Hey, it only cost a dollar.

Here’s an excellent example of why microstock really lowers the value of your marketing message. Because it isn’t YOUR message. It’s a generic sea of white faces that anyone with a dollar can purchase and brand as their own.

Next time a client says, “But I can get that at microstock for a dollar,” send them to this link.

Thanks to Chris Barton at Fair Trade Photographer for this revealing peek at how microstock sausage gets made.

One of my students emailed me a link to a slideshow featuring Time magazine’s top 10 list of doctored photos. Conspicuous in its absence is Time‘s famous distortion of the OJ Simpson image on its June 27, 1994 cover.

Upon publication Time was criticized by minority groups for altering the photograph to make Simpson appear more “sinister.” Newsweek‘s cover photo ran unaltered, making Time‘s treatment all the more blatant. The uproar was so intense that Time immediately pulled the first cover and published a second, more accurate photo.

Time also neglected to include the infamous moving pyramid image in the slideshow, published by National Geographic magazine on its February 1982 cover.

Time, however, had no problem including the covers of TV Guide and Newsweek in the slideshow for similar, yet less egregious, transgressions. I think Time is selling itself short because the OJ cover is certainly in my, and most photojournalists’, top five.

In this video interview at Livebooks.com, photographer/author/lighting shaman, Joe McNally, talks about the role of his blog and the difference it makes in attracting new clients. Great information here for photographers from an outstanding photojournalist/teacher. Check out Joe’s blog.

Robert Capa’s, “Falling Soldier” / Magnum Photos

The authenticity of Capa’s famous photo, “Falling Soldier,” has long been debated. The first to question the veracity of the image was Philip Knightly in his book The First Casualty, 34 years ago.

According to barcelonareporter.com a university lecturer, José Manuel Susperregui, who teaches communications studies at the University of the Basque Country, Capa’s photos could not have been shot at the Cerro Muriano front, as Capa claimed.

By identifying the mountain range in Capa’s photos, Susperregui was able to determine the location of the photo as near Espejo, some 25 miles away from Cerro Muriano. It’s a compelling argument and the recent images of the countryside near Espejo are strong evidence.

I’ve long been an admirer of Clay Enos‘ “street studio” sessions. Nothing the least bit pretentious about his subjects–real people who pause just long enough for him to make a photo, then return to their lives.

Wired magazine has just discovered him and produced this video from one of his shoots.

Thanks to Robin Moyer, for posting this to the Editorial Photographers Web site forum. Fans of the Farm Security Administration photos by Walker Evans, Russell Lee, Dorthea Lange, Carl Mydans, etc., can access the images via the Library of Congres Web site and download a free 50mb file or purchase a print for $118.

Approximately 160,000 images are available.

So, go here and get your Walker Evans on!

While strolling through the East Village I came upon the Morrison Hotel gallery and spent a half hour gazing at photos of Lou Reed, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Muhammad Ali, Jim Morrison, Elvis, etc. It’s a bit of rock-and-roll heaven.

Definitely worth the time and if you’ve got a few idle c-notes rattling around in your pocket — a great place to buy a bit of rock-and-roll history.

Chris Usher filed suit against Corbis for the loss of 12,640 analog images (transparencies and/or negatives) and won a favorable decision two years after the trial’s end.

Monetary damages will be determined in a Dec. 18 hearing.