. I’m flying to Tanzania in a couple of weeks, right through Amsterdam, and I’m currently figuring out how to jam two carryons worth of stuff into one bag.

It’s a safari and I thought my only concern was the 33 lb. limit on my checked bag for the regional charter in country. Now I have to get the long lens gear, audio stuff, and the backup stuff in one bag that will pass muster in Schipol Airport (and weigh less than 13 lbs). Remember the Minox? I might be the first guy to shoot a safari on a cellphone. What the hell, it worked for Chase Jarvis!

Hit the jump for a couple of strategies to consider: Read more…

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Les Flics du Photoshop (aka The Photoshop Police)

Ironies, Legal Issues, Photo Gear, Travel — December 17, 2009

Step away from ze Wacom Tablet!

There’s a movement gaining traction in the French Parliament to require advertisers who use Photoshop to enhance a photograph to disclose it in writing or face big fines!

Ooohh la la, wouldn’t that be a kick? Leave it to the French to shake the foundations of our culture to the very core.

(And those foundations are?)

1. The inalienable right to bare arms–our Michelle doesn’t need any software help but I can’t vouch for Ms. Bruni, because her husband certainly did.

And:

2. The right to tart up advertising photos in Photoshop.

You know what this means, right? It means job growth in the photo industry!

I already have my application in for a position as a detective in the Photoshop Gendarmerie (“You airbrush it, we will crush it” is the motto I’m proposing for the force).

I can’t wait to say “step away from ze cloning tool and keep your hands where I can see them” in my New Jersey-accented French.

Um, and, I’d just like to say that I’m a people person and I’m willing to relocate, you know, move to Paris, wear a trenchcoat, smoke Gauloises, affect a world-weary shrug and sigh as I smite the offenders with huge fines, and do close examinations of the live model’s proportions compared to the photo of the model.

And you thought travel photography was a dream job? Mon Dieu! Not compared to this!

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The TSA’s War on TSA-Approved Locks.

Ironies, Legal Issues, Photo Gear, Travel, Workshops & Seminars — October 29, 2009

Goldfinger teaching Bond a lesson....

When James Bond kept taking runs at Goldfinger, Gert Frobe (the wonderful German actor who embodied the Golden Guy) delivered these words of wisdom regarding his actions:

“Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but three times, Mr. Bond, is enemy action.”

So, that makes 6 times, what? I’ll tell you. It’s simply all-out war.

And that is how many times in a row that the TSA has opened one of my bags (secured with the TSA-approved Travel Sentry locks), inspected the contents, and then proceeded to toss the lock away (or resell it on EBay, or whatever the hell they do with the locks) and six times in a row that they’ve neglected to put in the required sheet of paper explaining that my bag has been searched, yada, yada, yada.

What are we to make of this? Hit the jump to find out.

Gourmet: Going, going….Gone:-(

Career issues, Ironies, Legal Issues — October 19, 2009

images images-1

November will be the last issue of this grand old foodie mag published by the good folks at Conde Nasty. In the 90’s (that is, last century), Gourmet was one of my best clients. Their jobs were like a rich dessert: you stayed at the best hotels, ate at the best restaurants, and were treated like a king by everyone from chefs to PR folks.

Irwin Glusker was the AD and he always made you look good in the spreads with big pictures and pages and pages per story. Ah the good old days.

Then came the internet, and with it, the corporate lawyers who decided that locking up “content” was the way to go to preserve Gourmet and Conde Nasty. So, overnight, the contract went from what was then the normal “one time use” to the following, now famous, bit of legalese:

“For these considerations, you hereby grant Conde Nast the copyright to these photographs in this or any other medium, now in existence, or hereinafter developed, throughout the universe…..”

The galaxy wasn’t enough for these guys, noooooo, they had to lock up your work throughout the universe. So just in case Gourmet launched an edition on say, the planet Rigel VII, they still wouldn’t have to pay you, the “content provider,” another nickel over the old “one-time use” Earth dayrate.

Set your phasers on stun, and hit the jump to find out how we handled those odious snippets of legalese. Read more…

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Your rights are Burning, Man!

Destinations, Events, Ironies, Legal Issues, Travel, multimedia — August 30, 2009

Sorry, to be safe, no photo can go here!

So, it’s late August, and you wanna go to Burning Man; that yearly counterculture blowout and paean to, I dunno, free love and the Woodstock nation? You’re gonna maybe take some pictures, do a video or an audio slideshow that will put you on the map as a sensitive documentarian of contemporary counterculture?

So maybe, in 40 years, they’ll be using your images on the PBS Burning Man anniversary special (directed by Ken Burns, Jr.)?

Think again, my friend.

This event may masquerade as a celebration of “la vie boheme,” but they want to restrict your rights as a photographer just like the big money-making events run by the NFL and rock stars. Only difference is, those latter two don’t pretend to be anything but money making operations…(well, maybe some of the rockbands do, but certainly not the NFL.)

Here are the terms and conditions of attending BM:

“I UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT THAT NO USE OF IMAGES, FILM, OR VIDEO OBTAINED AT THE EVENT MAY BE MADE WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM BURNING MAN, OTHER THAN PERSONAL USE. I understand that I have no rights to make any non-personal use of any image, film, or video footage obtained at the event, and that I cannot sell, transfer, or give the footage or completed film or video to any other party, except for personal use, and I agree to inform anyone to whom I give any footage, film, or video that it can only be used for personal use.
I acknowledge that the Burning Man name and logo are the property of the Burning Man organization, and I understand that the Burning Man organization controls all rights regarding the licensing and reproduction of any imagery recorded at the event . I agree that I will not use the mark or logo of Burning Man or likeness of the Man on any website or in any commercial manner.”

Here’s an interesting analysis of how this rights grab is pulled off by using a loophole in the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).

I had an 8 paragraph rant about this, to run after a jump. But in an uncommon fit of discretion, it was redacted by the superego department. Needless to say, the id department is up in arms, and I expect some tough times ahead for the ego department, who had to negotiate this settlement…..Oy, these voices in my head! I wish they would all shut up!

As always, to get a cogent perspective (rather than my incoherent rants) on any legal issue regarding photography, visit my friend Carolyn Wright’s site, The Photo Attorney, or buy her book, Photographer’s Legal Guide.

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Don’t wing it, know the rules

Destinations, Ironies, Legal Issues, Travel — July 13, 2009

Photo © Bob Krist

Travel photographers work on the street a lot, shooting buildings, people, events, views, you name it. That makes us very public targets for officials who somehow feel that what we do is a threat. Truth be told, this was the case even before 9/11 and the Brit’s 7/7, but since those attacks, it’s gotten even more cranked up.

Before 9/11, I was shooting a city story on Newport, Rhode Island, for National Geographic Traveler and I saw this fun situation of a young officer giving directions to a man in an angel costume during a street fair. By the time I rushed over to make the shot, the encounter was all but over, but the officer saw me take the picture and went absolutely ballistic (I’m still not sure why, it was a cute public relations moment), at first demanding my film, and then threatening me with arrest when I wouldn’t give it to him.

Even though I knew I had blown the shot, I didn’t take kindly to being bullied. You have to be careful in these situations when you confront authority, because you want to inform and explain, but be firm and not provoke. Getting arrested can really eat into your assignment time, and editors just hate wiring bail money to their people in the field….it looks so bad on the expense reports. The young officer eventually backed down, but not without a parting promise to “find you” if the picture was published.

Since 9/11 and 7/7, the police in the two great cities of New York and London have been, understandably, on high alert and photographers have often drawn their scrutiny, often for no good reason. It got to the point where the top brass of both cities’ constabularies had to issue guidelines for officers interacting with photographers, outlining just what was and wasn’t permitted.

Turns out, you can shoot a lot more than they thought. In fact, you can shoot just about anything you want, including photos of officers at work.

So, if you plan on doing shooting in either of these two wonderful cities, hit the jump and you can grab the jpegs of these memos,read them, and maybe even print them out to carry in your camera bag should you have a problem. Remember, always be polite, never be confrontational, and know da rules! Read more…

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Yo! You guys gonna be in Jersey on the 13th?

Events, Legal Issues, Workshops & Seminars — April 27, 2009

Courtesy HBO.com

Yeah, what exit? Cuz it’s the return of the prodigal son. That’s right, me. Born in Jersey City, raised in Guttenberg and then Fort Lee (where the Sopranos only wished they could live). I’m comin’ back to bond with my peeps May 13 at the NJ chapter of the American Society of Media Photographers salon at Unique Photo in Fairfield (hey, look it up….whaddoo I look like? A Google map?).

We’re gonna talk turkey, like how not to starve to death in the current economic climate, but we’re gonna lookit a lot nice snaps too. Gonna be fun, educational, and I think, basically, free. (For ASMP members, that is. The general public? Well, you gotta buy a $20 ticket, but then, all mysterious-like, you get a $20 gift certificate in return….is that beyootiful or what? Just don’t axe no questions that don’t involve, you know, fertography, and everything is cool.)

My “honorarium” (nudge, nudge, say no more!) is goin’ right to the ASMP Legal Action fund—the one last pure outlet for your dues dollars (and my speaking fees) to fight those @#$%&**###@@!’ing copyright claim jumpers and “Fair Use” eggheads from the “copyleft.” (Hey, if I had a trust fund, I might be all for “Fair Use” too).

But noooooo, I gotta still sell pitchers to eat, so “f” Lawrence Lessig and all his Stanford cronies who want my content for free so they can “sample” it at will to keep their tenured positions at overpriced private colleges (and I speak from experience, havin’ put several kids through them).

Wait, am I being too harsh?…. Yeah?….So what!

Cry me a river…..Waaaaaaaah! (as Artie Lange, another one of my Jersey brothers, might say).

But seriously, it’s gonna be fun…..

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USA Today: Doing the Right Thing

Legal Issues, Travel — April 18, 2009

From aboard the National Geographic Explorer in the Indian Ocean

Piracy is everywhere these days….we’ve really been feeling it aboard the NG Explorer in this last week or so as the Somali pirates kept forcing our itinerary to change to avoid them.

But piracy isn’t restricted to the high seas anymore. More and more photo contests are holding your copyright hostage just by entering, and trying to build photo libraries with your work, without any compensation.

Just before I left, the travel editor of USA Today, an old friend, asked if I woud be a judge of their travel photo contest. No money, but a chance to have lunch with my old editor and get a trip to DC where my sons live. So I jumped on the opportunity.

Even though unfair photo contest rules have become a pet peeve of mine lately (see the post A Photo Contest with Fair Rules????), I was heading out the door and didn’t read the USA Today’s contest rules. Fortunately, a sharp-eyed reader of this blog named Marcelo did and pointed out the following paragraph, which is pretty much a pirates’ declaration of war on copyright .

Copyright. By entering the Contest, each contestant
grants to Sponsor an exclusive, royalty-free and irrevocable right
and license to publish, print, edit or otherwise use the
contestant’s submitted entry, in whole or in part, for any purpose
and in any manner or media (including, without limitation, the
Internet) throughout the world in perpetuity, and to license others
to do so, all without limitation or further compensation. Each
contestant further agrees that if his/her entry is selected by
Sponsor as the winning entry, he/she will sign any additional
license or release that Sponsors may require, and will not publicly
display his or her photo submission without the express permission
of Sponsor.

Once tipped off by reader Marcelo, I emailed my objections to the editor, who then took them to the legal department. I said I couldn’t be a judge if the rules stayed pat. A fellow judge took a similar stand.

Was the editor able to get the terms modified? Did we keep the pirates at bay? Did USA Today step up and do the right thing? Hit the jump to find out.